Posted a little late with a back-dated time. My Newsletter went out this week! If you don't catch all these blog posts or just want a highlight of stories, be sure to sign up. Every couple months I will send you my favorites out of a large listing.

Fireside Fiction published Those We See at the Twilight Bridge by Wendy Nikel in 2021.

Lightspeed Magazine published Story Kit by Kij Johnson in 2020, originally published in Eclipse Four in 2011.

Starting in Fall of 2020, I posted short fiction I'd been reading on my Twitter. Just about a year ago, I started posting story suggestions every day. It wasn't until February that I started posting round-ups here of the stories. I generally post weekly, but I posted nearly daily at first to catch-up. Here's to another year of daily story posting.

The remaining five stories posted last week all came from the Santa's Secret Pen 2021 prompt and story exchange posted in January.

• The Wyrd and the Weaver by Erin Fulmer
  
• Mistakes and Resolutions by Mel Grebing
  
• Snow Camp by S.E. Baran
  
• A fallen star finds love by Yvette Yun
• Cinnamongate by Anthony Eden

This week I suggested seven more stories in my daily story suggestion on Twitter and Facebook. Here's a summary.

On New Year's Day 2021, I posted what I thought were reasonable goals for my reading. They turned out to be overly ambitious.

• I lost my login to Storygraph.
• My reading rate dropped drastically. The 2018 - 50 books, 2019 - 100 books, 2020 - 30-40 books trend did not hold and I did not read 36 books - a plan of a fun book, a writing craft book, and a third category book. 
• I did not read enough to give a "favorite" book of the month after the first couple months.
• The recorded books didn't count the reads of unpublished work.
• I read a ton of short work this year. Some weeks I really do post everything I read. But most weeks I read 2-5 times as many stories as I post.

I will include unpublished work in my book counts but I need to figure out how to remember them. But I will aim to read at least one published book a month as well.
I will post a quarterly reading reflection. 
This wraps up my disappointing reading reflection for the year 2021 and my vague reading goals for 2022. 

2021 wrapped up, but my daily short story recommendations on social media keep on with a blog summary every week. Here we go!

I, Cthulu, or, What's A Tentacle-Faced Thing Like Me Doing In A Sunken City Like This (Latitude 47° 9' S, Longitude 126° 43' W)? by Neil Gaiman was reprinted by Tor.com in December.

Apex Books & Apex Magazine published First Snow by Annie McAndrew in thier December Microfiction Patreon.

In late November, Amalie/A.R. Frederiksen posted a tweet about a short story exchange. 

It's me. I'm stuck in the query trenches where writing had lost its joy. And this exchange seemed perfect to get my writing joy back. I followed the thread instructions and sent off my prompt. On December 1, I received my prompt. 

I found writing in the week between Christmas and New Year's to be rejuvenating and fun. I produced a 2150-word story that I hope my Santa's Secret Pen 2021 partner will love!​

Mel Grebing received my prompt and produced a sweet little tale about a relationship in the lab space called Mistakes and Resolutions. 

​ The horse plodded forward, its foreleg breaking the snowdrifts with power. Chelsea yanked at the lining of her hood, pulling it farther forward to protect her face from the fat falling flakes. She’d numbed to the chill hours ago. Who needed warming spells when she could just freeze away all feeling? The horse snorted as if it agreed with her assessment.
​
“That’s a good boy, Roger.” She leaned forward and patted the chestnut’s neck. “It’s not far now.”