Forthcoming and So Forth

Some announcements, some updates, and me just saying "Hi"

Transition. Transition. Transition. These past few months have been one new thing or another. I finally found a job, got a new job that I really wanted, went through some hard mental struggles, pulled through, and now here I am. Somewhat in limbo, still, but finally settling in at least one aspect of my life.

Through it all, my brain has been percolating ideas, some I want to share directly with you here, and some I will only hint at as they are still simmering in the brain. In the parlance of today’s youth - “let me cook”.

Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

Forthcoming

Below are some percolations that have been simmering that I can tell you about that will be coming soon to Glimpses Here and There.

• Friends Along the Way

  • An essay series about the characters that shone the brightest in my earliest reading years. I explore who these characters are, the stories they inhabited, and what they meant to me and how they influenced me over the years.

• More Personable Book Reviews

  • While I was not unhappy with the way I did book reviews before, I sometimes felt that my personality did not shine through. I also wanted to give myself the chance to write more involved reviews, not spoilers so much, but glimpses into how I felt about certain passages, characters, and scenes, with perhaps more discussion into the details with older books. I may write a “for everyone” review, and then a deeper discussion review of various books, so that people who have not read them won’t feel spoiled.

• Movie and TV show reviews

  • I am a stories in all form enthusiast and while my educational background is not in film, I do find the visual medium fascinating and inspiring. I recently watched The Gorge, for example, and the fantastic mix of sci-fi/horror thriller and romance was super exciting. Perhaps not in the publishing world so much, but sometimes on social media I’ve seen authors compare their books to well-known or well-beloved TV shows or movies. For an author, they can be a visual feast, and for a story lover, I find them to be yet another way to enjoy story.

• Writing Reports

  • This is not the title, per se, but I am aiming to start my draft of my space fantasy novel March 1st. Part accountability, part writing diary, I aim the writing reports to be a way to communicate progress to future readers, as well as potentially engage with fellow writers.

• A serial novel

  • This should probably go under the next list (and I’ll repeat it there for clarity’s sake) but I am currently planning a serial novel to be featured on this blog. It’s a mix of urban fantasy and mystery, and features four half-sisters with big secrets and chaotic, nearly mythical, but also mundane problems in a small town in Michigan.

• More Casual Disquisitions

  • This is a blog series where I write essays about various topics I have decided opinions on or a different perspective to offer. Sometimes they’re a deep dive into writing techniques, and sometimes they’re glimpse into my mind on certain topics, like my Casual Disquisition on change.

• More Defining Genre

  • My current blog series doing a deep dive into the fantasy genre and its various sub-genres has been super interesting for me to write and hopefully interesting for you all to read. I plan on continuing my exploration of the fantasy genre and in the future other genres, as well. My latest Defining Genre post was about romantasy, exploring the terms that define that type of story.

• Short Stories

  • It’s about time I start featuring fiction on this blog and I aim to write a number of short stories this year. As a fantasy writer, I find it fascinating to explore a world with a short story that offers only a glimpse, small, but satisfying. This includes flash fiction, short stories, and possibly, a novella or two.

---

Photo by David Travis on Unsplash

The So Forth

Here, I write of possibilities, of the ideas growing form in my brain. Perhaps I am looking for suggestions. Or, I am declaring a promise, to you, my readers, that this blog/newsletter/writing portfolio/avenue of expression will not grow stagnant and die.

I’m not certain of what it will look like, but I know in my bones that Glimpses Here and There has a future.

Below, are glimpses of that future.

• Serial Novels

  • I’ve given you a peek at one novel idea above, an urban fantasy mystery I plan on featuring on Glimpses Here and There, but why stop at one?

• Collaborations

  • I’m awkward and new to the community in the sense of actually participating in the public sphere as a writer (as far as that goes, it’s been a few years since I started an Insta and a TikTok, but my public presence as an author continues to transform). BUT - I dream of collaborations. I want to engage with and uplift the writing community, and I love the idea of featuring other writers where people can find them, perhaps read their work, and become readers to them. I’m working toward a more communal author presence.

• A Community Space

  • Substack has set up various ways to engage with readers and other writers. Eventually I would like to create my own community space, but it is a germ of an idea for now, and with so much drawing all of our attention and time, I want to go into this with intention.

• Sharing and Curating

  • Again, a germ of an idea, and really it’s the process of it I have to nail down, but as I mentioned above, I love the idea of being a part of a community of writers and sharing other’s work. Eventually I plan on a monthly (weekly, bimonthly?) curated list of things I read, watch, learn from, etc. Or perhaps things I just find interesting. Perhaps it will sometimes be themed.

• There’s More, Of Course

  • Some ideas are so vague I don’t even want to write them in a sentence, not yet. Some are an idea of an idea, or something I may want to try, and some, frankly, have not been thought of yet. I don’t plan on being stagnant, rote, with this blog. I want it to be organic, changing, growing, and blossoming along with me.

---

Also, Hi

I feel like this has been a weird few months for everyone in one way or another. For some, we’re deep in winter, but also warming up a smidge, but the sky is still gray, the sun hidden behind clouds that can’t decide if they want to rain or snow. For others, the year started off with a bang (maybe in a good way, maybe in a bad way) and now we’re just rolling on after a doozy of a start. For others, maybe, in this digital saturated social media world, we’re just a little lonely.

I’m still trying to figure out how to engage with my “real life” community. And I’m sure I’m not alone. So, hi. I’m Kendra. You can drop a comment sometime, message me, or communicate however you like. My Insta is writerknboe, my TikTok is the same, and for those still on the book of Face, I do have a writer’s page (Kendra Boersen - Writer). I’m on Lemon8 for some reason, though I don’t know what I’m doing (same handle as above). I have a YouTube channel all set up called - you guessed it - Glimpses Here and There. I have no videos on it, yet, but I plan on posting some - one day.

So, hi. Fellow writer, fellow reader, bored netizen, random person, interested third-party - hello.

My name is Kendra Boersen. I am in my thirties. I write fantasy and sci-fi, but mostly space fantasy. I love to read. I hate pickles. I sometimes struggle with depression and anxiety, and I’m a suicidal ideation survivor. I’m a Christian who doesn’t currently go to church. I smoke cigarettes and just started thinking about quitting (don’t tell me to quit! I’m contrary. Let me get there).

My goal is to be a prolific writer. I just started a job that may, for the first time in a long time, help me get to financial stability. Sometimes I can’t sleep because I feel the dark on my skin. Sometimes I can’t sleep because I bottled up all of my words and my thoughts and said them to no one and wrote nothing down and they buzz in my chest. Sometimes when I speak I feel a literal blockage in my chest. Like my words are water, and my wounds are a dam.

I have no quarrel with those who do not believe in God (Jesus, the Holy Spirit), but do not tell me to not believe, I’ll just laugh. I do not consider myself a Christian author and I do not write in the Christian genre, but I am a Christian and I am an author, but I am not a preacher. I don’t write morality tales, and I don’t like reading them.

When I was younger, I craved the truth in fiction, the act of telling a tale with your heart on your sleeve. The truth wrapped in a powerful story, like dark chocolate in a bright wrapper. You craved the candy for the sugar, and got more than you bargained for.

I want people to read my stories and be able to turn their brain off, if they choose, but to also engage with their brain and analyze and realize and revel and weep with the characters and relate, but also, perhaps find them new and strange. I want people to read my work and recognize themselves, but to also read my work and meet entirely unique people, people they have never met before. I want people to see the world echoed in my work, but to also explore an entirely new world, a fantasy world, that is like and unlike Earth. Not-Earth, Earth if you stepped to the left, did a cart-wheel, took the second star to the right and straight on to morning, afternoon, evening, eternity. Maybe not all at once, and different perceptions will perceive differently, and each person will read an entirely different book from the other. Or perhaps they’ll be able to connect with other minds, and share the same experience, and that’s beautiful too.

I read a book, I perceive one thing, and another reads the same book and perceives something else, and that’s what will happen with mine, and that’s beautiful and fine and the way it goes.

Hi. I’ve gone on a tangent. A rant. A monologue. I’m awkward when I meet people. I’d apologize, but I'm told I say sorry too much already.

I love that you’re reading this. I hope you - feel something? Crack a smile? Shake your head and wonder if I’m mentally well (I am, at the moment, of sound mind).

HI. I’m Kendra. And this is me saying hello, telling you what is forthcoming, and dreaming a little.