{"id":250,"date":"2026-06-25T21:15:52","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T21:15:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.samanthahund.com\/?p=250"},"modified":"2026-06-25T22:08:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T22:08:21","slug":"between-two-swings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.samanthahund.com\/?p=250","title":{"rendered":"Between Two Swings"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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I usually open these blogs with melodramatic nonsense and overwrought metaphors, but I don\u2019t think I can shoehorn this month into any kind of plucky cryptic wisdom. Wait, just give me a sec\u2014here we go:<\/p>

The pendulum swung hard, and this time I got caught upside the head when I wasn\u2019t looking. It\u2019s good and it\u2019s bad, it\u2019s the best and the worst.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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I think I should explain something here. I write both commercial genre fiction, and<\/em> experimental alt-lit. These two outlets for writing keep me sane, and push me harder to hone my voice. Now, I\u2019m not sure this is the recommended approach. I\u2019m already well aware that I\u2019m not everyone\u2019s particular cup of tea, as it probably should be.<\/p>

I\u2019m no idiot, I know publishing (commercially\/traditionally) can be a very risk-averse environment, and I have an annoying tendency to color outside the lines. Maybe this is arrogance, or maybe this is an asset. \u00a0Either way, I hope through a combination of sheer stubbornness and naivety\u2014I can make it work in my favor anyway.<\/p>

My work has plenty of bleed-over, and I wouldn\u2019t have it otherwise. I wrap my stories in the familiar, but I will drag you into some uncomfortable truths along the way. My dark fantasy novel is essentially a point-blank exploration of why we often choose ourselves over other people. My goth rom-com interrogates the co-dependent\/borderline toxic relationship between critique and creativity. <\/span><\/p>

And it\u2019s all with a heavy dose of sarcasm.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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When it comes to short fiction and poetry, however, I worry less about a palatable package. Alt-lit feels like a safer place to experiment and play, where the focus is less on \u2018is it good?<\/em>\u2019 and more \u2018is it honest<\/em>?\u2019<\/p>

My short fiction allows me to explore tone, structure, and voice that would overwhelm me in novel form. My poetry is a place to sharpen my dry, confessional style and try to make paper cuts out of it.<\/p>

Alt-lit also gives me a respite from the ocean of indifference that coincides with traditional publishing. It\u2019s nigh impossible to move the needle with your writing in a genre sense; it\u2019s a highly saturated market, full of writers with aspirations, creativity, and skill. There simply aren\u2019t enough publishing outlets in the world\u2014or readers\u2014for every book to make it through the gates. Even if they are worth reading.<\/p>

I find genre to be a crowded space, with too much static for my liking on most days. There also appears to be a chronic shortage of good humor, which might say more about me than anyone else.<\/p>

I can sum up my feelings pretty easily: I enjoy my time in the circles of alt\/indie\/online lit\u2014whichever title you prefer. There is more vibrance, spontaneity, and wit to be found amongst the poets and writers there than I\u2019ve found anywhere else for a very long time<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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This month I had five different publications hit in both poetry and fiction (they\u2019re all linked on the Published Works<\/a> section of the site) and I got invited to read at Lofi Lit\u2019s<\/em> reading alongside some amazing people. It\u2019s been a really fun month getting my work out there, and a wonderful contrast to some disappointment on the genre side.<\/p>

(No sense in whinging much about that, you cannot convince someone to love something that they simply don\u2019t.)<\/p>

My next published work will be out sometime in late July (around my birthday, where I\u2019m turning approximately 102), and I\u2019ve shifted my efforts back to finishing The Patron<\/em> as quickly as possible, instead of letting myself wander any longer poetically. I\u2019ll feel better once a second novel is out there cooking.<\/p>

On my plans for my future work, I\u2019m entertaining the idea of a new chapbook of poetry, since I have around 40 poems right now that would make the cut. This is more of an idle project, since I have to admit I still haven\u2019t quite figured out what kind of collection I would be proud of, or where I\u2019d like to shop it.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Summer chugs along, and I wonder if I\u2019ll be able to catch it any time soon.\u00a0<\/p>

I really hope so.<\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>

Belatedly\u2014SMH<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I usually open these blogs with melodramatic nonsense and overwrought metaphors, but I don\u2019t think I can shoehorn this month into any kind of plucky cryptic wisdom. Wait, just give me a sec\u2014here we go: The pendulum swung hard, and this time I got caught upside the head when I wasn\u2019t looking. It\u2019s good and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":254,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,19,16],"tags":[34,48,42],"class_list":["post-250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-creative-process","category-poetry-short-fiction","category-publishing-journey","tag-author-updates","tag-poetry","tag-short-fiction","post-preview"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samanthahund.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samanthahund.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samanthahund.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samanthahund.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samanthahund.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=250"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.samanthahund.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":263,"href":"https:\/\/www.samanthahund.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250\/revisions\/263"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samanthahund.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samanthahund.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samanthahund.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samanthahund.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}