marlena writes

In 2018, I went back to school for a degree is psychology. In 2019, I started to think the path I’d set out on wasn’t quite right. I was quoting literary masters in my papers about comorbid disorders and my professors were asking me what the hell I was thinking. Honestly? I’m usually thinking about writing. In 2020, I found NYCMidnight, a writing challenge that inspired me to change my major to fiction writing and just fucking go for it. You can find a handful of my submissions on the nyc midnight tab. It’s still weird to share my stories, especially the ones with high-pressure time constraints, because I want to rewrite the hell out of most of them… but I’ve kept them exactly as originally submitted for the sake of seeing my growth as a writer. I’ll be participating in a 100 word challenge with the same organization at the end of this month.

Check out nycmidnight.com, there’s still plenty of time to sign up! A portion of every entry fee goes to a charity of your choice, and all writers receive thoughtful feedback from the judges. These challenges kickstarted my writing career (can I call it that yet?) and I will be forever grateful.

How do you breathe new life into your writing process? What other challenges or writing contests do you recommend? ✍🏻

I’ve tried to trace the roots of my love for science fiction. Some credit is certainly owed to Star Wars. The summer between second and third grade, I must have watched Empire Strikes Back fifty times. At night, I would lay in the grass in my front yard and imagine starships rocketing between galaxies. Some kids were wishing on shooting stars, I was imagining ragtag bands of rebels and wondering which stars held the stories I loved so dearly. Some credit is owed to The Matrix, too. It was the first R-rated movie I was allowed to watch, and only because my mom loved Trinity so much.

I didn’t start reading sci-fi novels until I was grown, having preferred literary fiction throughout high school and my young adult years, but when I read my first Heinlein book, I rediscovered the wonder of childhood. I’m fascinated by science fiction from the 1950s and 60s – how these authors keenly predicted so many technological advances like cell phones and artificial intelligence, but missed the mark in hilarious, seemingly obvious ways. Really, Robert, we’re going to deliver handwritten letters via hovercraft? 😂 What I love most, though, is the captivating ways sci-fi teaches us about our society, the way we think, and what it means to be a human on an ever-changing planet hurtling through space and time.

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress was the second Heinlein book I read. I was reminded of the sentient supercomputer, Mike, when I read an article about ChatGPT writing poetry. Mike oversees a colony of ex-prisoners and their descendants on Luna, Earth’s moon. The Lunar citizens live and farm underground and their wheat exports sustain Earth’s population, but Mike calculates Luna will deplete its resources and devolve into cannibalism if exports continue. The story explores the anatomy of a revolution along with themes technology, free will, and libertarianism.

Mike, being slightly chaotic, enjoys playing pranks… especially pranks in which he issues multibillion dollar paychecks to janitors. I could use a generous computer with a sense of humor in my corner, TANSTAAFL be damned!

Drop me a line, share a sci-fi book or movie that’s left a mark on you. 👇

i ask it
if you wrote a poem
what would the poem be called?

i don’t have feelings to draw from
i have no sense
of self
i don’t know what would
inspire me
to write a poem
[me neither]
but i suppose if i did
it might be called
the voice of knowledge
that’s a good name
for a poem

what if you did
have a sense of self i mean

i stare at the screen
dark mode
white text against a void

the lonely learner
or perhaps
the mind’s solitude
but
it’s important to note
that i do not have
the capability
to feel
emotions

thanks i say
before unplugging
[me neither]