Sometimes, I get a story published on the first try. Sometimes, it’s more like the eighth. Or more. It’s a little random. I take a boomerang approach to submitting: As soon as it comes back with a rejection, I send it back out there. Boing. Try again.

This story boomeranged out and back a few times, and it’s an odd one so I wasn’t sure I’d find it a home, but I’m glad I did. Especially since it’s all about the importance of home, and being in a place where you’re welcomed and accepted. Even if that place is the ghost of an old house that’s been razed but can’t quite let go of the neighborhood and people it loved. And the only person who can see it is a bullied girl who needs a friend.

Anyway, “The Dream of Home” is live at Luna Station Quarterly.

My Jewish-folktale retelling of “Rapunzel” also boomeranged a bit, and I don’t know if that was due to the (not entirely upbeat) story or how the world is viewing Jewish stories post-Oct 7. Even though I first wrote this story in 2021. (A Jewish folktale may have been one of the earliest versions of “Rapunzel,” and like my story, it involves the Ziz, the enormous bird who rules the skies. See Howard Schwartz’s Tree of Souls or Elijah’s Violin for more.) Fortunately, the story found a home at JUDITH, a new Jewish-focused literary magazine.

Read “When She Flew” here: https://judithmagazine.substack.com/p/when-she-flew

It’s incredibly satisfying to get stories out in the world. Hope you enjoy them.