AMBER BUDD – Author

Since April is coming to a close and my final undergraduate semester is about to finish, now seems like a good time to give some updates on my recent publications and acceptances (don’t worry – my next post will be another book review).

Five pieces in total have been accepted by different magazines, and three of those five are now actively published:

“Breathe” – Just a Cuppa

“Breathe” is a sci-fi short story that I’ve been working on for about four years now. It’s seen many iterations, and previous drafts have been published in the past, but this is the final and complete version of the story. It’s completely different from what I originally imagined, and I’m extremely proud of how it has turned out after all these years.

“What We Leave Behind” – Lotto Gelato Grotto

“What We Leave Behind” was one of my first attempts at flash fiction, and I’ve been a bit obsessed with the genre ever since. I set myself a challenge with this piece to make a complete story in only six sentences. It started out as a “regular” flash fiction piece that I then condensed down into six sentences, because my brain is much better at chopping things out than making a very short piece on the first go-around. What can I say? I’ve got a lot of words to get out.

“The Hunger” – FLARE Magazine

This is my favorite piece so far to have been accepted and published. When I first heard of FLARE Magazine, there were less than two weeks before their submission deadline. So, of course, I wrote this piece in a mad dash to get it submitted to them. But it’s not my favorite because of how fast I wrote it, but because of what the story is about. FLARE is a magazine specifically centered around people’s experiences with chronic and mental illness, and I’ve spent the past twelve years of my life learning how to live with genetic chronic illnesses. This creative nonfiction story focuses on one specific aspect of those illnesses: food intolerances and hunger, and what that has meant for my everyday life. It’s a very personal piece, but I’m also so glad that it has found such a suitable home.

There are two more pieces that have yet to be published, so I will post about those once they have been made public. I hope you will give these stories a read, and that you will find them as interesting and fun as I hoped they would be!