Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com My self confidence and self-worth are areas I have struggled with for most of my life. Writing is also a critical aspect that I have tied to my self identity, and therefore, is also connected my self confidence and self-worth. In 2025, there has been constant ebbs and flows regarding my writing. Creatively, I felt lost at times.

Photo by Mike Bird on Pexels.com Author's note: This was originally written for a contest for Writing Battle in Spring 2024. I was tasked with writing a 500-word piece of flash fiction with three prompts. This was the end result. Story written by me and (c) me (Kelly Perriello) 2024/2025. I’d been dreaming about home, but the pigeon cooing brought me out of sleep.

Write. Read. Win. A competitive writing platform for storytellers around the world. Receive oodles of feedback. Join the most supportive writing community on the web. You up for the chal...

Write. Read. Win. A competitive writing platform for storytellers around the world. Receive oodles of feedback. Join the most supportive writing community on the web. You up for the chal...

Author’s Note: This is a short story I wrote for Writing Battle’s 2025 Nanofiction Challenge this past August. All work is (c) 2025 to Kelly Perriello (me). Jamie bounced lightly on the worn, vermillion motel bed. The ancient springs squeaked. “I can hear myself getting tetanus as we speak,” she muttered. “Don’t think too much about it,” I told her. I dropped our bags by the door as a light layer of something exploded from the impact.

My first bodyboarding experience after a 9 year hiatus.

In late 2024 through mid 2025, I had the opportunity to help edit and do the layout of two free PDFs for a local self defense company, Applied Defense Concepts. I assisted in editing text for clarity and conciseness and help format and develop the layout in the two free PDFs with the writer of the ebooks.

An old picture of my writing from around 2014. I started working on a novel a couple of years ago after having years of writing block. It is a fantasy novel that blurs the lines between a few other genres. There’s a universe I had created in my early 20s that I came back and visited with a new character now.

First Street Jetty - August 2025 - Photo by me // (c) Kelly's Surf Words 2025 Hurricane Erin, as of writing this, is a category two hurricane that is passing off the coast of the Outer Banks and the upper East Coast, making a run towards the North Atlantic. While it wasn't considered a direct hit by any means, there was a lot of overwash down on the Outer Banks, particularly Hatteras Island.

It started as an intrusive thought one October afternoon in 2023. I wanna learn to sword fight. As a teenager, I immersed myself in Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean, and all sorts of fantasy stories, so when I think of sword fighting, it is knights, long swords, and all those stereotypes of medieval fantasies. But no one does that anymore.

Photo by Jessica Lewis ud83eudd8b thepaintedsquare on Pexels.com I’ve been dealing with burnout and just being overwhelmed with everything since last year. Going back to school (again!), work…