Andy Kass
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andyasks.bsky.social
Andy Kass
@andyasks.bsky.social
29 followers 180 following 60 posts
Andy grew up on a dirt road in a swamp in New York City - Staten Island, where he writes novels and music and often turns up with a guitar. Watch for a new story in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine.
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andyasks.bsky.social
If you are anxious about performing or sharing your creative work, take a step back and consider that it just might be a matter of preparing to do your best.
open.substack.com/pub/andrewka... #anxiety #writing #editing #music #openmic #performing
THE NEXT CHAPTER – High Anxiety
Interpreting nerves as getting primed to succeed.
open.substack.com
February 3, 2026 at 1:51 PM
andyasks.bsky.social
Words on a page work best when tested by being spoken and heard. open.substack.com/pub/andrewka...
collaboration?r=24o7ym&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=tru
e #writing #editing #music #openmic #collaboration
open.substack.com
January 27, 2026 at 2:06 PM
andyasks.bsky.social
Authors must invest thought and preparation to find success in the quest to publish.
open.substack.com/pub/andrewka...
#agents #ponfarr #publication #marketing #startrek #spock
THE NEXT CHAPTER – Wanting Versus Having
Setting goals is good; achieving them can bring something else entirely.
open.substack.com
January 20, 2026 at 5:37 PM
andyasks.bsky.social
Creativity is about finding the process as much as the content in making the stories we tell.
open.substack.com/pub/andrewka...
#creativity #querying #writing #pitch #synopsis
THE NEXT CHAPTER – Creative Workflow
Creative pursuits require finding structures in which to be creative.
open.substack.com
January 13, 2026 at 2:20 PM
andyasks.bsky.social
To Rep. N. Malliotakis: In your next photo op with actual law enforcement officers, how do you plan to explain helping Speaker Johnson hide the plaque comemmorating the heroic sacrifice of Capitol Police officers during the January 6th insurrection? Tough having to bow to a Felon-in-Chief, isn't it?
January 8, 2026 at 12:43 PM
andyasks.bsky.social
The scariest thing we take on as writers is framing the time given over to writing.
open.substack.com/pub/andrewka...
#creativity
#taylorism
#timemanagement
#writing
THE NEXT CHAPTER – Unlearning Taylorism
Work in the creative life is not only about production.
open.substack.com
January 5, 2026 at 7:09 PM
andyasks.bsky.social
Your story’s point of view may come from a real or imagined character from history. It may be based on someone you’ve met, or (heaven help you) someone in your family…
open.substack.com/pub/andrewka...
#writing
#pov
#research
#Tolkien
#characters
#MargaretAtwood
THE NEXT CHAPTER – Choosing the Voice of Your Story
Deciding the point of view from which your story is told.
open.substack.com
December 23, 2025 at 2:32 PM
andyasks.bsky.social
Memoir offers a window to finding true people and situations for your fiction.
open.substack.com/pub/andrewka...
#writing
#characters
#memoir
#fiction
#workshop
THE NEXT CHAPTER – The Persistence of Memory
The pastness of the past and its presence in our writing.
open.substack.com
December 15, 2025 at 4:48 PM
andyasks.bsky.social
A consideration of where we come up with stories we can drive for 80,000 words while keeping readers onboard.
open.substack.com/pub/andrewka...
#writing
#improv
#AgathaChristie
#Hegel
#Poe
#Salinger
#ChinaMiéville
#GeorgeLucas
#WilliamKentKruger
#BarbaraKingsolver
THE NEXT CHAPTER – What We Write
Thoughts about how we get to what we write.
open.substack.com
December 9, 2025 at 6:45 PM
andyasks.bsky.social
History in America is taught as dates and events. How those events came to be on the dates cited, and who was left out in the telling, is where authors find and tell the stories that became the world we know.
open.substack.com/pub/andrewka...
#research
#fiction
#travel
#historical
#nypl
#LOC
THE NEXT CHAPTER – Research for Fun and Fiction
Finding the stories in history is mapping the buried treasure for your readers.
open.substack.com
December 2, 2025 at 3:12 PM
andyasks.bsky.social
A consideration of timing a step back in querying to consider the next step forward.
open.substack.com/pub/andrewka...
#writing
#agents
#publication
#querying
THE NEXT CHAPTER – Tactical Retreats
Deciding when a manuscript’s time is not ripe.
open.substack.com
November 25, 2025 at 1:43 PM
andyasks.bsky.social
A brief telling of my long strange trip to return to a creative life.
open.substack.com/pub/andrewka...
#writing
#BrooklynCollege
#TSEliot
#JohnAshbery
#MarkStrand
#SusanFrombergSchaeffer
#RichardPearse
THE NEXT CHAPTER – How I Got Here
Creativity is not a straight path.
open.substack.com
November 18, 2025 at 9:14 PM
andyasks.bsky.social
Sometimes authors need to step away from the desk, step up to a mic and perform. Here's a little guidance as I prepare to tell stories in public.
open.substack.com/pub/andrewka...
#mysterywritersofamerica
#historicalnovelsociety
#dylanthomas
#holandpress
#elleryqueenmysterymagazine
#nypl
THE NEXT CHAPTER – Prepare for a Reading
A brief guide for bringing your words to life for listeners.
open.substack.com
November 11, 2025 at 3:00 PM
andyasks.bsky.social
From Carnegie Hall and World Series Game 7, sports lessons for arts and arts lessons for sports.
open.substack.com/pub/andrewka...
#culture
#music
#performing
#writing
#LADodgers
#TorontoBlueJays
#2025WorldSeries
#TommyEmmanuel
#RichardThompson
#CarnegieHall
#MilesDavis
#YoshinobuYamamoto
THE NEXT CHAPTER – Laying It All Out
Performing at a high level doesn't necessarily mean competing.
open.substack.com
November 4, 2025 at 2:23 PM
andyasks.bsky.social
See how a writer's conference engages in the craft, business, and society of authorship.
open.substack.com/pub/andrewka...
#writing
#travel
#conferences
#atlantawritersconference
#historicalnovelsociety
THE NEXT CHAPTER – Gathering (Atlanta Edition)
A further writers conference meditation.
open.substack.com
October 28, 2025 at 2:47 PM
andyasks.bsky.social
What makes an otherwise normal human being into a writer? These and other questions from today's vantage point.
open.substack.com/pub/andrewka...
#creativewriting
#historicalnovelsociety
#mysterywritersofamerica
#publication
#QueryShark
#thenextchapter
#writing
THE NEXT CHAPTER – The Way So Far
Observations from a wide spot in the road of life.
open.substack.com
October 20, 2025 at 6:30 PM
andyasks.bsky.social
The people you invent or read on the page stay with you…
open.substack.com/pub/andrewka...
#writing
#fiction
#characters
#music
#performance
#ernesthemingway
THE NEXT CHAPTER – Shadow People
A word on the writer's imaginary friends.
open.substack.com
October 13, 2025 at 4:11 PM
andyasks.bsky.social
We don't necessarily have to create perfect stories, but we must apply ourselves to the craft to do it well.
open.substack.com/pub/andrewka...

#writing
#revision
THE NEXT CHAPTER – Visions and Revisions
A good word about your words and the process of fixing them.
open.substack.com
October 7, 2025 at 7:52 PM
andyasks.bsky.social
Reflections on the unaccustomed feelings of acceptance.
open.substack.com/pub/andrewka...
#QueryShark
#janecleland
#historicalnovelsociety
#mysterywritersofamerica
#publication
#querying
THE NEXT CHAPTER – Next Step
You never know where you're going till you get there.
open.substack.com
September 30, 2025 at 6:24 PM
andyasks.bsky.social
@briw74.bsky.social Greetings, Brian, from a new fellow author at Holand Press. Having signed on, I am seeking impressions of the press and its author experience. Have a short story to appear soon in EQMM as well. Look forward to hearing from you. - Andy
September 30, 2025 at 12:42 PM
andyasks.bsky.social
@krisspencer.bsky.social Greetings, Kris, from a new fellow author at Holand Press. Having just signed on, I am seeking impressions of the press and its author experience. Look forward to hearing from you. - Andy
September 30, 2025 at 12:25 PM
andyasks.bsky.social
In a world full of No, a little Yes can be hard to digest. Notes from the finish line of the submission process.
open.substack.com/pub/andrewka...
#querying #publication
THE NEXT CHAPTER – Getting to Yes
You never know where you're going till you get there.
open.substack.com
September 15, 2025 at 6:33 PM
andyasks.bsky.social
You never know where you're going till you get there, but good plan can set you on a proper path. THE NEXT CHAPTER takes on mental mapping.
open.substack.com/pub/andrewka...
#creativewriting
#travel
THE NEXT CHAPTER – Mapping the Journey
What's the destination of your story?
open.substack.com
September 9, 2025 at 5:55 PM
andyasks.bsky.social
Going forth is all about what you find, what you bring, and what you get to keep.
open.substack.com/pub/andrewka...
THE NEXT CHAPTER – Road Trip
The most memorable journeys may be those least planned.
open.substack.com
September 1, 2025 at 5:07 PM
andyasks.bsky.social
The next chapter of The Next Chapter: An essay on the musical performance parallels in writing.
open.substack.com/pub/andrewka...
THE NEXT CHAPTER – Showtime
When it's time to step out into the lights.
open.substack.com
August 25, 2025 at 5:03 PM