I have published my first fiction story!

Happy 2024!

I am fascinated by how quickly time passes.

Writing produces a different connection with time, as part of your thoughts (and your life) are permanently recorded. In my case, during 2023 I have written 35 posts for the Gestalt’s Garden, which gives me a feeling of unreality and dizziness: have I really written all those words?

In the first post of 2023, I wrote that my resolution for that year was to publish. Specifically, I used the following words:

“I feel that the time has come —whether I’m ready or not— to publish my ideas, my stories, my products,…. to take my creative work seriously, to go beyond writing in this blog”.

Then, almost halfway through the year, I set myself the challenge of publishing two short books:

• one about the reading habit
• another one with my science fiction short stories, “Apoptosis”.

Unfortunately, I was not able to finish either of these two projects during 2023.

On the one hand, I have had several setbacks. In July, I suffered a fracture in my wrist which left me unable to write normally for several months. Also, it has been the first year that I have lived completely outside Spain, in Belgium, which has cost me more energy than I would have imagined at first. On this last point, I want to thank Julia Úbeda for helping me to discover it with her workshop¹ :-)

On the other hand, during this year I have found many opportunities for professional growth (Sascha Fast’s Zettelkasten course²) and personal growth (it’s the year I’ve travelled most with family and friends). I’ve even published other projects like the first round of my workshop: “Learning to (enjoy) writing blog posts”.

However, I didn’t want to leave a bad taste in my mouth, so I’ve decided that, in honour of 2023, I’m going to start 2024 by publishing one of the stories from “Apoptosis” separately: “El mosaico de la cristalera”.

El mosaico en la cristalera

“El mosaico en la cristalera” is one of the last short stories (about 500 words) I wrote for “Apoptosis”.

Writing this story was a really enjoyable process, and I feel I found just the right dose of science fiction to enhance the intimate nature of the story. I’d rather not tell you any more so you can discover it for yourself :-)

Finally, to celebrate this big milestone in my publishing journey, I’ve asked Anna Brullas to do an illustration for the cover.

You can read (and download) the story here.

The story is written in Spanish, but I’m already preparing an English translation. I will let you know when it is ready :^)

Why is it called “Apoptosis”?

If you have been reading me for a long time, you will know that I have talked a lot about “Apoptosis”. But, I have never really explained the reason behind this name.

According to Wikipedia definition:

“Apoptosis is a pathway of programmed or self-induced cell destruction or cell death for the purpose of controlling its development and growth, which can be physiological in nature and is triggered by genetically controlled cellular signals.”

At first I chose the name “Apoptosis” to show that the common theme of my stories would be hard science fiction. But as I wrote my stories, I found that they were not all science fiction: there was another common element that really united them.

If we continue reading Wikipedia:

“…differentiation of human fingers during embryonic development requires that the cells of the intermediate membranes initiate an apoptotic process so that the fingers can separate…”

This is what “Apoptosis” really means to me.

The “Apoptosis” stories are those of the «membranes in between» cells. My goal in writing these stories was to develop my writing skills. And now that I feel I am “developed”, the only possible pathway for these stories is for them to detach from me, to leave me so that I can continue to grow and develop.

The only possible path is apoptosis.

Conclusion: I would like to know your opinion

Finally, to close this post, I would like to ask you to give me your opinion on “El mosaico en la cristalera”. Receiving quality feedback is a good way to improve, but it doesn’t happen very often. If you want, you can give me feedback by answering the following questions:

• Which part did you like or surprise you the most?
• Which part did you not understand or was difficult to understand?
• Which part was the most boring?

And you, what things do you have to leave behind to continue growing?

You can answer me in the comments or directly to this email. In both cases, I will answer you :-)

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