🆆 Hi! Where Do You Want to Go?

Find all the Micro Monday newsletters (and prompts) here.

Find all the Live Writing Session replays (and downloads) here.

Find the current Writing Workshop on Substack here.

View “Three Things” conversations with short prose authors here.

See where I’m teaching next here.

🆆 Welcome to Writer-ish with Darien Gee

Our most powerful stories often emerge from small moments and careful attention.

My current passion lies in micro prose (300 words or less), a form that helped me transform a 90k+ novel into an award-winning chapbook of 36 prose poems. I’ve used it to create short vignettes between full-length chapters in my novels. I’ve written and edited multiple micro prose collections and anthologies.

My goal on Substack is help others tell their stories using the micro prose form, to de-mystify writing and writing careers, to explore questions around what it means to be a writer.

For over two decades I’ve helped writers get out of their own way so they can create their best work. I lean pretty hard into writing about family, ancestry, and everyday moments.

I've built my literary career by listening to what is true for me and my work. This includes writing that's fun and commercial as well as writing that pays the bills. I pushed through even when people told me I was doing it wrong or wasn’t good enough. I've taken detours and had long stretches of non-writing while finding my way. Each pivot taught me something new about paying attention to what I needed as a writer.

🆆 Why subscribe?

• For those who have a story to tell, but don’t know how to begin

• For writers ready to experiment with compression and form

• For writers who are generating work but struggle to see the bigger picture

• For those who want structure and accountability, but also encouragement and tools to cross the finish line

• For writers interested in exploring how micro prose can be a powerful stepping stone to larger projects

• For writers who want to build publication credits through both individual pieces and prose or hybrid chapbooks/collections

• For those ready to connect with how they move through the world using their words

I believe in starting where you are, wherever you are. I’ll join you there.

🆆 What You Can Expect

Paid subscribers receive:

• Micro Monday newsletter: Out Mondays via email, offering a prompt and a quote

• Live Writing Sessions: Access to all 10-minute live writing sessions and replays, including bonus download content (micro formatting guides, sample work, templates) and a weekly challenge to move your writing forward.

• Writing Workshops on Substack: Exclusive access to my 3-week micro prose writing workshops on Substack

• “Three Things” series: Exclusive access access to my “Three Things" series with short prose authors (including Abigail Thomas, Beth Kephart, Nick Flynn, Beth Ann Fennelly, Kathy Fish), where we look at 1-3 pieces of their short work and then they share a writing tip and prompt

• Writer-ish.com: Receive 20% off all Micro Memoir Workshops on my website, Writer-ish.com

🆆 Meet Darien

I'm an international bestselling author (published as both Mia King and Darien Gee with Penguin Random House), poet, essayist, and writing coach with nearly 30 years of teaching experience. My work spans multiple genres—from full-length novels published in 11 languages to award-winning micro prose and poetry collections. Notable works include Other Small Histories (Poetry Society of America Chapbook Fellowship Award), Nonwhite and Woman: 131 Micro Essays on Being in the World (IPPY Silver Award), and Allegiance (IPPY Bronze Award). Most recently, I served as the Third Distinguished Mark Twain Writer-in-Residence at the University of Connecticut, following Alexander Chee and Justin Torres. I received my MFA at 50 from the Rainier Writing Workshop, because you’re never too old to keep learning. I’m currently under contract to write a title in the Object Lessons series for Bloomsbury Academic Publishing.

For 10+ years, I also had an accidental food blog based on my novel about Amish Friendship Bread. I sold the food blog in 2022. Around that same time I also made the decision to step away from social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X) and limit or zero out my engagement. It took me a while to say yes to Substack, but now that I’m here, I’m so so so happy.

I teach at Hugo House, Craft Talks and UCLA Extension, and offer micro prose workshops and coaching through my teaching website at Writer-ish.com. My current classes are listed here. I recently joined the board of Short Reads, an online literary journal celebrating the short form. I also serve on the Hawai‘i Island Leadership Council for Hawaiʻi Community Foundation.

I was born in St. Louis, Missouri. We moved around a lot when I was growing up—different cities in Texas, Colorado, California, Connecticut, Massachusetts. I’ve also lived abroad as a tween and a young corporate whoosie-whatsit in Hong Kong and Beijing. Now I live and write from the island of Hawa‘i, which has been my home for over 24 years. I share this beautiful space with my husband, our three kids, and our part-time dog, Akamai.

🆆 Read More Here

Here are a few places to read more about my approach to creative sustainability and writing micro:

• Three Authors on Writing With Creative Constraints on Electric Lit

• The Life-Changing Magic of Micro Prose on Brevity

• Darien Hsu Gee: Making the Most Out of Micro on Writer’s Digest

• Embracing a Creative Pivot: Q&A with Darien Hsu Gee on JaneFriedman.com

• Start Your Micro Journey Here on Writer-ish.com

• How to Travel the Distance with Micro from Craft Talks