It's Friday, Issue #58: "My Twin"
The story behind the story
Today from the dreams-really-do-come-true department: The Atlantic published my short story. Here is gift link to read it!
“My Twin” is about a divorcée named Simone who confronts her mysterious doppelgänger. It’s fun and sad (and maybe funny?) and (definitely!) fucked up.
Here’s the opening paragraph:
After my divorce was finalized, I quit my job. I quit my book club. My monthly poker game. I canceled my gym membership and my weekly tennis lesson. I deleted my social-media accounts. I left every group text.
And here’s a paragraph from a couple of pages later, about the narrator’s divorce lawyer:
I imagine Min Epstein in her black blazer, her black Gucci loafers with the gold horse bits shined to a buff, her black hair pulled into a neat chignon. She’s behind the wheel of her gleaming black Tesla, its console screen imparting essential information as she blasts her way down La Cienega like the sleekest astronaut. Does traffic even exist for someone like Min Epstein? She is my age, 42. She calls herself child-free, whereas I say my dreams of children were crushed when my marriage collapsed.
I’m not sure anyone reads short stories online, but I think you should read this one because you’ll enjoy it.
**I’ll pause here for you to go read my story and be totally transported!**
*
I thought I’d describe the process of writing and publishing “My Twin” since you don’t usually hear these behind-the-scene details. Like the story itself, getting “My Twin” in The Atlantic had some interesting twists and turns.
Pony up to become a paid subscriber to get all the deets.