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First Breath gets inside brilliant opening paragraphs. What they're doing, how they sound, why they work—one paragraph, up close, every Friday. I’ve looked at paragraphs from Eugene Marten, Lisa Taddeo, and Chris Dennis so far, with a new post scheduled for every week of 2026.

I’m Kimberly King Parsons—my debut story collection Black Light was longlisted for the National Book Award, and my novel We Were the Universe won the Oregon Book Award and was a finalist for the LAMBDA Literary Award for Bisexual Fiction. I teach at Pacific University’s MFA program and I co-created The Fountain, a platform for creative writers (find us when you need guided meditations, monthly classes, intensives, coaching, or someone to remind you that you’re not broken, writing is just hard).

First Breath is free for now, but subscribe to show love, keep full access to the newsletter and publication archives, and get Cool Stuff TBD. Become a Founding Writing Member and 1) I’ll love you forever, and 2) I’ll close-read your opening paragraph and write a 1000-word analysis.

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