My name is Gillian Church and I love dark, scary stories — both reading and writing them.
I was born in 1980 and grew up with a love of reading, writing ,and all things spooky. Some of my favorite books as a kid were Wait Till Helen Comes by Mary Downing Kahn, The Curse of the Blue Figurine by John Bellairs, and, of course, the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark series by Alvin Schwartz with its amazingly creepy illustrations from Stephen Gammell.
I’ve always expressed myself best through writing, even making a career out of it by writing technical documentation for software companies. I’d written creatively my entire life as well, but it wasn’t until my child was a toddler that I decided to take it seriously, in one of those moments where I feared that I was losing my entire identity to my career and parenting. I wrote some of my first flash fiction pieces on my phone while perched on the edge of the bathtub while my child played with his bath toys.
I primarily write short stories, flash fiction, and poetry and I share many of my shortest pieces both on my Instagram account (@gilliwrites) and in my Story Archive. I am currently working on a few longer projects: a novel with the working title Lovesick; a chapbook of some of my dark poetry and microfiction, Some Choose to Go; and an anthology of some of my favorite short pieces, Minuscule Miseries, which will be available in print and ebook in late 2023.
I’m originally from New York, but have spent my entire adult life in New England. I currently live in New Hampshire with my husband, young son, dog, lizard, and one very old cat. I work full time as a technical writer.
Outside of writing and work, I love to read, acquire books, spend time in nature, spend time with my family, and dabble in different hobbies from miniatures to gardening. I love to learn and try new things whenever I can, which I think is part of what draws me to creative pursuits.