Leigh Victoria Phan, MS, MFA
Bio
Writer, bookworm, sci-fi space cadet, and coffee+tea fanatic living in Brooklyn. I have an MS in Integrated Design & Media and an MFA in Fiction from NYU. I share poetry on Instagram as @SleeplessAuthoress.
Achievements (7)
Stories (175)
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What I Learned Writing 24k Words in 5 Days. Top Story - October 2025.
If you’re struggling with your book, you need to surrender yourself to your story. You don’t have to give up — you really shouldn’t do that. But you might just need to surrender yourself to let the story go where it wants to.
By Leigh Victoria Phan, MS, MFA4 months ago in Writers
Make Way for the IT Professional
I was back at my desk in the research lab when someone I vaguely recognized from upper management burst in through the door. Her starched shirt was pristine and high-heeled pumps shone like beacons of opulence, but her expression was stricken. I looked up instinctively at the intrusion and she was upon my desk in a flash, as I was the unfortunate soul who sat closest to the door.
By Leigh Victoria Phan, MS, MFA4 months ago in Fiction
10 Humorous Quotes About the Poet’s Life
In trying times, we need some humor to get through the day. As poets, it’s incredibly easy to constantly see the glass as half-empty and dwell on the darker aspects of life. While many incredible poems have been written about dark topics or on dark dispositions, it’s impossible to live with your head in that space every day.
By Leigh Victoria Phan, MS, MFA4 months ago in Poets
The Value of a Gentle Yoga Class
There's that pull to spend all your time pushing toward something more. There’s immense pressure on you to take yourself up to the next level. Pressure to lose weight, build muscle, get more flexible, gain more endurance, so on and so forth.
By Leigh Victoria Phan, MS, MFA5 months ago in Longevity
The Crime of Her Hand in Mine. Runner-Up in The Shape of the Thing Challenge. Content Warning.
(Trigger warning for hateful language from one character in this work of flash fiction.) ~~~ Summer of 2012 The world was supposed to end a few months ago, but it didn’t. The billboard put up telling people to repent on the side of the town’s little two-lane highway still sits there, even though the anointed day of fire has come and gone. Without any flame, unsurprisingly. She’s still here, rinsing the remainder of the soap from the stained yellow sink, in the same kitchen with grease-stained walls.
By Leigh Victoria Phan, MS, MFA5 months ago in Fiction
How to Bring UX Thinking Into Your Writing
Technology and writing sometimes feel like separate islands. As writers, we usually just want the easiest, fastest tools to help our writing process. It sometimes takes a lot of prompting to get us to try new tools, even if they’re recommended by prolific writers.
By Leigh Victoria Phan, MS, MFA5 months ago in Writers
10 Things You Learn Fast As a New Writer. Top Story - August 2025.
“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.” — Stephen King There’s a lot of commentary in the writing community about what it means to live the writer’s life. It’s a little bit different for everyone, but there are a lot of commonalities that almost all writers can resonate with.
By Leigh Victoria Phan, MS, MFA6 months ago in Writers
How to Develop Discipline as a Writer
“You can live with me in this house I’ve built out of writers blocks.” ― Pete Wentz This is probably my favorite quote on writer’s block — I think my house is most certainly built out of “writers blocks.” Sometimes, you might want to take a lighter approach to work through your fatigue as a writer. You can simultaneously be productive and give yourself a creative break.
By Leigh Victoria Phan, MS, MFA6 months ago in Writers
Blame Not the Father. Runner-Up in Leave the Light On Challenge. Content Warning.
Inside the Milan Dome June 5th, 2122 8:02pm Anselmo Bianchi was a tall man who stooped to fit inside the shadows of the powerful women in his life. He slipped into the dining room so silently that his appearance was as easily ignored as the servants slipping in and out with covered platters. Perhaps it was because the Bianchis of old had the sense to pivot from textiles to a clothing designer to an environsuit developer, but the family was matriarchal.
By Leigh Victoria Phan, MS, MFA6 months ago in Fiction
