Marlena Guzowski
Bio
A quirky nerd with a Doctor of Education and undergrad in Science. Has lived in Germany, Italy, Korea and Abu Dhabi. Currently in Canada and writing non-fiction about relationships, psychology and travel as well as SFF fiction.
Stories (42)
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Kluski z Truskawkami. Runner-Up in A Taste of Home Challenge.
Environment, politics and economy shape not only what we choose to eat, but also what we can. I left Poland as a young child. It was still under communist rule at that time and shortages marked every day of everyone’s life. When people heard that meat would arrive at the butcher shop the retired grandparents would line up, and often camp out, in line in front of the store until it did. As soon as one family heard through the grapevine that there was a shipment coming to the store, grandma or grandpa would secure the family’s spot in line. Once people noticed one grandma in front of the store, news would spread and the other grandparents would rush out to join. You had to be quick. There was rarely anything good left for the last one in line.
By Marlena Guzowski11 months ago in Feast
Have you ever found a naked man in your garage?
Yes. This really happened. My husband and son were visiting family in Australia a while ago and I was left to my own devices at home, in Canada. I had been hanging out with a friend after work and got back home after dusk. I clicked the garage door open and as I was pulling the car into the garage I saw a man, wearing nothing but a towel, standing in the dark, far corner of the garage. He resembled a frightened deer, arms and legs in awkward positions and his eyes bulging out at me in confusion, the whites of his enlarged eyeballs appearing florescent in the dark.
By Marlena Guzowski11 months ago in Humans
The Incel Thing. Top Story - February 2025.
Have you noticed that articles about incels seem to be written by extremely angry members of all sexes? This spewing of raging resentment, combined with a complete unwillingness to acknowledge the other side at all has become tedious, and frankly embarrassing, to the concept of human intelligence.
By Marlena Guzowski11 months ago in Humans
How to Spot Fake Accounts and Bots on Instagram
So, you have a product you hope to promote…any product (be it your writing or something else). By a stroke of amazing luck you just got contacted by an influencer with 100k followers who would be happy to partner with you.
By Marlena Guzowski11 months ago in Lifehack
Being a Better Type of Writer
Many of us are writers here on Vocal, and I believe that all writers want to always be better writers: we want to improve our craft and have our words touch more people. That’s my goal every year. However, this year, I also want to be a better type of writer. What this means is that I don’t want to just do things to help myself. I want to do things to help other writers. I want to be one of the writers that truly supports the writing community.
By Marlena Guzowski12 months ago in Motivation
Marketing for Indie Books
If you’ve ever written anything, you’ve also read flaky articles and seen useless videos giving you advice about how to market your writing. This ‘might-as-well-be-AI-generated’ advice always includes the phrases: tell all your friends, use your network etc…Let’s get real. As writers, our hope and dream is that a person, somewhere on the other side of the globe, somehow picks up our writing and resonates with it. We want to touch people that we wouldn’t have otherwise reached. We aren’t writing for the purpose of harassing everyone we know to buy our book, whether it is relevant to them or not.
By Marlena Guzowskiabout a year ago in Writers
Sounds of the Cottage. Runner-Up in The Soundtrack of Your Year Challenge. Top Story - January 2025.
The evening that my best friend Julia texted, I was having a glass of wine with my husband. The dogs were sprawled all over us like live rugs, the windows and sliding door were open to let in the spring breeze and we were having one of those ‘intellectual masturbation’ sessions where you randomly discuss nothing and everything about life, including its meaning.
By Marlena Guzowskiabout a year ago in Beat
Men Vs. Women in Open Relationships
So, you have decided as a couple that you are ready for consensual non-monogamy (CNM). There is one thing you should know: the experiences of the man and the woman (in a heterosexual, CNM couple) will be very different. Neither has an empirically better or worse experience. In fact, both will face difficulties — simply different ones.
By Marlena Guzowskiabout a year ago in Filthy
