Writing started as a way to make sense of things when nothing did.
joel l, 2026
1
TELL US ABOUT YOU.
I’m a scale technician in Massachusetts, a father, a lifelong martial artist and a writer. I’ve worked in environmental clean-up, solar, bio-tech, construction, and maintenance.
In no particular order, I have trained under a Soviet SAMBO coach, thrown axes competitively, slept on an island in a swamp for 6 months and found myself rebuilding my life from scratch more than once.
Most of my writing grows out of two places, a fascination with the strange and unknown, and the feelings that surround desperation, wonder, dread, connection and discovery.
2
how does the cover photo capture who you are?
I chose to overlay two photos, effectively putting my face, in a goofy state of mind at work, onto an oscilloscope screen.
My writing revolves around the idea of finding the signal in the noise, so I think this captures that in a way.
3
In one sentence, what are you trying to change?
I am trying to change my life in ways that are both meaningful and material.
Writing started as a way to make sense of things when nothing did, and as a sort of pressure valve. Over time it became a way to build narratives that explore absurdity, reveal hidden horrors, real or imagined, and examine the strange systems we build around ourselves.
If I am doing it right, I am leaving readers thinking about something from a slightly different angle.
Joel L, 2026
4
What did you notice was broken that made you start writing?
Life. Literally everything.
I was in the desolate middle ground of rebuilding my life.
I had survived a deep depression and suicidal ideation, homelessness (by sleeping on a swamp island for 6 months to avoid staying in the shelter system which was not safe), and was finally able to rent a room, to get a roof over my head.
The middle part is often the hardest: it lasts longer, and the goals stretch further away and seem more and more unlikely.
In a nutshell, I was seeking connection after having lost everything, and a way to express myself.
I’m still there, in that middle part, but I see things very differently now, mostly because of the people I have met through writing on Substack.
5
If you could manifest a brighter tomorrow, what would change by 2030?
Single payer health coverage, no more tying healthcare to employment.
Subsidized housing, specifically starter homes, tiny houses, and micro communities.
Less glorification of greed, more encouragement towards compassion and kindness.
6
How would your closest friends describe you?
Imaginative, resilient, a little dark.
7
What’s a challenge that changed how you see the world?
Without a doubt, it would be the six months I spent sleeping on a swamp island.
It gave me perspective and reinforced the importance of connection, compassion, and kindness.
8
What are you most proud of right now?
I would say my writing and audio creations. Particularly my ongoing survival horror series, Echo Rift.
Echo Rift is an epic survival horror saga set in the ruins of a transformed world. What begins as a fight to survive a sudden collapse becomes a journey through hidden communities, impossible phenomena, cryptic broadcasts, and forces that do not belong in any human understanding of reality. At its heart, Echo Riftis a story about family, loyalty, sacrifice, and the thin line between hope and oblivion, told against a backdrop of growing cosmic dread and relentless tension.
9
On hard days, what kind of signal from your readers keeps you going?
Just knowing people are reading is usually enough. But it certainly helps to hear when something really lands with someone.
10
WHAT ARTICLE WOULD YOU WANT YOUR New Readers TO READ FIRST?
This is a difficult question as my first instinct is to point people to my fiction.
But I think the piece that best expresses how I have changed as a person in the last few years, particularly by the act of writing and sharing the work, would be Leaving Shelter.
For me, it was an easy choice. The only choice, really. When others questioned my decision, my response was always the same. “The wilderness, animals, are predictable. People, are not.”
It wasn’t just a physical act.
It was symbolic.
It was my body doing what my soul had been begging me to do for years:Walk away from the systems built to contain me, and into a space that demanded honesty over performance.
If you could recommend another writer to be featured on Not Rising, who would it be ?
Nathan Hatch. He has a unique creative edge and writes without hedging or apology.
