Well, technically eleven thousand words still falls into short story range. But given that I wrote ten thousand of those words in the last three days, I’m pretty pleased with myself. I have the writing brain back online, and fully operational. Between delivering the Flipped Tropes anthology shorts, the Space Cowboys short, and now getting… Read More A long story
I’ve been making joy in my life, recently. I have always tried for this, and there’s been seasons it was a lot harder to do than others. This one? It’s pretty easy, to be honest. The sun is shining, as it is more days than not here in Texas. Sure, it’s hot out there, but… Read More Joyful Outlook
That moment when you find yourself with so much to do, and so little time, not to mention mental energy, that you are sitting in front of the bookshelf indulging in a little light research instead of doing anything else. Even the research is kinda useless, because there’s no writing brain. The writing brain has… Read More Too Much
I’ve seen this meme thing floating around on social media for a while, now, but my friend Bill sent it to me last night, saying it reminded him of me. Since he’s seen what my library used to be… yeah. He’s not wrong! But it makes me happy, because I was that little girl… Read More Emergency Books
Me? Well, I’ve finished a couple of good reads just recently, because no can brainy for writey, but reading is coming back online. That’s a good sign. I’ll write up full reviews soon… But if I look at my Kindle app, I’ve got several going. I’m sure I’m not alone in mood reading, and… Read More What are you Reading?
I was listening to a podcast at work, as I often do to occupy my mind while my fingers are busy with mindless tasks, and a line caught me ‘you can only read so many books in your life.’ The speaker then went on to recommend a documentary on Netflix. So instead of reading, you… Read More So Many Books
A few days ago the First Reader found a list of ’18 Classic Books Every Man Should Read in 2018′ and being an avid reader for over fifty years now, he clicked on it and read through their list. A little bit later, he made a snort of derision. “Most of these are crap,” he… Read More Classic Books Every Man Should Read
I was listening to a podcast presenting a brief biography of Andrew Carnegie the other day, and although I’m somewhat familiar with the man, and very familiar with his legacy of libraries, I think the philosophy that led him to establish more than 2500 libraries bears repeating, and often. He believed that compiling knowledge in a… Read More Autodidactism
Unlike the Norwegian Parrot, I’m not pinin’ for the fjords. I can attest, however, that the flu is no fun. And having spent three days in bed with my husband, the dialogue was steamy: “Did you turn up the heater?” “No.” “I’m so cold… No, I’m so hot.” “Where’s the thermometer?” “If your temp goes… Read More Aten’t Dead Yet
I must confess, I have been a somewhat cranky reader recently. Here’s the thing: I hear complaints about the quality of books available in KU all the time. Having my own in that pool makes me wince a little when I see those criticisms. But… It’s all true. You know what else is true?… Read More Books to Avoid: Cranky Book Reviews
I was contemplating serializing a novellette on the website – basically publishing it in 1500 word segments, then when it was complete, taking all those posts down and publishing it. This would, in theory, have given my readers here a freebie. But there wasn’t much interest, and after chatting with a friend and fellow reader,… Read More Morning, But No Serial
Or: How to Coax your Brain into Cooperating This is a two-part post, in which the parts are related, but different techniques will work best. Actually, different techniques will work for each person, since we’re all motivated uniquely. There are, however, some human commonalities that I can tap into which might help spark an idea…… Read More Forcing Fiction