I think it’s reasonably safe to say, on this, the 31st day of December of the global Annus Horribilis, that very little this year has gone according to plan. I was certainly not immune to the disruptions, but as we close in on the end of the year, I am proud to say that I managed to meet one goal: I read 50 books this year. You can view the summary of my year here on Goodreads.
Y’all. Unquickened is not playing nice. This book is trying to kill me.
I don’t mean this metaphorically. I mean, seriously, characters are reaching across the boundaries of the multiverse with swords and magic and other mystical things to snuff the life out of this adolescent novel and kill me in the process.
I just have one question: Why in the holy heck am I not promoting my works of fiction?
Let me back up.
(more…)January 23, 2020 Personal, Writing 4
I think January might become my reset, reflect, rejuvenate month from now on. I might even call it a Sabbath month.
After navigating:
… the last week or so has been a welcome relief.
(more…)December 31, 2019 Personal, Writing 0
So. September, eh?
That was the last time I checked in with y’all. I’m not sure how I managed to let a whole season pass without so much as a “hey, I’m still alive” post. But then, it’s not like I’ve never done that before…
Fall was very busy for me with freelance copywriting, which was generally a good thing. I did manage to blog a little more over at Story Junction, so maybe I used all of my blogging abilities there instead of here.
In any case, I have many updates…
(more…)How strange it is to look up and discover that the only thing I have to write about today is writing.
It happened again.
I was doing my daily 1,000 words on Soultainted. Aside from our two-week road trip, I’ve been doing those words pretty much every day. I’m finding that focusing for half an hour or an hour on doing the words seems to wake up my brain. Maybe I’m finally starting to understand why some writers start every day with words…
In any case, once again, I was writing along and stumbled onto a fact about a character that I knew as surely as I know that the sun will rise tomorrow. I can’t tell you how I knew. All I can tell you is that this fact was a revelation to some of the characters in the scene, but that as soon as I typed it, I knew it was true in that world.
(more…)August 30, 2019 Business, Personal, Writing 2
… my eldest daughter is in college.
August has been mostly taken up by frantic final preparations for our big summer road trip and then the actual two-week road trip. We borrowed my in-laws’ pickup and camper and set out to have a few fun days in Idaho before dropping my daughter off in Montana for her freshman year of college. After the big move-in day and orientation, we took the two youngest and headed down to Yellowstone National Park for a quick couple of days of exploration and then headed home.
(Side note: If you are one of the folks who left a comment on a recent post and never saw it approved, let me just apologize for the languishing. I barely touched my computer for two weeks.)
So this week was a reset week.
I had to reset… basically everything.
(more…)August 9, 2019 Personal, Writing 10
I turn 50 next month.
I’ve mentioned this before. I actually think I’m okay with the number. I’m not sure I’m okay with all the myriad aches and pains that are suddenly showing up.
Milestone birthdays, though, tend to put one in a contemplative frame of mind. Couple the approaching milestone with my two oldest children moving away, and my head is bound to start down some paths that I’m going to need to process and share.
And so it is that I come to this blog–a topic that I’ve been noodling over for… maybe a couple of years, to be candid. I’ve been afraid to post about this–afraid of judgment and questions and disagreement.
I think I’m not going to fear that.
So if you’ll all forgive me, I’m just going to get kind of real and very open and maybe a little Jesus-y… And it’s quite likely that I will mightily offend some people. And I think I’m okay with that.
(more…)July 10, 2019 Personal, Writing 0
So I stumbled upon this article today, and to say that it hit home is a bit of an understatement.
I know this is really going to shock most of you… You might want to sit down when I reveal this… You ready? Hold on…
I struggle with perfectionism.
I’ll pause while you all gasp in surprise and recover your faculties.
(more…)