What if there was an alien language that humans felt in their bodies more than in their ear drums? And what if those feelings and interpretations were uncomfortable to humans? That’s what I’m playing with in my newest short story. This is one I’ve shared part of before, the one with the murderous toddler. I…
Tonight, I attended another of the excellent writer’s workshops put on by Creative Colloquy. The topic was to emphasize the role of observation in our work as writers. Tiffany Aldrich MacBain led us through examples and exercises. We used a guide she’d given us in collecting information based on observation and then spun a scene…
Groggy eyes open, shut again in a denial of the presence of daylight. Roll over, snuggle my sweetheart, fall back to sleep. Slowly coming to consciousness again. Sound of the ceiling fan and the birdsong coming from outside through the small opening in the window. We’re at about 2500 feet above sea level, with a…
This morning I’m thinking about beginnings and endings. I am fascinated and envious about brilliant, compelling beginning paragraphs. The start to a story is a welcome mat, an open door revealing an entire world for the reader to explore. Drawing them into that world is the job of the beginning paragraphs. Thinking about beginnings led…
I was probing my mental status this morning and trying to find a word to describe how I’ve been feeling for the last week and it came to me – doldrums. I’m in the doldrums. My mental ship has been becalmed. The thing about your ship being ‘becalmed’ is that it is not calming. Doldrum…
Creative Colloquy has adapted well to the covid-19 shut-in lifestyle so many of us have found ourselves in this past year. They’ve hosted online readings, workshops and other gatherings. I’ve been participating in everyone I can schedule myself for, which is 100% more than I had been attending when the events were hosted at brick-and-mortar…
I worked on my novel 5 of 7 days this last week. Time-wise, most of my work was editing of the first draft written in November. In terms of impact, yesterday’s work was the homerun. When I wrote during NaNoWriMo, it was fast and furious and often a decision I’d made days or weeks prior…
I realize it would be good to come up with a real title for my work-in-progress. For now, I’m calling it Life is Like an Amusement Park, though I don’t think that truly fits what’s happening in the story. So The Haunted Amusement Park? The Mystery of the Haunted Amusement Park? Sounds very Nancy Drew…
Brené Brown ends her Unlocking Us podcast with a rapid fire set of questions for her guest. One of these is, to paraphrase, ‘When you are full of fear, about doing something, what do you do?‘ Tell me if this situation sounds familiar, at least from pre-COVID times. You’re somewhere in a group. Maybe it’s…
Last year I read 33 books. This is well shy of my goal of 50, though I am pleased with the quality of what I read. I’ll share my list and some of my impressions. I’d love to hear what your favorite reads of 2020 were. Sandman Vol. 8, Neil Gaiman, et al. On Earth…