Mental Meanderings
Good morning, Blogland. We woke up early today so we could get our AC unit fixed (again), and now I’m sitting in my office sipping iced coffee trying to make sense of the putty in my brain. This is a good thing! This summer break has been very different than I’d hoped (so far). A lot less adventure and a lot more lounging, but it’s been good for my creative muscle. I’m reading widely, getting into a twitter routine that isn’t completely soul-sucking, and writing whatever clamors to be written. I’ve also been experimenting with poetry, basically since the pandemic started. Back in the summer of 2020 poetry was the only writing I could do. The words came in a trickle, and the best I could do by them was to arrange them in interesting little lines. Currently, I have folders of poetry organized by year (2020, 2021, 2022) for a…
Goals Summary 2022 – Wk #26
It’s the 4th of July, which means exactly one thing: I must listen to “4th of July” by Soundgarden today. That’s it. That is the one thing that MUST happen today. In fact, it’s happening right now! Any other “celebrations” will not be had. I may even be a real curmudgeon and complain loudly about amateur fireworks and the inherent danger of letting drunk people blow things up, you know, as a treat. It’s the least I deserve as a newly minted second class citizen in this “great country.” ANYWAY! Let’s talk goals! Last Week Finish Something Sulfurous Read two books by July 1st Post a chapter of fanfic Look at old short stories How’d I Do? Finish Something Sulfurous Yep. Yep yep yep! It is done and the first round of queries have been sent! Read two books by July 1st Yes! Thanks(?) to a migraine, I listened to an audiobook…
State of the Author – 2022
I wrote a post like this last year, over on the old site. There hadn’t been much productivity in 2021. Posts were inconsistent, but the summer saw a sort of rejuvenation for me. I was thinking about writing for the first time in a long time and I was so damn excited about it, that I couldn’t help but take some time to look at the big picture of my work and feel good about it. Since it is officially the last half of the year, I thought it was high time to take a look at how I’m doing. Not just how I’m doing re: 2022 Goals, but what my story stats look like, what news has come out this year, and what projects I’ve finished, and what are still on the table. So let’s. First thing’s first, what is this year’s mantra? REACH This year’s intention is meant…
The Recap – June 2022
Well, being on Day 9 of quarantine wasn’t how I planned to spend the last weeks of June, but here we are. What impact did that have on the month? Let’s find out! June Goals Finish Something Sulfurous revision Polish and submit The Finest Creation of an Artful God Write two chapters of Victoria How’d I Do? Finish Something Sulfurous revision YES! YESYESYESYESYES! It is finished! Polish and submit The Finest Creation of an Artful God Yep. Yeppity-yep. This story is done and on submission. Write two chapters of Victoria Yes. Ahem, most definitely yes. Maybe more like… six chapters? Or you know., all of them? Total Word Count: 20,389 Oh, how not having to go to work every day suddenly makes way for writing endeavors. Being quarantined has also been helpful, in its own way. I haven’t been too ill, but being unable to leave the house means I’ve been in writing mode for basically two weeks…
Goals Summary 2022 – Wk 25
Yes, yes. I’m aware that it’s Sunday. I know! I know I usually post these summaries on Mondays. But my “week” starts on Sunday, so I always write these things on Sunday, I just don’t usually post them until Monday. So, psych! I gotcha! Honestly, though, I don’t know if I’m just ahead of the of the game because I’ve been stuck in the house all week (Trev tested positive for COVID on Wednesday), or if I’d be this motivated (writing-wise) even if I could run to the grocery store. Quarantining sucks, but I’m making the most of it, I guess. It’s been a doozy of a week, so let’s get into it! Last Week Revise >30 chapters of Something Sulfurous Write >500 words of Victoria Revise and submit The Finest Creation of an Artful God Keep working on fics Record Podcast Episode How’d I Do? Revise >30 chapters of Something Sulfurous No. BUT,…
Book Report: #TheLongestDay
This post probably should have happened yesterday, but there was absolutely no juice left in the tank to talk about anything even remotely writing related. Also, we found out we’d been exposed to COVID yesterday and Trevor tested positive, so I really viewed the day as one of rest and resetting. Today is a day of action, I think. We’re quarantining through the first week of good weather here in like, 10 months, so I’m sunbathing on the front porch as I write this. I’m going to write this post, work on this month’s newsletter, and then do some choring around the house so Trevor doesn’t have to convalesce in a sty. But, first things first, how did The Longest Day go? The Longest Day So, I’ve already had a whole blog post introducing the idea – I won’t rehash all that here. But, to sum up, a bunch of…
Goals Summary 2022 – Wk #24
“O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend The brightest heaven of invention, A kingdom for a stage, princes to act And monarchs to behold the swelling scene!” – Henry V Prologue, Shakespeare It is 5:32am as of the writing of this post. Six minutes ago, Ben Gorman read the entire Prologue of Henry V (this is just the first few lines) to a Zoom room of sleepy-eyed writers to kick off the start of #TheLongestDay. If you don’t know what that is, check out my post about it or head over to the “Latest” page to see the announcement. Now lets get to the meat and potatoes of this thing. Last Week Revise >30 chapters of Something Sulfurous Write >500 words of Victoria Connect with last Beta Reader re: The Finest Creation of an Artful God Keep working on fics Record Podcast Episode How’d I Do? Revise >30 chapters of Something Sulfurous…
Goals Summary 2022 – Wk #23
It’s Monday, and while this post is on time, I’m feeling very far behind in basically every other aspect of my writing life. Let’s take a look at why! Last Week Revise >20 chapters of Something Sulfurous Revise and submit The Finest Creation of an Artful God Finish next chapter of my Horizon Forbidden West fic/post new chapters of various fanfic projects Write >500 words of Victoria Record podcast episode How’d I Do? Revise >20 chapters of Something Sulfurous Fun fact. My printer ran out of toner and I started running low on paper. I used that as a not-so-convincing excuse to avoid revision and work on other things. Revise and submit The Finest Creation of an Artful God See above re: paper and toner shortage. Finish next chapter of my Horizon Forbidden West fic/post new chapters of various fanfic projects Yes? I had to go back and confirm, but yes. I finished that chapter of my Horizon Forbidden…
The Longest Day
Memory is such a strange part of the human experience. Some memories are just so visceral, recordings of moments that shaped us, nevermind their seeming insignificance. Meanwhile, others fade away to brief flashes and fuzzy imprints, no matter how desperately we want to cling to them. I distinctly remember when I learned about the longest day of the year. I was seven, and didn’t understand what a solstice was, or what it really meant as far as planetary movements and their impacts on weather and temperature. That all went (and, let’s be honest, still kinda goes) over my head. But, I knew that, when my dad woke me up far too early on our Pacific Northwest vacation, the sun shouldn’t be up yet. We were in Newport, Oregon, on our way to see Keiko at the Oregon Coast Aquarium. It was my first visit to the PNW, and even as…
Goal Summary 2022 – Wk #22
Two weeks in a row! How many weeks counts as a habit? Asking for a friend… Last Week Polish/submit The Finest Creation of an Artful God Revise >10 chapters of Something Sulfurous Write ~500 words of Victoria Finish the current chapter of my Horizon Forbidden West fanfic Read something How’d I Do? Polish/submit The Finest Creation of an Artful God Lol. Nope. Did not look at this project at all this week. Revise >10 chapters of Something Sulfurous Yes! This revision is mostly line level stuff, which is my jam! It’s much easier to convince myself to do these sorts of revisions, lemme tell ya. Write ~500 words of Victoria Hahahahahahahahahaha. No. Finish the current chapter of my Horizon Forbidden West fanfic Nope. But I did work on it a little (and on another fic, shhhhh) so that seems good. Read something Nope. Or at least, I didn’t finish reading anything. Weekly Word Count: 1,147 So… this week…