One Cobble at a Time

Emotional Journey Triggered by Revision Notes

This week I had my first experience with editorial notes on a piece of my writing that will be published. I found fascinating the emotional processes I had to dispatch so that I could focus on the suggested changes and decide how to implement them. The emotional arcs are particularly fascinating to me [...]

Thoughts on ambition in the absense thereof

My ambition appears to be AWOL right now. Not surprisingly in the absence of ambition, I’m finding it hard to feel stressed about this. I would probably be more worried about it, but it has done this before. My ambitious drive is somewhat similar to my childhood dog who would periodically escape [...]

The cupboard in my mind

I have many metaphors to explain how my mind works. I swap them out at will, using whichever one most aptly describes my experience at that moment. Today I am picturing my life as a workspace with tables, shelves, cupboards, and filing cabinets. I am finally to a place where I am [...]

Endless Saturday Afternoon

So far the summer feels like one endless Saturday. This is because all the kids are home all day, just like they are on Saturdays. So I float anchorless through the week, continually surprised to discover that today is in fact Friday (Or Tuesday, or Thursday). Sundays are anchored by church, everything [...]

CONduit this weekend

I’ll be attending CONduit this weekend and they’ve assigned me some programming.
On Friday at 2 pm I’m part of a panel called “If I Were a Space Pirate.” Unfortunately a last minute family conflict popped up and I may be late for it (or possibly absent.) If that happens I’ve arranged for Eric [...]

Stuff to do in the month of May

Today I will see Iron Man 2. It will be full of shiny explosions and not much to think about. This is good because my brain is ready for something not particularly thinky.
Balticon booth preparation: I need to ship merchandise to Balticon so that Howard has things to sell. At the [...]

Listening to the voices in my head again

Why does it matter? What do you write for? Why would anyone other than you want to read it anyway?
These thoughts come in the wake of two months when the only writing time I find is after I’ve already burned out my creative energies on book layout or parenting crises. In [...]

Thoughts on my front steps

I sat on the front steps, pavement warm against my feet. The grass needed its first mowing of the year, green only in patches, but beginning to grow. The scent of daffodils and hyacinths wafted around me, speaking happiness to my back brain. I love spring flowers. I looked down the [...]

An empty space

My first task each weekday morning is to get the kids off to school. It is chaotic and frequently frustrating, but it has gone better since I started making the kids pay attention to clocks. After I drive kids to their various schools, I come home and begin assessing what the rest of [...]

“Immigrant” is recommended

It has been brought to my attention that my short story “Immigrant” in the Ages of Wonder anthology made Tangent Online’s Recommended Reading List. This makes me very happy.