Month: December 2013

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Sentential Links

Time for links! These are all from a new thing I’m participating in over in the Twitterverse, called “Monday Blogs”. You link a blog post of your own using the hashtag #MondayBlogs, and then you visit others doing the same thing, retweeting as you see fit.

:: So there it is – that’s why I need to silence my inner critic instead of allowing it to silence me. I enjoy writing. I delight in it even when the words don’t flow and my brain fights me for every syllable. I have fun building worlds and filling them with characters that speak to me. I love creating something where there was only a negative space (a blank sheet of paper) moments beforehand.

:: I’m working on my next novel and I’ve had an idea. I must get the scene out of my head and onto the page before I forget. Step back everyone. Give the actors room to breathe. Are we ready? Lights. Camera. Action!

:: I think if you asked people where they wanted to spend the holiday season (whatever holiday you celebrate), a hospital would not be anyone’s location of choice.

:: I will not have finished the program I am in, but I have decided to quit school and get writing. I will probably end up going back in the future to finish the degree, but for now, I am going to write and write and write.

:: Once you have made a few long-distance cycle trips, minimalist living comes naturally. Most of us found out the hard way. The pain involved in struggling up hills, knowing that so much of your effort is given over to hauling a load of crap one does not need, is agonising. Worse still is being told by a cycle mechanic that overloading is the reason for your broken luggage rack, spokes or wheel rim.

:: Most writers I know hear the whisper of their writing in their ears regularly, and often at the most inconvenient times: during work, at the dinner hour, driving to and from obligations and then some. There’s nothing like the holiday season, with its emphasis on giving to others, to force even more distance between you and your words. And yet, precisely because of the extra pull on your time, it’s important to find a way to keep some of your creativity alive for yourself at this time of year. I don’t know about you, but a little tendril of resentment (directed at nobody in particular) can creep into my spirit when I don’t get writing time.

:: I flip the page on my 365 Nouns and Adjectives Calendar to reveal November 30, 2012. Sure, we’re heading into December; it’s literally around the corner, or in this case, on the next flip. But hey, plenty of time to do all the stuff that needs to be done before December 25. I’m still enjoying the Thanksgiving afterglow, and then I flip.

More next week! Or not. Busy month, you know.

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Your Daily Dose of Christmas

Just once, I’d like to be in a large public space where a surprise “flash mob” but of musicmaking happens. And if it happened to be one of the ensembles of our armed forces, I think I’d burst into tears on the spot.

Here’s what happened at the Smithsonian, when the United States Air Force Band showed up.


(BTW, these musicians are highly-trained and high-educated individuals who go through an audition process that is as rigorous as those for professional symphony orchestras. Being in the Air Force or Marine Band isn’t like joining band in college.)

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“We need Kate, and we need Leo, and we need them NOW.”

A dumb article attacking Love Actually is making the rounds, so I’ll just re-link the post I wrote five years ago on the movie: “Let’s get the shit kicked out of us my love!”.

I’d add that the film isn’t just about romantic love. It’s about so many kinds of love, all of them listed by Hugh Grant in the movie’s opening minute. Young Samuel’s love story isn’t even about his own romantic love: it’s a backdoor entry into a story about the love between stepfather and stepson.

The movie also shows, quite rightly, that love is a different thing for different people. For some it’s about finding the person to spend life with; for others, love’s about the life that’s been built. And for still others, it’s simply about finding someone to “shag”.

There are times when I read articles like this and I wonder if the point isn’t really to just provide the world with a bit of half-arsed contrarianism. I think of people who seemingly walk the earth in search of things with which to disagree.

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Sunday Burst of Weird and Awesome

Oddities and Awesome abound!

:: Why oh why oh why would anyone think to make this a goal of theirs?!


I’m sorry, folks, I can get behind a lot of daredevil stuff, but that’s just batshit crazy.

:: Never liked that Rossini fellow.

More musician-on-musician insult goodness here.

(Oh, and Stravinsky’s insults of Rachmaninov? He can bite me, too!)

All for this week. Maybe more next week — but boy howdy this is a busy month already, and here’s me, with TWO active writing projects….

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Writing: It only LOOKS boring!

I’ve taken enough writing-related photos over the last grumble-grumble years that it finally struck me: I needed to collect them in a Flickr set. So, here’s the Flickr set. Mostly screengrabs of my writings or word counts, or photos of me sitting at various desks, staring at my computer screen as I attempt to force the English language to do my bidding.

It’s a living…or it will be…oh yes, it will be….

EditorCat puts his two cents in. #Lester #CatsOfInstagram #AmWriting

What I did on lunch break today: Maps! Mapping helps plan the tale. #AmWriting #fantasy

Twirling my pen whilst working on some backstory details. #AmWriting

I won! I'd like to thank the Academy.... #AmWriting #NaNoWriMo

The creative process. Text swiped from Twitter. #AmWriting #NaNoWriMo

Lester is silently judging my writing.

My writing perch for a week. Note the Dark&Stormy cocktail...lots of rum consumed! #CapeMay #AmWriting

Why yes, writing is exciting! #AmWriting

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