Chilly mornings Campfire smoke Farmer’s markets Crisp Gala apples Home-cooked chili Autumn leaves Labor Day weekend My birthday Start of the school calendar Old friends coming and going Last chance to go mountain climbing First chance to take out winter clothes End of the summer slump Beginning of harvest season Orion and the Pleiades Clear… Continue reading Reasons why September is my favorite month of the year
Tag: Thoughts and Reflections
Thoughts after finishing The Last Full Measure by Jeff Shaara
WOW. This was an amazing book. A highly memorable book. A book I will return to again and again in the future. There comes a moment when reading a truly amazing book when you don’t think that it can possibly get any better. It’s a ten out of ten, easily five stars. And then …… Continue reading Thoughts after finishing The Last Full Measure by Jeff Shaara
Why I couldn’t finish Gone with the Wind
For the past month or so, I’ve been on a Civil War kick. I watched the movie Gettysburg to celebrate July 4th, read Gods and Generals, wrote a short story about a time traveler at Gettysburg, and have been listening to a lot of Civil War music as I write. One of the books I… Continue reading Why I couldn’t finish Gone with the Wind
Why I quit Facebook
Last month, I made the decision to quit Facebook. Permanently. As in, the Facebook account that I created eight years ago as a college freshman no longer exists, unless Facebook continues to store and monetize data from its ex-users long after they’ve quit the service. Which wouldn’t surprise me at all, since Facebook is in… Continue reading Why I quit Facebook
On Amazon, Hachette, and the future of books
I sincerely believe that this is the best time in the history of this planet to be a reader. There are so many great books coming out now–so many new authors who are writing stuff that is new and different and exciting. Because of the internet, it’s so much easier to find the book that… Continue reading On Amazon, Hachette, and the future of books
Towards a new measure of writing productivity
When I decided back in college that I wanted to write professionally, I made a point of tracking my daily word counts. I even made graphs with the data, showing both my daily count and a seven-day rolling total (some of you may remember how I used to post those graphs on this blog). Tracking… Continue reading Towards a new measure of writing productivity
F is for Fear
I was going to do a post on something more mundane like ebook formatting, but the comments in one of last week’s posts convinced me to step back a bit and deal with this subject: fear. Fear is huge, especially for writers. It lies at the heart of what we call writer’s block, and is… Continue reading F is for Fear
Further thoughts on the drama in the SF&F community and a rescinding of some previous thoughts
About a year ago, there was a big discussion in the science fiction & fantasy community about sexual harassment and sci-fi conventions. As a result of that discussion, allegations were thrown out about a certain senior editor at Tor, rumors began to fly, and through what some might characterize as popular justice and others might… Continue reading Further thoughts on the drama in the SF&F community and a rescinding of some previous thoughts
Update on 2014 Resolutions
So since it’s February now, I figure it’s worth checking back on my January resolutions to see how horribly I’ve failed how well I’m doing. Here goes! 1. Publish something every 6 weeks. I’m actually still on track with this one. The next 6 week deadline is February 15, and if all goes well I… Continue reading Update on 2014 Resolutions
Lindsey Stirling, Nichieri, Susan Boyle, and thoughts on discoverability and greatness
I saw a couple of things on Youtube that made me think recently about the importance of quality work, especially in the arts. I’m a casual fan of Lindsey Stirling–I’ve watched most of her videos, put them on in the background from time to time, and get a kick out of following her career. For… Continue reading Lindsey Stirling, Nichieri, Susan Boyle, and thoughts on discoverability and greatness