My idea for a novella challenge fell on fertile soil and at least two friends are interested in trying it with me. Another friend is considering it. So this may happen after all. Obviously the first thing to do if I want to do a novella challenge is to set up a reading list for…
Month: September 2020
A Novella Challenge?
The High Holidays are in the rear view mirror now. I always hope that I will emerge from them refreshed and a bit better. Sometimes that happens. Sometimes not. This year’s is still a question. Steve and I slept far more than we expected and were more tired and weak than is normal for Yom…
Editing and Yom Kippur
I mentioned that Yom Kippur is the day of atonement in Judaism, a deeply spiritual day for Jews around the world. But at the same time it has a core of pragmatism to it because we Jews are deeply pragmatic people. When we atone, we are not just trying to “get right with God” as…
Yom Kippur and Other Details
Tomorrow evening at sunset Yom Kippur begins and continues through Monday at sunset. My intention is to write and schedule a post to run Monday morning to keep this blogging streak alive, but will otherwise be out of contact for that period. Yom Kippur is our Jewish day of fasting, prayer and atonement. It is,…
Three Beautiful Things
I wrote and discarded two posts today because they were too self-indulgent and because I don’t need to wallow. Instead I’m going to share a piece of my art and tell you three things that I think are beautiful. Here is the art. Sir Morien learns that the dryad who seduced him with music and…
Flash Carolyn!
I’ve taken several different courses on how to write flash fiction, trying to find one that will speak to me, but after each I remained mystified and couldn’t do it. The best was from Mary Robinette Kowal who explained to me that flash fiction needs to have the same try-fail cycles as a regular short…
Bookcase of Wonders
Let me be honest here. I jumped into ebooks and never looked back. It was my dream come true, a never-ending library of titles that I could read whenever I wanted and no one could see (or judge) what I read. Plus I could change the font size to whatever I felt like. Plus, I…
In the Mud and Slush
Cat Rambo, an editor and writer I greatly admire, is putting together a science fiction anthology on relationships of love and friendship. I can’t divert any more of my writing time to it so I asked if I could be one of her slushers. She says I’m on the list. I’m excited for the chance…
Anthology Review: A Phoenix First Must Burn
Between reading for classes, reading to figure out how other people write great short stories, and reading short stories when I’m too tired or busy for a novel, I read a lot of anthologies. In a conversation with someone on Twitter I realized that I almost never review or recommend the anthologies I read. I…
RBG, My Father, and the Future
This is the final Rosh Hashanah post for the year and it deals with the future, particularly a spiritual take on my future. I’ve thought about death all weekend. First, because Ruth Bader Ginsburg, one of my heroes and a truly good person, died at the beginning of the holiday. Second, because this is my…