The Journey Continues

Some weeks take us across a threshold of self and when we emerge we are subtly changed in ways that are invisible from the outside. So it has been this week. I feel a bit unsteady, as if I were taking over someone else’s blog, but here I am, ready to show up for whatever…

Finding a Way Into Poetry

One of the best parts in yesterday’s inauguration was Amanda Gorman, our youngest poet laureate, reading her poem written for the day. She has a book of poems coming out, if you want more from her. With her performance I’m thinking a lot about poetry. Also, yesterday I finished looking at edit notes for the…

Smooth Sailing

Steve and I just completed Jessica Brody’s Save the Cat! Novel Writing Workshop. We found it an excellent video course, very well-organized and taught. It is based on her book of the same name and her workshops that she’s taught in person. It is a $12 a month charge to join her course Library, but…

Steve Jackson Games Kickstarter

Steve Jackson Games started their Pyramid Schemes Kickstarter this morning and it has already blown through its base and is now into stretch goal territory. The Kickstarter is for 3 brand new issues of Pyramid Magazine. One of our articles has a featured place on one of their graphics. Here is their description of the…

Exciting Publishing News

One of the projects we wrote for this year is coming out on Kickstarter on Monday. Steve Jackson Games has announced its upcoming GURPS Pyramid Scheme: three brand new issues of Pyramid Magazine. We have articles in two of the issues. Even more exciting, when they shared the enticing image, it was our article they…

Something to Make You Smile

Here is something that made me smile today: Kristine Kathryn Rusch and Dean Wesley Smith have put together a Kickstarter for Make 100 Project. They’ll be putting together 100 short stories in ten volumes, half by each. They’re fun writers and Kristine Kathryn Rusch is one of my favorite science fiction writers. So the stories…

Enneagram for Character Development

A friend introduced me to the Enneagram recently as a tool for understanding character development and motivation. I’ve been playing with it since. I find it pretty easy now to assign most characters I read about or see in tv or movies to their numbers. Using it for creation feels a bit backwards though. I…

More Questions Than Answers

For almost a week now the emails I’ve sent have gone unanswered. I had a problem with email when I made some changes on December 24, but I thought I found a way around them. It’s has been on my list of things to check into, preferably before tomorrow when I need to send out…

Eight Tips For Writing With Emotional Stress

To the surprise of practically no one, I didn’t get any writing done yesterday. This morning I’ve been doom scrolling and am still quite upset. I hope that you are doing what you need to do to soothe yourself. One thing I learned in the midst of the 52 week challenge was how to write…

Learning from Scripts

I just read the script for The Devil Wears Prada and was blown away by the storytelling. JMS left us nine scripts to read and that was the least scary to me, so I started with it first. And couldn’t stop reading. My iPad’s power slid down to 4% but I couldn’t tear myself away….