I like to think of the author of my secret projects as my shadow sister. She moves capably in the shadows like an assassin, ably dispatching writerly doubts as she produces her stories. But one other way that she stays in the shadows is that I haven’t created an identity, a web page, a presence anywhere. But the prestigious anthology she has a story appearing in means that she needs to have her own identity now. So lately I’ve been spending time on her needs, getting her set up with a social media and virtual presence, working on business cards for her, and so forth.

It’s a lot of work to do all at once and adds more work to our table, which is bowing under the weight of delicious projects already. Something has to give somewhere.

We use Trello to organize our life and ease collaboration. We have a yearly goals board that covers everything from professional goals to financial goals to health goals to deeply private goals. We check it every month to ensure that we are staying on track. We also have Trello boards to organize the work on the house. And to set our quarterly task level work for our writing/publishing projects, including our ideas for future projects. It’s impressively useful.

What it showed us a few weeks ago is that we have too much on our plates again and we are beginning to lose our inspiration in the daily work. We declared a day of filling up our creative cups and that day is today. We’re heading to Santa Fe to take in art and other diversions. We hope to arrive back at our keyboards refreshed and with new ideas.

This morning I will do all that I can for my shadow sister. I won’t finish, but one thing I’ve learned is that a creative life worth living overflows with ideas, projects, and joy. I am living a very good life.

One of the great joys of my life is being involved in so many collaborative projects. One is the Micronomicon, which is actually available for purchase! Just click the link to be taken there. John David Payne sunk every ounce of genius in this project and chose amazing artists and a layout genius to put it all together. It’s filled with flash fiction that is a delight and additional settings that you can use for lots of different campaigns. It’s made for Tiny Dungeon, but if you play any RPG game, this will be a great addition to your collection. The print version will be available very soon. I’l let you know when it is available.

I hope you are filled with creative fire today. Be well, friends!