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Month: March 2019

Marie Kondo, Queer Eye, and Rejuvenation

Sometimes, things just come together. I love Marie Kondo’s Tidying Up. I’ve watched every episode. She’s so cute! And she helps people enjoy their lives more! What’s not to love? And Queer Eye–I’ve loved Queer Eye since the first episode I saw, way back when. I love the new one maybe more–no, I can’t say that. I love them both, and every single one of the guys in both shows. But I did watch the new one more recently than any of the old ones (all of season 3 on Netflix in approximately four days after it was released ahem) Rejuvenation–well, roomie was avoiding something, and I commented on how I wanted time to paint my room, and she painted my room! This color. It’s called Rejuvenation. Naturally, to get the walls painted, nearly everything had to be moved out of the room. My bed and my desk stayed, pushed into the middle of the room, but everything else outside my closet was removed. Did I mention this was spring break? This was spring break. Roomie’s school doesn’t have the office staff work over break, but my school does. So my room got painted and it’s BEAUTIFUL and I LOVE IT, and the tape got removed, and I just kept not finding time to move all my stuff back in. Because I was tired. Because I was busy. Because my room was so nice without all the crap in it! Reader, I don’t actually have a lot of crap. My…

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Still Mostly Brainless

So, the observant people will probably notice that this blog post is up on a Wednesday, not Tuesday like usual. There’s a story in that. So it was one task after another all day Tuesday and into the evening. Six clients’ work. I also posted my own blog post for A Round of Words in 80 Days (ROW80) which I always participate in because it keeps me accountable. I hadn’t posted check-ins except for two, and thought it would be good to at least post the final one for the round. Why this didn’t send up a flag in my head about this blog I’ll never know. It was around 10:30pm and because I need help to use the bathroom, my help wanted me to start so she could go to bed. Fair enough. As I am shutting down for the night, it finally freaking dawned on me. I’d forgotten this blog! But wait, there’s more. Between this and two other incidents, I am convinced that surgery can screw with your mind three weeks later. Please note that I feel fine with the exception of pain. I am also more tired because it’s physically wearing on me to haul this body around on essentially one foot on a scooter. And I have fibro fatigue added to that. I started working four days after my surgery. Say what? I had a lot to do. My clients were great about it, but I’m apparently insane. So I have a vivid memory of…

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Adulting Sucks But At Least There’s Coffee

Which is funny, because I was pretty sure I was never going to be a coffee person. First of all, our new anthology is out! It features four stories from the time period between the War and the events in City of Hope and Ruin. All the details can be found here. But seriously, there was a coffee shop in the lobby of the engineering building at university, and I’d meet my friends there all the time, maybe getting some tea, and they were boggled about how I was surviving engineering school without caffeine. (Maybe caffeine would have helped? I did not get a lot of sleep at night and slept through a lot of class, but I think I’m mostly immune to caffeine anyway.) (Moving on.) In a few minutes here I have to take my car to the dealership for a major recall fix (apparently the passenger side airbag becomes more and more likely to explode incorrectly as time goes on), which is a pain in the butt. I have at least coerced them into giving me a rental car so I don’t have to wait around (with the smallest, mobile one) for six hours while they replace the airbag. Two weeks ago, I had to have the washing machine repaired. And two weeks before THAT I had sinus surgery, which I shall be paying for forever. I mean, nothing’s a catastrophe. But, Goddess, can’t things stop falling apart? Can’t we go a few months where there are…

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Love Shines Through: A Fractured World Anthology

The world was whole before the war. But war is a terrible thing, and terrible things are done in the name of defense and protection. And this war tore the world apart, fractured it, separated families and lives and dreams. The reasons why no longer matter, but the effects still linger. They cause pain, though the war is over. But despite the monsters and the poisons and the despair, there is a glimmer of light. And hope and love are not gone from the world. These four stories, set in the Fractured World, explore how light can make it through the darkness. How hope can conquer fear. And most of all, how love can still flourish, even when the world is bleak. A young woman braves monsters to see the sky. A reluctant man chooses forgiveness over suffering. Lovers reunite to save a child and their community. Best friends risk everything for each other.  Come see the light for yourselves.

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When Writing Isn’t Fun Anymore

As a writer, I periodically hit this point. My Serious Novel work-in-progress feels too hard. (It may or may not have anything to do with where I am in the novel. Some parts of writing a novel just suck–even Neil Gaiman says so. But sometimes that’s not the problem.) Editing one of the short story drafts I have floating around feels too daunting. And starting a new novel? Forget it. I can drift along for months without writing anything. A couple of years ago, I even announced that I was quitting altogether. (It…didn’t stick.) Sooner or later I give myself a shake and go looking for the fun parts of writing–the parts I used to know about when I was a teenager, but somehow get harder and harder to find the more I learn. One year, I got out of this slump by writing Firefly fanfiction. Another year, I started plotting a contra dance–themed cozy mystery. Two years ago, I challenged myself to write the smallest possible thing every day–it led to a lot of haikus and then, eventually, flash fiction. (Which led to me placing third in a flash fiction contest and then getting to help judge it last year, as well as making my first pro-rate sale. But that’s not the point of the story.) Why yes, this does happen regularly. It’s a cycle. I know this. Doesn’t make it any easier to avoid falling in…but at least I’m getting practice climbing out of it? The current strategy?…

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