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Month: February 2022

So how is the two-computer setup going now, Erin?

Oh, God. Don’t even. I had a really important editing job that needed to be done quickly so I was waiting before ordering the new computer (and I’ve decided to go with a Windows computer — long story), so I am still doing the two-computer thing. Except I am not really using the main one, except to do one thing for one client that requires a specific program that’s only on the main. Because it is extremely dodgy at this point. So I am spending 90% of my time on the spare. It’s going. I was finally able to do a Facebook call on it today! That was cool. It hasn’t worked until now. So one good thing. Although the volume was completely borked. I had it up to the highest setting and I could still hardly hear my friend. I’ve had issues with files saving. Even after freaking checking the dates and times to see if they saved. Even after getting that lovely “do you want to overwrite this file?” message. THEY DON’T FREAKING SAVE. I am not kidding. I’d go to pull a file up from the day before and none of my changes would be there…a serious problem when you are editing and you are on a deadline. So I started emailing myself the file every day after I was done. The one day I freaking needed that emailed file? IT WOULDN’T LOAD. I’m telling you, I’ve never had so many problems in my entire life with…

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I Can Procrastinate Forever

Howdy, friends. (How goes the Encanto thing, you might ask. Well, we watched it again tonight, so, uh, good?) Last fall, frustrated with how my year was going and how I was not getting anything I’d planned done, I sat down to look at my writing goals and do some soul searching. And I came to the realization that everything I’d been doing–for years–was avoiding my main goal, which is to see a high fantasy trilogy I’ve been working on for over half my life in print. It was awful. I felt like I’d been wasting my life. And I understand why. I’ve put so much time into this one story, over so many years, that the idea of it being rejected, or not doing well, is almost paralyzing. But, anyway, long story short, I came to this realization and so set a goal for this year of seeing the first book revised so help me God. But. There’s always a but. At the time I came to the realization, I was in the middle of another draft. So, of course, it made sense to finish that first. Then I needed a novella to submit here, so that had to be done, and now there’s an anthology that needs working on, and you know, deadlines and so forth… It is a problem. But at least I can see that now, and understand my own motivations even if they are stupid. I’m telling you this, friends, so you can keep me…

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The Mighty Vegetable

Like many people, my spouse and I have been rotating through various pandemic hobbies… Mind you, we’ve both been working full-time and dealing with pandemic exhaustion and a certain natural tendency towards inertia, so our hobby attempts have been pretty minimal. (Wordle is good for that.) No new side hustles or DIY remodelling here…though we did get this done: Now? It’s on to vegetables. See, cooking is something we do together, to decompress after work (or at lunchtime, while we’re lucky enough to both be working from home), to get out of our heads and away from our screens/keyboards, to spend time together, to do something hands-on and also delicious. And I’ve become passionate about eating local. A few months after the pandemic started, we signed up for a small grocery delivery service that partners with local farmers and other producers. (I first wrote about them here.) Between that and our vegetable garden, we’ve been doing a lot of seasonal eating. This winter we’ve eaten so many roasted carrots and parsnips and squash that, uh, one of us finally rebelled. To be honest, the other one (me) was getting bored of our go-to vegetables, too. So I’ve started adding one new-to-us locally grown vegetable to every biweekly order. (Full disclosure: In the alternate weeks, we get delivery from one of the big chains and buy some non-local produce.) It started with rutabaga/swede [the big yellow and purple root vegetable, not the smaller white and purple root vegetable–apparently there’s some overlap…

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Second Chance

Part 3: Awakening a serial ghost story by Erin Zarro Part 1 Part 2 “Kristen, wake up.”                 The voice was distant like a dream. I struggled to come to the surface of consciousness, to open my eyes. Hands shook my shoulders. “Come on, I know you’re in there. Wake up.”                 My eyelids released, and the bright light of our office speared into my retinas. I wanted to close them again, because pain, but forced myself to look into Shelley’s eyes. “I am…here. What…happened?” I yawned, suddenly exhausted.                 I was at work. No one was around except Shelley. The clock said six-thirty.                 The notebook.                   What was my last memory? The notebook.Hi, sweetheart. “You passed out after seeing—”                 “No, he…that isn’t possible,” I said.                 “I didn’t write it,” Shelley said. “And no one else is here. Look, I know you don’t believe in ghosts, but spirits can sometimes manipulate things if they want to communicate. I’ve never heard of it being so…overt…like this. He must really want to talk to you.”                 It couldn’t be. Adam was gone. In the ground. There was no spirit to manipulate anything. Someone was playing a joke. A terrible, nasty joke. That was all. “It’s not him.” I tried to stand, but dizziness stopped me. “Can you help me up? I think I want to go home.” And then I remembered that I’d be going to an empty home, and Shelley’s offer to stay with her. “Or, uh,…

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