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Month: September 2023

A Rustling in the Bushes

Well, here we are again. I had honestly begun to think it wouldn’t happen any more. It’s so easy to tell other writers that their muses haven’t abandoned them. It’s just a dry patch. You’ve got a lot going on in your life. It’s tough times for everyone. We’ve been through hell the last few years. The creativity will come back! Telling yourself that, though–no, that’s easy too. But believing it? Now that’s hard. Once upon a time, story ideas tackled me frequently. The kind of ideas that would grab me by the shoulders, or maybe the neck, and shake, demanding to be written. It hasn’t happened in a long time. Like, a really long time. Oh, I’ve had ideas, like maybe once or twice a year. And sometimes I even wrote them. But they weren’t the kind that pounced me like Tigger or Hobbes would do. Maybe the ideas that jump me like that aren’t better–in fact they probably aren’t better than something I’ve really thought through–but dammit, they are fun. And it’s happened. A great loud song I’ve heard a hundred times collided with a picture of a smartass redhead (have you noticed I have a thing for smartass redheads? Perhaps you haven’t been paying attention.) and an unrelated news story in my head, and BAM! KD is flat on the floor under a very self-satisfied tiger. via GIPHY Looks like I’m in for some fun coming up, and I’m quite excited about it. I’m poking writer friends…

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Another Update on the Bad Poetry Project

I didn’t want to update on this so soon, but I just have to give you all my news…. I have FOUR poems accepted for publication. Three for Naked Cat Literary and one for Free Verse Revolution. I am very, very honored, proud, and excited. I knew that someday I’d get there, but the question was when…and lo and behold, both acceptances came in my email the same day. How’s that for wild? I’m still on Cloud Nine. Today I just submitted another poem to Naked Cat Literary (love that name!), the one that accepted the three poems. Interesting story about this acceptance. I sent my poems in. I didn’t hear anything, and they had mentioned in their Twitter (X?) feed that they were starting to send replies, but didn’t indicate that they’d sent all of them yet. So I sat tight, waiting, on pins and needles. During this time, I had a weird prescient feeling that they would be the first ones to accept my poetry. Why, I couldn’t tell you. It just was. So then a week or so later, they tweeted that they were working on their next publication. And I wondered, were they done sending replies? And I hadn’t gotten anything? Not even in my spam mail? Hmmm. Time to politely — very politely — nudge. So I did that, via Twitter, and overnight they’d tweeted me back that they’d look into it (they were very apologetic, which I appreciate) and when I got up the…

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Playing Catch Up All the Time

Hey, friends, do you ever feel like you’re always catching up on things you should have done a while ago? Like, you can never start the day with a clean slate, because something’s already hanging over your head? Just me? Cool, cool. September is traditionally a busy month for me, and things–more things than normal–seem to get left by the wayside. So I spent today catching up on things–this blog post, some surveys for one of my kid’s schools, a bunch of important emails that I’ve been ignoring (still more of those to go, ugh), three emails worth of Moby Dick (I’m subscribed to Whale Weekly, though it’s not consistent on arrival), two chapters of a book for a book study, etc. It’s exhausting. My to-do list app has about six items in the red, and they’ve been there for about three weeks. What’s one to do? Is there a point where you abandon the things that haven’t gotten done? Change their due dates? Make sure you’re fitting in new things instead of always focusing on the past? I wasn’t one of those kids that was super eager to grow up, but I wasn’t against it. Little did I know adulting would be all never-ending to-do lists and eternal house repairs. Oh well. It is what it is. How are your Septembers going? Ready for spooky season? (Yay, spooky season!) Enjoying Across Worlds with You? Thoughts on the eternal drudgery of life?

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Emerging

So I’ve been pretty open about how my mental health has been undergoing a beating, mostly from the pandemic but also other factors. Every once in a while, though, I catch a glimpse, a shift, something unfurling just a little bit. August has been like that. In July, work finally settled down, and I had two weeks off in a row and one of them involved unplugging at a camp on a lake. That was the reset I needed. I still haven’t been writing. But I’m reading more/faster again — I’ve zoomed through my last four books — and more deeply — I almost missed my subway stop a few weeks ago. Can’t remember the last time that happened. Last week we finished Good Omens 2 and I developed a brief obsession. I talked my spouse’s ear off about it. I thought about doing a couple’s cosplay, even though that takes waaay too much executive function. (I am so much like TV Aziraphale it isn’t even funny, though my spouse isn’t particularly like TV Crowley, thank goodness.) The song that weaves through Season 2, “Everyday” by Buddy Holly, got stuck in my head for a full week. It finally cleared out when I fell down another rabbit hole, thanks to KD — a cappella folk/trad groups. First there was VoicePlay. (That’s their YT channel. I’m not going to pick just one video to share, because I can’t choose!) Then there was Geoff Castellucci, the lead singer of VoicePlay, who also…

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Across Worlds with You, Part 4 by Kit Campbell

Part 1Part 2 Part 3 Across Worlds with You, Part 4Kit Campbell The Historian was an elderly woman who lived, or at least worked, in a small cottage on the edge of the village. Her long, gray hair hung loose around her shoulders as she opened the door and beckoned them all inside without saying a word. Inside, the cottage was clean though cluttered, mostly with books and tea cups. Theo wrung his hands. “Greetings,” he started. “Sit down,” the Historian said. They all sat, squeezing onto an older sofa. Will found himself stuck between Destia, who took up more room than her size would entail, and Theo. “I know we’re early…” Theo started again. “Early? Ha!” The Historian put a kettle on a wood stove in the corner before bustling over to one of her overladen bookshelves. She pulled a large book, papers hanging out of the sides, off and dumped it unceremoniously onto Will’s lap. It opened onto a random page, where the drawings of three…necklaces?…were displayed. Wordlessly, the Historian waited. “Okay,” Will said. “Um, let’s assume I don’t have any idea what’s happening.” Destia gave Theo a look across Will. Theo glared back. “Oh, this is that timeline.” The Historian sighed, then dragged an armchair over. She lowered herself into it. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes. When she breathed out, her breath misted, creating a dense cloud which floated between her and Will. “Many years ago, before you were born, a Darkness came.” On…

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