Pumpkin Goblins needs a new cover. Take the poll! Continue reading
A conversation I had tonight with my partner at the culmination of a week of bean-type soups and chilis:
Me: Dinner tomorrow?
Partner: Three-Bean Soup.
Me: Me: *swears at partner*
Partner: Three-Bean Soup, but instead of the broth–
Me: There’s a fourth bean?
Partner: I call at Three-Bean Surprise. The surprise is the fourth bean.
I finally hemmed a pair of pants that I’ve worn pinned up with safety pins for eight or nine years now.
I did an absolutely awful job, but at least I won’t have to feel the click-click of safety pins against my shoes next time I wear them. That will only happen with the other pairs of pants that have also been safety-pinned for five-plus years.
I feel like I’m moving. This is what the doors into my office looked like a few months ago, when I finished Stars Fall Out. I’ve been reading and analyzing my draft, making plans for the revision, and spreadsheeting the hell out of everything. One by one, I’ve taken down… Continue reading
I carried Touching from a Distance around in my backpack for most of my senior year of high school, and even I don’t think this needs to exist.
I’ve seen a lot of rainbows this summer.
It’s been especially fun when they show up because we’re watching a lot of 80s cartoons lately, and the biggest lesson we’ve learned is that rainbows are the gold standard in fighting evil, fascism, dark magic, people who hate fun, and people who live in castles that are very dark and pointy.
This is the last of the excerpts I’m posting for Stars Fall Out, and it’s one of the earliest in the book. My main character steals a magic vial with the power to instantly travel from one place to another via any natural body of water, and soon starts spending… Continue reading
Aside from some excerpts concerning the magic vial, most of my snippets from Stars Fall Out haven’t dealt with the magic in the book. Many of the scenes I could’ve posted are too spoilery, and in fact, this one might be as well. But it showcases something that comes up… Continue reading
“What do you despise? By this are you truly known.”
When I first read that quotation in Dune twenty years ago, it struck me as something true and profound. It’s been incorporated into my worldview so long and so thoroughly that I don’t always notice the words themselves, even if they’re there at the back of my mind.
It’s one metric by which I judge others and myself, and it’s something that’s been in my head a lot lately not only because I am re-reading Dune and realizing what a formative book it was for me, but also because of everything going on in the world right now.
We live in an age of militant, polarized opinions. Some people share their opinions online; others go out to protest. Either way, this is always the question I ask.
I started posting excerpts of Stars Fall Out when I was halfway through the draft. As a result, I haven’t posted excerpts of a lot of the early action that defines the book, including the main character’s use of a magic vial that allows travel from one place to another… Continue reading