The doldrums is an old nautical term for an area of the ocean where the breezes don’t blow as steadily or regularly, and storms can spring up unexpectedly. When you get there, you get stuck. It’s unpredictable, and thus sailors would prefer to avoid such areas. Doldrums has also come to mean a periodic downturn…
It’s been a while since I reflected on this work. Sometime in July I got pulled away from the efforts on the new novel. You see, I’ve had this lovely idea for an alternate world retelling of WWI, with magic nations versus technology nations. I spent some time focusing on that, but the progress there…
There are lots of different kinds of rejection letters you can receive as an author. The most common is the very impersonal form letter. The form letter always thanks you for your submission, then quickly proceeds to inform you that your story or novel “was not right for them at this time.” Fair enough. Is…
August is drawing to a rapid close. Hopefully this week won’t drag too badly, I’m looking forward to a three-day weekend (despite the forecast for rain off and on all weekend). But it seems a good time to pass along a few thoughts on random, seemingly unrelated topics. Game of Thrones – I’ve been hearing…
I generally keep my post topics focused on writing, book reviews, or personal things. Occasionally I foray into politics, and I make no bones about the fact that I’m a liberal. But, after many days of reflection, I feel like so many there are things I need to say about the events in Charlottesville this…
EDIT: apparently the perpetrator of the email shaming came forward, apologized profusely, and all has been forgiven. Good for them for doing the truly hard thing and admitting their mistakes, owning up to it. That bodes very well for their future as a human being. I’m going to delete the tweet which this post spawned,…
Before I get too deep into this post, I’d like to give a shout out to Anthony “The Mooch” “Joffrey Baratheon” Scaramucci. The man really does define the term “douche bag” in ways that the 80’s would be proud off, from the expensive haircut, the million dollar dental work, the frat-boy asshat entitled attitude, all…
Not being a religious man, I do not believe in the hand of gods and goddesses who organize our lives. I do not believe in fate or destiny. I will never say that I was meant to do something, or that some higher power has guided me to where I am. However, once in a…
I ripped through another book due to my prolonged summer cold. By the way, I do not recommend getting a summer cold. It ruins your weekend and turns you into an escargot snot factory. I don’t often get sick, but when I do, I really go all out on it. But I digress. Over the…
The wife and I are on a reading tear now. We started watching Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager late last fall, and we finally finished up both series this week. Yes, we’d already seen them (or rather, I’d seen all of Voyager a couple of times but not much of DS9,…