The nomination period is open until April 6, 2024, for the 2024 Aurora Awards, recognizing the best of Canadian SF & Fantasy published in 2023.
This year, I have one eligible work in the Best Short Fiction category, “Psychopomps Are Us,” which was published in Pulp Literature No. 38, Spring 2023. (May 6, 2023. ISSN: 2292-2164. pp 107-116.)
I’m proud of this quirky little story told in second person with snarky footnotes. To tell you anything more would spoil the story 🙂 I would be so pleased if PAU made the ballot this year. Consider nominating it, would you?
If you haven’t read it yet, you can support the good people at Pulp Literature by purchasing a copy at the above link 🙂
How to nominate a work for the Auroras
To nominate, you need to be a member of the Canadian SF & Fantasy Association (CSFFA), the organization that administers the awards.
If you’re not a member:
Visit the CSFFA web site and select “Not a member yet?”
Fill out your name, email, and home province.
Select a username and password for the site.
Registration is CA$10, which lets you nominate and vote on the final ballot.
Once you’re logged in, click on “Pay membership fee with PayPal.” Don’t use PayPal? You can also pay by debit or credit.
Already a member?
Visit the CSFFA web site and select “Log in” under “You are a member?” then enter your username and password to access the Awards main page.
If you haven’t paid for 2024, click on “Pay Renewal Fee with PayPal.” Don’t use PayPal? You can also pay by debit or credit.
Nominate:
Select “Nomination” from the middle of the screen to access the online nomination form.
To nominate a work, just select one of the boxes under the category and select the appropriate title of the work you wish to nominate from the drop-down list of eligible works.
You can nominate up to five works in each category, but you don’t need to nominate in every category or that many in any category.
When you’ve finished nominating in a category, make sure you select the “Update nominations” button for the category, then move to your next category.
February’s the month I emerge from winter hibernation. Yes. I’m a bear.
Life in general
The light is visibly returning. Even so, most of the days are overcast. It’s still unseasonably warm, with a lot of days above zero degrees Celsius and not as much precipitation as I’d like. Yes, Phil doesn’t have to shovel as much, but I’m worried about the coming year.
Not a lot of snow means a dry spring, unless it rains every day, and even then, it may not be enough to prevent forest fires from sparking. Last year was bad. I expect this year to be even worse.
Work is work. I’m back on the albatross of a project (I’ve been working on it since spring 2022) but the end (for now) is in sight. There’s always maintenance, and the wholesale revision of the other modules in the curriculum, but it should be off my plate by the end of March.
I’m taking a self-funded leave from the Victoria Day (May 2-4, we call it, even though the holiday Monday rarely falls on the 24th) long weekend until the Canada Day long weekend in July. It will be nice to have a stretch off. I want to do some gardening. I want to go swimming. I want to see what diurnal cycle my body naturally settles into. I want to just enjoy myself for a while.
I also want to see if I can dive into one or two new creative projects, revise a novella, and see what I can get done when I’m not spending eight hours a day working for someone else. It’s been seven years—well, six and a half years—since I’ve taken a self-funded leave. It’s the first leave of this nature I’ve taken since being diagnosed as autistic and, most of all, I want to learn if I can adjust my life and the routines I’ve established so they support me better.
We’ll see how things go.
The month in writing
I’m still working on Reality Bomb revisions. My focus changed a bit this month, however. I signed up for Suzy’s Developmental Editing Mentorship in February program and continued to revise and under the auspices of that program.
We did meet on February 1st to review my most recent submission. I’m to the point in the novel where I’m basically rewriting the second half of the second and all of the third act. I had expected to have a rough go with this critique, but it was a lot better than I expected. I’m learning!
As ever, though, learning is never a straight line.
I’ve given up on trying to track my revisions on the spreadsheet. Now that I’m in the second half of the novel, I’m completely rewriting most of it. It’s hard to compare a sprawling, meandering draft with the tighter rewrite. I’m eliminating whole chapters, combining chapters, and making the whole more cohesive. I’m figuring out when to show and when to tell.
I’m hopeful that I’ll be able to get some interest when I query, later this year.
I paid for my annual membership to the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association and submitted “Psychopomps Are Us” to the nomination list for the 2023 Aurora Awards. I also submitted the story to The Year’s Best Canadian Fantasy and Science Fiction: Volume Two, for consideration.
I submitted my final report for the mentorship microgrant I was approved for through The Writers’ Union of Canada (TWUC).
I applied for TWUC National Reading Program funding and event funding from the League of Canadian Poets (LCP) for my poetry launch.
I tossed my hat into the My Personal Odyssey ring again. I’ll find out some time in March if I’ve made the cut this year.
My associate membership renewal for the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) came due in February.
And I continue to work on the launch, and arranging reviews, readings, and so forth for The Art of Floating.
The venue is booked! It will be in the Studio Desjardins of Place des Arts, at 7 pm on April 6th, 2024. Now to get the livecast details in place so I can start promoting in earnest.
Kim Fahner has agreed to a brief casual conversation about my poetic journey to start the launch. I’m so happy she’s agreed to help me out. She’s been such a central figure in my poetic life.
Now … I have to think about what I want to wear. I don’t have any nice clothes left after I lost weight back in 2021. The prospect of some new clothes is pleasing, but I hate shopping with a passion.
My publisher confirmed a book signing at Chapters on April 13th from 11 am to 2 pm.
On the 23rd, I received a lovely email informing me that my application for The Writers’ Union of Canada’s National Public Reading funding was approved!
My poem, “Time and Tide,” was published in Polar Starlight 13 on February 24th.
And I submitted some more poetry to a themed issue of one of Canada’s best known literary journals. I’m not hopeful, to be honest. They had over a thousand submissions (!)
Filling the well
February 1st was Imbolc, but I was so dysregulated at the time, I didn’t get around to lighting my altar or doing my usual, quiet observation until the 2nd (!)
The new Rowan moon in Aquarius (and beginning of the Year of the Dragon!) was on the 9th. I observed with a guided meditation. It was overcast up here, which it usually is this time of year.
I’m a Rooster and this is what the Year of the Dragon brings for me: Your careful nature and attention to detail will strengthen during Year of the Dragon 2024. You’ll be good at handling difficult tasks with care.
Bodes well, methinks!
The full Snow moon in Virgo was on the 24th. It was overcast, but I got a lovely picture of the moon a couple of days before the full. I again observed with a guided meditation.
As I mentioned earlier, I signed up for Suzy Vadori’s developmental editing course from the 5th to the 29th. Virtual meetups were twice a week, with asynchronous training in between. The course gave me more insight into Suzy’s methodology, and I used the month to once again review the draft-to-date.
I attended the Wordstock and Sulphur open mic night at Books & Beans on the 7th. It was standing room only, but I got to read some of my more recent poetry (i.e., stuff that’s not in The Art of Floating) and promote my launch.
The first Success Series webinar from Free Expressions, “Neurolinguistic Programming for Writers” with Beth Baranay was on the 8th. I was dysregulated and watched the recording. NLP, or neurolinguistic programming is all about changing the connections in your brain to learn, improve, and form and break habits. Beth applied NLP techniques for both authors and their characters. We didn’t quite get to habits, but the grounding is there.
On the 9th, Authors Publish presented a webinar on “The Art of Writing Immersive Worlds,” presented by Cat Rambo. Still dysregulated. Watched the replay. The webinar felt intimate, and Cat is always a good presenter.
I signed up for a Freedom to Read Week event co-sponsored by TWUC and the LCP on the 22nd featuring Farzana Doctor and Gary Geddes. It was a lovely evening.
Then, I signed up for a Black History Month poetry reading featuring Ian Keteku, Asiah Sparks, and Damini Awoyiga. Black poets rock, y’all!
On the 29th, there was another Free expressions SSW, “Character Dynamics” with Damon Suede. Because I opted to go to the poetry reading, I watched the replay.
In non-writing-related events, I attended a Toronto Public Library Black History Month presentation about “Reframing History: Newfoundland and Labrador & the Black Atlantic.” Bushra Junaid, Afua Cooper, and Camille Turner each presented pieces of Black history in Newfoundland and Labrador. Compelling and poignant.
I also had an appointment with my therapist on the 28th. I’m trying to work through the idea that I feel, at least recently, that I’m always on the cusp of burnout. I’m trying to come to terms with the fact that it might just be part of life.
What I’m watching and reading
I finished watching the first season of Citadel (Amazon). A second season has been green lit, but I don’t know if I’ll watch it. I was left confused more than anything. Madden and Chopra-Jonas have zero chemistry and even Stanley Tucci couldn’t save it.
Next, I finished watching Little Bird (Crave). Touching and compelling story about a family divided by the 60s Scoop coming together to heal.
Then, I finished watching the third (and final) season of Res Dogs (Disney +). Bear finds his way home after missing the bus. We get some backstory of the Dogs’ parents and elders, and the series ends with Elora meeting her father (Ethan Hawke) and his kids and the Dogs coming together around the funeral of one of their elders before the ancestor says goodbye, Elora heads off to university, and Bear’s mom leaves for a new job. Bear’s in a good place.
I finished watching the first (and only) season of First Kill (Netflix). It was inspired by a short story by V.E. Schwab and is essentially a modern, queer, and supernatural retelling of Romeo and Juliet. Juliette is the youngest daughter of a legacy vampire family who are pressuring her to make her first kill. In fact, she’s on medication to “take the edge off” her bloodlust and the last thing she wants to do is kill anyone. Calliope is the youngest daughter of a monster hunting family and eager to make her first kill. When Juliette and Calliope fall in love…a whole bunch of people die. The series ended on a weird cliffhanger and wasn’t renewed, so we may never find out what was going to happen. Unless Schwab wants to turn it into a comic or something?
Then, I roped Phil into watching The Marvels (Disney +) with me. It was fun. I loved Goose and the flerkin kittens. I loved Iman Vellani as Kamala Khan. The rest was okay. It wasn’t as bad as reviews led me to believe, but it was like everyone was too tired to make the film as good as it should have been. I mean, it has the name of the studio in its title. You’d think someone would have cared enough to make it at least as memorable as Iron Man.
When I watched Captain America and The Avengers (each for the umpteenth time) shortly thereafter, I was reminded of the kind of story Marvel is capable of telling. Neither is perfect, but they were both so much better than recent Marvel efforts.
Then, I finished watching the adaptation of Anthony Doerr’s All the Light We Cannot See (Netflix). Loved! Even though it’s a WWII story, the series (and therefore Doerr’s novel) offers a unique perspective. Marie, a blind Parisian girl, and Werner, a German orphan, are bonded through their love of “The Professor,” who broadcasts educational radio programs. During WWII, the two meet in Saint Malo, a coastal French town, where Marie now broadcasts for the French resistance and Werner is a radio operator in the occupying German army. The Americans are coming to liberate the town, but can they do it before Werner is forced to track down Marie for his commander, who has a sinister motive for finding Marie?
I watched The Hate U Give (Amazon). It was a gut punch, but in the best way. Starr Carter is in the passenger seat when her friend Khalil is shot and killed by a police officer. The movie and the book it’s based on by Angie Thomas are a good reminder that systemic racism kills tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of Black people a year. Black lives matter.
I finished watching (most of) the first season of The Irrational (network). Alec Mercer is a behavioural psychologist who helps solve crimes. This season focused on Alec’s backstory of being caught in a church bombing. As the season progresses, the man convicted of the bombing proves to be innocent, uncovering a conspiracy that Alec has to unravel to serve justice and gain closure.
Then I finished watching the second season of the new Quantum Leap (network). The third season is still up in the air. I wasn’t too certain about the 3-year time jump after the first season finale. The Quantum Leap project has been shut down, Ben is thought to be dead, and Addison moves on. But Ian hasn’t given up, and when they find Ben, the team regroups, including Addison’s new love interest. Things get sorted out in the end, but I think the uncertainty of the network series machine means that they had to have a self-contained story arc, just in case. Things felt contrived. I’ll leave it there. Still enjoyed it and will watch season three if it comes to fruition.
My first read of February was Zen Cho’s Black Water Sister. Closeted and broke, Jess returns to Malaysia with her family after living in the US for most of her life. She has a degree from Harvard, but that hasn’t translated into success, or even a job. Then, she starts to hear a voice in her head, her recently dead grandmother, Ah Ma, who’s set on getting her revenge on a mob boss. Dark, but very good.
Then, I finished William Gibson’s The Peripheral. I realized I had the ebook after I watched the Amazon series. Once again, it’s an interesting exercise to compare a novel and its adaptation, to see what creative decisions were made and why. Having said that, I enjoyed both equally, though I must say that I’m not as fond of book Flynn as I was of series Flynn. And, of course, Amazon cancelled the series.
Next, I read The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco. As a child, Tea (pronounced tee-ah) accidentally resurrects her brother and discovers she’s a bone witch, or necromancer. Feared and ostracized by her family and community, Tea is taken under the wing of a more experienced bone witch who whisks her and her brother away to a foreign land to be trained as an asha. This book is the beginning of a trilogy and is very much just the set up for the rest of the series. Although there is a framing narrative told by a bard, whom Tea has asked to tell her story, it doesn’t give much away. One thing is clear, though; The Bone Witch is a story of revenge.
I finished reading Waubgeshig Rice’s Moon of the Turning Leaves. In this sequel to Moon of the Crusted Snow, Nangohns, daughter of Evan Whitesky, begins to see the signs that her people are beginning to exhaust the natural resources around their isolated northern community. She then embarks on a long journey south with her father and several other members of the community. They need a new place to settle. Or an old place. Their ancestral home on the shores of Lake Huron. The problem is, they still don’t know what happened when the lights went out over a decade ago. And the last scouting party they sent south four years ago never returned.
Then, I turned to poetry. Kim Fahner lent me a stack of collections she thought might be in my poetic wheelhouse. I started with Bernadette Wagner’s this hot place. The sections of the collection are named Maiden, Mother, and Crone, and Wagner recounts her life on the prairies in verse. She has a talent for lovely subversions. Verra nice.
I also finished The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty. A retired pirate captain is lured back into the world of supernatural high seas adventure when a northern sorcerer abducts a young scholarly girl. Nothing is as it seems. I’ll leave it there. You should read this.
Next, I listened to Delicious Monsters by Liselle Sambury. A brilliant supernatural mystery told in dual timelines. Daisy can see the dead. When her mother inherits a mansion just outside of Timmins, they both see it as their opportunity for the life they want. For Daisy’s mother, Grace, it’s to finally be free of the ghosts (figurative and literal) of her past. For Daisy, it’s the chance to escape from her mother’s narcissism. But the mansion is haunted. And now people are dying. Ten years in the future, Brittney, co-creator of the podcast “Haunted,” wants to uncover the secrets of the mansion, which her abusive mother calls the “miracle mansion.” She wants to tell the story of a forgotten Black girl but gets more than she bargained for. LOVED.
Finally, I listened to C.S. Lewis: Writer, Scholar, Seeker, an Audible Original based on The Great Courses series of lectures by Sorina Higgins. Interesting insight into one of my favourite authors.
And that was the month in this writer’s life.
Until next month, be well and stay safe; be kind and stay strong. The world needs your stories!
From the tarot this week, I drew the eight of cups, which represents abandonment, withdrawal, and escapism. It’s kind of a negative card, but I’m thinking of it in a positive way. Specifically, this is about my purposeful and temporary abandonment of my writing while Phil recovers.
My creativity will out in weird ways, though. I’m working on grant applications and still playing around with my presentation for the SF Canada & Canadian Authors webinar.
From the Shaman’s pack, I drew The Inworld, which is the Third Circle, or Anwwn, the underworld. If you remember, I drew the Circle of Nine, or the Second Circle last week, and Arawn, the Lord of the Underworld the week before. It seems to be a thematic sequence. The Inworld represents accessing the wisdom of the ancestors.
This is interesting, because the third grant I’m applying for will be for a new project which will involve research into Finnish pre-Christian spirituality and history. Maybe my Finnish ancestors will have some wisdom for me.
The week also saw the spring equinox on Monday. I lit up my altar to welcome spring.
On Tuesday, it was the new moon, and I took some time to set my intentions for the next lunar cycle.
The week in writing
Once again, it’s just blogging. I’m not tracking the grant applications or the presentation.
I blogged 1,824 words for the week and 6,359 words for the month to date.
Work on the grant applications is going slow. I think I’m just intimidated. But … the CSFFA grant application is sent, for better or worse. One down. Two to go!
The presentation has taken a back seat while I focus on grants.
Another piece of excellent news: I was accepted into the SFWA as an associate member! Whee!
Thinking of something radical: a blogging and social media sabbatical while I work on revisions for my poetry collection and on Reality Bomb. It might mean several months (like five or six) incommunicado, but I think it’s what I have to do if I really want to get some work done.
Will keep you apprised as things develop.
Filling the well
This week, I registered for a Tiffany Yates Martin webinar through Jane Friedman on mastering point of view. I watched the replay. Tiffany is an amazing instructor and I always learn a lot from her.
I also signed up for an Authors Publish webinar with Book Publicist Isabella Nugent on setting yourself up for success. Again, I watched the replay.
Finally, I signed up for Daniel David Wallace event about perfecting your process. It runs from the 24th to the 27th, so I’ll be mentioning it again next week.
I took the week off work (vacation planned, prior to Phil’s accident) so I could rest and observe both the equinox and the new moon as my pagan heart desires.
I also wanted to accomplish a couple of things, just for me, this week. I wanted to gather all our tax info and send it to our accountant (done!). And I wanted to spring clean my office (also done!). It’s been a while and I decided I wanted to reorganize my bookshelves, cull some outdated filing, and generally tidy up the space. It’s been good for me, getting ready to dive back into writing in a more serious way when Phil’s shoulder is healed.
I had a blissful massage on Tuesday. My parasympathetic nervous system activated, and I got into “rest and digest” mode 🙂 And yes, that means my stomach was growling like ten.
Phil’s also feeling recovered enough that he’s cooking again! Physio is going well, and he’s found a position to sleep in that allows him to get a full night’s rest. He still can’t lift or push anything, though, so I’m still doing the groceries (with him, though, for the most part), laundry, clearing the steps of snow, taking the dog out (she pulls), etc., but progress is being made 🙂
On Wednesday, he went for a walk. On Thursday, he went for a drive. There’s still some awkwardness associated with that activity. He can’t reach with his left arm to turn on the headlights or the turn signal, but he can reach over with his right to flip the switches. He has an appointment with the doctor next Friday (March 31st), so we’ll find out more then.
What I’m watching and reading
I didn’t finish watching any series or watch any movies this week. Well, I started watching RRR, but the three hour and five minute run time meant I couldn’t finish it in a single sitting.
I read Ada Hoffman’s The Outside. I’ve had Ada’s work on my radar for a while because she’s another #actuallyautistic author. Her novel features autistic characters in a world that, while not built for them, willingly makes accommodations for them, and accepts them as part of society. There are still misunderstandings, but it’s a better world than the one we have.
The story’s good, too. Humanity has colonized the galaxy, but AI has become sentient, and something called the Morlock War has Ais installed as gods with cyborg angels doing their bidding. Outside the galaxy, the titular Outside, is heretical, and the god Nemesis has chosen to bring all heretics to justice.
In this milieu, Yasira Shien, a highly intelligent autistic, has completed her doctorate and created a revolutionary reactor that promises to provide for all the energy needs of a new space station, the Pride of Jai, which orbits her homeworld. But something goes wrong, and the reactor sets off some Outside cascade, which consumes the Pride of Jai and 100 of its crew. Yasira is now a heretic and at the mercy of Nemesis and her angels. If she’ll help them track down her mentor, Dr. Evianna Talirr, an even worse heretic, she might be shown mercy.
And that was the week in this writer’s life.
Until next tipsday, be well and stay safe; be kind and stay strong. The world needs your stories!
It’s week 11! Spring is just around the corner, and it really feels like it. More mild days of melting snowbanks and mixed precipitation that’s more rain than snow. We may not see the snow plough again this year. Crossing fingers, knocking on wood, and all that jazz.
Onto the esoterica!
From the tarot, I drew The Lovers. The Lovers represents relationship, choice, perpetual bond, cooperation, love versus infatuation, and trust. This very much where my head is at these days. I’ve settled into a kind of new normal, cooking, cleaning, and taking care of Phil as he continues to heal.
With regard to that, there’s good news and bad news. Thanks to an online search, Phil’s finally found a comfortable way to sleep in the bed that supports his arm and shoulder. So long, La-Z-Boy! He’s also been helping some with meals and even coming in for hugs (!) I’m gentle. The exercises from physio are helping, as well. He’s got a new set to add to what he’s already doing.
The bad news? Those same hospital web sites advised that it could be up to 18 MONTHS for him to fully heal, and even then, he might not have full range of motion. We’re thinking that the 18 months is for the soft tissue damage associated with the break, though, rather than the break itself.
I’m sure he’ll be nominally functional by mid-May. If not earlier.
And here’s a retcon. What I’ve been calling the Celtic oracle is actually the Shaman’s Pack. Oops. This week, I pulled the Circle of Nine. The Circle of Nine represents the second circle. It’s a veilish place where the mundane world yields a portal to elsewhere. The key word is experience.
Sorry about the lighting ….
Do I have enough experience to cross over and surrender to the other world? I don’t know, but it’s nice to have the opportunity presented, even if I ultimately decide to decline. Yaknow, due to life stuff.
The week in writing
Again, it was just blogging for the week. I did a little work on my presentation, but I’m not tracking that.
I blogged 1,875 words for the week and 4,535 words for the month to date.
My early-bird application for Your Personal Odyssey was rejected again. Though I’m still in the running for the remaining spots, I’m not hopeful. Once again, they’ve been inundated with applications. It’s their most popular program yet, I think.
But … my applicant profile to the Canada Council for the Arts, which I submitted on Sunday, was approved! I’ll be focusing for the remainder of the month on submitting a few grant applications.
The first will be to the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association (CSFFA AKA the Aurora Awards). They have a professional development grant, and the application seems fairly straightforward. That deadline is March 31st. The next will be to the Access Copyright Foundation also for a professional development grant (due April 1st) and the third (and more intimidating, TBH) will be an Explore and Create grant from the CCA, due April 5th. It will be my first attempt at all three, so I don’t anticipate success, but you can’t win if you don’t play, and the experience will be worthwhile. I’ll have documentation I can use for future applications, even if I have to change out the specific details.
Next month, I’ll be shifting gears for the next Ontario Arts Council Northern Arts Grant, due May 2nd.
Maybe this is the new world I’m entering? The next phase of professional writing life?
I’ve been thinking that if my webinar goes well, of starting up a podcast about neurodivergent creatives (which may be the focus for a future grant application).
Yeah … maybe this is a new world I’m entering. Frightening, yet exciting.
Filling the well
I had no writerly events scheduled this week but did watch the replay of Dan Blank’s Find Your Ideal Audience, which I signed up for last Friday. I try to keep at least one toe in the social media/marketing/promotion pool 🙂
I had a dentist’s appointment and had a very thorough cleaning of my teeth.
And I took Phil to his physio appointment on Friday. Progress is being made. The physiotherapist and Phil are very pleased.
What I’m watching and reading
I finished watching The Flash, season 8 (Netflix). This poor show. It long ago jumped the shark (which is sad because the actors are good) and nearly every season treads familiar ground. Season 9 episodes are already populating. Fortunately, there are only 13. The completionist in me wants to see this thing through. If you want a thorough critique, I’ll refer you to Friendly Space Ninja’s analysis of the series 🙂
I also watched the last episode of season 1 of The Last of Us (HBO). I haven’t played the game and honestly don’t want to. The series was great, though. I love Bella Ramsey as Ellie and Pedro Pascale as Joel. There’s a lot of tragedy and a lot of violence, but there’s also a lot of pathos. Loved.
Then, I finished watching the third and last (ever—the series has been cancelled) season of Pennyworth (HBO/network). As bloody and wacky as ever, but the series ends on a weird cliffhanger. Alfie’s about to say “I do” to Sandra after the main cast and a group of PWEs (read enhanced—this is DC) have escaped a London gone mad on milk laced with Lullaby (a psychoactive drug with murderous side effects) when a mushroom cloud erupts in the distance. The Waynes have one child at this point. A girl. Where’s Bruce? And I don’t remember Batman having a sister ….
Next, Phil and I finished watching the second and last season of Carnival Row (Amazon). It was clear they changed tack partway through the season, eliminating the political thread in a bloody massacre. Vignette can’t decide what she wants, a life with the Ravens, with Philo, or with Tourmeline. Philo almost gets himself killed every other episode. And our runaway lovebirds are quickly corralled by a revolutionary group called the New Dawn, which has a nefarious plan that fizzles in the final episode when the main agitator kills herself rather than be taken into custody. It was all very rushed. They probably could have used a few more seasons to tell the various stories properly, but they did manage to tie things up in the end. More or less ….
Finally, I watch Three Thousand Years of Longing (Amazon). Based on A.S. Byatt’s short story collection, The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye, the movie focuses on a narratologist, Alithea Binnie, who releases a djinn from a bottle and resists the temptation to make her wishes because every wish tale is a cautionary one. Beautiful, lush, and emotionally devastating. It’s too bad it didn’t do better in NA theatres. Loved!
In books, I finished Simon Sinek’s Start with Why, a long-ago recommendation from Gabriela Pereira. Good, but repetitive. The principles can be applied to both my day job and my writing business, as well as the writing itself.
And that was the week in this writer’s life.
Until next tipsday, be well and stay safe; be kind and stay strong. The world needs your stories!
Always Looking Up 