I signed a contract with Latitude 46 Publishing for my debut poetry collection, The Art of Floating.
Now, we have a date for the launch! Saturday, April 13, 2024. Mark your calendars.
And stay tuned to this space for updates as they happen. New author headshots coming, cover reveal, preorder details, and more. All the good stuff!
I should have posted this on the weekend, but I was having trouble getting into my WordPress account. Turns out all I had to do was delete cookies and history on my browser. Sometimes it gets backed up like that. My apologies.
And welcome to July! The year is passing so quickly.
Let’s backtrack a bit.
This has been a weird spring. After a brief few days of above-seasonal temperatures (I wore shorts in March!) it got cool and rainy. Then there was the strike (more news on that in a bit). Soon after, the temperatures began to rise again, and the last part of May was essentially a heat wave. The first part of June was seasonal, but just in time for the Solstice, we got our second heat wave, and now a third. Thanks, global warming.
Since we don’t have central air conditioning, this meant closing up the house to the degree possible during the day in an attempt to keep things cool. After the first week, the house got hot no matter what we did. And I started to get heat edema (swelling of the extremities due to heat). This meant that I wasn’t keen to go outside and do things except to make sure Torvi got her walkies.
This year has also meant something completely different for me—seasonal allergies (!) I’ve never been so stuffed up before. Complicating this may be the smoky haze blown into the area by the surrounding forest fires.
So, I haven’t been posting/reporting on the seasonal changes as much as I have in past years.
Rest assured; the monstrous rhubarb is still monstrous. We’ve been inviting everyone to come and take what they want. There’s always more than we can use.
The pin cherries blossomed at the end of Victoria Day long weekend. The lilacs followed a week later, and the honeysuckles bloomed a week after that. The pines candled brilliantly. The Finn rose is thriving.
Phil dug up and replanted our strawberries in the fall and, while we lost a few, we had flowers, and the berries began to set. Unfortunately, birds and chipmunks got to them before we could harvest one berry. I’m so disappointed.
The raspberry patch survived the winter and should produce fruit. Now if we can only remember to get out and pick the berries!
And Phil has planted our garden again this year. Swiss chard, beets, some carrots, and radishes, and he’s even giving peas a chance 🙂 We have one tomato plant and hope to soon have more.
Phil’s also set up the patio set and solar panel. He had to rework some of the ‘lectrics, but my summer office is technically open for business. Now if I can just pry myself away from my desk and get out there.
In an update from last month, the tentative contract was ratified by the membership. We’ll get out retro pay, etc. in about six months. So, either a nice Christmas present or a fabulous start to the New Year.
Second round revisions of The Art of Floating (yes, my poetry collection has a name!) were completed by the 4th, and I sent the revised manuscript off to Heather at Latitude 46. She wanted to read it through before we discussed next steps.
On the morning of June 5th, I received an email from one of the granting bodies I applied to informing me that the status of my grant application had changed. I figured I’d been screened out, and logged into the site, hope and dread warring in my gut. But it was good news! My application is moving forward to the assessment process! There’s still no guarantee. I just made it past the initial screening and my application may ultimately not make the grade, but I think moving on to formal assessment by committee is impressive for a first-time applicant (!)
Later that same day, SF Canada member and Aurora Award recipient Graeme Cameron reviewed Pulp Literature 38 in Amazing Stories and had some lovely things to say about my story, “Psychopomps Are Us.”
Sorry, but I just have to copy from the review:
“Premise: Psychopomps are guides leading souls into the afterlife. Leave it to science to add the profession to the ranks of social workers. Not an enviable job.
Review: This story has interesting concepts to express about astral forms, ghosts, spirits, and how they interact. All quite plausible, given the premise.
What is particularly interesting is that the job involves a certain amount of B.S. in that no one has any actual experience of what the afterlife offers, such that all promises made to the reluctant departed as to why they should continue their journey are pure speculation. Can’t tell the “client” that, of course, as it would fail to convince them to get on with it. So, a series of no nonsense and hopefully convincing lies are in order.
The story is a delightful exercise in extrapolation of certain implications in the underlying belief system of modern spiritualism. Turns out the job of Psychopomp is more akin to that of a psychiatrist than a social worker. You not only need to understand the newly dead, but also how to manipulate and motivate them. Challenging, to say the least.
I don’t believe in ghosts, but their point of view, if they were to exist, is well laid out and makes for an amusing contest of wills. I quite enjoyed this story. I believe you will, too. Just plain fun to read.”
Needless to say, June 5th was a very happy day.
On June 10th, I applied to the League of Canadian Poets on the advice of my publisher, whom I met at Ann-Marie MacDonald’s event (see below). I was a member, back in the 90s. We’ll see if they accept my application (again) in 6 to 8 weeks.
I also sent out some initial enquiries about setting up some writers-in-the-schools visits in the fall and winter. I got a response from a teacher in the Catholic board pretty quickly and she arranged to firm things up with me later in June after the crazy ended. She’s now been in touch and firmed things up. Now, I’m just waiting to hear if anyone in the public board is interested. The application is due on July 17th.
My first submission to Suzy was due June 11th and we met on the 15th. It was a good session, but I was frustrated with myself because I’m not internalizing Suzy’s methodology as quickly as I’d like. I’m trying to be gentle with myself, treat myself like I would a good friend. I can do the thing! I will be successful! It’s hard, though.
I finished another creative non-fiction piece for a call on the 15th and submitted it. Again, as I’m such a noob in the CNF sphere, I have no idea how I’ll do. The good thing is that the more I write in the genre, the better I’ll get. Practice makes better. So, no pressure on either of these CNF pieces. It’ll be great if something happens, but I think it’s more likely they’ll both be rejected.
The Canadian Authors Association scheduled its annual general meeting (AGM) on the 24th.
Then, the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association’s AGM was on the 25th.
Think I’m AGM’d out, now.
On impulse, I applied for a facilitator’s position with the therapist who organizes my support group. Eep! I’m beginning to feel like I’m taking on too much. Again.
At the end of the month (26th), Heather sent me the first of the next step emails with respect to The Art of Floating. This one was about filling in the marketing information for the collection, including supplying a headshot.
I promptly started querying photographers.
And … I delivered my #ActuallyAutistic Author webinar on the 28th! I think it went well. The feedback I’ve received so far has been positive.
I went to an in-person (!) event on June 5th. Ann-Marie MacDonald came to Sudbury for the Canadian University Women’s Federation’s Celebrate Women 2023. It was wonderful. MacDonald is hilarious. And, of course, I got a signed copy of Fayne.
Free Expressions offered a webinar by Eric Maisel, “Writing Your Book from Beginning to End,” on June 8th. Due to a big project at work and relatively few spoons, I watched the replay. I have several of Maisel’s books and wanted to see what one of his webinars was like. It was good.
I signed up for the video only option for Stant Litore’s “Write Characters Your Readers will Love,” a Writing the Other offering. It was a full day workshop over June 10th and 11th and I needed the weekend to myself to recover. I watched the workshop in parts from the 13th to the 19th. Stant’s one of those presenters with an absolute wealth of knowledge. I took the workshop in the pre-times and just wanted to brush up.
I signed up for another Free Expressions webinar by Janice Hardy, “Make the Most of Your POV,” on the 15th. I didn’t think I’d have the spoons to both meet with Suzy and attend the webinar on the same day (and I was right), so I once again watched the replay. It was one of Janice’s posts on Fiction University that twigged me to the real meaning of show, don’t tell (a lesson I’m still learning). Her webinar on POV was just as valuable.
The Locus Awards weekend was from the 21st through the 24th. I had to miss the readings on the 21st (see below) and 22nd but caught the Friday readings and attended the sessions on Saturday leading up to the Locus Awards ceremony. It was my first time attending virtually and I think their first time producing a hybrid conference. There were some technical glitches, but it was good overall.
The second of Donald Maass’s Free Expressions Webinars took place on the 22nd. Our World in Your Nutshell was a bit more of his usual fare. Making the specific universal.
Then, on the 28th I attended a TWUC webinar called Intersectionality Tomorrow with Tanis MacDonald, Nisha Patel, and Carla Harris. It was fabulous.
I went to Little Current to attend friends’ 25th anniversary celebration on June 21st. They renewed their vows with family and friends. It was a lovely evening.
It was too hot (see above) to light up all the candles on the altar for the solstice, but I took an eerie-cool picture of the moon and Venus through the haze.
The Sudbury Writers’ Guild’s summer social was at College Boreal on June 29th this year. Met up with several friends.
In health news, I’ve purchased a Füm. I’ve finally had it with cigarettes. I hate the taste and the way they stain my teeth and fingers. Füm is a habit alternative. A metal and wood holder for essential oil infused cores. They taste much better than cigarettes and still allow me to satisfy my oral and fidget fixations as well as to satisfy my need to do something socially with Phil and my mom when they smoke.
I’ve been doing some thinking and I didn’t start smoking until I was 25 and away trying to make it through the coursework requirement for my master’s degree. My mom smoked throughout my childhood, and I didn’t start smoking. Phil smoked when we started dating (and still does), and I didn’t start. I’m pretty sure that I started smoking not only because of the stress of my degree, but also because I needed a substitute for stimming.
When I was a kid, I’d chew pencils and pens (and pen caps) to pieces. I think this was one of my stims. But in university, I stopped using a pen outside of lecture notes and started using a computer. The clack of the keys occupied my fingers but did nothing for my oral fixation. Enter smoking.
After the first week with the Füm, I managed to halve my cigarette consumption. And I haven’t had a major nicotine fit … yet. Think I’m going to hang here for a while before I take the next step. A 27-year habit is not broken in a week. And there is a component of addiction that has to be overcome.
Phil had his bone scan scheduled for June 2nd. It went without a hitch. He was advised that they’d be in touch if there was anything of note in a few days. He’s heard nothing, so we’re assuming no news is good news.
I watched Judy Bloom Forever (Amazon). She’s had a fascinating life! Loved.
Then, I watched Avatar: The Way of Water (Disney +). I remember the first Avatar. At the time, I was blown away. Then I became aware of the problematic nature of the story (white saviourism) and remembered is a bit less fondly. TWoW suffers from some of the same issues, compounded by the fact that despite being in an avatar, Jake Sully’s managed to transfer enough human genetic material to his kids that they all have four fingers. Worse is that Quaritch, killed at the end of the first film by Neytiri, has been cloned into a Na’vi body and his son, left behind with the scientists who were allowed to stay on Pandora, is a kind of adopted son to Jake, though Neytiri can’t forget his origins and rejects him as a part of their family.
I enjoyed the movie, but not as much as I might have if I didn’t know what I know, know what I mean?
Next, I watched Women Talking (Amazon). Based on the novel of the same name by Miriam Toews and on real events (!) In a Mennonite community in Latin America, women and girls were drugged and raped for years. The real case resulted in seven of eight charged men convicted of rape. In the movie (and, I assume, the book) the women gather and decide to leave their community to protect themselves and their children. It’s compelling and terrifying and totally worth watching. The performances are amazing.
I finished the second (and final) season of Warrior Nun (Netflix). All loose ends were tied up. Ava may or may not be dead as she was taken to the other side, halo and all, after defeating Adriel. Fans are apparently trying to revive the series, but I don’t know if they will be successful.
I watched Moonage Daydream (Amazon), a surreal documentary about David Bowie. It was interesting to hear from Bowie in his own words. The last part of his career wasn’t covered in as much depth, which was disappointing because that’s the part of his career I was most interested in.
I seem to be in a docu-mood. My next watch was Stan Lee (Disney +). A fascinating look at a fascinating life in a fascinating industry 🙂
Next, I watched the season three finale of Superman & Lois (network). Lois gets cancer (and survives), Clark and Lois try to take down Bruno Manheim (and they do), and, in the last two episodes, Lex Luthor is released from prison and comes after Lois, but he starts by stripping her of her protection. He gets the General out of the way with a honey pot, and then finds the now-feral Bizarro, torturing him until he becomes Doomsday, and sends him after Clark. It was quite a cliffhanger.
Finally, I finished the first season of Gotham Knights (network). I think this is the best of the DCEU series to come out recently. But of course it got cancelled. Bah.
In reading, I finished Kate Heartfield’s Armed in Her Fashion. In this historical weird, the devil’s wife, only known as the Chatelaine, traps her husband deep within the hellbeast that is their living home. She takes over and brings the hellbeast to the surface in the hope of becoming a ruler in a time when women cannot rule. Enter Magreit and her daughter Beatrix, trying to survive in Bruges after the Chatelaine and her forces attack. The Chatelaine is doing this to win the favour of the French King and win the city as her own kingdom.
Her main force is composed of chimeras, people combined with beasts or objects, or both, in the hellforge to become her faithful warriors. The rest are revenants, killed by the chimeras but somehow brought back to half-life. Magreit’s husband is a revenant, and when she discovers him taking a hidden chest from their home, she demands her rights, and her daughter’s. He is dead. What’s in that chest belongs to his family. It could mean the start of a new life for Magreit and Beatrix.
Though she has contracted the Grief, a wasting sickness that infects revenants’ loved ones, Magreit will go to any lengths before she dies to get her daughter’s inheritance, even into the bowels of the hellbeast.
Next, I read Nalo Hopkinson’s short story collection Skin Folk. Soundly entertaining and a wonderful peek into the Caribbean diaspora by one of our best storytellers.
Then, I finished my re-read of Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater. I realize I’ve just been raving about how much I love the series and not offering anything in terms of the plot. Let’s fix that now, shall we?
The Raven Boys — Blue Sargent, who’s always been told that if she kisses her true love, he’ll die, is drawn into the orbit of Gansey and his friends Ronan, Adam, and Noah, as they search for a mythical Welsh king who Gansey suspects is buried somewhere in Virginia. In order to find Glendower, they must revive the ley line, but someone else is on the same quest and wants to beat them to the punch.
The Dream Thieves — Ronan Lynch is a dreamer, that is, he can pull things out of his dreams and into reality, like his pet raven, Chainsaw. The ley line is awake, but still needs to be healed, and Adam made a deal with the mystical forest Cabeswater to be its eyes and ears. But someone called The Gray Man’s come to town in search of an artifact called the greywaren which has the power to make dreams real, and Ronan learns he’s not the only dreamer in Henrietta. They’re both in danger.
Blue Lily, Lily Blue — Blue’s mom has disappeared and left a cryptic note: Glendower’s underground and so am I. The Gray Man’s employer has come to town determined to find the greywaren, and Gansey’s mentor Mallory has come to help the gang finally track down Glendower. Blue doesn’t care about any of that unless it helps her rescue her mother.
And now it’s onto The Raven King!
Next, I finished William Gibson’s Idoru. Rez, of the rock duo Lo/Rez, has declared his intention to marry an idoru (idol, in Japanese) an AI entertainer. No one understands how this is supposed to happen, including his staff. So, they hire Colin Laney, a man with an uncanny and inexplicable ability to find nodal points in any data stream to find out if anyone is manipulating Rez. At the same time, Chia Pet McKenzie, a member of the Seattle chapter of the Lo/Rez fan club is sent to Japan to investigate.
The next book I read was Patricia Briggs’ Fire Touched. It’s number nine in the Mercy Thompson series. I’ve only read the first book in the series before. Mercy and her werewolf mate Adam must protect a human changeling who has escaped Underhill, where he lived for a very long time and was imbued with the elemental power of fire. The Gray Lords of the fae want Aiden, though, and some of them will stop at nothing to get him.
I also read Nalini Singh’s Angel’s Blood. It’s a steamy paranormal, so be aware of the potential of explicit sex. The world building’s a little weird, but in Singh’s world, angels create vampires as servitors or slaves. Humans, trained or with innate hunter talents, hunt rogue vampires for the angels. Elena is a born hunter and one of the best in her field. She’s called upon by the archangel Raphael to hunt not a vampire, but a corrupted archangel whose bloodlust could consume every mortal in existence.
Then, I read Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. Once again, I am struck by how much I like Dickens. Just in general.
Finally, I read The Prynne Viper by Bianca Marais. Bianca’s the co-host of The Sh*t No One Tells You About Writing podcast and I was curious. Solid courtroom drama set in a futuristic world in which predictive algorithms determine who gets to be born. Naomi Prynne has been to court three times and lost. Now, she’s pregnant again and desperate not to lose.
Intriguing worldbuilding, most of which I can’t tell you without spoiling the story, but I will note the use of Prynne as the protagonist’s last name (harkening to Hester, methinks), and let you know that viper is a short form/portmanteau of viable person.
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!
I’m excited to be presenting a webinar for the Canadian Authors Association and SF Canada. Here are the deets:
The #ActuallyAutistic Author: Neurodivergent Self-Care for Every Creative
After a lifetime of writing (and masking), Melanie Marttila was diagnosed as autistic in 2021. Speaking from personal experience, she will cover various issues faced by autistics and how to mitigate them in a creative context. After the last three years of #pandemiclife, other creatives may experience many of these issues. Packed with actionable information and resources, The #ActuallyAutistic Author will introduce you to creative life on the spectrum, with all its benefits and challenges.
Presenter: Melanie Marttila
Date: Wednesday, June 28, 2023
Time: 7:00 – 8:30 pm (ET)
Length: 90 minutes (including Q&A)
About Melanie Marttila
Always looking up, eyes on the skies, head in the clouds, #actuallyautistic author Melanie Marttila writes poetry and speculative tales of hope in the face of adversity. She lives and writes in Sudbury, Ontario, in the house where three generations of her family have lived, on the street that bears her surname, with her spouse and their dog.
Her first poetry collection, The Art of Floating, will be published in 2024 by Latitude 46. Her poetry has appeared in Polar Borealis, Polar Starlight, and Sulphur. Her short fiction has appeared in Pulp Literature, On Spec, Pirating Pups, and Home for the Howlidays.
You can sign up (for free!) on the Canadian Authors web site. Even if you can’t make it, you can get the recording and watch it later. What do you have to lose?
Welcome to the next chapter monthly update for May 2023. It’s going to be another epic update. Actually, it’s epic-er. Lots of stuff to cram into this month.
I woke up May 1st to the news that a tentative deal had been reached and the strike was over (for now). The deal still had to be formally announced, information sessions held, and members vote on whether to accept the offer or not. And if the membership doesn’t vote to accept, we could be picketing again if further negotiations fail.
CRA workers were still walking the picket until their bargaining team had an agreement they could present to their members. This happened within the week.
Our ratification kit was sent out on May 10th. The ratification vote was called on the 24th, but the voting period doesn’t close until June 16th, so you (and I) will have to wait until next month to learn the results.
In the meantime, life threw us another curve ball. Our break line blew, and the car was out of commission until we could find an appointment at a repair shop, which was more difficult than you’d think. The garage we’ve been with for 20+ years was booked solid for six weeks. Our dealership was booked for three. Ultimately, we found a garage that could help us, got the car towed there, and the necessary repairs completed in five days.
It was interesting living without a car for those few days. I hope that the universe doesn’t have any further surprises in store for us. With Phil’s broken shoulder, the strike, and the car, that’s three. Things have to turn around soon.
I worked on a creative non-fiction piece and finished it (I think) on May 6th. Actually, I gave it a few more passes and submitted it on the 8th. There is such a thing as editing the life out of a piece. It’s my first CNF. I have no idea how it will fare.
I continued to edit my poetry collection, work on notes and acknowledgements. I sent it back to Tanis (who was having fun in Finland—I’m so jealous) over the Victoria Day long weekend. She’ll have final notes back to me in June.
Actually, she returned the second round edits May 29th. I’ll work on it on the weekend (June 3rd and 4th) and then forward it to my publisher, Heather, for final copyedits, formatting, cover, and all that jazz. April 2024 is getting closer!
I revised a short story for an anthology call due May 31st. That, too, I finished (after several passes) and submitted on the 28th. And then the call was extended until July 31st. Oh well.
And I finally got back to Reality Bomb. I reviewed the chapters I’d done before, added a stack of Post-it notes to my map, and generally prepared to dive back into editing with Suzy in June. I officially contracted her on the 24th and paid my fee. It’s happening!
Related to that: My ah-MA-zing news (that I alluded to last month): I received the CSFFA Professional Development Grant! W00t!! Now the first session with Suzy will be mostly covered! I was informed by email on April 30th but asked to hold back on announcing the news until the CSFFA made their official announcement. Now they have, and I can! You may have seen my blog post about it earlier in the month. I thought it bore mentioning again 🙂
I submitted my application for my first Ontario Arts Council Northern Arts Grant on May 1st (again, for better or worse). There was a lot more to it than the OAC grant I applied for last fall. I have no idea how well I did (or did not). I’m still committed to applying for every grant I can. The more grant applications I submit, the better I’ll get at writing them. That I worked on this one while in the midst of the strike … let’s just say it probably wasn’t my best work. But I have no objectivity, so who knows?
I read my poetry at the TWUC Ontario region virtual open mic on May 2nd. It was good to share my poems again.
On May 3rd, I received an email from Odyssey Workshops notifying me that my application to Your Personal Odyssey was not accepted. Each year, the email’s a little longer and this year, Jeanne Cavelos said she enjoyed reading my writing sample. There were even more applicants than last year, and the competition was fierce. I’ll see it as a “one step closer to yes” rejection 😉
On May 12th, I received the package from the K. Valerie Connor Memorial Poetry Celebration contest and judging was underway. More than twice as many poems as were predicted, but I managed.
I attended a CAA board meeting on May 23rd. It will be one of my last. I’m stepping down after two terms to focus more on my writing.
I virtually attended the FOLD from April 30 to May 7, watching most of the sessions in replay. Always a great literary festival.
I watched the first of the Donald Maass series of Free Expressions webinars on May 5th, the Eight Lacks that Torpedo a Good Manuscript. Thought-provoking as ever.
I signed up for another Tiffany Yates Martin webinar through Jane Friedman and watched it on May 7th. The Power of Dialogue in Fiction was a different offering than I’ve seen from her before. Excellent, as always.
The TWUC Webinar, Construction of a Story Arc, featured past winners of the Danuta Gleed Award. Interesting insights into process.
I attended Writers Read for Dawn Walker on May 10th. I’d already signed and shared the petition through change.org and when I was notified of the reading, I decided to show my support. Also, Kim Fahner was one of the readers (and Alicia Elliott and Louise Bernice Halfe and Dawn herself). It was a compelling and heart-wrenching evening. I’ll encourage you to support Dawn’s legal defense fund.
I signed up for Your Novel’s Four Key Scenes with Susan DeFreitas, once again, through Jane Friedman. And once again, I watched the replay. She got into the neuroscience of story. Mirror neurons. Semantic and episodic memory. All the good things.
From May 12th to 14th, I attended the virtual version of the Nebula Conference and Awards Ceremony. There were a lot of great panels including one on revision and one on neurodivergent writers 🙂
I registered for Cece Lyra’s Putting the Hook in Your Book webinar on the 18th. I had a conflict and watched the replay. Full of insight. Cece introduced me to a new way of thinking about story in terms of pitch or query.
Then, I signed up for Carly Watters’ Preparing Your Pitch Package for Literary Agents webinar on the 24th. A bad couple of days at work meant that I had to watch the replay. I did not have the gas. But it was an amazing webinar that covered both fiction and non-fiction queries/packages. And the resources!
I watched a Word on the Street virtual webinar on creating time & space to write on the 25th. It’s not that I don’t already have time and space to write, it’s just that I can always learn something new, and Melissa Yuan-Innes (Yi) was on the panel 🙂
I’m just signing up for all the things 🙂 On the 31st was Jean-Louis Trudel’s “To Enter the Writing Multiverse,” another CAA/SFC webinar. An excellent presentation on creating a diversified writing career.
I had a lovely massage booked with my RMT on the 24th. Much needed respite.
Phil actually got to see the endocrinologist on May 9th. He received a year’s worth of prescriptions, a referral for a bone scan, and an appointment for next year.
He had another appointment with Dr. Vokey on the 12th and this was his last. Unfortunately, the x-ray technician asked him to contort his arm into a weird position and then Vokey manipulated the joint as part of her final exam. He was so sore, he bailed on Mother’s Day dinner.
Speaking of which, my sister-in-law hosted Mother’s Day dinner at her place. It was a lovely weekend for it. Super-delish pasta and strawberry shortcake for dessert. Torvi stayed home with Phil.
He also had another physio appointment on the 29th. This, too, would be his last. There’s really not much more they can do for him. He just has to keep up with his exercises and see how things go.
It’s finale season. Just warning you now, there are a lot of shows I’m going to be running down.
Phil and I watched Seven Kings Must Die (Netflix), the movie finale of The Last Kingdom series. It basically covers Bernard Cornwell’s most recent novel in the book series the BBC/Netflix series and movie are based on. The series benefitted from being able to cover the events of each novel over up to ten episodes. The movie suffered from having to cram everything into less than two hours. It felt like several novels crammed into one movie. We enjoyed it, but not as much as the series. I have yet to read the books (though I have purchase several).
Season five of The Rookie (network) ended with a wild conspiracy that had all the LAPD and their partners on edge. Riddles, masks, ambush attacks, home invasions, abductions … it was a lot. And at first, I was worried they were going to kill of another Black character. But it all worked out and in the last moments of the episode, the mysterious mastermind of the attack drives out of town, his own goal accomplished and the LAPD none the wiser. I guess that’s setting up next season.
The Rookie: Feds (network) completed its first season. There was a lot of crossover between The Rookie and its spinoff throughout the season. I like Feds, but not as much as The Rookie. The finale was a win-lose scenario. Moral grey area. They’re waiting to hear if they’ll be renewed.
The first season of Will Trent (network) was excellent, however. I really like the series and will have to check out the books it’s based on by Karin Slaughter. The finale involved a serial killer with links to Will’s past.
The next seasonal domino to fall was True Lies (network). I liked the movie, so I figured I’d give it a shot. The series was nothing like the movie. Mission briefings were slick, digital cheese. It wasn’t as funny as I hoped, either. The season and series finale (it’s been cancelled) sets up a second season that will never happen. Unless one of the streamers picks it up.
I watched the season finale of Grey’s Anatomy (network). I don’t know how much longer the series will go on. Everyone’s leaving. And now that Ellen Pompeo has stepped back … I mean is there a Grey’s Anatomy without Meredith Grey? I like the new interns well enough, but it’s becoming a lot of the same old, same old.
Phil and I watched Antman and the Wasp: Quantumania (Disney +). I enjoyed it, and Phil was interested enough to actually watch the whole movie with me in one sitting. Jonathan Majors is a tour de force. Hank’s ant farm! “I have holes! Rawr!” >munch, munch, munch< Much fun.
Then, I watched Still (Apple +), the Michael J. Fox documentary. It was amazing.
I needed a little mindless entertainment toward the end of the month, and Jolt (Amazon) fit the bill. Kate Beckinsale plays Lindy, a woman with intermittent explosive disorder who’s just trying to live in the world without harming anyone. She connects with Justin, on the advice of her therapist, but shortly after their third date, Justin is killed, and Lindy decides to use her disorder to find the murderer.
Onto the reading. And, as kismet would have it, I finished reading a lot of books this month, too.
I read Brian Staveley’s The Emperor’s Blades. Solid epic fantasy, but there was a continual stream of objectification and fridging going on, which robbed what might otherwise have been thoroughly enjoyable of the thoroughly part. The emperor is murdered, and his three children have to contend with the fallout while trying to step into their own destinies. I enjoyed Kaden and Valyn’s journeys, but Adair’s was not as well-developed, another reason I didn’t enjoy the book as much as I could have.
Then, I finished Austen Kleon’s Steal Like an Artist. It’s not a long book, but it’s filled with pithy common sense that every writer needs to read interspersed with clever blackout poetry and nifty sketches. Yes. Every creative needs to read this book. That is all.
Next, I turned my attention to some shorter works.
I read Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis. Depressing story. Before he woke up a giant cockroach, Gregor was the sole provider for his family, but they took him for granted. He had ambitions to send his sister to the conservatory, so she could pursue her talent with the violin. After, his mother, father, and sister all get jobs. His father has some savings, but he decides they should only be used in an emergency. Like his son turning into a cockroach isn’t an emergency. All the while, poor Gregor wastes away as his family withdraws their love and support, the only “food” he really wants. When they finally decide they must get rid of him, Gregor dies, almost as a favour to them. And life goes on.
I also finished my re-read of Maggie Stiefvater’s The Dream Thieves. Not a shorter work, but this was the order I finished it in … I don’t know how to be objective about this series. I love it so much. And I can only hope some of her brilliance might rub off on my as I study her work. Now, it’s on to Blue Lily, Lily Blue.
Another short piece I re-read was “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” by Washington Irving. I have a story idea that plays with Sleepy Hollow, but I haven’t been driven to actually write it, yet. I like to keep in touch with the story from time to time. This was one of those times.
Next, I read Penric’s Fox by Lois McMaster Bujold. I’d only read Penric’s Demon before, but I don’t think it matters what order you read these tales in. This is apparently the fifth novella in the series and involves Penric investigating the death of another temple sorcerer whose demon may have made its way into a fox. I liked it a lot.
I finished Aliette de Bodard’s In the Vanishers’ Palace. Yên, a failed scholar, is sold into the indenture of Vu Côn, one of the last dragons, to pay her village’s debts. The dragon takes her to a reality-bending palace, where death waits around every tessered corner. Yên expects to be killed, but Vu Côn makes her teacher of her twin children. Another surprise: Yên begins to have feelings for Vu Côn.
The Wild Wood by Charles de Lint was another short read. It was originally published in 1994 when concern for the environment wasn’t so much a part of our daily lives. The author even composed an introduction to this anniversary edition in which he apologizes for the overt “we have to care for our environment” vibe. Eithne is an artist who lives near a marsh and forest just outside of Ottawa. When faerie begin to appear in her artwork and dreams asking for help, she has to decide whether her desire to help is worth the sacrifice she’s been asked to make.
Then, I dove into Princess Floralinda and the Forty-Flight Tower by Tamsyn Muir. It’s a delightful, queer riff on the Rapunzel fairy tale. The witch who traps Floralinda is overzealous. And very experienced. She traps princesses all the time, but artistry is her thing. In Floralinda’s tower, there’s a different monster on every floor, starting with a diamond-scaled dragon. In the first months of her imprisonment, hundreds of princes try to rescue her … and the dragon is very well fed. As summer turns to fall and winter threatens, Floralinda decides she has to rescue herself. LOVED!
I read “Seasons of Glass and Iron” by Amal El Mohtar, a shot story from The Starlit Wood anthology of fairy tale retellings. A woman cursed to walk until she wears out seven pairs of iron shoes meets a woman who volunteered to be sealed away in a glass cage. A lovely, sapphic tale of two women discovering how they misogyny of their loved ones has caused them to suffer and the freedom they find when they choose one another.
Next (I did warn you—I read a lot this month), I read Bryony and Roses by T. Kingfisher (Ursula Vernon). A lovely retelling of Beauty and the Beast. Gardener Bryony and her beleaguered pony Fumblefoot are caught in a blizzard on the way back from getting rutabaga seeds. As she begins to lose the feeling in her extremities, Bryony finds a mysterious estate. The estate is sentient, and the beast is in trouble. Fabulous.
Then, I read The King of Elfland’s Daughter, by Lord Dunsany. A prince wins the hand of the king of Elfland’s daughter. They have a child, but the king misses his daughter and lures her back to Elfland where she pines for her husband and son. So, the prince, now a king, goes in search of Elfland to retrieve his bride, while his son, who hears the horns of Elfland, but does not heed their call, hunts unicorns with trolls and will ‘o’ wisps. Happily ever after isn’t … until the king makes a sacrifice that will change both the Kingdom of Erl and Elfland forever.
Finally, on May 31st, I finished Arthur C. Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. A novel and a movie are necessarily two different things, but, with the exception of a few details, which the author is careful to note in his foreword, the novel evoked Kubrick’s movie quite well.
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!
This is the news I was teasing in my last update!
On April 30th, I received notification that I was the spring recipient of the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association (CSFFA, AKA the Aurora Awards) Professional Development Grant!
Now I can resume work with Suzy to revise my novel in a more focused and accountable way. W00t!!
Sorry, the cheque’s already been deposited and I forgot to take a picture before I went to the bank.
The CSFFA asked that I hold off until they made the official announcement in their next newsletter. Now they have, so I can spread the word!
In case you’re curious, there are two submission periods in the year, spring and fall. So, If you’re interested you can find out more here: the CSFFA Professional Development Grant.
You won’t know if you can succeed unless you apply.
So, maybe go do that. The next submission period opens June 1st.
Much happy dancing is happening.
It’s good to have good news.
Until next time, be safe and stay well; be kind and stay strong. The world needs your stories!
I’m just dropping by to remind everyone that Pulp Literature issue 38 is launching tomorrow at the Port Coquitlam Readers & Writers Festival!
If you’re in the area, I encourage you to visit the Book Fair & Market Hall at 1 pm. Authors Sylvia Leong, JJ Lee, Rhea Rose, Renée Sarojini Saklikar, Jude Neale, Leslie Wibberley, and JM Landels will be on hand and reading their fabulous work.
And if you’re not in the area, consider ordering a copy.
Show the good people at Pulp Literature some love!
Until next time, be safe and stay well; be kind and stay strong. The world needs your stories!
Welcome to the first next chapter, back in its monthly format. This means it will be epic. Sorry, not sorry.
I’ve had to completely revamp my annual plan. Well, not completely, but mostly 🙂
My original plan had been to finish mapping out Alice in Thunderland in January and finish the first draft in February and March while continuing to work with Suzy on Reality Bomb. But a budget situation at work and the attendant loss of income meant I couldn’t continue working with Suzy. We parted ways at the end of January.
I then thought I’d continue working on my own and sign up again once my position and salary had been restored, but Phil had his accident (on Valentine’s Day, I’ll remind you), and all writing work was suspended until such time as he recovered.
In the interim, I got the hare-brained idea to start applying for grants. All of them.
Now that Phil’s recovered, I’ve committed to …
You can see why I’ve decided to cut back on blogging in the interim.
Alice is taking a back seat, for now. I think it was a good project, but I don’t have the head space or energy to get back to it right now. I do have the outline finished and a solid idea of where I need to head when I do get back to revisions. So, it’s in a good place.
That was the only big change from my original plan, aside from pushing out some timelines because life is what happens when you may other any plans.
So far, the experiment in rearranging my creative life (i.e., giving up curation and returning to monthly updates) seems to be working. I’m a lot less stressed out, that’s for sure. Or I was.
Unfortunately, the universe couldn’t take it easy on me. An added stress is that a general strike was called on April 19, 2023. I’m showing up and showing solidarity, but the first day was bitterly cold and I had to take a nap after I got home (which I never do) to warm up and recover. Subsequent days weren’t any easier, though I planned a bit better each day.
My executive function is definitely compromised. Meltdowns each morning, naps most afternoons, and I’m having trouble functioning on any level. At least I didn’t have to picket on the weekends. As of today (April 30, 2023) there’s a new offer on the table, but I haven’t heard anything yet. I expect we’ll be back on the picket line tomorrow.
In other developments, I’ll be one of three judges for the K. Valerie Connor Memorial Poetry Celebration contest held by the Leacock Museum in Orillia this year. I’m honoured to have been considered.
I received another bit of amazing (ah-MA-zing!) news this morning, but I’ll have to wait a bit before I make that announcement. Stay tuned! And yes, I’m a tease.
Just picking up from where I left off in my next chapter weekly updates. I’m not recapping the whole month (!) As you’ll see, it’s been a month FULL of events.
I attended the online book launch for Fonda Lee’s The Untethered Sky on April 10th. A great conversation between Fonda and Andrea Stewart about all aspects of the creative process.
I had signed up for a FOLD Academy webinar with Liselle Sambury on April 8th, but was unable to watch it live, because recovery. I watched the replay once it was posted to their YouTube channel. It’s an interesting method, and Sambury offered a lot of alternatives for outlining and tracking your novel.
I signed up for an Authors Publish webinar on a new (to me) poetry form, the zuihitsu, with Eugenia Leigh. Because it was held during the workday, I watched the replay. Zuihitsu is a fascinating form, but I don’t know if I could manage the consciously disordered nature of a zuihitsu collection. It does track with some of the ideas I’m hoping to play with poetically, though. We’ll see where it leads.
I met with my poetry editor, Tanis MacDonald, on the 12th. It was less fraught than I thought it would be (and that would have been on me—Tanis was lovely). Now I have my marching orders and some work to do 🙂
I attended the Writing Success Series Discovery Night on April 13th. I’ve signed up for the Donald Maass six-webinar package and will return for individual sessions by Eric Maisel, Janice Hardy, Tiffany Yates Martin, and Beth Baranay.
I signed up for another Dan Blank webinar about defining your identity and creative voice on April 14th. Again, because it was during the workday, I watched the replay. Dan has a lot of good information about how to engage with social media on your terms and it all begins with defining your identity and creative voice.
On April 15th, my friend and former poet laureate of Sudbury, Vera Constantineau, launched her poetry collection. Enlightened by Defilement is a collection of haibun inspired by the 108 defilements of Buddhism. It was a lovely afternoon at the Hilton Garden Inn, good food, and a lot of familiar faces that I haven’t seen in a while 🙂
That was a big week of writing-related events, I realized, and dialled it back a bit. Yeah, all of the above was in one week. I might have overdone things a bit.
Just four more writing-related events in the month.
I purchased a Rambo Academy webinar on revision that I could watch at my leisure, which I did.
I attended Mary Robinette Kowal’s Barriers to Writing webinar on Sunday, April 23. It was extremely helpful in a few different ways.
Finally, I registered for a TWUC webinar on marketing and self-promotion presented by Rod Carley and Ali Bryan, which I also watched in replay. With my debut poetry collection coming up next year, it was very helpful!
I almost forgot! The FOLD started on April 30th, but as the bulk of the event is in May, I’ll leave the details until next month’s update.
In the self-care department, I had an appointment with my doctor because of a bump on the inside of my wrist. It’s a ganglion cyst and nothing to worry about unless it gets bigger and/or starts causing pain or impeding my range of motion. Something to monitor for now.
Phil had another physio appointment and an appointment with an endocrinologist for his type II diabetes. Unfortunately, the diabetic clinic is being shut down. It’s disappointing because he was finally getting the treatment and support he needed. And then his appointment with the endocrinologist was cancelled. Super frustrating.
I took Torvi to the vet for her annual exam and flea/tic/worm medication. An expensive trip, but she was her crazy, adorable self for Dr. Andrews, and she’ll be protected for the coming year.
I finished watching The Witcher: Blood Origin (Netflix). An interesting origin story for the witchers, with great characters, fight scenes, and a tie-in to the main series. Also, it was only four episodes, so it didn’t have time to fall prey to some of the gaffs other series suffer from.
Next, I watched The Wonder (Netflix), based on the novel of the same name by Emma Donoghue. Mystery and pathos. Lib Wright is a nurse who is called upon, with a nun, to perform a 14-day watch on a girl is a small Irish village who hasn’t eaten in four months. Ah, my heart.
I finished watching the first season of The Peripheral (Amazon). Bizarre and brain-twisty, but I loved it. Virtual reality isn’t just VR. It’s time travel and the creation of alternate realities called stubs. A VR gamer and her ex-military brother are inducted into a program with new technology, and a whole new world of complex future and present political and corporate intrigue changes their lives.
I also finished off the first season of Extraordinary (Disney +). In a world where most people develop powers (some of which are bizarre, and others, totally useless), protagonist Jen is powerless. She’s also a horrible person who has no money to pay for the expensive treatment that could rectify the situation. Growth happens. British series. British humour.
Then, I watched Ghosted (Apple +). It was the fun escape I needed after three days of picketing. Lots of cameos by popular action actors. I was laughing out loud. It might have been the dysregulation, but I enjoyed it. There was some problematic content, though, like the white male protagonist getting all stalkery (repeated texts, tracking her, a surprise trip to see her) on his love interest after she apparently ghosts him. Unfortunately, the stalking is critical to the plot. Like, there would be none without his intrusive and unwanted behaviour.
In reading, I finished T.J. Klune’s Wolfsong. The protagonist, Oxnard, or Ox is clearly autistic coded. And bisexual (pan?). I loved the book for that alone, but it was a love story between a human boy and his wolf pack. Correction, packs. There are some explicit sex scenes if you’re not into that kind of thing. My heart (again)!
Then, I finished The Bookwoman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michelle Richardson. A fascinating historical fiction based on true events. Look up the blue people. They were an actual thing. And the packhorse librarians. Loved it!
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!
Welcome to week 14, and, sadly, the last next chapter weekly for a while (see below). I’ve enjoyed this experiment and think I’ll return to it when I have more time or more spoons or what have you.
From the tarot this week, I drew The Moon, which represents dreams, mystery, deception, illusion, fears, and the unknown. Something is not what it seems. So, am I delusional to think I’ll be able to devote more time to my writing and make significant progress toward my goals? I don’t know.
I’d like to hang my hat on the dreams alone, because dreams (the ones you have when you’re asleep) are cool, and aspirations (the dreams you have when you’re conscious) are a motivating force.
From the Shaman’s pack I drew The Mound of Wonders, which represents the empowerment of earth. So, a faery mound. There’s another tale from the Mabinogion about when Pwyll met Rhiannon—you guessed it—at a faery mound. This card seems to be more about elemental power rather than mythic significance. And that’s fine because I love me some elemental magic. Earth is a good place to start, with grounding and steadfast intention.
This week also saw the Pink full moon in Libra on the 6th. That was the night the graupel (I’ve been calling it gropel—yeesh) started, and it was overcast. She’s been out the nights since and has been glorious. I formulated my full moon release and did a guided meditation.
Just blogging again.
I wrote 1,954 words for the week, and 2,535 words for April so far.
Last weekend, Pulp Literature did the cover reveal for issue 38, and—my name’s on the cover! First time ever! Eeeee! And the cover is gorgeous, am I right?
Early in the week, I emailed my poetry editor, Tanis MacDonald, and work will begin on my poetry collection, verra soon.
I got my first Canada Council Grant application submitted! I have no idea how any of these grants will work out. Will wait and see and report back when I have something to report.
I’ve given some thought to what I’m going to do with blogging and social media now that work on my poetry manuscript will be starting and my work with Suzy will be resuming. Rather than a complete hiatus, I’m thinking of something more strategic.
I’ll be giving up curation for the foreseeable and moving these next chapter updates to monthly ones again. So, no weekly tarot draws or other paganish stuff. I’ll still do that for myself, but I won’t be sharing it.
As I mentioned off the top, I’ll probably return to the weekly format at some point, but something else has got to give before that happens. Phil is mostly recovered now and has resumed most of the household responsibilities. This frees up some time, but I’m still working full time, and I only have so much vacation.
Something Phil’s accident and recovery has taught me is that I can’t do it all.
Curation isn’t a burden, per se, but it does take up a good chunk of time that I could be using to write or revise, or really, do anything creative. And there are others out there who are doing a more comprehensive job, like Elizabeth Spann Craig with her Twitterific links.
I also remember how much I enjoy my curation breaks for NaNoWriMo. Not having to do curation has actually made it possible for me to do NaNoWriMo in past years, in any capacity.
I’m going to use the break to rework my website. I have to update some pictures and messaging, redo the header to reflect my more recent publications. I have some decisions to make, as well. The site might become more static, especially if I turn my next chapter updates into a newsletter.
I won’t be as active on Twitter. Not that I was very active before. Other than my blog, the two main places you’ll find me will be on Facebook (just my personal account—I don’t intend to make an author page) and Instagram, where I post all my pictures. I may try doing more on Insta, but not right now.
Again, all these activities cost time and energy, and I only have so much of those, less as each year passes. If anything, I’m my autistic traits are becoming more prominent as I age, not less.
On Tuesday, I attended another TWUC Ontario Region Open Mic. Heard some poetry and some short fiction. It was nice to sit back and enjoy the work of other writers.
On Wednesday, the Sudbury Writers’ Guild Poetry Inner Circle brought in the lovely Tanis MacDonald (yes, my poetry editor) for a brief poetry workshop. Useful tools were shared. I’m sure I’ll be using some of them in the coming months 🙂
I also took Torvi for her grooming last Sunday, and Phil to his next physio appointment on Monday. He’s now starting strength training and his traumatized muscles are sore.
Phil and I finished watching the second season of Shadow and Bone. Neither of us enjoyed it as much as the first. Again, combining two book series that were never intended to happen at the same time means that each episode is packed with so many things happening, the show seems to hurtle toward its conclusion in a frenzy. And now it looks like they’re adding in the King of Scars duology as well. They’ve also had to make significant departures from the books and move events around. It’s really its own thing now and can’t be compared to the books that were its inspiration. It’s not bad, but I’m nervous about what future seasons will look like.
I watched the end of the first season of the new Quantum Leap. I like it. Ben Song is another kind, gentle soul who just wants to help everyone. I think the season finale ended the way it did in case it’s not renewed. We don’t know who’s coming back. So, they could move in either direction, or even bring Scott Bakula back for a limited run. They’ve made it very clear (repeatedly) that Sam never returned. Maybe part of Ben Song’s plan was to make it possible for Sam to stop leaping. I’ll watch the next season. If it’s renewed.
In reading, I finished Guy Gavriel Kay’s All the Seas of the World. It’s a sequel to A Brightness Long Ago and features many of the same characters. What can I say? Kay’s another author I’m completely unobjective about. I’ll read everything he writes, and I’ll love it.
I also finished reading K.M. Weiland’s latest writing craft book, Writing Archetypal Character Arcs. I’ve posted my review. Unsurprisingly, I loved it. This is a reference every writer should have on their desk. In print.
And that was the week in this writer’s life.
Until next tipsday (which will be the last for a while), be well and stay safe; be kind and stay strong. The world needs your stories!
It’s lucky week 13, finishing off March and ending with April Fool’s Day. Which I don’t observe. I’ve never enjoyed practical jokes. Now that I know I’m autistic, this isn’t surprising.
From the tarot, I drew the Hanged Man, which represents ordeal, introspection, fate, acceptance, momento mori, stoicism, and stagnation. Well, I’ve certainly undergone an ordeal, but I’m on the other side of it, emerging from the overwhelm of work and household responsibilities. I have accepted it, but I haven’t been particularly stoic about it. I’m certainly not stagnating. So, it’s a bit of a mixed bag. Not too sure what it means. More changes coming?
From the Shaman’s pack, I drew the Mother, who is Modron (literally Mother). Once again, from the tale of Culhwch and Olwen and the search for Mabon (the child of Modron). This card represents conception. When contemplating new projects, she can provide wise and loving advice. Well, there’s a lot of contemplation happening, and new projects are on the horizon.
Once again, just blogging. And grant applications (which I’m not tracking).
I wrote 1,306 words for the week and 7,084 words for March, total. That’s 109% of my goal. I wrote 581 words on April 1st, essentially this update. And again, the week’s visual tracking is broken into two parts.
I submitted my application for the Access Copyright Foundation’s Professional Development Grant on the 29th! Two down. Two to go (one due in the coming week and one in May).
I finished out the Perfect your Process Summit on Sunday and Monday. It’s usually a good variety of presenters.
I took Phil to his appointment with Dr. Vokey on Friday. The bone is healed! All that’s left is the soft tissue damage, which always take a long time. Phil’s resuming most of his former responsibilities around the house, but he can’t lift heave things yet, so laundry, shopping, etc. are still my responsibility.
I finished watching RRR. It took me three days with the run-time of 3 hrs 5 minutes. It was an epic tale. A young girl named Malli is abducted by the governor’s wife, and her village’s protector, Bheem, goes to Deli to rescue her. While there, he helps a man named Ram rescue a boy and the two become friends. Bheem is unaware that Ram is the police officer assigned to find and stop him from returning Malli to her village.
That’s just the set up. There are Bollywood numbers, romance, bromance, and tragedy. The fight scenes are over-the-top. Wild animals as distraction! Ram on Bheem’s shoulders, fighting as one! Ram dressed as Arjuna! The two men taking down an army of special forces and then destroying an entire compound!
So. Much. FUN!!
I read Annalee Newitz’s The Future of Another Timeline. A timely (sorry, not sorry) novel about an alternate world in which abortion was never made legal and reproductive rights are severely restricted. In the future, women called Queens have their hands amputated so they can focus on procreation.
But in this alternate reality, there are time machines that were discovered in the Earth. A whole new field of study, chronogeology opens up, and the protagonist wants to edit the past to make a better world. Compelling.
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 12 already?! Holy cow! Spring has sprung and I’m feeling good 🙂
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.
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.
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.
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!
Always Looking Up 