A Story in Reverse
Life in Trump’s America Last night, when things were looking a little grim but before it got to the “Oh, hey, 2016, how’ve you been?” stage, The Magpie made a point of firmly shutting the door between the office and the kitchen. “Why are you blockading the cat from the kitchen?” I asked. “I’m not. […]
July 4, 2024
In 1973, ITV network in Britain aired the documentary, The World at War, a 26-hour look at events on the battlefield and the impacts of the war on nations as a whole as well as the individuals who fought or were otherwise caught up in it. Narrated by Sir Laurence Olivier, it used archival footage […]
Reading Roundup, 2023 (Part III)
Howdy, folks, and happy new year! Funny, I feel like we usually see “New Year” capitalized, and yet I don’t know that it should be. Hmm. Anyway, we had a good holiday season, and I’m fortunate to have accrued enough vacation time that I was able to take off the full Thanksgiving week AND nearly […]
The Statement
It’s done. Not NaNoWriMo, because I skipped it once again. As we came ever closer toward this fabled month I considered NaNo. It’s been a few years since I’ve done one and I actually had a couple of things that would have fit the bill: there’s the project I wrapped up last year that I […]
The Reading List 2023, Part II
Well, somehow nearly three months have gone by since my last post. As usual, I didn’t intend this. As usual, I will promise to post more frequently. Also as usual, I can’t guarantee I will follow through on that promise. On one level, I felt like I didn’t read as much in July, August and […]
The Reading List 2023, Part I
Long-time readers of this blog may remember my sharing of my reading list. Why share my reading list? Well, I figure if anyone’s actually reading me, they may be interested in what I read. Also, maybe you’ll find something here that will interest or excite you and you’ll be inspired to pick it up. Note […]
The Thicket
About a month ago, maybe two, I don’t quite recall, I started working on something new. It came about in an odd way for me, because I knew three things about it before I had set a single word to page: The title. This is really unusual for me. Titles rarely come so early in […]
Pulling the Thread
Last year I got a t-shirt for volunteering at an event sponsored by our local Soil & Water Conservation District. I liked the shirt: it fit me nicely and it has a nice logo. It also had a loose thread at the hem on the bottom. Even though I knew better, I pulled the thread. […]
Flexing the Muscle
First, let’s be clear about one thing: I know that the brain is not a muscle. The physical brain is a collection of neurons, glial cells and blood cells, wrapped in a membrane full of fluid. It is not a muscle. It cannot move. It can’t go out for a brisk run. It can’t lift […]
Pound, Pound, Pound
Yesterday morning I did something that I a) thought I would do several weeks ago, and b) thought I might never do: I typed ‘###’ at the end of my WiP. In case you don’t know, ‘###’ is a fancy way of saying, ‘THE END.’ This brought to a close the first stage of what […]