2023 retrospective

I discovered a new writer this past year (so far in the distance now 6 days into 2024) who talked about life in seasons rather than years. That resonated deeply with me, perhaps because I tend to cultivate change in cycles so much shorter than years. Seasons drifts to the surface like dust motes in […]

January 9, 2024 | Posted in Books, Helion Chronicles, Life, travel
Dangerous Moments

So last September (yes, 2022 not long after I finished my MFA) I started thinking a lot about plot as I struggled with Arizona. The story still wasn’t quite right and I couldn’t figure out what was not clicking. As I was thinking through what I was aiming for–what would make it feel like a […]

August 5, 2023 | Posted in Plot, Story Courses
2022 retrospective

8 some odd years in and I finally come up with something better than “things of” for my annual post. When I started in 2014, I probably avoided something like “retrospective” because it was obvious. But now I want something new. It’s the year for new things–a new Tattered Heart, a new website layout, a […]

January 9, 2023 | Posted in Arizona, Books, Helion Chronicles, Life, Tattered Heart, travel
A New Tattered Heart

So, I have done the unexpected, the unconventional, perhaps the unwise but it’s done regardless. I have (sort of) rewritten Tattered Heart. The Long Version (There’s a Short Version you can skip down to, if you don’t want to read all this) Years ago, I mean YEARS ago, I bought a compilation of The Lyra […]

December 19, 2022 | Posted in Tattered Heart
things of 2021

The fact that it’s February and I suddenly remembered that I hadn’t done my annual post yet probably says something. It says not much happened last year. Well, it did and it didn’t. It was a quiet year of building blocks for other things. The mortar and clay of life is often uninteresting, though it’s […]

February 21, 2022 | Posted in Arizona, Life, Tattered Heart, travel
5 Essential Lessons from Shadow and Bone

It’s hard to know what to say with Shadow and Bone. Are these lessons in writing? Are they lessons in adaptation? I think they must be a bit of both since there’s only 8 episodes to work with, a popular book to draw from and all sorts of things to say. **there’s like spoilers everywhere […]

May 1, 2021 | Posted in 5 lessons
things of 2020

So, you might think with all the things 2020 has been I wouldn’t do an annual post. I mean, really what happened this year other than sitting around the house and watching a lot of tv? Oh, I also read quite a few books. Turns out I also did one or two interesting things. And […]

January 18, 2021 | Posted in Life
5 Essential Lessons from Timeless

Timeless is one of those shows that I misjudged, badly.  I saw the previews when it debuted on NBC and didn’t think it looked that interesting or that the characters seemed that compelling.  If they’d advertised the auspices of the show I’d probably have given the pilot a chance since I like Shawn Ryan and Eric Kripke […]

January 19, 2020 | Posted in 5 lessons, Story Courses, tv
things of 2019

2019 seems, in many ways, to have been a quiet year. The sort of time that one is content to live in and others find rather boring to discuss. I worked but didn’t travel enough for my tastes. I worked out which was actually a lot of fun. I spent a lot of time with my […]

January 1, 2020 | Posted in Arizona, author events, Books, Helion Chronicles, Life
The Danger of Absolution

So I’m reading this trilogy, and it doesn’t really matter which one because this happens all the time in YA fiction. Something bad happens and our heroine of course blames herself. We spend half a page or more with her chastising herself–how could she have let this happen?! If only she’d been…faster or smarter or […]

December 29, 2019 | Posted in Story Courses