I might have finished my novel, The Book of Astrophilia. I say might...it is hard for me to know when something is finished. I'll rewrite forever. And I haven't had a beta reader or anyone give me feedback, and that is part of the process. So is it finished-FINISHED? Well, I've done what I can …
I've been jumping from project to project. The term monkey mind comes to, uh, mind. My ideal self would sit down and concentrate. But at this point in my life, I'll just work with the mind I have. Jumping to a different project might be procrastination. It might be a way to never finish even …
My dad once told me I only got headaches because I'd seen Tylenol advertised on TV. "I've never gotten a headache," he said, "and we didn't have a TV when I was a kid." To be sure, he said it like a joke. My dad says everything like a joke. I didn't see him take …
Look at all those pages. They contain time-travelers, demons, wayward teens, psychopaths, dragons, and other mad adventurers. They're all clamoring for their stories to be finished. I've made this commitment to them before and then been lured off the path by even more shiny tales of the heartbroken, the daring, and the wicked. So here …
Who's feeling a bit on the grumpy side? Grumpy, cranky, could-gnaw-on-a-unicorn-horn-if-I-were-evil-and-good-at-finding-unicorns. But I love unicorns! I'm not loving the state of the planet right now though. Who the blue blazes is? Nonetheless, madness aside, a writer has to write. I finished another draft of my manuscript Drowning Karma. I've lost rack of how many drafts …
I'm trying to stay calm in the storm of election season. In real life on a bad day, I tend to talk back to the radio, which is a silly thing to do. Right? Of course it is. Take a deep breath. Count to ten. But all that aside, I just had an art show …
Continue reading If you can’t stay calm, make good art or dance.
Against my better judgment, I'm participating in Story-a-Day May again this year. (If you're giving it a try, let me know!) I love Story-a-Day because it motivates me. I like the pressure. It's why I like NaNoWriMo as well. With no pressure, I'll just sit and stare into space, dismissing every idea and distracting myself …
I don't really make resolutions. I set a few goals, but those are good any day of the year. One goal I managed to reach was to read 50 books in 2015. I succeeded in that in large part because of the Goodreads challenge counter. The Goodreads counter helped me in much the same way …
The other day I listened to an On the Media radio story about the decline of the beat reporter, and one beat they covered was the obituary beat. I struck by the realization that so many papers no longer cover obituaries, and while some papers might have an online version, families have to pay every …
I don't like being asked for advice. I don't want to be asked which job you should take or what you should do about a relationship. I have an opinion (I'm full of opinions!), but I don't need more responsibility. What happens if you follow my advice and everything goes wrong? Blame is what happens. …
Marta Pelrine-Bacon 