It’s the best of yearly quarters, it’s the worst of yearly quarters: April is a very intense time at work, as the end of the school year brings final projects and presentations and burnout (for both students and faculty/staff). May is a million loose threads as we wrap up the…
I’m purposely slowing my roll with this blog this year, in part to see how it affects my mental health. So far, taking a break has been good for me, and I’m realizing that, if I choose to continue, more sporadic posting may be more sustainable. I like making these…
We’re almost at the end of 2021, a year of confusing changes and choices (What are the rules for everything opening back up? Where am I OK going? Whom do I feel comfortable seeing? Where do I feel comfortable not wearing a mask? What is my “new normal”? Why are…
So, I like romances, but I also don’t like romances. I looove romances that take place during other kinds of stories–hook me up with a mystery, or SFF, or, best of all, an SFF mystery (!!!), and I will go to the mat for my favourite ship. Said favourite ships…
Here is something weird my brain does: I love fictional genius characters, especially ones whose sense of self-worth is tied up in their intelligence and whose story arc is partially about the messy process of untangling the two. I love Charlotte Holmes, Harrowhark Nonagesimus*, Gregory House, and all the rest.…
A lot of the best stuff in my life this quarter has been specific to my location and situation. Pandemic-related restrictions have been loosened in my area, and I’m fortunate that the people I’m close to have access to vaccines. But I didn’t want to fill this entry with the…
(Missed Part I? It’s here.) Would this still be my blog if I didn’t ramble on about Sherlock Holmes adaptations? Probably not. As in the previous entry, I’m reading a bunch of Sherlock Holmes adaptations/re-imaginings/subversions that change the gender of the Holmes/detective character. Here are my thoughts on the second…
This quarter included the transition between the end of semester and summer writing time and ever-changing pandemic protocol where I live. Here are a few things that helped me stay balanced. Foot powder (note: product name NSFW) No, the one I use isn’t marketed as foot powder, but that’s what…
I can’t speak for every writer, but for me, at least, when I’m working on a manuscript, the mention of another work that shares some of the key elements of my story gives me super mixed feelings. On one hand, I’m writing this story because, damn, I love those elements!…
As I’ve mentioned before, the first quarter of the year is my worst quarter. I get sad and listless during during short winter days, we “spring forward” into exhaustion, Winter semester is somehow more difficult than Fall, and, oh, hey, it’s still a pandemic and we’ve been under full lockdown…