November 2025 update
November 6, 2025
Two more months left in 2025. How are we doing? Good? Flustered? Both? Holidays? What? What?
This Month’s Lesson: Plot. We’re going to go from the basics to the big picture. Novels, series – plotting over the long haul.
What I’m working on: I’m trying not to, at least not too much. MileHi Con went very well but it took a lot out of me, and now I’m trying not to pile on too much for the rest of the year. I saw a Christmas commercial the day after Halloween, and it was actually nice. My family didn’t really get a holiday last year. Let’s see what we can do this year. (My Dad and I have talked about this, how we basically missed an entire season, and this autumn feels strange because of that.)
I’ve written a few short stories in the last couple of months, and those are about ready to revise and send out. Poking around some little stories feels pretty good.
Media consumption:
I’m reading C.J. Cherryh and Jane Fancher’s Alliance Unbound, the second of their recent books that are something of an origin story of the Merchanter series, that includes Cherryh’s fantastic award-winning novels Downbelow Station and Cyteen. I love this series. It’s very meaty, complex, and immersive. I think it’s one of the best space operas out there because it’s about living and working in space in a way that focuses on the mundane – families, economy, travel. I just love it.
I’m watching the Great British Baking Show, because of course I am. For a while I was on this “if I want to try that I guess I’ll have to make it myself” kick, but I got away from it last year for obvious reasons. I’m feeling the urge to get back into adventurous baking. I did a flourless chocolate cake a few weeks ago that turned out really well!
This week I tried making a lemon tart. Didn’t work, and it’s my own fault for trying to kitbash a couple of different recipes, badly. And then I decided to make giant meringue out of the leftover egg whites. Y’all, what have I done. I never would have tried this before GBBS.
Something Wicked This Way Comes: Film based on Bradbury’s novel. I hadn’t seen this since the 80’s, but of course it stuck with me for its striking imagery – Mr. Dark with the faces of the boys tattooed on his hands, that kind of thing. I didn’t realize Mr. Dark is played by Jonathan Pryce, because I wasn’t paying attention to that sort of thing then. I’d avoided watching this again because I wasn’t sure how it would hold up, but it holds up just fine. It’s genuinely creepy, and it has a big heart. The core of the story is how Will and his father really do love each other, that’s clear in every frame, but for various reasons they have trouble communicating that until the climactic moment. It works.
I think I’m going to add this one to my list of really great fantasy movies of the 80’s, which for me was something of a golden age of fantasy films. After Star Wars raised the bar on special effects, but before CGI took over everything. Filmmakers did the best they could with the rudimentary effects they had, and as a result you get these really unassuming, charming, character-driven stories that stick in your brain.
Now, I think I’m going to go take a walk and jump in some leaf piles or something.
Welcome to June 2024!
June 5, 2024
Welcome to June!
Reminder to visit me on Patreon.
Summer is upon us. I went camping last weekend, at a site in the Roosevelt National Forest. Absolutely gorgeous. Mountains and pine forests and so many stars at night. And while it might be summer, nights at 8,000 feet are still mucking cold. (Low 40’s F) The fun part about that was I’m currently reading Into the Silence, by Wade Davis, about the British expeditions to Mt. Everest in the early 1920’s. However cold I was at night wasn’t nearly as cold as those guys put up with.
This month’s lesson: Traditional Publishing vs. Indie Publishing. That’s right, I’m gonna go there. Come read what I have to say about this eternal debate.
Work: My story “Himalia” is up on Clarkesworld this month. This came out of analyzing the plot structures of the films A River Runs Through It and The Eight Mountains, and asking questions about what nature writing will look like on places not Earth. It’s a quiet and atmospheric story. And if you like seeing new science fiction every month, consider subscribing to the magazine!
Other work: I have two stories still needing to be revised and sent off. After almost a month away from the current novel in progress because of all the other stuff that happened in May, I’m back to it and just crossed 60,000 words. It’s going to need a lot of work, but as is often said, it’s easier to revise words that are already written. I’ve got a lot to work with and I’m excited.
The calendar is filling up: I’ll be at the Englewood Public Library Author Festival this Saturday, June 8.
Some other events coming up: I’ll be at Worldcon in Glasgow, and I’m going to try to be at Bubonicon in Albuquerque right after that.
July 13 I’ll be in Dallas teaching a program on plot and character as part of the DFWWW Writers Bloc program. More info on that when I have it.
Also this weekend: the Estes Park Wool Market. My favorite thing about it is meeting the animals that produce the fiber we all work with. Like angora bunnies. SO FLUFFY. Maybe I’ll get some angora to spin…
This brings me to my Craft Challenge #3: I entered two skeins of my handspun yarn in the handspinning contest. Whew. Blame the spinners at the yarn shop for talking me into it. Peer pressure, man. We’ll see how THAT goes.
And one last item: I watched a lovely movie, Catherine Called Birdy, based on the Newbery Honor book by Karen Cushman. Great cast – Bella Ramsey plays the title character. It’s about friends and family, and it’s cheeky and silly and heartfelt, with all the movie-medieval trappings one could hope for.
And that Wade Davis Everest book is like 900 pages long and due back at the library in a couple of days so I’d better get back to it…
January 2024 Update!
January 3, 2024
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Welcome, New Year!
I often try to do a recap of the previous year and mull over thoughts on the new year, but I’m finding this year my impulse is to just let it all go. Don’t dwell. 2023 was strange. Not necessarily bad, for me, but definitely strange, chopped up into different phases marked by big projects and trips. For 2024, I want to slow down a bit. We’ll see how that goes, ha! A writer friend and I were talking about a “word of the year” – a word that encapsulates the tone we want to set for the new year. We had both chosen “renew” as our words, which I think says something about 2023 for a lot of us.
So that’s it, that’s my word: renew. Do you all have a “word of the year?” Share, if you feel the urge!
Along those lines, this month’s lesson is going to be: Self Help for Creatives. Seems timely, right? It’s not really a lesson or advice, but a meditation on this whole string of self-help and creativity/productivity books I’ve read over the last few years because I’m not really sure why. I’m going to get kind of meta here, deconstructing this genre a bit.
News! As you can see in the image above, I have a new Cormac and Amelia novella for you! Broken Roads is available for preorder and due out in a couple of weeks. This is just shy of novel length, so it should be good and juicy for you all who’ve been wanting a bit more heft to these. Kindle link is here. Nook link is here. Others as I get them.
I’ve been in a bit of a reading rut. I stalled out on three or four novels, quitting halfway through. This means I hadn’t actually finished a novel since October? Been reading nonfiction, but fiction has been making my eyes cross. Finally, on January 1, I finished one: Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver. Gotta be honest, it’s a rough read, an openly Dickensian tragedy (ala David Copperfield) set in the rural/Appalachian coal country of Virginia and all that entails. It’s 500+ pages with a vivid first-person narrator where things just keep getting worse and worse, right up until the last couple of chapters. It’s also one of those books with an epiphany toward the end, but you have to get through the rest for the epiphany to mean anything. Beautifully written. But I may be done with beautiful and depressing literary writing for a while. Time for the new Murderbot novel I think.
Media consumption: I saw Godzilla Minus One. I reiterate my love for the current string of Monsterverse films and TV that started with 2014’s Godzilla (my review of that film is here). These somehow capture the aesthetic of the beloved early films, but with modern sensibilities. The best way I can describe it is that the monsters in these look like spectacular CGI versions of guys in rubber suits. This isn’t a criticism, it’s great, it totally works.
I finally dived into the new season of For All Mankind, Apple TV’s alt history where the space race never ended. The first two seasons are brilliant. The third and fourth seasons are…less brilliant. Equal parts great and WTF melodrama. I started Blue Eye Samurai but haven’t finished. My list of things to watch keeps getting longer rather than shorter. Hrm.
And with that, I’m going to sign off and write some words and craft some crafts. Get some of that sweet, sweet inspiration going. Happy New Year!
Update: September 2023, Kinda Worn Out Edition
September 8, 2023
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This month’s lesson: A final (for now) post about Voice – this one will be writing exercises, a little bit of homework to help us think about word choice and how that affects the reader.
August always seems to go a bit crazy. I’m looking back on old posts and journals, and the month always seems to race by, to the point where I don’t often remember what the hell just happened. Big conventions happen in August. I don’t seem to travel in August otherwise, but I do seem hyper-aware of activities/chores that I’ve been meaning to do all summer and haven’t.
Or maybe it’s all in my head and it just feels that way. Something about the heat and seeing the mountain of school supplies at Target makes my brain go fuzzy. That reminds me, I need to stock up on spiral notebooks.
I’m curious to go back to the start of this year, January and February, to see what I was planning and what I thought the year was going to be like – because not much has gone to plan. That’s okay. This year at least, things have gone better than I expected, so that’s good. But I’ve been scrambling a bit to keep up. I’m hoping to chill out for the rest of the year. I don’t actually need to make up a whole new list of projects, you know? But I do need to clean my office.
To recap, one of the unexpected things that happened was I sold a novel, The Naturalist Society. It’s a different version of the novel than the one I originally wrote, so I’ve spent the summer entirely reworking it. I’m on the last revision pass now, beefing up some plot points before I turn it in at the end of the month.
Next project: I have a rough draft of the next Cormac and Amelia novella finished and ready to revise. It’s been sitting since about March/April, so it should be good and fermented and ready to work on.
My Kickstarter project is basically wrapped up. I have a few stragglers who still need to get their books, but I think I can say that I successfully completed the campaign. Check that off the list.
The same week that I had the roof on my house replaced, my car needed new tires and a new windshield. That tells you how things have been going this whole summer.
Reading: I really enjoyed Building: A Carpenter’s Notes on Life and the Art of Good Work by Mark Ellison. On the surface it’s a memoir about his work as a carpenter/renovator for very high-end clients in Manhattan (think multi-million dollar remodels as a matter of course; his stories are off the rails). But more than that it’s a meditation on living a creative life, carving your own niche in the world, the necessity of practice, the meaning of mastery – I’m relating to a lot of what he writes. It’s also exquisitely well written.
Other media: Went to the theater to see Blue Beetle, which I hadn’t planned on doing but a friend wanted to go. This was earnest but had some problems. On one hand, it felt like something of a throwback, in a good way – kind of an 80’s superhero vibe. I mean, when was the last time you saw the credits at the start of the film? On the other hand, the execution of the story wasn’t great. The plot was busy, messy, and missed some important beats. On the third hand (it’s superheroes, we can have multiple hands) I may really be burned out on superhero movies.
Ahsoka is finally here. I like it. While the overall tone feels a bit muted (I think I wanted the energy of Rebels, and it doesn’t quite have that), I’m enjoying it as a fan of these characters. It’s capturing a certain aesthetic within Star Wars that I love, but is hard to describe – old school, is maybe the best way to put it. Star Wars, pre-prequels. It’s got the old cut scenes and fades, a cinematic score reminiscent of Williams but that adds in threads from The Mandalorian – woodwinds, a tribal beat. The color palette is a little softer than the other TV shows have been. Maybe the best way to put it: it feels like something out of the old Expanded Universe, and I’m here for it. I’m intrigued by the villains. I’m obsessed with details. (Shin has a padawan braid – anyone else catch that?) The duels and dogfights have been fantastic.
For those of us watching this as Rebels Season 5…lots of speculation going on! I’m refraining and waiting for the story to unfold. I have a couple of things I’d like to see, but I don’t want expectations to affect my viewing. At any rate, I think we’re in for some big reveals one way or another. Let’s see where it goes!
July 2023: Summertime!!!
July 6, 2023
Reminder that I’m primarily blogging over at Patreon these days.
This month’s lesson: I’ll talk more about voice, with examples. I love examples! I love picking apart texts! (I’ll never forget walking out of The Lion King with my family and I went on and on about how it’s just like Hamlet and my brother yelled, “Stop it, you’re ruining it!” and I yelled back, “No I’m making it better!” Ah, memories!)
Reminder: I’ll be at San Diego Comic Con this month and Bubonicon next month. The convention circuit is back in full swing, looks like. I’ll try to keep up.
Shameless Self Promotion: I have a story in the July/August issue of Analog. You know what this means? I’ve got the Trifecta: I’ve had stories appear in Asimov’s Science Fiction, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, and Analog. These are the three premier print magazines, the ones that have been around for decades, that have published all the authors you know and lots of classics of the genre. Appearing in any one of them is a victory. Appearing in all three is one of those big pie-in-the-sky goals for a lot of SF&F writers.
I wasn’t sure I’d ever accomplish it – I stopped sending stories to Analog for a long time, because I decided I just wasn’t an “Analog author.” I didn’t write the kind of hard SF, problem-solving stories they have a reputation for. Lots of other places were publishing my work, so I didn’t try. But then I had a story that I thought might fit, and thought…why not? Why not indeed.
The story is a short flash piece called “The Queen of Copies Meets Her Match.” I think it’s a lot of fun.
I’m still growing more ambivalent about metrics like this, but as milestones go, this is a nice one. And it’s nice to know that at this stage in my career I still have milestones to hit and goals to strive for. Goals make me happy.
Got a lifer bird on a camping trip last week: a Cassin’s Kingbird. A nice sighting because I didn’t even know there was such a thing as a Cassin’s Kingbird. At first I thought it was a Western Kingbird, but it didn’t look quite right (this one was just a bit darker overall) and definitely didn’t sound like a Western and this is exactly why we have field guides.
A lot of movies out now, and I haven’t seen a-one. The new Indiana Jones movie is getting good enough reviews I’ll probably try to go see it. A few years ago I got to see Raiders of the Lost Ark with the soundtrack played live by the Colorado Symphony, and that was a fantastic experience. It’s one of those nearly perfectly constructed films, so if you haven’t seen it in a while, you might check it out with an analytical eye.
Next week, the Colorado Symphony is showing Tim Burton’s Batman with a live soundtrack. I’ve got tickets and I think it’ll be a hoot.
Speaking of voice, I read a book last month, We Could Be So Good by Cat Sebastian. It’s m/m romance set in late 1950’s New York, which is not an era I normally associate with historical romance. I’ve read and enjoyed Sebastian’s Regency romances, so I was intrigued. (I’ve got an upcoming story for Wild Cards set in 1961 New York, and seeing the bits of overlapping research was fun. Not to mention my recent Frank O’Hara deep dive deals with the same time/place. Every now and then I read a novel and recognize a book the author used for research, and that happened here.) I liked it a lot, partly because of the voice, which captured a kind of mid-century modern bustle and anxiety. Some romance I’ve read tends toward the sentimental and overly-emotional, and this wasn’t that at all and I found it engaging.
Update January 2023!
January 5, 2023
Ahhhh it’s a whole new year! Reminder that this is mirrored from my Patreon, which I encourage you to check out and subscribe to if you’re interested in more details about what I’m working on and lots of chatter about writing in general.
I usually seem to hit the ground running in the new year. It’s such a great time to make lists, review and assess plans, and get going on them. I’ve already finished reading a whole book, Also a Poet by Ada Calhoun, which is extraordinary. It’s a memoir about writing the actual memoir you’re reading. I loved it so much and highly recommend it. I’ve also already sent off a new short story, one of the three I wrote in December. (And…it just got rejected. Just got the email. Welp, time to send it right back out again.)
Great, right? Mind you, I usually crash by the time I get to March, when some of the plans start to go awry and I’m staring down the barrel of the rest of the year. I’m telling myself that recognizing the pattern is half the battle of dealing with it. We’ll see how that goes.
This month’s lesson: How to start. I mean this to be really basic: how to start when you’ve never written before. Every now and then I talk to someone who tells me they have ideas, their mind is full of stories. But they’ve never written. They don’t know how to start. I’ll offer some suggestions.
Work: Started a new thing. I spent all last year making notes and it and it’s taken awhile to find my way into it, but I finally did. I also have two more short stories to revise. Let’s see what else I can get out the door this month.
Two of my succulents are blooming. Woohoo!
A couple of announcements:
The fanzine Journey Planet invited me to write for their special issue all about Andor, which I was happy to do. It’s free to download, check it out!
I’ll be a Guest of Honor at Bubonicon in Albuquerque in August.
I almost went to see a movie and then I didn’t. Attention span still wonky.
TV: We really are living in a new golden age of fantasy, aren’t we? I’ve now had the same realization I had with superhero movies a few years ago: I don’t have to see every single one. I used to make such an effort to see them all, remembering the times we didn’t have any. Well, now it’s that way with epic fantasy. I can entirely skip House of the Dragon and Wheel of Time and not feel bad about it at all. Instead, I binged The Witcher: Blood Origin, which was…abrupt. Only four episodes, so just when I got attached to all the characters, it’s over. Minnie Driver makes a shockingly cool elf, though.
I’m adoring Willow. It’s so weird! I love how teenager-y the teenagers are. I love how it’s lining up tropes and shooting them down. I love the modern music. (I’m also the only person I know who loves the soundtrack to Ladyhawke so there we are.) I love the callbacks to the movie. I’m so pleased to see a sequel when everything else has been prequels. (Even Andor. As much as I enjoyed it, it’s rather elegiac and sad since we know how Andor’s story ends.) I’m just really enjoying it and sometimes that’s all I need.
September 2022 Update
September 1, 2022
Update! State of the Me! (Reminder that I’m primarily on Patreon these days.)
It’s September! Cue the litany of “Wow this year is going so fast.” I’m actually looking forward to autumn. Summer has been kind of a slog. Too hot, and too much feeling like I’ve got one foot in the pandemic world and one foot testing out the new normal. Jumping back and forth between them. Nothing much happening despite all the fires I’ve been lighting. (Am I cooking something? Committing arson? Who knows!) That first hint of cool has started creeping into the air, and the summer birds have migrated – the blackbirds and grackles are gone, the warblers and swallows are mostly gone. I’m starting to look out for the waterbirds that spend their winter here in Colorado.
This month’s lesson: Dealing with rejection. I know this is a huge deal for lots of aspiring writers. I learned to deal with it because I started out too young to know any better. I’ll tell you how I feel about it and suggest some concrete strategies for getting over it.
I spent last weekend at Bubonicon, Albuquerque New Mexico’s local science fiction convention. I’m so out of practice that I almost forgot to tell anyone I was going! Gotta start back with that publicity thing… Like the rest of the summer, it almost felt normal. (Almost… as one friend said, “We’ve all gone feral!” Yeah, and I maybe kind of like being feral?) I had actual conversations with multiple people! I bought art in the art show! And I got a lifer bird while staying with a friend nearby: a ladder backed woodpecker.
What I’m working on: Well. What am I working on? I have a short story I need to write for a workshop I’m going to in a couple of weeks. I’m still plowing ahead on the current novel. I’m almost at the point where I need to stop and go back from the beginning to fill in all the holes. And I just got notes back from my agent on the previous novel. Suddenly, my brain is full again and that feels good.
The Cormac and Amelia Case Files is happening. This is a compilation of all my Cormac and Amelia stories, and will have a print edition. I’ll post pre-order links when I have them. At some point I’ll talk about my experience with self publishing, why I went hybrid, and all that stuff. But this is going to be my big release this year.
Reading: I’ve been in a bit of a reading lull, but I did finish and can recommend Cosplay: A History, by Andrew Liptak. It leans heavily into Star Wars and the 501st because Andrew’s a member, but it also digs into earlier histories of costume and fandom – Victorian costume parties, historical re-enactment, and so on. People have liked dressing up as other people for a very long time!
Watching: I’m still so far behind on my watching. I loved Prey, the latest in the Predator franchise. I’ve been a fan of Amber Midthunder since Legion (one of my favorite TV shows of the last ten years) and she’s wonderful here. I watched The Sandman, and it was fine – but it’s not clear from the outset that it leans heavily into horror/dark fantasy and people need to know that. Looks beautiful. I read the graphic novel something like twenty years ago and don’t remember it well, so can’t speak to it as an adaptation. The one thing I tell people about the book: It’s a product of its time, very 90’s post-punk. Same milieu that produced The Crow and Worlds of Darkness RPGs. And while I was exactly the right age for all that when it was coming out, it never spoke to me as strongly as it did a lot of other people my age. I was all over Wild Cards, Star Wars spin-offs, and The X-Files.
And…it’s back to work. Is it too early to be looking for the first snow?
state of the desk & the vaccine
April 12, 2021
In the interest of getting more data points out there, I had a pretty noticeable reaction to the J&J vaccine last week. It started about 4-5 hours after getting the shot, like a pretty sudden onset of flu symptoms. You know how on day 5 of being sick, you start to feel better but you’re still all wrung out and your whole body feels like it’s been beaten up and you have no energy? That’s what I had. Lasted for maybe a day and a half, then I was fine. No pain or soreness at the injection site. Anecdotally, I’m hearing about a huge range of reactions, from “nothing at all” to “in bed for three days.” I landed in the middle. An odd and interesting experience. It was weirdly kind of nice to have a reason to just go to bed and not worry about things for a little while.
Meanwhile, it’s been a pretty good week. Spring has sprung, my crocus came up late but they did come up, and we’re due for another spring snow which will be fun.
And I’m working on stuff. I’ve got a whole bunch of new thoughts about the War of 1812, how it seems to have been mostly organized by really incompetent people and it might have gone very differently if that had not been the case. This reading has me thinking about the Star Trek vs. the Expanse models of space battles.
Also, I made chicken pineapple curry last night and it was REALLY GOOD.
next research topic…
March 19, 2021
Working on a new thing. I say that a lot, don’t I…
(Image is a book cover: 1812: The Navy’s War, by George C. Daughan)
My library is still closed but has curbside pickup, which is lovely, except that I can’t browse, boo. But I can pick up my books and then pickup my curbside BBQ dinner the next block over and nice food plus new reading makes for a very nice evening indeed.
reading 2020
January 11, 2021
According to my record I read 48 books in 2020. This includes novellas and graphic novels, of which there were quite a few. This didn’t include a lot of books I started and didn’t finish. Twelve of those were non-fiction. I’m feeling fortunate that my reading brain didn’t shut off last year like it did for many people I know. I will say that a lot of my reading was comfort reading: I think I re-read most of the Vorkosigan Saga, some Jane Austen, and some Star Wars stuff.
A lot of specifics I already talked about throughout the year, but here are my favorites:
Novels: Network Effect, the latest Murderbot book by Martha Wells, which I thought really moved the whole idea forward and took it to the next level. I can’t wait for the next book.
A Brightness Long Ago, by Guy Gavriel Kay. Re-discovering Kay through his latest couple of novels, in his re-imagined Renaissance Italy, has been so lovely. I read his books avidly through the 90’s and just kind of stopped. Glad to start up again.
The Wolf Hall trilogy by Hilary Mantel. Just masterful. Some of the best fiction I’ve ever read, full stop. It also gave me so much insight into the culture of the Tudor court, which I’ve been reading about academically for 25 years, but it’s never really come alive for me until these novels.
Star Wars: A New Dawn by John Jackson Miller tells the story of how Kanan and Hera from Rebels met. It’s adorable and it made me happy.
And in non-fiction, I’ve been recommending Jack Epps Jr.’s Screenwriting is Rewriting to every writer I know and we’re all still raving about it.
Filling the Well 
