Random Musings

Category: writing

  • Your Feelings are Valid

    Stop comparing yourself to other people. Seriously. I’ve come across a lot of posts lately, and had some messages, too, from people who are having a hard time coping with the world as it is right now. But they then go on to say ‘but there are people who have…

  • The good stuff

    I’m not sure what there is to say that hasn’t been said. The conversation about the pandemic is widespread and covers so many issues. People seem to be either scared, or not nearly scared enough. Personally, I’m scared. But in a rational, logical way. A pandemic virus killing thousands is…

  • Hot stories from fabulous authors.

    My first short story was published in an erotica anthology. I’d gone to GCLS, a conference celebrating lesbian fiction, and it opened up a whole world I didn’t know about. Kind, friendly, generous author Lori Lake convinced me to submit a story to a forthcoming anthology. I’d had a few…

  • Do what, now?

    We were talking in the car the other, as we are wont to do. Topics varied, as they do. And Nic says, “I went there on a school holiday once. We went for a walk.” (Referring to a place sign we’d just passed.) I couldn’t and can’t get that out…

  • The beauty of breathing

    Yes, I know. Breathing is one of those necessary things, something we must do in order to be considered alive. Being able to do it doesn’t make you all that special. But it’s also something we don’t notice until it goes wrong. Because it’s automatic, because it’s one of those…

  • A personal bugbear rant

    You pick up a hammer and a nail, and you pound that nail into a board. Are you a carpenter? You make a toolbox in high school. Are you a carpenter now? You make a bed frame. It doesn’t fall apart. How about now? Would you advertise as a carpenter?…

  • Staying focused

    Let’s start the new year talking about writing. I can’t tell you the number of conversations I’ve had that start with this: “I’ve got a great idea for a book…” And then we head into ten minutes of  ‘and then K jumps into a lake, but then S has a…

  • Curtain call

    2019 has had its curtain call. It’s been a year of political drama, of travel, of decisions. Of family and friendships both gained and lost. We went to Italy three times, and to Texas, New Orleans, and Provincetown. And Spain. And Amsterdam. It’s been an amazing year of adventure. And…

  • Because you’re supposed to tell people you do this thing…

    I hope you don’t mind terribly, but I’m going to do a little bit of end of year self-promotion. It’s not in my nature, and I always want to duck and hide when I have to do it, but being an author in a digital age means actually telling people…

  • Where stories are born

    We’re walking along the damp, shiny, puddle-laden streets of Venice, trying not to stumble or get hit by one of the trillions of umbrellas moving to and fro down the narrow walkways. We stop at a shop window in an alley barely big enough to stand side by side, and…