Random Musings

Category: writing

  • Adapt and nonsense

    Mechanical bananas belong to maniacal monkeys in Malaysia. Boomerang clouds are a threat to the existence of vicious sea slugs. Open bottles can create lemon scented gas that numbs butterfly wings. All rubbish, obviously. But it’s so hard to know what to say right now. The absurd is easier to…

  • Roar Back

    2021 isn’t looking a hell of a lot more promising than 2020, is it? Just another vast, fuzzy space of days where even my sweatpants feel a little snug. The pandemic rages on, with death counts and variants vying for headlines with governmental politics over the vaccine. There was a…

  • And the wheel turns

    2020 went out like it spent much of the year: strolling empty streets, wondering where everyone went and why it wasn’t invited to the party that wasn’t even going on. At our house, it was bright and cheerful and there was laughter. The one time we went on the motorway…

  • The shortest day

    God, haven’t the days been dark? Metaphorically and literally, I mean. Today is winter solstice, the shortest, and darkest day of the year. Sunset here in the UK was at 3:49 in the afternoon. When you don’t go to sleep till 10:00, that’s six hours of darkness. But tomorrow we…

  • 2020 Thanks

    Thanksgiving 2020. It’s surreal in many ways. It feels like much was taken away this year; for some of us, the ultimate loss of people we cared about. For others, peace of mind, loss of income, loss of companionship. Worry about loved ones became overwhelming. That makes today especially important.…

  • Juxtaposition

    I love teaching. There’s something magical about helping writers create their stories, about helping them take their craft to new levels. I treasure the moments when they say something clicked or moved forward in their story thanks to that day’s session. I do find it incredible as well, how many…

  • Keep growing

    How hard do you work at making your writing better? Like, have you gotten to the point where you think it’s good enough? Do you churn things out and figure that if people are buying, then it must be okay? I think A LOT of writers do exactly that. They…

  • All Access?

    Artists of every kind have always been in the public domain, of sorts. If you were a painter in the 1800s the rich people wanted you at their parties as a kind of show-animal. Writers were often invited to ‘salons’ where the hostess would boast of her connection with said…

  • Connect with Abandon

    Look for the good. I mean it. I had a wickedly scary time last week. My health after Covid seems to be all over the place, much like it is for many people. And last week was a topper for me. You can read details here, if you want. What…

  • Dream a little dream

    I keep having really vivid dreams. My teeth falling out is a recurring one. And being chased or scared is actually making me cry out/whimper in my sleep, until my wife wakes me. My wife, too, has vivid dreams. She can sit up and look at whatever she’s dreaming of…