Category: Blog

I’m rewatching Moana, because I think its structure may be useful for the fantasy novel outline I’m trying to refine.

I find working with models for story structure really helpful, especially because I struggle so much with outlining. Continue reading “Borrowing Plot Structure as a Stand-In for Outlining”

When you’re not used to seeing yourself depicted in society, and then suddenly, you see someone like you…

Sometimes your own initial reaction will be, “This person seems weird and wrong!” before (hopefully) having it sink in that, actually, you’re finally seeing yourself. Continue reading “Spooky”

David Rose (Schitt’s Creek) and Rarity (My Little Pony) are both characters whose strong aesthetic senses resonate deeply for me… while also causing me to recoil, because they’re so focused on fashion, and I loathe fashion, because I can ONLY WEAR COMFORTABLE CLOTHES, which is anathema to most fashion. Continue reading “David Rose, Rarity, and Fashion”

Today, I got to the point in my sci-fi horror novel-in-progress where I got to kill off one of the major characters. He’s been slated for death from the beginning, designed specifically to be annoying, so it’d be fun for me to kill him.

But it wasn’t fun… I don’t know why. Continue reading “Killing a Character for the First Time”

Sometimes I wonder how much of the intensity of my ambition comes from having spent the first two decades of my life under the power of an erratic, terrifying, 6’3” man with social power and a prestigious academic position. Continue reading “Escaping My Dad Through Fiction”

A reader pointed out the way I’ve been posting about my new puppy (24 hrs!) sounds a lot like the voice of Cassie, the living spaceship in my Entangled Universe trilogy who loves bunnies.

I’ve been thinking about that a lot… Continue reading “Clarity & Cassie: the Conscious and Subconscious Mind”

My fursona is usually a cat with a tortoise’s shell. So, like, a turtle-cat.

But I’ve thought of a new fursona that speaks to me: an octopus who got ahold of an abandoned human skeleton, wrapped its tentacles around it, and wobbles about that way. Continue reading “My Fursona”

I love Beach Boys music so much & listen to it so little… I thought, hey, I’ll put an album on…

In that lush, complicated, 5-part harmony w/ soaring falsetto in the background, they sing “Hey, little tomboy, it’s time to turn into a girl.”

FLAMES FROM THE SIDE OF MY HEAD Continue reading “Hey Little Tomboy”

Tonight I rewatched Star Trek: TNG’s “Coming of Age” and “The Dauphin.” I’ve been trying to choose episodes that (1) I haven’t seen recently and (2) seem likely to appeal to my kids. And I remembered both of those episodes being compelling when I was young. Continue reading “Episodes of TNG with Kids”

This is a story about dealing with an abusive authority figure. Bear with me.

When I was a teen, my parents offered to buy me a computer. This was a one-time deal, so I waited until the last few months before college, so I’d have the most advanced computer possible for college. Continue reading “The Parable of My Dad and My Computer”