An e-zine about spaceships, aliens, science, memory, motherhood, magic, and cats.
I’m writing a fantasy novel, called “The Otter’s Wings,” about an otter who has wings.
And if that’s not living my best life, I don’t know what is.
As a writer, it’s easy to get lost in the wash of goals and aspirations that always seem just out of reach… Continue reading “The Importance of Otters Having Wings and Writing About It”
As a writer, it’s easy to get lost in the wash of goals and aspirations that always seem just out of reach…
What I find that helps is to think of one of the novels I’ve finished, and remember back to what my very first inspiration for writing it was — a character? an idea? Continue reading “Seeds That Have Already Grown into Novels”
The show named after Buffy cares so much more about Xander’s feelings about her not wanting to date him than about her own feelings at having one of her best friends mess with her head and guilt her and show he thinks of her differently than she’d like.
It makes it hard to identify your own emotions — to even understand your own feelings & self — when so often looking in the mirror of pop culture shows the feelings of everyone around you… and leaves you invisible, a metaphorical vampire who doesn’t cast emotional reflections. Continue reading “The Cipher in the Middle”
The 13-year-old is cramming a whole term of online classes into the last four days, mostly by playing Sonic 3 boss battle music to motivate themselves & staying up until all hours.
I want to object to this strategy… but they just did half a term of science in two hours. Continue reading “Boss Battle Homework”
The seven-year-old composed a poem about our cat:
There once was a cat named Piper
Her life was a bit of cipher
Mom’s otters she took
She was quite the crook
And that’s all I have to say about Piper
Me: tries and fails to sleep
Time: passes
Me: checks time
Me: “How has it only been fifteen minutes???” Continue reading “Time, Cats, Dragonheart, and Buffy”
Achievement unlocked: get old enough that your teeth can literally hurt when something is too sweet.
Yay for collecting achievements? Continue reading “Teeth, Cookies, and Butterflies”
I got a story acceptance today!
Ages and ages ago, before isolation times, I was arguing with a friend about whether a dragon with toast for wings or a toaster with dragon wings would be a better story prompt. We each wrote our preference. (You can read their story in Zooscape. ) Continue reading “Dragons and Toasters”
The way Data describes friendship in Star Trek: TNG (as recounted by Troi) has always deeply spoken to me:
“As I experience certain sensory input patterns, my mental pathways become accustomed to them. The inputs eventually are anticipated and even missed when absent.” Continue reading “The Right Kind of Unfamiliar”
World of Warcraft quest givers in 2003: Go kill twenty people and collect their bandanas
In 2021: Go find twenty depressed people and say something nice to them Continue reading “Some Things Change Over Time… Others Don’t”