Making Things Happen

While the New Year gives us a measurable marker for change and the passing of time, it doesn’t fundamentally mean anything. The calendar may have changed, but we have not. I’ve overloaded myself before with grandiose plans and meticulous lists that end up crushing me and coming to naught. That’s pretty depressing and I really don’t need any more of that right now. With the pandemic and unsettled political climate still raging, I can’t expect the chronic, low-level stress and anxiety to go away with the turn of a page.

I need a plan.

But I am also very bad at planning.

Continue reading “Making Things Happen” →

Book Balls, Fan Fiction, & Other Endeavors

Audio Edition Coming Soon!

Today is the last day of my vacation. Yes, I took a vacation because the low-level but persistent stress of 2020 gets tough to deal with, and fortunately, I’m in a position to actually have and use some of that accrued time.

I kicked off my vacation with the #FCPLBookBall, a virtual library fundraiser where you make a monetary donation to the library to “attend” and then just sit and read all day. It was, in a word, glorious. I highly recommend curling up someplace quiet and comfy with one of those “10 hours of ocean waves” tracks from YouTube running in the background. Since I can’t go to the beach this year, this was the closest equivalent, and it actually worked very well:

Books, pillows, tea, candle, cat, soothing ocean waves in the background… Time to settle in for the #FCPLBookBall! ^_^ #bookworm #amreading #ILikeToParty #AndByPartyIMeanReadBooks (2020-08-15 @kvclements)

I’m going to have to try to do something like this once a month or something, a dedicated “Read & Relaxation” day. It worked wonders to help calm and recenter myself. (Also, Saturday August 22nd was the Ray Bradbury Centennial, and there’s a Read-a-Thon of Fahrenheit 451 available to stream until September 5th if you want to check it out!)

Continue reading “Book Balls, Fan Fiction, & Other Endeavors” →

Quick Update (and placeholder)

Sorry everyone; there isn’t going to be a more substantial update this week because I’m finally indulging in a vacation. However, I wanted to give a quick update (which will hopefully post on Monday automatically like it’s supposed to) on some things that are going on:

1) On Friday, August 8, 2014, my first autonomous article for the online magazine Scoop was published! It’s called “A Brief History of Steampunk” and I had a blast writing it. Steampunk is such a rich and fairly new genre, and I hope I managed to interest both newcomers and experts alike. Many thanks go to Mark and Jeff for giving me this opportunity.

2) Since “Okami Amaterasu” is complete, I’ve chosen a new fanfic project to work on. My Final Fantasy VII story, “Hidden Light,” has been languishing for several years while I puttered around with other projects. But now I’m ready to get back to it and complete the story. (The rest of it was already mapped out back in 2009…I just needed to write it!) It features Vincent Valentine, one of my first bishonen crushes, and my FC Hikari, who was originally designed as a prototype for my Mariner Sequence character, Marella. Thankfully Hikari and Marella have evolved into different people, but they share a lot of traits, and was my first experiment with writing a mentally damaged character. Chapter 10 is already up, and you can expect Chapter 11 to be posted Monday, August 18!

3) I’m hoping to feel more relaxed and recharged from my vacation. The last few weeks have been a bit of a struggle. Time to regain some equilibrium.

Milestones & Updates

Click HERE for the Audio Edition!
.
.

Hello, world! It seems like writers spend a lot of time soul-searching in Angst-ville (myself included) so I wanted to share some good news!

1) ARTICLES!

I got some articles published! Fellow writer Mark Squirek is a columnist for the online newsletter Scoop. He asked me to do a pair of articles for his column, “Cover Story,” which discusses the cover art of various comic books. I got to pick any two covers I wanted and write about them! I chose Space Family Robinson #23: “Menace from Uranus!” from 1967 and The Chronicles of Arcea #1: “The Athame” by Vyrhelle. Many thanks to Mark for asking me to write for Scoop and to Mr. J.C. Vaughn, editor at Gemstone Publishing, for taking a chance on a new writer. Also, my deepest gratitude to my friend Karen; editing all of those art papers paid off! Working with Scoop has been a lot of fun, and I hope I’ll be able to continue writing for them.

Continue reading “Milestones & Updates” →

#BlogHop – Current Works In Progress

Welcome to the final edition of the #BlogHop for #Writers hosted by Ruth L. Snyder! Many thanks to Ruth for hosting, to Cate Russell-Cole for sharing the existence of the BlogHop, and to everyone of you who have come to read and comment. I appreciate your time and words, and I hope that you’ve enjoyed these entries.

Talking about works in progress is always a little intimidating for me. I say “works” because I tend to flit between projects. My ability to focus has deteriorated over the years so, to keep things fresh, I end up having several stories going at once. When I get tired of one, I set it aside for a while and work on something else. So right now, I have three WIPs to share:
Continue reading “#BlogHop – Current Works In Progress” →