Burblings
In which I prove that absolutely anything can be made nerdy if you try hard enough...
Self-care tips for writers (and everyone else)
Last month I (briefly) went to a dark place. There wasn’t anything wrong, really. There were no awful life events or catastrophes. I wasn’t depressed. It’s just that my novel, which had been stuck, ended up taking me somewhere Not Fun. My main character wasn’t coming out right, and in order to understand where she…
Read MoreMy brain is lazy AF: learning to read Hangul (한글)
Learning Korean has given me a fascinating sense of perspective. I’ve learned other languages: I did a double major in French and English in university and I took a year of German back when I thought a master’s degree in Comparative Literature would be a hoot (actually, it probably would be a hoot, but that’s…
Read MoreDon’t be an asshole: an editor’s guide to internet etiquette
When I took my first editing course, our instructor gave us a valuable piece of advice: don’t correct someone else’s grammar/spelling on social media. Ever. Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, and internet forums (are they still A Thing? I am old) are the textual equivalent of a casual conversation. Do you stop someone mid-conversation to correct their…
Read MoreCome for the K-pop…stay for the grammar
Last fall, when I first started learning Korean, I told a friend about it and she said, “Umm…OK, but why?” It’s a fair question. I live in a province with a Korean population of just over 1000 according to the 2016 census. I don’t work in tech, I don’t want to teach abroad (or locally,…
Read MoreOn worldbuilding: Susan Mallery and the rich world of Fool’s Gold, California
2018 was the year I got hooked on romance novels. I don’t know about you, but I was raised with a general attitude of scorn towards all things romance-novel-y. My mom called them “bodice-rippers” and wouldn’t have been caught dead reading one, so, even though I’m a grown-ass woman who can (surely!) make up her…
Read More“To fist” or not “to fist,” that is the question
Sometimes word choices are technically correct…but they just plain bug me. Case in point: last year I read a couple of books where the word “fisted” was used as a verb. Frequently. Noticeably often. It really bothered me. I couldn’t think of a single instance where I’d seen the word “fisted” used as a verb…
Read MoreFrom the archives: Transformation
I wrote this poem for my old blog, Spirit Moves Dance, in 2012. The blog is gone, but the poem remains. It will not always feel good, This growing. This stretching beyond the boundaries of the known, The comfortable. It will not always feel safe, This learning and relearning of your own abilities This reexamining…
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