Lately I've taken to perusing The Dark's online offerings whenever I have a spare moment to read. So many stories are deliciously ... (for lack of a better descriptor) ... dark. I'll admit the first thing that pulled me onto their site was the challenge of their famously fast rejection rate. For a person like…
Where do you get your science?
I will declare (with pride) that what I write is considered "soft" science fiction. For many people, there is a certain hierarchy to science fiction, with hard sci fi--fiction that is based on realistic physics/chemistry/biology--inherently "better" than soft sci fi. I call fig-newtons on that as I enjoy both reading and writing soft sci fi.…
Pitch Wars 2019 #BoostMyBio
I'll start by saying I'm not 100% sure I'm going to do Pitch Wars this year. But I'm also not 100% sure I won't, so I figure it's a good idea to put my bio out there. What's the worst that can happen? I meet new writers? Ohhh terrible! About Me Me and Pitch Wars:…
Carnival: Using Costume to Explore Self and Take the Plunge Into an Open Relationship
I’m not a young woman anymore. At thirty-four, I can still manage a night out drinking, but I pay for it with two days of sloshy headaches, low energy, and a depth of shame. Dropping my phone in the toilet. Losing money. Slipping and falling in front of a crowd. Those all used to be…
Gushing Over “The Propagator” by Simone Kern
Want to read something amazing? So do I, and sometimes I stumble along something that grips me from beginning to end and then leaves me wanting more. These are the pieces I have to share with others. This week, that piece is from author Simone Kern, currently available on Metaphorosis Magazine. Entitled "The Propagator", the…
Writing News–August Update
I absolutely love that I'm at a place in my writing where I have news to share. It's exhilarating. Coming in September: Green Man Dreams, a poem, will be available in the September Issue of ParABnormal Magazine. Women Like Me, a poem, will be available in the sixth issue of Lucent Dreaming. The Artist, a…
When I Realized… I Liked Other Women
The memory of the first time I realized I like other women stands out vividly against a gray backdrop of my early twenties. Everything else blends together and fades with time, but she remains sharp. Clear. Unforgettable. It was one of those teasing late winter days. The sun kissed me with promises of spring, but…
Behind Casual: Deep Brain Stimulation and Depression
I got the idea to start writing Casual when I was at WordCamp Europe in the summer of 2018. Just how did WordCamp inspire a science fiction novel? Indirectly. I was taking some time away from the crowds, tweeting about how wonderful it was to be on antidepressants and finally get to enjoy the conference…
Lost In Completion
Whenever I talk with my non-writer friends about writing, it's clear they don't fully understand what goes into the creation of a novel. It's the usual complaint of writers: They're supportive, have a bit of interest, but don't get the way writing sucks us in and wraps us in a cocoon of isolation and effort.…
Steps Along a Long Road
Photo via Entity on Pixabay. This was the image prompt that inspired my short story, Rest Stop. I don't remember the exact moment I started taking the idea of publication seriously. Definitely sometime after my son was born, maybe after my daughter was born. Sometime during those long days of cuddling and writing, I decided…