Tales from the Raven

I know this is late notice, but sometimes that just means you can’t forget about the event, and may actually have your schedule pinned down.
So, celebrate the Durham Art Walk this Saturday, Nov. 1st, with Alan Welch anytime between 11:00 and 3:00pm.  This was his summary:
I will have almost all my models there in costume, plus an [...]

I can’t type those words without hearing, in my mind, the throaty voice of our hand-grabbing candy dish.  Ah, the joys of mis-spent money.
The family had a good crop of decorated pumpkins and jack-o-lanterns this year.  Below you see my free-hand cat, and our son’s carefully carved ‘BSA is Cool’.  The latter should be submitted [...]

We all know about backhistory, and world building.  There are various views on how much should be written, but kept in the writer’s file, and how much should be shared in the book.  Some also advocate the camera approach to world-building.  That is, create only what’s necessary to build a believable world, just as a [...]

Writers have the best jobs.  What other field of work would lead to researching beautiful and fanciful creations like these lovely toilet paper dresses?
This one is a personal favorite.  Maybe someday I’ll dress a character in it.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
My online research into the intricate world of toilet paper art* was prompted by my female pov in Shadow Dance.  I’m [...]

I’m adding Being Cindy to my blogroll–welcome!  Cindy has the good grace to think like I do–that YA fantasy is an awesome genre to enjoy just now–and also writes lovely poetry.  More than that, though, Cindy exudes sunshine.  So on cloudy days, or whenever, check out her blog.
I’m also linking to some really cool bandaids [...]

This afternoon we were eating a late lunch of pizza, (incidentally, it was the freezer half-cheese, half-pepperoni kind, which I can recommend for picky families) and my ear/jaw gave a painful pop.
Being hungry and keen on pizza, I kept eating.  But the pain only became worse, ’til it felt like I was doing the equivalent of [...]

I have once again landed a story sell with Every Day Fiction.  This time it’s A Star’s Seduction, my flash story about a young woodsy witch who finds herself temporarily enamored with out-of-this-world power.
The date of publication is yet to be anounced, but the EDF crowd have my thanks for this acceptance.  I’d just about [...]

Stopping mid story to examine the direction of a plot strikes me as a bold and possibly foolish thing to do–at least on the gut level.
“Why would you stop now?”  my instincts ask.  “You’re on a roll–keep writing as long as you can come up with words to put down.”
But my reasonable, rational brain has [...]

But the pic and story have nothing to do with one another beyond sharing space on this rambling blog.
First the picture.  After coming home from church this afternoon I stayed in my dress, since it’s comfortable, but quickly transformed to stocking feet, since I’ve never had much success curling up in almost knee-length boots even if they don’t have [...]

This last New Years our daughter set the goal of learning to ride her bike.  Since she didn’t even have a bike at that point in time, this goal would take a fair degree of perseverance and persuasion.
As I’m sure you can guess, we were soon out shopping, and lucky enough to find a beautiful [...]