Stories and Amateur Pasty-Crafting
Stålenhag is a Swedish visual artist, writer, musician, and tabletop RPG designer, and it seems as though he's been churning out his creative projects for a number of years. As with much of the cool art that's out there*, I'm only learning about it now, hence the whole "late to dinner" phrase in the title.
In the preface to his essay collection, Zen in the Art of Writing, Ray Bradbury writes "And what, you ask, does writing teach us? First and foremost, it reminds us that we are alive and that it is a gift and a privilege, not a right. We must earn life once it has be awarded us. Life asks for rewards back because it has favored us with animation" (xii).
I like to think about writing while I walk, and it's while thinking about writing that I try to get my writing done. In fact, it's where most of my writing's getting done these days.
bbc.co.uk Evening, friends. Today marked the first official day of summer vacation for me. (Enjoy the adjacent, celebratory picture of Ray Dorset of Mungo Jerry. )Students finished up last Thursday, and most teachers were done as of Friday. I was at the school yesterday to help facilitate professional development for some snow day make-up (because … Continue reading In the Summertime
Each month the Chippewa Valley Writers Guild features a "Dear Writer" column, in which a writer (hence the very apt title) replies to a reader's question. I had the opportunity to contribute to March's column on what do with workshop advice that might lead you away from your original vision.
Barstow and Grand, the Chippewa Valley's premier literary journal, is currently accepting submissions for its third issue. What kind of stuff is B & G looking for? Poetry, creative non-fiction, fiction, and even hybrids of the genres.
How Long 'Til Black Future Month? is a solid collection of Jemisin's short fiction spanning her career. And in each selection she delivers on her world building, much in the same way she did in The Fifth Season: inserting information as it becomes relevant to the narrative, avoiding huge info dumps.
Currently the journal's taking submissions for its third issue (in fact, this weekend it'll be free to submit), and if you have a piece of fiction or nonfiction, a poem, or a hybrid text of some type, and a connection to Wisconsin's Chippewa Valley you should send it on in.
Back on that bargain extolling game: City of Thieves by David Benioff This is an older book, but one of my favorite reads from last year. Quick one, too. Perfect to ride out the last vestiges of winter, or save it for a summertime hammock session. Just under two bucks for the ebook. Huzzah!
The Cabin at the End of the World: Eerie, intense, heart-wrenching thriller. Tension so thick you could bludgeon it with a specially hand-crafted doomsday gardening tool.
Purdy Good 