The Weapons Tag (in which I fling references about willy-nilly while knowing very little about weapons)

Good old tag backlog. When I can't adequately marshal my words to craft an original blog post (or answer comments, or comment on other people's fabulous posts - I'm sorry, guys, my brain Just Ain't Having It, and hopefully it will start Having It again with dispatch), you are always to be depended upon. Many …

Things I Like About Books I Don’t

I feel the need to be aggressively positive today; hence this post. Spoiling its own ending: The Book Thief I know it bothers some people that our friendly narrator Death is continually going, "Oh, and by the way, this person is going to die, tragically - but we've got at least two hundred pages to …

The April-May Story Report: Editing, Westerns, and a Whole Lot of Fluff

"Ah, summer," says Russell Baker, "what power you have to make us suffer and like it." Russell Baker is a man of uncanny prescience, because he said that a long time ago, and yet here I am, in the Present Day and Age, positively rejoicing that summer's here. Well...almost here. It's going to be hot …

The Liebster Award (zweimal!)

Heartwarming things happen quite unexpectedly.  Like when I discovered that both Kenzie and Becky consider me among their dearest friends.  Or maybe it means that the award itself is what's dearest to you?  In that case, it's misnamed, for although I like this tag, I can't say being tagged for it is my dearest or …

On Moral Complexity in Stories (and does LOTR have any?)

So, I love The Lord of the Rings. (For which work of literature the following post contains many a spoiler. Be ye warned.) It's always rather bothered me that some people don't, which in one sense is silly - people's tastes are different, and there's nothing you can do about it. Even if it's something …

The Get-to-Know-Me Tag (Writer’s Edition)

Recently, I was tagged. Not for the Get-to-Know-Me Tag. No, that would be too obvious.  For a different tag. But it brought tags to the forefront of my mind. For, many moons ago - or I think it was many moons ago; I'm not sure precisely what a moon is, but I always supposed it …

I Appear to Have Actually Finished Something? (ft: Dream-Peddler snippets)

I finished a book! I have 47,000 words of it typed, which is...more than half? But I'm not sure how much more than half.  And I do actually rather like it, despite its problems.

Do I Have That Book? (a challenge, in which Sarah is Rather Opinionated About Covers)

I've seen this challenge several places here recently, and every time I think, "How fun! I want to do this! I should steal this!" I have so far refrained from theft, however. But when the wonderful human (sponge?) known as the Story Sponge did it, 'twas the straw that broke the camel's back. I have …

Murder, Middle Grade, and Old Favorites ~ What I Read in February and March

Greetings and salutations, dearest bloggerly friends. How have you all been?  Well, I hope. Since I saw you last, I have become an expert fence-builder and also read some books.  I'm sure you're dying to hear about all my nifty techniques for pliers-manipulation and making the dadgum fence stay where it's put, but today I …

The Writer’s OTP Challenge (in which there is romance, death, and some rather embarrassing information about old stories)

Okay. So. I saw Arielle had made this blog tag for, if you're a writer, romances you've written, and so then I wondered, have I even written fourteen whole romantic relationships? Ever? And that turned into quite a fun jaunt down memory lane, and then I just had to write this post because it was …