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I mentioned in my last post, but now I'm doing the official promotional thing. I'm going to be doing a couple of presentations at the Flights of Foundry  convention next weekend! Specifically, I'll be doing a game demo for Rolling Realms  on Saturday, September 28 at 1pm Pacific. On Sunday, September 29 at 3pm Pacific, I'll be doing a panel presentation on copyright and public domain basics; finally, also on Sunday, September 29 at 5pm, I'll be on a panel sharing my handwork (specifically my crochet, cross stitch, and blackwork) with a few other fantastic people. This is my first time doing this kind of presentation, and so I'm a wee bit nervous. Still, I'm super excited, and the fact that it's all online means that I'll at least be in my home, and the cats may or may not make an appearance on camera. So! If you're interested in what's looking to be a fabulous online convention (that's FREE!), come join us next weekend!

 You know how we always talk about waiting for the other shoe to fall? Basically, when things are going well, we're waiting for the negative things to come and balance the scales, because it's not possible for things to go TOO well - something's going to bring us back down to Earth. Well, lately things have been going pretty well. I've been asked to do a panel at the Flights of Foundry convention at the end of the month, talking about copyright and public domain basics. The convention is being put together using the things that the attendees say they can bring to the table, and so I had said that I could talk about copyright, and I could also demo a board game. They've asked me to do both! I can't say that I expected them to take me up on that offer, but here we are! I'm also doing a workshop at GeekGirlCon  in November, talking about how embroidery can help improve your mental health and teaching the basics of cross stitch and blackwork. In this case, I ha

The last few months, I've been spending every Sunday morning writing with Mary Robinette Kowal's Make Me Write Zoom group. It's been really useful to have a dedicated time to focus on writing, and I've made some real progress on the novel I've been working on for *mumble* years now. I've also, for reasons unknown, started drafting poetry. I've submitted a few things for publication and gathered up the rejections, but I'm working on sharing some of it a little more. This one...I've been fighting with some stuff, and this one came easily to me, though it hurts a little to read now. So, obviously, I must share the pain! Not Like That Ask for what you deserve, they say, Don’t expect people to just give you things. You teach people how to treat you. Advocate for yourself! Fine. I deserve respect, I deserve kindness, I deserve to be paid what my work is worth. I want to be treated the way I treat others; I have the right to expect these things. Well, no, n

 Would you look at that - I have returned once more! It’s been a minute, and there has been too much, so let me sum up. The important bits for the purpose of this post is that I have been diagnosed with bipolar II (AKA, all the lows, not quite the highs) and autism in the last two years, so I’ve been working with a therapist to try and figure out what that all means for me now. Also, my Daisy-cat passed away suddenly a couple of months ago, and we recently welcomed a new member of the family, QWERTY.  He’s living up to his name on a regular basis, but I got a keyboard cover to protect my laptop (or rather, to keep him from doing more new and exciting things to my laptop), and it’s been working out pretty well so far. So! I’m working with Mar Rodriguez with Holistic Child and Family , and they are MARVELOUS. I highly recommend the practice, though they do currently have a 4+ month waitlist. In my opinion, totally worth the wait. Mar is fantastic, and working with a therapist who is also

My first multi-parter of the month! I just couldn't finish this whole thing today, but I have a good idea of where things are going, and it was too much fun to think of the ways an author might need to make herself scarce online for a day or two. Enjoy part one of draft zero of The Storytellers' Conference! The envelope was fancier than anything I'd seen before, and sealed with wax. I wasn't sure how it had found me, since it had no postmark or return address - it hadn't been processed by our postal service, that much seemed clear. It also hadn't appeared at my PO Box, or in my assistant's hands, which is where all the important mail came from. No, this had appeared on the door of my office, inside my house. That was more than a little frightening, and I was tempted to call the police and have someone check it for explosives or anthrax or something equally insidious. It was ridiculous to think that way, though - I wasn't anyone famous. I had sold a coupl

Whew, this one got long, and I need to figure out a better ending. Again, using a prompt from The Writing Network: your character discovers time travel. Enjoy draft zero of Come With Me If You Want to Live! The snow crunched under our feet as we walked the normal path between school and home. Our breath formed clouds in the air ahead of us, growing and blowing until they intermingled in the air over our heads. The idea of our breaths intermingling made me feel a little funny, and I hugged my arms around my chest to keep myself warm and to keep from reaching out to hold her hand. I'd only been walking to school with her and home for about a week now, and I didn't want to move too quickly. She was the first girl I'd ever really, REALLY liked, and I didn't want to screw things up. (I was also absolutely terrified and didn't really know what I supposed to do, but that was besides the point.) "Elisa?" she asked, twisting her gloved hands together as we walked.