04 Mar

SFF Seattle Events List: March 2016

I apologize for the delay in this month’s list; I’ve been having some health issues that have knocked the stuffing out of my work schedule. Even with this late start, we have plenty of neat science fiction and fantasy events in Seattle this month, including a live soundtrack for The Dark Crystal and two very different versions of Alice in Wonderland—not to mention Norwescon, Sakura-Con, and the Science Fiction + Fantasy Short Film Festival.

One quick admin note before we get to the good stuff. Last month’s list was absurdly long, so I decided to exclude regular meetings for smaller groups—things like book clubs and crafting groups. If you’re curious, you can find a lot of these meetings on last month’s list.

As always, please check each event’s website to confirm the details. If you’d like to get future events lists, subscribe using the link to the right or follow me on Twitter.

Know of a SFF event that’s not on this list? Want to go to an event? Tell us about it in the comments!

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02 Feb

SFF Seattle Events List: February 2016

Seattle is full of geeks and nerds. So many of us love science fiction and fantasy, but it can be difficult to find SFF events. Listings on the Stranger and elsewhere are overwhelming, and some of the major events (like conventions) don’t show up there at all.

So, I made a SFF Seattle Events List for February. I’m an editor and a writer, I like research, and lists are my friends. This one wound up being a wee bit longer than I thought it would, and I may shorten it next month. But I plan on making these lists once a month for the next little while. If you’d like to get future events lists, subscribe using the link to the right or follow me on Twitter. I’m a terrible blogger, so unless I kiss the Blogging Blarney Stone, it’s likely that these lists are most of what you’ll see from me. Read More

06 Feb

A Long and Long-Overdue Post on Editing

The last few months have been busy. I closed down my legal business, opened my editing business, finished my copyediting program, edited a slew of stories, proudly watched a self-published book I edited rack up glowing reviews, and started revising an unfinished novel I wrote and set aside a year ago. I also found out that the pain in my hips comes from a skeletal deformity that will require surgery, went through a ton of physical therapy, traveled to San Francisco to see one side of my family, decided not to fly to New York to see more of my family, and ate a whole bunch of tasty food. Somewhere in there, sleep happened, too. I think.

I’ve written about many of those things, but I never quite managed to post them. Much of my recent writing deals with my struggle to come to terms with my disability–typing those two words still makes me feel like I’ve been punched in the gut–and the best pieces are also the darkest. Sometimes sharing my writing scares me, and part of the reason why is below. I know I need to get over that. One day, when I’m feeling brave, I’ll publish some of those dark pieces.

I’ve also written–and not posted–about editing. Back in November I promised to explain why I’m starting up an editing business, and the short answer is because I love editing stories of all sorts. The long answer stretches back ten years and involves an unpleasant incident that many writers may, unfortunately, recognize. Read More

29 Apr

The Beginnings of The Good Ship Whimsy

My biggest writing problem is letting go of things and sending them out into the world. Ideas push their way into my head and bloom on paper, and then I shut them up in file cabinets and hard drives, where they languish for years. So, maybe it’s fitting that this story began from something floating free: a dandelion seed.

About a month ago I decided to get a tattoo. Read More

18 Apr

Playing with Photos

I’ve been sick for the last couple of weeks, and I’m very behind on all of my work–including my writing. This means I don’t have any writing to post here today. But, I did play with some photos earlier this week. It was nice to be able to create pretty things even when I felt crappy. Here are some of the results.

This also seemed like a good time to try out the WordPress galleries feature. You can click on the photos below to see the full pictures–some of them got a bit squished.

17 Mar

Finding Treasure

Stories say there’s a pot of gold at the end of each rainbow, if you can only find it–and if the silly things would hold still. Every child who ever chased a bright band of colors as it retreated across the sky is familiar with this difficulty.

Other, less frequently repeated stories say that fairy gold turns to leaves and twigs in the morning.

Taken together, these tales don’t exactly teach us to go hunting for riches in the wild. But in my years of wandering through the woods, I’ve learned a different lesson: treasures are hidden everywhere. There is a trick, though. If you’re barreling after the end of a rainbow, you may never see them. They often aren’t where you expect them to be, and sometimes you don’t notice them until after the fact.

Last August, Adam and I hiked up to Flapjack Lakes in the Olympic Mountains. Read More

13 Mar

Short Stories on the Spot

Dee has much nicer handwriting than I do.

–UPDATE–

If you would like to donate to the Hanway-Wong family or if you would like more information about the fundraiser I participated in on Sunday, please check out the Facebook page or the GoFundMe page.

Last Sunday I participated in a fundraiser for a woman who just lost her husband to cancer and is now supporting their two children, both under the age of three, by herself. The main event was a silent auction, full of amazing services and goods donated by friends and businesses in Seattle. There were two full bars and plentiful delicious food. And there was also me, tucked away in a corner of the room, writing compliments for people in exchange for donations. Read More

10 Mar

To-Do Lists and an Announcement

My mother used to haul around a fat, cloth-covered binder called a “Day Minder.” It was scribbled over with notes, paper-clipped with lists on scraps of paper, and ridged with ugly tabs. Teenaged me would roll her eyes every time Mom pulled this brute out of her over-stuffed bag to write down a new appointment or remind the family of some forgotten chore. Sure, she was managing the schedule and tasks of five people, but did it have to look so cluttered? Did she really need that many lists?

Then Mom got her first Blackberry. Overnight, the size of her purse shrank in half. The reign of the ratty Day Minder was over. Other than occasionally teasing her about it, my siblings and I quickly forgot about the old beast. Read More