So here’s what happened. I shut down a couple other sites that my older posts called home and imported them here. Well, that isn’t as simple as it sounds because the imported pieces looked dreadful for the most part. What that means is that I needed to do some additional housecleaning up in here. Now, you may find some posts with still iffy links and such, and I cry your pardon on that. Feel free to leave a comment and I’ll come in and address it. What I did was go through all 422 posts and mark private those that…
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I’ve decided I want to write more. I know: If you’ve been around any of my blogs, you know I’ve written those (or similar) words before. But as the saying goes, one must put one’s coins where one’s piehole is, since that’s a sure way to keep the fires burning. Or something like that. I’ve joined Medium — you’ll find an RSS feed in the sidebar, but I encourage you to follow me over there. In case you don’t want to go fishing, here’s a link: https://medium.com/@andreekoehler C’mon past and set for a spell. I’ll likely be doing more over…
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No disrespect to whoever coined the term ‘messy middle’ as an element of the novel (or story, I suppose) writing process. If you aren’t sure what it is, check out this post from Edits Underway. TL:DR – it’s that part where you get stuck and start thinking you’ll never finish. Or where you get down on yourself, that those goo-gobs of words you’ve already written are rubbish. Or where you feel you’ve written yourself in a corner with no way back to a sight-line of a destination. Even with a compelling image like the one above, I struggle with this…
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It’s an almost rainy Saturday afternoon and Bowie’s ‘ch-ch-ch-ch’ came to my mind. I just finished organizing my works-in-progress. What had happened was, I had an epiphany about creating a spreadsheet with all my current projects, their genres and wordcounts, titles, loglines, and info listed with their last ‘worked-on’ date. Sure, I have a folder with all these beauties but having this list will make a conversation with my future agent much easier. My space epic is nearing 40,000 words and I’ve almost reached the end of the first section. Two more like this by November and I’ll have completed…
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Okay, so that’s not what it’s really called. This song (how is it possible that it’s 41 years old?!) came to mind this morning as I think about the tear-filled evening I spent watching anime last night. It’s been two weeks since I got up and saw how my sweet big boy (dog) Woola was struggling, his wavering steps in the door of my office, how hard he seemed to be … trying to do everything. My heart is still so sore from finding him the morning of 8 January, laying in the hall across from my office where he’d…
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One day, I decided I wanted a new pen name. Then, life changed and I realized I am not satisfied with that name, despite the fact that I’ve published under it. It’s just not me, you know? I’m working it out now, trying to decide what my new pen name will be. The posts from the site I’d built for my temporary alter-ego are now integrated here. I’ll be updating the categories for the posts and changing links that went to it over the next few weeks. I’ll ultimately use this site for everything. Appreciate your patience during the flux.
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I find myself burdened by the weight of my own humanity. Photo courtesy https://pixabay.com/images/id-2964231/ Despite taking melatonin pretty consistently (by that I mean at nearly the same time each evening with few missed nights), I am again waking in the wee hours of the morning. Two nights (days?) ago, I was up at 1:30. I mean, wide awake. I got up to not disturb my beloved and went back out to the family room to finish watching a movie I’d started. I discovered that HBO Max has the entire Studio Ghibli collection and I’ve been methodically watching every one of…
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And the hits just keep coming … Was it someone at Motown who came up with that line, or was it a radio disc jockey? Either way, the phrase certainly sums up 2020 for a lot of people. The year hit like a boxer or MMA (mixed martial arts) fighter, slamming health and finances in ways many have never seen in their lifetime. I had to go out yesterday and I was shocked at the new developments being built in what seems like every nook and cranny. Rumor has it that a shopping complex is coming to my neighborhood (all…
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I just re-took the Clifton StrengthsFinder assessment in preparation for a webinar this weekend. I hadn’t taken it in several years and was curious to see if my results were in alignment with the old ones. They were pretty different. But then again, so am I. Life has taken many twists and turns, professionally and personally, since … 2007 or 2008, which is about when I last did the StrengthsFinder. I would say it’s pretty accurate to where I am now. My primary identified strengths include ones that relate to creativity and thought, which is completely me. I was able…
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It’s a Steely Dan sort of day. It’s technically fall, at least in other parts of the universe outside Southern California: here, the leaves on most trees have done a smashing impersonation of certain moths, fish, or other short-lived creatures; they’ve tossed themselves, headlong to the ground in death, creating a foundation of birth and growth for grass, while their now-nude trees reach their empty (or, as is the case of my trees, partially empty) arms to the sun to grasp birth in the tips of their limbs that will yield new leaves, soon. Sooner than we probably want to…