- Musings
- Winners and Runners Up
- RoundTable 360° The Wounds We Carry — Sex, Gender, and the Art of Creation
- Diane Wallace’s Walking a Crooked Path: Pilgrimage of the Soul
- Greg Hickey Dictation Oddities
- Wilderness House Literary Review needs book reviewers
- Month Long Writers’ Workshop
- Save the (Pink) Hydra
- Zen Citizen
- Celebrate Women’s History Month with 10% off
- A Little Game
It is March. My brother Orion and his faithful dog, Canis Major, walk off to hunt in other skies and I bid them “Pleasant journeys, safe harbors,” something I often use as a sign off in my emails. I enjoy the warmer seasons and it saddens me when Orion and Cani hunt in southern skies. I know they will return – they always do, it is their promise to me – and still I wonder if time and tide will allow me one more walk with them, one more time around the celestial fires to hear their tales of other people, other creatures, other worlds, and other lands.
Raccoons are rustling about, many still carrying the bulk they took with them into winter, showing that here, at least, WinterMan traveled here little. We’ve seen many with swollen teats and have heard kits calling in the night, so soon our forest grandchildren will come nibbling our toes. You can follow our wildlife exploits on the WildLife link on my blog. The Raccoons have joined Skunk, Opossum, Bobcat, Coyote, and soon, we suspect, Bear, making our backyard one of their haunts, and we are glad.
 Last month’s Little Game had no winners and with two people coming close and one honorable mention:
All three get an autographed ebook copy of Dancers in the Eye of Chronos for their good efforts.
PS) The correct answer is Chris kissed Cross but Cross Crossed Chris so Chris’s kris criss-crossed Cross; now krised Chros’s crossing kisses caress Chris no more. |
 RoundTable 360° – Our 27 Mar 2025 RoundTable 360° session is The Wounds We Carry — Sex, Gender, and the Art of Creation.
Our art is often intimately personal — a place where we can explore our identities, concepts of self, and our deepest wounds. Whether our wounds stem from systemic or generational sexism, fear of rejection for not adhering to social norms, or not feeling safe to be seen as we are, art can be a powerful avenue for catharsis and reclaiming of self in the face of judgment. How has art allowed you to explore these wounds in your life? How do issues of sex and gender influence your art? This discussion is led by award-winning, Rhysling-nominated speculative writer Clarabelle Miray Fields. Clarabelle’s work has previously appeared in Corvid Queen, the 2021 Rhysling Anthology, and elsewhere. Holding a BA in classical languages, Boulder, CO, based Clarabelle often writes at the intersection of feminism and ancient myth. She currently serves as editor-in-chief of Carmina Magazine, a publication focused on modern mythmaking. When not writing, she enjoys being active outdoors and drinking the darkest coffee she can find. Connect with her on Instagram @cfieldswriting or via her website. Reserve your place at the RoundTable for Thursday, 27 Mar 2025, 1:30pmET (please check local times). |
 Sister Diane Wallace released Waling a Crooked Path: Pilgrimage of the Soul – She writes “Life’s journey is rarely a straight road. Walking a Crooked Path: Pilgrimage of the Soul explores the deeply personal and transformative quest for spiritual truth. Through my experiences with various religions from childhood to adulthood, I share insights on faith, identity, and the search for meaning.“The crooked path symbolizes the twists and turns we all face in our pursuit of spiritual resonance. If you’ve ever questioned, explored, or sought something deeper, this book will resonate with you.” Pick up your copy on Amazon. |
 Brother Greg Hickey’s Dictation Oddities – Greg’s dictating his latest Marcus Carver book and learning what we say is not what the machine hears (I know the feeling. Often my fingers don’t type what I’m thinking). He’s also coming up with future idioms – phrases which will be common vernacular in Marcus Carver’s late-twenty-first-century world. Some of his current favorites (and their present day equivalents) are:
You can find more of Greg’s future phrases and links to his books on his site. |
 Wilderness House Literary Review needs book reviewers – Wilderness House Literary Review EIC Steve Glines is looking for book reviewers. You’ll get full credit and publication credit for your review.
Folks new to the game; this is an excellent way to get your name out there, can provide a boost, can be added to your resume, and gets your unique voice heard. Go for it! |
Writers’ Month Long Workshop –  April 2025’s writers’ workshop covers many if not all phases of craft and storytelling. The April workshop is on Wednesdays, 2-30 April 2025, morning and evening openings available. Sign up here.
You can an idea of what craziness (and learning!) will ensue on my Experiments in Writing posts. |
 Save the (Pink) Hydra – Pink Hydra Chief Editor Emmylou Kotzé asks for help extending their reach. She writes “With the recent crumbling of social media websites, it’s become so much harder for small, start-up operations like ours to find the people who want what we’re purveying. But if you share our fundraising link on your socials or your website, or send it to people who might be interested, that would make a world of difference to us.Our fundraising goal for the three 2025 issues is $330, which will pay writers at a slightly more favorable rate than last year,* and leave some money to pay for web hosting and cover art. Even though our rates are very low, we feel it’s important to be able to compensate our writers in real-world currency, even if it’s just the equivalent of a barroom tip. We also find that paying writers motivates us to be more selective in choosing which submissions to publish – because we can’t publish everything, we have to choose the best and most fitting stories and poems to fit into the magazine. And if the unthinkable happens, and we exceed our fundraising goals by $100 or more, our pay rates will go up! We are also pledging half the sales from our Ko-fi shop for the month of March to the fundraiser, so if anything in our digital catalogue catches your eye, now is the time to get it! If you’d like to say hi, I will be sharing all updates (and open submissions periods) on my Bluesky account.” *For 2025, I’m planning to compensate magazine contributions at a base rate of 1 ZAR cent (about 1/18th of a US cent) per word, with a minimum payment of R50 per contributor. Paypal payments will be rounded up to the nearest dollar to compensate for fees. This means that all contributions below 5000 words will effectively receive $3, while longer stories and novellas will receive more, up to a maximum of about $17. Cover and interior art (all B&W) will receive R180 and R80, (about $10 and $5) respectively. |
 Zen Citizen – I mentioned Sister Vineeta Kommineni’s social experiment, Zen Citizen in previous newsletters.
Zen Citizen’s goal is to provide clear, comprehensive, and practical information on government procedures to help Indian citizens defy demands for bribes and access Government services conveniently. By walking through the application process with citizens, and refining the guides based on real experiences – similar to ‘what to expect when you’re expecting’ – Zen Citizen aims to make a dent in petty corruption and restore the stigma associated with it in India. You can discover Zen Citizen’s latest doings in their recent update |
 Celebrate Women’s History Month with 10% off – Sister Rika Chandra is offering professional women a 10% discount on author and professional bios for Women’s History Month.
And for UK based author’s, she has a special all-in-one experience that includes professional headshots with a fantastic all female team. Email her to arrange a chat! Women! Go for it! Make your mark on HERstory! |
 A Little Game – This month’s Little Game comes from Northern Lights Publishing’s Editress, Jennifer Day:An orchestra of 120 players takes 40 minutes to play Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. How long would it take for 60 players to play the symphony? Let P be the number of players and T be the time playing. I’ll add the following which may or may not be useful depending on how you solve the problem:
The first five people to get back to me with a solution get a free Binky ebook. The first person to get back to me with a solution which makes me laugh gets a signed copy of That Th!nk You Do Volume I (and no looking it up on the internet, folks!). |
That’s it for March. See you next month!
Enjoy!
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