A Twelfth of Carrabis (November 2024 Newsletter)

November marks the return of my Brother Orion and his dog’s slow march across the northern night skies. I go out late in the evenings and greet him, ask him to tell me tales of where he traveled and what he’s seen while away. Often he invites me to journey with him and we travel to places humans will not know of until after the sun grows cold.
It is a raw, rainy, autumn day as I pen this. I should write “…as I type this.” and the gray in my hair forbids it. My professional (ie, paid) writing career started with a typewriter, my non-professional with pencil and pen in spiral-bound notebooks (still have them). For a brief period I composed on a remote terminal over a 300baud modem via phone line to my university’s mainframe.
Young people scratch their heads and frown with confusion when I use such words: “Typewriter?” “Remote what?” “300baud?” “What’s a modem?” “What’s a mainframe?” “What’s a phone line?”
I also know my long time editor, Jen “The Editress” Day, will see the colon in the above and wince. I’ve yet to master the proper use of the dash (em and otherwise), the colon, and semi-colon. I understand their use and purpose, and Jen tells me she can tell when I’m crafting because I type so quickly punctuation goes out the window (swiftly accompanied by spelling). Fortunately, after ~20years, she knows the rhythms I invoke with language and punctuation and manages to make me look good.
I recommend her to any who need a top level editor. (PS any errors and tyops you find here are on me, not her)
“A Twelfth of Carrabis” is getting good feedback from readers. Thankee! It means a lot.
Last item before we get down to it; I’m thinking of redoing my website based on some conferences and classes I took this month. Any suggestions? What would you change if it was your website?

November-December 2024 Announcements
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An Experiment in Writing – Part 4: More on Closings

Picking up from where we left off in An Experiment in Writing – Part 3: More on Openings, Closings, we’re going a little more into closings.

Just so we’re all clear on this, these Experiments in Writing posts are more for me. I hope you get something from them, yes, and I’m using them more to learn where I need work, to discover what I don’t yet understand fully if at all, and to keep myself improving.

I’m really doing these for myself, solipsist that I am…

And now, more on closings…

 
Think I’m onto something? Take a class with me or schedule a critique of your work.
Think I’m an idiot? Let me know in a comment.
Either way, we’ll both learn something.

Pick up a copy of Empty Sky and/or The Augmented Man, the books I reference in this post (should you not already have them (shame on you!)) and want to follow along.

FYI, future Experiments in Writing will cover

  • Exposition via dialogue
  • Action scenes
  • Language/word choice
  • Exposition
  • and a whole lot more…if I even get to them.

An Experiment in Writing – Part 3: More on Openings, Closings

Picking up where we left off in An Experiment in Writing – Part 2: Openings, here’s Part 3: More on Openings, Closings. Enjoy.

 
More on Throughlines.

Think I’m onto something? Take a class with me or schedule a critique of your work.
Think I’m an idiot? Let me know in a comment.
Either way, we’ll both learn something.

Pick up a copy of Empty Sky, one of the books I’ll be referencing in this series (should you not already have one (shame on you!)) and want to follow along.

An Experiment in Writing – Part 2: Openings

Because I had so much fun in Part 1, here’s An Experiment in Writing – Part 2. Enjoy.

 
Think I’m onto something? Take a class with me or schedule a critique of your work.
Think I’m an idiot? Let me know in a comment.
Either way, we’ll both learn something.

Pick up a copy of Empty Sky, one of the books I’ll be referencing in this series (should you not already have one (shame on you!)) and want to follow along.

Four More Books Accepted into Library of Congress

I am thrilled and honored to have four more of my books selected by the Library of Congress, accepted into General Collections, and assigned Library of Congress Control Numbers:


Tales Told ‘Round Celestial Campfires
LOCCN 2023448306


The Augmented Man
LOCCN 2023448307


The Inheritors
LOCCN 2023448305

Get 20% off Empty Sky or Tales Told 'Round Celestial Campfires
Empty Sky
LOCCN 2023448304