As I type this, I'm curled up in the reading chair in my office, surrounded by three walls papered in post-it notes for story bits and RCM to-do's. Baron's joyous tones are booming through the house as he battles through the Darkest Dungeon; in my headset, Killer and Varyar are waging a battle of their… Continue reading Blessings

There is one point on which I will always give Stephenie Meyer mad props: from her second book onward, in her acknowledgements at the end, she lists out the main playlist of music she listened to while working on each novel. Using music to set the tone while one is working isn't in itself particularly… Continue reading Music Notes

I had my annual performance review for my day job the other morning. I never worry about these things - for me, they're more of a formalized recount of what I've learned over the prior year and what I need to get to where I want to be. I've been very fortunate over the past… Continue reading Lessons

Years ago, in that weird adult-but-not-really transition time of being in college, there was a fad of sending insanely long chain emails under the header All About Me. The messages consisted of a list of questions - LOTS of questions - with the idea getting to know one's friends better. Most of the questions were… Continue reading All About Me

So last week I talked about the death of Dream, which meant a refiguring of where I want to go and what I want to do. This week, life has decided to keep with the curveballs, but at least in a positive way: yesterday I found out I'll get an extra six months to figure out… Continue reading Plans

I'm not gonna lie; I'm crying as I type this. The announcement came out Friday afternoon that after fifteen years of publication, mental_floss magazine is ending its print publication with the November/December 2016 issue...which went to print Friday morning. Words can't begin to describe the sense of loss I'm feeling right now. The first issue I read… Continue reading Death of a Dream

Colleen Mondor puts out a monthly blogletter chronicling her research and progress for her book on the 1932 Cosmic Ray climbing expedition on Mt. McKinley. In last week's missive, she details a side story she came across in her research regarding a friend of that expedition's leader by the name of Elbridge Herron, who was… Continue reading Down The Rabbit Hole

Last week, as I prepared materials for our campus resource room, I got into a discussion about why schools across the United States at all levels have to have activities and discussions centered around Constitution Day. It was a valid question, and I explained about how the observance came about because so many people didn't… Continue reading We The People

Today, we learned I am the World's Greatest Detective. In Borderlands, we've been playing through the various side quests and things and having an insane amount of fun with it, even though I'm pretty certain I have to be about the most frustrating co-player ever for someone who knows what they're doing (I still fall… Continue reading I Am The Greatest Detective