Categories
Media Consumption Writing Life

And then this happened

That could be a title for every blog post, eh?

Sipping tea and sitting in sunshine with the cat on my office couch was a fabulous way to spend a Sunday morning. I spent a lot more time there than I originally intended.

My one brief peek at the internet was a mistake because along with the wildly irresponsible fear-mongering, scientifically-dubious, hand-wringing over the Omicron surge, I learned there are folks claiming that vaccinated people who minimize human contact and wear masks are doing it because we’re scared of getting sick. That we’re pathologically anxious. That we’re frightened out of our wits and suffering from a mass delusion, even.

OH FFS. That’ll teach me to open up my browser on the weekend. I MEAN. Beyond the WTAF aspect, there’s the projection part (accusing someone of having a trait you actually have.) It really torques me off that the assholes who spread disinformation to undermine public confidence in all information sources do so much better a job than the have reached a new record in Awfulness.

Keeping other people’s germs out of my face when infection rates of anything are skyrocketing is a sensible way to avoid getting sick. Always has been. I hope wearing masks during seasonal virus peaks becomes normalized tbh. And with a novel disease the reality is that eventually I will get sick, but the longer I stay uninfected and the more I can train my immune system beforehand, the better.

That isn’t delusional. That’s common sense — unless you also believe the disease itself is essentially harmless. And to believe that, you have to dismiss hundreds of sources in dozens of countries who have nothing invested in lying about its badness.

Liars who spread disinformation to erode public trust in all existing sources of information? REALLY TORQUE ME OFF. HARUMPH.

ANYway. End mini rant. That’s a big grump, but it’s my only one from today, so…yay? And it ties into the books I’m starting the new year with. One’s on reserve at the library and I’ve recommended purchase of the other. Cultish by Amanda Montell, about the language of extremism, and Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention by Johann Hari, an examination of the many ways the modern environment demolishes our ability to concentrate and learn.

In other cheerful moments today, there was snow-shoveling in the sunshine. Spouseman and I even made a tiny little maze in the snow on the patio because, hey, we have a patio! We also took Pippin out for his first walk in snow. I wasn’t sure how he would react to the cold and wet.

He loved it. I shoud’ve known.

That adventure was followed by returning some movies to the library, then coming home for a victorious supper of soup, crusty garlic bread and baked apples.

Tonight’s viewing of Howl’s Moving Castle went very well. I’d seen it before and love it. Spouseman loved it. He also looked at me afterwards and said, “I am proud of myself for being very good about not asking questions.” It isn’t typical Chekov’s gun plotting with every surprise foreshadowed and every character perfectly pigeonholed in a type. It skips merrily along and

Which is a thing I love about Mizaki storytelling.

Then I made more cookies and watched Hawkeye. Good fun. The banter, the complications, THE BROADWAY SONGS AND POSTERS ZOMG. And the scenes with Yelena Belova/Black Widow were extra super fun.

Now I am caught up on the MCU except for the new Spiderman, which I will eventually see. And The Eternals. Is that MCU? I’m not sure. But I have its release noted so I can watch when it hits streaming.

We have one more day of “winter break.” On tap: more Studio Ghibli and a movie called Encanto, which is a Disney thing. And Boba Fett. That should be interesting.

And that is that. Have a sleepy cat photo. Until later.

PS: Pssssst. I almost forgot. Books! I write ’em. You can read em. There are links. I’m not putting one in here because no one ever clicks them anyway.

Categories
Promotion Writing Life

Oh, no, it’s a year end post! Wait, not really.

But it’s a post on New Year’s Eve so it counts, I guess?

Spouseman & I are ringing out the old year with leftover steak dinner from yesterday, plus lots of popcorn and hot apple cider, while watching a 2021 movie–Black Widow. Which is nothing wild or partylike, but it’s basically the kind of thing we usually do on NYE. Cozy & quiet. That’s my brand, I guess?

Earlier in the day garage cleaning occurred (EXCITEMENT!) and some visiting with a friend, and there was also writing in front of the fireplace with the cat. More progress on Serena’s dog story was made. Snacks were enjoyed. And Pippin snored a lot.

photographic proof of fireside presence.

Every time I took a writing break and surfed through the news I saw people sharing their big accomplisments from 2021. AND I AM NOTHING IF NOT A FOLLOWER. SO.

The big thing I did in 2021 was send my new book out into the world.

The Sharp Edge Of Yesterday, in case you have somehow missed all my posts about it until now, is a fantastical novel set in a world much like this one except that 10% of the populations develop unexplainable powers when they hit middle age.

It’s a story about family, secrets, mistakes, and betrayal, it’s about the power of trust and cooperation, it’s about the evil of dehumanization, and it’s about redemption. There a characters ranging in age from radical teens to badass grannies, and it stars a wicked heroine who takes charge of her own life.

Or, as my wonderful author-friend Shannon Eichorn puts it, it’s about middle-aged moms with superpowers making the military very nervous. What’s that? You think that book sounds epic excellent and want a link to find it? Here ya go: bit.ly/sharpedgekmh

It looks like this. Isn’t it pretty?

Sharp Edge didn’t get a release party, because pandemic, and for the same reason I only got to show it off at two conventions, one big, one small, but somewhat to my surprise, it released really, really well. Best of my six books so far by a long shot.

People bought it–LOTS of people, people who’ve never heard of me & didn’t know anything about the book except its blurb–they reviewed it, they bought copies for other people, and they told friends to buy it. That’s as good as it gets as far as I’m concerned.

Would I like more reviews? Of course I would. I want 100 reviews for each of my books. Why? WHY NOT? It’s a nice round number. Also a ridiculously ambitious one. Some great novels take years to hit that. Some brilliant ones never do.

On a practical level a book needs 25+ reviews specifically on Amazon before I can begin to promote it through most of the best channels available to me. (I only have 1 title over that threshold, alas, and it isn’t Sharp Edge.) And would I like more sales? Hell yes, of course, what recovering bookseller doesn’t love seeing their book fly off shelves virtual or physical?

But honestly, I only care about that part because sales mean readers, and no story circle is complete without that happening. I love the idea of sharing this world I’ve dreamed up and squeezed into existence out of nothingness. I can talk about my characters and their conflicts all day long, and I have a hundred more stories to tell about them. Hundreds more. At least.

ANYway. That’s a good place to wrap this up. Black Widow is over, and now I need to watch some Marvel What If?

Good-bye, 2021, (aka 2020 the sequel) hello, 2022. May there be new stories completed, nw stories begun, new friends made, and many good times shared.

Until later!

Categories
Authoring

A lot like yesterday

Tuesdays and Wednesdays often bleed together. They’re my library shift days, so they’re more structured and have exactly the same rhythm, week to week. That makes them the same day in my head:

Get up, putter through chores, get in some writing or computer puttering, have a walk with Spouseman, have a snack, write a bit more, go to work, come home, crash on the couch with supper & something to view.

That’s what I did yesterday, and today was very much a “rinse and repeat.”

I only got more writing done on the dog story, rather than digging into Ghost Town as planned, but I enjoyed myself and don’t regret a minute of it.

Tonight’s couch viewing was another foray into the world of Studio Ghibli has been The Secret World of Arrietty, which if I’d known was a Borrowers adaptation I would’ve seen AGES ago.

I adored the Borrowers books and reread them multiple times. On my all-time early faves list, right up there with Boxcar Children, the Mary Poppins and Oz series, all of Joan Aiken’s books, and The Wind In the Willows. IThen in fourth grade I discovered Narnia and the worlds of Andre Norton and never went back.

Huh. Now I want to read all the Borrowers books all over again, just to revisit the happy memories and compare the adaptation to the original.

The movie was sweet.

We’ll be working our way through Studio Ghibli pretty steadily over the next month or so. Next, it’ll be Howl’s Moving Castle. Tomorrow, if Spouseman’s tolerance for watching television holds up. Three movies in three nights!

Shopping for cat trees is on the schedule tomorrow too. That should please Pippin. I’ll report on the results.

It occurs to me that if I’m going to keep rambling here like this, I should probably be plugging my books here, too.

I write unapologetically progressive science fiction and super-powered fantasy novels. Disability representation, female protagonists, found family vibes. Also crafting, cats, thrills, laughs, and more.

Get them here online https://bit.ly/kmhkindle or as audiobooks on Audible or order them as paperbacks anywhere books are sold.

That’s it. Until later!

Categories
3. Other Things Authoring Writing Life

Not busy.

Didn’t sleep well, for no particular reason. Woke slow & groggy, couldn’t get any mental traction. After puttering around to no good effect, I resorted to my usual backup plan: when in doubt, clean something out.

I went through my WordPress posts folder & deleted a bunch of old drafts I wrote to vent and never intended to publish. So I get to say I cleaned something. And some of the titles made me smile. There were not one but two labeled as “Ranty McRanty Post.” And then there were these two:

  • Batshit I am not touching with a 10-foot pole.
  • Not enough facepalms in the world.

I have to find new topics to go with those headings, because I like them that much.

The cleanup puttering eventually developed into a writing groove, and I logged another scene about Serena and her unruly pack of emotion-dogs. So now the short story starts with her as it should. I need to finish that and trim a bit of description from one spot so I can glue it in where it belongs. Then I get to write the most-fun part, where Parker teaches her some basic tricks. Good times!

But tomorrow is reserved for digging into a Big Revelations scene in Ghost Town. Arson & fisticuffs! Mysteries unearthed! Cats rescued! Should also be fun.

Another highlight: it snowed big fluffy snowflakes from noon ’til sunset, but barely any of it stuck, so that was lovely. I felt for all the folks who had to be out driving in the muck and slick wet, but it sure did look lovely outside the window while I sat with the cat by the fireplace.

In other doings, I worked a quiet shift at the ‘brar, then settled in for a couch evening (re)watching Princess Mononoke with Spouseman & Pippin. It’s still an amazing movie. A thing I noticed for the first time this viewing: how much its soundtrack reminds me of themes from The Lord Of the Rings score.

And that was the day.