Hello, friends and family! I’m still alive.

There’s a whole lot of things I’d like to talk about and they’re not all related. I’ll try to keep each section brief and easy to read, but I have a feeling I’m going to ramble. After this, I’ll try to post a little bit more regularly. But no promises.

Here’s what I’d like to talk about, in no particularly order:

• My Captain Marvel Review
• Latest Writing Successes
• My Birthday!
• March: A Very Busy Month
• VLOG #3
• The Hotel: A Short Story Project
• Why Haven’t I Posted in So Long?

My Captain Marvel Review

I took the kids to see Captain Marvel on Thursday night last week. Melissa would have gone with us, but she knew that if she we went to the midnight showing in the middle of the week, she’d have to zombie her way through work the next day.

I’m not going to go into spoilers. In brief, our reactions were mixed. Bryanna fell asleep early on and slept through most of the movie. Chris left the theater with a huge grin, fist-pumping and talking about how we needed to buy it when it came out on Blue-Ray. As for me… my reaction lay somewhere between those two extremes.

To be fair, Bryanna hadn’t had enough sleep going into the late show, and her slumber probably had nothing to do with the movie. Boring isn’t quite the right word to describe the movie.

The movie felt like filler. Because of the setting (sometime in the 90s), I knew which characters were going to live. I never thought Carol Danvers was going to lose. I never thought Nick Fury was in any real danger. The future had already been shown to us, so none of the stakes of the movie grabbed me.

The special effects were great. Scratch that… the special effects were amazing! The de-aging of Sam Jackson and Clark Gregg was so perfect I stopped thinking about a few moments in. That’s incredible.

The movie was fine. Better than most DCEU movies, but not as good as Wonder Woman. It was fine. I’ll see it again with Melissa (and maybe Bryanna, since she didn’t really see it the first time.)

Latest Writing Successes

If you follow me on Facebook, you probably already know that I managed to get a short story into an anthology coming out this year. My story Unclaimed Goods will be appearing in Tales from The Goldilocks Zone released by Flying Ketchup Press.

This is huge news! It may be a small publisher based out of Kansas City that accepted me, but it’s still a major success on my road to getting my stories in front of people.

In addition, I made the favorites list on the Ink & Insights contest with the first 10,000 words of The Repossessed Ghost. I entered in the masters division and came in 7th out of about 150 contestants. Which reminds me… I should send a link to my blog. Hmm.

My Birthday!

Again, if you follow me on Facebook, you already know that my birthday was Tuesday, March 5th. Though I was a little grump at work that day, the evening was really nice. Melissa bought me a Switch, and the kids each bought me games for it.

I have Zelda: Breath of the Wild! And Super Smash Bros! And a cute little game called Moonlighter!

The last couple of days, I’ve mostly been playing Stardew Valley. It’s quiet enjoyment which is what I’ve craved lately.

March: A Very Busy Month

On Saturday night, the whole family went to see Michael Gallowglas’ live storytelling show on The Delta King. It might have been his best performance yet of Bard for Life. Michael drew a great, appreciative crowd, and he delivered.

This weekend, Bryanna and I are going to head up to Medford for a little bit. This is a targeted visit, with two main goals. First, I want Bryanna to meet Tim and talk to him. Tim is perhaps the greatest visual artist I’ve ever known, and Bryanna is majoring in art. These two need to talk. Second, I’m going to fix Tim’s computer. I need him to have tools. Also, it’s kind of a late birthday present for him.

Next weekend, I’m flying up to Seattle for a writing retreat on a train. I’m going to meet up with a couple of friends of mine from my Twitter writing community. Saturday morning, we’ll get on a train bound for Portland and write. In Portland, we’ll have dinner somewhere. Sunday morning, more writing on the train back to Seattle. This is going to be a really fun event, and I’m hoping to write lots of words.

I don’t know if I have plans for the last weekend of March. If I don’t now, I’m sure I’ll have some soon.

VLOG #3

I reached another milestone on Twitter and it’s past time for me to make another VLOG post. I’ve been dragging my feet a little bit. The weather hasn’t been spectacular, so my “filming location” has been unavailable. Also, I just haven’t been in the mood to do that kind of work.

Regardless of whatever funk I’ve been in, VLOG #3 is coming soon. Obviously it won’t be this weekend or the next for the reasons I mentioned in the previous section. If I find time in the middle of the week, I’ll shoot it, edit it, and post it. They’re only five minute videos, right?

Chances are good that I’ll be doing it the last weekend of this month. The topic will be about writer support systems, and I might allow myself to go slightly over five minutes for this one.

The Hotel: A Short Story Project

I’m participating with a number of people from my Twitter community to produce what can be described as an anthology spread across multiple blogs.

Originally, we were planning on writing stories with a common theme. The idea evolved into not just a common theme, but a common setting. It has stressed out a few people, and I’m not sure how many are still participating. We started with close to 45 participants. I think we’ll have significantly less by the time we post our stories.

I’m still planning on doing mine. I’ve got a really great idea. The pitch would be something along the lines of: What if Harry Potter was told he was a wizard, but then he needed a bit more convincing?

This week, I’m going to work on the first draft of that story. I’m really excited about it and I’m looking forward to sharing it, along with the links to the other related stories.

Why Haven’t I Posted in So Long?

The short answer is: I haven’t felt up to it.

The long answer is: I haaaaaavvvveeeeeeennnnn’t feeeeeeelt uuuuup tooo iiiiiiiit.

Haha.

Seriously, I’ve been in a little bit of a funk, and I’m trying not to post grumpy or sad stuff here. Work has been a little bit stressful. The news has been very stressful. I haven’t been playing music, and worse, I haven’t been writing.

I’ve been in a funk. Even the bright spot in February where I went to LTUE still had all the colors bleached out of it like a bad Zach Snyder film.

How do I get out of a funk like this? I focus on doing what I can do. I work. I pay the bills. I do the plumbing in the kitchen and clean the litter box. I play The Sims when I know I should be writing, and I try to forgive myself for falling a little bit short.

Tonight, on a Monday evening after a long day at work, I’m writing a blog post.

Tomorrow, I’ll write a story.

After that? Who knows what I’ll be capable of doing? The trick is to just do what you can, when you can. And then treat yourself with kindness and forgiveness.