A Tangent Research Project: Vanished Black Community of Nineveh
It was about a year ago that I first heard of Nineveh. Not the Bible story (it took me an embarrassingly long time to remember it’s connection to Jonah and the Whale), but a local neighborhood in my city, Troy, Ohio. I don’t remember how Nineveh first came to my attention. I just remember being…
The Fanfic I Didn’t Know I Needed
Fan fiction has never appealed to me. I was first exposed to it in college. On move-in day a girl across the hall from me started regaling me with subplots of an anime fan fiction. I looked over the website she suggested, decided they had good ideas but their writing sucked, and decided it wasn’t…
Northern Skies Publishing
I am now a publisher: Northern Skies Publishing, LLC. It’s official. I’m registered, tax ID number, bank account, the works. Blind sided? I understand that. Let me explain a little. I want to publish a couple of my books, including ABC’s of Aeronautical Engineering, Memphis Belle, and the Nome book (no title yet). I’ve pitched…
Memphis Belle: Update
Just a brief update about my children’s book: Memphis Belle I have an illustrator for Memphis Belle! You can see a sample of the work below. I am putting together my own publishing company. For the number of hours I’ve spent researching agents, writing letters, looking up publishers, I could have already published this myself.…
Anxiety in Writing
I have anxiety. More anxiety than is healthy, and it influences my writing. That was more difficult to write than I anticipated, and my fingers are itching to backspace Looking back on my childhood, I am confident that I had anxiety starting in at least fifth or sixth grade. I’m sure it was constantly present,…
Dear Utah: More Maas, Please!
On July 1, 2024, a new law in Utah took effect designed with the intent to keep criminally indecent and pornographic materials away from minors. I’m not going to get political today. My soap box is still tucked away. But, I am a librarian, so I was curious which books were considered “dangerous” to youth.…
Hisashiburi…
It doesn’t seem to matter how long I’ve been gone from Japan, some words and phrases still come naturally. Take “hisashiburi” for example. It is the equivalent to “long time no see.” I would never say it in English, because the high pitched “ohmygod long time no see!” in a nobody-believes-you false happy voice that…
Italy: pre-flight reflection
This past month I have been fully distracted by my trip to Naples, Italy. With all things Italian on my mind, it has been very hard to focus on Nome, Alaska. And even though I tried my best to continue my Alaskan novel while abroad, it was impossible for me to focus while being immersed…
Routines: helpful or stifling?
While it may not be apparent by my blogging irregularity, I have a well established writing routine. Thursdays I get about 4 hours of writing time in the afternoon before going to work. I get the same thing to eat at Panera (an asiago bagel and soft drink), and set it out on the same…
Spring Break-up
There are many little signs that spring is here. The crocuses and daffodils unfurl. Thunder storms resume, along with tornado warnings. Elementary kids get their third quarter report cards. Easter approaching. A sharp uptick in gardening books being checked out at the library. An itch to get outside on just about any day above 50…
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Northern Skies Publishing 