I always say that once Halloween rolls around, the rest of the year is a roller coaster with no brakes. Somehow, with all the holidays, the little things fall between the cracks. That was certainly the case with updating this blog — the holidays took over and seemed to extend past 1/1, spilling almost all the way to Tax Day. (Party on.) But now I’m back with a few quick updates.
fiction
Writing About and Reading: August 31, 2015 Edition
I try to update this log on a weekly basis, but I had a minor hitch–hackers have been attacking my site by trying to guess my password, which triggered my security software into locking me out. Repeatedly.
My excellent web guru reinforced my defenses and got me back in. If you need this kind of help, contact me and I’ll happily pass my expert’s information along. She’s great. Kind, patient, dogged about solving puzzles, and very reasonable. Now, onward!
Things I’m writing and reading this week (and last, and the week before that. . .)
Writing:
I recently finished a batch of website copywriting for a corporate client–personal stories. (Sorry, I can’t get more specific, NDA and all).
On my own time, I’ve been working on short fiction. One story’s just come back from my beta reader. Another is in its infancy. There’s no NDA preventing me from discussing these, but experience has taught me to stop talking about writing at the expense of actually doing it. Plus, being secretive will lend me an air of mystery, right? (Bonus!)
No editing to report this week.
Reading:
This may be folly, but I just joined a second book club. Right now I’m reading The Martian (see also: the upcoming Matt Damon film) for one club and soon I’ll be starting James Ellroy’s Perfidia for the other. Lest this get too macho, in the last few weeks I’ve also enjoyed Housekeeping by Marilyn Robinson, Ongoingness by Sarah Manguso, and The Folded Clock by Heidi Julavits. I have Elena Ferrante’s second Neapolitan Trilogy book waiting in the wings. Mars, murder, feverish introspection, family dissolution, and bad marriages. This should make for some interesting dreams.
— Kristen