Today was the 2017 Minnesota Writing Workshop. I was a guest critiquer, which meant that I got about 10 pages of a manuscript to read and review ahead of time and 10 minute slots in which to give the good news/bad news to the submitters.  It was a very... intensive process, even though I only had three.  (Four writers had submitted, but one ( Read more... )

The Internet landed on Neil Gaiman's head.

Luckily, that soft, curly mop of hair will deflect much of the impact. I'm not worried about Gaiman.  Gaiman will be fine, I'm sure.

Also, it seems very clear to most people that what Gaiman said was meant as an advert/squee/general endorsement, not Word of God.  If you don't want to read the whole article, ( Read more... )

Today I'll be teaching one of the Loft's "First Pages" (a one day, drop-in, informal class) at the Nokomis Library from 2-3:30 pm on "Fan Fiction." First Pages is a neat idea. It's described as: 90 minute introductory sessions in creative writing for kids, teens, and adults. They take place at area libraries throughout Hennepin County and are ( Read more... )

Remember when I had to take my car into the shop and I spent the day at Ramsey County Library? Well, Mason was wildly jealous, and has been bugging me to give him a "library day." Today, is library day for us. Mason is off for the month on Intersession, so we're going to head out as soon as the library opens around 10 am and make a full day of ( Read more... )

I think I may have actually deleted a thoughtful response to my "Fan Fiction Addiction" post.  I've been getting super-spammed here at LJ, and I think I may have hit "delete" out of habit.  I reprinted what the commenter said and my response to it in the comments of the previous post.  I hope she or he isn't offended that it seemed to go away.... ( Read more... )

Starting tomorrow (actually, for me, tonight), I will be assuming my duties as one of the guests of honor at CONvergence. If you're headed to, as many locals refer to it, "The Con," please feel free to stop by and say hello (or ogle my time-traveling hair.)  My schedule can be found at:   http://schedule.convergence-con.org/?s=Lyda+Morehouse.

Last night, I typed my two favorite words in the English language: "The END." Of course, at this stage, the book is really not done in the least. My MVBR (most valuable beta reader), naomikritzer, has yet to read and comment on all the stuff I skimmed over, my embarassingly stupid misspellings, the plot holes, and the bits I blatently left out. Naomi is ( Read more... )

First, the turkeys: this morning, while driving Mason to school, I had to stop the car to let a wild turkey cross the road at Summit near Victoria. I pointed it out to Mason, who looked up from his Pokemon book and said (without missing a beat): "Huh. The chicken must have had the day off."

My son, the comedian.

Now, Ostara. Saturday was ( Read more... )

I'm not even sure I can list everything that I did over the weekend in the amount of space LJ allows!

Let's give it a try, though, shall we?

First of all, I've still be plagued by this lingering cough. It's morphed into something more sinus related, but, whatever it is, it's killing me... slowly.

On Friday, I attended a birthday party for jiawen at ( Read more... )

Okay, I should be working on revisions, but Mason is home from school (some scheduled deal -- I swear kids spend every other Friday home.) We went to the library this morning. I should learn never to go to the library with a list of books I want to find. My library never has them. I have to order them or put myself on a waiting list. I did ( Read more... )