More teeth!?

I was hoping to write a follow up to last week's post about anime with a discussion about children's media, but I'm going to have to postpone it until next week. My baby's second tooth is coming through and she's so sensitive about her teeth. Things have been a bit sleepless around here and I've had my hands full with a very grumpy baby.

It is story day though, so you can find a new short story here. It is called "There's Always a Way Back" and you can also find it by clicking on the Short Story link to the right. It was written in response to a challenge to write about addiction. It's fairly heavy fantasy but you may be interested if you, like me, grew up trying to walk through the backs of wardrobes...

As for a quick update on my writing and submissions: things are going very slowly. We're still dealing with frequent night time wakings and I'm obviously dedicating a lot of time to keep things running at home and giving Emmy as much of my attention as possible. I'm finding it challenging to keep up with submissions while editing and doing market research. Especially when I'd rather be writing.

So I'm going to try to redirect my energies more towards the actual writing. That's why I always try to make time for my blog every week, even if I don't end up writing the post I intended. It keeps me writing, it keeps me thinking, and allows me to explore topics I find valuable by presenting them as clearly as I can to my audience. I find it to be a great weekly exercise.

My next project is to write and collect some children's stories for Emmy as a birthday gift. I've got an amazing notebook, now I just need to get to work. So you may see some children's stories on content days in the future.

Please feel free to comment or even make suggestions for future posts. You can also feel free to throw me story challenges as long as they are fairly vague (i.e. broadly descriptive and not a story starter). Some challenges I've undertaken in the past: addiction, giving one's life for another, the impact a couple of words can have on a life, master and apprentice. If I have time, I might just give it a go.

Thanks for reading and pop by next week for my thoughts on things being "just for kids"!

This is a blog.

Apparently, I now have a blog. And, apparently, you're reading it. 

Good, now that we've got that all figured out... let me answer some questions.

Why a blog?  - A couple of reasons. The first is that I've started writing again and actually submitting for publication. It seems like a good way to keep track of everything that's going on and to share any work that I don't want to publish or that just never finds a home. In fact, I fully intend to write some pieces intended solely for this blog. I write because I love it, but it seems kind of cruel to bring something into the world just to squirrel it away somewhere. Or maybe I'm just narcissistic and want an audience for my stories. Either way, there will be creative content posted here and updates on published content (hopefully).

Second reason, I've had a couple of requests to create a blog. My personal Facebook page often functions as my philosophical platform and apparently there are people that actually read what I write. So expect to see musings on topics such as world issues, books, film, video games, nature... as my mother-in-law would say... everything except sports! Nothing against sports fans, it's just not my cup of tea. (I also like tea, there may be posts about tea).

Next question - why now? I suppose the simple answer is that I had a baby. The longer answer is that I had a sleepless baby. An energetic baby. A "keep you busy for all but 10 minutes of the day" baby. When you have absolutely no time, you start to realize how much time you used to waste. So, I started to use every second of my time as productively as possible. Middle of the night feedings (which occured up to 10 times a night for me) became my opportunity to start writing again. Even if it was on my phone using G-mail and then sending it to myself to edit in a word processor whenever I had a chance. Now she's finally sleeping a little, I have even more time to devote to writing. Something I always wanted to do and could never find the time for. Clearly I wasn't looking hard enough.

Last question - why Idlewild? I recently read Anne of Green Gables and I absolutely fell in love with Anne Shirley. The girl who values imagination above all else. Imagination is one of the most important aspects of human beings. It allows us to be empathetic. It allows us to persevere in the most challenging circumstances. It allows us to better our world while creating countless others. Idlewild was one of the names Anne imagined for a meeting place in the woods where she would play with her bosom friend Diana. 

So check out my blog from time to time if you'd like. I'll try to keep it up to date and post new creative content as often as possible.

Welcome to Idlewild.