September 2024 Update: Better Writing Weather Ahead

Summer is drawing to a close, but Mother Nature did provide some highlights in August. The butterfly bush had lots of visitors throughout the month, and the sunflowers drew goldfinches, chipmunks, and squirrels. The pollinators did their work faithfully in the garden, which is starting to wind down. Usually, the return of cooler weather means rejuvenation of writing activities, which is a good thing, since I have a number of projects on the go.
 
Recent Publications
Poetry:
“Spammers,” Little Old Lady Comedy, posted August 24, 2024, https://www.littleoldladycomedy.com/all-works/spammers

Reviews:
Autokrator, by Emily A. Weedon, published on The Seaboard Review, August 24, 2024, https://theseaboardreview.substack.com/p/autokrator-by-emily-a-weedon
 
O Canada Crosswords Book 25, by Gwen Sjogren, published on The Miramichi Reader August 24, 2024, https://miramichireader.ca/2024/08/plenty-of-solving-fun-in-o-canada-crosswords-book-25/
 
Articles:
“Family Matters: Family Relationships in Three Recent Speculative Novels,” Heartlines Spec, Summer 2024, https://www.heartlines-spec.com/family-matters-by-lisa-timpf/
 
What I’m Working On
I still have a number of reviews and articles in process. I’m also reading Robert McKee’s Story: Style, Structure, Substance, and the Principles of Screenwriting. Though the title references screenwriting, I think many of the insights apply to fiction as well. Sometimes it feels discouraging because there’s no way I can remember everything McKee says, but his book made some concepts click for me that I ran across in other places but didn’t really “get” until now.