Kristine Kathryn Rusch

The Journal, Friday, March 16

Hey Folks, Sometimes I’m in such a foul mood, my only escape is into my fiction. There I can pal around with the people I like. And I can kill the ones I don’t like. *** Topic: Ongoing Learning A couple of days ago, I started reading the second Jack Reacher book Lee Child ever wrote. And his first Jack Reacher book was also very his first novel and a New York Times bestseller. That “bestseller” label doesn’t always do it for me, but this is very good stuff. The guy’s an excellent writer. As opposed, say, to someone else … Read more

The Journal, Friday, March 9

Hey Folks, Well, one more day on Pulp 6, which is now called Stern Talbot, PI: The Case of the Troubled Actress. That’s the cover over on the left. I read it aloud over the past two days to my wife, and during that process I heard some fat that needed to be trimmed. So I’m going to make another pass at it, strictly to trim anything that’s unnecessary. I don’t usually do this, but it’s all part of the learning process. I’ll still be reading over it in creative mind, but anytime my subconscious tugs on me with that … Read more

The Journal, Friday, February 23

Hey Folks, The saga continues. I looked over several Mac laptops and frankly, they were all well out of my range currently. So I finally contacted Lenovo to see whether there was a way to manually disable the trackpad, since Bill The Godfaddah Gates decided I can no longer disable it through Windows. (Actually, if Gates knew what some mindless moron did, he probably would fire the guy.) The tech said to disable the trackpad, I had to either press fn+f6 or just f6. One of those would work, he said. Neither one worked. Then he said then obviously it … Read more

The Journal, Tuesday, February 20

Hey Folks, After an intentional day off yesterday, I’m slowly getting back into the swing of things today. I started the day by finishing the copyedit of Mona’s memoir. She hasn’t come up with a title yet. When she does, and when it’s published, I’ll announce it here. Today I’ll write a bit of fiction. By the end of the day, I should know whether I’m in the mood to continue with The Age Exchange or move on to something else and save The Age Exchange for later. I won’t just toss it out completely. *** As one item in … Read more

The Journal, Thursday, February 1

Hey Folks, Well, here we go again. I was out in the Hovel poking around and found another short story that I’ve wanted, for awhile, to turn into a novel. The short story is titled “Going Back,” and it was considerably larger than itself even when I first wrote it. I’m interested to see where it will go and to watch it develop. As I glanced over it, the characters begain speaking to me and my fingers began moving over the keyboard. Before I realized it I’d added over 1000 new words. Feels good when that happens. I’ll be interrupted … Read more

The Journal, Tuesday, January 30

Hey Folks, I meant to post this yesterday. I really did, but there wasn’t a lot to talk about. Mostly I worked on the copyedit yesterday, as I will today and tomorrow, and took care of a few household chores. *** Well, the hits keep on coming. On the tail of losing a paternal uncle a few weeks ago, yesterday I lost another one. I am now officially the Old Man of the Stanbrough clan. Clifford Jerry Stanbrough was a tin-can (destroyer) sailor, a gunner’s mate, in the early 1950s. After that, he enjoyed a long career as a photographer, … Read more

The Journal, Saturday, December 16

Hey Folks, Okay, I’ve figuratively traveled some twisted, warped subterranean depths over the past month or so. In that time, I’ve tended to (or dealt with) a lot of tasks that have little if anything to do with writing in any specific way. In fact, they touch writing only in that they added to my general overall experience. I won’t bore you with details. Suffice it to say some of them are tasks that are common in the human experience. There also were a few that I’m glad are not common in the human experience, at least where my friends … Read more

The Journal, Thursday, November 9

Hey Folks, Tomorrow marks the 242nd birthday of the United States Marine Corps. Happy Birthday and Semper Fi to any Marines out there. Sometime tomorrow, I’ll get off by myself and drink a toast (probably a shot of Beam Devil’s Cut) to those brothers and sisters who are no longer with us. To those who are still around, May your days be vibrant, your evenings calm, your heart safe and warm at home. Semper Fi *** The air is damp and chilly this morning. Probably around 40-some degrees, but damp so it feels colder. We got 3/10ths of an inch … Read more

The Journal, Friday, 9/22

Hey Folks, Rolled out on time this morning, then spent an enjoyable hour or so talking via email with my young granddaughter, Taylor. By the way, just in time for my topic today (see below) DWS is finally back to busting myths with another Killing the Sacred Cows chapter. It’s in “Of Interest” today. Topic: Lying to Readers It’s annoying when Dean Wesley Smith is SO right on everything he says. Well, on most things. He does occasionally say he’s going to make me angry when he’s busting some idiotic myth, but that has yet to happen. But on the … Read more

The Journal, Friday, 9/15

Hey Folks, Welp, I started the day closer to my usual time. I read a lot (see “Of Interest”) and then checked Dean’s site. Much of his post for today is a rehash of the previous couple of days, so it didn’t make “Of Interest,” but parts of it keyed something in me. So I wrote the topic for today. Actually, I also wrote the topic for tomorrow (I won’t count those words until tomorrow). I had so much fun with the latter, I decided to cross post that one to the main blog where it will appear on September … Read more