Some of you may be aware (since I posted about it in March) that I am currently working on a mystery novel that takes place in the 1800s. This will have some rather familiar issues for people who are thinking about the 19th century in general – specifically the Victorian era, as it were. But being a historian, I’m digging around in the past, lining things up and trying to get everything as close to right as I can. The trouble is, when you are writing about a character who has fallen back in time […]
Enola: Chapter the First
Please note: The following story is in fact what we call fan fiction. This means that the author is playing around with characters, plot, and settings that were first conceived of by someone else. In this particular case, Enola Holmes is property of Nancy Springer and Sherlock Holmes is property of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The modernization and the plot belong to Mark Gatiss and Stephen Moffat. Chapter the First My name is Enola Holmes. I am 18 years old and work in central London as the world’s only scientific perditorian – that is, I use […]
Writing, Writing, Writing
It’s very rare these days (although slowly becoming less rare) that I have a day off in which to get things done. Those things are typically chores. (Today I got the oil changed on my car.) But what I really want to be using these days off for is writing. The trouble is the writing doesn’t always come to me at the most convenient times. I have a couple of pages full of writing that I will not be publishing (but contain the gist of an idea) that happened upon me while I was at […]
Musings on Writing
Sometimes I wonder what I’m doing. The ideas bounce around, bumbling, rolling, hitting the walls inside my brain begging to be spilled out into the fathomless unknown of the world around me, wanting to be birthed and read and loved. And I look at them and think, ‘Yes. It’s time. You should come out now.’ But then I sit to write down these words and nothing happens. I stare at a blank screen, my fingers itching to add something, to mark it up with shapes and words and colors. To turn the blank canvas into […]
Eerie Silence
The world stood still. It was quiet. We could feel the shock. It was one thing at three am. But the world held on. The tears would not come any longer. The train station was quiet. The train car was quiet. No cars honked on the way into work. And Boston wasn’t alone. Arriving at work was it’s own thing. No “good mornings” were uttered. We just looked at each other, Dumbfounded. Move on with our day, but look In disbelief As the world feels like it crashes around us. As the day progressed, We […]
A Quiet Place
Breathe in, breathe out. Let the day just wash away. Let everything go And just breathe. Let your mind soar through the possibilities. Let everything be absorbed and released. Pause and just let everything exist. Light music. Tea in hand. Calm. An oasis from the world. A place where you can just be. Those places are so few and far between today. We create them – if we know how – Using little digital devices And closed eyes. And sometimes we can find the right place – A cafe, a tea shop, or other place […]