Posted in Uncategorized

50 Hours of Happiness

This is just stunning: BBC has released 50 hours of video from Earth II which they’re calling a “visual soundscape” as part of their Real Happiness Project. Nature — even nature video — has been proven to increase happiness, so they’ve put together five 10 hour videos of nature and posted them on YouTube! You can click through to all videos from this Treehugger article and add the videos to your playlists (or create a massive 50 hr playlist)! As the heat of summer increases, actually spending any significant amount of time in nature becomes more difficult—but you can now pour a cold beverage and sink into breathtaking landscapes anywhere you may be. Enjoy!!!

Posted in For Readers, For Writers

Green Mind Seeing

1483549199570I’m doing something a bit different over on Wattpad; in addition to occasionally posting short fiction there, I’ve also begun a sort of nature journal, Green Mind Seeing. Short pieces with observations and thoughts on the natural world. Some pieces are fanciful, some natural history, some gardening. If you, too, enjoy green things, give it a look. This week I delved into my archive for “Orchid Reverie”, which provided the inspirations (after sitting in my mind for many years) for the “Cha Buddhism” mentioned in my most recent book, If Wishes Were Spaceships, and explored in more depth in the sequel I’m currently working on. If that’s a bit too mystical for you, last week I wrote about radishes. 🙂 If you’re only interested in sci-fi and fantasy, never fear, I’ll be posting more of that in the coming weeks as well. Unlike last year, I haven’t set a schedule to release material there. My writing schedule is taking some hits this year; sometimes real life has to take precedence over imaginary worlds. I’m still writing, mostly working on books, but I’ll be doing a bit of shorter stuff, both fiction and non-fiction, for immediate consumption. I’ve got three pieces currently in Green Mind Seeing, and will be adding more to that ongoing work, as well as adding new short fiction to Wattpad. The best way to keep up is to follow me on Wattpad.

New Journal

I started a new journal today. It’s going to be a different sort of thing than I’ve done before. Instead of droppng creative ideas into my phone, they’ll be dropped in the journal instead, along with nature journal notes and observations, and notations of people, places, things, events, and moments that make me happy. Creative. Nature. Happiness. It’s a nice mix. 🙂 I’m taking some small organizational ideas from bullet journaling: sections, page numbering, index. This may be the first journal I’ve done that won’t be an unfathomable mess. I hope. 😀

A green tree frog often sings in the sideyard while I’m writing. I’ve looked but can’t find it. It’s been especially vocal with all the rain we’ve been having lately. It inspired this haiku:

Green frog sings summer
Upon the gate in the rain
Watching fat drops splash

Haiku: Green Frog

Posted in Uncategorized

Relaxation

As I said in the interview (see prev post), I’m taking a break from writing/rewriting to recharge my brain…and as promised, my various social media feeds are now plumped up with pretty pictures instead of promos for my recent bookThis month will be more long walks, tea, dogs, reading, gardening, knitting and Doctor Who. I’m listening to Doctor Who audio (a Humble Bundle from last year) when I knit. I’m reading a lot, mostly ebooks, but I also indulged in Free Comic Book Day on Saturday. Got some great titles. Geeked out. Expect to see more short random posts here on the microblog. Follow me on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook or Like my Facebook page.

Finished those socks yesterday! Now off to make a pot of tea and dig around in the garden!