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New baby: Jillian! Congratulations to my brother Matt and especially to my sister-in-law Erica. Also to big brother Liam, who will probably be the most protective, sweetest big brother ever 🙂 Update: Yep.

Why are monsters so wrinkly? Because they’re so hard to iron.

The alternative Christmas carol. Ye gods, I laughed so hard a guy came around the corner at work and said, “So the giggle bomb went off” and I couldn’t stop!

…but if you can’t even do that, you’re a failure! Today on the way home from school, Ray announced that she was going to buy a baby and travel around the world when she grew up. “Adopt a baby?” I said. “Adopt,” she agreed. “Why?” “Because no boys like me,” she said. “So I will

How many mystery writers does it take to screw in a lightbulb? Two … one to screw it in most of the way and the other to give it a surprising twist at the end. (via Beckyland – more jokes in the comment thread at her site).

Mythic Structure for Storytellers & Screenwriters, by Christopher Vogler. On my quest to learn how to write (instead of just spouting stream-of-consciousness like it was the end-all of all artistry), I’ve run across some really, really good books: The Art of Fiction, by John Gardner Style: Toward Clarity and Grace, by Joseph M. Williams Techniques

So I said to myself, “Self, I don’t like the opening of Alien Blue.” “Self,” I answered, “In an ideal world, where you didn’t have to figure out anything else, like who was in the scene, who was talking, et cetera, what would your first sentence be?” “Hm…good question, self,” says I. “But I think

What are you going to do now?!? “Floss.” Slaughterhouse Jane is officially first-drafted. I wrote the whole thing out longhand, with a lowball guesstimate for the words per page. I’m probably waaaay over 50K by now. Next up: typing. I ordered myself an Acer Aspire One netbook (blue, 8G SSD with Linux, which will be

Voodoo Doughtnut. No, no, check out the Events, too. That WHAT?!? And their online store, where the motto is, “The magic is in the hole.” Seriously, the Subgenius of Doughtnut shops.

My first draft–other than the plotting–is as bad as my first, first draft, at age 12–was. That’s talent. The progress I’ve made over the years is in 1) planning and 2) revision. That’s craft.