Signs That Dylan Wants To Bite You

Three signs that Dylan wants to bite you:
1. Dylan is sitting on his chair.
2. Dylan is sticking out his tongue, looking cute.
3. Dylan is breathing.

Cure for face blindness?

I have face blindness. In many ways, it doesn't affect my day to day life, but I didn't become a teacher because of it. It has greatly affected my career choices. Now I've read that a team in Germany is working on a cure for prosopagnosia. So, is this something I need to "cure", or is it the way I am? If it involves brain surgery (couldn't tell from the article) is it something I'm willing to risk?

I'm using my feelings in my current WiP, with regards to a question about cochlear implants.

Writers are funny :)

In Which I Am Not A Zombie

I'm not a zombie, recently returned from the dead, even if I might feel like that some days :)

So, time for a brief catch up. Well, I can't think of anything, except I have a second son now. My son's best friend has moved in with us, and he fits in with this family as though he were born here. This works out especially well in the cat to human ratio. Before, the cats outnumbered us, now we're equal again.

The real reason I was gone?  I'd love to say that it was for a good reason. Or even a bad-but-interesting reason. Unfortunately, the fact is that I was dealing with a bout of major depression. In the words of The Blogess, "Depression is a lying bastard. Things will get better. I promise."

I'm on medication, which helps, and writing again, which helps even more. And I'm missing my writer community, which shows that I'm feeling a ton better. Depression (for me) feels like a weight that just flattens everything. I'm taking baby steps, rejoining the world again. So, in true tech fashion:

"Hello, world"

(Also, it just started hailing outside, which delights us all. Well, except for the cats.)

In Which Love YA Has A Contest

Quick! Quick! Quick! Get over to Love YA to submit to the Vickie Motter judged contest. Closes when the entries hit 50! Go now!

In Which I Get Another Story Idea

his one has been haunting me for years*, but it's been getting literal** over the past few days. So, it's officially going on the to "to be written" list. It's a story about a cop with tinnitus. Yeah, it doesn't sound like much when I put it that way, but there's a story in there. Trust me, I'm a writer :)

*Technically, it was the first book I ever tried to write. I think I was in junior high. It never got past the opening paragraph, but man what a paragraph!
"How did you know where that guy was?" 
She shrugged, "I just heard him." She wondered how her partner had failed to hear the music in the warehouse.
Stellar writing there. Deathly prose, even.

**Yes, I have symptoms of tinnitus. However, I find that elements of stories tend to "manifest" for me, until I acknowledge them. Then they go away. When I was writing Scratched, every night for weeks I would hear a loud banging as I was going to sleep. No one was knocking on the door, and nothing was falling over. Finally, in desperation of getting some sleep, I promised to include Tommyknockers in the story. The banging stopped. It's like that thing where med students think they have whatever disease it is they're studying at the moment. Or like writer's hypochondria.

In Which My Son Offers Writing Advice

s my son and I were talking yesterday, he said something funny, and I said, "Oh, I'm totally going to use that line in Penny's Luck". He said, "How will you use it?" and then we proceeded to talk about the book for the next few minutes.

After I talked about some of the scenes, he interrupted me. "I'm sorry, but I'm just not feeling it. Where's the ticking clock? There's no sense of urgency here."

That's my boy! (And he's totally correct. I need a ticking clock in this story.)

In Which Mandy Hubbard Judges A Contest

 know you love contests as much as I do! Quick! Get over to We Do Write for a Twitter pitch contest judged by Mandy Hubbard!.

In Which I Am At WriteOnCon

'm at WriteOnCon, hanging out in the forums. How about you? Let me know, and we can be friends :)

In Which Scrivener Has A New Beta

he Scrivener Windows Beta version has a new release today. (The Linux one will be out in a few days.) If you haven't tried out Scrivener because you don't have a Mac, or if you have been using a previous beta version of the one for Windows, you can get this new release at http://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivenerforwindows/

In Which Snape Advises "It Will Get Better"

love this video. It's very funny (especially the end). Several things you should know, before you click. First, it's not really Snape. Second, it contains spoilers, so be warned! (I feel like I should put in a third mention, because while it's done in the spirit of the "It Gets Better" videos, this one is about being a villain, not about sexuality.)