Mowgli has reached the age of grabbing the computer keyboard whenever I turn on the screen. This has, obviously, made typing more than a little difficult. Today he is taking an unusually long nap, allowing a certain amount of typing to happen. Despite the impediments, I have a new story out at Enchanted Conversation and have a couple more that need to be edited and sent around. Half-Sick of Shadows could do with more sales. Seriously. Also, it could do with reviews at Goodreads and other pats on the head.
However, that doesn't mean I'm not enjoying the little one, even if he is stealing all my writing materials (he loves pens) and hanging onto my leg. He's a clever, inquisitive, and bold little creature, which means we both learn a lot as he trots around the house, yard, or library. We've made it to a few of the nursery-rhyme events at the public library, and he enjoys exploring places like malls and grocery stores. I have begun to use his baby-leash, which looks like a monkey backpack with a really long tail. It's been quite handy for keeping him nearby while I pay for his new hat and mittens.
Perhaps a few words about Half-Sick of Shadows are in order. Once upon a time it was part of a fanfiction saga. The saga itself turned inside out and upside down in my head (I was taking a prescription dose of codeine cough syrup at the time, though I'm not sure how responsible that was) and landed in its own dark little magical alternate universe. The current work is part of that set, the part I could get together the most readily. Somewhere, someone claimed that one of the basic plots begins "Someone goes on a journey," and this is one of those stories. During the Blitz, little Elena's parents stuff her onto a train and send her to her aunt in Wales. Dreamer that she is, she dreams herself into a romance much too young, and returns to the town when she is old enough to act on that romance -- never mind that Johnny Howell was recalcitrant material at best. He never intended to fall for a witch, for a start.
The rest of the set is concerned with their son, Ichabod, and with other members of the family tree. The one most likely to be published next is Carried by the Tides, which takes place around the time of the First World War and Russian Revolution. It begins with the mirror of the above plot-seed: "A stranger comes to town." Ichabod's tale is still working itself out, as it is a complex thing about a complex person, but is looking to begin with an amnesia.
I also have a poem, of all things, out in print. I'm on page 109 of Through The Keyhole, which is published to benefit the charity Room to Read. Room to Read builds libraries and schools, supports local-language authors, and promotes secondary education for girls in areas that traditionally favor educating boys. MNFF promotes the idea that fanfiction can be a tool for learning to craft a well-written story. You might say I'm a fan.
