Marie holds up a cocktail with lake erie behind her on a bright sunny day

Cleveland Burger Week

Hubby Brian, his brother John, and I decided to eat as many burgers as we could during Cleveland Burger Week (July 8 to 14 this year). Various restaurants around the area offer up a burger for a standard, low price, and you go to each restaurant, take a photo of Read more

Marie swirls her skirt in a factory setting

Obsolete Competencies

Blog post topic suggested by Shelli Snyder A fun way to make your science fiction future world feel aged-into is to include skills your characters have that they can’t use anymore. Maureen McHugh once confessed to me that she was a wizard at hand-focusing microscopes. With an elegant twirl of Read more

People at a convention table

Class and Clothing

A wealthy politician in jeans and a t-shirt looks like a wealthy politician in jeans and a t-shirt. Part of it is the skin. People who work outdoors, especially people with pale skin, end up with more texture to their skin. You can’t fake that texture. We like to think Read more

a cartoon chest full of fanciful things like a rocket ship and a robot

From Premise to Story

Blog post idea suggested by Steven Doyle She shrugged, modestly, and we marveled at a list of random things. “An old man with a toothache, daughter and son argue about lemons, sisters lost in a department store.” It was a warm day toward the end of the semester. The classroom Read more