Fun fact: the original meaning of “whelm” was to capsize (14th century) or to turn upside-down. By the fifteenth century it was overtaken by the word “overwhelm” to mean the same thing. No doubt started by some alewife saying, “Thou thinkst thy life is whelmed? Mine life is over-whelmed!”
I’ve been busy lately. When people ask me, “how are you?” I always answer, “busy, but great.”
Here is a partial list of what I’ve been up to:
- My day job. Related: launching four new websites, an intranet, and attempting to automate paper forms.
- Teaching College English 101 online to prison inmates. (Just turned in my final grades!)
- Caring for my dog through her emergency surgery to remove her spleen. (She’s okay!)
- Finishing up my Masters of Fine Arts Degree
- Related: Taking a one-week whirlwind trip to Italy for three study abroad credits. 😀
- Revisions and edits for my three recently-published short stories
- Revisions and edits for the novella coming out next year (just got second round)
- Catching up on reading for my two writing workshops
- Presentations for Literary Cleveland!
- Trying to move forward with this video game project that is way, way overdue.
- … that other video game project (Tinselfly) when I have time. (sorry Brian)
- Knitting two sweaters (One is done!)
- Applying to book fairs and conventions for 2026 because We Will Always Be On Book Tour
- Practicing 15th Century Italian Dance for a demonstration at the Cleveland Museum of Art
- Mending my 15th Century Italian costume for that same demo.
- Participating in that demo! (It was last Saturday.)
- Trying to finish a short story
- Revisions on my novel “Mars Strike” which was critiqued by my workshop last month.
- Submitting stories and poems to magazines and anthologies as they are rejected from other places. (101 fiction and 72 poetry submissions this year!)
- Being an editor-in-chief for an anthology for the first time! I wrote guidelines, created a slush-reading process, and recruited readers. Now I’m reading submissions myself that have passed the slush.
- Walking my dog twice a day and cuddling her on the sofa for a while afterward until she stops shivering because it’s winter and she’s a pit bull. (She has a coat and booties and we are taking very short walks, but a gal’s gotta poop.)
- On top of all of this, the social obligations of the holiday season.
So… yeah. It’s been… a lot. But all good, and let’s be real, the villain is me. (The call is coming from inside the author!)
