I somehow missed this earlier in the month in my Twitter feeds, but way back on January 6, tinywords published a haiku I had submitted. The haiku debuted here on August 17, 2010.
Tinywords is edited by the well-known poet Dylan Tweney, whose wise words I have posted here previously.
Yay, me!
Okay, I said – was it really just two weeks ago? – that the Pen to Paper feature was going to be a little slipshod for a while. On second thought, it’s just going to disappear until I’ve got time to do something useful with it. That brings us down to a haiku on Tuesdays, a Quoteable on Wednesdays, and a new piece of short fiction on Thursdays – when I can manage it.
If I see something worth sharing at someone else’s site, I’ll do so in an Author’s Note, but that’ll be scattershot, not scheduled (although I’ll do it scattershot on a Monday if I’ve got something). When I a) get accustomed to everything on my plate, or b) clear something off my plate, then I’ll get back to writing the Pen to Paper essays.
Thank you for your understanding.
It’s that time of year again, and I’m downing tools and taking a couple of weeks off. You can check occasionally for off-topic posts, but otherwise I’ll see you back here January 9, 2012.
All of us here at Catsignal (which, at last count, was me) wish you a happy holiday season, a happy new year, and lots of happy reading.
Sorry, readers, but there’s no new story this week. Too much work and too much of a cold. I’m going to try to have a good Christmas story for you this time next week, so check back.
Meantime, here’s Catsignal’s 2009 Christmas story for you to enjoy.
You see the new category here at Catsignal: Occupy.
Since I first relaunched Catsignal as a place to share my writing, I have been almost relentlessly apolitical. By and large, I have restricted my occasional political or social observations to my stories because this is a writing blog, and that is a time-honored method of bringing concerns to people’s attention.
That has changed. The unconscionable attacks against peaceful protestors in the Occupy Movement, the use of riot police, pepper spray, batons, beanbag and rubber projectiles against American citizens who are exercising their First Amendment “right of the people peaceably to assemble, to petition their government for a redress of grievances” cannot be ignored.
Catsignal is not going to become the go-to source for all your Occupy Movement news; this remains, first and foremost, a writing blog. But I will repeat – for the sake of doing what I can from the hinterlands of a red state – word of the outrages so that you, too, may be outraged. That you, too, will speak out. That you, too, will do what you can where you are to make a difference.
“Fear not your enemies, for they can only kill you. Fear not your friends, for they can only betray you. Fear only the indifferent, who permit the killers and betrayers to walk safely on the earth.”
– Edward Yashinsky
Apologies, but I’ve got nothing for you this week. Too much work, too many migraines, and too much other life going on.
In lieu of new material, take a look at what I did three years ago in Catsignal’s first November. It’s aged pretty well.
My friend Greg Bryant came up with a new format: 420 Chars. You can read about that at his blog, The Poet’s Eye (part 1, part 2). Cletis Stump, proprietor of The Book of Cletis, has collected what Greg wrote and added two of his own pieces plus a couple of my efforts; it’s part of his regular Creative Sunday spotlight. Pop over to Cletis’ place and get the full effect, to date. Then try your own. (This paragraph is way over the limit, if you’re wondering.)
It’s been a busy week: writing here, editing there, thinking deeply about this and that. I have written a story for this week; I just haven’t convinced myself to inflict it upon you for the sake of meeting my deadline. The situation and the characters are interesting, but nothing really happens.
I’ll try to have something wonderful next week. Meanwhile, click on fiction in the Categories list to the right and see what strikes your fancy. Any story you haven’t read is a new one.
That’s the reasonable determination of a study in the UK that shows millions of pounds in lost sales due to bad spelling. I see no reason why the principle wouldn’t be applicable everywhere. BBC News.
I’m taking the holiday off. Pen to Paper will be back next week. The weekly haiku, quotation, and short story will still be posted, though.
You could reread this from last year’s Memorial Day, if you cared to.
Have a safe and pleasant holiday.