Ceallaigh's Blog

Sunday, October 19, 2014

Working hard on the words lately. I'm in that place where I don't know whether I have 12,000 words of awesome or 12,000 words of what-the-hell-were-you-thinking (and yes, the B Beast is going to top out at 12,000 words, twice my original word count limit and thank you, Rhonda). I've been running my language through the sifter, again and again, turning words into art, or trying, anyway, because that's what I was hired to do. Come to think of it, this gig is teaching me about art, about story, about making a beautiful thing because beauty. Each time Rhonda has asked me to write for her, I've taken the work as a challenge to myself, a way to practice some new piece of craft.

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

I'm in the middle of a long Linux HPLIP installation, so I thought I'd write a quick catch-up post. Last weekend, I attended the gala event and Saturday workshops of the Cabot Trail Writers Festival and had the privilege of learning from Canadian writer Anne Simpson. She facilitated two excellent workshops; 'The Image at the Heart of the Poem' and 'The Story in a Box', which I used to practice my realism skills, having not participated in a literary writing workshop for some time. Here's the little poem I wrote for the first workshop:

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Congratulations to Valerie Smigielski, Jose Callejas, Max Lakshtanov, Richard Mills, Michelle Radliff and Kelley Anderson, who were the winners of my inventory reduction giveaway. Many thanks to everyone who entered (nearly 700 people, wow!). Remember that the first edition of RBR is still available online wherever books are sold, and the second edition will be forthcoming in a few months.

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Note: If you haven't yet read The Vegan Pagan: Introduction, The Vegan Pagan: Interstice the First and The Vegan Pagan: Interstice the Second, I encourage you to do so before moving on to this entry.

Sunday, September 14, 2014

As before, I've been following the Facebook conversations around my vegan blog entries, and this time I've noticed further discussion around the idea of plant sentience. Some of you have argued that plants are no different from animals and so the eating of plants and animals should be considered on equal footing.

How very animistic of you. I would expect no less from my Pagan community.

It's an interesting question and one deserving of its own space, so I've decided to offer a vegan perspective here in advance of my next major blog entry in the series.

Sunday, September 7, 2014

I've been following the Facebook conversation around my first post in this series, and I'd like to address a few things here that I hope will help to facilitate a more congenial conversation around this topic going forward.

Monday, September 1, 2014

I'm about 6100 words into "C is for Cloister" right now, and I think it will top out at about 9000 words. My deadline for the story is October 1st, and 3000 words isn't onerous for a month by any stretch, but I've also got a novelette to finish preparing (Grandmother Mælkevejen's Belly) and a revised collection to prepare (The Ruin of Beltany Ring). There's also the monthly blog for PaganSquare, and I've just begun a research-intensive series for that.

Thursday, August 28, 2014

In the next several weeks, I'll be discussing intersections between veganism and Paganism. As a long-time vegan, animal rights activist and wildlife rescuer, I believe I can bring a perspective to the discussion that might be helpful to vegans and non-vegans alike. But before I do that, I think it's important to lay some groundwork, and that's what this entry is all about.

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Welcome to the A is for Apocalypse blog train! You've just departed the Pete Aldin car, and I do hope you enjoyed your stay. The porter will be by in a moment to check your tickets, but in the meantime, why don't you settle in and let me spin you a tale or two?

Monday, August 18, 2014

DATE: GCT 20:982:6:45:1:7:1

Been slingin' this camera for thirty years and never seen a show like the one I shot today. President Incien stood up in front of a bunch of kids and showed the UAP how bad it's gettin' here, how them nanomachines are makin' the world into something we can't live in. Then she said the kids were gonna try and cross the orbital barricade in a refitted fuel carrier, but we all figured she was sendin' 'em up to die. Hell, even they figured it. Bravest people I ever did meet, though. Broke my heart to watch 'em head off for launch prep. Great Mother, I hope they die quick, if it comes to that.

Speakin' of dyin' quick, I ain't got that luxury. The VCN dragged my arthritic bones out of retirement and stuffed this little baggie full of pills in my hand to keep me alive until all the cameras go dark for good. Said I was 'necessary personnel'. Label says not to take 'em with booze, but my gut ain't got to last me too much much longer, so I been chasin' 'em down with the good stuff. That ain't got to last me too much longer, either.

We, VCN I mean, already know there probably ain't no hope. The president told the press corps to prepare for the worst about three months ago when she sent them couriers out. The public ain't been clued in about that yet, but they will be soon, I imagine.

(recording skips)

Wanted to take the camera outside and shoot some footage of what's goin' on. I don't know if anybody'll ever see this, but it's in my nature to show and not tell, so here you go. There ain't no ash in the sky anymore; hell, it's practically blue, and people are startin' to starve to death.

Let me bend down here.

See this little patch of green? That's grass. Nanomachines are coverin' the whole world in it. I seen a lot of things in my time, but this scares me more'n every single one of 'em combined. Heh. Never thought the end of days could look so pretty.

Anyway, if anybody gives a damn, my name was Lew Fermet. I never did right by any of the women I married, but I loved my mother and dad, and I'm probably the best news cameraman the VCN ever had. That ain't braggin'; that's just the truth. And if there is a holy mother up in heaven like my dad always said there was, I hope she shows you a hell of a lot more mercy than you showed us.

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