Category: Life and Other Fun

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kindness matters

I was reminded this morning that kindness changes people.  I was already in a pretty good mood as I set out for work this morning…it’s warm enough to not need a jacket, the sun was starting to rise, and I took some time to make myself feel pretty this morning (I put on makeup).

As I reached the BART station, a woman stopped me to tell me how she liked the color of my hair.  I thanked her, and said something nice about her gorgeous red hair and she called me pretty.

It’s been a long time since someone called me pretty.  It felt so nice!  I was grinning as I got on the escalator and headed up to the platform.  As the regulars showed up, I got more compliments, on my jewelry, on my dress…and by the time the train showed up, I was practically glowing.

I didn’t even mind that my feet were bothering me or that my back and knees were complaining.  As I sit here at my desk at work with my first cup of coffee and a to do list 3 miles long, I’m still feeling all warm inside.

It’s the little things, a heartfelt compliment can make a person’s day, change hearts, I’d go so far as to say it saves lives, but I don’t want to be overly dramatic.  Just remember, Readers, kindness matters.  Every day, every hour, every minute.  In all things, be kind.

We can’t know what someone else is going through, what burdens they carry, what hell they’re walking through…take the moment to be kind, because it costs you nothing and as the image above says, kindness is magic.

Wave that wand around, sprinkle that magic over everyone and everything.  Think of it was glitter for the soul.

 

Want more from me? Visit me!

Weight Loss: https://aweightyjourneysite.wordpress.com/
Current Events: https://myweightinwords.wordpress.com/
Poetry: https://weightywordspoetry.wordpress.com/
Patreon:  https://www.patreon.com/nataliejcase

You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram (be warned I post a lot pictures of my cats).

 

Photo by Robert Baker on Unsplash

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Today is the submissions deadline for the short story anthology that I am editing for the Sirens Conference, a benefit anthology that will help defray the costs of running a conference like this one.

This year we opened up submissions to include poetry and flash fiction, as well as the short stories we’ve always accepted.  The writers of this community are amazing and I genuinely LOVE getting to read the collection, let alone having a hand in helping bring it to fruition.

Of course, that means that today’s writing time is devoted to editing instead, but I have a couple hours blocked out of tomorrow to write, though whether I end up tweaking my short story for the anthology or working on one of the novels in progress is anyone’s guess.

For today, I plan to edit for a few hours, then I head out to the salon to re-greenify my hair, which is looking a little bit sad right now, before coming home to tackle laundry and housework.

The glamorous life of a writer, I tell ya!  Living the dream over here.

Hope your Saturday is glorious, Readers! I’m off to pour another cup of coffee before I open the first story.

Want more from me? Visit me!

Weight Loss: https://aweightyjourneysite.wordpress.com/
Current Events: https://myweightinwords.wordpress.com/
Poetry: https://weightywordspoetry.wordpress.com/
Patreon:  https://www.patreon.com/nataliejcase

You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram (be warned I post a lot pictures of my cats).

 

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the editing hat

We are getting close to time to begin editing the short stories for the Sirens benefit anthology.  This is a book that comes from people who have attended a Sirens Conference, and who want to help support the work that the conference does, help provide scholarships to the event and otherwise support women in speculative fiction.

This will be my second year acting as editor for this collection and I’m excited to read and edit the wonderful stories that will come from this pool of talented writers.  The conference theme this year is Heroes and as always, we choose the title of the anthology, and thus the theme for the stories, based on that theme and a general consensus from the community.

reader_hero_logo
Sirens 2019 Logo

This year’s title is Heroes and Hellions…and I can already taste the reading goodness this will bring.

My own story takes me slightly out of my comfort zone, writing in present tense, but includes devils (for some value of devil), an old west style showdown and a little bit of magic in a post apocalyptic town on the edge of nowhere.

The anthology is open to any kind of speculative fiction, be it horror, sci-fi, fantasy…you name it.  This year we also kicked it open for poetry and flash fiction.

If you’re interested in seeing what last year’s anthology was like, check it out over on Amazon. The Title is Rebels & Revenants and it is filled with awesome stories from kickass female authors.  It is available in Paperback and Kindle.

rebels and revenants
Rebels and Revenants

Deadline for submission is in three days, and I already have one submission in.  This is going to be fun.  I really should make myself an actual editing hat.  I have lots of hats to chose from.  Maybe I’ll even take a picture of me in my editing hat.

But now it’s time for the day job and coffee. Happy Wednesday, Readers!  I hope your day is filled with happiness and sunshine.

 

Want more from me? Visit me!

Weight Loss: https://aweightyjourneysite.wordpress.com/
Current Events: https://myweightinwords.wordpress.com/
Poetry: https://weightywordspoetry.wordpress.com/
Patreon:  https://www.patreon.com/nataliejcase

You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram (be warned I post a lot pictures of my cats).

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to boldly go…

Among my earliest memories, there is Star Trek, you know, the original series that started the phenomenon.  I couldn’t tell you how old I was, but I can tell you about the ugly brown couch with the weird texture that we sat on to watch it, and that I watched it with my father.

I know it came before Star Wars, which came along when I was nine, and I know that it started my love of sci-fi, and more than that, my love of space.

The only thing that kept me from pursuing a life in the sciences was my extreme hatred of math, and the more advanced the math, the more I disliked it. So, I opted toward the science fiction side of space.

But, things like this…this image of a black hole a ridiculous distance from earth…a beautiful, amazing image that took a team of scientists working together for years…things like this make me dream of a different life a little bit.

katie-boumanAnd then there’s this picture of Katie Bouman, one of the scientists on the project as she sees all of that work coming to fruition.  Look at the joy and wonder on her face.  That is the face of someone who loves her work, who has passion for her work and is genuinely in awe of the universe at her fingertips.

Of course there are trolls out there set to destroy the legacy Katie’s accomplishments for little more than the fact that she is a woman, but forget them.  They can’t take that joy, that sense of wonder from this picture.  They can’t hold a candle to the work that she’s done in her young life.  Forget them and let their legacy be one of the silence that comes when one is ignored.

Look instead to this beautiful image, and recognize the scientists, all of them including women and gay men and straight men,  who made it possible.  Imagine what else they can show us!

And, while I’m here, Readers, a quick reminder that Where Shadows Fall is available for your Kindle for free today and tomorrow, so get yours now!

Want more from me? Visit me!

Weight Loss: https://aweightyjourneysite.wordpress.com/
Current Events: https://myweightinwords.wordpress.com/
Poetry: https://weightywordspoetry.wordpress.com/
Patreon:  https://www.patreon.com/nataliejcase

You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram (be warned I post a lot pictures of my cats).

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writing time

It’s early on a Saturday morning and I am up, showered and dressed (for some value of dressed anyway).  There is coffee sending up steam and the aroma of goodness on the desk next to me, most of my house is clean and I have a weekend stretched out in front of me.

Today I am going back to the short story I recently finished, having received feedback from my beta reader.  I have a much firmer idea of what happens before the story than I did when I began, and the characters are much more real to me than they were 5000 words ago, so it’s time to readdress and rewrite.

That’s the task for this weekend, to get that story up on its feet, so to speak, so that I can focus on editorial duties as we start to approach the deadline for submission.  I have to admit, I love playing editor for projects like this one.  I get to read a diverse set of stories, from a diverse set of female writers about a diverse group of characters.

I am also expecting my mother at some point today, she’s driving out to spend some time with me and we plan on hitting up the local nursery, and possibly some other fun places.

If you want to read more of my blog ramblings, I have two other blogs that I am actively attempting to maintain, one of them is chronicling my weight loss journey post-surgery, the other is mostly my take on current events, being fat in a world that rewards skinny, as well as philosophical ramblings on politics and religion, as seen from a point of view outside the mainstream. There is poetry blog too, if you’re into that sort of thing.  I also have a Patreon, if you’re interested in seeing some content from me before others, some exclusive content, etc.

You can find these here:

Weight Loss: https://aweightyjourneysite.wordpress.com/
Current Events: https://myweightinwords.wordpress.com/
Poetry: https://weightywordspoetry.wordpress.com/
Patreon:  https://www.patreon.com/nataliejcase

You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram (be warned I post a lot pictures of my cats).

I should get to that whole writing thing.  Happy Saturday, Readers!  May it be filled with fun, silliness and a whole lot of love!

 

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spring is springing…I think

We have had one of the wettest winters I can remember since I moved to California in 2001.  I love the rain, and I often miss the big booming thunderstorms of my childhood.  Along with the rain, we’ve had a colder winter than I remember having in all that time…and for longer than I can remember.

Here we are, 3 days into April and it is finally, finally starting to warm up.  The wind is still cold in the mornings waiting for the train, but soon I should be able to shed my jacket and I really long for that.

Flowers are starting to bloom all around me, and my succulents are going bonkers.  I really need some new containers so that I can spread them out a bit.  The only thing I dislike about spring is the allergies.  I anticipate a miserable allergy season because of how wet our winter was.

I’m itching (no pun intended) to get out there with a camera, but I have a number of deadlines looming over my head preventing me from a long drive in the country to photograph flowers, so I’ll have to make do with the pictures taken by others.

Those first blooms of spring; the daffodils and tulips and such, have always given me hope.  Back when I was a kid, those first flowers would come up when there was still snow on the ground.  It was like nature letting us know that spring was on it’s way, the winter wouldn’t last forever.

I guess I still feel that when I see them.  It almost makes me wish I had a garden….almost.

Well, the coffee is done and the day job is calling.  I should get to that.  Happy Wednesday, Readers.

Remember, I’m running a special for new patrons over on Patreon.  Come join me!

PS:  Today through April 7th, my book Forever is available for Kindle for FREE!  Grab your copy!

Photo by Joshua Hoehne on Unsplash

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running against the clock

A bit of oatmeal, some coffee and we ease into the day.  Well, not so much.  By the time I got to the oatmeal and coffee, I had already walked 1.2 miles, with a train ride in the middle, plus the whole getting out of bed and getting dressed and all of that, including makeup and jewelry.

It’s a whole thing.

I have a Samsung Galaxy watch, and one of the programs on it allows me to set a “must wake up by” time, which is set to 4:30 am, and then it monitors my sleep cycle and wakes me at the end of an REM cycle closest to that time, provided that there isn’t time for another complete cycle.

For the last 3 days, it’s gone off at 4am.  It’s amazing to me how much better my mornings have been.  I’m up and out of bed, dressed and answering emails before my 4:30 alarm goes off.  If I had gone that extra half hour, I would have gotten up groggy and cranky and slow.

Time is a funny thing, really.  A human construct that lets us function within a society, a measurement of when rather than what.  At one point in my life, I was so addicted to knowing what time it was, that I looked at my watch about 20 million times a day (an estimate, of course, probably slightly overstated).  I had to stop wearing a watch to get past it.

In fact, I went without a watch for close to 8 years before I got my first fitbit.  I’d broken the addiction, and didn’t fall back into it, but I came to love having that fitbit.  I’ve only recently upgraded to the Galaxy watch as my Fitbit Charge HR 2 was on its last legs.  I love the versatility of it, I only wish the associated Samsung Health app was a little more robust, like the Fitbit app.

Speaking of time, it looks like I should get myself back to my work.  Emails to respond to, pages to write…you know, the usual.  And I don’t want my coffee to get cold.

Happy Wednesday, Readers!  I hope time is on your side today!

 

Photo by Jiyeon Park on Unsplash

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making up with makeup

I’ve always had something of a love/hate relationship with the concept of cosmetics.  On the one hand, I love how they can help me present an image of myself, on the other, I hate the work involved.

In my teens, I never left the house without the minimum of foundation, mascara and eyeshadow.  As I got older I added lipstick and eyeliner.  Then I hit a period of not wearing anything.  I think that came as I was working on how to love the face in the mirror.

I had to drop the pretense, I guess.  And that took a long time.  I only did my makeup if I was going “out” or getting my picture taken.  Suddenly, however, almost immediately after my surgery, I started putting makeup on to go to work, and if I was leaving the house for the doctor’s office and such.  Not everyday, mind you, but often.

This week I cleaned out my admittedly very old collection of makeup, trashed a whole lot of it.  I need to clean my brushes and what nots, but yeah, it was time to drop the old stuff.  I broke my own no buy rule recently and splurged on some higher end cosmetics than I would normally buy and they arrived yesterday.

I’m excited for Monday morning when I get to try it all out for the first time.  Silly as that sounds.

Well, my coffee is waiting for me and there are words to capture, so I’m off.  Tell me, Readers, what is your morning routine like?

Don’t forget, I’m running a special offer over on my Patreon:  join me know at the $3 per month or up level and you will get a postcard from my personal collection covering 50 years of my life, chosen just for you with a nice note from me.

 

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happy spring?

It’s another rainy, rainy day here in San Francisco.  Just walking from BART to the office has my legs soaked from the knees down.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the rain, and gods know we needed it, but after a solid month of the stuff, I find myself craving the sun.  My cats are also completely over the rain.  This morning, instead of getting up with me, they sat on the bed staring at the pet door.

The streets are turning into rivers and the ground everywhere is just saturated.  I am sure all of the plants are thrilled that we have escaped drought status, but I think I am quite over the rain at this point.

Enough of that, however.  Today is Ostara on the Pagan calendar, the spring equinox.  Today is the tipping point that dumps us out of winter and onward toward summer.  From here out the days start to get longer, at least until midsummer.

It is a time to plant intentions, to begin new things.  Get those seeds in some dirt and let’s grow something profound!

Of course, it’s also Wednesday, so here I am in the office like a good worker drone.  Lots to do, coffee to consume, etc, etc…

How about you, Readers?  What are you looking to grow this season?

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come play with me

I have rededicated my efforts to build on my Patreon, and decided that a good way to kick that off is a special offer.  For the next 30 days, through 4/16, all new patrons, and anyone increasing their tier, will get a personalized, hand written postcard from my stash of postcards, some of which date back to before I could read, write or appreciate the value of a good postcard.

You can come join the fun for as little as $1 a month, but to qualify for the postcard offer, you must choose the $3 tier or up.  And what do you get for that money?  Well, let me tell you!

At the lowest tier you’ll get the occasional glimpse into whatever I’m working on at the moment, and as you climb the tier you get access to bigger and better things including fresh-from-my-pen poetry, a look at moments in the life of a writer with an insane muse, flash stories, short stories written specifically for my patrons, first chance to see announcements, video content from time to time and even copies of my books.

All the money that comes in from Patreon is specifically earmarked into my “buy books” fund, which I will use to keep physical copies of my books on hand for signings and events.

So, come visit my Patreon page and join the fun!