Almost 5 years ago, I decided to start a publishing company. No, this isn’t Stonemaier Games I’m talking about. The company was a book publishing company called Blank Slate Press. A few writer friends and I decided to try to discover great new novelists and publish their work. My contribution came from a local writer’s … Read more
Spoiler-Free Section: I saw Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar tonight. As is the case with all of his movies, it’s extremely ambitious, and it’s beautiful to watch. Should you watch it? I’ll say this: If you enjoyed Gravity, another well-directed film with a “realistic” space theme, I think you’ll enjoy Interstellar. I think that’s about all I … Read more
Today was Walter’s 8th birthday. Until recently I thought Walter was only about 4 years old, but my vet pointed out on some paperwork that he was not only twice as old as I thought, but he was also born on November 9, not in the spring as I originally thought. Of course, Walter was … Read more
In the US, Tuesday was election day. In the worst turnout in almost four decades, only 44% of eligible voters actually voted. This is bad. It compares, for example, to the over 66% of voters in India who showed up for their national election back in May. What good is a democracy if people don’t … Read more
Recently an article on GeekDad cued me in to a debate about whether or not introverted or shy (two different things) students should be forced to talk in class. The author of the GeekDad article, Jenny Williams, shared the following personal note: I learn best when I can observe for a while, and then try … Read more
I’m currently wrapping up the first draft of my Kickstarter book to send to my agent and editor. I’ve been too busy trying to finish the text to think about what will happen after the book comes out, which could include a short book tour. So when I went to a book reading, signing, and … Read more
At a lovely fundraising event on Saturday night, I experienced something for the first time: I was present when a comedian completely bombed. He started off pretty well, warming up the crowd with some gimmicks to get clapping and applauding. In hindsight, I should have known that things were going downhill, because one of the … Read more