The Writer Shawn White's Place of Things

 February was short and so cold. Even a short trip to Florida for work did not provide much of a break because it was cold and windy there as well. Definitely time for hibernation, and there was some of that happening with me. A few weeks where I felt I was fighting off a cold, and a few weeks of things to keep me busy.  Jen and I worked on a few new zines, and in the process, as a fun distraction, I built a zine-building web app. It’s definitely an early version of something that could be cool, but it works, and I used it to create a physical copy of The Last Automator and an instruction zine about how to use it. You can try it here, but be warned, you will find bugs and quirks, nothing is safe, and it works best on a computer or an iPad.  zinebuilder.hauntedkeypress.com   As you can tell by the name of the zine builders .com address, Jen and I started a small press so that we have something we can publish these zines under. Again, just for fun, but as I type t...

  January has been cold and wonderfully unproductive in my writing world. As we burned through oil and wood to stay warm, I hunkered down and did the minimum to still feel like I was a writer. I mostly worked on but did not complete a zine, and pulled out the novel Disappearing to maybe try shopping that around and maybe get it published rather than do it myself. I’ve got a plan that will take a few months to get through, but maybe it’ll help me to build out a good process for reaching out to publishers and agents. I finished reading The Angel of Indian Lake by Stephen Graham Jones, wrapping up the trilogy. It was brutal, and while each book was different, they were similar. I would not have continued going back to that town if I were any of those characters.  I also read King Sorrow by Joe Hill - A little weird at times, but an entertaining story overall. It's a big book, and like some of Joe Hill's other books, when you think it must be done, there's still like two books...

  It's December, and I'm going to put this post out on the solstice so I don't have to have it on the back of my mind over the holidays. I plan on spending time doing other things, thinking, and writing other things.  For writing this month, I tried something new and basically narrated a folk tale about the origin of milk and cookies at Christmas time. It was a little tough because it's not how I usually write, but fun overall. Jen worked on some illustrations and carved the block print for the cover. We added a page at the front and made this month's zine our Christmas Cards this year.  Jen also reached out to other folks on her friends list. For people looking for some weird Christmas cheer, we sent those who responded one of the zines/holiday cards as well.  So this monthly zine thing may likely be a consistent thing for a little bit becasue its fun to work on these with Jen. Currently, the only way to get one is to reach out to us or pick one up from Ellard ...

It's the last day of November, and I am wrapping up a long weekend following a wonderful Thanksgiving. The weather has decided to get a little colder, and I have added the space heater back to my office, strategically placed under my desk, so I am toasty all day. I debate adding a blanket after seeing a Japanese kotatsu. Basically, a table with a space heater and a blanket. I won’t, but it will be debated. We’ve also had the fire running consistently, trying to keep the rest of the house toasty. The basic theme of November is 'keep warm', and we are trying. As for writing this month (Note for folks who have read these posts in the past - I’m moving writing to the front of the things I’m doing.) Following the writing and printing of the short story zine 'The Summoning' in all of its hot pink colored cover glory, Jen and I started the next project. A zine with recipes that we have made for a Thanksgiving meal. Again, this was for Honora because who doesn’t want a reci...

 October, while still a week from being over has been full of a number of things. I wrote a short story for my daughter in college, worked with Jen to get it illustrated, and the printed out a bunch of copies zine-style. And that was not the only story I worked on.  I also read O Hole’y Night at Quiet City Books. It was my third time reading at this spooky story time for grownups and while I was still quiet and barely audible I still managed to get a few laughs in. A little weird to read a Christmas story in October but it was spooky, so it counted. I also met some new writers, and heard some other great stories.  Some things I have read. I read Witches, The History of Witches by Nigel Cawthorne. The name of the author sounds like he may have witch hunter ancestors. It was not a fun easy read. The history of actual witches is brutal and horrific and directly attributed to power, wealth accumulation, and primarily impacted women. In the States, we had the Salem Witch Tria...

 It’s September, and officially fall. Things are darker, and our morning and evening walks involve very little, if any, sun. No worries, though, we’ll have snow to brighten things up soon enough. But first, the leaves have to turn pretty colors and fall to the ground. I still have a pumpkin to carve, and I may still try to get a cold dip in the pond before it gets too cold. I’ll hold out for a warm day in October. Some things I’ve watched. I have not made it to see the new Toxic Avenger movie, but I should. I watched 28 Years Later, and it was a great follow-up to the original. I don’t remember a lot about 28 Weeks Later, but they had done ok with that as well. I think this latest one is the first of a trilogy, and I’m down to see how that goes.  I also watched JugFace after seeing the cover for the movie for years and listening to it spoiled on the Ruined Podcast . (An amazing podcast if you need an entertaining podcast to pass some time.) The podcast was better than the movi...