Deja Vu Six and a half years ago I woke up in the middle of the night to flashing blue lights and news of a shooting at an LGBTQ club here in my adopted hometown of Orlando. A gunman had killed 49 people at Pulse. I felt it as a trauma. Those were my friends;…
Category: Another World Within
Art and Trauma (Caturday)
Well. It happened again. At such times that tragedy touches a community that one of our own belongs to–a community that is a source of both strength and vulnerability–we make the following choice. Sometimes people who are grieving need to laugh. And sometimes they need to write about their feelings. So here’s the comic. Enjoy…
NaNoWriMo Tips: Overcoming Obstacles.
My credential for writing this is that I have written the manuscript for one novel and it has not been published. You don’t necessarily want to hear from someone who has written (and published) half a dozen or more books and is now summarizing their craft. Leastwise I don’t. When famous authors say some version…
Pride and Prejudice (Caturday)
Big Cat, Little Cat What your Favorite Book Says about You There’s an old joke that the way to steal an English Major’s wallet is to ask them what their favorite book is and then rob them while they’re distracted. Okay I just lied twice. It’s not old. I made it up. And it’s not…
Soul-Dancer (An Archaic Concept of Me, 11)
Where we left it in Delivery 10 I could not quite fully trust that she was as committed to our relationship as I was. I was afraid I did not quite meet her expectations. Sometimes at night, next to her, I had bad dreams, often involving being abandoned in a desert, or searching for family in…
The Tsunami
A WhatsApp-text popped up on my phone, and a notification “ding” tone followed. The screen showed Shelly’s message in a blinding glow. An untimely text from her, although I liked her lots – a very outgoing, intelligent colleague. A promising scholar in the making. “I went to your sharing seminar,” her message read. “Your research…
Shortcuts for NaNoWriMo
So. You’ve decided to write a novel in thirty days. First of all, you’re an idiot. But a good idiot. The kind that doesn’t know their own limitations and so sets out to find them. The kind that inspires people. You’ve probably gotten that look:“So what are you up to these days?”“Oh, you know. Work….
More Book Bans are Coming
This is the latest article in a series on censorship laws and book bansbeing passed around the country, but particularly in the author’s adopted home-state of Florida. To read previous articles on the same topic:After “Don’t Say Gay” and “Stop Woke”From Pride 2022 to “Don’t Say Gay”“Don’t Say Gay” is Bad, Not Just for LGBTQ…
NaNoWriMo! (Caturday)
Middle Cat, the Executive Producer of the hit series Big Cat, Little Cat, is excited to announce that 2 Rules of Writing is hosting a writing workshop for NaNoWriMo. The workshop will be this Sunday (Nov 6, 2022) at noon. Big Cat is probably going to show up an hour late because he always forgets…
Crossing Half of China to Sleep with You
穿過大半個中國去睡你 其實,睡你和被你睡是差不多的,無非是兩具肉體碰撞的力,無非是這力摧開的花朵無非是這花朵虛擬出的春天讓我們誤以為生命被重新打開大半個中國,什麼都在發生:火山在噴,河流在枯一些不被關心的政治犯和流民一路在槍口的麋鹿和丹頂鶴我是穿過槍林彈雨去睡你我是把無數的黑夜摁進一個黎明去睡你我是無數個我奔跑成一個我去睡你當然我也會被一些蝴蝶帶入歧途把一些讚美當成春天把一個和橫店類似的村莊當成故鄉而它們都是我去睡你必不可少的理由。 -余秀華 Crossing half of China to sleep with you In actual fact, there is no difference between me sleeping with youand you sleeping with me. It’s just the forceof two bodies colliding, just flowers forced open,just the illusion of springmaking us believe that life is re-blossoming.Things are happening across half of China:volcanoes erupting, rivers…