Big Cat, Little Cat: Low-Hanging Fruit Low-Hanging Fruit and Comedy I grant you that size isn’t a funny issue for everyone. There are people who are bullied for their size; made to feel less-than, etc. Telling jokes about these kinds of traditional topics is an art that presents interesting challenges. What I was trying to…
Category: Another World Within
HB 991 and SB 1316 Spell the End of Free Speech in Florida
*Note On March 6, 2023, SB 1220 , the companion bill to HB 991 was filed in the Florida Senate by Senator Keith Perry, who represents an area near Gainesville where the University of Florida is located. As of that date, no companion bill for SB 1316 has been filed in the Florida House. HB…
Interrobang
Big Cat, Little Cat: Interrobang The Interrobang and Other Matters Has anyone actually seen an interrobang? I mean just been reading along and… BAM! INTERROBANG. I’ve been reading stuff for more than thirty years and I’ve never seen it once. Which reminds me that there are a lot of features of a language that seemingly…
Dear Daughter,
I am having difficulty sleeping these days. And yes, it is to do with the murder of a local KOL (Key Opinion Leader), Abby Choi, who was killed and dismembered by her ex-husband and his family: a gruesome crime that made its way to international news. With my superpower of association and stretch of imagination,…
Storyteller… Replaced (The Dr. M Chronicles)
Well… I’ve been replaced as storyteller. Or, at least, it’s only a matter of time. My nephew, Dr. M, lives in Bangalore with his parents. Anuja and her mother live nearby. I call him once a week to tell him a story. The time zones work out so that it’s midnight my time, but I…
Jokes (Caturday)
Big Cat, Little Cat: Bad Jokes Dumb Jokes I have a particular relationship with bad jokes. I come from a family of bad-joke-tellers. And I swore I would be better. That sounds like a joke; or the premise for one. But it’s actually not. My parents and grandparents and uncles and so on would say…
Shooting at Michigan State University
I’m still dealing with lingering effects of COVID right now. Mostly fatigue and pain, with more frequent headaches as a bonus. So shortly after dinner last Monday, I dozed off for a bit, and when I woke up I began scrolling through Facebook and was shocked to see a post telling me that a friend…
Impostor Syndrome (Caturday)
Big Cat, Little Cat: Impostor Syndrome Impostor Syndrome It seems like nothing is as integral to the writing process as impostor syndrome. I should really have called this website 3 Rules of Writing. And the third rule should have been: “Stop it with this impostor syndrome bullshit. You’re not fooling anyone. We know exactly how…
Like the Wind: Preface and Prologue
Series Preface: The Grand Art of Story In a story it is perhaps hard to appreciate a character’s journey that is tangential to our own. Not much being offered that helps us navigate our own. Or helps us understand our own, or inspires us to forget our own for a few hours, or to make…
Finding my Place as a Writer
I’ve had a pretty beastly journey with anxiety. There have been times I’ve really struggled with anxiety so bad that I experienced agoraphobia. When simple things like leaving my apartment to take the trash just a few feet down the hall to the trash chute might trigger a panic attack. When going outside my building…