On Persistence and the Counting of Things

Kameron Hurley did a blog post on what it took her to become a writer, which I ran across via Harry Connolly’s follow-up. These are fairly long, but well worth reading for insight into what it means to be a writer– and they’re both very good at what they do. You should buy their books,… Continue reading On Persistence and the Counting of Things

Appearances and So Forth

Since somebody asks nearly every time I mention my TED@NYC appearance back in October, I can now confirm that I will not be speaking at TED this year. Which I found out the same way as everybody else: when the full speaker list for this year’s TED was released today. If you’re curious about the… Continue reading Appearances and So Forth

You Don’t Know How Valuable Preschool Is Until You Don’t Have It

About five minutes into my class Wednesday, my cell phone rang. I silenced it right away, but recognized the number as the kids’ day care. And I knew right away what it was: The Pip has had a bit of a cough for a while, and wasn’t all that happy that morning. Sure enough, when… Continue reading You Don’t Know How Valuable Preschool Is Until You Don’t Have It

The Flying Bus

Illustration by Sanjay Patel from his version of the Ramayana. Image from here: http://kmunson-mac.blogspot.com/2012_01_01_archive.html

“Daddy, you know what? I bet you didn’t know, but my school bus can fly.” “Really? I didn’t know that.” “Yeah, there’s a button up at the front with a picture of a flying bus, and if you press the button, the bus flies.” “That’s amazing.” “Yeah, and guess what? The other day, the bus… Continue reading The Flying Bus

UK/ Ireland in August?

Kate and I will be going to the Worldcon in London this August. This will be my first trip to the UK for anything other than changing planes, so we’re going to take a few days on either end to do touristy stuff. The pre-con plan is to stay based in London, maybe taking a… Continue reading UK/ Ireland in August?

Physics with the Kids at 120 Frames a Second

SteelyKid dropping a slinky.

I got a new camera for Christmas, not because there’s anything wrong with my DSLR, but because I wanted something that could do high-speed video. So I now have a Casio point-and-shoot camera that will record up to 1000 frames per second, woo-hoo! To break it in, I got the kids to help out by… Continue reading Physics with the Kids at 120 Frames a Second

Eureka! Discovering Your Inner Scientist

I sent off the complete draft of the book-in-progress yesterday, somewhere between 12 and 36 hours ahead of my contractual deadline. Which I suppose makes it a book-in-process now, maybe. That process may still include re-writes, though, so my work probably isn’t done yet. The final draft, according to Word anyway, comes to 253 pages… Continue reading Eureka! Discovering Your Inner Scientist

Warm Holiday Wishes

Warm holiday wishes from Chateau Steelypips.

Merry Christmas if you celebrate it, happy Wednesday if you don’t. That’s about all there is to say, isn’t it?