HSU IT Department

And I'm excited!!

I love making words on paper with a pen. I love the glide of the ink, the feel of the pen in my hand, the curves and lines, the way letters build words, words build sentences, sentences build messages. I love the way a letter in an envelope looks and feels when it's all addressed and stamped and waiting to be sent: the perfect size, the neat square corners, the heft and firmness of cardstock, the fun of choosing a stamp from among the many designs and images. I am agog at the fact that a bunch of total strangers will pass this small fragile thing along for me, hand to hand, all the way across the country or even around the world -- it's like magic!! I love thinking about my letter arriving in a mailbox, sitting there like a friendly little long-distance wave, and someone opening it, and having a nicer day because they got something in the mail that wasn't a bill. A letter touches another person in a way an email can't. As the Smithsonian Postal Museum says on their blog, letters are "physical manifestations of the senders. The loved ones’ hands wrote the words, folded the letter and sealed it into an envelope. Each letter still brings with it that gift, a physical connection that can’t be replicated through phones or tablets."

I have a huge stash of cards, notecards, stationery, etc. which I am always adding to, and I enjoy sorting through it looking for just the right one for a particular person or situation. I also have a stash of all kinds of different stamps; every time I go to the post office I ask the clerk to show me what new designs they have. At the moment I have stamps featuring Scooby Doo, Hot Wheels cars, the art of magic, ice cream sundaes, Disney villains, sharks, cactus flowers, and our National Parks. Alas, I missed out on the Mr. Rogers stamps -- they sold out in just a few days.

The challenge of National Letter-Writing Month is (duh) to see how many letters you can write. And I'd like to write to YOU. No, seriously, I really would :)

If you'd like to get a letter from me, just comment here and say so.* In order to make my letter of interest to you, and so I don't end up writing ten different versions of "what I did this week," please also tell me something you're interested in (horror movies, biodiversity, fantasy novels, politics, writing, cake decorating, collecting stuffed wombats) or ask me a question (what's the best bodice-ripper I ever read? do I think college should be free? what happens when we die? is Queen Elizabeth actually a shape-shifting reptile alien?). Anything goes!

Here's the catch, though: When you get my letter, you must write me back. Nothing fancy is required -- literally anything will suffice, even two lines on a postcard. Are you game? Of course you are!!

* No need to provide your address in the comment; if I don't already have it, I'll send you a PM asking for it. Also I am more than happy to write to people overseas, so if you're not in the U.S., don't let that stop you!

I've been AWOL lately due to being occupied co-writing a fic with someone. This is something I've never done before, and I found it peculiarly satisfying. Partly that was because the other person mapped out the plot and all I had to do was write scenes for it (o lazy me!) but also partly because it was so much fun to see the pieces coming together, to craft the transitions so it read seamlessly (or at least so we hope), and to get immediate feedback on chunks of writing before it was anywhere near finished. I'm quite proud of the end product, which turned out to be by far the longest fic I've ever worked on, and look forward to eventually being able to cop to my role in it when the fest reveals go up.

Refinery29 has compiled a millennials' reading list entitled The Book Bucket List: Books to Tackle Before You're Thirty. I've read fourteen of them, which I guess makes me 28% of a millennial? I'm not sure what criteria they used, since Harry Potter is the first one the list, which is nice but I'm not sure what's particularly millennial about it. Quite a few more are on my ever-growing to-read list, though, so perhaps I'll get to them eventually. Maybe before I turn sixty.

In more book-related news, I recently finished Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, which I absolutely adored. (Is it a coincidence that her name is the same as my favorite sushi item?) Not only are the characters three-dimensional and interesting, they're dealing with serious issues (bipolar disorder, binge drinking, etc.) yet in the end its a heart-warming story about family and friendship, and remembering what really matters in our lives. And its treatment of fandom and fanfic is a delight -- what joy to read a story that treats fic writing with the respect it deserves, and recognized the important place it fills in so many of our hearts!

Finally, I have to share this: Ursula Le Guin's acceptance speech at the recent National Book Awards. I have no words for how very cool this is. Not only is Le Guin an amazing writer, she's also thoughtful and passionate about our craft.


"...the moment that turned attendees' heads...belonged to Ursula K. Le Guin. In
accepting an award for distinguished contribution to American letters, Le Guin
delivered an impassioned defense of science fiction — and of writers in general..."
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(transcript available here)