Lydia Schoch

Juicy rumours by Erik Pevernagie.

Lately I’ve been getting quite a few hits from people using search engines to find Bruce Gerencser criticism.

Bruce is a friend of mine. I’ve known him for about six or seven years now, and apparently have mentioned him here just often enough for search engines to send people to my blog when they’re looking for dirt on him.

Sorry, that won’t be happening here. I don’t do that to anyone, much less an old friend.

What I find most amusing about this, though, is how much more they could learn about him if they simply read his blog themselves. He’s not the kind of person who is at all shy about telling the truth about himself.

Even if this wasn’t the case and I knew something about him that he was desperately trying to hide, gossip is socially acidic. It doesn’t only hurt the people who are having rumours spread about them. It also damages the reputation of the person spreading and it makes it really difficult for me to trust them with any news about my life in the future.

If they’ll share it with you, they’ll share it about you.

So, no. This isn’t the right place to come if you’re looking for juicy gossip. Although it does make for a good topic for a blog post!

Here is this week’s list of blog posts, short stories, poems, and other tidbits from my favourite corners of the web.

Where Dreams Await via AustinDetails. There’s definitely something to be said for seeking out the small pleasures in life.

From It Is Healing, It Is Never Whole:

When the souls of the suicides come tumbling out of the low, gray clouds, it’s given to us to collect them, catalog them, contain them, and load them onto the train. None of us know where the train goes—it’s the general consensus, to the extent that there is one, that it would serve no purpose for us to know, and anyway it’s not our job. Our job is to collect the souls of the suicides and do everything that comes after.

Vegan Banana Split Recipe. I’ve been telling everyone about this recipe lately. It’s simply that delicious.

Paper Ribbons via shawnamawna. I adore this.

Eerie Photographs Show Abandoned Chinese Amusement Parks Out of Season. There’s something creepy and a little sad about not seeing any people in a place where you’d expect to be surrounded by them. The picture with the white piano was the best example of this in my opinion.

Why Do You Love to Run? via MonicaBruno71. Weightlifting, walking, and dancing are my favourite types of exercise. It was fascinating to read about why these people love running, though, because their passion for it was so strong.

What have you been reading?

Earlier today, some writer friends and I were discussing the genres we work with and whether or not we’d ever consider writing in other genres.

My brain works well with science fiction, fantasy, and horror.

It has learned to like mysteries and historical fiction. I haven’t written any of them yet. Maybe I will one of these days!

It still sputters and then shuts down completely when I try to write any sort of romance, though.

I wish it didn’t. I occasionally enjoy reading them. Every time I try to outline one, my characters end up doing everything other than falling in love with each other. They might be gay, or asexual, or not at all interested in their would-be soulmate, or way more interested in finding out just who or what is making that rattling noise in the other room than in doing romantic things.

You like what you like. And what I like is the paranormal and that tingling sensation one gets from being scared by things that can’t actually hurt anyone.

I wonder how much this is influenced by childhood? As a preacher’s kid who grew up in churches that encouraged this sort of thing, I heard a lot of spooky stories from other Christians about spiritual warfare, demons they’d encountered, and prophetic dreams they’d had.

An extended family member gave me the Chronicles of Narnia and Lord of the Rings books when I was a kid. I read all of them over and over again. I read a lot of secular science fiction, fantasy, and horror as well growing up. The themes in them reminded me of what I heard in church about what it meant to be a good Christian. The language changed, of course, but it was all about quests, finding allies, saving people, and keeping your eye on the longterm goal of bringing the One Ring to Mordor and/or making it into Heaven.

We were discouraged from reading romance novels. I read a few for the novelty of it, of course, but I always returned to the genres that I’d settled into very early in life.

How about you? How strict are you when it comes to the genres of fiction that you do (or do NOT) like? Have your tastes changed over time?

Here is this week’s list of blog posts, poems, gifs, and other tidbits from my favourite corners of the web.

A Metronome for Breathing. Isn’t this cool?  I think it would be a great breathing rhythm for meditation.

The Case of the Missing Spoons via cunninghamb103. I lose socks, too, although so far I’ve managed to find (most) of them again.

Never Saw This Coming via bobnailor. Before you read this, think about who and what you thought you’d be when you grew up.

In the Day After the World Stopped Being. I really hope the author writes a sequel to this soon. It needs one.

I Weigh 200 Pounds, and I’ve Never Been Happier via LorenKleinman. This made me so glad that I grew up in a family that never shamed anyone for how much they weighed. As an adult, I’m horrified by this behaviour.

From Why Self-Compassion Trumps Self-Esteem:

Continually feeding our need for positive self-evaluation is a bit like stuffing ourselves with candy. We get a brief sugar high, then a crash. And right after the crash comes a pendulum swing to despair as we realize that—however much we’d like to—we can’t always blame our problems on someone else. We can’t always feel special and above average.

What have you been reading?

Earlier this summer I did a GIF interview with Kate Tilton about writing. It was published today, and I can’t wait for all of my readers to check it out.

What is a gif interview, you ask?

Imagine answering questions with gifs instead of with words. It’s a fun and creative way to have a conversation.

For example, this is how I feel about the interview you’re about to read and watch:

A geologist on Mars discovers something unexpected on it.

This is all I can tell you about the plot. Go discover the rest for yourself!

The Red Witch from Aron Bothman on Vimeo.

Photo credit: Nelson Alexandre Rocha from Portugal.

I’ve been revelling in silence lately.

Just like it’s okay to say no and that’s (not) just the way it is, silence is an answer.

It doesn’t need to have anything added to or subtracted from it.

It’s enough on its own.

It could last thirty seconds, or six months, or forever.

Silence doesn’t need an explanation. No one must try X other responses before falling back onto it. It’s not a last-ditch option.

It’s not a first-ditch option either. It just is.

If silence were a place, it would be a cave.

My parents took us on a tour of a cave once when we were kids. It was in a state far away from the one we were living in at the time. The weather was extremely hot humid at that time of year, and so my first memory of the cave was of how good it felt to step into such a cool, relatively dry place.

My strongest memory of it was of how dark it was when our tour guide turned the lights off. I couldn’t see my own hand in front of my face even when my fingers were less than an inch away from my eyes.

There was something peaceful about being surrounded by such complete darkness, though. I could hear water dripping onto a rock nearby. I could hear the people next to me breathing. There was no place for words in that moment. It was a (mostly) silent place, and I loved it.

I’ve never been back to that cave since, but I carry my memories of that silence with me everywhere.

Silence is an answer. Sometimes it’s the best possible one of them all.

I will be deleting the spam today and tomorrow. If I get rid of one of your legitimate comments by accident, please let me know.

Here is this week’s list of blog posts, comic strips, and other tidbits from my favourite corners of the web.

How Neil DeGrasse Tyson Are You? This is the first time I’ve ever recommended a BuzzFeed quiz on my blog. I scored 11 out of 26, which apparently makes me pretty Neil DeGrasse Tyson. Ha!

Why I Picture My Inner Critic As An Evil Disney Sidekick via 10minnovelist. This is great.

When Bad Thoughts Happen to Good People. I agree 100%. It’s taken me a very long time to get to this point.

We Must Imagine Sisyphus Happy. Is it weird for me to think of this as fun? I’m really motived by the little things in life.

Decade Old Negatives Found in Thrift Store. Go take a look at these photographs.  It’s a long shot, but wouldn’t it be cool if one of my readers recognized the woman in them? The guy who found and developed them thinks these pictures were taken sometime between 1940 and 1950.

From Is It Rude to Say No?

All right, what about hugging. It’s bad manners not to want to hug someone, right?

As a matter of fact, indiscriminately wrapping your arms around people is not only horrible manners, Miss Manners herself would describe it as assault. Offering is okay, sure. But refusing the hug is perfectly fine manners.

What have you been reading?