Stranger-than-usual territory

Recently I've wandered into stranger-than-usual territory in three urban fantasy books.

Actually the third one may fall more into the speculative fiction category, but it mostly takes place in a city, and some elements come across to me much more as fantasy than as fiction that's based in any science I'm aware of.

It's been a while (June 2018) since I posted any book reviews on this blog, but today I'd like to share glimpses of the stranger-than-usual territory explored in Extreme Medical Services, The SparkleTits Chronicles, and Hollow Kingdom.

Extreme Medical Services

By Jamie Davis

A paramedic's life is never dull, but that goes exponential for rookie paramedic Dean Flynn when he's assigned to Elk City's Station U. That place is definitely is located in stranger-than-usual territory.

Station U isn't your standard paramedic station. And the population it serves doesn't exactly fit into any standard class of human patients. That's because Station U serves the "Unusuals" in town.

The local vampires, were-folk, sirens, faeries, dryads, and many other people who quietly live among the rest of the humans, but are "different." As Brynne, Dean's supervising partner, puts it, "They're mostly humans, but not."

Both together and individually, they create a challenging medical specialty. And they offer some moments of delightful humor

This is a take on myths and legends unlike anything I've previously encountered. Davis poses a series of logical problems most of us have probably never imagined. What complications arise when the diabetic CPA also happens to be a werewolf? Or when a vampire has an allergic reaction? Or when a naiad (water sprite) gets severely dehydrated?

Notes on the Series

These problems and more confront Dean and his colleagues from Station U. Better yet, each patient also is a well-rounded character
 with a distinctive personality. Davis is a natural-born storyteller with a strong sense of the ironic.

Unfortunately, he's not a trained storyteller. That means the dialogue is often clunky, the pace is ragged, and the plot is more instinctive than possessing a well-thought-out structure.

The frequent use of medical jargon may be off-putting to readers who were expecting more standard fantasy tropes, but the science fiction nerd in me got a kick out of the juxtaposition.

You'll feel as if you're riding along in the ambulance with Dean and the gang from Station U (Photo courtesy of Parkway East Hospital in Singapore)

Extreme Medical Services is the first in an 8-book (if you count the prequel) series of short novels about Dean, his patients, colleagues, and others. Of course there's trouble brewing in Elk City, and Dean is uniquely suited to help deal with it. 

Whenever the series sticks close to its core identity it shines. Humorous and ironic medical-fantasy situations with a strong subtext of standing up for the rights of a misunderstood minority population provide some marvelous moments.
But the clunky writer-craft is an annoyance throughout the series. And when it ventures too far into epic fantasy and cosmic cataclysm, it falls flat for me. In my opinion, the first 2-3 books were the most entertaining.

The SparkleTits Chronicles

By Veronica R. Calisto

Veronica R. Calisto
at Westercon 71.

Yes, I know this is technically two books, but in a number of ways it's not. I normally would never have seen or heard of these books if I hadn't gone to Westercon 71, in July 2018 in Denver. That's where I met Veronica and became intrigued with her unique personality and sense of humor.

That wry sense of humor and askance view of the world comes across forcefully in her writing, too. This woman has a voice and a style all her own, and it's a pleasure to read her work.

When I want to give a full-throated endorsement, however, I've normally directed people to her Diary of a Mad Black Witch. That one's a stand-alone novel that I could have sworn I'd already reviewed in this space--but I can't find it, so I'll have to remedy the oversight soon.

Meanwhile, what's up with "SparkleTits"? 

For a while the title itself held me back. I half-feared it would turn out to be some kind of exploitation ploy. But I couldn't imagine that the author of  Diary of a Mad Black Witch would really go there. So I gave them a try.

And I've got to tell you, they don't leave Denver, Colorado, but they definitely take you into stranger-than-usual territory!

Starfish and Coffee

Greer Ianto is struggling to deal with the death of her beloved mentor Gabe when we meet her on what turns out to be the Nearly-Worst Possible Day Ever. 

Then she gets semi-literally star struck (as in struck by something that looks to others like a star), and lives to ask what the heck just happened. At this point we have well and truly ventured into far-stranger-than-usual territory.

From there we plunge through nearly-nonstop (mis)adventures in a reality where superheroes are real (but, officially, they're all men).

As a six-foot-tall black woman with an attitude, suddenly possessed of her own superpowers (that even work on the superhero men), Greer is guaranteed to rock their foundations. And I for one had a blast watching her do it.

Sins and Barbecue

Greer has a new and troublesome relationship going on in the second novel. She encounters a number of new bad guys. And she finds more clues about her mysterious origins and her late mentor Gabe, who wasn't exactly what he seemed to be.

This particular cycle-within-a-larger-story finishes, but it's clear the larger story continues. I very much doubt that the SparkleTits Chronicles are meant to end here.

The "SparkleTits" Chronicles are set in Denver, CO--but they definitely also take you into stranger-than-normal territory! (Photo By Hogs555 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0)

You knew there'd be a "however"

These books are a lot of fun. Except for the moments when they fall apart.

Calisto's writing is much better-crafted than Davis's, but there still are places where she needed a line editor and/or a proofreader (different functions!). They could have saved her from confusing constructions, infelicitous turns of phrase, typos, editing artifacts, and more.

They also would probably have reminded her that Book Two, Sins and Barbecue, might not be read immediately after Starfish and Coffee, so the reader needs a reorientation about who everybody is and what happened in Book One.

The other big problem with these books is the interior artwork. The covers are workmanlike enough to convey the idea (no artist is credited for any of the artwork). But the interior artwork is just plain embarrassing. Incomprehensible and horrendously-timed, it appears that it's supposed to convey some of the climactic action. It doesn't. Instead it stops the story dead in its tracks at arguably the worst possible moment.

So, no. I can't offer anything like a full-throated endorsement. But I can tell you it's an interesting-enough experiment that I bought and read the second book. Make of that what you will.

Hollow Kingdom

By Kira Jane Buxton

If we suddenly had a Zombie Apocalypse, what would happen to all the companion animals? That's the question underlying this much-talked-about top-seller.

Hollow Kingdom is the only traditionally-published entry in this blog post's collection. The others are Indies that probably would not have received a good reception from the gatekeepers.

Is it better? Well, the craft is clearly better. Kira Jane Buxton writes well, and she's been well-served by her editors at Grand Central Publishing. There are no amateurish issues to battle here. The publisher supported this book's roll-out with strong advertising and review coverage.

You definitely should give it a look. The animal viewpoints deliver spot-on caricatures we all recognize. In addition to the protagonist, S.T. the genius-crow, we hear occasionally from other characters such as Genghis Cat and Winnie the Poodle. Their brief cameos illuminate and provide humor--even as they also are poignant.

The animal-welfare angle

Readers not used to reading speculative fiction or thinking in animal viewpoints may find it mind-expanding. And anytime we can get people to think more fully about animals and their welfare, that's a good thing. But personally, I found it more depressing than many reviewers.

I've been associated with animal rescue organizations for long enough to cherish no illusions about what happens to domesticated animals when their caregivers cease to care for them.

All fantasy aside, domesticated animals without human care, like these feral cats, lead short, cruel lives. (Photo courtesy of Pretty Litter)

Even cats, which many people think would thrive without people around, would inevitably suffer problems (note the dangerous lives of contemporary feral cats). Far more horrifying, animals trapped inside buildings, aquaria, zoo cages, barns and pastures without food and water would die agonized, lingering deaths.

Hollow Kingdom is a fantasy, firmly planted in stranger-than-usual territory. It provides poignant moments, funny moments, and a great many improbable situations. Maybe it's better not to talk about the rest of the grimness, but I read this more as a slow-rolling horror story than as "hopeful."

IMAGE CREDITS: 
Many thanks to Goodreads, for the Extreme Medical Services cover art, and to Amazon for the series-covers image. The photo of the inside of an ambulance is from Parkway East Hospital in Singapore.

The photo of Veronica R. Calisto at Westercon 71 was taken with her knowledge and permission, and is © 2018 by Jan S. Gephardt, but you may re-post it or re-blog it with an attribution and a link back to this post. The photo of the two books in the SparkleTits Series is courtesy of Amazon. The photo of Denver, including the city park, part of the downtown skyline, and the Front Range with Mt. Evans, is By Hogs555 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikiepedia.

The photo of the Hollow Kingdom cover is courtesy of Goodreads. Many thanks to Pretty Litter for the photo of the feral cats.

Struggling to balance

The Artdog Quote(s) of the Week

If you've been following my blog this month, you know I've been struggling to balance a range of unusually urgent demands on my time. As January draws to an end, I can close the book on several of those tasks, but the underlying challenge persists. I always have a lot to do.

(Image courtesy of EnkiQuotes)

Don't get me wrong. I like it that way. But it makes me vulnerable to overload, if I need to take on extra stuff. Whenever I can, I try to anticipate when I'll be most busy. Then I'll either work ahead so I'm prepared, or cut back some obligations so I don't drop any balls.

(Image and quote from Gary Keller courtesy of EnkiQuotes)

Working ahead is great in theory, but in practice it doesn't always go as I hoped. Rescheduling till later isn't always an option, either. Then I end up struggling to balance all the stuff I need to do.

(Image and quote from Betsy Jacobson courtesy of EnkiQuotes)

There are lots of demands to balance

Balancing the demands of family, friends, and health needs with work is especially difficult when you're doing work you're passionate about. Or even work that's necessary to support the work that you're passionate about. Support work includes things like running Amazon ads to sell my book, or supporting my platform by blogging.

When you're struggling to balance everything, even doing the research that will enable you to outsource some of it may take time you don't feel you have!

(Image and quote from Jessye Norman courtesy of EnkiQuotes)

Thing is, nobody can "do it all." Many of my friends have begun to retire. They don't always understand why I can't just spontaneously drop everything to do something fun, even though I'm "home all the time."

Do you get enough sleep? Eat nutritious, healthy food? Exercise enough? All of those things take time. All are essential to health. How does a person on deadline after deadline prioritize?

When I was younger, in the season of my life when I was rearing small children, I couldn't write or make artwork as much as I do now. Anyone who thinks it's easy to keep up the creative work when you're also the primary on-site caregiver for a small child either has never actually done that, was guilty of child endangerment through neglect, or didn't get as much creative work done as they claim.

A seasonal balancing act 

No matter what season you've come to, in my experience you'll still find yourself struggling to balance the load from time to time. But the struggle is worth it. For a person who does creative work, the creative work can be the thing that keeps you going in tough times.

(Image and quote from Thomas Kinkade courtesy of EnkiQuotes)

The creative work keeps our juices flowing. But the ultimate creative challenge is how we meet the challenge when we're struggling to balance the demands.

How do you meet that challenge? How do you manage the balance? Please share thoughts, tips, or questions in the comments, if you're so inclined.

IMAGE CREDITS: All of these quote-images came from the same source, for once! I am deeply indebted to EnkiQuotes' page of quotes about work-life balance. I literally couldn't have created this post without them! Many thanks!

Service dogs for first responders

In light of Wednesday's post, here's a video about service dogs for first responders.

Thank goodness, leadership in some areas has begun to cut through the "tough-guy" culture in many agencies. It's high time we recognize the huge impact of stress on first responders. When more than twice as many police officers die by suicide than in the line of duty, something is seriously wrong!

Anyone who's followed this blog for a while knows I've posted about service dogs many times before. I've featured dogs who help calm child witnesses in courtrooms, who aid deaf people, help with mobility, comfort hospice patients, and support recovery from PTSD. Especially as they've become more widely used to treat PTSD in military veterans, it's logical to expand the idea to include service dogs for first responders.

Dogs' roles have evolved

This kind of caregiving role for our canine friends isn't a universal centuries-old tradition, such as their aid over the millennia as co-hunters, herding dogs, and guard dogs. But in isolated instances people have used animals as helps in therapy or guides throughout history.

L-R in a wonderful composite photo created by Tori Holmes for Bark-Post: Mural from Herculaneum showing an ancient Roman dog used to guide a bind person,  Morris Frank and his guide dog Buddy (she is popularly considered to be the first guide dog in the US) and a contemporary guide dog with her person.

Our contemporary understanding of what a service dog can do began in Germany after World War I. Former ambulance dogs found new roles as guide dogs for blinded veterans. The idea spread to the United States, where trainers established several schools.

Developing the concept

From there, a whole new chapter in the relationship between dogs and humans has unfolded. Service dogs now help people deal with all kinds of medical and mental health issues.

But the first time I became aware of therapy dogs helping first responders cope was through stories about therapy dogs at the site of the 9/11 wreckage.

Crisis dog Tikva, a Keeshond, helped responders cope at Ground Zero. (Photo courtesy of New York Daily News)

Individual agencies have begun bringing in therapy dogs occasionally. In the 911 Call Center for Sheboygan County, WI, a team of therapy dogs visits on a regular schedule.

Back in Fairfax County, home of the police in our opening video, they also have a Goldendoodle therapy dog named Wally in Fire Station 32. Therapy dogs have been brought in to help firefighters battling wildfires in Californina (I hope in Australia, too!).

I think this trend of providing service dogs for first responders is positive. What do you think? Should more agencies should explore it as a way to offer our first responders some relief?

IMAGE CREDITS: Many thanks to VOA for the video about therapy dogs in the Fairfax VA Police Department. I deeply appreciate the three-photo composite of guide dogs through the centuries from Tori Holmes and Bark-Post. Finally, I want to thank the New York Daily News for the photo of Tikva the Keeshond, and the accompanying article about therapy dogs at Ground Zero.

Daniel Sundahl's artwork about first responder stress

When I first stumbled across Daniel Sundahl's artwork about first responder stress, it left a resounding impression. A major theme in my upcoming novel A Bone to Pick is first responder stress and the marks it can leave on a person. (A Bone to Pick is the second book in the XK9 Trilogy, with a projected pub date in August 2020).

Post-traumatic stress is a huge problem for first responders

The toll that traumatic events can take on professionals who are regularly exposed to blood, gore, violence and death is huge. The first responder community is beginning to understand it's impossible for people to "tough it out" indefinitely and continue to thrive, without help and support. But cultural change is slow, and it's hard for "tough guys" of both/all genders to admit they need help.

In his public appearances, Daniel Sundahl uses his artwork to get people talking about hard-to-discuss issues. (This December 2019 photo is currently Daniel's Facebook profile picture.)

Unfortunately, it also can be hard for them to find help once they realize they need it. That culture of denial can go all the way to the top. And the US has never been a great haven of enlightenment when it comes to mental health.

Daniel is a firefighter and paramedic as well as an artist. He's also an activist on the topic of first responder post-traumatic stress. He pours his passion on the subject into both his artwork and his speaking engagements.

With that introduction, I hope you'll be moved and fascinated by Daniel Sundahl's artwork about first responder stress. He depicts scenes featuring all types of first responders. In this post I've shared one example each from Communications/Dispatch, EMS, Fire, and Police.

But you can see much more of his work on his website and his Facebook page. All images are © by Daniel Sundahl and DanSun Photo Art, and have been used with the artist's permission. Please do not reproduce or re-post them without express permission from Daniel!

Communications Departments

The Ghosts of Dispatch © by Daniel Sundahl. Of this image, he writes, "Speaking with someone as they kill themselves or hearing someone pleading for help as they're being murdered is something the rest of us just don't understand. This one is for all the dispatchers. Stay safe brothers and sisters." 

My first encounter with Daniel's art came when I discovered The Ghosts of Dispatch while searching for images to illustrate my blog post "Merry Christmas, and be careful out there." It took my breath away the first time I saw it, for a multitude of reasons. 

Emergency Medical Services

Is anything I can say that's more eloquent than what Daniel himself has written about this next image?

Children of Heaven © by Daniel Sundahl. "I often hear from fellow Paramedics of the terrible calls they’ve had involving children. . . . Calls involving children are the ones that affect us the most. . . . I still have many calls in my head that I can’t get out that involve children. . . . I call this image Children of Heaven. It brings me peace thinking where these kids are now instead of thinking of what happened to them. "

First responder stress probably can't get much worse than a murdered baby. But then, it also seems there's an unimaginable range of horrors it is possible to confront, and the folks who'll confront them are first responders, God help them.

Fire

Fire Fight © by Daniel Sundahl. "Fighting the Dragon...my fellow firefighters know what this means." As a fantasy artist myself, I absolutely could not resist this one.

Firefighters stand between the rest of us and that dragon. Whether it's a raging structural fire,  vehicle-turned-inferno, or a wildfire roaring up a steep hillside, they stand between it and us. All too often they pay a steep price, as well.

Police

Police officers never know what's coming, but like all first responders their lives are spent on call. Their schedules exist at the mercy of the next emergency. A day can be fairly uneventful, and then turn suddenly deadly. 

Officer Down, © by Daniel Sundahl. "Would you enter a live shooting event to treat the injured and help take them to safety? What if it was someone you knew? The medic and fallen officer in this image are close friends in real life. They work on the same shift so this situation is a real possibility for them. I have no doubt she would risk her life to save him."

I hope you've been inspired by these images and the brave people they represent. Daniel Sundahl's artwork about first responder stress is real and authentic because he has lived the situations he portrays. They all fight the dragon for us, one way or another. They all stand between us and that unimaginable range of horrors.

IMAGE CREDITS: All images are © by Daniel Sundahl and DanSun Photo Art, and have been used with the artist's permission. Please do not reproduce or re-post them without express permission from Daniel!

How should we honor Dr. King's legacy?

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was gunned down almost 52 years ago. Depending on where we live, we've been observing the holiday that honors him for 34 years, as of today. There are wide variations in the ways people observe (or don't pay much heed to) this holiday. But really. How should we honor Dr. King's legacy?

King's words ring as true now as ever. Senators, are you listening? (Image courtesy of PassportCamps)

What did Dr. King stand for?

King is known as a civil rights activist and a key leader in the struggles of African Americans to break the shackles of the Jim Crow era. He certainly was those things. He found his forum as a Baptist preacher, at a time when the church was the center of nearly every black community (a place of empowerment since Reconstruction and before). 

But his influence and his message soon reached far beyond the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. A prolific speaker, writer and seemingly-tireless advocate for civil rights, voting rights, peace, and the empowerment of the poor, he also was a scholar and thinker. 

And more of a socialist and anti-war activist than many in America wanted to accept (neither then, nor, in many ways, still today). He was subject to bouts of depression. Not always "liberated" in terms of women's equality. In other words, he was human. Complicated. Flawed. 

(Image courtesy of QuotesGram)

We shouldn't be surprised. Nobody's an icon in real life. But in light of his complicated nature, how should we honor Dr. King's legacy? I'd say the key is looking to his core values--the ideals he returned to again and again in his life. These are racial equality, as well as his work against poverty (which fueled his socialist thought) and war (noted for his devotion to nonviolence, he also spoke out strongly against the Vietnam War).

Racial equality

We are very far from King's vision of a diverse society untainted by racial injustice. If anything, recent years have seen a resurgence of white supremacist sentiment and a bloody wave of hate crimes along with it. If you hate hate crimes, perhaps you'd like to support the nemesis of hate crime perpetrators.

How should we honor Dr. King's legacy? Well, first of all, we can stand up against hate in our own personal lives.

White folks, we have a big responsibility in this area. To start with, we need to about the diversity within our own communities. Refuse to listen in appalled silence or titter weakly when someone cracks a racist joke or makes a racially insensitive comment.

Educate ourselves about white privilege, institutional racism, and the many ways that microaggressions and cultural appropriation wound and inhibit others. That's base-level, elementary stuff.

Beyond that, we white folks need to consciously expand our lives and our circles. Welcome and support persons of color in our workplaces, our places of worship, and our associations. Read the work of diverse writers (buy their books!)

Voting Rights go hand-in-hand with racial equality

One of the hardest-fought campaigns of the civil rights era was the effort to achieve equal voting rights for African Americans. The white supremacists who held a lock on the portals of power in those days would literally kill to prevent black people from voting (the contrast with King's nonviolent approach was part of what made the Civil Rights Movement so moving to people all over the world).

(Image courtesy of Medium)

We live in another era when voting rights--especially voting rights for persons of color--are under heavy attack. Between voter-roll purges, gerrymandering, ID requirements, and other shenanigans designed to disadvantage the poor, there is lots of corruption to fight. It will take advocacy by everyone to fight it!

How should we honor Dr. King's legacy?

Concrete steps we can take? Support voting rights for all. That includes felons who've done their time. Black communities have been decimated by a prison-industrial complex. Their lobbyists and lawmakers who want to be seen as "tough on crime" developed a system that unfairly targets impoverished (mostly black) communities.

Voting rights were a key goal of the civil rights movement. They're still highly relevant today! Advocate to your legislators. Support the League of Women Voters. And for pity's sake, vote yourself, to elect candidates and causes that support equality!

Poverty

Dr. King was fighting poverty by supporting the Poor People's Campaign when he was assassinated. But poverty is at least as institutionally entrenched now as it was then.

Even King himself (a college-educated member of the black middle class) was originally unaware of how profound poverty could be in the US, until he visited a black school in an impoverished rural community in the Mississippi Delta. There he saw the results of food insecurity for himself. He was, in the Christian sense, convicted by what he saw. From that time forward he held a special place in his heart for the poor.

King observed many systemic forces trapping people in poverty, even when they strove to prosper (Image courtesy of United Way of Southeast Missouri).

He developed a burning sense of the injustice of the system. Conservatives then as today speak of "personal responsibility." They see it as primary in determining someone's prosperity or poverty. To King, this is a flawed analysis.

He argued for changes to the system itself. In the latter part of his life, King increasingly saw the problem of poverty as an inescapable failing that is intrinsic to any capitalist economic system.

King's work against poverty likely fueled his interest in socialism, which dates back at least to his studies at Crozer Theological Seminary and his study of the work of Walter Rauschenbusch. (Times Live, South Africa)

King's embrace of socialism

During the 1960s, the US reached the height of the Cold War with the Soviets, and plowed deeper into the Vietnam War against communism (more on that later).

Within a decade or so of Senator Joseph McCarthy's campaign to root out what he saw as a communist infiltration of the USA, socialism was deeply unpopular. Dr. King's embrace of it and his antipathy to the Vietnam War meant he was seriously unpopular in much of America at the time of his death.

Socialism remains "a dirty word" today in some quarters, but half a century after King died, some segments of the economy see it as an interesting proposition.

(Image courtesy of Medium)

The more progressive wing of the Democratic Party has fielded several candidates who embrace socialistic economic strategies, including Bernie Sanders, who labels himself a "democratic socialist," and another who espouses a basic minimum income. Andrew Yang calls it the "Freedom Dividend."

How should we honor Dr. King's legacy? Whatever your opinions on the best ways to combat poverty, it's certainly true that advocacy, donations, and volunteerism to aid the poor are always needed.

War

Aside from his socialist bent, King's opposition to the Vietnam War earned him a lot of enemies. Given his commitment to nonviolence his opposition should surprise no one. And with the hindsight of history we can see that he made some good points, although some might not accept his assertion that “we have no honorable intentions in Vietnam.”

No stranger to opposition, Dr. King followed his convictions on the Vietnam War, despite the cost to his reputation. (Image courtesy of PassportCamps)

But have you done a serious review of the decisions, assumptions and motivations that led our nation's leaders into that war? Unfortunately, it bolsters his opinion that “we have been wrong from the beginning of our adventure in Vietnam.”

Testing weapons on civilians? Unfortunately, yes.

He also was right that the US was testing weapons on the Vietnamese people. The Vietnam War became an ugly arena for the widespread use of chemical weapons. CS gas was deployed to drive combatants out of tunnels, but they often asphyxiated or were left with lesions on their lungs.

Agent Orange had been used as a defoliant before Vietnam, but never so widely as a weapon. The US contaminated almost a quarter of South Vietnam with the stuff, which decays into dioxin, a persistent carcinogen. The environmental and human destruction persist to this day.

While napalm had been used in a limited way during World War II and the Korean War, it was widely deployed against both Vietnamese civilians and Vietcong fighters. Although President Nixon later tried to convince the US public that napalm wasn't being used on civilians, there were too many journalists in-country, and too much of it was dumped over too broad an area to support that lie.

King's opposition to the Vietnam War won him little favor. (Image courtesy of Veterans for Peace)

The most horrifying weapons-test of the Vietnam War era never happened, however: a Defense Department consultant group discouraged testing the use of tactical nuclear weapons in Vietnam strongly enough that the idea was (thank goodness!) scrubbed.

How should we honor Dr. King's legacy? In my opinion, we all have an obligation to advocate for diplomacy over strutting arrogance and saber-rattling. Ways to promote peace? Contact your legislators. Demonstrate, if you're so inclined and have the opportunity. Vote for rational candidates who take a measured approach to conflict resolution.

It's also important to remember that peace begins at home. In our families and in our communities, intelligent communication and our commitment to de-escalation of violence (including violent words) sets a peace-friendly tone.

How should we honor Dr. King's legacy?

There are many ways to honor King's life and work. I think one of the best is by remembering what a complex, courageous, and deep-thinking person he was. His memory endures in part from the brilliance of his writing and the complexities and deep morality that drove him.

He can't be reduced to a symbol of just one thing, if we're honest. And there's no telling how differently we would remember him, if he hadn't been killed in the middle of his work.

He didn't get there with us. Indeed, we're still a long way from getting there. But the hope in his vision and the power of his courage offer ideas about how we should honor Dr. King's legacy. (Image by Heidi Yosinski/Penn State News, via Laura Schulenberg Cole)

IMAGE CREDITS: Many thanks to Passport Camps, for the "measure of a man"and "do what is right" quote images. I appreciate the Sunday Times of South Africa for the "necessities from the many" quote image, and QuotesGram, for the "valley of segregation" quote image. Thanks are due to Medium, for the "power of the vote" and "guaranteed income" quote images; to Veterans for Peace, for the "purveyor of violence" quote image, and to design student Heidi Yosinski, Penn State, and Laura Schulenberg Cole for the "mountaintop" quote image. I'm indebted to you all!

Too busy

According to the Wisdom of the Internet I am either too self-centered to be a good friend, or I'm powerfully purpose-driven. Either way, I'm too busy.

Sorry, Mandy, I disagree. This concept that being "too busy" is a myth can be a really toxic idea. It belittles the struggles of those whose lives sometimes become overwhelming. If being too busy were a myth, then no one would ever need to set boundaries, or "'make time' for the things that are really important." (Quote from LiveLifeHappy)

This. Yes. This is how I feel too often, lately. (Quote from BrainScape)

What's the problem?

These last few weeks have been packed, for me. Sometimes urgencies that are not under my control elbowed their way in. I was pulled away from work that took longer than expected, by planned things that "needed doing."

I've missed normal schedules for blog posts (such as this one, for instance!). Stayed up too late, even for me (the graveyard shift is my most productive time). Been forced to drop some things half-done.

And there you have the nub of it. I have a lot of unfinished business. Pulled away too often. Too many things dropped half-done.

David Allen makes a really good point. It's true I have a whole bunch of stuff to do in a short period. But the picking-it-up-then-having-to-put-it-down-and-shift-focus routine is what makes me truly frazzled. (Quote image from TooMuchOnHerPlate).

Now, it's not as if I'm running in place. I can see that incremental progress is indeed happening on several long-term goals. All that effort does appear to be having an effect. But I still feel I'm a long way from finishing several big priorities that mean a lot to me.

Why so busy?

It's a busy season for me, for several reasons. It's the turn of the year. That means it's the end of a fiscal year for my personal business, Artdog Studio, as well as for my new LLC, Weird Sisters Publishing. Reports, wrapping up bookkeeping, and strategic planning for the year to come are all part of that.

My own personal blogging has been disrupted more than I expected by the need to prepare a post every week for The Weird Blog. I'd gotten to the point where I was regularly producing three posts per week for Artdog Adventures, so I figured it'd be easy enough to add just one more, especially with my sister writing approximately half of them.

Well, guess what? Not as easy as it looked.

On the personal front, there's my 95-year-old father needing more care and attention (thank God the whole family's pitching in on that), and my daughter's chronic illness has flared up twice since the end of 2019.

But don't forget the fun stuff

Oh, yeah, and there's also making art, writing another book, shepherding the cover design process for two different books (more on those in future posts), and figuring out how to market everything.

Kangngaudaube Irang thinks more the way I do. I don't like to be idle. It's empty and It's also boring. Being busy is better, as long as one doesn't get too busy. It's a difficult balance to walk. (Quote from YourQuote)

So, no. I'm not unhappy about my currently too busy life. To a certain extent I'm apologizing for my irregular blog-posting schedule. I also hope to offer a glimpse of what's been going on with me. Next week, things should smooth out. Several major hurdles should be in the rearview.

And when I finally get to roll out some of those creative projects I've been working on, I dearly hope you'll be pleased.

Here's hoping I'm making the right ones, Eleanor!  (Quote image from TooMuchOnHerPlate).

IMAGE CREDITS: Many thanks to LiveLifeHappy for the quote from Mandy Hale, even though I respectfully disagree. I also want to thank BrainScape for the "too many tabs" image,  and TooMuchOnHerPlate for the quotes from David Allen and Eleanor Roosevelt. Finally, thanks also to Kangngaudaube Irang and YourQuote for the "stay busy" sentiment.