Jennifer M. Baldwin's Blog, page 4

Ten Years Zine

The way I got to this little project was via reading old newsletters from my inbox. I have a problem with not deleting emails, and also with not always reading things that I want to read. The never-ending stream of emails continues apace, and then the ones I want to read get lost in the […]

Ten Titles, Ten Characters (from my notebook, January 2024)

I was flipping through my notebooks from 2024, mostly to see how many books I’d read in the past year (more than 40, by the way… so not bad, but now I’m thinking I want to set a challenge for myself to read over 60 this year), when I came across an entry from my […]

“Rule 5: Be Self Disciplined. This Means Finding Someone Wise or Smart and Choosing to Follow Them. To Be Disciplined Is to Follow in a Good Way. To Be Self Disciplined Is to Follow in a Better Way.”

I have wise and smart people that I follow. When I stop following them, I get off-track. Last year, I was following the pedagogy of artists like Lynda Barry, Austin Kleon, Ray Bradbury, and Sr. Corita. It wasn’t a perfect teaching year, but it was pretty darn good. Made me glad that I had returned […]

Lone Wolf Christmas

I’ve written before about my love for the Long Wolf RPG adventure books, but it was only recently that I found out the books have been reprinted with snazzy new covers in larger paperback format. So what did I do with my Christmas giftcards? I bought the first two in the series, of course! When […]

Dolmenwood Solo Gaming

The best TTRPG Kickstarter from 2023 was Gavin Norman’s Dolmenwood. The whole Dolmenwood universe has been my favorite fantasy adventure gaming stuff since way back with the Wormskin zines. It’s the perfect distillation of my favorite fantastical elements–magical forests, goblins and fairies, a quasi-Medieval world that feels like an old Arthurian romance– and it’s inspired […]

“Myths and Symbols in Pagan Europe” by H.R. Ellis Davidson

When I was reading this book, I was on fire with drafting Norse City Limits. When I stopped reading it (due to other reading obligations), the writing dried up. Coincidence? Ideas don’t come from thin air. At least mine don’t. Mine come from what I see, what I read, what I listen to, what I […]

Challenge for 2025

What’s the difference between a goal and a challenge? Honestly, I don’t know, and I don’t know if it matters. Call it a goal or a challenge, the point is, it gives me a kick in the pants to write more, make more stuff, etc. The perennial goal/challenge is TO BLOG EVERYDAY. I always say […]

“Rule 4: Consider Everything an Experiment”

This is one of my favorite “rules.” When I’m struggling or in doubt, I remember to think of what I’m doing as an experiment. Case in point: For the last novel I’m teaching in my British Literature class, I decided we needed reading quizzes to keep the students honest. Earlier in the semester, I could […]

Goal Update: November 2024

It’s been five months since I posted my ridiculously long list of goals, and I figured it was time to do an update. Mostly for my own reflection. Maybe this is the teacher side of me, but reflecting on my work helps me see where to go next. It’s a taking-stock process. Let’s me know […]

“Rule 3: General Duties of a Teacher: Pull Everything Out of Your Students”

It’s not that I don’t try. I just can’t achieve it. I can’t pull everything out of my students. I can sometimes barely pull anything out of my students. This is one of the anxieties I have always had about myself as a teacher: that I’m rubbish. I don’t think I’m a complacent or “going-through-the-motions” […]