Sandra Tayler's Blog, page 155

Sets and Eras

The first five Schlock Mercenary books are a set. We even sell them as one. They represent the early years of the comic when Howard was still figuring out how to draw, and script, and who his characters really were. They also represent our early years in publishing when we were figuring out how to design books and arrange for the printing of them. It is interesting to note that final book of the set ended just a few weeks prior to the day when Howard quit his corporate job to be a...

The Bright Spaces

Our pear tree has gotten tall. It is out-of-control tall. This is presents a problem when it grows pears and we want to be able to pick the pears. The tree needs to be pruned. It needed pruning last year too, but I never found the time.

The pom-pommed scotch pine has gotten tall too. This is a tree that we deliberately shape into twisty branches with poms of needles. We have to prune it yearly to keep the shape attractive. I think we last pruned it three years ago. This year's pruning ...

Come What May

There was a fish in a bowl on my kitchen counter this morning. It was the first thing I saw when I flipped the switch to light up the pre-dawn darkness. I was blearily trying to process this new object when a flash of blue caught the corner of my eye. My finger nails were blue. With sparkling glitter. I haven't been a wearer of fingernail polish since the early 90's. Even then, blue was not a color I wore. That was some party. The thought drifted across my brain. Then I laughed at...

School Registration

Link tromped with me into the Junior High building. It is a familiar place to me, because Kiki has been attending there for three years. For Link, the building was new. It represented a new and exciting chapter in his life. He took his map and navigated us around the school for a bit. We located the lunch room and the math rooms before the novelty wore off and he was ready to go home. At that point we'd already seen most of what he cares about. I worry for Link attending junior high...

The Working Desk

Desks are surfaces on which one piles Things To Do. My piles of things always begin as neat stacks, but the stacks quickly encroach upon each other. New layers are constantly added to the top, while the lower layers are slowly squished into the paper equivalent of sedimentary rock. In theory desks are also used as work space. I should be able to lay things out around me while I am actively using them, and be able to write notes using the available clear spaces. Usually my available...

Stress at the Tayler house

Howard and I have both been pretty stressed lately. I'm not sure whether that has been clear on my blog, because I am very careful how I write about stressful things. This is not due to the need for a cheerful front to present to the world. It is a little bit due to knowing that the things which get written get remembered, and I prefer to remember the nice bits. The big reason I'm careful when writing about stress is to avoid negative feedback loops.

My stress makes Howard more stressed...

Joy in Mixing the Colors

We are approximately two months away from 4 convention appearances. This means email has been flying fast and furious. I'm answering email about panel scheduling from Penguicon at the end of April. I'm discussing art for the Balticon program at the end of May. I'm throwing panel suggestions into consideration for CONduit which is also at the end of May. And I'm realizing that I really need to email the bookstore contact for a lecture Howard will be giving at LDS Storymakers mid-May. So ...

Reluctant Party Planner

Over the past 14 years and four children I have planned and run upwards of 20 children's birthday parties. The novelty has worn off. This is one of those not-fair-to-the-youngest-child things. Kiki had a mother who was thrilled to run a party for seven year olds. Patch has a mother who would rather not. This is how we arrived at 8:30 am on the day of the party and the only accomplished party task was "deliver invitations." I had five and a half hours to clean house and plan how to...

Slow day, snow day

I do not like it when frozen water falls out of the sky on the day after a springish day. It is like the weather is taunting me. Except that I know it can't possibly be personal. Perhaps today's snow was meant to delight some child and only inconvenienced me in passing. Or perhaps it is simply to water the spring bulbs which have just begun to poke up in my flower beds. I can be glad for the wet on behalf of the flowers.

What I've had much more trouble doing was accomplishing anything...

Managing Homework

Helping kids with homework is easy. I don't mind answering questions or explaining concepts. Weathering the emotional drama of homework time is exhausting. Watching kids trying to avoid their homework is a fascinating psychological study. Most evenings we go through anger, depression, denial, anger, repression, displacement, avoidance, and anger. Did I mention the anger? I get to be the recipient of much of this anger, although sometimes the kids lash out at each other instead. Then I ...