Jamie Ferguson's Blog, page 8

Life is a fairy tale

My story “Magic and Machinery” is now available in the anthology Once Upon a Quest!!!

I am SO excited about this collection! I really enjoyed writing my story, and I’m thrilled to be in a collection with so many wonderful, talented authors. I interviewed Anthea Sharp, the author who organized this collection, and it still feels a bit surreal to think that I’m a part of this project. (If you enjoy Celtic music, I highly recommend you look up her band Fiddlehead.)

And on top of all of that, I...

Monsters and other distractions

I accidentally started writing a new short story.

This sounds like a good thing, and it is – but this story was not on the schedule!

The naming of dragons

One of my favorite short stories is by Ursula K. Le Guin. It’s a lighthearted story about a dragon who’s spent years in hiding, disguised as a human, until one day when a young hero shows up and says the dragon’s true name. I thought about this story recently because I’m working on a story of my own where one of the main characters is a dragon, and I had to figure out what his name was.

Sometimes characters show up already named, and sometimes I try a few names out and th...

Background fretting

I now have my very own Facebook group! Yes, I also have a Facebook page.

Fairy tales and Jasper’s 5th Gotcha Day!

I finished a story, again!

Dogs and, someday, cats!

One story down, seventeen to go!

Eighteen short stories in 2018!

I helped kick off 2018 by prepping lots and lots of food for my sister’s annual New Year’s Eve party. I couldn’t eat most of it, of course – I have a few food allergies which make dining experiences a bit of a challenge. But I was able to drink the prosecco!

The Oak King reigns again!

The winter solstice has come and gone, the days are beginning to lengthen, and summer is on its way! Not that you’d know it from our house right now. We’ve had snow, but more importantly it’s been super cold, and Rosie and Jasper don’t understand why we took a few days off from hiking in the mornings. They have been enjoying their holiday gifts, though!

They did not get to enjoy our Christmas dinner, which consisted of grilled cheese sandwiches, arugula and watermelon radish salad, tomato bi...

Cellos and kittens

My parents took me to see Yo-Yo Ma for my birthday!!! Here’s a photo of the orchestra warming up.

And here’s a tiny photo of Yo-Yo Ma.

The program was:

Sound the Bells! by John Williams Appalachian Spring, Ballet for Orchestra by Copland Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104 by Dvorak

Yo-Yo Ma’s playing was wonderful, of course. And he seemed so happy! At the end of the show he even hugged some of the other performers.

Other than that fun interlude, things have been extra busy, both at my da...

My shoes are bereft of presents

I woke up this morning to find St. Nikolaus once again failed to leave presents in my shoes.

My dad was in the Army, and my sisters and I spent most of our childhood in Germany and the Netherlands. We were understandably happy to adopt the tradition of leaving a pair of shoes out overnight on December 5th for St. Nikolaus, who would leave us a small present. We’d get little things, like a tiny wooden Christmas ornament, and it was great fun. Mysteriously, St. Nikolaus stopped leaving me prese...