I recently narrated another podcast for Podcastle – Tending the Mori Birds by Caroline M. Yoachim. This one’s a short one, but I enjoyed reading and narrating it quite a bit (despite dealing with an impending move and a persistent cough). Check it out if you get the chance.

So, the regular updating of this blog hasn’t really gone according to plan, but here are some pertinent updates:

– The apartment search is over. One has been found. A lease has been signed. Next month I will have a new abode. I’m very excited.

– Writing…is hard. I haven’t been very good at doing it regularly. The work schedule (not to mention the apartment hunting) hasn’t been working out in that regard. But I have something in the works. A way to incorporate it into my current schedule. And there are projects that I desperately want and need to be working on.

– Speaking of the writing, I don’t have many stories out right now, but I do have a few that I’ve been waiting a while on for responses. I’ve gotten used to the rejection inherent in my chosen pursuit, but the waiting, well, Tom Petty had it right. I don’t deal well with waiting. Frustration supreme.

– This week I participated in my first seder(s) in about a decade. And boy, do they take endurance. I consider myself a seasoned wine drinker, but they tested my limits. But the food, the ritual – I love it. Of course they’re a lot of work. But I love the story, the symbolism, the lessons inherent in the night’s activities. I’m not a religious person, but I do appreciate the rituals. It’s why, on Sunday, that I’ll take some comfort in the rituals of Easter.

– This week I also caught up with all the books in the Dresden Files. N introduced them to me and I started listening to the audiobooks back in December. In four months I’ve gone through 12 novels. Of course now I have to wait for the 13th book along with everyone else. But they’re fun books. Number 11, Turncoat, was my favorite.

– I think that’s enough of the updating for now. Need to save some for future posts…

I had such high hopes that I could update this regularly. Of course then things got very distracting. Work has become increasingly busy and then there’s the whole thing about looking for a new apartment.

I’ve decided that after three years of living in the same place in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, to look for a place elsewhere. So, at the beginning of April, the apartment hunt began.

There’s something both exciting and stressful about looking for apartments. It can be fun to get a glimpse at different places, to imagine what it would be like to live in a variety of different buildings and neighborhoods. It can be like getting a glimpse of parallel worlds, each one where you’re living in a different place.

Of course, in New York, it’s difficult to find the perfect place. There’s always something that’s not quite what you’re looking for. One place has the location, but not the space. Another has the space but is a 5th floor walkup. One has space and amenities but isn’t on the right subway line and the kitchen isn’t the best.

In the end you have to decide what’s the most important. What you can live with and what you can live without. But there’s a lot of doubt involved. Is this the right place? Can I take the chance of letting that place go?

I’m still hip-deep in it right now.

Wish me luck – hopefully by this time next week it will all be settled.

Of course then comes all the packing and the moving and the unpacking. But each thing in its own time.

Change, it is a-coming…

So I had written this long post about how I hadn’t time to update this blog – how I started a new job, how I’m looking for a new apartment, how I’ve taken a break since finishing my novel and how the words have been coming with difficulty. And then WordPress ate it. So, this will have to serve instead.

But it’s spring, the time of change, of new beginnings, and at the very least I intend to update this blog more.There are music shows to talk about, theatre, too, and of course books and writing.

As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

I’m behind in posting about this, but earlier this week, my story, “Card Sharp”, went up on Podcastle. I’ve narrated podcasts for Podcastle before, but this is the first time I’ve had a story of my own go up. The narration, by Wilson Fowlie, is excellent. I’m really pleased.

So far the reaction on the forums has been positive, so I’m pleased with that as well.

And, I can mention, that I’m working on a sequel…