My latest — and last, at least for a while — installment of The Craft is up. As it’s time for me to move it along, I thought I’d discuss moving right along:

Getting on with it has been on my mind a lot lately. Which is kind of odd, really, because I get on with it on a regular basis, thank you very much. Nonetheless, I still struggle with action-versus-inaction.

For me, there are two parts to getting on with it. There’s the obvious part, the “just do it” part, which, I’ll note with a wry smile, is really more about making good work habits for yourself, despite what blowhards on the Internet might tell you. Then there’s the not-so-obvious part — the mental part.

More here. Archives will remain here. Lookit! They gave me the cute graphic, too:

I’ve had a blast writing this column, but I’m running out of things that I Absolutely Must Share With You. The one requirement for myself made when I took this gig was “no filler”. I fricking hate it when columnists are clearly just phoning them in and filling space; when the well is dry, it’s time to call it a day.

I’m sure I have more columns in me, but they won’t rear their cute heads bi-weekly. Luckily, the lovely Drew Melbourne and the rest of the Scryptic lads will keep my shingle a-hangin’ for when the mood strikes. Thank you, guys!

And much, much thanks to everyone who has read the column and passed it on to others. I hope it helped!

Okay, so much for yesterday’s flurry. Here’s today’s list:

1. I found another paper-based blog, papersnobbery, via Moleskinerie. Hooray! And here’s one more reason to hop on over to Rome. Yeah, yeah, as if you need it.

2. Spent a lovely Monday evening out with Endicotter Helen Pilinovsky and friends. Helen gave a talk at MoCCA on fairy tales and comic books that had us all riveted, then we all adjourned to Dojo on West 4th for yummy food and conversation. Always good to spend time with Helen and Liz. Leland and I will mostly likely be back for Mr. Kaluta’s talk on the 12th. He joined us for dinner, too, and I have to say I was quite bowled over with the news of his latest project, which I forgot to ask him if I could share here, so I probably ought not. Hopefully, it’ll suffice to say that it sounds awsome.

3. The lastest round of Endicott reviews are up! Go forth and read, then go buy books and read more.

Ten days of lost time, that is. Well, okay, not really lost, but without updates. Which is kind of like lost, on the Internet.

Hope you all had a good Thanksgiving. Ours was delicious and spent in fabulous company, then we were off to Portland for the quickest of weekend turnarounds in honor of Leland’s father’s 70th birthday. We got in at 7 am yesterday morning. I got to recover and write my last column, which will be up later today, but Leland had to work all day. Slowly catching up on sleep and correspondence and trying not to panic that it’s almost Yule.

There might be a flurry of little updates today. We’ll see.

Oh look — a book about writing by Samuel R. Delany. Where’d that come from?

See, what’s weird is the fact that, despite her being my favorite female singer for over a decade and my longtime pick as Best Contemporary Female Singer, I am so not a Kristin Hersh groupie. I rarely, if ever, go to her site, which is definitely how I missed the fact that she’s given it a revamp (make that a strip-down) and now has a a blog. Well, slap me silly or call me a monkey’s uncle. Or both.

She’s got archives dating back to August, so I suppose I’m not that out of the loop, but still… I missed a solo performance at the Knitting Factory last month. This is a serious bummer, as I’ve really wanted Leland to see her, acoustic-style (he actually went to a performance of her latest full-frontal-rock-rage endeavor, 50 Foot Wave, and while I love that Kristin knows how to get loud, I love her acoustic live shows even more). Ah, well. She always comes back to New York.

Now for the exciting news: she’s making another Appalachian folk song record! Here’s what she has to say about it, in an August blog entry:

“Meanwhile, now that the ‘new Wave’ material is in Bernie and Rob’s hands, I’ve fallen completely under the spell of Murder, Misery II. These amazing old folk songs will NOT stop playing in my head, something I’ve never experienced with songs that aren’t my own.

I think it’s that they’re so comfortable…moving without being emotionally manipulative. The southern accent I work so hard to hide slips out gently, without dropping my IQ a single point. And I’m not even drunk! I guess there’s a part of me that never left the little white house in Georgia where I was born.”

“Moving without being emotionally manipulative.” YES! Damn, cats & kittens, wish I’d thought of it.

I’ll have fun picking through the archives. I haven’t read a whole lot of Kristin’s written voice. Pleasantly surprising but not really a surprise (more of an “oh, of course!”), her missives here remind me a lot of my best friend Bee.

Maybe that’s me projecting? I love them girls, so I don’t really care…

Nipped from Mr. Wood’s LJ:

Comic Book DB

Most of you know that I’m a sucker for a good notebook and that Moleskines hover near the top of my list. As such, I loiter around “Moleskine porn” sites like Moleskinerie, Moleskine Art (which is gorgeous, despite the lack of organization and the image-heavy front page), and the barely updated Journalisimo. There’s a lot of inspiration to be gleaned from the creativity on these sites, but even more than that, I have to chuckle (with recognition, you understand) at the zeal and glee with which folks preach the gospel of their note-taking. For some, it’s a true obsession.

My favorite bit of the moment has to be this video, in which a vengeful badass with very out-of-date sunglasses scribbles his target’s location in his Moleskine, then stomps off into the sunset, presumably to eviscerate said target. “A wide selection of styles to suit your vengefull [sic] needs,”we’re told.

Maybe he plans to throw the book at him/her/them/it?

Moleskine dorkery scales to new heights!

Behold, my first mixtape for you all. No big fancy theme or nothin’, just some of my favorite folk songs. Folk music folks will undoubtedly have some of these already. Maybe I’ll get all obscure for the next one. Or maybe not. Who knows.

Also, no telling how long the tape will be up. I may take it down when I make the next one, or I may not. I’m fickle like that, so get while the gettin’s good.

Liner notes are here.

(Must credit Alex de Campi with the mix tape idea. Alex posts mixes of her own every month; her latest is all about the classic blues ladies, so be sure to check it out.)

Leland and I had a grand old time at this month’s KGB reading, featuring Judith Berman and Joe Hill. We’d met Judith at World Fantasy, and Terri loved her new (first!) novel, BEAR DAUGHTER (I’ve got my copy here, waiting patiently for some love, or at least a few free minutes), so we didn’t want to miss this chance to hear her read. Meanwhile, I’ve been anxiously awaiting my copy of Joe’s much ballyhooed first fiction collection, 20th Century Ghosts; I’ve heard nothing but good things about it (and it’s a book of ghost stories, go figure), so his presence only sweetened the deal. I even picked up a second copy of said book, since I’m quite tired of waiting for the first to show up in the mail. Any day now, my keister.

Liz was in the house, and reminded me that fellow Endicotter Helen Pilinovsky has a talk at MoCCA next week, so we’ll be at that. We also ran into writer Avi Bar-Zeev, whom I haven’t seen in a while; it was good to catch up with him and watch he and Leland have a conversation.

Lastly, we met Stephen Segal, editor of the upcoming Earthling, a mainstream magazine aimed at all us slightly-but-not-too-much-off-kilter speculative and genre fiction fans. It’s designed to fill the gaping hole in current genre coverage (including specifically targeting the lassies), and believe me, cats and kittens, it looks great. Color me excited. Nothing much on the website yet, but Stephen promises that there will be teaser content before their launch in early 2006.

In other less exciting news, my holiday soldering iron arrived. Time to make the gifties. Good thing, too, as I feel like getting my hands dirty this weekend.

Latest column is up:

“Writing is about re-writing, he said. All of this process stuff is “front brain stuff.” Front brain stuff should come later. The first draft should come from your back brain. The hindbrain, if you will. Write from the front brain then, and you’ll end up with TV characters. (Note: “TV characters” don’t belong on TV or in novels.)

Writing is a process that’s fraught with complications, many of which lend themselves to neuroses. Wouldn’t it be nice to just write for a change? Well, you can. Stop thinking.”

The “he” in the first sentence is Graham Joyce. There’s a bit on World Fantasy in there, too.

More here. Archives here. As always, if you dig these columns, pass ‘em on.

One more column to go.

Attention, mes amis! My friend Ron Hogan (of Beatrice.com fame) has written a book, and by golly, it has hit the shelves!

THE STEWARDESS IS FLYING THE PLANE!

It’s a retrospective of 70’s movies. And it’s an Amazon Best of 2005 pick.

Go, Ron, go!