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Jeff Baker, Boogieman in Lavender. Discipline, Control, Rejection and Other Things it Took Me a While to Figure Out

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Discipline. Control. Rejection, and Other Stuff It Took Me a While to Figure Out by Jeff Baker I’ve been writing in some form since I was in grade school. I actually sent something off to a contest in a kid’s magazine when I was about eight years old. Didn’t win. (Dick York was still on “Bewitched,” that’s how long ago this was.) In Junior High and High School I wrote comic book parodies in my notebook (in class. Yes, I know!) In High School I worked on the Yearbook and wrote for the school paper. Seeing my work in print … Read more

Seizing the Moment – Sources Of Inspiration

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One of the biggest complaints about getting a project done is time. There’s never enough of it. There’s always something happening, something distracting. I never know when a crisis is going to strike, diverting my attention from my writing With this in mind I’ve learned to seize the moment. When a chance comes to write, I grab it. I carry a notebook and a mechanical pencil with me wherever I go. I try to keep my current projects in mind. It’s only too easy for them to get buried beneath a pile of thoughts and anxieties about everything I need … Read more

“On Beyond Cisgender IV: Or, Shirley You Can’t Be Serious” – Boogieman in Lavender

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On Beyond Cisgender IV, or: Shirley You Can’t Be Serious by Jeff Baker AUTHOR’S NOTE: This is an occasional feature of this column where I spotlight (or at least mention) writers who aren’t in the White, Male, Cisgender paradigm as possible reading material for High School age readers. She was a housewife, a mother, a writer and (she claimed) a witch. Her work remains familiar today and may not be as obscure as some of the writers mentioned for “On Beyond Cisgender.” In fact when I was in Grade School in the 60s, her novels were still sought-out in school … Read more

U=(N/T)M*G: Ground

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Lot of stuff happening here on Earth. We’ve got all eyes on every corner of out little mud ball and it’s a pretty mixed bag of news. New variants and new launches to the ISS. Tardigrades and Bezos in space. Hell, we’ve even got Disney cycling back to their evil empire ways. So I’m gonna change pace a little and direct your eyes, or thoughts anyway, over to the ground game of two other planets. Yep. Our neighbors, Mars and Venus. Sure, their parties are a little more subdued than ours currently, but they’re still partying. Well, I say subdued, … Read more

Sources of Inspiration: My Characters

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Sometimes I fall into a funk where I just don’t want to write. I’ve learned that a major source of inspiration which can drag me out of that funk is my characters.  Recently I’ve been dealing with some harrowing events. Writing has been a challenge. Even caring about writing, which is so crucial to my well-being, sank into a murky depression.  My characters can pick up and reflect this depression. We’re very lucky, those characters and I, that there are others drifting in my imagination (or paddling and keeping afloat in the murk), willing to grab hold of the sinking … Read more

“See Jeff Write, Write, Jeff, Write” – Boogieman in Lavender

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“The Great Pause,” as Scott calls it, has been an opportunity for some. Extra time off of work, a chance to pursue other goals or re-invent oneself. For me, I lucked-out. I was able to, as they say in the biographies, “Quit His Job To Write” about a year ago, thanks to some savings and the need to help with some family who were pretty much confined to their retirement home. In the intervening year or so, I’ve managed to do a few columns (I do two monthly ones now!) as well as the weekly flash fictions but I almost … Read more

Sources of Inspiration: The Dark

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I’ve always imagined things in the dark, seen shapes taking form in the pitch black. I had to learn to allow my eyes to adjust, to see what was really there, picking out what was familar to quiet my imagination. Ever since I started working on Stealing Myself From Shadows and other stories, I’ve shut down that particular reassurance. To create a place where objects, monsters, mythical creatures, people lost to all but memory, and ideas themselves could manifest from, I’ve been tapping into my imagination, letting myself see what lurks in the dark, to try and translate it into … Read more

Fantasy TV – Boogieman In Lavender

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“Warning; this column contains spoilers.” —–Anonymous “Blast it, Madame!” —–Capt. Daniel Gregg Two (or is it three) of the greatest fantasy TV series may have gotten overlooked in both the mists of time and the glut of fantasies available for viewing now. And they have some (not-that-obvious LGBT connections.) First off; “Avatar, the Last Airbender,” a Nickelodeon cartoon created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko takes place in a mythical world based on Asian and martial-arts imagery, with just a bit of “The Wizard of Oz” thrown in (maybe unintentionally.) In the world of Avatar, the Earth is home … Read more

Sources Of Inspiration: Taking Action

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One thing which always fails is to simply wait for inspiration to come and find me. I’ve waited for months, even years, feelings the stories solidify inside me, unsure how to let them out while hoping for the right moment.  There has very seldom or ever been a right moment. If one comes, it’s when I’m taking some kind of action. If I want to be inspired, to get ideas, to do something with these ideas, I need to do something. Get up, move around, and think. Take a walk and consider what I want to write. Empty the dishwasher. … Read more

House, or Where’d My Watch Go? – Boogieman In Lavender

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Science fiction writers are by and large pretty rational people. So are fantasy writers. Isaac Asimov said something like: “Fantasy writers don’t talk with rabbits.” So, I assure the reader that I stand with both feet firmly planted on the ground. So take this information in the manner which it is offered: My house is haunted. It’s about sixty-five years old. Not ancient. It’s a small, suburban ranch-style home. Nothing Gothic. There’s no graveyard on the premises, no dark history of a brutal series of murders (not even one.) When the men replaced the roof last Fall they didn’t find … Read more