Hey, wow! Cool! I get to have one of these because I’m going to be showing up at places as an artist. (And a business owner.)

That being said, you’ll be able to see me at:

Virginia Comicon at Richmond Raceway on August 29th. Click here for tickets. (Look for Golden Fleece Press)

First Fridays in front of Prospero’s Books in Old Town Manassas Sept. 4th. 6-9PM (Free) (Look for Golden Fleece Press.)

My books will be available at the above and also at:

The DC Big Flea at the Dulles Expo Center in Chantilly, VA September 19-20.

Prospero’s Books Old Town Manassas.

Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Powell’s, Golden Fleece Press, and pretty much anywhere else you can think of that sells books. (Maybe as a special order as opposed to on the shelf, but your local bookseller should be able to order me.)

So, Spacey Zimmerman has her first story out and you might want to check it out:

Red Tides the first story in the “Romancing the Rainbow” series. (Free stories from By Passion Shorn authors)

Adults only please! By clicking the above, you agree that you are over 18 and legal in your jurisdiction.

Chuck Wendig has an excellent post on media & fear. You should go read it. (Language warning as always with Chuck W.)

 

Fear as a momentary response has value.

Fear as a long-term emotional strategy destroys you.

I recently realized that I just haven’t been posting on any of my blogs. (Except for well-defined series that I have prepped until some point next year on a different blog. And the one where I’m sharing responsibility for posting. I seem to be able to manage those.)

I decided to step back and figure out why that was and what I could do to fix the issue.

I gave myself hurdles. Serious ones for this blog. I wanted to only post well-researched bits and pieces. Oh, sure, I started the music thing on Sundays. (Which reminds me — I need to prep a few more of those.) I also said that I didn’t want to write about writing.

But I’m a writer. It’s something I enjoy. Why hamstring myself more than necessary?

Deep reason – I don’t want to come off as shallow? No, though it’s true enough in its way. The reason is that I feel terribly exposed because I’ve put my name on the blog for once. I de-anoned all of my blogs. Now, I feel that the people I know will judge me based, not only on the quality of my writing, but the content. I am a very, very private person. The switch to the new, exhibitionist/extroverted world of social media has left me clawing for my shell and trying to hide under my nice, safe rock.

The upshot of all of this blather is: I am committing to posting once a week for the rest of the year. It might be about writing, or music, or politics, so long as its something new.

My pal Christina has a great piece for anyone who’s an ancestry subscriber. Go check it out:

How to Take Advantage of Ancestry.com’s Free Record Collection Promos

Every so often, Ancestry.com will run special promotions where they offer free access to select historical record collections. At the time of this writing, they are currently running the promo for record collections from the Original 13 Colonies for Independence Day weekend, but the advice below will serve as well for any other free access promotion they offer in the future.

This post is most beneficial to Ancestry users with existing accounts and fairly extensive family trees who do not currently have a paid subscription. If you are new to Ancestry, the information won’t be as helpful because it might be easier for you to use the individual search option that Ancestry already provides.

My friend Tam has an excellent post on the Pine Ridge Shootout. Go read it now.

And I know it’s almost greedy to want anything else from our government, from our justice department this week. I know that in times like these when we FINALLY get things right, we should just say thank you, kind sir, and roll around in our affordable health care and our rainbow flags without the shadow of the Confederate flag in our sunshine backdrop. I get that. The last thing I want to do is put a damper on that.

But, well you see… While celebrating Friday’s Supreme Court ruling and jumping from Facebook to Twitter to see all the love and encouragement–and to laugh at Antonin Scalia (poor thing)–I was also reminded of something else that happened on that day–June 26th–forty years before: The Pine Ridge shootout.

The shoot out between FBI, AIM (American Indian Movement) and GOONS (Guardians of the Oglala Nation) ended with two FBI and one tribe member being killed.