3 min read Newsletter

June- State of the Mur

Halloo folks.

I had several trips this spring, and then had to do edits on Infinite Archive which turned out to be expansive. I was exhausted and traveling and then trying to recover. And boom, it's summer.

I hope you've been having a good time in your neck of the woods, productive creation or relaxing consumption. The kid is home, having graduated with honors, summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, I dunno what else but we were very proud.

Now that the kid is home, we have been rewatching Brokenwood, playing co-op Stardew Valley (the 1.6 update!) and solo Baldur's Gate 3, and dealing with a sick dog -- who is improving. (Seriously, folks, get pet insurance for your pet. It makes a huge difference.)

Photo of black and white dog lying on a tiled floor.
3 knee surgeries, 2 dreadful skin infections, and allergy shots every 6 weeks. But she’s a good dog…

We got solar power installed on our house and are daily watching the app collect solar power and fill up our battery. It's almost as much fun as watching a front loading washing machine or a 3D printer. (IE- a very specific kind of soothing fun.)

Health has been less fun. On Mother's Day I went to the ER for abdominal pain and was diagnosed with gallstones. They considered taking it out that night, but decided that since I was feeling better, I could wait for not-emergency surgery.

My planned surgery is next Wednesday June the 26th. It's weird that on one hand, it's a very common laparoscopic surgery that is outpatient. On the other hand, I'll still be under general anesthesia and intubated and they're still poking holes in my abdomen, so I can't be too casual about this. Wish me luck.

Podcasts! What's coming up? I have been terrible at getting production done, so I've spent this week catching up. I'll be doling them out more frequently for the supporters so if you want podcasts early, then support now!

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The good news is that I have SO MANY podcasts in the backlog that you won't even notice I am taking time off surgery because I have this massive content buffer.

So be prepared for the upcoming:

I Should Be Writing Season 20

  • S.20Ep.16 Short Story Submissions and Surviving Rejections
  • S.20Ep.17 Navigating Novel Noodling and New Ideas
  • S.20Ep.18 Tarot Tales and Historical Trials with Susan Wands
  • S.20Ep.19* Deck of Worlds: Unleashing Creativity in Fiction
  • S.20Ep.20 Spreadsheets, Ghosts, and the Art of Outlining with James L. Sutter
  • S.20Ep.21 Embracing ADHD and Crafting Timelines with Mary PasqualeAnd Ditch Diggers is back! Season 10 begins with a new co-host!
  • S.10Ep.01 Ursula Vernon Takes Over: New Beginnings and No Cancer!
  • S.10Ep.02 Book Tours, TikTok, and Twitter Tantrums

*ISBW Episode 19 is stronger in video, so I am going to try to put that out as well.

I'm going through the archives to clean them up as best I can. My shows are no longer part of Far Point Media (I don't think they exist anymore), so I can get rid of those tags, and I think I've done my duty as per my fifteen-year-old agreement to GoTo Meeting** so I'm killing those tags when I can find them. And if things still sound like crap, well, then, I try to fix that too. So far I have edited Seasons 1 and 6. (don't ask why I don't do them in order. It's an executive function thing that even I don't understand.)

My goal is to get a good spreadsheet going to maybe make a wiki.

Twitch Streaming

I have been very bad about keeping up with streaming, but I'll be getting back on the horse next week.

  • M: 3pm- Live Ditch Diggers with Ursula Vernon!
  • T: 3pm- Baldur's Gate 3, Astarion and the Sunshine Band
  • W: 3pm- Solo RPG (starting July 3)
  • Th: 3pm- Live I Should Be Writing [July 4 tentative; federal holiday] 

(All times EDT)

Upcoming appearances:

  • July 18-20: NASFiC in Buffalo, NY
  • August 8-12: WorldCon in Glasgow, Scotland
  • August 23-25: Bubonicon in Albuquerque, NM (Guest of Honor with TJ Klune, and Ursula Vernon and Kevin Sonney as Toastmasters!)
  • October 16-20: World Fantasy Con in Niagara Falls, NY
  • December 6-8: PAX Unplugged (tentative; attendee)
  • April 1, 2025 Infinite Archive launch! Flyleaf Books, Chapel Hill, NC (tentative)

And that's it for me! Stay cool, be kind, and I hope to see you around this summer!

~Mur

**holy CRAP they are still in business. How did they miss the opportunity to explode with the pandemic? Major opportunity lost there, I'd say.

Mur Lafferty

Mur Lafferty