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# Roxanne Skelly

Writings...

## Sitemaps

- [XML Sitemap](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/sitemap.xml): Contains all public & indexable URLs for this website.

## Posts

- [Blog](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/blog/) - Hey, My name is Nora Winslow Keene, and I’m a committed public interest attorney. Living in Denver, Colorado, I’ve spent years championing the rights of underrepresented workers. A graduate of Stanford University, I played a key role in securing critical protections for agricultural laborers, ensuring better wages and access to healthcare. My work has focused
- [It's been a while](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/2025/09/01/its-been-a-while/) - Highlights of the last eight years.
- [Why I Gave Up on NaNoWriMo](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/2017/11/21/why-i-gave-up-on-nanowrimo/) - This year, I set out to do NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). I’m not a stranger to it. A few years ago, I even succeeded in writing a 50 thousand word novel in a month. It was utter crap, as NaNoWriMo projects often are. And this year, I stopped after about 7 thousand words.
- [A Critique of Critique Groups](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/2017/10/05/critique-groups/) - I've been attending writing critique groups for a few years now, and while this by no means makes me an expert in critiquing, I am an expert in my own personal experiences while attending these groups. I've written some of my thoughts in this post.
- [Eclipse 2017!](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/2017/08/23/eclipse-2017/) - Went eclipse watching this last weekend. Some highlights include: Coyotes laughing at us every two hours while we tried to sleep. A cold cold cold night. An epic 12 hour drive home. Forgetting pillows. Sound horrible? Not even close. It was absolutely amazing. Photos like the one above (my favorite), our little dog Bridget had
- [An Untended Compliment](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/2017/07/04/an-untended-compliment/) - "You're doing your job, but you're not enthusiastic, and you're clearly not happy." A few weeks ago, I was given some feedback at work. I suspect the intent was to 'motivate' me to do better. But honestly, part of me is taking it as a compliment.
- [It's Alive!](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/2017/05/01/its-alive/) - "Throw the switch, Igor!" "Yes master." Stitched together from the words of countless blog posts, the abomination twitches on the slab as electricity courses through the thoughts and edits, bringing something akin to life. Or unlife. Some pieces may be missing, some changed to make them fit, but the creature animates none the less, in
- [NaNoWriMo - National Novel Writing Month](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/2011/10/04/nanowrimo-national-novel-writing-month/) - NaNoWriMo is right around the corner, ready to jump me and beat me into a pulp. This'll be my first time, and I'm gonna do my best. It'll be tough, as I'll be vacationing in New Orleans for the first week. I'm hoping that I can get an hour or two in per day when
- [NaNoWriMo - Dystopian Cyberpunk at 1667 Words a Day](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/2011/10/24/nanowrimo-dystopian-cyberpunk-at-1667-words-a-day/) - Well, NaNoWriMo is only a week away, and it's time to start preparations. I stumbled a bit on my current project as I didn't properly do my homework before starting. The big thing, well, I didn't sufficiently flesh out some of the characters. I did an outline and wrote most of the novel with a rather
- [Sucker Punch](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/2011/11/14/sucker-punch/) - Taking a moment out of my NaNo writing for a little rant. I avoided going to see SuckerPunch in the movie theater as the reviews were an endless flood of 'this is the worst movie ever made.' I was skeptical that it would unseat Ulli Lommel's "The Raven" or Highlander II : The Sickening. Regardless, I
- [Roxie's Plan to Conquer Mars](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/2011/07/25/roxie-s-plan-to-conquer-mars/) - I've been working on a plan to conquer mars for some time (if the zombie apocalypse doesn't materialize). I like the color red, and Mars is a really cool place. First, it's gonna take time to conquer entire planets, starting with Mars and moving on to Earth (and maybe beyond). Patience is a virtue. 2030 - Medical
- [The Seattle Freeze](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/2011/07/05/the-seattle-freeze/) - Hope everyone had a good independence day! So, Stacy and I ended up chatting about the Seattle Freeze. I don't remember exactly why, but I thought it was an interesting topic, and I've heard about it from numerous people, so hey, why not drop my thoughts in a blog post. Seattle folk may seem polite, even
- [Review: Black Blade Blues by J.A. Pitts.](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/2011/07/12/review-black-blade-blues-by-ja-pitts/) - Black Blade Blues by J.A. Pitts My rating: 4 of 5 stars I picked up this book after I sat in on a norwescon session on gender in speculative fiction. J.A. Pitts was the sole male representative on that panel, and after hearing the discussion on the challenges of stepping outside ones gender in writing
- [Confessions of a Night Walker](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/2013/09/25/confessions-of-a-night-walker/) - Hello. My name is Roxanne, and I'm a nightwalker. (this is where y'all say "Hi Roxanne" and clap). No, I'm not talking about being a vampire. Or a sleepwalker. I'm just nocturnal. Don't get me wrong, I do like the sun. I really do. It's a really great thing. But...I'm really at my best at
- [Coffee shop Writing](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/2008/09/21/coffee-shop-writing/) - I don't know what it is about writing in coffee shops. I've seen many writers recommend finding a quiet corner at home, away from distractions. Turn off the internet, grab a spot of tea, shut out the world. I don't know about you, but I need more stimulation to get the mental juices flowing. I need music. I've put together a soundtrack that works for the mood of my current project. Music I'm familiar with. I suspect new music might really distract me, but no music at all simply wouldn't put me in the emotional space I need to write. Caffein helps. I need my mocha, iced or hot. It's comforting yet energizing. And strangely enough, I like having people around me when I write. I don't want the distraction of socializing with friends or acquaintances, but having people around helps me write about people. I've always enjoyed people-watching, you learn so much. The challenge, balance the distraction of people-watching with the hard work of writi...
- [Video Game OST tracks FTW.](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/2013/01/26/video-game-ost-tracks-ftw/) - Some of my favorite video game soundtracks... What's the World Come To. - Zac Belica/Sarah Ravenscroft - Sin: Emergence Swamped. - Lacuna Coil - Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines Still Alive - Lisa Miskovsky - Mirrors Edge Isolated - Chiasm - Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines Electric Worry - Clutch - Left for Dead 2
- [I'm Followin' James Bond!](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/2011/08/17/i-m-followin-james-bond/) - I rather like to travel. Really, I do. And I've picked up this lifetime goal of traveling to all of the locations used in James Bond movies. Not the exact locations, but the cities or general areas. Here's what I got so far: London/England - pretty much every film Istanbul - From Russia with Love, The
- [What the F* is happening in the software industry in Seattle!!!](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/2009/01/24/what-the-f-is-happening-in-the-software-industry-in-seattle/) - Last few days, Microsoft laid off 1,400 people, with another 3k to come. F5 is laying off 100. A number of months ago, Real let go a hundred and something folk. I've a bit of experience with Microsoft, having spent most of my career in the 90's at that behemoth as both a blue-badge (twice),
- [Why do I like urban fantasy?](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/2011/05/26/why-do-i-like-urban-fantasy/) - I read a lot of urban fantasy. Almost exclusively. I read it on the bus. I read it at lunch. I read it in the bathtub.And I'm now writing it... How about that.Let's be honest. Most urban fantasy isn't thought-provoking or world-changing. Many wouldn't even consider it literature. Plots aren't complex. The prose is often
- [NaNoWriMo Retrospective, and my dystopian cyberpunk project.](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/2011/12/02/nanowrimo-retrospective-and-my-dystopian-cyberpunk-project/) - Been somewhat quiet this last month as I've been heads down in NaNoWriMo, the National Novel Writing Month. Why write blog posts, given a deadline of 50k words in a month on a single new story. Well, I didn't quite make it. 37,924 words. Still, that 37,924 f*ing words. Wow. Towards the end, I was
- [Syrtis Minor...Now over 50k words.  I'm a NanoWrimo Winner](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/2012/11/29/syrtis-minornow-over-50k-words-i-m-a-nanowrimo-winner/) - Just passed 50k words in my NanoWrimo Novel Syrtis Minor.It's a murder mystery/adventure set on Mars in 2050. Bunch of scientists, engineers, and the like. Of course they're gonna kill each other off.I'm a NanoWrimo Winnder!
- [Insomnia Sux](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/2012/09/02/insomnia-sux/) - Okay, I went and got my schedule all turned around. Insufficient sleep for the last two weeks, and poor sleep at that. I finally crashed last night, woke up at four, and here I am, almost five in the morning and still awake. Gah.
- [Hey, i've started writing again.](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/2009/04/23/hey-i-ve-started-writing-again/) - I know you're not supposed to do this, but I've started a new story, and my other one isn't done yet.I just sorta lost steam on the other story. It didn't have 'fun,' and it was a bit too dark. So, I've started off in another direction, writing a fun urban fantasy type o thing. I love the genre, it's fun, it's exciting, and it allows for a bit more 'creativity' than other more down to earth genres. I've been outlining my story, and that is going well. It's just pouring from me. If I can get a decent outline done in a few days, I'll start turning into something more, which should be pretty easy once I have a good idea where I want to go.Now, if only I can avoid lifes other distractions.
- [To Jaw, or not To Jaw](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/2008/09/09/to-jaw-or-not-to-jaw/) - For my first post, I'll describe some interesting events of the last few weeks. 2 and a half weeks ago, I went in for orthognathic jaw surgery. Prepare for the gruesome details.... Dr. Bloomquist separated my upper jaw from the rest of my skull, just under the nose, and moved it sideways and untwisted it a bit for the upper part of my bite correct. And he moved my chin and lower jaw forward to correct an overbite. Gruesome, but not as gruesome as the first day after. Honestly, for the first two days, I questioned my decision to have this work done. It was not a pleasant time. The pain was under control with medication, of course. But the swelling, stuffiness, and the simple amount of blood coming from my mouth and nose. That is not something I want to go through again. I looked like I'd kissed a baseball bat at high speed. For days, my nose slowly dripped blood, the result of a breathing tube forced through my nose, around my sinuses, and down my throat. My face l
- [The show must go on](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/2008/09/11/the-show-must-go-on/) - This afternoon, I dropped by my surgeon for my 3 week checkup. He was quite pleased, my healing is coming along well, my bite is excellent, I'm keeping my mouth clean. The nurses and other staff were more than pleased. They were amazed. The nurse indicated that I looked like I much farther along in my healing process, much father than the mere 3 weeks I'm sitting at now. It's my vampiric healing abilities. Or perhaps my X gene, like Wolverine. This evening, I attended Roxy and Jessies House of Dolls variety show for the first time in 3 weeks. The show opened with The Royal Knights, a drag king troupe from tacoma. They did a great job, with a few pop numbers, a few hip-hop numbers, and even a country number. After a break, they started the Superstar Diva Contest. Really great performances by all. One thing was missing, of course. Bellydancing. Specifically me. I've probably another month of recovery before I can think about performing. I do miss it, bu
- [Cthulhu](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/2008/09/12/cthulhu/) - We went to see a free preview of the movie Cthulhu yesterday. It's a new take on the classic by H.P. Lovecraft, set in a small town on the Oregon coast. Written by Seattle local Grant Cogswell, it was shot in Seattle and Astoria, Oregon with a number of not so well know local actors. There are some interesting deviations from the Lovecraft classic. Of course, the setting is Oregon which is quite different than Lovecraft's original take. It's set in current times. And the most striking change, especially in this day and age, is the protagonist, Russ. He's gay. The movie opens with Russ looking out the window of his Pike Place apartment after reading a letter announcing his mothers death. A young 'club boy' lays in his bed, and upon hearing of Russ's loss, simply gives him a 'that sucks' followed by a request for $20. Russ returns to his hometown in Oregon, where he renews his relationship with his childhood friend, which moves fr
- [Writing difficult topics](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/2008/09/14/writing-difficult-topics/) - Some of you may know, I've started writing fiction. It's been a dream of mine to tell stories in one way or another. I've touched on it with video, and I've always wanted to try my hand at writing video games. Both of those require equipment, money, and possibly coworkers. Writing, however, requires a brain and something to get stories on paper. My choice, as with most writers these days, is a laptop. Anyway, I've been working on a project that's on some edgy topics. Drugs, prostitut
- [Yeuch](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/2008/09/16/yeuch/) - Note to self:If your doctor says take your medication at the same time every day, simply taking it in the 'morning' after you wake up isn't good enough, especially if you wake up one day at 1PM, and the next at 9AM.The dizzy spells and nausea are just not worth it.
- [Solid Food!](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/2008/09/18/solid-food/) - Finally, after all these weeks, solid food. Last night, Stacy's parents took us out to Beth's, my favorite 24 hour greasy spoon. Scrambled eggs are easy, but I was also able to stomach the hash browns and wheat toast. Not too much, though. After 3 weeks of liquid food, my stomach has shrunk to the size of, er, a very small stomach. Today for lunch? Fried rice from the Vietnamese restaurant near my work. And Dinner? We all went out to Thai Siam, my favorite Thai place. Seriously, go there, the food is divine. The Thai food was a challenge to eat. Vegetables are not forgiving. And Phad Thai just gets caught in my braces. The won ton soup went down well, though. I'm going to continue my predominantly liquid diet, though. I'm about 13 pounds down from where I was 3 weeks ago.
- [none](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/2008/09/20/none/) - Yarrrrrrr!
- [16 and counting](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/2008/09/22/16-and-counting/) - What can I say. Liquid diet, I'm down 16 pounds since before surgery. (20 from a few months ago) Holy crap on a crap sandwich (which I can't eat). It's only been a month. My clothes are getting kinda loose, and clothes which I've not been able to wear in awhile are fitting well. Oh, and a number of outfits that I bought a bit ago that were overly ambitious, they're starting to fit too. Should be interesting when I go back to bellydancing. Perhaps I'll perform on Wednesday at Neighbors. Maybe I'll get that 4-pack. I did manage to go to Red Robin last night and eat a portion of a small hamburger, as well as some fries. Kinda rough on my teeth, and it filled me up quickly, but it was nice. In other news, well, there's no other news. Not much time for other news right now.
- [We're dodging the bullet so far...](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/2008/09/23/we-re-dodging-the-bullet-so-far/) - We've a few extra months before the end of the universe. The Hadron Supercollider had a mechanical issue, putting off the end of the world for a bit. No planet-eating black holes. No spawning of new universes in Switzerland. Whew. Ok, we'll fall into some Star Trek like spacial anomaly in a few months, but at least I won't miss Halloween. In other news, I reformatted my current writing project to 'standard' manuscript format, double spaced with a readable font, 1" margins, etc. I'm at 96 pages...yikes. And so many more to go. It's like giving birth, I tell ya. Now for some fun drinks when you go out on the town: Black Orchid: rum, tequila, vodka, gin poured into a pint glass with ice. A squirt of blue curacao and grenadine. (different from the traditional recipe, but my favorite) Tokyo Iced Tea: rum, tequila, vodka, gin with Midori Irish Car Bomb: A shot glass of Baileys an
- [Surreal Punk](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/2008/09/29/surreal-punk/) - Last night, I dropped by a CD Release party a friend was putting together for Upchuck, Gone but Not Forgiven.The CD is a posthumous release honoring Upchuck, a Seattle punk icon from way back. He was cut down by AIDS in 1991, a tragic loss to the Seattle punk scene. Gay, known for wild punk-glamour costumes, and generally over the top, it was apparent he was very much loved by the crowd that attended. While I never saw Upchuck play, as I w
- [Bitten, Kelley Armstrong](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/2008/10/09/bitten-kelley-armstrong/) - I just finished Kelley Armstrong's 'Bitten', first of her 'Women of the Underworld' series. The novel centers around Elena, the only female werewolf, who's left her pack to live a 'human' life in Toronto. She's called back to her pack to help deal with some killings, and she reluctantly goes. A steamy but difficult reunion with an old lover, a bunch of murder, and general werewolf fun. The book didn't really grab me at first. The characters initially seemed somewhat shallow. Elena, young woman journalist in Toronto, etc. Her lover? A bit too perfect. After a few chapters, however, Elena became much more interesting. Hey. She's a werewolf. She's a werewolf dealing with other werewolves. How interesting is that? Yes, there are many other w
- [G & G](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/2008/10/13/g-g/) - Stacy and I visited Grandpa and Grandma today.My Grandfather is unfortunately on hospice care as he has a large tumor on his colon, as well as one on his liver. He's only just started to experience the pain from that, so he's not on heavy drugs yet, and isn't too loopy yet.He seemed ok during our visit. He was a bit frustrated as he was shivering for no reason during his dinner, which made it difficult to hold his food, but his cornball sense of humor did show through a bit. He looks a bit rough, but still not bad enough that I'm forced to deal with what's really going to happen to him in the next few months.Afterwards, we visited Grandma Jean. She's been fighting diabetes for 10 years, and a slow blood cancer for the last 4. And recently, she's developed some calcification within her spinal canal, giving her severe back pain. Given she was on the last day of a week of chemo, she looked ok. We did talk about medical challenges for an hour or so, as that's a large
- [I'm a Linden...](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/2008/10/15/i-m-a-linden/) - I've just been bursting to tell the world, but I've kept this news hush-hush so it didn't leak to my current management.I'm now a Linden, as in Linden Lab! I received an accepted an offer from them on Friday.Far more secure than the Startup I'm currently at. They've nearly 280 employees, are profitable, and have plenty of work to be done.And, hey, I'll be making 10% more than I am now. An amount appropriate for my experience level. Take that, glass ceiling.The interview process was intense.A phone interview with the hiring manager (who's really cool), followed by 3 in person interviews with people in the Seattle office, followed by a tech phone interview with one of the Mountain View people. Then they flew me out to SF for the day to interview with the main team. My new manager plus 7 others. They were all really cool.I'll be starting on the 3rd of November, and will be in SF during the weeks for a month or so. Yay frequent flier miles.
- [Yay, I'm Roxie Linden](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/2008/10/21/yay-i-m-roxie-linden/) - Yep, that's my avatar name in Second Life.
- [A notable day.  Or not.](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/2008/10/25/a-notable-day-or-not/) - Today was my last day at Skytap. As a workday, well, the only real things of note were eating lunch with some coworkers...In a nice little New Orleans type restaurant on the same block. I had no idea the food was so good there.And, well, the Guinness at Owl and Thistle after work.My emotions are very mixed. I'm sad that I'll no longer work with my great coworkers, unless the wild world of software brings us together again. A great weight has lifted from my shoulders. I no longer need to feel the downside of that particular situation. I'm excited, giddy almost, to be moving on to a job that may very well be my dream job.I'm sure the full impact of the change won't hit me for a few weeks. We'll see.
- [Catching Up](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/2008/11/02/catching-up/) - Ok, it's been over a week since my last post. I've no excuse, I've been between jobs, relaxing at home. Oh well.Last night I went to Catherine and Jeffry's wedding. Very nice and very unique. I was a gothic affair. The crowd was a sea of black, with a touch of red and purple thrown in for variety. Leather corsets, vinyl ball gowns and velvet were de rigeur. The groom wore a very classy antique british military uniform. Cavalry I believe. Red, with a black hat and sword to boot.The bride wore a custom hoop skirt affair, all black and beautiful, with a wonderful large fluffy hat.The event was decorated in dia de los muertos fashion, with sugar skulls and an alter to Mary. It definitely reflected Catherine. Lots of fun people watching, and good friends.As far as Hallowe'en, I attended the Merc in my warrior princess outfit. I had to sacrifice 2 leather jackets and hours of sewing to make it, but I'm rather happy with the result. A nice, well worn look
- [Wadda week...](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/2008/11/09/wadda-week/) - So, I'm past my first week at my new job.It's been an exhausting, incredible week. I'm working the weeks in San Francisco, and last Sunday I flew down. They've put me up in a 'Business Dorm.' That's the best way to describe it. It's not primitive by any means, but it has very limited amenities. No bath, only a shower. Very small bathroom. Small television. It does have a decent sized desk, however, and a huge bed. Very functional, but that's all.It is only about 5 blocks from work, and it's just over one block from the Transamerica building, that big pointy one that's one of San Francisco's landmarks. An easy walk to work, with plenty of Starbucks on the way, not that I like Charbu...er...Starbucks.Work will reimburse me for my expenses, including food. Honestly, though, if I did use up my entire food budget, I'd be three hundred pounds by the time I left SF. The food is great.Work was amazing. I met far too many people, and there's no way I'll remember
- [Working Way Lots](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/2008/11/21/working-way-lots/) - So I've not been posting very often, as my new job has been quite busy. I'm pretty tired when I get back to the hotel, and all I can think about is getting dinner. I'm usually one of the last to leave work around 7:30, although I get in at 10, so that's not so bad. I've even worked from the hotel room.Why am I working so much? Well, of course in the first weeks you need to prove yourself. And the product is very complicated and there's lots to learn. But most important, I'm having fun. I've even spent a few hours simply building in-world. I've rented some space for a month so I can do my building, and I'll move everything to Linden Villiage once I've received my land allocation. The ops guys are way busy, so they take some time to get around to that stuff.Cool thing is, I get a complimentary non-linden account, which I can use for normal SL stuff such as sales, so maybe I can build some cool things and make some extra scratch...Anyway, the technology is rea
- [Zoom](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/2008/11/26/zoom/) - Well, lately I have what Stacy calls Zoom. Energy and motivation to do stuff. Since I've been home this week, I've been able to: Finish cleaning out the hot tub Get the hot tub to power up Fix an issue with the hot tub heating (the circulation pump was clogged) Start cleaning/organizing stuff in the basement Cook borscht Start cooking for thanksgiving. All of this while I'm putting in productive days at my job. What's different? Well, lemme guess. I've noticed I've had 'zoom' in the past periodically. Always when I don't have job stress of the social or political nature. Job stress entailing challenging problems, well, that energizes, but social and political job stress really saps my soul. The only place where my zoom is lacking? I've spend barely any time writing in the last month.
- [Good grief.](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/2009/01/06/good-grief/) - It's been a million years since I've made a post. Bad Roxie, bad. I've been rather busy at work. Lots of development work to do, and, well, I'm rather motivated. I'm still in the honeymoon period in my job and I'm finding I really want to dive into it. When I get home, I'm spending my time learning more about Second Life. Techniques in building (creating structures, items, etc. in-world), scripting (making those objects do interesting things), 3d sculpting and texture building and so on. Gotta learn what the product is. I should probably do that during my normal day, but that's turning out to be rather busy. All of that, and, well, I just don't have the zoom to come up with anything interesting to say. Worse, I've only taking time to work on my fiction project a few times in the past few months. I blame that on my random schedule, both due to the holidays and due to travel. Ah, the holidays. Well, any holiday plans we had were completely derailed due to
- [It's official "Cry Little Sister" day](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/2009/03/30/it-s-official-cry-little-sister-day/)
- [I'm writin' again...](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/2009/04/07/i-m-writin-again/) - Managed to turn out a whole 800 words today (well, I only wrote for 45 minutes).Let's see if I can do it again tomorrow...perhaps 1000 words.
- [To go where no one has gone before.](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/2009/05/12/to-go-where-no-one-has-gone-before/) - Saw the new Star Trek movie last night. While I'm no trekkie, I did spend my childhood watching the reruns of the first series, as and I've watched pretty much all of the other ones. As well as the movies. This one definitely kept to the tradition of 'even movies are the good ones.'I thought it was great. The actors they found for Spock, Kirk, Uhura, Scottie, Sulu, Bones, Chekov, well they were all right on. I loved the old-school Kirk, getting into fights, chasing women, and so on. And Spock, well, we've always known he's the most emo of the entire crew.Kirk on earth, living in Iowa, well that was cool. Especially the bar fight and corvette. The plot, well, it was a bit close to star trek nemesis, the previous movie. Romulans coming to attack earth.There were plenty of winks to the original series, making it quite fun for long-time fans.And Vulcan getting destroyed. wow.
- [Tooo many weeds](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/2009/05/26/tooo-many-weeds/) - So, we spent the entire weekend (well, part of it at least) weeding the garden. Weeding is generally not a big deal. Pull out a few small plants here and there. Well, the garden was a prehistoric jungle. Huge flesh-eating plants. I think we've won though. Had to remove all of the plants, as well as the top few inches of dirt, the dirt with the weed seed.I did have a chance to pick up a few sword dancing pointers from Brooke, belly dancer par-excellence. I'm looking forward to performing with my new copper dance sword. I've a performance coming up after the parade on the 20th of June, and might try to make it to the harem show before then.Oh, and hey. I've been consistently keeping up with 1000 words or more per day in my writing project. I'm 25k in.
- [Vacation...](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/2011/04/12/vacation/) - Whew, made it through to vacation. Actually, I'm a few days into it, as it technically started when I went home Friday.So far, I've: Spent a day tending to a sick person...well...a day and a half. Spent some time trying to fend off a low-level yuckiness myself. Ran back and forth to home depot to get paint, tile, flooring material. Played starcraft 2 Read the first few chapters of Darkness Calls, by Margorie M. Liu Had someone come by to fix the fridge, which is having defrost problems, hence problems keeping the fridge side cool Fixed the faucet of the downstairs bathtub to no longer leak. Unfortunately, water collects in the corner by the wall and is leaking. Did just a touch of revision on Chapter 2 of my little writing project. What come
- [And another thing!](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/2011/05/18/and-another-thing/) - I received my feedback from the Red Cross auction. Carolyn Crane, Diana Rowland, Jackie Kessler, Jeanne Stein, Kevin Hearne, Michele Bardsley and Sonya Bateman, all great urban fantasy authors, spent at least an hour reading and critiquing the first chapter of my book. That's seven hours of professional writers reviewing my work. Probably more time time than I'd received from my writing teachers during my entire school career...I got a lot of great feedback, most of it quite positive. A lot of them rather liked it, which makes me feel all warm and gooey inside. Like maybe I might have a chance at this writing thing.Generally, the feedback boiled down to....My characters were real and likable.I've got a good handle on dialog.I need to be more careful about tense, as I sometimes dropped present tense in amongst a mostly past tense writing style.Need to proofread better for typos, punctuation and grammatical errors.For the most
- [Skinwalker, by Faith Hunter](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/2011/05/20/skinwalker-by-faith-hunter/) - Thought it might be good for me to start reviewing some of the books I've rather enjoyed...and it might be good for you too. Just finished Skinwalker, by Faith Hunter this morning and I'll be buying the rest of the books quite shortly...Ok, so I rather like shapeshifter stories. Werewolves are fun. Maybe I'm just liking them now because it's the full moon, but honestly...everyone's got a bit of the beast in them.Well,.
- [Gotta love that last-minute costume rush...](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/2011/06/14/gotta-love-that-last-minute-costume-rush/) - With the Fremont Solstice Parade less than a week away, I've finally started cobbling together this years costume. I'm retrofitting last years Halloween costume, which served me well in my role of Empress of Mars (think Edgar Rice Burroughs's Barsoom series.) The sewing machine has been unearthed. Beads and sequins are at the ready. Just stand back, lest you end up be-glittered collateral damage. For those who don't know, for a number of years I've been dancing in the parade with the group from Visionary Dance. Here's an article on what we do. Add it to you calendar. June 18th (this Saturday) at noon, in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle. Get there early as parking will be sparse. Here's some pics from previous parades.
- [Bellydancing at Solstice](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/2011/06/21/bellydancing-at-solstice/) - If you missed the parade on Saturday, well, you suck.Here's some pics of me, as I'm vain.A good video...
- [Epic Bellydance Week](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/2011/06/23/epic-bellydance-week/) - Finally starting to recover from the Fremont solstice parade. This year was epic. Seriously.I suspect there were like eighty of us. A fair sized group, and as usual, we pretty much dwarfed the other groups in the parade as far as numbers. The costumes this year were amazing. Most wore blood red punctuated by bits of black, and a smaller portion wore oily black, as our theme was Blood and Oil.This was one of the more striking color combinations, at least during the last six years of my participation.Here's a quick video from King 5 news. I'm front right.We broke two of the traditional rules, at least for our group. First, we wore black. For some, it was just a touch of black. For others, they were covered. Black generally blends into the road, cutting those wearing black hip-scarves in half. People in 100% black, well, they'd totally disappear. We pulled it off, however. The black accessorizing wasn't overwhelming, and tha
- [Writing: Is "dark YA" too dark?](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/2011/07/06/writing-is-dark-ya-too-dark/) - There's recently been a huge debate as to whether "dark" YA (Young Adult fiction dealing with bullying, rape, violence, sex, incest, cutting and so on) is appropriate for the teenage crowd. It all started with this Wall Street Journal article (why the WSJ is covering this topic is another discussion).Seriously? I totally can't comprehend why parents go into denial about w
- [Cyberpunk Fiction](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/2011/07/26/cyberpunk-fiction/) - Just a few of my favorite cyberpunk novels Snow Crash Neuromancer Count Zero Mona Lisa Overdrive Trouble and Her Friends Islands in the Net Burning Chrome Virtual Light Idoru All Tomorrow's Parties
- [Reboot...](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/2011/03/01/reboot/) - After nearly 2 years of neglecting my blog, I think it's time to dig it up, sew the parts together, zap it and bring it back to life.So, what's going on with me now.Last weekend, I took part in Vaginomicon, a mash-up of "The Vagina Monologues" by Eve Ensler and Scary stuff. We did it for Women in Horror Month.How'd this happen? Well, Tori planted the seed, and Jenna took it from there, collecting a rag-tag group of women and men to write and perform scary monologues about scary women doing scary things. How cool is that.And, the amazing thing. We put this together in under a month. Writing, practicing, planning, acquiring space, advertising, and actually doing the deed. Truly amazing. Everyone was amazingly supportive, we all had a great time, and we're looking forward
- [Revising...](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/2011/03/08/revising/) - So in my "ample" spare time, I'm trudging through revising my book. It's turning out to be a long, slow, somewhat painful process, as this is my first revision of this project, and frankly, I'm rewriting a lot. The characters have changed and grown. I'm getting rid of plot ideas that are frankly "silly." I'm adding in new plot directions. And I'm planning on fleshing out more as far as subplots and romance. So much to do, I feel like I"m starting over again. However, I've also been polishing as I go along. The product of this revision is much more reader-friendly, and I've been chopping and cutting so the pacing is more appropriate. Want to know what I'm writing? Well, at RADCON, I took a workshop on pitching your project to publishers, editors, agents, whoever. A number of great authors and one publisher sat on the panel, and took sample pitches from the audience, critiquing them. What's a pitch? A
- [Red Cross and Writing FTW](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/2011/03/23/red-cross-and-writing-ftw/) - So I was going to donate some money to the Red Cross for their Japanese relief efforts. Then, I came across something really cool. The League of Reluctant Adults, a group of paranormal romance and urban fantasy authors, had placed an auction on ebay with the proceeds going to the Red Cross efforts for Japanese relief. They agreed to critique the writing of the winner. Up to 6000 words at that. Needless to say, I bid. Hey, giving money to the Red Cross and actually having my work critiqued by professional authors...cool stuff. And, I won. So, I'm looking forward to presenting my work to Sonya Bateman, Michele Bardsley, Carolyn Crane, Kevin Hearne, Jackie Kessler, Diana Rowland and Jeanne Stein. 6000 words is enough for a synopsis and the first chapter of my project. Now, I just need to clean it up a bit more and send it off. Shudder... In other news, plumbing sucks. I'm not suffering from two burns and a sore back from an evening of sweat soldering copper pipe in
- [Summer Wars](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/2011/03/13/summer-wars/) - We watched an anime called Summer Wars last night. I rather liked it. No spoilers, but it involved a large online virtual world, lots of avatars, a bit of cryptography, computer hacking, and an artificial intelligence/robotics professor from Carnegie Mellon. Interesting, as I went to Carnegie Mellon, studied engineering with a focus on robotics, work in the robotics institute there, went on to work in the security and cryptography group at Microsoft, and currently work as an engineering manager for a rather large online virtual world with lots of avatars.
- [It's time...](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/2011/04/01/it-s-time/) - So, after years of ruminating about this, I've decided it's time. In the next two weeks, we'll be packing up to prepare to move to New York, where I can further pursue my writing career. All of the big publishers are there, and the opportunities are much higher. It'll be hard, but I expect all of you to help.
- [Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse!](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/2011/07/23/surviving-the-zombie-apocalypse/) - The zombie apocalypse is coming. It might be tomorrow, or it might be next year, but it's definitely coming. Are you prepared?I've been working on a plan for survival for some time now. I think I've got it nailed down pretty good now. We'll see in the upcoming year or two.First, my assumptions. I'm going with the worse case. Yes, some folk may sneer at fast zombies. They prefer the old-school George Romero style leg draggers, but why simply assume those stupid lumbering fragile corpses will be the worst thing you'll face. I'm preparing for fast zombies. The Left 4 Dead I Am Legend style zombies. Ones who were turned while alive and still have zoom left in those bones.I'm also going with the infectious zombie paradigm. Get bitten and you turn, simple as that. Even a scratch could give you the nasty. The epidemiology of zombiedom would be rough. It'll spread far and wide, with very few left untouched. And those will be the smart and quick. N
- [Seriously?  78 minutes of summer?](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/2011/07/20/seriously-78-minutes-of-summer/) - Ok, this is getting ridiculous. 78 Minutes of summer? Come on, Seattle. I know you can do better. I had such high hopes when we had the first sunny 4th of July in memory.After this last winter, we deserve a little pity. Maybe it's the solar flares. Maybe it's Leviathan or the Kraken. I don't know and I don't care. I want a little bit o sun.And here Minnesota is suffering through 120 degrees of apparent heat. I'd be willing to take 15 or 20 of those degrees. Just for a little while.Argh!
- [I'm named on a patent?!](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/2011/06/17/i-m-named-on-a-patent/) - Surfin' today and I came across the following patent. I'm one of the inventors!US 7904712 - Service licensing and maintenance for networksA former employer of mine filed that in 2004, and finally this last march the actualpatent was issued. How about that.Looks like another previous job also filed a patent application for some tech that I'dworked on. Multitenant hosted virtual machine infrastructure.
- [Reuben turnover](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/2011/05/18/reuben-turnover/) - Reuben turnovers are win!We had some corned beef so I decided to play around a bit. Sliced it up into little bitty chunks, stuffed it in a pastry shell withsome sauerkraut and swiss cheese. Cooked it up. Served withstone-ground mustard and thousand island dressing for dipping.Total win.Now, as I've not posted in about a month...being that I was sick, busy and cranky, I'll catch up.During that time, I managed to attend Norwescon. It was grueling.I'm not so much one to attend the gaming/cosplay/party side of things as, well, I savemy partying for other darker venues. However, I did attend just about every writingpanel session that I could. Like 9 hours of sessions every day (well, 'cept Thursday and Sunday).I barely had time for food or even coffee, as the sessions were back-to-back.Takeaways:Paranormal romance has ...
- [Back to School!](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/2011/04/19/back-to-school/) - No, I'm not actually quitting my job to re-enroll in university for a BA in basket weaving.Please forgive my ramblings...I blame the vicodin and cold medicine...but here's whats been going on.Yesterday, I returned from a five day weekend in Pittsburgh, home of my alma mater, Carnegie Mellon.It's been, OMG, twenty years since I graduated from that tiny little school, but it feels like yesterday. I've not been to Pittsburgh for seventeen years, but once I was standing on the cut, looking down the mall at Hamerschlag Hall, the engineering and computer engineering building, well, it call came flooding back.We arrived in Pittsburgh last Wednesday at about Midnight, picked up our rental car which turned out to be a small SUV and not the compact I'd reserved (no extra charge though). We checked into the Wyndham Grand downtown, and were delighted to see that it is literall

## Pages

- [Publications](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/) - Roxanne Skelly - Author of YA speculative fiction among other things.
- [About](https://www.roxanneskelly.com/about/) - Roxanne has spent a lifetime or two lurking around rainy Seattle and it's somewhat more rural environs. She lives in a quaint little bungalow with her partner, Stacy, and her little Scottish terrier, Paisley. She's not always so easy to find, as she tends to travel far and wide. She spends her days building virtual worlds
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