Jennifer M. Baldwin's Blog
October 12, 2025
Goal Update: October 2025
It’s been awhile. I’m going to try and be as upbeat as possible, but the results speak for themselves: I haven’t achieved most of my goals. And yet! I’ve achieved some, and that ain’t nothing. Failing to success, right? Would I have achieved even these small things if I hadn’t set myself the goals? Some […]
Published on October 12, 2025 11:54
October 9, 2025
Shifting Season
I love fall, and I hate it. I love the weather, but I hate that I can’t always enjoy it. Fall is busy. It’s the new school year, it’s making lunches again, it’s three birthdays in our family, it’s letters of recommendation and summer homework that needs grading. It’s always getting started on the wrong […]
Published on October 09, 2025 04:03
August 16, 2025
Go Slow
I know it is not efficient or even very “productive” to write my notes by hand or write comments on student papers by hand, but every time I sit down to do my teaching work, I find myself drawn to writing things out with pen and paper. Right now I’m reading through beginning-of-the-semester student surveys, […]
Published on August 16, 2025 09:09
July 23, 2025
Input Update 7/23/2025
Reading: More Than Words by John Warner Also reading: Fantasy: A Short History by Adam Roberts Also, also reading: The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill Listening to: When We Were Wizards podcast Watching: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (with the kiddos) I am also in the midst of reading a […]
Published on July 23, 2025 07:42
July 6, 2025
Lo, these many years, I have searched in vain…
…until now. At long last, I think I’ve found it. The book I read as a kid and could never remember its title. At first I thought it was The Sleeping Dragon. Then Quag Keep. Then The Twilight Realm. Then Demons Don’t Dream. But none were right. I remembered the book was about a group […]
Published on July 06, 2025 12:56
June 28, 2025
Inventing the Process
“Part of the work is figuring out how to work.” (Kevin Nguyen, from Counter Craft interview, April 8, 2025) I’m abandoning old ways of thinking and doing. For too long I’ve clung to “identities” (think: Plotter versus Discovery Writer) and methods (“Writing into the Dark”) that are gumming up the works of my actual, functioning […]
Published on June 28, 2025 05:16
May 26, 2025
Word Counts and Critical Voice
I never realized how much my consideration of a project’s word count could invite my critical voice to make an appearance. After all, if I’m writing a novel, don’t I have to make sure it hits a certain word count (ballpark, anyway)? Same for short stories, novellas, etc. How can I write anything without considering […]
Published on May 26, 2025 08:17
April 23, 2025
Return to DCC RPG
I’m playing a solo Dolmenwood game right now, my kids and I are playing some adventures using Hero Kids, and I might be joining an open table for Shadowdark in the very near future, but I’ve also been cooking up another solo adventure/campaign using the Emirates of Ylaruam gazetteer from TSR, and I was thinking […]
Published on April 23, 2025 09:11
March 15, 2025
Thoughts on The Motern Method
I liked it. Well-worth reading and owning. However, if anyone has spent any time at all reading Heinlein’s Rules or exploring corners of the internet where these Rules are being lived out, a lot of the concepts in The Motern Method will sound familiar. Which doesn’t mean it’s not worth reading. IT IS. But it […]
Published on March 15, 2025 05:31
March 14, 2025
News Fast
I wasn’t going to do a news fast because I thought it was important to pay attention to all the crazy stuff happening since January (since November, really). I thought consuming news was crucial to keep abreast of STUFF. Stuff that’s important. Stuff that’s going to hurt people (is hurting people). Stuff that’s going to […]
Published on March 14, 2025 09:33