Roderick T. Macdonald's Blog

Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! In January 2023 I started blogging regularly again, initially spurred by my concerns about AI in writing. You can read them here and here, and see how my concerns match up to where we are three short years later. I haven’t re-read them as I write this column, …

Continue reading Blogging or Writing? It’s Writing For Me.

Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! Stayed up too late last night. Lingering fatigue. Alice in Borderland season one. I normally do not go for mystery box constructed stories, but after watching 2046 recently and remembering my love of Asian cinema in my youth (Hong Kong 80s cinema, Chinese 5th wave and Kurosawa plus …

Continue reading The Triumph of Acceptance over Sabotage, and Updates on my Media Consumption

Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! The Thief and The Demon is on sale this week. Thief gets in trouble, then more trouble, then more trouble, then more. Every choice can lead to death, but he seeks freedom, and, eventually, redemption. The Demon also seeks freedom, but primarily craves power. The two are bound …

Continue reading Through a Glass, Darkly

Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! Progress. Never as much as you want. Always motivated when I need to go to bed. It is January. I’m not dieting, just trying not to eat as much. I am doing the basic rehab exercises for my knee(s) every day. 30 years in nursing (I’m counting my …

Continue reading A Good Weekend

Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! Here we are at the end of 2025! It has been a year, as they say. A writing retrospective. I published my third novel this year, which pleases me no end. Having three novels to my name does make me feel much more established as a writer. I …

Continue reading 2025 Happened.

Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! Yuletide is here again. Well, technically it has just passed, as the days are once again growing longer. The festive season is festooned with distractions. Work parties, family gatherings, buying gifts. Wrapping gifts, which, when it comes down to it, do I actually enjoy? I enjoy finishing the …

Continue reading Christmas Tree 2025

Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! In the land of bots does the genuine human rule? Unfortunately not, at present. The Gardener and The Goddess ebook is on sale for the next week! Grab it now! I am reading The Inner Game of Tennis (again) as part of my re-engagement with playing pool regularly, …

Continue reading The Inner Game of Writing.

Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! My collage assembly plus extras has gained some momentum, so I am making good progress. There has in the process of doing this work been an ever-growing sense of unease. I’ve come to a conclusion or two about where it was coming from, and what to do about …

Continue reading Unease and the Future of Writing

Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! I watched an interesting video on why folk do not read self-published fantasy. You can watch it here. I get the concerns of readers. I understand the option offered by published works, and the great undiscovered fantasies of the past, of around the world. There’s a lot there …

Continue reading An Unexpected Path to Literary Freedom. (Spoiler Alert – it’s Obscurity!)