Teresa Robeson's Blog

PPBF: Today GIVEAWAY

The legendary martial artist would have been 85 today.

Learn more about him and the pivotal moment of his career in WHO SMASHED HOLLYWOOD BARRIERS WITH GUNG FU? BRUCE LEE, a biographical graphic novel for middle graders, written by me, illustrated by Eisner nominee, Ryan Inzana, and published by Penguin Workshop.

No matter which way you turn, you’ll run across an article on just why journaling is good for you.

Me, I’m what’s known in the business as a sporadic journaler. I could definitely benefit from journaling more, but I also feel like I have a finite amount of words in me (that’s a weird thing for an author to say) and I’m already giving those words to my books, my newsletters, social media posts, and this blog.

Plus, I’m one of those people who want a nice physical journal to go with my lovely fountain pens. I was using a boring composition notebook for the past couple of years. On the bright side, I can’t get too precious about this ugly thing and that frees me to make a mess in there. But at the same time, it doesn’t inspire me.

I’ve finally reached the last page of that notebook and need a new one but none of the notebooks I’ve hoarded, including the Septcouleur one from Maruman and the Confidant Hardcover Notebook from BaronFig (whose customer service could stand improvement), appealed to me.

I toyed with the idea of a guided journal from Full Focus. Alternatively, I want to create a journal with my own art on it, hoping it will inspire me to journal more.

In the meantime, I’m going with a blank notebook inside this nifty Batman cover.

I bought it at the Smithsonian store a few years back (or maybe it was the Library of Congress…my memory is fuzzy, like the yarn I’m currently knitting a gift with).

First of all, I’d been a Batman fan since I was about 6 or 7 (from those Adam West TV shows).

Secondly I’m inspired by his taking things into his own hands. No, I’m not planning to become a vigilante. But if life isn’t giving you the outcome you desire, ya gotta look for ways to reinvent yourself or your goals.

It’s your life to control, and not be controlled by it. Be proactive.

Hey, I think I just found my saying for 2026.

Guess who knew an answer to a Jeopardy! clue that none of the contestants did?

The person who wrote this blog post.

What I don’t know is how the heck to make the video smaller…yeesh.

I did it! I got brave and put one of my patterns–Hats Off To Ya!–into a Spoonflower contest. The theme is Thrift Store Treasures.

If you like it, too, and have a Spoonflower account, I’d be much obliged if you vote for it!

Did anyone else have the Alan Parsons Project song pop into their heads when you read the title? This is less depressing.

Yeah, I love writing…but sometimes I don’t. Sometimes, it’s like pulling teeth with no anesthetics. So, as if I were dealing with a dog or small child, I reward myself with games to motivate me to get the work done.

The two games I play daily are Wordle and Metazooa.

Hey, I did pretty well yesterday!

Most of you are likely familiar with Wordle, but Metazooa is tons of fun, too, and helps you learn about biological taxonomy.

These rewards are much less caloric than eating tiramisu, which would be my preferred reward.

What about you? How do you motivate or reward yourself to go on and keep at the work that you sometimes (or often??) have little enthusiasm for?

I hear a ping and I went to check my email. I’d received a message from my website contact form. So, I opened it and…I see this:

What in the heck?? I was completely befuddled. First of all, I don’t do my own art for my books. I’m traditionally published and my publishers always hire professional illustrators (yes, real humans).

Second of all, I generally avoid using AI in my every day life anyway and never use it for anything creative.

Third of all, does anyone actually think that using a throwaway email address ( @nrlord.com is a junk email address url) and an anonymous name (“Stop using AI”) to yell at someone is effective way to get people to see the error of their ways? If that is you, there are some pop-psychology books I would like to point you towards since you obviously didn’t major in psychology nor took any psych classes at college.

As the Spousal Unit, and a lot of smart folks, have noted: the ability to be able to say things anonymously online enables a greater proportion of people to behave like assholes.

The only molecule of silver lining is that Idiot Person followed up a few minutes later with this:

*palm-face*

At least they apologized…but not before falsely accusing me (and who knows how many other people they smeared my name to) and potentially ruining my day. I mean, nobody likes to be yelled at and accused of things.

And thanks for misspelling my name.

As if the scammers weren’t bad enough.

Have you ever had something shame you for something you didn’t even do? What was your response to them?

Just as summer has moved along to autumn, I, too, have moved into a new phase of professional life.

My now-former agent announced last month that she was leaving Bookends Literary Agency to start her own agency. She invited me and her other clients to go with her. But after 8 years of being with the agency, I decided to take the plunge into querying again. And it’s not nearly as fun as taking this kind of plunge…

In fact, I’d say querying is the diametric opposite of fun. About the only thing swimming and querying have in common is that you can sink and drown in both cases.

While it’s scary to let go of stability, I felt like I was stagnating a bit where I was and needed to make a big change. I think my former agent is truly lovely, and Bookends is a terrific agency, but I didn’t fully feel they were a fit for me at this point in my career.

Some days, I do freak out about what I’ve done. Nobody is busting down my door to offer me representation after all, and I fear that I will never get another agent again.

Other days, I’m more zen about it. (The Book of Ichigo Ichie has helped a bit with that.) I have a lot going for me. Editors contact me out of the blue to work with me. I’m really enjoying doing art much more than writing right now. Plus, I could devote more time to finishing a couple of novels I’m drafting and revising.

When I do feel panicked though, I ask myself again, “What’s the worst that can happen for me?” Honestly, not a whole lot. My spouse and I are financially stable. We’ve paid off our house and have no outstanding debts. We don’t need my paltry publishing income, though it’s a very nice bonus. I can still teach. And I’ve been eyeing the self-publishing world with greater interest. I could get back baking and sewing more!

Without dire consequences nipping at my heals, I just throw myself into my current projects whenever I feel depressed and worry that no literary agents might want me. I’m keeping busy and happy working on three books under contract at this moment and also diving deep into surface pattern design.

As Stephen King says, “Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.”

Or as Wu Chien Shiung, the heroine of my book Queen of Physics, says, “Ignore the obstacles; just put your head down and keep walking forward.”

If I keep working, I will make opportunities for myself. The kids are okay…and so am I!

Are you taking any giant leaps or coming up against obstacles? What are they?

Hello, I’m Teresa and I’m a learning addict. I am a sucker for all those free webinars and summits that come my way (they usually come with a paid upgrade and I sometimes go for that).

On the one hand, I usually find a handful of talks that are helpful; on the other hand, this set of summits I have fallen into generally get the same people to come back to speak year after year. There’s little variety. That’s exacerbated by the fact that a lot of those people also hold their own summits so you end up seeing the same speakers 5-10 times a year.

While some of the speakers are excellent, there are also a number that are mediocre at best. I would never say that in the chat because I’m not rude nor a public Debbie Downer, but I have realized that I have learned enough that I need to stop attending them for a while and save my money for other things.

Plus, with a million other classes I’m watching (actual long-form and in-depth ones on various topics) and researching and writing (the 3 books I’m currently working on under contract), well…

Gary Larson really gets me.

How about you? Are you a learning addict who needs to quit cold, or at least luke-warmish, turkey?

My father-in-law used to claim that he rarely dreamed in his sleep. The dreams that he could recall usually occurred after he first roused from sleep in the early hours of dawn before settling back into slumber. He was so perturbed by these seemingly vivid dreams that he made it a habit to just get out of bed at 5a.m. to avoid falling back asleep and dreaming.

I always thought that he probably dreamed all night long and didn’t remember most of them.

But then, recently, I realized that maybe some people really don’t dream very much at all. And what made me realize this was checking my sleep data on my Fitbit.

See my outlier dot in the REM sleep category? I have more dreams than the average bear. Which likely means that my FIL was probably someone who fell in the lower range of average when it comes to dreams.

Personally, I love dreaming. 40% of the time, I’m dreaming about food and eating. 30% of the time, I’m dreaming about flying. The rest of the time, I have random assortment of dreams, everything from hanging out with my deceased relatives (like my mom, and my in-laws) and being happy that their death never actually happened to being at a conference and not being able to find my hotel room or being late for my flight. Occasionally, I’ll have traditional nightmares.

But you know, I could probably use a bit more garden-variety sleep without dreams.

What about you? Do you seem to dream a lot? Do you remember most of them?