Jordan’s Comments (group member since Jan 10, 2011)

Jordan’s comments from the Q&A with Josh Lanyon group.

Antonella wrote: "This is more than 10 years old, but sadly still very relevant:

Don’t Mention the Children by Michael Rosen

Don’t mention the children.
Don’t name the dead children.
The people mu..."

Ooof. That ending packs a punch. The whole thing does.

SamSpayedPI wrote: "Jordan wrote: "I thought it was really good, but a little too much like Adrien English. lol."

That was exactly my take on it! "Boy, someone sure took a leaf from Josh's book.""

LOL. I will also say, the romance was too fast for me.

Karen wrote: "Antonella wrote: "Rolling Stone’s list of the 20 Best Queer Romances of All Time:
https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/...

Seen ..."

I get into this argument with my supervisor who reads a ton of romance novels. I still consider Adrien English as Romance, even though it takes 5 books. She considers that not Romance. Romance for her has to conclude after one book with HEA or HFN. I care less about that and I love slow burn stuff!

Antonella wrote: " When the Tides Held the Moon by Venessa Vida Kelley is $1,99 on amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DDFHS7LF?_..."

I bought the hardcover. It's sooooo pretty! I can't wait to get into it!

Michelle wrote: "The Complete Cambridge Fellows Series by Charlie Cochrane is $1.99 on Amazon (12 books)"

$4.99 for me, but that's still a hell of a deal! Thank you!

I've only read the first one, which I think we did for a book group discussion here years ago. I remember liking it well enough.

I thought it was really good, but a little too much like Adrien English. lol.

Melissa wrote: "Jordan wrote: "Finally getting around to reading The Mystery of Nevermore"

Oh, awesome!! I love this series and hope it works out for you. 🤞"

Thanks! So far, I'm liking the first book!

Antonella wrote: "Rolling Stone’s list of the 20 Best Queer Romances of All Time:
https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/...

Seen thanks to [author:..."

Oh, very nice!

... I agree with some and disagree with others. (One of my coworkers wrote a very scathing review of The Pairing.) And I am also wondering where some others are. lol

Loretta wrote: "Hi Jordan,
I peeked at your Instagram to see your new puppers. I'm glad to see she is getting braver. Congratulations on your new fur baby."

Thank you!

Finally getting around to reading The Mystery of Nevermore

I just bought a hardcover copy of When the Tides Held the Moon! It's been illustrated by the author! MM Historical Fantasy. Yes please!

lol, I forget I should explain what that is. I didn't know a short while ago myself!

I'd also add, my "newest" writing group, rising from the ashes of National Novel Writing Month. We have a new logo, a new email address, we'll be starting a newsletter tonight and changing over our social media too. I'm very excited about it!

I just ran a writer's retreat with friends last week at my aunt's house in the wilds of New Hampshire, which was a blast.

I'm also trying to run a "new" writing group now that NaNoWriMo is gone. I've got 400+ folks in our NaNo server, and we've renamed ourselves and are just working to reinvent things. I'm very excited about it! Our new November novel challenge will have goal tiers, each named after the tallest peak in each of the six New England states! And we call ourselves Badgers because that became a thing in the previous two years of NaNo. lol

Next month we're doing a five-minute challenge, where you must write/edit/plot/or just do something in service of your writing for five minutes every day.

Josh wrote: "I'm so sorry I don't check in here much anymore. I'm mostly off social media these days. By limiting my news viewing and participation on social media platforms, I've actually experienced a resurge..."

It's so good to see you here! I'm glad the social media black out is helping with your creativity! I'm working to get back to being creative myself.

Oh wow. I've not posted here in almost a year.

UPDATES: I do have a roommate! She's of the 4 legged variety, rather than the two legged variety, and she came with her own fears and general anxiety. She's a perfect sweetheart though, and I trust that someday we'll get her over the worst of her anxiety.

So, new list:
1. Missy, my new greyhound, adopted in March 2025. She's just over a year old!
2. my dearest friends
3. the writing retreat I just went on with a bunch of friends up in NH last week! It was honestly, soooo awesome!
4. my DND games that I now play twice a week
5. my new morning routine. I'm doing a 30-day challenge this month with one of my dearest friends, based on The Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life: Before 8AM It entails a five-minute meditation (Thanks to Insight Timer's 30-day mid-year reset challenge!), affirmations (using the I Am app), visualizations (I'm not consistent about this one), exercise (I've only missed one day of Tai Chi so far this month and I'm incorporating the individual exercises from @TaiChiWithMom as seen on Instagram and YT), Reading (Yeah, not working out. I don't have time to read much in the morning. The author likes to read self-help books, I don't want to read one every day of my life.), and Journaling. Just making sure I keep up with it.

Antonella wrote: "Happy World Otter Day!

Today is all about raising awareness and supporting the conservation of the 13 different species of otters around the world.

Seen thanks to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, who ..."

Who knew there were that many species of otters?!?! I love otters. They're so darn cute!

Antonella wrote: "((Uhm... I meant to post this at the end of April...))

I just arrived home after 10 days in Italy.

As usual I went to Milano for the celebrations for Liberation Day on the 25th April: the nation..."

I missed your post! It sounds like you had a great time!

Antonella wrote: "Could Have by Wisława Szymborska

It could have happened.
It had to happen.
It happened earlier. Later.
Nearer. Farther off.
It happened, but not to you.
You were saved because you we..."

Ooohh, this is really great! It took me a minute to figure it out. lol

There's a lot of really good visual imagery there and a lot of feeling for the topic.

I'm currently reading Dear Writer: Pep Talks & Practical Advice for the Creative Life by Maggie Smith, who is a poet. I highly recommend it, even if you don't write poetry. Her advice works for prose too.

But it's making me think about how I read poetry and why I don't enjoy it as much as fiction/prose. I think I don't read poetry slowly enough. Like, I think you need to take time with each piece to really understand it and get it and I just want to zip through a book like I do with fiction and I can't.

I've also just bought Writing Haiku: A Beginner's Guide to Composing Japanese Poetry which looks like it will be good. I'm doing a light Haiku workshop for our summer reading program starting next month and I need to brush up my skills. (I'm just upset at the use of the word "Oriental" to describe Tai Chi early in the introduction. I don't understand why that was a word choice. But I didn't see that until after I'd gotten the book.)

Wild Geese by Mary Oliver

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting–
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.