Long Time Expat In Japan
In my youth-- and I really mean youth, as in teenage years-- I loved to draw. I did some acrylic painting too. At one point I actually thought about art school. In the end, I chose a general education. I doubt I could have done much as an artist. I was young. I wasn't talented. … Continue reading Drawing – Returns
I did some new Japanese Calligraphy in March. The work we write in March gets submitted around week two of the following month. This is a little late to post about, but I like what I did so I'm sharing it now. Kana is my best area. It flows and connects from one word to … Continue reading March Shodo
Book Review Head On By John Scalzi I may include spoilers. Fore-warned and -armed and all that. There are only a handful of authors whose books I will buy almost sight unseen. Scalzi is one of them. He's one of the few authors whose books I will buy in hardcover, as well (also, the discount … Continue reading Book Review – Head On
If you read my bibliography, you'll know that I try to write fiction. I got the bug, so to speak, two years back, maybe a little more. I sold one story so far, trying to sell more. There are a bunch of professional magazines for the type of fiction I want to write, maybe 10 … Continue reading The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction – and How They Won Me Over
Hey, it's been forever since I've been able to show some progress, but in the March issue of Shodo Geijutsu, the magazine for my Shodo group, you can read that I made it to yukyu. This is up from 1 kyu. Check out the cover of the mag: My name has a big old circle … Continue reading Level Up – Kana
I feel like I'm starting to get the basics. The below is still pretty pedestrian, but the balance was good, and I feel like I started to "get it" a bit more than usual. This month's kana is a waka (和歌), a 5-7-5-7-7 syllable poem. When I was writing it I didn’t really understand the … Continue reading November Shodo
You can now buy the anthology, or pre-order it anyway. You know, the one with my story in it? First off, if you didn't hear me the first time, thank you to those who supported me. A little over a year ago, I wrote a short story and shared it with good friends. I also … Continue reading Published
I'm reading a memoir I didn't expect I'd be reading. I've decided my filters need some cleaning, so I have decided to go outside my comfort zone. Partly for research, partly for the discomfort. So I'm reading Fierce Attachments, A Memoire, by Vivian Gornick. I also just added two thousand words to my novel that … Continue reading On Art and Hard Work
B.S. Donovan 