I’m toying around with joining the less than one-percent.
No, I’m not buying into a get rich quick scheme involving illusionary money (all money is illusionary, but that’s a topic for a different post). Or joining an “Outlaw” bikers club.
(more…)Category: junk drawer
Fallout
Photo by Juan Montana on Unsplash As I hit publish on the piece falling yesterday, I was visited with the memory of recording my very first song which, of course, had very little to do with the piece written yesterday.
Honestly? I’d forgotten the event entirely. But fragments of the song came back and I couldn’t figure out until this morning why the song sounded familiar.
(more…)For better or worse
Photo by Suzanne Rushton on Unsplash The old notes I found have gotten my thoughts pointing back in the direction of those kinds of studies again. This is probably obvious to some of you. While it can be difficult to find reliable, scholarly texts on the matter, I find that I learn something new almost every time I read the few texts out there that are supported by scholarship. And there is always those untapped journal articles out there that are less about meeting sales quotas than they are about serious scholarship.
(more…)Sorry, but…
Well, I knew it was likely to happen.
I can’t decide if I should be surprised that it finally did happen or that it took so long for it to happen.
But I got my first email from a fan who thinks I am an adult film director from the late 90s/00s who also went by “Michael Raven”. For the record, I was using the pen name well before he was directing films in the, ahem, genre.
They wanted to know where they could get a legit digital copy of a specific film. And a song title. Did this fan check to see if I was who he thought I was? Absolutely not. But that did not stop the fan from asking all the same.
What added to the surreal nature is that apparently it was a movie (very) loosely based on Lewis Carroll’s Wonderland.
For the record, there is another author who goes by the name and writes nonfiction and has been published well before I was. I’d almost rather have gotten an email from one of his fans because then I could just say, “Sorry, wrong chap” and be done with it. But with adult entertainment, it could just as easily be a phishing expedition — so ignore and block is my method for handling those.
Sorry Brian, wrong chap.
Little treasures
Photo by Patrick Fore on Unsplash Of all the things I might unearth as I was repackaging and cataloging some belongings to put into off-site storage, I guess I never expected to find some old handwritten notes from my druidic lessons circa 1992. I had recently joined a local druid group that was one of the original 1970s groups in the US and a handful of pages are from a course they were teaching their new members. And old members looking for a refresher (which was the bulk of the attendees at these gatherings in the head druid’s home).
I found it stuffed alongside the truly awful tale of Ben who, apparently, we liked to lock up just to hear him scream, written about ten years later than these notes. Don’t ask, I can’t imagine my motivation twenty-three years ago for pairing the writings in a single place.
(more…)In an Other World…
The Lowry Mansion, aka “Dino’s Other World”; image from Wright County Historical Society I had a sudden flashback this morning of a restaurant that I never actually went to, but passed nearly every weekend as a kid as the family drove from the Twin Cities metro area to a cabin my aunt owned in Minnesota’s northwoods. The restaurant was heavily advertised on the route by way of billboards and driving by the venue itself was usually enough to trigger a flurry of requests to stop for dinner.
(more…)Half-penny thoughts | 20aug25
Photo by Dmitry Vechorko on Unsplash I am on the drift again. The wending roads beckoning from my within, an untethering from my abouts.
Though the weather is still too warm still for such things, I drew on my fleece jacket, pulled up the hood around my face and over my head as I walked from car to my once-a-week-office-space and felt at home within the folds of fabric. My bare legs incongruent with the jacket over my torso, but I could care less. I used to half-jest that I was made for kilts — my legs have always been too warm and I still wear shorts at home in the winter when everyone else wraps themselves in thick blankets.
(more…)Moving stuff 2wo
Photo by Shannon Kunkle on Unsplash UPDATE:
It seems that things are working as intended so far and I cleaned up some of the rune pages. As I mentioned before, sceadugenga.com is no longer intended to be a standard blog, but more of a static reference website for Elder Futhark runes and, as time permits, I’ll be updating and improving the ogham/ogam pages as well (which currently need a little TLC and work to complete the second half of the alphabet). I may eventually add more pages that include my other explorations into neolithic animism and indigenous beliefs.
If you want to check it out, feel free to visit sceadugenga.com. If you want to go back to what it last looked like and re-read earlier posts of a more traditional blogging nature, you can view the archive at walksinshadows.wordpress.com.
Have a great evening!
Moving stuff around
Anxiety reigns, although it really shouldn’t play a role. And I mean, not at all.
I’m dedicating part of my weekend to migrate my previous site over to my new host and change the registrar over to them as well. I decided that I liked Sceadugenga for a site name and I don’t want to give it up, even if I don’t plan to make it my main site. And, seeing it is up for renewal, and I am allowed several sites for the same price as a single site at this host, I’ve decided now is the time for the move.
Why am I anxious? I am not certain. I have the backup files. The site won’t actually redirect folks until I point the internet to it, which I won’t do until I have everything set up at the new host.
It is likely just the lack of familiarity with the process that makes me feel all nervy and itchy. And I’m not sure why it takes a minimum of half an hour before I see what has been broke due to my lack of experience.
Aded: I think I did it wrong. already. Rework is not my favorite past-time and I’m thinking it is going to require rework.
What will eventually be sceadugenga is probably almost exclusively my rune pages and other resources that I continue to link to. The posts will probably all go private or be eliminated completely to keep sceadugenga running light. And while I can just park the domain, I typically prefer to not do such things. Use it if you have it, that kinda thing.
Wish me luck.
Half-penny thoughts | 14aug25
Photo by Dariusz Sankowski on Unsplash I have problems with the logic behind the pithy advice that in order to be a great writer, you must read. Voraciously. I know Stephen King has been credited with saying something along those lines, and I’m pretty certain he isn’t the first author to give such advice. [Oh no! Nobody Author dares counter the prevailing wisdom of the Almighty Stephen King! Heresy!]
I mean, I think that might be partially true if you are looking to emulate a style, a genre or an author. I will submit that you should be well-read in order to know how others write — as long as when you have done so, you read or have read with a critical eye. Reading only eye-candy and consuming to consume will not make anyone a great writer. But I question the concept that the reading requirement is a persistent prerequisite for writing great things.
It is probably a good thing that I have no ambitions for greatness. I’m quite alright just writing and enjoying the act of writing. Happy about it, even. So there’s little risk of greatness coming from my little corner of the world. I honestly should let those striving towards greatness deal with this question and not worry my pretty little head about the matter.
But I’m not convinced being a constant reader necessarily is a requirement towards being a great writer. Especially if you want to be a writer that wants to be the pathfinder type. To boldly go where no one has gone before, or some such thing. Or the subversive, where you need to have enough freedom apart from classic tropes to break them while still remaining familiar with them. I can see several other types of writers who could benefit from not “reading when they aren’t writing.”
When wisdom seems to not stand up to scrutiny, I get all nervy and bothered and I end up saying something.
Am I off the mark? Probably. But I remain unconvinced that the wisdom that a writer must read as part of their formula for greatness always holds true.
I know… I’m all duck and cover after this post. Especially after invoking and questioning the King of Horror’s holy gospel.
Your thoughts?
Be gentle as you tear me a new hole. I break easy.
