Welcome to the first blog post on the shiny new M. Weald website! Cue the imaginary sounding of a trumpet, the warbling of a synth, the plucking of a guitar, the beating of drums, the slapping of a bass or the sounds of a madman plinking away at whatever instrument you think best goes with the opening of something. Or maybe the cutting of a ribbon is better for a blog? Words don’t come packaged with sound besides whatever chords they pluck from your memory banks, so maybe think of your current favorite song? Maybe I can ride some of that excitement and goodwill just by association. Either way, I’m glad you’re here, all one or two of you (I like to think I’m an optimistic sort).
For those few of you who followed the old blog/youtube channel/facebook page from a few years back, I spent the interim getting adjusted to working full time as an engineer and writing a science fiction novel I’m in the midst of trying to get published (see novel page for details). Which is another way to say I’ve been struggling to figure out the whole work life balance thing. I’m cautiously optimistic that I’ve gotten at least a little proficient … hopefully. And now that I’ve reached that bare minimum of competence, I naturally decided I should complicate things further and start up another blog, this time under a pen name I came up with during the second edit of my novel: M. Weald.
On the old website I started out sharing a short story or spoken word poem per week, a schedule that was fun, challenging, annnnndddd only possible when I didn’t have a full time job. Damn 9 to 5! Which is really much more than 9 to 5. With way too little vacation. Anybody else think American work culture has gotten a bit out of hand? But that’s a topic for another time. Anyway, I won’t be following the short story or poem per week schedule this time around. I’ll be posting to the blog every Thursday, but the content will be much more varied, running from thoughts on things I just read or watched to thoughts on storytelling in general. And of course, sometimes just plain old thoughts. There will be the occasional poem or short story, with the stories typically in the sci-fi or fantasy realm. But those posts will take the backseat to the rest. I’ll be taking most of the short stories I write and sending them to magazines or competitions, rather than posting them here. I’m going all in on trying to get pieces of my work published, and I’m excited to see where it all goes. I not that long ago got my first rejection letter, which oddly only made things feel more legitimate. So here is to many more! (This where you and I clink imaginary glasses full of imaginary whiskey.) In any case, I’m truly excited to continue on this path and wish you all the best.
Sincerely,
M. Weald
(Wonder if I can get anyone to call me M)
M. Weald 