Gone to Croatan -- er, Wordpress

Everything K. A Laity-like can be found now over at the website, http://www.kalaity.com. I won't be deleting this site; not everything transferred (apparently some of the 5000+ comments gathered over 8 years had problems). But everything can now be found in one easy-to-negotiate place -- without the clever but obscure name. Trying to be more transparent: make it easy to be found.

☞ THE NEW BLOG HERE! ☜

Change your book marks please! The new era has begun: and doesn't it look good (mostly thanks to S. L. Johnson, I must say). If I've missed things that ought to be on the website, be sure to let me know.

The Big Day

I expect there will be very little in the way of communication today -- perhaps the occasional burst of annoyance or alarm on Twitter or Facebook, but not much more. It all must be dealt with today. So I've got my kick-ass on and I'm ready for disaster-solving.

Of course I'm writing this from the relative luxury of yesterday because I am a Time Lord (or else I just know how to set posts to appear at a later time), where I can take a moment to say thanks to everyone (because I ache all over and it feels good to sit down for a moment). Thanks to everyone who helped (hopefully today that means Bertie is up here), who had brilliant suggestions or calming words as the need may have arisen, who listened to my endless whinging on Twitter (>_<') and everyone who took things! Grateful, grateful, especially grateful to Barb and Catherine for duty above and beyond with the precious things.

By the end of the day Kipper should be adjusting to his new foster home; he's a tough guy despite his pampered lifestyle. After all, he was tossed over a backyard fence as a baby, so it's all good since then. I should be down in Hudson with my two bags, computer and kantele, quite likely getting a nice meal from my brother and solace from Connor who will probably be licking my face as I fall asleep (I am so tired) perhaps even in my dinner. But all this will be done (oh yes, yes, it must).

I will miss all my friends in the area so much! Sad to be leaving you for a time, but so very happy that I have such wonderful friends to miss. And you know I'll be back -- all my stuff is here!

A Song for You

Actually, a song for me. Something to sing while the endless packing continues. Just a few more days, just a few more days -- where did all this crap come from...

Looking forward to tonight at the Point! See you there.

Counting the Days

...until the packing is done. Then I remember how few days there are and gulp, because there's still so much to do.

On a more positive note: my play Lumottu ("Enchanted") from Unikirja gets a reading next Tuesday in Kingston at the Arts Society, 6:30 pm. If you can show up, do! It will be fun to hear what it sounds like outside my head. Finnish immigrants in the early 20th century find the magic of the old country follows them.



Yes, made my bed and I'm lying in it (although not much: keep waking up too early). Resisting the urge to set things on fire and run away. I don't know how, but it will get done. I can't wait to be in the pleasant green paradise of Galway with music all around me.

BitchBuzz: Writers as Content Providers

I tried to sneak a random Fall reference into my column today, but my editor generally nixes my loopy titles in favour of those that actually convey the subject of the piece. Go fig. Kudos to the fabulous Nancy Holzner for providing this week's content (see, talk to me and you'll end up in a column and/or blog post):

Writers vs Content Providers

By K. A. Laity

"There's nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein." -- Red Smith

At a writer's conference this past weekend, my astute pal Nancy Holzner (author of Deadtown and Hellforged) said she reckoned everything had changed once writing became "content" and writers became "content providers."

She's both a novelist and tech writer, so she's seen these changes from a lot of angles. I immediately remembered a student a few years back saying that the allure had gone out of the term "writer" because blogging had made everyone a writer. The magic—if it was ever there—has gone.

The big publishing news like the explosion of ebooks and the implosion of bookstores gets most of the headlines; less visible is the slow erosion of writers' pay. As Nancy said, we got used to the dismissal of people calling writers "a dime a dozen" but we never actually thought it might become the pay scale...

As usual, read the rest at BBHQ and feel free to comment, repost, tweet or like it on Facebook (show me the love!). This will be my last column until I get over to Galway; just too much madness going on.

Don't ask me about the packing: it's a nightmare. I can't go to sleep and then I wake up at ungodly early hours and yet seem to be making little progress. Somehow, somehow...