T.R. Neff's Blog

I suppose it has been. Lots of things going on in life. I’ve been writing – just not here. Until now. AND… I’ve also been playing some video games. One in particular stands out as masterful (so far) storytelling. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. The worldbuilding itself is astounding. A twisted (literally) fantasy version of a […]

I had a spate of a decade or more where I really disliked Christmas Eve. Maybe “dislike” isn’t the right word. “Dreaded” serves better (not to be confused with Waking Dread, my novel). I’ve had a bad vehicle accident on Christmas Eve on my way to work and several near-misses in years following, almost like […]

Not me–don’t worry. I’m still neck-deep in the Umbra 2 revision–but it got me thinking about finishing a sequel. Particularly when people look at George R. R. Martin and it’s taking him forever, possibly never, to finish the next book in A Song of Ice and Fire. Of course, I can’t really complain, or I’d […]

And it’s just about Thanksgiving – or T-Day Minus, as I like to say. Had an argument with my pastor once because I called it “Turkey Day”–he got mad that I wasn’t treating the day with respect but I said it’s a whole lot like Independence Day for me: I am a patriot every day […]

If you’re in the northern states of the US or in Canada, chances are really good you will be seeing all the glorious colors as the trees change and drop their leaves. You also may have a good leaf blower or mower with leaf collection bags (or mulching blade) attached. Last year I introduced my […]

It’s that time of the year again: Autumn! 🍁 If you’re like me, one of the first things to come to mind when Autumn is mentioned is a vast expanse of trees in warm shades of crimson and vermillion and gold, leaves scattered all over the ground. (I’ll forgive you if the first thing that comes to […]

It’s been a few weeks since my last post, and I hadn’t realized it. Aside from the new normal routines, I’m still kinda reeling from some horrible news–many of us are, with the announcement of the death of mentor and author Holly Lisle. It’s pretty cliche to say “I’ve been a writer all my life” […]

This is a big week for me–I am keeping my nose to the stone and trying to do the last pass of the revision of Umbra 2 to clean up any typos. The best time is in the morning, when everything is calm and quiet (especially after I feed the cat), and I can really […]

Sadly, I don’t have any tiny chickens. I don’t mean chicks or pullets or cockerels–I mean adult chickens which are tiny. Not even bantams (many breeds of which are just miniature versions, but there are some bantam-only breeds, like seramas. Tiny, cup-in-your-hand chickens, a non-existent variety. They CAN exist in dreams. I dreamt that I […]

I thought I’d share a fun memory. If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know I’ve been doing a bit of delving into the garage boxes and found things from my childhood. What a nostalgia trip! Well, one of those things I found was my collection of My Little Ponies. I have […]