N is for Nest

         Are you looking for the proper A to Z letter of the day?

You can find the post for L here.

        (My A to Z Blog Challenge theme this year is Bittersweetness & Light, my new collection of hope-filled, joy-inducing fantasy and sci fi short stories, poems, and art.  I’m

sharing lots of excerpts of art, stories, and poetry, plus some of the background on why we urgently need joyful stories that remind us of positive possibilities.)

        This one is a true story, about the robin’s nest built in the forsythia right outside my front door during the COVID lockdown in 2020.  I watched it every day, and took pictures as the four eggs were laid and hatched, and the chicks grew their fluff and then their feathers, and finally left the nest.  Here’s an excerpt from the middle of the poem.

         The robins by the door don’t share

     This silent, covert storm that stopped our lives inside,

     Suspending our days and their activities.  We wait,

     While they, from nest to eggs,

     From eggs to blind and hungry beaks,

     Day by day keep feathering themselves

     And jostling as usual toward flight.

        I already wrote a whole post about the illustration, which is a rubber block print with watercolor.  You can read Robin’s Nest in the Studio to find out all about it.

        N is also for Negativity Bias.  It turns out that humans are actually hardwired to pay more attention to bad news than good, and to focus more on the next disaster than on the equally valid and realistic reasons for hope.  As a survival strategy this has kept people alive since prehistory, but as a strategy for thriving it turns out to be less than helpful – especially in a time when a global 24-hour news feed is built on the assumption that only bad news is important news.  Humans consistently give disproportionate weight to negative facts - which is exactly why we need constant reminders that good things do actually happen all around.  This book is just one small attempt to encourage you to remember that love, generosity, connection, joy, and hope are real and powerful, even when your ingrained negativity bias may tell you that they aren’t.

        Marketing Moral: Stay in touch with your favorite indie authors by signing up for their Newsletters.  We love to connect with our readers.  Want to join my Infrequent Newsletter?  Here’s the link.  As the name implies, I send email infrequently, maybe about once a month, but it’s a chance to let you know what projects and events I’ve got coming up, and to share stories and poems that have been published.

        Proper Moral:  The early bird gets the worm.  But even more importantly, you can tell a person’s character by how they treat the weak.  Do unprotected eggs or helpless chicks (or marginalized people) elicit cruelty or tenderness, scapegoating or inclusion?

        Of course I have to ask the eternal nest-themed question: which came first, the chicken or the egg?  Got an opinion?

[Picture: Robin’s Nest, rubber block print with watercolor by AEGNydam, 2024 (Image from Bittersweetness & Light, but originals are still available at NydamPrints.com).]

M is for Movement

        (My A to Z Blog Challenge theme this year is Bittersweetness & Light, my new collection of hope-filled, joy-inducing fantasy and sci fi.  Be sure to find lots of other alphabetical blogs to visit at the Master List here.)

        M is for Movement, and here is the beginning of my short story “Learning to Move Against the Current.”

        Many sorts of beings can move from place to place.  I watch them, some skittering on pointy legs, others wafting on the currents with fanning wings, and still others creeping simply by undulating their bodies.  But my kind sees movement as an infantile thing, for tiny larvae who don’t yet have their place or their strength, and who float aimlessly until they mature enough to anchor themselves and take their position in the world.

        When I was ready to mature from a larva to an adult, I anchored myself on the edge of a cliff.  I chose the spot because from the cliff’s edge I could reach out into open space, winnowing the passing flow not only for particles of food but also for the scents of other places.   I could watch the beings on my plateau, moving themselves past on their own journeys, with their legs or their wings or their undulating bodies, and I could look out from my perch into the deep, wide valley where larger beings roam, and where particles of strange shapes, sizes, and smells hint of other places far away.  Each month when I sensed the blue light of the full moon, I released my spores into the currents, knowing they would travel far and wide to be caught by others.  And here, too, I caught other spores on my winnowing fronds and released, in time, larvae to start their own lives in free movement before they matured enough to choose their own homes.

        The narrator of this story is some kind of creature inspired by crinoids, living on some other planet (I assume).  It’s always a fun exercise to try to tell a story from a very different point of view - this is not the only story in the collection told by a non-human narrator! - and when that point of view is as different as this, it becomes a very interesting challenge

indeed.  However, it isn’t just writing that expands points of view.  Studies consistently show that reading fiction increases empathy.  You can read some previous posts that allude to this here and here.  (That’s another reason dictators ban books: because their power is dependent on weakening communities by making people feel fear of the Other instead of empathy and connection with each other.)

        Marketing Moral: Get moving and attend cultural events!  Come to author readings, visit art shows, and meet the people creating the things you enjoy.  (Want a low-barrier way to attend author events?  Try Strong Women-Strange Worlds, a twice-monthly series of free, on-line live readings by women and non-binary authors of speculative fiction.  Find out all about the program here.  Or if you’re near Boston, be sure to come see me at Needham Open Studios on May 3-4.)

        Proper Moral: The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

        What’s your trip of a lifetime?  The one place you long to see that you haven’t yet been able to go?

[Picture: Fossils, rubber block print by AEGNydam, 2017 (see originals here), from Bittersweetness & Light, 2025 (NydamPrints.com)]

L is for Life

        (My A to Z Blog Challenge theme this year is Bittersweetness & Light, my new collection of hope-filled, joy-inducing fantasy and sci fi.  I’m sharing lots of excerpts of art, stories, and poetry, and I’m also sharing some of the background on why we urgently need joyful stories.  Plus you can find out all about the A to Z Challenge here.)

        Here’s the beginning of the short story “A Life for a Life.”

        I stand looking over the valley of the ancestors, where my people come when it is their time for death.  Their bones are purified by the vultures and given back to the First Matriarch.  I am driven here by the memory of the bones that are not here: the mutilated body of my daughter Feathergrass, slaughtered and left to lie.  They say my people have long memories, and I will never forget those who murder my children.

        I am here for vengeance, but first I give my thanks to the vultures, who sanctify bones wherever they lie, ensuring that Feathergrass too will join the ancestors.  That is treasure that cannot be stolen.  But I will avenge the rest.  My tribe are gathered behind me, watching as I begin my incantation.

        I gather dust and scatter it over my head, across my shoulders, until my scarred flanks are grey as ash and I smell a thousand thousand petrichors in the dry earth of my land.  Heedless of thorns, I strip the acacia and lay its tiny leaves on my tongue, and I taste a thousand thousand greenings.  I begin to dance, the stamping of my heavy feet sending my rhythm deep into the body of the earth, where it will be felt by the bones of the ancestors, and by the deep roots of the acacias and the broad woven roots of the grasses, and by other tribes on other distant journeys.  And without being discerned by the duller senses of those who slaughter my children, yet it will be felt by the one I am calling: one of their daughters.  I will summon her to me here, to avenge the death of Feathergrass.  A life for a life, a child for a child.

        L is also for Love.  In this story, grief is love persevering, but that love also becomes something more.  When love expands to encompass more than just the one who is lost, it becomes even more powerful, offering new ways forward.

        Today’s block print is not actually the illustration for this story (which could be considered a bit of a spoiler), but it is included elsewhere in the book, and certainly fits the theme.  You can read just a little bit more about the piece here.

        Marketing Moral: Are you in a book club?  Why not suggest this as a book for the group to read and discuss?  I can even give you some Questions for Discussion if you request them!

        Proper Moral: There’s more than one way to skin a cat.  Therefore, we “must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation.  The foundation of such a method is love.”  (Martin Luther King, Jr,  Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, 1964.)

        How do you like your revenge served?  Hot, cold, salty, or sweet?  In the form of success, living well, a bad memory, or forgiveness?

[Picture: Seeds of Love, rubber block print by AEGNydam, 2024 (see originals here), from Bittersweetness & Light, 2025.]

K is for Kickstarter

        (My A to Z Blog Challenge theme this year is Bittersweetness & Light, my new collection of short stories, poems, and art.  Also, be sure to check out my fellow A to Z bloggers at the Master List.)

        K is for Kickstarter, which is how I published this book.  For those who aren’t familiar with Kickstarter, it’s a crowd-funding platform, and the process is that creators post a campaign for a project they hope to do.  Backers can pledge to help fund the project in various amounts, and if enough pledges are made to fund the project fully, everyone chips in their part.  However, if there are not enough pledges, the project does not go forward, and the backers don’t get charged anything, so nobody gets stuck backing a project that can’t be completed.  The most obvious use is when you want to create something that requires money up front: Kickstarter allows you to make sure you can raise enough money to complete the project before you begin.  For me, though, Kickstarter serves as a good way to gauge interest in my sometimes niche projects.

        Bittersweetness & Light is a collection of short stories, poetry, and art, so it doesn’t fall fully into any one of those categories.  It’s speculative fiction, which is certainly very popular, but not always taken very seriously by publishers.  It’s got this theme of hope and light, which is often considered fluffy, frivolous, and definitely not Serious Literature.  So am I the only one who thought this would be a book worth making?  Kickstarter allows me to get a sense of whether I’m all alone in this, before I actually put together the whole shebang.

        And in this case, the campaign was indeed successful, the project was indeed fully funded, and there are indeed people out there in the world besides me who want to read a book of warm-hearted stories, magical poems, and whimsical art that celebrate the goodness that really does exist.  Hooray!

        K is also for Knitting, one of the poems in the book, which you can read where it was first published here in New Myths online.  And K is for Keep Dancing, one of the block prints that appears in the book, and which seems like a good illustration of the Kickstarter principle of people joining together to help support a project they love.

        Marketing Moral: Back me on Kickstarter!  One of the crazy things about being an author is that by the time one book is being launched, you’re already deep into work on the next one.  I’m currently planning to run my next Kickstarter campaign in September, for a book to be released some time in the spring or summer of 2026.  The new book will have the same format of poetry, short stories, and art, but the common theme this time will be re-imaginings and inspirations based on classic fairy tales, classical mythology, and other traditional stories.  Sound interesting?  If you join my mailing list you’ll be among the first to find out when the new Kickstarter is launched.  Join my Infrequent Newsletter here.  (I send emails only about once a month, so don’t worry about your mailbox filling up with spam from me.)

        Proper Moral: Keep dancing!  To quote a song from “Swing Time” (lyrics by Dorothy Fields, 1936)…

Nothing's impossible, I have found,

For when my chin is on the ground,

I pick myself up, dust myself off,

Start all over again

Don't lose your confidence if you slip.

Be grateful for a pleasant trip,

And pick yourself up; dust yourself off;

Start all over again.

        You can see Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers performing the song here.

        Have you ever backed anything on Kickstarter?  Consider taking a look (here) and see whether you just might discover some really amazing small-time, independent project that could use your support.

[Picture: Keep Dancing, rubber block print by AEGNydam, 2022 (see originals here), from Bittersweetness & Light, 2025.]

J is for Joy

        (My A to Z Blog Challenge theme this year is Bittersweetness & Light, my new collection of hope-filled, joy-inducing fantasy and sci fi short stories, poems, and art.  Join me for excerpts of art, stories, and poetry, plus some of the background on why we urgently need joyful stories.  Also, be sure to check out my fellow A to Z bloggers at the Master List.)

        Today I’m sharing a rubber block print, “Find Joy & Share It.”  I made the originals of this piece as a special limited edition reward for some of my higher-level Kickstarter backers, and it also appears as an illustration in the book along with the Acknowledgements.  When I started thinking about what to make for these awesome backers, I wasn’t sure what to do that they would all like.  Then I reminded myself that I can’t possibly know what they all like, so all I can do is fall back on what I always try to do: share the things that bring me joy.  So the theme of the block turned into “these are a few of my favorite things.”

        Can you spot daffodils, a frog, a ladybug, and a tiny dragon?  Some of my favorite things that are only obliquely referenced are history and archaeology (perhaps represented by the castle), books (represented by words), and art (represented by the fact that this is, in fact, a piece of art).  Some of my favorite things that didn’t get included at all are dark chocolate, cheese, and other delicious foods; my family and friends; knick-knacks and little beautiful items both human-made and natural; or activities like teaching, going for walks, and playing tabletop games.

        Marketing Moral: Give my book as a gift.  If you know someone else who might just love it, why not share that love?  I may possibly be biased, but I think it makes a beautiful and thoughtful gift for anyone whose heart is in need of a little warming.  (And I wouldn’t complain if you bought copies by the dozen and bestowed them on everyone you know!)

        Proper Moral: Acknowledging joy is an act of fierce defiance.  Delighting in goodness is a wild and valiant rebellion against the forces that benefit when we are too cynical or discouraged to keep loving.  (More about that in my post A Desperate Little Exhortation About (Bitter)Sweetness and Light.)

        What are a few of your favorite things?

[Picture: Find Joy, rubber block print (2024) by AEGNydam from Bittersweetness & Light, 2025 (See NydamPrints.com).]

I is for In Which...

        (My A to Z Blog Challenge theme this year is Bittersweetness & Light, my new collection of hope-filled, joy-inducing fantasy and sci fi short stories, poems, and art.  Also, you can find more about the A to Z Blog Challenge here.)

        I is for the long title of one of my short stories: “In Which the Librarian Delves for Living Words in a Time of Drought.”  Here are two sections.

        The librarian stood on the top margin and checked her gear.  Rope firmly anchored to the arm of the desk lamp above, harness buckled completely, carabiners locked.  She leaned over and peered down along the rope dropping away into the text below.  It was dense, but she could see the light sparkling off the words deep in the story.  There would be treasure there, without doubt.

        Cautiously she backed over the first line and began to lower herself into the book, knowing that once the story closed over her head she wouldn’t be able to come back up until she’d found what she needed …

        From word to word she felt her way, lowering herself with her rope until she reached the bottom.  She stepped out of the harness and left the rope hanging for her return.  Far overhead the light of the desk lamp shone like a distant sun, but down so far into the book the words glimmered with their own light.

        She made her way sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph, following the twists and turns of the story.  This one was magical already, beckoning her forward toward its heart.  As she went she collected ideas, picking them gently from the text and wrapping them in tissue paper before laying them in her pack.  She would share them out to the people in the world outside, something bright to put away in their hearts: an invitation, a key, a talisman, a portal.  Seeds to overcome the drought.

        It grew brighter and brighter as the librarian followed the corridor, for deep as she was, there were windows now in the walls.  Some windows peeked invitingly into small, intimate chambers, while others gave out onto wide vistas as if gazing down from a mountainside.  And opposite the windows were mirrors, catching the light and doubling it so that every word flashed and sparkled with promise.  She strode more quickly now as the excitement of the story took hold…

        I had a lot of fun imagining the metaphor of physically climbing down into a book.  I even consulted with my rock-climbing brother to get one of the later sections right!  For our librarian, alas, there’s about to be a problem…  But don’t worry, librarians can always find a way!  You’ll just have to read the story to discover how she gets back out of the book, and what she discovers when she once again reaches the outside world.

        If you want to know the process of making this rubber block print of a fantasy library, you can read all about it at the post A Glimpse of Paradise.

        Marketing Moral:  Once you’ve requested that the library get my book, and it’s finally available, be sure to check it out, and encourage others to check it out, too.  Libraries will de-acquisition books that never get signed out.  Plus, right now it’s especially important that we support our local libraries in their work to make books available to everyone.

        Proper Moral:  Knowledge is power, which is why libraries and books are under attack right now by people who want to take power from others.  Be aware of what’s going on locally, and stand up in support of the librarians who want to get books into the hands of the people who need them.  Libraries are magic, and librarians are superheroes!

        When was the last time you visited your local library?

[Picture: A Glimpse of Paradise, rubber block print (2011) by AEGNydam from Bittersweetness & Light, 2025 (See NydamPrints.com).]

H is for Haiku

        (My A to Z Blog Challenge theme this year is Bittersweetness & Light, my new collection of hope-filled, joy-inducing fantasy and sci fi.  I’ll be sharing lots of excerpts of art, stories, and poetry, and I’ll also be sharing some of the background on why we urgently need joyful stories.  Also, be sure to check out the Master List of A to Z bloggers.)

        As I explain in the End Notes, “I’m honestly not usually a fan of haiku – you can tell by the other poems in this book that I tend to revel in the English language the way Scrooge McDuck revels in a pile of gold coins.  But sometimes all I have is a very simple observation, for which a very simple poem is enough.”  So here’s the haiku that appears in my book:

        Each dandelion

    Lives its tiny galaxy:

Sun, then moon, then stars.

        I like dandelions, somewhat to the chagrin of some of my neighbors with more “perfect” lawns, and I think they’re absolutely magical.  Every child knows that dandelions are something special, and if you find that you’ve forgotten that, I hope you’ll take a moment and try to remember how it feels to know that so much wonder really is everywhere.

        H is also for hope, and hope is a muscle that grows stronger with exercise.  Be sure to keep yours in shape, because the stronger your hope muscle is, the more miracles you can accomplish.

        Marketing Moral: “Signal Boost.”  Follow, like, and share my social media posts.  The more engagement something gets, the more it will be raised up by the algorithms of our AI overlords.  Just like dandelion seeds on the wind, every little bit helps spread the word.  (I don’t actually do a ton of social media myself, but in addition to this blog, I’ve got Instagram here.)

        Proper Moral:  Dandelions can survive almost anything, and indeed take over desolate wastelands, because of two traits: deep roots, and generous sharing of their gifts.  Don’t you find that suggestive?

        How do you feel about dandelions?  Or are there other weeds that you especially love or hate?

[Picture: Dandelion Sun, Moon, and Stars, rubber block prints plus digital drawing by AEGNydam from Bittersweetness & Light, 2025 (See NydamPrints.com).]

G is for Ghost

        My A to Z Blog Challenge theme this year is Bittersweetness & Light, my new collection of hope-filled, joy-inducing fantasy and sci fi short stories, poems, and art.  (And if you don’t know what the A to Z Blog Challenge is, you can learn more about it here.)

        I’m not much of one for ghost stories, or indeed any sort of scary stories at all.  I simply don’t enjoy fear.  So naturally, when I write a ghost story, it ends up sweet and hopeful.  Here’s how my ghost story begins…

        Geoffrey was puzzled to find himself still living in his apartment after his funeral.  Well, not really “living” of course, what with being dead, but why was he here at all?  As far as he could recall, having never believed in ghosts or paid much attention to how this whole thing was supposed to work, didn’t spirits stick around on the earthly plane only when they had unfinished business?  Messages for loved ones, or ghastly vengeance to wreak on those who had done them wrong?

        Geoffrey considered whether there was anyone he felt the need to haunt.  He had not been murdered, he was quite sure of that…

        Not knowing what else to do with himself, Geoffrey ends up haunting the family who’s moved into his apartment… but only by accident.  And of course it all ends for the best, because I believe in stories with happy endings.

        This is the time to point out that happy endings are generally considered to be naive, foolish, unrealistic, and definitely not Real Literature.  This attitude is taken for granted everywhere, but when you think about it, it’s actually absurd.  G is also for Good, and factually, both good things and bad things do happen, so where you end a story is simply a choice of framing.  You can read my whole post about Happy Endings, and think about it.  Do you tend to assume that stories of kindness, human connection, and happy endings are somehow less realistic or less serious than dark dramas of misery?  Well, perhaps it’s time you brought some basic scientific skepticism to bear on that attitude, and examine how skewed it really is.  And in the meantime, how about reading some stories that do explore what happens when we actually look for the best in each other and ourselves?

        Marketing Moral: Post about my book on social media and/or your own blog.  Help more people discover a book that they may otherwise never even know exists.  Social media has been going evil in many ways, but if you do continue to use any social media platforms, try to reclaim these networks of connection for spreading light and love instead of lies and

hatred.

        Proper Moral:  “Ideas, like ghosts, must be spoken to a little before they will explain themselves.” (Charles Dickens, Dombey & Son)

        Are you afraid of ghosts?

[Picture: Faithful Friend and Ghost, rubber block print with colored pencil plus digital, by AEGNydam from Bittersweetness & Light, 2025 (See NydamPrints.com).]

F is for Forgotten How To Fly

        (My A to Z Blog Challenge theme this year is Bittersweetness & Light, my new collection of hope-filled, joy-inducing fantasy and sci fi short stories, poems, and art.  Join me for excerpts of art, stories, and poetry, plus some of the background on why we urgently need joyful stories.  Also, be sure to check out my fellow A to Z bloggers at the Master List.)

        Another poem in Bittersweetness & Light is 

“For Those Who Have Forgotten How to Fly.”  

The first stanza…

    For those who have forgotten how to fly

    It is not like riding a bicycle:

    It is indeed possible to lose that sense

    Of perfect balance

    That lifts you

    Into the embrace of sky.

        This poem came to me title first, and I tried to think about what comfort can be given when something so vital and fundamental has been lost.  Sometimes grief is irrevocable, but not always.  Sometimes when you lose a part of yourself some portion of what was lost can be reclaimed.  Don’t just let it slip away.

        Like many humans, I’m fascinated by flight, which often seems like a metaphor or embodiment of joy.  That’s probably why there are about 20 illustrations of birds and butterflies and dragons, and other flying things throughout this book.  (And why slapping a pair of wings on any creature makes it magical, as demonstrated in my 2022 post F is for Flight.)  Maybe to birds, flying just feels like walking does to humans… but it just looks like so much fun!

        Marketing Moral: Have you already read my book?  Post a review!  Amazon, Goodreads, Barnes & Noble… Small-time authors are in desperate need of reviews on these sites to help feed the algorithms that will recommend our books to more people.  A rating is excellent, and a sentence or two of review is even better!  Your review really can help a book take flight.

        Proper Moral:  Learn to walk before you run, and dance before you fly, but practice makes perfect, so if at first you don’t succeed, try try again.

        What’s your favorite flying creature?  And how do you feel about flying on airplanes?

[Picture: Hope, rubber block print by AEGNydam, 2015 (originals sold out);

Detail from Bright Butterflies, rubber block print with watercolor by AEGNydam, 2015 (one original left!);

Shadow Dragon, rubber block print by AEGNydam, 2024 (one original left!);

Sing from the Heart, rubber block print by AEGNydam, 2024;

Blue Jay, rubber block reduction print by AEGNydam, 2010 (originals sold out),

all from Bittersweetness & Light, 2025.]

E is for End Notes

        (My A to Z Blog Challenge theme this year is Bittersweetness & Light, my new collection of hope-filled, joy-inducing fantasy and sci fi short stories, poems, and art.  I’ll be sharing lots of excerpts from the book, and I’ll also be sharing some of the background on why we urgently need joyful stories.  If you like fantastical creatures, magical worlds, and being reminded of the good to be found in the world, come along with me!  And if you’d like to see what my fellow A to Z bloggers are up to, check out the Master List.)

        The meat of Bittersweetness & Light is poems, short stories, and art, but there’s other content in there, as well.  There’s a Preface laying out the theme, and there are Notes at the End.  They’re not scholarly End Notes with citations, but instead they’re the stories behind the stories: background and process and other tidbits.  Lots of people don’t care about this stuff, and they are certainly welcome to ignore the notes.  The contents stand on their own and don’t need any explanations.  But some people are curious and enjoy a little glimpse behind the scenes.  For example, a couple of the pieces are based on true stories, even though they’ve become speculative fiction in my book.  Some of the pieces have a surprisingly long history of creative process - I’ll be sharing one of those stories at R.

        The End Notes are not, I hope, utterly dry.  They’re illustrated with sketches, photographs, and other bits and bobs of art that shed a little light on the background of various other pieces.  I didn’t want more than a page to go by in this book without something fun to look at, even in the End Notes!  So today’s picture is a little collage of some of the images that appear in the End Notes.  I tried to make sure that even this minor part of the book contributes to the sense of joy.

        Marketing Moral: Do you prefer Ebooks?  Ebooks simply cannot reproduce the formatting of paper pages, and in a book like Bittersweetness & Light, which includes art elements on almost every page, the ebook just isn’t the same experience.  That’s why I don’t currently have the ebook available on Amazon.  However, an ebook version does exist if that’s your thing, and if you’re interested you can contact me to purchase.

        Proper Moral:  Still waters run deep; don’t forget that behind every story there are always more stories.

        How do you feel about end notes, footnotes, acknowledgements, and all those little extras in books?  Do you like the supplemental information, or do you ignore it all completely?

[Picture: Assorted illustrations by AEGNydam from Bittersweetness & Light, 2025 (See NydamPrints.com).]

D is for Dreams

        (My A to Z Blog Challenge theme this year is Bittersweetness & Light, my new collection of hope-filled, joy-inducing fantasy and sci fi short stories, poems, and art.  I’ll be sharing lots of excerpts, and I’ll also be sharing some of the background on why we urgently need joyful stories.  There will be lots of other bloggers working their way through the alphabet this year, too, and you can find out what themes they’ve got planned at the Theme Reveal List.)

        “Dreams” is another of the poems in the book.  But rather than share the whole thing, today I’m sharing the illustration that goes with it.  This one isn’t a block print.  In fact, it’s a doodle.  The original doodle was made nearly 30 years ago, during a faculty meeting.  I found it so satisfying that I kept it in my notebook all these years.  It seemed like an appropriate place to begin when illustrating a dream world, because what are dreams, after all, but the doodlings of the subconscious mind?  To complete the illustration for my book, I added the doe, blue butterflies, fish, and quail, which are characters in the poem.  The quail and butterflies are adapted from independent block prints, which I scanned and added to the image digitally, and I drew in the doe and fish.

        In case you’re hoping for a Word of the Month on this last post of March, how about doodle?  The definition “draw aimlessly” appeared in 1935, and seems to have drawn from a variety of influences.  Doodle could be a verb meaning “to fritter time,” possibly associated with dawdle, and a doodle could also be a person: in the mid 17th century “a simpleton,” and in the mid 18th century “an idler.”  (That definition can be seen in “Yankee Doodle Dandy.”)  Doodling may be a way to fritter away time idly, but humans have done it for millenia, and nowadays studies suggest that it’s an excellent way to increase memory, alleviate stress, and regulate the brain.  And of course, now a doodle can also be a poodle crossbreed - which may also be good for alleviating stress!

        D is also for Delight, which is what I hope this book will bring you.  The ability to take delight in things is a muscle that sometimes atrophies as people grow up and become too “cool” or too “busy” to exercise it.  If you want to know what delights me, well, of course a lot of it is in this blog.  But you could also check out my Instagram, in which I post one picture each day of something that delights me, in the hope that it might delight others, too.

        Marketing Moral: Not ready to buy my book?  How about going to your local library and putting in a request for them to buy it for their collection.  You’ll get to read it for free (eventually… It can take a long time!) and better yet, you’ll be helping to make it available for others, as well.

        Proper Moral: Hang onto your dreams.  Even when the world doesn’t live up to our high ideals, it’s still important to have dreams to point us in the direction we want to go.

        Do you like to doodle?  Or do you have something else to keep your hands occupied or your mind regulated during long meetings?  Have you ever doodled something that surprised and delighted you?

[Picture: Dreams, illustration by AEGNydam from Bittersweetness & Light, 2025 (See NydamPrints.com).]

C is for Cooperation

        (My A to Z Blog Challenge theme this year is Bittersweetness & Light, my new collection of hope-filled, joy-inducing fantasy and sci fi short stories, poems, and art.  I’ll be sharing lots of fun excerpts, and I’ll also be sharing some of the background on why we urgently need joyful stories.  (You can find out all about the April A to Z Blog Challenge here.  I’ve got a head start, but I’ll end up at the finish line with everyone else, I promise.  In the meantime, you can see the themes other bloggers will be writing about here.))

        Cooperation is one of my favorite themes.  I love stories in which problems are solved not by some lone hero, but by characters coming together to share their skills and perspectives and help each other reach solutions together.  I’ve certainly got a few of those stories in my book, but today I’m sharing one of the block prints.  This one is called “All in This Together.”  I made it during the COVID lockdown in 2020, but of course we always seem to need the reminder that what hurts one hurts all, and what helps one helps all.

        Another C word I could write about is Cynicism, which is another epidemic that’s keeping us locked down.  Cynics don’t think other people can be trusted, and thus lose out on all the benefits of cooperation.  The more dire things seem, the more important it is to be consciously skeptical of your cynicism, which actually isn’t as smart or as worldly-wise as you think it is.  It actually isn’t keeping you safe or getting you ahead.  (Interested in the science that proves this?  Check out Hope for Cynics by Jamil Zaki, 2024.)  The narrative of catastrophe is not the whole story.  Goodness really is out there all around, so get out and find it — and every time you find some, be sure to share it.  After all, we’re all in this together.

        Marketing Moral: Recommend my book to everyone you know who might like it.  Whenever you find any story, or poem, or art that brings you joy, spread the word!  Tell all your friends.  In fact, tell all your enemies, too, since they probably need a message of joy and love at least as much as you do.  (And nothing helps small-time/indie authors and artists more than word of mouth.)

        Proper Moral: Many hands make light work.  Cooperation is actually a basic human need, essential for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  Now more than ever we need to make sure we look out for one another - and not just our closest buddies, either.  Plus, a rising tide raises all ships.

        Do you find it difficult to ask for help?  Many of us want to be self-sufficient, and hate to be a bother…  But humans actually love to help and be helped.  If you could use a little assistance from your fellow humans, go ahead and ask!

[Picture: All in This Together, rubber block print by AEGNydam, 2020 (Image from Bittersweetness & Light, but originals are still available at NydamPrints.com).]