Calenn Lithgow

I’m fairly decent at writing about other people. Communities, characters, my friends.

I’m not so great at writing about myself.

So I’d prefer not to on this site. I might write about the things I do – research for my projects; books I’m reading and loving; writing processes that help me advance my WIPs. Perhaps I’ll wander into the creative territory: sharing project snippets or writing 50-word fantasies or exploring haikus or musing about nature.

Writing about doing feels much easier than writing about being.

So here’s what I’m doing right now:

• Reading Menewood by Nicola Griffith. It’s the sequel to Hild, which grabbed me by the throat and has not let me go since. I’m obsessed.
• Listening to the audiobook Is a River Alive? by Robert Macfarlane.
• Still thinking about the last nonfiction I read, The Salt Stones, by Helen Whybrow. It’s published by Milkweed Editions, an independent nonprofit publisher. I think my agent said she loved that publisher, and now I get why. Please, go read Hild and then read The Salt Stones and then join me on my communal farm.
• Writing an atmospheric fantasy. More to come on that.
• Providing critiques for my writing group. Getting critiques from my writing group. They’re lovely.
• Some spring cleaning around the house.
• Hosting a weekly movie night for friends. Theme: unhinged lesbians do crimes. We make dinner.
• Ramping up a backyard remodel.
• Working a job that lets me travel across New Mexico to help communities achieve their goals of prosperity, resilience, and quality of life.
• Loving my wife and my dogs. (I have one dog and one cat. The cat is a dog. They are collectively sometimes referred to as “the dogs.”)

That’s all for now.