Category Archives: Rants and asides

Re-equipping my wife

Like me, my wife is a creative person. When under stress, she finds relief in creative expression. However, she’s not primarily a writer, she’s a musician. And we had to leave her guitar behind in Minnesota, to be shipped out later, and to ship it safely is going to cost over $200. Being without an …

January 29, 2012 – 5:57 PM | By Craig Hansen | Posted in Rants and asides | Tagged , | Comments (0)

On the Oregon Trail, Part 1: Chillin’ in Keystone (and I don’t mean beer)

Well, we are two days into our five-night, six-day journey from Minnesota to Oregon. Let me fill you in on our adventures so far. My air bed started dying on me 2-3 days before we left… because it could only stay inflated a few hours by Sunday morning, I woke up at around 6:30 a.m. …

August 23, 2011 – 12:08 AM | By Craig Hansen | Posted in Rants and asides | Tagged | Comments (2)

Leaving a lot behind

As Andie and I plan our big move west to Oregon, one of the big things we’ve had to face is that we’ll need to leave quite a lot of our worldly possessions behind. It’s just too expensive to mail some of these things, or hire movers or rent a moving van. Especially in a …

May 1, 2011 – 4:24 AM | By Craig Hansen | Posted in Rants and asides | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Aside: Wedding anniversary gifts

OK, so this doesn’t have anything to to with writing, per se, but later this year I’m going to be approaching an important benchmark; in August my wife and I will be celebrating five years of marriage. Five-year marks are always extra special, or should be. It’s the halfway point to a ten-year mark and …

January 23, 2011 – 10:34 PM | By Craig Hansen | Posted in Rants and asides | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Writing more in 2011

My resolution for the coming year is to write more, write better and write to completion more often in 2011. It’s that simple. It’s the sort of resolution just about any writer should make… and follow through on. Because we’re all probably capable of more than we’re doing right now. So fire up the karaoke …

December 27, 2010 – 1:44 AM | By Craig Hansen | Posted in Rants and asides | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Is it tacky?

A couple picky folks who are not necessarily regulars over at Kindleboards have been posting their complaints recently about how they consider it “tacky” to talk about sales numbers and how much money different authors have made since going indie. While I’m not going to go knee-jerk and suggest they are New York publishing house …

December 27, 2010 – 12:58 AM | By Craig Hansen | Posted in Rants and asides | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

Writing is easier than a lot of stuff … but it is hard work

Sometimes people frustrated with the full scope of the creative process suggest that it’s easier to sell cheap life insurance than it is to write a novel. Well, as a one-time insurance agent with a brief, terrible career in the field, I can tell you this: it’s absolutely not. Let me tell you that calling …

December 26, 2010 – 12:10 AM | By Craig Hansen | Posted in Rants and asides | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Daydreaming about Outer Banks

Every once in a while, I like to daydream about how to treat myself if I reach certain goals. With my new interest in publishing on Kindle, some of those goals now seem reachable, and so the rewards more within my grasp. One daydream I’ve spent more and more time considering of late, because I’m …

September 26, 2010 – 10:53 PM | By Craig Hansen | Posted in creativity, Rants and asides | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Not even here yet, and I’m already addicted

I pre-ordered my first-even Kindle, a new K3, on August 1. It is estimated by Amazon to arrive on or before September 4. And even though it’s still about three weeks away, I am already addicted. That’s because I am using Kindle for PC on both my laptop and my desktop, and I keep finding …

August 12, 2010 – 10:46 PM | By Craig Hansen | Posted in Rants and asides | Tagged , , , | Comments (2)

Vacation nearer and nearer

As our vacation time edges closer and closer, I find myself really looking forward to it; sure, I know that road trips are no way for me to lose weight fast, but once we’re up there I’ll have more time and freedom than I’ve had in a long, long time. The best weight loss solution …

May 28, 2010 – 2:01 AM | By Craig Hansen | Posted in Rants and asides | Tagged , | Comments (0)

A little down about my weight

One thing distracting me from greater creativity is that I’ve been backsliding a bit on my weight loss goals ever since the weather warmed up. I’ve gained about five pounds back, and while that may not seem like much, that puts me in 234-235 territory, which is disheartening compared to the sub-230s I was flirting …

May 24, 2010 – 11:47 PM | By Craig Hansen | Posted in Rants and asides | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Weighty matters

If I want to have a long career as a writer, be it as a novelist, Bible teacher or whatever, I need to do better than stall at about twenty pounds lost. Even after trimming twenty pounds, I still have another fifty to go before I’m tipping the scale at below 180 pounds. I lost …

May 16, 2010 – 2:15 AM | By Craig Hansen | Posted in Rants and asides | Tagged , | Comments (0)