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Kana's Chronicles

Life in Kana-text (er… CONtext)

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Category: Writing

The User’s Manual: 13 Rules

AI-generated cartoon of the writer's desk, with a thick manual labeled "Kana" beside her typewriter
November 7, 2025November 7, 2025 ~ Kana Smith ~ 17 Comments

Joshua Pantalleresco, who recently had me as a guest on his podcast, "Just Joshing," has ten Life Rules he tries to live by. I asked, after we went off the air, and he rattled them off for me. Number One is "Show up;" Number Ten is choose the option that's more fun (all other things … Continue reading The User’s Manual: 13 Rules

Poetry Ambush

AI-generated image of poet Walt Whitman with his hand over his mouth like a mischievous boy
November 6, 2025November 13, 2025 ~ Kana Smith ~ 17 Comments

I used to hate poetry. Really hate it. Like its-existence-made-me-angry hated it. So you'll laugh when I tell you I have a Master's degree in Creative Writing, Poetry. How was that turn-around effected? Two words, from my undergrad years. Walt Whitman. I had a flashback to my old way of thinking, recently, when I bought … Continue reading Poetry Ambush

A Horror-Stricken Ostrich

AI-generated image of an ostrich gazing upward as beams of light come down on it
November 3, 2025November 13, 2025 ~ Kana Smith ~ 33 Comments

Note: I hardly ever, ever go into politics here, for reasons that are about to become apparent. This post is an exception. I feel like I should give warning, in the same way that some shows warn when there will be flashing lights or adult language... Be warned. Political anxiety ahead. *** I don't do … Continue reading A Horror-Stricken Ostrich

Rejection Letters

AI-generated image of a dragon in a hammock on a beach, reading a book
November 2, 2025November 2, 2025 ~ Kana Smith ~ 37 Comments

I've been taking a break from my novel. The one I'm writing, I mean. There's a part of me that feels like I shouldn't write about the novel at all, until the thing is wrapped up (and, heck, while we're at the daydream, sold & printed!). How cliché it is for the unpublished novelist to … Continue reading Rejection Letters

Here AND There

photo of a sea turtle in Maui
November 1, 2025November 1, 2025 ~ Kana Smith ~ 14 Comments

The last couple nights have dipped down below freezing, riming the fields beyond our house with frost. This morning a heavy skim of frozen fog at the foot of the distant mountains contrasted with the bold grapefruit of the pre-dawn clouds, like a painting of frost and fire. It feels like a fitting entree to … Continue reading Here AND There

The Post-It Queen Strikes Again

AI-generated image of a woman sitting at her computer, surrounded by Post-it notes that are even stuck to her.
October 29, 2025October 29, 2025 ~ Kana Smith ~ 15 Comments

I'm sitting on the living-room couch with my MacBook, rather than the more serviceable office chair and desktop computer, because this window is where the sunshine is streaming in. We've had nothing but wind and storms this week---and although we generally only get 12 inches of rain a year here, in our High Desert climate, … Continue reading The Post-It Queen Strikes Again

Podcast Debrief

cartoon of a woman standing in a rowboat holding a fishing pole with a white whale on the other end, saying "NOW what?"
October 28, 2025November 6, 2025 ~ Kana Smith ~ 3 Comments

For all my angst-ing ahead of time ("On the Subject of Being the Subject"), I very much enjoyed my conversation with Josh Pantalleresco of "Just Joshing". Although it occurs to me that I did rather deflect from being-the-subject by asking him questions... You would too, I think---he's literally walking and hitching across continents (Canada, then … Continue reading Podcast Debrief

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"As for me, I am tormented with an everlasting itch for things remote. I love to sail forbidden seas, and land on barbarous coasts."

~ Herman Melville, Moby-Dick

  1. alimardory's avatar
    alimardory on The Christmas-Tree Trade-InDecember 19, 2025

    Enjoy! I have a friend whose husband passed during the pandemic. They had always talked about retiring to Florida, so…

  2. cswatts's avatar
    cswatts on The Christmas-Tree Trade-InDecember 19, 2025

    Now I am jealous.

  3. Dwight Hyde's avatar
    Dwight Hyde on The Christmas-Tree Trade-InDecember 19, 2025

    That’s so heat, I love it!❤️😃

  4. joannerambling's avatar
    joannerambling on Technology & the SickBed-NestDecember 19, 2025

    I could be better but I could also be a lot worse

  5. Roots Enroutes's avatar
    Roots Enroutes on PortofinoDecember 19, 2025

    Lovely picture. As someone who cannot for the life of me write poetry, I find myself entranced by yours.

"It is not down on any map; true places never are"

~ Herman Melville, Moby-Dick

The Christmas-Tree Trade-In Technology & the SickBed-Nest Spenser “With an ‘S,’ Like the Poet” Now & Then Travel Day Hawai’i Day Eight: the Last Day Sun & sea at Honaunau Bay Hawai'i Day Five: a Beach Morning, a Verizon Afternoon, a Seafood Evening Hawai’i Day Four: UNDER the Water!
  • Technology & the SickBed-Nest
  • The Christmas-Tree Trade-In
  • The Accidental Cat Lady
  • Now & Then
  • Spenser "With an 'S,' Like the Poet"
  • When you Assume... you make an ASS out of U & ME
  • One of My Very Bad Habits
  • How to Bury an Owl
  • "There's No Place Like Home"
  • Giving New Meaning to "Recharging a Mouse"

"Not all those who wander are lost."

~J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

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