michaeljasper.net
"Another Wrecked Web Site"
July 20, 2002
Lucky number 13...
Now Playing:
Everclear, nothing but
Today's Words:
3,000
Novel Words:
66,300
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I had a couple of cool quotes to choose from today from this morning's writing. I guess that's a good problem to have, huh? Just means that I've been pumping out some good words. And after two days without any writing, for a variety of reasons, it's awesome to really get into the flow of the writing again.
And I got into it this morning. I was writing a scene that took place in the middle of winter in Nebraska, outside in the cold, and I swear, I totally lost track of everything. The scene was Skin and old Shermie (the self-proclaimed president and CEO of Macy, Nebraska) as they meet a group of 10 runaway aliens. Turns out Shermie knows a lot more about the aiens than Skin gave him credit for, and they have an enlightening encounter.
I was just about done with the scene and had to stop and think what DAY of the week it was, what month it was, in the real world. I felt like it was January 1st, 2017. Crazy. That's only happened a few times, and it's an intense, almost scary feeling. But I finished chapter 13 and am a good ways into chapter 14 now.
Wow. That's the place I need to go every time I write. It's awesome. Later.
Today's Quote:
"Skin," Awoyana said, pronouncing his nickname as "shin." Skin turned just as his alien was taking the largest of the four rocks from one of the younger aliens. With a sudden grunt, Awoyana launched the rock directly at Skin's head. Before Skin could even take another breath, his arms were up, and he caught the rock in mid-air. It took both hands to grip the big gray rock. He continued holding his breath as he waited for it to slam into his face. But nothing happened. Skin was holding the rock easily, as if it were made of paper-machie.
"You are stronger than you think," Awoyana said, pronouncing the English words laboriously. "Remember that. And thank-you."
July 17, 2002
Wacky Wednesday...
Now Playing:
More Everclear
Today's Words:
1,600
Novel Words:
63,300
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Got to keep it short tonight. I've been at the computer way too much today. Spent almost every second at work in front of the ol' monitor, cranking away on my manual that's up for editing tomorrow. And just finished another good hour and a half of drafting chapter 13. It's almost done already! Crazy!
I got Skin out to the Omaha Indian reservation again, and he met up with Shermie and took him to the site of "Mud and Salt" when he accidentally shot Georgie. While there, he and Shermie have some visitors that Shermie -- it just so happens -- knows pretty well. Fun times follow. And then I've got to get them on the road to Iowa City. And before they get there, they run across a young woman whose bus has broken down in Des Moines. All the pieces are falling into place, and it's been a blast!
In not so great news, a good friend of mine got laid off today. Cinque and I worked together at a company called TRG back in '98, back when the economy was booming (was it really thar long ago), and we went to other jobs since, and then recently we both worked at Siebel, a software company that was kicking butt up until, well, the day I started there! It's gone downhill since then, and I finally left in May, right before the Oregon workshop, with about 7,500 worthless stock options and some good experience. Cinque didn't get out soon enough. Yuck. What a rotten feeling that must be. I'm relieved that I got out when I did, but it's tempered by the fact that my friend lost his job. Not cool.
I tell ya, it's been a wacky day. I'm just ready for the weekend, and gearing up for our week at the beach. I think I have all my reading materials prepared -- horror novels by Drew Williams and Jon Merz, the Years Best Fantasy by Hartwell, and another book or two to be named later. Maybe Bag of Bones by King -- Lizzie's reading that now and really liking it. We shall see. Reading at the beach: there's nothing better! Later.
Today's Quote:
Shermie gave Skin a crooked smile and pulled his jacket up over his shoulders, hunching his shoulders up high and standing precariously on his tiptoes. His back was ram-rod stragiht. With his arms held elbows-out and his chin pointing up, Shermie looked disturbingly familiar to Skin.
"Our home, too," Shermie said, his voice quavering with the same raspy, sing-song quality as the alien he'd cornered. "Nee-brash-yah."
July 16, 2002
Another chapter down... And an even dozen to go!!!
Now Playing:
Today's Words:
1,600
Novel Words:
61,700
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It's odd, but on the two days I've skipped my workouts in the morning, I've kicked butt on my word count at night. Coincidence? Is exercise bad for my writing???
Heh. Yeah right. I'll bet if I'd worked out this morning or yesterday morning (overslept this morning, and was up too late Sunday night), I'd probably have gotten more done. I definitely need to do some weight-lifting tomorrow -- my arms and hands have been sore lately. Too much computer time!
The novel continues to chug along. I was tempted to quit early and do some reading -- I've been on a story-reading kick lately, and enjoyed reading the rest of "The Retrieval Artist" today over lunch; excellent story, and I'll probably buy the novel by Kris Rusch if I make my writing goal for July -- but instead of wussing out I buckled down and finished chapter 12. Yeehaw!
Finally. I feel like I've been stuck on that chapter for ages. And the next chapter with Skin and Shermie, and later on Ally, all getting on the road to Iowa City, will be even more fun. The chapter I just finished had Father Joshua meeting Shontera and her daughter Janna, and it is really fun getting these established characters together. Just wait till they all meet in Iowa City... It'll be wild. Especially when the Late Ones show up on the radar...
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
I hope everyone's doing well. I'm really starting to look forward to our week at the beach with our friends, getting away from work, and then WorldCon in late August. Lots of great stuff to look forward to. Later.
Today's Quote:
The rectory was cool and quiet, lit only by lamps with low-wattage bulbs. Not a wallscreen could be found in any of the three rooms Shontera and Janna passed through, and the small sitting room where the white-haired priest left them had only musty books lining the walls. A painting of Mary holding Jesus adorned the only wall with a window. A tiny line of winter air slipped in through the thick, slightly cracked window, as if trying to cool off the bright halos above the heads of Jesus and his mother.
July 15, 2002
Now it's starting to get good!!!
Now Playing:
"Essence," Lucinda Williams
Today's Words:
1,500
Novel Words:
60,100
Writing Dare
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It's either Nunzilla's benevolent gaze, or I'm just getting into a good groove again with my novel. In any case, I feel like things are really heating up with the plot, and I'm looking forward to working on it tomorrow. My goal is to hit at least 1500 words every time I sit down, so I can't leave 'til it's accomplished. So even if it's just wacky stuff, it needs to get out. 1,500 words or no sleep. And Nunzilla's ruler is waiting...
I'm surprised I was able to be so productive tonight, after being up past midnight last night -- we went to see the "Down from the Mountain" concert, featuring many of the musicians from the "O Brother Where Art Thou" soundtrack, including my lady, Emmylou Harris, along with a ton of others. Ricky Skaggs and his band tore the place up, as did Del McCoury and his band. Even Ralph Stanley got jiggy with it, belting out his lyrics. A great show, even though I wish it had taken place somewhere a bit smaller, with better acoustics, than the Raleigh Entertainment and Sports Arena. And a place with a bit more leg room, while I'm at it. A good show, worth missing sleep over.
And today is was back to the grind. But I'm finding the Day Job much less onerous when I'm reading and writing a lot. I've started reading the latest Year's Best SF by Dozois, and read 2 cool tales by Michael Swanwick and Michael Cassutt. The Cassutt had some cool tech in it that I wasn't crazy about at first, but it all made sense eventually. The trick is to not try and figure it all out, but just read it and it will eventually sort itself out. The Swanwick was clever, but a bit too silly for my tastes. Not sure what story will get my Hugo vote...
Right now I'm reading "The Retrieval Artist" by Kris Rusch, on my Palm. It's quite good, and I've been enjoying getting stories from FictionWise to put on my Palm and read over lunch or whenever. The Rusch story is fun -- a nice mix of hard-boiled mystery and SF. And that's the latest from 'round here. Later!
Today's Quote:
Shontera rubbed her throat, still sore from the food that had gotten wedged there that morning, nearly choking her to death. She was twenty feet away when she saw the individual ropes of the black object. At eighteen feet she saw the slender black cylinder that had been jammed through the black ropes -- the hair, Shontera told herself, hair -- attached to the fence. She was fifteen feet away, smelling the faintest hint of salty dirt, when she saw one of the Wannoshay hair-tentacles lift up and point at her like an eyeless snake.
July 14, 2002
Because Nunzilla said so!!!
Now Playing:
"Charlotte, NC" and "Memphis, TN," Pearl Jam
Today's Words:
700
Novel Words:
58,600
Writing Dare
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Because my wife is the coolest person in the world, she not only gave me some time to get caught up on my writing yesterday (and made me get some writing done this morning when I was trying to procrastinate!), but she also went shopping yesterday and bought me my very own NUNZILLA! I have Nunzilla right under my monitor on my desk to keep me on task, so I'm not tempted to shirk my fiction writing duties. Because all I have to do is wind her up and she'll creep toward me, fire shooting from her mouth, ruler ready to rap on my knuckles if I don't get my words written for the day. (No offense to the Catholics in my life, 'kay???)
What can I say? Elizabeth is the best.
Thanks to her (and Nunzilla), I got more work done on chapters 12 and 13 of the Wannoshay novel. I was hoping to hit 60,000 words, but I ran out of time. I have some reading I want to do, and the blueberry pancakes are calling my name. I know, I'm weak! Please don't sic Nunzilla on me! I did 700 words! That's better than nothing, right???
Today's Quote:
On the other side of the cave-lined mountains was a bubbling ocean without waves. It sat like a yellow lake, almost smoking with heat. Shontera felt herself floating over the ocean, smelling the stink of sulphur and seeing something dark move over the surface. She realized it was a shadow, and looked up to see a monstrous ship made of black metal directly above her. She'd never seen this in her dreams. Spikes jutted from the sides of the humming ship, each spike slowly rotating as the ship passed over her. Then Shontera felt the air sucked from her lungs when the ship shot straight up, dwindling to a pinprick and then nothing. Shontera couldn't breathe.
July 13, 2002
Double Scotts and a Drew... with a hyperlink chaser!
Now Playing:
"Stag," Amy Ray; "Yield," Pearl Jam; "O Sister: The Women's Bluegrass Album."
Today's Words:
1,900
Novel Words:
57,900
Writing Dare
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At last, a very good writing day. I was starting to wonder if I still had it... I know, after all this time, I shouldn't worry about such things, but still. Sometimes life catches up to me and ambushes me, and writing fictions just seems like too much. I guess it's when my life has too much drama, I have trouble creating drama as an artist. Or something like that.
In any case, I feel life in general is back on an even keel, and all I can say is that my wife Elizabeth is simply the best for putting up with me. And as Mr. Gump would say, that's all I gotta say 'bout that.
After working on my writing all morning, I headed off to Borders with printouts of what I'd written (almost 2,000 words' worth!) and two of fellow writer Scott's stories. We finally got to meet in person, which is always cool, and we talked shop for a good hour over lattes and stories. I picked up a copy of HP Lovecraft stories, because I've never read his stuff (I know, I know, the horror!), and then we tracked down Scott Nicholson, who was there for a book-signing.
We found him by the door with piles of his very cool horror novel, The Red Church, and we talked more shop, mostly publishing stuff, and Drew Williams showed up, so we did a little mini-con right there at the entrance to Borders in North Raleigh. Very fun. I had a very bohemian, artistic kind of morning and afternoon.
It made me think that I need to set up a good writers' group for area genre writers. While Scott's not from 'round here, it'd be good to have a gang of like-minded writers around to meet once a month and crit stories. I have friends who I email stuff to, but it's always good to have that personal interaction, especially with a good cup of joe or a brew at my side. I need to look into that -- my plan is to write one story a month for the rest of my life, along with two novels a year, so there should be no dearth of material from my end.
Speaking of, I have a couple short horror stories to choose from for my July story. One is a carnival-related story set in eastern NC, called, fittingly enough, "Carnival Fortunes." The other is a horror/fantasy/SF tale that takes place in the City of All-Worlds setting, tentatively called "All the World's a Portal." Or I may try and write something totally new. We'll see what kind of wacky ideas after I read a few Lovecraft stories. Or maybe I'll finish my Wannoshay story that takes the alien point of view, tentatively title "Reservation Runaways."
Of course, I still have some Hugo stories to read as well... And a couple novels by friends to read over. I'll get to it all, one of these days... Later!
Today's Quote:
They had been out for almost two hours, and Matt was sweating hard in spite of the mid-thirties temperature, his hands red from working the levers on his walker. The slick black strips of metal running up and down each of his legs were attached to wheeled boots that articulated at the ankle. The strips of metal followed impulses from Matt's torso as well as his hands, which worked the joystick-like levers at his hips. His rifle was strapped to his back, loaded with the safety on, ready for him. If he saw anything, he could lock himself in place by pushing the levers down, and he could grab his gun. It was a surprisingly effective system.
July 11, 2002
Holy crap, he's back!
Now Playing:
"Blue Sky Mining," Midnight Oil
Today's Words:
0
Novel Words:
56,900
Writing Dare
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A really, really brief entry just to say hello and let you know I'm still alive. We had a sub-par time in the mountains due to the extreme heat (high nineties for the most part, a total anomaly for the Smoky Mountains) and no AC in our hotel, and the nasty crowds of redneck in Cherokee at the powwow and the casino. We hit the casino but skipped the powwow. Yuck. Nowhere near as relaxing as we'd hoped the weekend would be. But what can ya do?
Haven't done a whole lot of writing in the past week, so no journals as a result. Work kicked my butt when I got back, as I was expecting, so after some looong hours earlier this week, I am finally caught up and back to normal working hours.
Tonight I plan on diving back into the Wannoshay novel. I've gotten some great feedback from fellow writers Chris and Mark, and their comments have really helped me clarify the characters and the situations in the novel, so I'm itching to get some major drafting done.
I may do some final tweaking tonight, then watch me chalk up some major word count!
Not much else new to report. It's finally raining here in Raleigh after months of drought, so we may get to see some green grass again soon. Oh yeah, I'm also intensively researching publishers and editors in preparation for my big novel pushes coming in the next few months. I've got to find out the best homes for my horror, fantasy, and SF novels, and I've got to find them soon!
Of course, I want to finish the SF novel first, but you know what I mean... Later.