March News, 2002

michaeljasper.net
"Another Wrecked Web Site"

March 8, 2002

Did someone say something about NOT writing?

Now Playing:

"Live Monsters," Big Head Todd & The Monsters

Now Reading:

The Last Hot Time, John M. Ford

Today's Quote:

I swallowed and started over, trying not to look at the bulge of the gun under the girl’s thin t-shirt. Her bra dangled out the window like a flag of victory. Déjà freaking vu.

“In some ways,” I said in a clear voice, “I am helpless.”

When she pulled the gun out, we were already on the bridge and decelerating. The four people crowded into the back of the car hissed laughter, like snakes or punctured tires. The driver took aim with her right hand, steering with her left.

“We must return to the sea,” I said, kicking out with both bare feet even as my body slid low in the car’s big front seat, “or the sea will return to us.”

Oh man, I'm so glad it's friggin' Friday. This has been a long week. Partly because work has slowed down a bit, and I'm not on any crazy deadlines like I was the past few weeks. But when things are slow, the day just drags. We've also been working out more, so I've been sore, which makes sitting at my desk a bit hard to do for 8 hours straight.

I haven't been writing much lately. I'm trying not to let this bother. Elizabeth and I both worked pretty much all of last weekend, and every night last week as well, and the weekend before that. We've kind of gotten to the point where we don't know what to do with ourselves if we're not writing or doing homework or somehow "being productive." That skirts dangerously close to being workaholics. Not good. Even if for me, it's doing "work" I love -- writing and reading spec fic.

So we're taking Saturday off to just hang out, maybe even clean our dust-ridden house as part of a Spring Cleaning marathon. I could cut our grass. Take the dog to a greyhound playgroup. Go for a hike. Hell, we could even drive to the beach and hang out there, if the weather's nice. Gosh. The opportunities are endless.

As long as we're back by Sunday so I can finish writing chapter 5 of the Wannoshay novel and finish reading The Last Hot Time!!!

See what I mean -- it's an obsession. What can you do? I saw a nice note about me in the newsgroup for Future Orbits, the magazine where my story "Working the Game" will be published in April. The editor listed some of the writers in that issue, and noted that I was "a serious up and comer". Wow. That was a nice little ego boost. Thanks, Tom! I don't think I've ever been up and coming in anything else I've done in my life... I know I wasn't an up-and-coming waiter during my tenure at Applebee's, nor was I an up-and-coming janitor and Midwest Janitorial during my college years. I think I've found my niche. ;)

So what have I been doing lately besides writing? I've been reading and commenting on some short stories, published and in-progress, by friends and fellow writers. It's been fun -- I got to read some nifty horror/fantasy short stories by Scott, a local writer, a whacked-out alien abduction tale by Julie, and two vastly different short stories by Jay, along with monkey stories by Dr. Melissa and dead lawyer chapters by Mark. Thanks to Scott's comments, I was able to do what I hope will be the final tweaks to "Gunning for the Buddha."

And like Tim, I've been in the mood to read short stories lately. I haven't read much of the past year and a half of Asimov's and F&SF, not to mention the three issues of Future Orbits, and I've only read one story in the most recent Black Gate. Like I said, I'm a sloooow reader. I need to pick up the pace. I have 2 stories to write before June, along with finishing the first draft of the Wannoshay novel. Simple, right?

Oh yeah, and please try out my discussion board I set up today. Thanks to Greg for the idea. Just click the "discuss" link below, and chat away!!! Later.
discuss

March 6, 2002

Writing is scary, but NOT writing is even scarier!

Now Playing:

"Songs from an American Movie, Vol. One," Everclear

Now Reading:

The Last Hot Time, John M. Ford

I think all the busy-ness of the past weekend -- the past few weeks, really -- is starting to catch up to me. Got home last night and just didn't feel like doing anything. Granted, I did some writing yesterday morning, but I still felt like I hadn't been productive most of the day.

So I did something I rarely do these days. I watched TV. Even worse, I watched a sitcom! (Gasp!) It was "Frazier," which is still a surprisingly good show, even if it's been around forever (I remember it being on back when I lived in Nebraska, 8-9 years ago!) There were a couple times I laughed out loud, something I rarely do when watching a sitcom -- this one was about Frazier and his dad acting like an old married couple instead of father and son. I think the show ended with Frazier throwing his dad's battered old chair out the window of their hi-rise apartment (I sort of lost interest and wandered off at some point).

TV is like junk food -- fun while it lasts, but when it's over all you have to show for it is a strangely empty feeling.

I did tweak a couple things in "Disillusionist" before going to bed to read some more John M. Ford. I'm not enjoying the book as much as I'd hoped -- he seemed a bit rushed in the first chapter, but now that I'm in the second chapter he's actually slowed down a bit to let some background info filter in. I may have to do some skimming of the earlier stuff again -- I started reading the book late Saturday night and fell asleep a few times.

I hate being such a slow reader! I'm not sure why that is, if I'm trying to soak up every word and see what I can learn from it, or, more likely, I'm just easily distracted and unable to focus on what I'm reading. I'll be reading something and be thinking about my own novel or story, comparing them. I don't when I became such a flake. About 32 years ago, I guess...

Anyway, I plan on doing some writing tonight on chapter 5 after work, after we pick up the new SUV! Yep, the Highlander came in a week earlier than planned, so Lizzie gets to exchange her loaner Camry for the Highlander today. Pretty cool. Talk to you later.
comment

March 5, 2002

Writing is scary...

Now Playing:

"Whatever," Aimee Mann

Now Reading:

The Last Hot Time, John M. Ford

Today's Quote:

I didn’t even have to lift my thumb to get the big car to pull over. It was a sky-blue ’75 Pontiac Firebird with a fat white stripe running up the hood and back to the trunk. Nice.

I spent some time this morning fixing up "Gunning for the Buddha," incorporating some fixes for the gaps in logic that creep into all my stories, it seems, and just doing an all-around tweaking to it. I reread the whole story this morning at the gym, riding the bike and then doing the stair-stepper (yeah, my notes were very messy!), and I started to really like this story again. I really like what it has to say about the violence in today's current events, and how the main character deals with those events as a self-proclaimed "agent of chaos." It's a better story than "The Disillusionist," I've decided. So that one gets sent out today. Buh-bye!

One thing about this story that sort of bothers me is that it's a bit scary. It's not a horror story, but there is some violence, most of which I keep off-stage (but if you read my first sentence, you really can't avoid it). This story is scary to me because it's so different from anything else I've done, and I worry that it's just a complete mess. I've shared it with some fellow writers, who've all enjoyed it, but I sometimes wonder if that enjoyment will be shared by an editor or the readers of a magazine. It's probably the most "idea-ish" story I've ever written, with strong themes and all those other English-Lit kind of concepts. And the main character begins the story as completely unlikeable (she kills Buddha, for crying out loud!). So we'll see what happens with it. I'm a little worried about sending it out, actually. Scary... ;)

I think I'm going to revise "Disillusionist" later, as it's out to a publisher right now (at least I think it is -- I sent it to Realms of Fantasy a month ago, then I got a reject from them on Saturday, but they didn't say for which story (waaay back in August I sent them a different story, which I'd given up on ever hearing about, so I sent 'em another one). I'll give them a few months to get back to me. Note to slush pile readers -- label your rejections somehow! It only takes but a second... Thanks!

I'm back into the Wannoshay novel tonight. I get to go back to Father Joshua this time (I have 4 main characters, and the point of view switches back and forth from chapter to chapter to tell their stories). We get to see what happened to him inside the alien ship! Now all I have to do is... figure out what happened to him inside the alien ship! Oh hell, I'll just make it up -- that's what I've been doin' all along, don't you know? Later.
comment

March 4, 2002

Adding on and adding up...

Now Playing:

"Time (the Revelator)," Gillian Welch

Now Reading:

The Last Hot Time, John M. Ford

Today's Quote:

Not even glancing back at the sad little house and its soon-to-be-former occupant, Skin put his truck into first, grinding the gears with a sound that was almost pleasurable to his ears. He punched the accelerator and got the hell out of Macy.

Well, I added another 1400 words to the Wannoshay novel today, starting on my lunch break and spilling over "just a tiny bit" into the rest of the work day. I'm up to 120 double-spaced pages, and I'm getting ready to start chapter 5. I added a whole 'nother scene to ch. 3 with Skin and his "cousin." It's a good scene. I'm really, really glad I added it -- thanks to Mark for the idea.

Just read over the printouts of chs. 3 and 4 and like 'em, a lot. I got a lot written today, which was nice. So tonight I've been messing with two stories, trying to figure out how to fix them up.

The first is "Gunning for the Buddha," which I think is almost there. But as some folks have said, some of the logic doesn't quite hold up, and there are a couple things about it that bug me. I almost think the other story I've been tweaking, "The Disillusionist," is a better story. Hmm... I had a couple ideas from one of my critters that has me thinking about the identity of the villain in that piece, as in "Where did he come from?" and "What's his purpose other than EVIL?" I think I need to tinker with both stories a teeny bit more.

Tomorrow. I'm beat tonight. Lizzie and I are back on the workout bandwagon, at last, after a rough and irregular February. I had a great workout this morning, doing weights and working my shoulders and arms so they're not so sore from typing and sitting at a computer so much. Seems to be working so far...

Have a good day, and I'll talk at ya later!
comment

March 3, 2002

A magic number...

Now Playing:

"Back Porch Music," WUNC

Now Reading:

The Last Hot Time, John M. Ford

Today's Quote:

Skin hadn't seen them in years, ever since Uncle Vic died. They both had gotten married, but Skin had heard that Rich's wife had run off, leaving Rich and their boy, and Ann's husband was a drunk. Some cousins, he thought, pushing down on the accelerator.

Man, I'm about wiped out! Just hit the 30,000 word milestone on the Wannoshay novel, and I can feel the momentum building! Everything's falling nicely into place, and I'm enjoying the creative process of getting to know my characters and fitting the details of my "future history" together into the plot of the story.

I've also been swapping chapters with Mark, a fellow WotFer, who's working on a fun post-apocalyptic (but not stream-of-consciousness -- inside joke!) novel about lawyers, of all things. It's quite entertaining, and he has some great settings, including an entire city made up of lashed-together rafts and boats floating on a lake in flooded Tempe, AZ. Cool stuff. Mark's comments about my chapters thus far have been excellent, and have made the story much better.

And now I'm about wiped out. Lizzie finished her long-ass paper today, ending up at 26 pages, and now I've hit my goal for the weekend as well, so we can kick back and enjoy the coming week. I don't plan on pushing so hard this week, just writing for an hour or so at night. I knew this weekend Lizzie would be busy with her paper, so I'd planned on getting a lot of writing done.

For kicks we watched "Evolution" as we ate dinner. What a goofy movie, with a lame, ho-hum ending. It had some nice bits in it, mostly because David Duchovny was making fun of himself and Orlando Jones was cutting up quite nicely. But the CGI effects were blah. I'd rather see bad stop-motion effects than flat computer graphics. Maybe we just know too much about the movie-making process, and it's not shocking or new anymore. Or maybe movies need to focus more on character and story. I dunno. Is that so hard?

In any case, I'm happy -- I hit 30,000 words! See ya later.
comment

March 2, 2002

Grooving on a caffeine high...

Now Playing:

"Memphis, TN," Pearl Jam
"Sparkle and Fade," Everclear(!)

Now Reading:

The Last Hot Time, John M. Ford

Today's Quote:

A warm breeze drifted in, bringing with it the sound of lawnmowers and kids riding their bikes on their way home from school. He'd wasted another day, sitting in the living room.

Just a quick entry here to update you on the writing and various projects happening this weekend. Lizzie's almost done with her 20-page paper on fibromyalgia, and I'm a page or two into my new chapter three of the Wannoshay novel. I finished chapter 2 yesterday, and just got done doing some tweaking on it, dotting my i's and crossing my t's. It's nice, seeing the project take shape.

I haven't figured out yet what I'm gonna do with Skin and his wife Lisa in this chapter, but I think there'll be an appearance by his two buddies, Matt and Georgie (who also appeared in "Mud and Salt"). All three guys just got laid off from their jobs at the meat packing plant in Sioux City, and today was the first day Skin hasn't invited them over to drink his homebrewed beer to pass the time while they wait for the unemployment checks to come in. So that will obviously have ramifications...

Elizabeth and I stopped at Borders today and dropped some cash on a couple books and CDs. I got the Everclear album I've been wanting to get for a while now, along with an impulse purchase of another live Pearl Jam album. Both of them are quite good -- I've been playing them while I write and revise on this rainy Saturday afternoon. It's been nice.

I also picked up John M. Ford's fantasy novel(la) The Last Hot Time, which my friend Chris has recommended over and over. I was going to be good and not get it, but I started reading it and it sucked me in. Plus it takes place in the Chicago area, and the main character's from Iowa. And, according to Chris, it has ME on the cover. Not sure 'bout that, but hey, I'll take it. I do plan on getting my NAME on a book cover sometime soon. Even if I did get a dreaded blue-sheet reject from Realms of Fantasy in today's mail. Sigh.
comment

March 1, 2002

Tech it from me, it ain't easy having all the answers... ;)

Now Playing:

"Time (The Revelator)," Gillian Welch

Now Reading:

Shadow and Claw, Gene Wolfe

Today's Quote:

Janey was whacked on Blur. The people in the bar let her pass without giving her a chance to touch them. Dressed in a bright red jacket that was covered in tiny mirrors, she scuffled across the floor in her hard plastic shoes, leaving black marks with each stride. Without effort, she crossed the crowded room faster than a sober person could have jogged across it.

I'm doing some more work on the novel today on my lunch break. I'm determined to finish chapter 2 before the weekend, and maybe even run through chapter 3 to make sure everything in that (story) jibes with what I've worked into my future history. I'm wondering if Ally's chapter would make a self-contained short story (I'm really worried about my stories-out-to-editors will dip to below 10!). We shall see...

Some very interesting topics in various journals lately. Derek and Tim have both been thinking about SF a lot, and they each raise interesting points. Derek's thought about the use of tech and seeing the future in a positive light nicely mirrors Tim's comments, and my own thoughts of the future. It's nice seeing people wrapping their brains around Big Ideas like this. It good cerebral exercise. (Just be sure to stretch first, unless you get a gray-matter charlie-horse!)

Personally, despite the past 6 months, I think the future is going to be much better than now. I think the past decade has been a sort of transitory time, as the world adjusts to fundamental changes in technology and how it affects our work and play. We're still in the middle of the transition, however. I'm guessing it'll take another decade to get all the potholes out of What's Coming Next.

There's technology improving all the time, and simultaneously, there's the current breakdown of the superpowers of the world, which is really the breakdown of America as the SuperCop of Earth. We can't keep spreading ourselves thin the way we've been doing since 9/11 and even before that. In my overly simplistic way, I see this going two ways -- the US will pull the world together by allying itself with the other countries on our side or those on the fence, or we'll implode like the USSR did in the late 80s. I can't really see either of those outcomes actually happening, though, and my knowledge of world events isn't nearly as in-depth as it should be before I start spouting my theories here, but it's something on my mind. I'm guessing the reality will be somewhere in the middle, and not necessarily in favor of America. I still hope for the best, and hope that those suffering around the world will know what it's like to live without tyranny.

Maybe somehow we can use technology in a positive way, as Derek suggests, to improve communications and relationships around the world, just as I've made new friends through the internet, most of them in the US. I mean, think about it. Would you be willing to drop bombs on a country if you knew at least one person there? It's all about knowledge and awareness of others.

If anything comes out of September 11th, I hope it makes everyone who's an American realize that the Earth doesn't revolve around us. Later.

News

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	michaeljasper.net *"Another Wrecked Web Site"*
March 8, 2002 Did someone say something about NOT writing? Now Playing: "Live Monsters," Big Head Todd & The Monsters Now Reading: The Last Hot Time, John M. Ford Today's Quote: I swallowed and started over, trying not to look at the bulge of the gun under the girl’s thin t-shirt. Her bra dangled out the window like a flag of victory. Déjà freaking vu. “In some ways,” I said in a clear voice, “I am helpless.” When she pulled the gun out, we were already on the bridge and decelerating. The four people crowded into the back of the car hissed laughter, like snakes or punctured tires. The driver took aim with her right hand, steering with her left. “We must return to the sea,” I said, kicking out with both bare feet even as my body slid low in the car’s big front seat, “or the sea will return to us.”	Oh man, I'm so glad it's friggin' Friday. This has been a long week. Partly because work has slowed down a bit, and I'm not on any crazy deadlines like I was the past few weeks. But when things are slow, the day just drags. We've also been working out more, so I've been sore, which makes sitting at my desk a bit hard to do for 8 hours straight. I haven't been writing much lately. I'm trying not to let this bother. Elizabeth and I both worked pretty much all of last weekend, and every night last week as well, and the weekend before that. We've kind of gotten to the point where we don't know what to do with ourselves if we're not writing or doing homework or somehow "being productive." That skirts dangerously close to being workaholics. Not good. Even if for me, it's doing "work" I love -- writing and reading spec fic. So we're taking Saturday off to just hang out, maybe even clean our dust-ridden house as part of a Spring Cleaning marathon. I could cut our grass. Take the dog to a greyhound playgroup. Go for a hike. Hell, we could even drive to the beach and hang out there, if the weather's nice. Gosh. The opportunities are endless. As long as we're back by Sunday so I can finish writing chapter 5 of the Wannoshay novel and finish reading The Last Hot Time!!! See what I mean -- it's an obsession. What can you do? I saw a nice note about me in the newsgroup for Future Orbits, the magazine where my story "Working the Game" will be published in April. The editor listed some of the writers in that issue, and noted that I was "a serious up and comer". Wow. That was a nice little ego boost. Thanks, Tom! I don't think I've ever been up and coming in anything else I've done in my life... I know I wasn't an up-and-coming waiter during my tenure at Applebee's, nor was I an up-and-coming janitor and Midwest Janitorial during my college years. I think I've found my niche. ;) So what have I been doing lately besides writing? I've been reading and commenting on some short stories, published and in-progress, by friends and fellow writers. It's been fun -- I got to read some nifty horror/fantasy short stories by Scott, a local writer, a whacked-out alien abduction tale by Julie, and two vastly different short stories by Jay, along with monkey stories by Dr. Melissa and dead lawyer chapters by Mark. Thanks to Scott's comments, I was able to do what I hope will be the final tweaks to "Gunning for the Buddha." And like Tim, I've been in the mood to read short stories lately. I haven't read much of the past year and a half of Asimov's and F&SF, not to mention the three issues of Future Orbits, and I've only read one story in the most recent Black Gate. Like I said, I'm a sloooow reader. I need to pick up the pace. I have 2 stories to write before June, along with finishing the first draft of the Wannoshay novel. Simple, right? Oh yeah, and please try out my discussion board I set up today. Thanks to Greg for the idea. Just click the "discuss" link below, and chat away!!! Later. discuss
March 6, 2002 Writing is scary, but NOT writing is even scarier! Now Playing: "Songs from an American Movie, Vol. One," Everclear Now Reading: The Last Hot Time, John M. Ford	I think all the busy-ness of the past weekend -- the past few weeks, really -- is starting to catch up to me. Got home last night and just didn't feel like doing anything. Granted, I did some writing yesterday morning, but I still felt like I hadn't been productive most of the day. So I did something I rarely do these days. I watched TV. Even worse, I watched a sitcom! (Gasp!) It was "Frazier," which is still a surprisingly good show, even if it's been around forever (I remember it being on back when I lived in Nebraska, 8-9 years ago!) There were a couple times I laughed out loud, something I rarely do when watching a sitcom -- this one was about Frazier and his dad acting like an old married couple instead of father and son. I think the show ended with Frazier throwing his dad's battered old chair out the window of their hi-rise apartment (I sort of lost interest and wandered off at some point). TV is like junk food -- fun while it lasts, but when it's over all you have to show for it is a strangely empty feeling. I did tweak a couple things in "Disillusionist" before going to bed to read some more John M. Ford. I'm not enjoying the book as much as I'd hoped -- he seemed a bit rushed in the first chapter, but now that I'm in the second chapter he's actually slowed down a bit to let some background info filter in. I may have to do some skimming of the earlier stuff again -- I started reading the book late Saturday night and fell asleep a few times. I hate being such a slow reader! I'm not sure why that is, if I'm trying to soak up every word and see what I can learn from it, or, more likely, I'm just easily distracted and unable to focus on what I'm reading. I'll be reading something and be thinking about my own novel or story, comparing them. I don't when I became such a flake. About 32 years ago, I guess... Anyway, I plan on doing some writing tonight on chapter 5 after work, after we pick up the new SUV! Yep, the Highlander came in a week earlier than planned, so Lizzie gets to exchange her loaner Camry for the Highlander today. Pretty cool. Talk to you later. comment
March 5, 2002 Writing is scary... Now Playing: "Whatever," Aimee Mann Now Reading: The Last Hot Time, John M. Ford Today's Quote: I didn’t even have to lift my thumb to get the big car to pull over. It was a sky-blue ’75 Pontiac Firebird with a fat white stripe running up the hood and back to the trunk. Nice.	I spent some time this morning fixing up "Gunning for the Buddha," incorporating some fixes for the gaps in logic that creep into all my stories, it seems, and just doing an all-around tweaking to it. I reread the whole story this morning at the gym, riding the bike and then doing the stair-stepper (yeah, my notes were very messy!), and I started to really like this story again. I really like what it has to say about the violence in today's current events, and how the main character deals with those events as a self-proclaimed "agent of chaos." It's a better story than "The Disillusionist," I've decided. So that one gets sent out today. Buh-bye! One thing about this story that sort of bothers me is that it's a bit scary. It's not a horror story, but there is some violence, most of which I keep off-stage (but if you read my first sentence, you really can't avoid it). This story is scary to me because it's so different from anything else I've done, and I worry that it's just a complete mess. I've shared it with some fellow writers, who've all enjoyed it, but I sometimes wonder if that enjoyment will be shared by an editor or the readers of a magazine. It's probably the most "idea-ish" story I've ever written, with strong themes and all those other English-Lit kind of concepts. And the main character begins the story as completely unlikeable (she kills Buddha, for crying out loud!). So we'll see what happens with it. I'm a little worried about sending it out, actually. Scary... ;) I think I'm going to revise "Disillusionist" later, as it's out to a publisher right now (at least I think it is -- I sent it to Realms of Fantasy a month ago, then I got a reject from them on Saturday, but they didn't say for which story (waaay back in August I sent them a different story, which I'd given up on ever hearing about, so I sent 'em another one). I'll give them a few months to get back to me. Note to slush pile readers -- label your rejections somehow! It only takes but a second... Thanks! I'm back into the Wannoshay novel tonight. I get to go back to Father Joshua this time (I have 4 main characters, and the point of view switches back and forth from chapter to chapter to tell their stories). We get to see what happened to him inside the alien ship! Now all I have to do is... figure out what happened to him inside the alien ship! Oh hell, I'll just make it up -- that's what I've been doin' all along, don't you know? Later. comment
March 4, 2002 Adding on and adding up... Now Playing: "Time (the Revelator)," Gillian Welch Now Reading: The Last Hot Time, John M. Ford Today's Quote: Not even glancing back at the sad little house and its soon-to-be-former occupant, Skin put his truck into first, grinding the gears with a sound that was almost pleasurable to his ears. He punched the accelerator and got the hell out of Macy.	Well, I added another 1400 words to the Wannoshay novel today, starting on my lunch break and spilling over "just a tiny bit" into the rest of the work day. I'm up to 120 double-spaced pages, and I'm getting ready to start chapter 5. I added a whole 'nother scene to ch. 3 with Skin and his "cousin." It's a good scene. I'm really, really glad I added it -- thanks to Mark for the idea. Just read over the printouts of chs. 3 and 4 and like 'em, a lot. I got a lot written today, which was nice. So tonight I've been messing with two stories, trying to figure out how to fix them up. The first is "Gunning for the Buddha," which I think is almost there. But as some folks have said, some of the logic doesn't quite hold up, and there are a couple things about it that bug me. I almost think the other story I've been tweaking, "The Disillusionist," is a better story. Hmm... I had a couple ideas from one of my critters that has me thinking about the identity of the villain in that piece, as in "Where did he come from?" and "What's his purpose other than EVIL?" I think I need to tinker with both stories a teeny bit more. Tomorrow. I'm beat tonight. Lizzie and I are back on the workout bandwagon, at last, after a rough and irregular February. I had a great workout this morning, doing weights and working my shoulders and arms so they're not so sore from typing and sitting at a computer so much. Seems to be working so far... Have a good day, and I'll talk at ya later! comment
March 3, 2002 A magic number... Now Playing: "Back Porch Music," WUNC Now Reading: The Last Hot Time, John M. Ford Today's Quote: Skin hadn't seen them in years, ever since Uncle Vic died. They both had gotten married, but Skin had heard that Rich's wife had run off, leaving Rich and their boy, and Ann's husband was a drunk. Some cousins, he thought, pushing down on the accelerator.	Man, I'm about wiped out! Just hit the 30,000 word milestone on the Wannoshay novel, and I can feel the momentum building! Everything's falling nicely into place, and I'm enjoying the creative process of getting to know my characters and fitting the details of my "future history" together into the plot of the story. I've also been swapping chapters with Mark, a fellow WotFer, who's working on a fun post-apocalyptic (but not stream-of-consciousness -- inside joke!) novel about lawyers, of all things. It's quite entertaining, and he has some great settings, including an entire city made up of lashed-together rafts and boats floating on a lake in flooded Tempe, AZ. Cool stuff. Mark's comments about my chapters thus far have been excellent, and have made the story much better. And now I'm about wiped out. Lizzie finished her long-ass paper today, ending up at 26 pages, and now I've hit my goal for the weekend as well, so we can kick back and enjoy the coming week. I don't plan on pushing so hard this week, just writing for an hour or so at night. I knew this weekend Lizzie would be busy with her paper, so I'd planned on getting a lot of writing done. For kicks we watched "Evolution" as we ate dinner. What a goofy movie, with a lame, ho-hum ending. It had some nice bits in it, mostly because David Duchovny was making fun of himself and Orlando Jones was cutting up quite nicely. But the CGI effects were blah. I'd rather see bad stop-motion effects than flat computer graphics. Maybe we just know too much about the movie-making process, and it's not shocking or new anymore. Or maybe movies need to focus more on character and story. I dunno. Is that so hard? In any case, I'm happy -- I hit 30,000 words! See ya later. comment
March 2, 2002 Grooving on a caffeine high... Now Playing: "Memphis, TN," Pearl Jam "Sparkle and Fade," Everclear(!) Now Reading: The Last Hot Time, John M. Ford Today's Quote: A warm breeze drifted in, bringing with it the sound of lawnmowers and kids riding their bikes on their way home from school. He'd wasted another day, sitting in the living room.	Just a quick entry here to update you on the writing and various projects happening this weekend. Lizzie's almost done with her 20-page paper on fibromyalgia, and I'm a page or two into my new chapter three of the Wannoshay novel. I finished chapter 2 yesterday, and just got done doing some tweaking on it, dotting my i's and crossing my t's. It's nice, seeing the project take shape. I haven't figured out yet what I'm gonna do with Skin and his wife Lisa in this chapter, but I think there'll be an appearance by his two buddies, Matt and Georgie (who also appeared in "Mud and Salt"). All three guys just got laid off from their jobs at the meat packing plant in Sioux City, and today was the first day Skin hasn't invited them over to drink his homebrewed beer to pass the time while they wait for the unemployment checks to come in. So that will obviously have ramifications... Elizabeth and I stopped at Borders today and dropped some cash on a couple books and CDs. I got the Everclear album I've been wanting to get for a while now, along with an impulse purchase of another live Pearl Jam album. Both of them are quite good -- I've been playing them while I write and revise on this rainy Saturday afternoon. It's been nice. I also picked up John M. Ford's fantasy novel(la) The Last Hot Time, which my friend Chris has recommended over and over. I was going to be good and not get it, but I started reading it and it sucked me in. Plus it takes place in the Chicago area, and the main character's from Iowa. And, according to Chris, it has ME on the cover. Not sure 'bout that, but hey, I'll take it. I do plan on getting my NAME on a book cover sometime soon. Even if I did get a dreaded blue-sheet reject from Realms of Fantasy in today's mail. Sigh. comment
March 1, 2002 Tech it from me, it ain't easy having all the answers... ;) Now Playing: "Time (The Revelator)," Gillian Welch Now Reading: Shadow and Claw, Gene Wolfe Today's Quote: Janey was whacked on Blur. The people in the bar let her pass without giving her a chance to touch them. Dressed in a bright red jacket that was covered in tiny mirrors, she scuffled across the floor in her hard plastic shoes, leaving black marks with each stride. Without effort, she crossed the crowded room faster than a sober person could have jogged across it.	I'm doing some more work on the novel today on my lunch break. I'm determined to finish chapter 2 before the weekend, and maybe even run through chapter 3 to make sure everything in that (story) jibes with what I've worked into my future history. I'm wondering if Ally's chapter would make a self-contained short story (I'm really worried about my stories-out-to-editors will dip to below 10!). We shall see... Some very interesting topics in various journals lately. Derek and Tim have both been thinking about SF a lot, and they each raise interesting points. Derek's thought about the use of tech and seeing the future in a positive light nicely mirrors Tim's comments, and my own thoughts of the future. It's nice seeing people wrapping their brains around Big Ideas like this. It good cerebral exercise. (Just be sure to stretch first, unless you get a gray-matter charlie-horse!) Personally, despite the past 6 months, I think the future is going to be much better than now. I think the past decade has been a sort of transitory time, as the world adjusts to fundamental changes in technology and how it affects our work and play. We're still in the middle of the transition, however. I'm guessing it'll take another decade to get all the potholes out of What's Coming Next. There's technology improving all the time, and simultaneously, there's the current breakdown of the superpowers of the world, which is really the breakdown of America as the SuperCop of Earth. We can't keep spreading ourselves thin the way we've been doing since 9/11 and even before that. In my overly simplistic way, I see this going two ways -- the US will pull the world together by allying itself with the other countries on our side or those on the fence, or we'll implode like the USSR did in the late 80s. I can't really see either of those outcomes actually happening, though, and my knowledge of world events isn't nearly as in-depth as it should be before I start spouting my theories here, but it's something on my mind. I'm guessing the reality will be somewhere in the middle, and not necessarily in favor of America. I still hope for the best, and hope that those suffering around the world will know what it's like to live without tyranny. Maybe somehow we can use technology in a positive way, as Derek suggests, to improve communications and relationships around the world, just as I've made new friends through the internet, most of them in the US. I mean, think about it. Would you be willing to drop bombs on a country if you knew at least one person there? It's all about knowledge and awareness of others. If anything comes out of September 11th, I hope it makes everyone who's an American realize that the Earth doesn't revolve around us. Later.
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