The 1/24/30 Dare 2001, Week 4

michaeljasper.net

"Another Wrecked Web Site"

Sept. 28, 2001

Off for the weekend...

Now Playing:

"So Much for the Afterglow," Everclear

The 1/24/30 Dare

Man, where did the month of September go???

Oh yeah, that's right. I was writing all month. Man. And for pretty much the entire month, I was fighting the crud -- the cold I picked up in Philly still hasn't released its hold on me. Yuck. That's what I get for not resting or getting more than 5 hours of sleep every night. But it was worth it.

This morning I put together four story submissions -- three mainstream and one SF -- and sent them out before work. I'd forgotten what a pain it was to organize all that: cover letter, envelopes, printout of story, etc. Of course, I was also doing two or three other things at the time, like surfing, reading email, and doing our bills at the same time, so that could've had something to do with it. I feel like I'm playing catch-up all the time nowadays. Another side effect of all the writing I did this month.

Hopefully our trip to Chicago will be relatively restful. We're doing some running tomorrow, visiting my aunt and grandmother after the plane lands, then to a cookout for my friend Cathi's pre-wedding party. Then Sunday's the wedding, and we leave Monday. We may have time to do some sight-seeing on Monday, but it's hard to tell, as we'll have to be back at the airport two hours before our flight.

I'm not worried about the flight much at all. Sounds like we'll have lots of room, which is always a plus. People who aren't flying are a bit foolish, in my opinion. If you've canceled a flight because of the World Trade Center explosions, I think you are part of the problem. Don't let the terrorists run your lives, please!

I'm not sure how much writing I'll get done in the next few days, though I'm pretty sure I wrote for at least 30 hours this month already... Mostly I want to keep up the habit of writing every day, incorporating being creative into my daily life just like exercise (ha! still working on that one!) and so on. I have a short story I want to finish soon, and I was playing with the idea of outlining my two ideas for novels soon.

I also want to read more of the baseball novel I bought, and get ready for my panels at Trinoc*Con next weekend (I'm doing some interesting horror and fantasy panels, including one in which I'm a moderator). So if you're in the Raleigh-Durham area on Oct. 5-7, drop in on the Durham Millenium hotel and say how-do.

Oh yeah, I watched the new Trek show on tape last night. It was pretty good. It didn't blow me away, but there were some nice touches. I liked Scott Bakula a lot -- how can you not like him and his puppy? -- and the Southern First Officer was pretty good. And the Vulcan babe, of course (um, why does she need to wear a skin-tight jumpsuit, again? tsk, tsk). The ship is cool-looking, and the design is nice and retro, and there were some good conflicts. I'd have liked more back-history of the Vulcan-human animosities, and more on Archer's father, but maybe we'll get that later. I dunno if I'll keep watching it or not. I don't like getting tied down to a certain show, and I don't watch much TV to start with. We'll see. Later.
mjj

Sept. 27, 2001

Dragging myself up from the depths...

Now Reading:

Brittle Innings, Michael Bishop

Now Playing:

"Fight Songs," Old 97's

The 1/24/30 Dare

Oh, the shame of it all. I missed my hour of writing yesterday. The whole day was as close to writing-less for me, for the whole month! Which isn't BAD, but just makes me a little antsy. I feel like if I don't do a little bit each day on writing stuff, I'm one step further from my dream. Call me, um, obsessive?

So no journal yesterday, not much writing. I did have some ideas when I was looking at my website yesterday, and decided I was going to try and send out my two remaining mainstream stories, "After the Storm" and "Takedown."

All of my other good mainstream stories have found a home, on one way, shape, or form. Some of them were online at websites that are no longer, but I'm not gonna try and send them out anymore. Seems a little pointless. I'd rather work on new stuff and try to get my F/SF/H stories published.

So I did find some time to print out those 2 stories, and I was gonna read over them last night, but instead I read some of Brittle Innings, the baseball novel, and I know I'm going to like it. Michael Bishop has a very nice writing style. I'm hoping to read a bunch more tonight.

I may watch the new Trek show, "Enterprise," tonight as well. I taped it last night while we went out to dinner with my mom, and it'll be nice watching it w/o commercials -- I was going to watch a little of it last night around 9:30, just to see what it looked like (I couldn't watch "Voyager" just because it was so damn cleanlooking -- it looked like a studio, not a spaceship). But I had to sit through almost 10 minutes of commercials. So I didn't see any of it. I can't stand ads.

But I do want to see the show -- fellow Darer Rob Vagle is trying to write a story about this crew for the next Strange New Worlds antho, and the deadline is Saturday. I told him I'd like to read it and give him feedback, if he's interested. It reminds me a lot of what I did last year with my last-minute story.

So that's the latest and greatest. I'm looking forward to writing a couple short stories next month while I start research on my next novel idea. I have to decide at some point between the SF novel about aliens or the historical baseball fantasy. I may have to do the SF novel just because the baseball tale could take a lot more research (the SF novel I just get to make stuff up, which is always fun!). Have a great day.

News

mjj

	michaeljasper.net *"Another Wrecked Web Site"*
Sept. 28, 2001 Off for the weekend... Now Playing: "So Much for the Afterglow," Everclear The 1/24/30 Dare	Man, where did the month of September go??? Oh yeah, that's right. I was writing all month. Man. And for pretty much the entire month, I was fighting the crud -- the cold I picked up in Philly still hasn't released its hold on me. Yuck. That's what I get for not resting or getting more than 5 hours of sleep every night. But it was worth it. This morning I put together four story submissions -- three mainstream and one SF -- and sent them out before work. I'd forgotten what a pain it was to organize all that: cover letter, envelopes, printout of story, etc. Of course, I was also doing two or three other things at the time, like surfing, reading email, and doing our bills at the same time, so that could've had something to do with it. I feel like I'm playing catch-up all the time nowadays. Another side effect of all the writing I did this month. Hopefully our trip to Chicago will be relatively restful. We're doing some running tomorrow, visiting my aunt and grandmother after the plane lands, then to a cookout for my friend Cathi's pre-wedding party. Then Sunday's the wedding, and we leave Monday. We may have time to do some sight-seeing on Monday, but it's hard to tell, as we'll have to be back at the airport two hours before our flight. I'm not worried about the flight much at all. Sounds like we'll have lots of room, which is always a plus. People who aren't flying are a bit foolish, in my opinion. If you've canceled a flight because of the World Trade Center explosions, I think you are part of the problem. Don't let the terrorists run your lives, please! I'm not sure how much writing I'll get done in the next few days, though I'm pretty sure I wrote for at least 30 hours this month already... Mostly I want to keep up the habit of writing every day, incorporating being creative into my daily life just like exercise (ha! still working on that one!) and so on. I have a short story I want to finish soon, and I was playing with the idea of outlining my two ideas for novels soon. I also want to read more of the baseball novel I bought, and get ready for my panels at Trinoc*Con next weekend (I'm doing some interesting horror and fantasy panels, including one in which I'm a moderator). So if you're in the Raleigh-Durham area on Oct. 5-7, drop in on the Durham Millenium hotel and say how-do. Oh yeah, I watched the new Trek show on tape last night. It was pretty good. It didn't blow me away, but there were some nice touches. I liked Scott Bakula a lot -- how can you not like him and his puppy? -- and the Southern First Officer was pretty good. And the Vulcan babe, of course (um, why does she need to wear a skin-tight jumpsuit, again? tsk, tsk). The ship is cool-looking, and the design is nice and retro, and there were some good conflicts. I'd have liked more back-history of the Vulcan-human animosities, and more on Archer's father, but maybe we'll get that later. I dunno if I'll keep watching it or not. I don't like getting tied down to a certain show, and I don't watch much TV to start with. We'll see. Later. mjj
Sept. 27, 2001 Dragging myself up from the depths... Now Reading: Brittle Innings, Michael Bishop Now Playing: "Fight Songs," Old 97's The 1/24/30 Dare	Oh, the shame of it all. I missed my hour of writing yesterday. The whole day was as close to writing-less for me, for the whole month! Which isn't BAD, but just makes me a little antsy. I feel like if I don't do a little bit each day on writing stuff, I'm one step further from my dream. Call me, um, obsessive? So no journal yesterday, not much writing. I did have some ideas when I was looking at my website yesterday, and decided I was going to try and send out my two remaining mainstream stories, "After the Storm" and "Takedown." All of my other good mainstream stories have found a home, on one way, shape, or form. Some of them were online at websites that are no longer, but I'm not gonna try and send them out anymore. Seems a little pointless. I'd rather work on new stuff and try to get my F/SF/H stories published. So I did find some time to print out those 2 stories, and I was gonna read over them last night, but instead I read some of Brittle Innings, the baseball novel, and I know I'm going to like it. Michael Bishop has a very nice writing style. I'm hoping to read a bunch more tonight. I may watch the new Trek show, "Enterprise," tonight as well. I taped it last night while we went out to dinner with my mom, and it'll be nice watching it w/o commercials -- I was going to watch a little of it last night around 9:30, just to see what it looked like (I couldn't watch "Voyager" just because it was so damn cleanlooking -- it looked like a studio, not a spaceship). But I had to sit through almost 10 minutes of commercials. So I didn't see any of it. I can't stand ads. But I do want to see the show -- fellow Darer Rob Vagle is trying to write a story about this crew for the next Strange New Worlds antho, and the deadline is Saturday. I told him I'd like to read it and give him feedback, if he's interested. It reminds me a lot of what I did last year with my last-minute story. So that's the latest and greatest. I'm looking forward to writing a couple short stories next month while I start research on my next novel idea. I have to decide at some point between the SF novel about aliens or the historical baseball fantasy. I may have to do the SF novel just because the baseball tale could take a lot more research (the SF novel I just get to make stuff up, which is always fun!). Have a great day.
News	mjj