This may be the nerdiest thing I've written here yet:
I got tuned in to a piece of tech news by a webcomic:
Cool
Friends & Family
Writin'
My latest ficlet
Flickrblogging - IMG_3392
Monday, May 12, 2008
"All right, everybody, turn left…now! Ha ha ha, Mike, you're out. Okay, now, Simon says, everybody…tuck and roll! All right, now, Simon says…"
Mats
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Last night three of us carried 5,000 pounds between us, down a flight of stairs, and loaded it onto a truck.
This afternoon five of us carried the same 5,000 pounds back up the stairs.
Judo tournaments are a lot of fun.
Late to the party
Monday, April 28, 2008
…again.
A friend of mine told me about Carnivàle when it was originally on TV. I don't get HBO, though, and I wasn't interested in getting hooked on episodic TV either (which worked out well, aside from a slight Battlestar Galactica addiction).
But the first season was on sale at Wal*Mart the other month, for like $20, so I said "What the hey" and bought it. Tonight I put the first disc in the player.
It's pretty fantastic; the first episode was well laid out, with a self-contained story and the promise of more to come.
It seems to be a story of the war between good and evil, in 1934, during the Dust Bowl years. It's well-acted, well-written, and the production values are unimpeachable. Ronald D. Moore, who produced this series (or at least the episode I watched) went on to "re-imagine" Battlestar Galactica, my addiction to which I've already mentioned.
This series promises to be interesting. Hopefully I can find the second (and, I believe, final) season somewhere too.
Very early sneak peek
Friday, April 18, 2008
From Cinder, still very much in early 1st draft (this is from the second scene, and it was only written about an hour ago):
Outside, vast energies swirled, sending translucent streamers of pale light shivering over the crystal of the great window. Through them, she could see stars, shivering and sparkling through the bow-wake of the shielding. One red star, at the window's center, showed a broad disc, even at this distance. Sol, then. She watched it, bringing up filters in the crystal window to examine it without squinting or leaking more brine from her eyes.
After a dozen minutes or so she saw a tiny shadow right at Sol's center.
"Is that Earth?" she said, touching the shadow.
»Yes, the ship sent on her private channel. »Please, I must concentrate.
She nodded. The ship was far too polite to ignore her, or to outright tell her to shut up.
The shadow swelled: a dot, a disc, a planet. A rocky black sphere, large enough to blot out the sun, and still they approached. She almost asked the ship why they approached in shadow, but realized that would tax the environment systems less.
"She" is Lady Schrone, who is new to a human body (hence the bit about brine).
I really want this story to work; I find the idea interesting, and I'm trying to develop enough points of view and storylines to go the distance. Let me know what you think.
Now I get it
Friday, April 11, 2008
I think now I grok the reasoning behind the large fonts in Web 2.0 applications:
It's so you can still log in even if you're drunk.
I mean, I'm pretty buzzed right now, and I can still sign into tumblr.
Writing update
Thursday, April 3, 2008
I'm trying to work on a couple of projects, with some success. I've got a new site set up for a project I'm calling Cinder, and someday, maybe I'll fill it up with content. Right now I've got a cloud of ideas, but I wanted to get the design right. Ok, I wanted to play in Photoshop and/or the GIMP.
I'm also working on a longish short story (9000 words, right now, but it may expand or contract; first drafts, you know) set in Ukraine, titled "Between Heaven and Earth". It may be one of the darkest things I've ever written, and I think it may get darker before it's done.
And I've still got my zombies vs. pirates story on the go, and I also want to work on my nano winner from a couple years ago.
Well, back at 'er.
Snow
Saturday, March 29, 2008
The roads were dry, the sidewalks clean, the lawns showing brown. Then we got a big dump of snow the other day, and more today.
Curses.
At least I have a Mexico-themed party to go to tonight.
So I got myself an early start.
Rejected again
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
So I got this email just now:
By the time you read this, your manuscripts will have already been rejected.
There's no sense in asking me why or what you could have done differently, because I've already moved on to other stories.
It wasn't you. It was me. I — Awww, who'm I kidding… it was partly you. You didn't make me feel like you were really interested in making this relationship work. I didn't feel any sparks between us. You didn't make me laugh.
This story wasn't a match made in heaven, but the next one may be. Submit again. If you don't, you'll regret it. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow. But soon. And for the rest of your life.
Sincerely,
On the Brighter Side [the magazine I submitted to --Ed.]
PS: I'm keeping the ring.
I like when I get amusing rejection letters*. But nothing has yet topped being called "Ms. Johanneson" by the now-defunct scifi.com.
____
* By which I mean, if I must be rejected, I prefer to be rejected by someone with a sense of humour. (Though I must say that constructive criticism trumps laughs.)