This is pretty amusing...
http://www.slatev.com/video/charlie-sheens-therapy-session/
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Monday, February 28, 2011
Yeah...
Now at 20,000 words. Slicing through this one quickly, which was what I intended to do.
It's sunny today, but cold. We had freezing rain last night, which we rarely get here.
It's sunny today, but cold. We had freezing rain last night, which we rarely get here.
This and Hathaway
I actually watched the Oscars somewhat last night. I thought James Franco and Anne Hathaway had zero chemistry onstage, so it made for a pretty contrived and dull ceremony. The effort to try to draw in a younger demographic with the younger actors didn't seem to quite gel, in my view.
18,000 words on the book so far. It's getting fun -- I feel like if Graham Greene had written a science fiction novel, it would be kind of like this effort. Bahah! Yeah, right, but it does have a kind of vibe like that to me.
18,000 words on the book so far. It's getting fun -- I feel like if Graham Greene had written a science fiction novel, it would be kind of like this effort. Bahah! Yeah, right, but it does have a kind of vibe like that to me.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Ch-Ching
Not that I'm one to ever think NEWSWEEK's assessment of anything means a whole lot, but...
http://www.newsweek.com/2011/02/27/chicago-steps-out.html
...as one of Chicago's most prolific literary treasures-in-residence, I can only read the above and take great satisfaction in it.
http://www.newsweek.com/2011/02/27/chicago-steps-out.html
...as one of Chicago's most prolific literary treasures-in-residence, I can only read the above and take great satisfaction in it.
Fatigue
I'm worn out today. Just tired. I cranked out 3000 more words on the book today, but I'm just tired this morning, for some reason. Probably because I'm thinking about my taxes, and that always wears me out. Hah.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
10K
I cranked out 10,000 words today on the SF novel, averaging around 1282 words an hour. I was pleased by that rate, which is pretty typical for me, in terms of output. I'm a little brain-fried at the moment, but got a nice start on the piece. I'd like to make it ~100,000 words, so it's a good-sized book, which feels about right with a SF novel.
It starts
I'm starting that SF book this morning, in a few minutes, in fact. I'm not done finalizing the other book, but I figure I can work on both -- bang out several thousand words on the newbie, and then finish finalizing the other. The more, the merrier.
I also have to do my taxes. I meant to do them last weekend, but got sidetracked by that utilities SNAFU, got that sorted out, so now I can focus on the other.
We got a little snow last night; nothing major, just maybe an inch or two, which at least makes the city a little prettier for the moment (I love the city, but, as I said before, late winter/early spring is an ugly time for it, just because of the detritus about).
I think I'm going to dig out an old HP printer I have in storage and get it up and running again. Exene's negligence led to that printer being destroyed (thanks to B2 exuberantly getting his hands on it and disabling it). It was a discontinued printer, and I managed to find another one at a resale place and use parts from that one to restore the original, although because that was tied to the old computer, and it was before Exene and I split, that got kind of lost in the shuffle. Anyway, I'm going to bring that sucker up and try to get it up and running again, this time on the new computer. Reason being, I have a couple of multipacks of inkjet cartridges for the old one that I'd gotten right before Printergate happened, and also because that printer could print for a very long time with those cartridges. Since ink for printers is like gold (sure seems that way), I have a vested interest in getting that sucker back online.
I also have to do my taxes. I meant to do them last weekend, but got sidetracked by that utilities SNAFU, got that sorted out, so now I can focus on the other.
We got a little snow last night; nothing major, just maybe an inch or two, which at least makes the city a little prettier for the moment (I love the city, but, as I said before, late winter/early spring is an ugly time for it, just because of the detritus about).
I think I'm going to dig out an old HP printer I have in storage and get it up and running again. Exene's negligence led to that printer being destroyed (thanks to B2 exuberantly getting his hands on it and disabling it). It was a discontinued printer, and I managed to find another one at a resale place and use parts from that one to restore the original, although because that was tied to the old computer, and it was before Exene and I split, that got kind of lost in the shuffle. Anyway, I'm going to bring that sucker up and try to get it up and running again, this time on the new computer. Reason being, I have a couple of multipacks of inkjet cartridges for the old one that I'd gotten right before Printergate happened, and also because that printer could print for a very long time with those cartridges. Since ink for printers is like gold (sure seems that way), I have a vested interest in getting that sucker back online.
Friday, February 25, 2011
"Oooh! Ooh! Pick ME!"
I have a book idea, a SF story, that's rattling around in my head, busy trying to get written. I'm being disciplined and while I wrote down notes for it and characters, the sketch of the plot, I haven't indulged myself and started work on it, since I have to eat my broccoli (wait, I actually like broccoli) -- but I'm working through the finalization of the book I mentioned the other day before I launch into something new. Maybe (maybe) when I get that one finalized, I'll dive in and work on that new one -- I imagine it trying like hell to get my attention from the back of the line: "Me! Me! Oh, pick me!!" So, I just might do that, because I think the story has a good concept, and a lot of potential, and because, so far, I haven't actually written a SF novel (I have a SF novella I've been slowly expanding to novel length, but that's it). Thus, it'll be new ground for me, which'll make it more fun.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Violinish
B2 loves the violin. He's apparently fascinated by it, says it's his favorite instrument. I played it in middle school, but I don't have my violin, anymore. Anyway, I'll be curious if B2's interest in it continues. If it does, I'll find him one to play when he's a little older. I'm curious how that became his favorite instrument, but the image of him playing a three-quarter-sized violin is terribly cute.
I'm amused when B1 watches "Curious George." B1 says "George likes to spread chaos. He destroys everything." That cracks me up. Both boys will say "Oh, George, NOOOO--!" when he does something like turning off the safety systems at a nuclear power plant, or the equivalent.
I'm amused when B1 watches "Curious George." B1 says "George likes to spread chaos. He destroys everything." That cracks me up. Both boys will say "Oh, George, NOOOO--!" when he does something like turning off the safety systems at a nuclear power plant, or the equivalent.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Dis and Dat
Well, I resolved the bureaucratic stuff with the utility yesterday, thankfully. I talked up the gruff customer service rep and actually won her over about halfway through our interaction, which made the whole deal easier. I'm polite to nearly everybody, but am always extra-polite to customer service, retail, and wait staff, just because their jobs have to suck and why throw sand in the gears by being an asshole? Almost any human interaction can be a dance or a death march, and the former is much preferable to the latter, so I hew toward the former, and everybody wins.
I'm continuing to work on Book 5. I'm about halfway through this rewrite/revision. I don't know if anybody'll be able to pick up this one. It's a good book, but it's also an odd one, and for a new novelist (I chafe at that term, since I've been novel-writing seriously since 1999; but since nothing counts until a novel's published, I'll still be a "new" novelist at some point), it might be a hard sell. I guess I'll see if anybody picks it up. The important thing is just finalizing it, so I can move onto the next one, and so on. It's an uphill climb, by the way -- as I'd mentioned at the outset, my triage had the quickest finalizations coming up first, the ones that required the least amount of tweaking and rewriting to go out the door first. As I move through the catalog, the pieces require more from me. The sanguine outcome of this is that once they're finalized, I can set them aside (and send them out) and focus on new works. I won't let a backlog like that pile up again.
It's easy to do, because the writing of books is more fun for me than the marketing of books. But, as I see it, the writing of them is the hard part for most. Plenty of people think they can write books, but the vast majority don't ever try, or give up along the way, or find better things to do. I've got the book-writing part down; it's the book-selling part I need to master next.
I'm continuing to work on Book 5. I'm about halfway through this rewrite/revision. I don't know if anybody'll be able to pick up this one. It's a good book, but it's also an odd one, and for a new novelist (I chafe at that term, since I've been novel-writing seriously since 1999; but since nothing counts until a novel's published, I'll still be a "new" novelist at some point), it might be a hard sell. I guess I'll see if anybody picks it up. The important thing is just finalizing it, so I can move onto the next one, and so on. It's an uphill climb, by the way -- as I'd mentioned at the outset, my triage had the quickest finalizations coming up first, the ones that required the least amount of tweaking and rewriting to go out the door first. As I move through the catalog, the pieces require more from me. The sanguine outcome of this is that once they're finalized, I can set them aside (and send them out) and focus on new works. I won't let a backlog like that pile up again.
It's easy to do, because the writing of books is more fun for me than the marketing of books. But, as I see it, the writing of them is the hard part for most. Plenty of people think they can write books, but the vast majority don't ever try, or give up along the way, or find better things to do. I've got the book-writing part down; it's the book-selling part I need to master next.
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