An hour of play discovers more than a year of conversation.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Today is a good day
I look like a roadie for Interpol today. It just seemed like a day to wear a tie to work, what can I say? I'm in a pretty good mood -- got the taxes done (yesterday), got my writing done, made a kickass lasagna, just enjoyed life in general (or at least being alive). I felt a keen sense of where I was going, what I am doing this year, and it made me feel good, like clouds that have haunted me for time time finally parting, letting warm sunlight in.
I just need to find a good job downtown. That would make everything fucking ducky.
I'm going to work on that. I think I just like having a rough plan in place -- there is satisfaction in being "on purpose" that I sometimes lose sight of, since I am not a strategic thinker, I am the consummate tactician. But every now and then, I will plan things out and will work to make that plan bear fruit for me, and I feel that I have enough of a plan in place (with enough flexibility -- I always need that) that it reassures me. It really is going to be alright.
What a far cry from the dark days of 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008. Lordy, lordy. But truly, I am happier than I've been in years, and getting happier still. I made the right decision. I was unsure of that in 2008, really did soul-searching back then, but I realized that it was the right thing. Even with the incredible frustrations of the logistics of it (especially in 2009), I was happier than I'd been for years before. It was telling.
2010 is going to be marvelous; 2011, better still. Onward, upward! Woo hoo!
I just need to find a good job downtown. That would make everything fucking ducky.
I'm going to work on that. I think I just like having a rough plan in place -- there is satisfaction in being "on purpose" that I sometimes lose sight of, since I am not a strategic thinker, I am the consummate tactician. But every now and then, I will plan things out and will work to make that plan bear fruit for me, and I feel that I have enough of a plan in place (with enough flexibility -- I always need that) that it reassures me. It really is going to be alright.
What a far cry from the dark days of 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008. Lordy, lordy. But truly, I am happier than I've been in years, and getting happier still. I made the right decision. I was unsure of that in 2008, really did soul-searching back then, but I realized that it was the right thing. Even with the incredible frustrations of the logistics of it (especially in 2009), I was happier than I'd been for years before. It was telling.
2010 is going to be marvelous; 2011, better still. Onward, upward! Woo hoo!
Oooh, yes
Stand and be counted!
I'm partial to Fauxhemians, Ironoclasts, Sigh-Borgs, Try-Hards, Doucheoisie, Trendsluts, and Trendizens, myself.
I'm partial to Fauxhemians, Ironoclasts, Sigh-Borgs, Try-Hards, Doucheoisie, Trendsluts, and Trendizens, myself.
Wow.
I'm pleased that Obama and company got the health care bill passed. Even though it's not nearly strong enough for what our country needs, it is an unqualified reform, and the politics of compassion, hope, and progress beat out the politics of fear, despair, and hate. The Republicans (and their assorted running dogs) have to be eating their hats right now -- they gambled politically on denying the Democrats (and most particularly, Obama) any kind of legislative success, but they lost. Now they're really going to be in a jam. Good. They deserve to be, the douchebags.
2300 words yesterday.
2300 words yesterday.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Daddy Likes
I like this tune by Surfer Blood. Give it a listen...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jh7WN7vrJ8s&feature=related
Banged out 5500 words last night -- longhand! I then transcribed it. First book, well underway. I'm gonna type more this weekend, so the output should be great, before being consigned to longhand via the notebook during the workweek.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jh7WN7vrJ8s&feature=related
Banged out 5500 words last night -- longhand! I then transcribed it. First book, well underway. I'm gonna type more this weekend, so the output should be great, before being consigned to longhand via the notebook during the workweek.
Friday, March 19, 2010
Alas, poor Enzo
They broke his heart! Found this on the way to work yesterday. I love the damage to the heart; not sure what happened to it. But it was a good find.
Freitag
Another sunny, mild day. False spring, served up Chicago-style. Yesterday was gorgeous, too. But don't be fooled. I'm certainly not. We're supposedly due for snow over the weekend, which is no surprise. It happens. But the past couple of days were very pleasant.
I calculated that at my standard writing pace (not even pushing it), I can get six novels done this year, so that's my project. I was originally going to bang out a short story a week, but I'm getting frustrated chasing down the ever-elusive markets for my short fiction, which have dried up in a lot of the areas where I write (it really is quite remarkable -- even six years ago, there were so many more speculative fiction outlets -- not sure if people are just increasingly e-publishing or what, but the old hard-copy publications are largely evaporating).
I know the Great Recession has bitchslapped the publishing industry as it has everything else, and the whole industry is taking a beating, but I think there remains a more vibrant market in long fiction relative to the short fiction market -- at least for what I write. So, I'm putting more emphasis on that, figuring that even if I can't find homes for the book drafts I have, I'll at least have them "in the can" and done.
So, I made my list of titles, the ones I'm going to do. Basically, there are two "literary" (i.e. adult contemporary and/or general fiction), one fantasy, two science fiction, and one thriller. That's a lot on my plate, but I can handle it, and without having to entertain Exene (and, indeed, with the Great March Forward [GMF] in progress, even more creative time opening up for me), it'll be actually doable.
I'm also going to work on a horror screenplay -- I was inspired when I stumbled across a link to the Oklahoma Horror Film Festival, and I had a ready-made idea for a horror screenplay that I can enter into that competition. A longshot, but anything that is profile-raising, so much the better.
Gonna be good, get those fucking taxes filed this weekend, and I'm going to look hard for another job -- I'd like to find something in the Loop. That would make so much far easier (including the GMF). I realize that I should have focused on finding that better job last year, to jumpstart the GMF last year -- I had a lot on my plate emotionally last year (both with Exene and beyond), but this year, I have much more clarity, and that heartbreak isn't in my mix -- it's all squarely in my head, what needs to be done. So I'm just getting it done and moving on. I gave Exene way, way more time than she deserved, but she can't fault me for that, can't say I sprung it on her, with 15 fucking months logged from point of outright emotional departure.
Did you notice that I've had 15 toe stubs since 3/10? (sidebar, below blogroll) I really, really need steel-toe slippers!
I calculated that at my standard writing pace (not even pushing it), I can get six novels done this year, so that's my project. I was originally going to bang out a short story a week, but I'm getting frustrated chasing down the ever-elusive markets for my short fiction, which have dried up in a lot of the areas where I write (it really is quite remarkable -- even six years ago, there were so many more speculative fiction outlets -- not sure if people are just increasingly e-publishing or what, but the old hard-copy publications are largely evaporating).
I know the Great Recession has bitchslapped the publishing industry as it has everything else, and the whole industry is taking a beating, but I think there remains a more vibrant market in long fiction relative to the short fiction market -- at least for what I write. So, I'm putting more emphasis on that, figuring that even if I can't find homes for the book drafts I have, I'll at least have them "in the can" and done.
So, I made my list of titles, the ones I'm going to do. Basically, there are two "literary" (i.e. adult contemporary and/or general fiction), one fantasy, two science fiction, and one thriller. That's a lot on my plate, but I can handle it, and without having to entertain Exene (and, indeed, with the Great March Forward [GMF] in progress, even more creative time opening up for me), it'll be actually doable.
I'm also going to work on a horror screenplay -- I was inspired when I stumbled across a link to the Oklahoma Horror Film Festival, and I had a ready-made idea for a horror screenplay that I can enter into that competition. A longshot, but anything that is profile-raising, so much the better.
Gonna be good, get those fucking taxes filed this weekend, and I'm going to look hard for another job -- I'd like to find something in the Loop. That would make so much far easier (including the GMF). I realize that I should have focused on finding that better job last year, to jumpstart the GMF last year -- I had a lot on my plate emotionally last year (both with Exene and beyond), but this year, I have much more clarity, and that heartbreak isn't in my mix -- it's all squarely in my head, what needs to be done. So I'm just getting it done and moving on. I gave Exene way, way more time than she deserved, but she can't fault me for that, can't say I sprung it on her, with 15 fucking months logged from point of outright emotional departure.
Did you notice that I've had 15 toe stubs since 3/10? (sidebar, below blogroll) I really, really need steel-toe slippers!
Texass
The reactionary gorilla in the room, Texas, thumping its chest. This is problematic -- the politicizing of history for the ideological ends of the Republican Party.
Judging from the updated social studies curriculum, conservatives want students to come away from a Texas education with a favorable impression of: women who adhere to traditional gender roles, the Confederacy, some parts of the Constitution, capitalism, the military and religion. They do not think students should learn about women who demanded greater equality; other parts of the Constitution; slavery, Reconstruction and the unequal treatment of nonwhites generally; environmentalists; labor unions; federal economic regulation; or foreigners.Thanks to the movement reactionaries, this skewed view of history will be spread into textbooks around the country. Infuriating.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
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