Now that CNN is predicting the Wisconsin Recall election will be a victory for Scott Walker (with only 38% reported, depending on which counties have reported that might change, but I can't find breakouts), our neighbors to the North are preparing for the boat people. (Pointed to by Sheila)
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Stay Classy
So glad conservative don't have to resort to dirty tricks to win elections. Stay classy, Wisconsin Conservative. Just like you've always been. (Grokked from Tobias Buckell)
Linkee-poo is going to give up the booze and the one night stands
Elizabeth Bear is running her "whenever I run out of space" book sale. Get 'em while they can be got.
Vince pretty well nails the argument over rape.
Proof that not all groups are monocultures. Three hundred Mormons who aren't gay march in Utah Gap Pride Parade. Good on them (Grokked from Jay Lake)
There's a lot of people both looking for work and a lot of jobs looking for people. So what's the problem? It may be expectations and how we hire people. I've often heard employers complain that they can't hire competent people for certain positions. You know what the real hold up is? They don't want to pay diddly-squat. I've had the privilege of working in a few positions that pay decently (note, not extravagantly, but a little over the 50% average). Know what? They all had very competent people working for them. Strange how that works out. Also, if the application screening software isn't working properly (and in the article, it doesn't seem to be working), stop using the damn software. Or have it rewritten to actually, you know, work (but then you probably went with the lowest priced contractor, who doesn't pay a descent wage to their programmers – begin to see the cycle?). Then there's also the lack of training that employers are willing to do (hint, maybe that's a problem). As to their argument that once they train the employee that employee will possibly leave, here's another hint, pay and treat them well and they won't leave (cost of change must outweigh the cost of staying where you are).
Seems some cattle ranchers are upset that the EPA is flying over their properties and taking photographs looking for violations. "'The same ends could be accomplished by picking up a phone, sending an email, talking to a producer in person, Kristen Hassebrook, the (Nebraska Cattlemen) environmental affairs director, told msnbc.com. 'There is no need to spy on citizens.'" Sure, because that wouldn't cost much more with all the extra people needed. And I'm sure ranchers we be all so truthful to the EPA over the phone. "Say, how's your manure pond doing?" "Oh, just swell." And I'll bet these same ranchers are ones who think the government needs to spend less money and work more efficiency. You know, like using airplanes to cover much more area quickly and efficiently. Oh, and if "you're doing nothing wrong, you shouldn't have anything to fear" (I always liked that line coming from conservatives). Welcome to our side of the fence, neighbors. Have we mentioned before about how you own the property (in some states, only the top surface), but we collectively own the airspace? (Grokked from Jay Lake)
Alligator Quotient: There's gibbering in the walls. They're just waiting for the right moment.
Vince pretty well nails the argument over rape.
Proof that not all groups are monocultures. Three hundred Mormons who aren't gay march in Utah Gap Pride Parade. Good on them (Grokked from Jay Lake)
There's a lot of people both looking for work and a lot of jobs looking for people. So what's the problem? It may be expectations and how we hire people. I've often heard employers complain that they can't hire competent people for certain positions. You know what the real hold up is? They don't want to pay diddly-squat. I've had the privilege of working in a few positions that pay decently (note, not extravagantly, but a little over the 50% average). Know what? They all had very competent people working for them. Strange how that works out. Also, if the application screening software isn't working properly (and in the article, it doesn't seem to be working), stop using the damn software. Or have it rewritten to actually, you know, work (but then you probably went with the lowest priced contractor, who doesn't pay a descent wage to their programmers – begin to see the cycle?). Then there's also the lack of training that employers are willing to do (hint, maybe that's a problem). As to their argument that once they train the employee that employee will possibly leave, here's another hint, pay and treat them well and they won't leave (cost of change must outweigh the cost of staying where you are).
Seems some cattle ranchers are upset that the EPA is flying over their properties and taking photographs looking for violations. "'The same ends could be accomplished by picking up a phone, sending an email, talking to a producer in person, Kristen Hassebrook, the (Nebraska Cattlemen) environmental affairs director, told msnbc.com. 'There is no need to spy on citizens.'" Sure, because that wouldn't cost much more with all the extra people needed. And I'm sure ranchers we be all so truthful to the EPA over the phone. "Say, how's your manure pond doing?" "Oh, just swell." And I'll bet these same ranchers are ones who think the government needs to spend less money and work more efficiency. You know, like using airplanes to cover much more area quickly and efficiently. Oh, and if "you're doing nothing wrong, you shouldn't have anything to fear" (I always liked that line coming from conservatives). Welcome to our side of the fence, neighbors. Have we mentioned before about how you own the property (in some states, only the top surface), but we collectively own the airspace? (Grokked from Jay Lake)
Alligator Quotient: There's gibbering in the walls. They're just waiting for the right moment.
Monday, June 4, 2012
At Last
The only thing for sure tomorrow in the Wisconsin recall election, no matter how it turns out there's going to be a lot of upset people and hours of talking heads saying, "this is/isn't a preview of this fall." In one way it is a preview. The Koch brothers paid for a lot of advertising in Wisconsin, and they're already lining up a large percentage of the $1 billion superpac funding initiative to un-elect Obama.
Linkee-poo drags a comb across its head
Edited to fix linke in Rep. Nan Hayworth story.
You and Jay Lake are handcuffed together and you can only communicate using 3 words, what would you use. Oh Jay, you had me at "handcuffs."
Ever thought, "I could so build a better game than this?" Well, with Stencyl now you can. Stencyl is based on Scratch in case you want to see other options. (Pointed to by Dan)
When we're all in prison, who will pay the taxes to support the prisons? On the evils of privatizing prisons. For my own county, we can't process our local criminals into our sheriff's prison because he's been renting out a lot of cells to the Federal Government. So when we catch someone who should be in jail, they're released, often the same day as they're processed. (Grokked from the Slactivist)
The problem with "religious/conscience exemption" laws is they lead to things like denying an HIV patience his antivirals while staying in a catholic hospital because of what you think the Bible says. This "Dr. Borga", if the allegations prove true, is not only a horrible christian, but, IMHO, should have their license stripped, permanently. "First, do no harm…" And this is also an example of why religious affiliated social services shouldn't be exempt from the laws everybody else has to follow.
Dear Republican Representative Nan Hayworth, when you're spokesman says bat-shit crazy hate speech like this there are only two options. Immediate resignation or immediate firing, no matter what the day or time. And this is not only your spokesman, but your campaign advisor? I'm sure he meant "vitriol" not "acid", but a spokesperson's bread and butter is choosing the exact word needed. This is an catastrophic failure of job responsibility.
You know what would be better than paying people $50 to wear your t-shirt to an EPA public meeting? Maybe spending that on finding an actual "Clean Coal" technology that works and is scalable. They don't, because they know it's not possible. We we say "fossil fuels" what we mean is "carbon and hydrogen atoms arranged in ways that are useful for us to release them from each other and gain more energy back than we put in to separating them." "Burning" is "oxidation." When you burn coal, you get CO, CO2, CO3 and all their variants (Not to mention all the extra stuff that's in with the carbon which makes their own byproducts). (Grokked form the Slactivist)
You and Jay Lake are handcuffed together and you can only communicate using 3 words, what would you use. Oh Jay, you had me at "handcuffs."
Ever thought, "I could so build a better game than this?" Well, with Stencyl now you can. Stencyl is based on Scratch in case you want to see other options. (Pointed to by Dan)
When we're all in prison, who will pay the taxes to support the prisons? On the evils of privatizing prisons. For my own county, we can't process our local criminals into our sheriff's prison because he's been renting out a lot of cells to the Federal Government. So when we catch someone who should be in jail, they're released, often the same day as they're processed. (Grokked from the Slactivist)
The problem with "religious/conscience exemption" laws is they lead to things like denying an HIV patience his antivirals while staying in a catholic hospital because of what you think the Bible says. This "Dr. Borga", if the allegations prove true, is not only a horrible christian, but, IMHO, should have their license stripped, permanently. "First, do no harm…" And this is also an example of why religious affiliated social services shouldn't be exempt from the laws everybody else has to follow.
Dear Republican Representative Nan Hayworth, when you're spokesman says bat-shit crazy hate speech like this there are only two options. Immediate resignation or immediate firing, no matter what the day or time. And this is not only your spokesman, but your campaign advisor? I'm sure he meant "vitriol" not "acid", but a spokesperson's bread and butter is choosing the exact word needed. This is an catastrophic failure of job responsibility.
You know what would be better than paying people $50 to wear your t-shirt to an EPA public meeting? Maybe spending that on finding an actual "Clean Coal" technology that works and is scalable. They don't, because they know it's not possible. We we say "fossil fuels" what we mean is "carbon and hydrogen atoms arranged in ways that are useful for us to release them from each other and gain more energy back than we put in to separating them." "Burning" is "oxidation." When you burn coal, you get CO, CO2, CO3 and all their variants (Not to mention all the extra stuff that's in with the carbon which makes their own byproducts). (Grokked form the Slactivist)
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Linkee-poo gets out of the way
Edited to add real line breaks. Sorry about that, folks.
Gabrielle Harbowy, a real copy editor gives real copy editing advice. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
A query letter (someone else's) that works. Sometimes we too often demonstrate what goes wrong, but not often is it explained what goes right and why.
More bookshelf porn. This time from the Gollancz twitter feed. (Grokked from Matociquala)
Dr. Phil stamps the 500 submissions box on the writer's bingo card. Congrats on that Dr. Phil. Also, good to see the trend is accelerating. Mine looks like a bell curve as I moved back to writing novels.
And regarding submissions, Catherine Shaff-Stump brings us notes from a WisCon panel of how to handle rejection. "A very important piece of advice is keep your eyes on your own page. Don't compare your career to that of others. There are a variety of variables in a writing career." Oh, that's so easy to say, and so hard to put into practice. At least for me.
I.J. Parnham on someone comes to town, something happens, something changes. This is one of my weak points. I'm not sure I agree with "something needs to change" with every scene, at least in the way I think about characters changing. I do agree that if you could delete the scene and not affect the story, you should heavily consider deleting the scene. There are, however, sometimes scenes where things don't seem to change (and maybe having a discussion about what "change" means might help), but their the butterfly's wings flapping that bring about the hurricane in Act III.
Oldest and Fatherless, the terrible secret of Tom Bombadil. I'm one of the few Bombadil fans, I guess. While this post makes him seem like some kind of evil overlord waiting out his time in his jail, I'm not so sure. It's my interpretation that ol' Tom is none other than the Greenman Champion to Goldberry's Goddess. The ring has no effect on Bombadil. That's because Tom and Goldberry exist outside of the mythology Tolkienripped off appropriated for most of the LotRs world. Tom and Goldberry are pre-current morality (nasty willows and barrow-wrights are a part of their world, notice there are no barrow-wrights elsewhere in the Middle-earth). But I could write a whole paper on that, and you don't want to be bored by it. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
Um, can to you tell I've been writing more? With all these links on writing lately, is my slip showing or is it just that all my good sources for articles are also focusing on writing advice? I don't know. Be here's to hoping it continues.
Here's more on how the world we leave on and in is freakier than we think. There's new data showing us glimpses into Earth's core, which aren't so much disproving earlier theories as they are refining them. Science is sometimes like focusing a telescope. When you first see something, it's kinda fuzzy and indistinct. But then you look and fiddle more and more resolution comes into the picture. You build a better telescope and you see even more detail. You throw it out in space so the light doesn't have to pass through our dense atmosphere and ZOMG! look at that!. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
Random Michelle shares some good points when asking your computer/technical/geeky friends for help.
"Another way of saying this is that most Americans are actually pro-choice even if they sometimes identify as pro-life." I've been saying that for years, and "pro-life" is a misnomer. It's the name of a movement, not a sentiment. And the movement stands for just more "end all abortion." What the "pro-choice" side has never figured out is the "pro-life" side isn't really about abortion rights (see previous links about "my abortion is necessary, and yours immoral"). They're not fighting that war, so arguing back about "access" and "rights" is missing the point, which is why we're seeing numbers like "… 50 percent of Americans now identify as pro-life." That's because nobody wants abortions. And since we've allowed the pro-life movement to keep the argument there, it looks like pro-choice is losing. Pro-life isn't about "limiting" abortion. They're about "no abortion, ever, for any reason." But why I say that the pro-life movement is not really about abortion is because of their other planks of "no birth control other than abstinence" and "no public sex education." You know, the two social movements that actually decrease the instances of abortion. If we could get beyond "just talking about abortion" to everything the "pro-lifers" stand for, you would see the numbers of people identifying as such drop dramatically. And the pro-life side knows this which is why they keep the focus on "reasonable restrictions on abortion." It's the same game as political speech that says, "we're going to cut government spending" but they never tell you exactly what they're going to cut. They know if they say the truth, nobody will vote for them. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
More on filming police officers in public. Just like any profession, there are very professional people, there is the vast majority of competent people who want to do their job right, and there's the minority that do it for the power rush. Many officers just want to do their job. Hell, they may even agree with you personally, but because of the uniform, they must enforce policy and do what is right from their viewpoint. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
Tweet of my heart:
@NateCrowder: @ChuckWendig I just think the EPA needs to go to Sesame Street and do some tests to find out why so many residents are felt & foam.
Gabrielle Harbowy, a real copy editor gives real copy editing advice. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
A query letter (someone else's) that works. Sometimes we too often demonstrate what goes wrong, but not often is it explained what goes right and why.
More bookshelf porn. This time from the Gollancz twitter feed. (Grokked from Matociquala)
Dr. Phil stamps the 500 submissions box on the writer's bingo card. Congrats on that Dr. Phil. Also, good to see the trend is accelerating. Mine looks like a bell curve as I moved back to writing novels.
And regarding submissions, Catherine Shaff-Stump brings us notes from a WisCon panel of how to handle rejection. "A very important piece of advice is keep your eyes on your own page. Don't compare your career to that of others. There are a variety of variables in a writing career." Oh, that's so easy to say, and so hard to put into practice. At least for me.
I.J. Parnham on someone comes to town, something happens, something changes. This is one of my weak points. I'm not sure I agree with "something needs to change" with every scene, at least in the way I think about characters changing. I do agree that if you could delete the scene and not affect the story, you should heavily consider deleting the scene. There are, however, sometimes scenes where things don't seem to change (and maybe having a discussion about what "change" means might help), but their the butterfly's wings flapping that bring about the hurricane in Act III.
Oldest and Fatherless, the terrible secret of Tom Bombadil. I'm one of the few Bombadil fans, I guess. While this post makes him seem like some kind of evil overlord waiting out his time in his jail, I'm not so sure. It's my interpretation that ol' Tom is none other than the Greenman Champion to Goldberry's Goddess. The ring has no effect on Bombadil. That's because Tom and Goldberry exist outside of the mythology Tolkien
Um, can to you tell I've been writing more? With all these links on writing lately, is my slip showing or is it just that all my good sources for articles are also focusing on writing advice? I don't know. Be here's to hoping it continues.
Here's more on how the world we leave on and in is freakier than we think. There's new data showing us glimpses into Earth's core, which aren't so much disproving earlier theories as they are refining them. Science is sometimes like focusing a telescope. When you first see something, it's kinda fuzzy and indistinct. But then you look and fiddle more and more resolution comes into the picture. You build a better telescope and you see even more detail. You throw it out in space so the light doesn't have to pass through our dense atmosphere and ZOMG! look at that!. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
Random Michelle shares some good points when asking your computer/technical/geeky friends for help.
"Another way of saying this is that most Americans are actually pro-choice even if they sometimes identify as pro-life." I've been saying that for years, and "pro-life" is a misnomer. It's the name of a movement, not a sentiment. And the movement stands for just more "end all abortion." What the "pro-choice" side has never figured out is the "pro-life" side isn't really about abortion rights (see previous links about "my abortion is necessary, and yours immoral"). They're not fighting that war, so arguing back about "access" and "rights" is missing the point, which is why we're seeing numbers like "… 50 percent of Americans now identify as pro-life." That's because nobody wants abortions. And since we've allowed the pro-life movement to keep the argument there, it looks like pro-choice is losing. Pro-life isn't about "limiting" abortion. They're about "no abortion, ever, for any reason." But why I say that the pro-life movement is not really about abortion is because of their other planks of "no birth control other than abstinence" and "no public sex education." You know, the two social movements that actually decrease the instances of abortion. If we could get beyond "just talking about abortion" to everything the "pro-lifers" stand for, you would see the numbers of people identifying as such drop dramatically. And the pro-life side knows this which is why they keep the focus on "reasonable restrictions on abortion." It's the same game as political speech that says, "we're going to cut government spending" but they never tell you exactly what they're going to cut. They know if they say the truth, nobody will vote for them. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
More on filming police officers in public. Just like any profession, there are very professional people, there is the vast majority of competent people who want to do their job right, and there's the minority that do it for the power rush. Many officers just want to do their job. Hell, they may even agree with you personally, but because of the uniform, they must enforce policy and do what is right from their viewpoint. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
Tweet of my heart:
@NateCrowder: @ChuckWendig I just think the EPA needs to go to Sesame Street and do some tests to find out why so many residents are felt & foam.
The Pumpkin Hour
I was hoping to get more wordage out than 7500 (10% of base goal for novel). I spent too much time distracting myself. Really need to break those habits to get back to writing as a distraction from the other stuff. But 7500 is about 2500 a day, which isn't shabby; although not close to the 10,000 words I thought I could do (and have done before).
One reason could be that I quickly ran through what plot points I had for the first act of the novel. I'm not into areas of "something happens here and they end up over there." I know where I need to get, but not much of a clue how to get there. The next Act will be even worse, that's the point the characters fall in love without realizing it (the main character does just at the end of the Act, the other character is so deep into their own pain/failing/crashing that they don't notice what's going on (so their part of the not knowing is pretty well set).
Also, on the plus side, I think I've identified some music to listen to while writing this novel. Some of you may remember that I obsessively listened to the Ocean Movie Soundtracks while pounding out Bladesman. That was a good fit for that pace and writing. I've been working through some other options while getting these words out. In the back of my head I kept thinking of a certain group I had heard long ago. So tonight, through the wonder of YouTube, I was able to figure out that their beats helped the words flow a little better. I'm not totally convinced, and I'll really need to do a custom playlist (as there are a few others I have that worked pretty well). There's also some research to see if I can find a certain style and flavor of guitar music that worked well.
Since I can't possibly wet your whistle that much without giving a taste, here is one of their songs I really like (it's a long one, just so you know)
And now, being the pumpkin hour, it's time for bed before I become one.
One reason could be that I quickly ran through what plot points I had for the first act of the novel. I'm not into areas of "something happens here and they end up over there." I know where I need to get, but not much of a clue how to get there. The next Act will be even worse, that's the point the characters fall in love without realizing it (the main character does just at the end of the Act, the other character is so deep into their own pain/failing/crashing that they don't notice what's going on (so their part of the not knowing is pretty well set).
Also, on the plus side, I think I've identified some music to listen to while writing this novel. Some of you may remember that I obsessively listened to the Ocean Movie Soundtracks while pounding out Bladesman. That was a good fit for that pace and writing. I've been working through some other options while getting these words out. In the back of my head I kept thinking of a certain group I had heard long ago. So tonight, through the wonder of YouTube, I was able to figure out that their beats helped the words flow a little better. I'm not totally convinced, and I'll really need to do a custom playlist (as there are a few others I have that worked pretty well). There's also some research to see if I can find a certain style and flavor of guitar music that worked well.
Since I can't possibly wet your whistle that much without giving a taste, here is one of their songs I really like (it's a long one, just so you know)
And now, being the pumpkin hour, it's time for bed before I become one.
Saturday, June 2, 2012
Linkee-poo goes the extra mile
Two posts about writing across gender. First is from Jennifer Dubois which also has a good summation of the white male privilege, and then Beth Bernobich with some commentary. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
A photo looking inside the J20's cockpit showing the HUD projection unit. The J20 is China's 3rd (?) generation tactical jet fighter with stealth technology.
Jennifer Jackson is giving away books because of her agent anniversary. Some good stuff in there, but it's only open until Sunday.
Goodreads is giving away copies of Jim Hines' Libriomance. I heard Jim giving a reading of this at Penguicon. You really want this.
The abandoned ships in the desert. (Grokked from Miranda Suri)
Easter Island statues (Moai) have bodies. Huhn, go figure. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
Shamanism has been an interest of mine since high school, when writing a research paper I stumbled across a few first hand accounts of missionary encounters with shamans in the Americas. It was an eye opener and broke me from the "magic indian" stereotype (so I hope I've never written that character). Joseph Campbell makes quite a few references to shamanism in many of his lectures and in a part of The Power of Myth. Then, when attending my first con, World Fantasy in Madison, Teri Windling was GoH, and she was making some interesting points about the early lives of the writers she knew. So my first question ever at a con was to ask her how she felt those experience tracked with the shamanistic initiation path, where upon she pointed at me and said, "Yes, exactly that!" Lightning struck and that moment has stayed with me (obviously). So now Miranda Suri shares two links to stories about one of the earliest graves found believed to be that of a shaman. This one is in a cave called Hilazon Tachtit, and is near the Sea of Galilee.
I wonder if the conservatives who cry about how their being censored in the public square will come to the defense of a woman who was forced to miss a connecting flight because of the message on her t-shirt. Probably not. While it could be because the word, "Fuck" was in there, I can tell you that over my vacation I saw worst sentiments on t-shirts (although avoiding "dirty" words) and those people were seated and serviced. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
Paul Krugman on some more of the insanity that is Wall Street and banking. What he fails to mention is that those big bankers who were responsible for the crash like being called, "The Masters of the Universe." This more than about fragile egos and calling people names, this is about a class of people used to being stroked who are no longer getting that service. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
And just in case you think Paul is being a little over dramatic, here's event staff grabbing a mircophone away from a reporter asking a hard question of a CEO who was hosting a press event on Capital Hill. Ask me no questions I'll tell you no lies. (Grokked from Tobias Buckell)
A photo looking inside the J20's cockpit showing the HUD projection unit. The J20 is China's 3rd (?) generation tactical jet fighter with stealth technology.
Jennifer Jackson is giving away books because of her agent anniversary. Some good stuff in there, but it's only open until Sunday.
Goodreads is giving away copies of Jim Hines' Libriomance. I heard Jim giving a reading of this at Penguicon. You really want this.
The abandoned ships in the desert. (Grokked from Miranda Suri)
Easter Island statues (Moai) have bodies. Huhn, go figure. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
Shamanism has been an interest of mine since high school, when writing a research paper I stumbled across a few first hand accounts of missionary encounters with shamans in the Americas. It was an eye opener and broke me from the "magic indian" stereotype (so I hope I've never written that character). Joseph Campbell makes quite a few references to shamanism in many of his lectures and in a part of The Power of Myth. Then, when attending my first con, World Fantasy in Madison, Teri Windling was GoH, and she was making some interesting points about the early lives of the writers she knew. So my first question ever at a con was to ask her how she felt those experience tracked with the shamanistic initiation path, where upon she pointed at me and said, "Yes, exactly that!" Lightning struck and that moment has stayed with me (obviously). So now Miranda Suri shares two links to stories about one of the earliest graves found believed to be that of a shaman. This one is in a cave called Hilazon Tachtit, and is near the Sea of Galilee.
I wonder if the conservatives who cry about how their being censored in the public square will come to the defense of a woman who was forced to miss a connecting flight because of the message on her t-shirt. Probably not. While it could be because the word, "Fuck" was in there, I can tell you that over my vacation I saw worst sentiments on t-shirts (although avoiding "dirty" words) and those people were seated and serviced. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
Paul Krugman on some more of the insanity that is Wall Street and banking. What he fails to mention is that those big bankers who were responsible for the crash like being called, "The Masters of the Universe." This more than about fragile egos and calling people names, this is about a class of people used to being stroked who are no longer getting that service. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
And just in case you think Paul is being a little over dramatic, here's event staff grabbing a mircophone away from a reporter asking a hard question of a CEO who was hosting a press event on Capital Hill. Ask me no questions I'll tell you no lies. (Grokked from Tobias Buckell)
Friday, June 1, 2012
Rules of Writing #12
When you have an idea, a cool snippet of text, and joke, the honey-dewdrops of grace from the muse, the epiphany that will allow you to tie your novel together in such a unique way the Pulitzer Committee will rise up as troop of meerkats scenting something new on the wind, write it the fuck down.
Just stole a joke from one of my co-workshoppers. She said it just before we went to dinner and I though, "oh, no, I don't need to write that down now. I'll remember it when we get back." Yeah, took me five minutes and I'm damn glad I remembered it.
This is a lesson I keep having to learn over. Strike while the iron is hot.
I think I read this first at the end of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance that you should pay attention to your ideas. Even if you think, "That's not what I'm looking for" or "That's not what I need," write it down. Sometimes those ideas are just the older sibling of the idea you need, but if you don't clear the way, that other idea won't come out. And if you ignore ideas your brain/muse/universe/whatever will learn that lesson and simply stop giving them to you. So, even if that idea may not be what you need, get it out of the way so the rest can come out.
It's like plumbing. If you stop up the drain, the water stops flowing.
I know this. I've experienced the long deserts of ideas when I haven't obeyed this simple rule. I should know better. I'm sorry, Muse. You keep telling me, I'll try to remember this time.
Just stole a joke from one of my co-workshoppers. She said it just before we went to dinner and I though, "oh, no, I don't need to write that down now. I'll remember it when we get back." Yeah, took me five minutes and I'm damn glad I remembered it.
This is a lesson I keep having to learn over. Strike while the iron is hot.
I think I read this first at the end of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance that you should pay attention to your ideas. Even if you think, "That's not what I'm looking for" or "That's not what I need," write it down. Sometimes those ideas are just the older sibling of the idea you need, but if you don't clear the way, that other idea won't come out. And if you ignore ideas your brain/muse/universe/whatever will learn that lesson and simply stop giving them to you. So, even if that idea may not be what you need, get it out of the way so the rest can come out.
It's like plumbing. If you stop up the drain, the water stops flowing.
I know this. I've experienced the long deserts of ideas when I haven't obeyed this simple rule. I should know better. I'm sorry, Muse. You keep telling me, I'll try to remember this time.
Linkee-poo, one world is enough for all of us
Cherie Priest with two rules about telling ghost stories with examples. Yes, that.
John Joseph Adams is looking for slush readers to staff Nightmare.
Raymond Chandler with a lovely paragraph about what the reader really wants. Chandler was one of those authors I kept reading while writing Bladesman. And it's one of the lesson I learned, readers care about characters and the experience of reading, the "what happens/action!" part is a vehicle that gets the reader going. Sort of like how coffee gets you moving, but it's not really what you care about. Sure, you have your favorite brand/flavor, but if you're a coffee drinker, if not given a choice, you will drink the coffee being served (YMMV). What you're looking for is the warmth, the caffeine, and the sensation of a hot beverage. You want the experience, the living part. (Grokked from Chia Lynn)
Jo Walton with more on that earlier link about sf/f titles being pulled from poetry. This time specifically from "Tyger, Tyger" and "To His Coy Mistress."
Jay Lake shares an email exchange between him and his copy editor. A good copy editor (and really any editor) is trying to help the team (or just you, if you're contracting the work out yourself) make a better product. That doesn't mean you should accept all of their suggestions, but you also shouldn't dismiss them out of hand. The more you know about the collaborative creative process. One agent rejected my story saying they liked it, but didn't think they could sell it. And that's the real, ultimate goal of this process. To sell stories.
The judge in the Authors Guild vs. Google suit rules that the AG has legal standing to sue. While not a final victory in the case, that was a big hurdle they crossed.
Eric makes with the funny, again. Apparently Mr. Romney has a "natural born citizen" issue according to those who have been fighting to redefine "natural born citizen" to mean two parents who are Americans. I can't wait to see what pretzels the conservatives will attempt to twist themselves into to continue to say, "Our guy is, that guy isn't" without admitting to racism. Remember their clever dance with McCain having been born in Panama.
"If the snooty reviewers from 1980 were were able to get past the poor quality of the film, they might have recognized that if trauma had been dealt with more openly and honestly after World War II — no censorship, no spin — the country might have been better prepared to deal with the problem when our Vietnam veterans returned the way they did in the 1970s." PTSD is an old problem for vets, one that goes back to the ancient Greeks and probably farther. And even after the experience of Vietnam, many commanders, soldiers, and civilians continue to hold with the concept that Patton held when he slapped that soldier and told him to man-up. Nothing prepares you for what war is like. I've written about both, and while I think I hew closer to the bone about it, even I sanitize it. War is many things to different people. What we're finding is even drone pilots are getting PTSD. Because here is the simple truth, for most of us, killing another human being, even one you know "if you don't kill them, they will kill you" is against our hard wiring. Some people can be more prepared than others, some people can wall off and compartmentalize those areas better than others, but it affects everyone who isn't mentally disturbed. (Grokked from Jeffrey Beeler)
Allighator Quotient: I ain't missing them at all.
John Joseph Adams is looking for slush readers to staff Nightmare.
Raymond Chandler with a lovely paragraph about what the reader really wants. Chandler was one of those authors I kept reading while writing Bladesman. And it's one of the lesson I learned, readers care about characters and the experience of reading, the "what happens/action!" part is a vehicle that gets the reader going. Sort of like how coffee gets you moving, but it's not really what you care about. Sure, you have your favorite brand/flavor, but if you're a coffee drinker, if not given a choice, you will drink the coffee being served (YMMV). What you're looking for is the warmth, the caffeine, and the sensation of a hot beverage. You want the experience, the living part. (Grokked from Chia Lynn)
Jo Walton with more on that earlier link about sf/f titles being pulled from poetry. This time specifically from "Tyger, Tyger" and "To His Coy Mistress."
Jay Lake shares an email exchange between him and his copy editor. A good copy editor (and really any editor) is trying to help the team (or just you, if you're contracting the work out yourself) make a better product. That doesn't mean you should accept all of their suggestions, but you also shouldn't dismiss them out of hand. The more you know about the collaborative creative process. One agent rejected my story saying they liked it, but didn't think they could sell it. And that's the real, ultimate goal of this process. To sell stories.
The judge in the Authors Guild vs. Google suit rules that the AG has legal standing to sue. While not a final victory in the case, that was a big hurdle they crossed.
Eric makes with the funny, again. Apparently Mr. Romney has a "natural born citizen" issue according to those who have been fighting to redefine "natural born citizen" to mean two parents who are Americans. I can't wait to see what pretzels the conservatives will attempt to twist themselves into to continue to say, "Our guy is, that guy isn't" without admitting to racism. Remember their clever dance with McCain having been born in Panama.
"If the snooty reviewers from 1980 were were able to get past the poor quality of the film, they might have recognized that if trauma had been dealt with more openly and honestly after World War II — no censorship, no spin — the country might have been better prepared to deal with the problem when our Vietnam veterans returned the way they did in the 1970s." PTSD is an old problem for vets, one that goes back to the ancient Greeks and probably farther. And even after the experience of Vietnam, many commanders, soldiers, and civilians continue to hold with the concept that Patton held when he slapped that soldier and told him to man-up. Nothing prepares you for what war is like. I've written about both, and while I think I hew closer to the bone about it, even I sanitize it. War is many things to different people. What we're finding is even drone pilots are getting PTSD. Because here is the simple truth, for most of us, killing another human being, even one you know "if you don't kill them, they will kill you" is against our hard wiring. Some people can be more prepared than others, some people can wall off and compartmentalize those areas better than others, but it affects everyone who isn't mentally disturbed. (Grokked from Jeffrey Beeler)
Allighator Quotient: I ain't missing them at all.
The tally
Only 2100 words for Thursday. Maybe half of which will be good. That's bad. Hopefully Friday will be better. Must be less distracted by…
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