Stop, Drop, and Roll with it, Baby

Random Michelle K and Janiece are doing it, so I thought I'd do it too.

The American Civic Literacy test.

For giggles I scored a 90.91%, missing three questions (Lincoln-Douglas Debates, benefits of International Trade and Specialization, and I mixed Debt and Deficit in my head, so got that last one wrong too).

Link salad for Turkey Day

Ten Mistakes Writers Don’t See (But Can Easily Fix When They Do) via Colleen Lindsay's the Swivet. Colleen also has a lot to say about the writing industry, BTW.

Joshua Palmatier talks about making maps.

Rick Ferrel gives us the clue of how to survive the first dragon.

If you've ever wondered what submissions would be like as a role playing game, Jim Hines delivers the goods. It's a very funny read.

Not exactly a writer's link, but a good way to wax cats, the Eyeballing Game, via John (whom I don't think has a blog).

30% Chance of Light Blogging

Before it all gets away from me, I wanted to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving. I hope you enjoy the holiday with friends and family (born into or chosen).

I'm thankful for all the opportunities I've been afforded this year, all the friends I've gotten to know/meet/hang-out with (online and off), that (so far) I've been able to meet my obligations (fiscal and time wise), and that I've been able to have a good time. I'm thankful I'm not in the grips of the big D anymore.

I'm grumble and gripe a lot, but I am a fairly content and accepting person. My regrets for the year include not being able to help my friends and even some people I don't know at all in more meaningful and supportive ways, letting my good nature allow others to roll me over, and not working harder on the writing.

But as we approach the holiday I'll be in and out with little time to be online. Today the RSS feeder says there's 23 posts I should read. I'm thankful I'm back into a mode where I can comment more on my friends blogs. I have a feeling next Monday morning I'll be back to over 300.

I'll probably have a few more posts to get out today and over the long weekend, but I wanted to make sure to say I'm thankful you all are my friends. Thanks, friend.

How long to the point of no return

I have reached the end of the internets, and here be dragons (RSS Feeds read "0" post to read - granted I skipped most of them and Random Michelle's feed continues to give we hickups). Raconteur extraordinary Rick is talking about Dragons and creativity. He's posted the first installment, the Dragon of Calcination (first of two posts I'm assuming).

While Rick is approaching creativity from the alchemical view, this journey he's giving us all is not dissimilar to other journeys in other traditions. The eight-fold path in Buddhist tradition has similar steps. When Campbell was studying comparative mythologies he came up with the concept of "The Hero's Journey" to describe them. Rick's focus, however, is a mindfulness of our creativity, a nurturing and exercising the font from which our lives flow. First step, "Unlearn what you have learned," as Yoda told us. You must die to yourself/the world (relinquish the ego and pretense).

While he's taking a stake to my Muse, she'll survive. I've been on that path before, I know from whence the Muse speaks. I still love to hear her singing.

However, it never hurts to understand and nourish the wellspring of our creativity.

There's something happening here

Where Steve takes a hard turn in politics. This morning (okay, well for the past few weeks) there's been plenty of talk about the incoming Obama administration and what they should and shouldn't be doing. That President Bush is seeking input from them is, IMHO, a Good Thing(tm) and he deserves some credit for it (although the completely cynical side of my brain says it's a way of transferring blame). However this call for Obama to start calling the shots is completely over the line.

As Obama stated at the beginning of this, he supports the "One President at a Time" doctrine. President Bush, for all I've criticized him and think he's the worse thing since before they decided to sell sliced bread, is still the President. As such, he can ask for all the advice he can stomach, but until noonish January 20, 2009, he is still the President. The decision, choice, and ultimately the blame, are his until that point.

All these pundits calling for Obama to step into the transfer power-void are wrong-headed. Obama has no Constitutional powers as President Elect. For better or worse, this whole ball of wax is George W. Bush's until Obama is sworn in. Obama shouldn't be making decisions that go beyond his transfer team and announcements of what his administration will do (and who they'll nominate) once they're in. Advice? Oh, I'm all for that. I think that GW is willing to look at all solutions and include Obama in the loop earlier than any other presidential transfer is to his credit and helps with a smooth transference. But to have Obama give orders or even hold press conferences saying, "This is how I would have handled this (insert detailed plan)" is just bad form (and I expect better from him).

So, get up to speed Obama Team, plan out the strategy and forecast your cabinet, give advice all you want, but do not force your position. And President Bush, you need to step up to the plate more. The country needs a leader, which you claim to be. Time to show it.

Edit the incomparable Janiece says similar things. Great minds think alike. Or we're all hot chicks here. Something like that.

Edit and in other "Gee the economy is going swimmingly well" news, note over at S. Andrew Swann's blog, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has instructed editors to stop buying books. Um. Yeah. That's a good business plan for a publisher. And has it gotten cold in here or was there just a deep freeze front that passed over every writer's desk.

The money post

This is also in consideration of the previous post and I did mean to bring it up earlier.

Demonstration of this year's economics:
I'm an hourly employee at the day job, which means I have the patience of the Buddha, after all they're paying me by the hour (overtime is a nice thing, I haven't had it most of my life). If I take my hourly wage and multiply it out by 2080 (40x52), I get what my "salary" would be (before deductions of taxes, union dues, retirement, and health care). So in 2007 I had made as much as my annual salary by the first or second week in August. This year I just passed that mark last Friday.

If I include all the pro-bono work and the barter work I would have my best freelance year ever (too bad the IRS considers my freelance a hobby).

Turn and face the strain

Well, time has come today as the other song says. Tonight while talking with a design client he asked me for business cards to hand out. While he didn't exactly state it, I think many of his "competitors" are jealous of his brochure (or at least that was the gist of the conversation). Now, I did do a bang-up job on his trifold, and I'm commensurately proud of it.

But last year I did make the decision to cut back on the freelance design to spend time writing. This was before overtime went all sucky and I was charged with being Chairman of Safety which soaked up that freed time. I still kept some clients, work I like doing, not that's necessarily good money makers. This would be good money. And my plans to spend more time writing didn't exactly pan out.

So now comes the decision to change directions and get even more hectic, hope to change out chairmanships, maybe get more overtime (probably not until middle of next year) and see if I go back to also writing. Or, I could soak up even more precious time but get paid well for it (instead of writing on what is basically spec).

Success, sometimes it's a frightening thing. I still want to write, but that lure of money for doing something I still love for people who actually have money. And this client's clients aren't hurting either, so if they're asking as well, even better.

Argh. It could drive one mad.

But it just may be a lunatic you're looking for

Just did a post over at Genre Bender on critique groups, and I thought I'd do a little thing here on accepting critiques. Also, this was just pointed out to me this weekend (and I'm probably the last person to see it).

(first, I haven't received a rejection letter, I'm talking in general here)

Many people think artists and writers have easily bruised egos and just can't stand criticism, and for some they may be right (hey, and I may be crazy). You can see these people all over. There was even a website devoted to rejection letters and the writer's responses. Good luck with the sour persimmons, cousin.

However, I have a BFA from the Meyer's School of Art at the University of Akron, and I've been a professional designer for almost two decades now. Know what that means? Well, at art school (not my first major, BTW, that was Computer Science) we were critiqued every single day. Now, fortunately that was being critiqued by professionals and people who understood what they were doing (so no "I'm not sure that shade of red is correct" when they really mean, "Helvetica? You choose helvetica, what kind of moron are you?"). Top that off with 19 years of professional work getting critiqued by amateurs (that's where you have to divine what the client is really critiquing). That all leads to having a thick hide when it comes to critique.

Reject my story with a form letter? Pishaw! Most times it barely registers more than, "Time to go to Ralans and Duotrope again." Most non-form letters mostly talk about the good things. Sure, they didn't buy it, but they liked it enough to take the time to write a letter. That's a success in case you didn't know. I thank every editor who has sent me a non-form rejection letter. Those are really good people. But, savage me in a rejection letter and call in to question my heredity (it's never happened, just making that clear)? Ha! I say again, "Ha!"

That is nothing compared to having the professor who chose your thumbnail, chose your rough, guided you on the final rendering only to come into class as all the pieces are up on the board and say, "These are all fine, except for one. And that one doesn't deserve to even remain on the board with the others it's so bad." And then he grabs your piece and throws it on the desk. Yeah, your form rejection letter? It ain't even close. (again, there is no actual form letter I'm responding to here, I'm just making a point in general that form reject letters are no big thing) Also I'll point out that after another year of taking classes with that prof (oh yes, I signed up for every class he taught) we had a good relationship. He actually suggested that I should go to grad school. Not so much for my benefit, but the school's.

This is why I point out to you that googling "Oh John Ringo No" will lead to hilarity. Don't forget to check out the Cafe Press store. Now, I'm not recommending that you write a story like the one that started this (really, I'm not, don't do it, for the love of all that's Holy don't do it), but to be fair, he never intended it to go public and he claimed the only reason he wrote it was to get it out so it would stop bothering him. But I do recommend that you look at how he handled the criticism. (Props out to S Andrew Swan for pointing this out to the group yesterday)

Rolling down the interstate, running thirty-minutes late

Arrived late to the writing group. However, we haven't started yet. So all is good.

This weekend, well this Sunday, is the first day we didn't have snow. Skies are clear, the ice on the road sparkles just like the salt lime on the windshield. Ah, it's winter again.

Hopefully next weekend we'll have a break in the weather so we can decorate outside, although all this week the weather channel predicts snow

every

single

day.

Hope the weather near you is better.

Looking Through a Glass Onion

It's been forty years since The White Album was released. My brother loved the Beatles, and I grew up knowing most of their songs by heart.

It's also on this anniversary that the Vatican official forgives John Lennon for saying the Beatles were more popular than Jesus. Glad they don't carry a grudge, and didn't wait as long as they did to forgive Galileo Galilei.

The Gales of November Remembered

Well, looking at the radar it looks like most of you are in the clear. It's been snowing for the past week where I commute. Today was an hour and half plus to work, none of it over 40mph. Lost control four times, nearly went ditch diving once (fortunately regained control right before going in, soft ground), had trouble accelerating a few times. Breaking? Fergetaboutit.

Good news for retailers looking at not only the free-fall economy (oh noes, look, deflation, argh! um yeah, come talk to me when a McD's double cheeseburger is $.75, falling commodity prices isn't bad necessarily, falling wholesale prices is something else), but a shortened Holiday Shopping season (no matter what they try, typically Black Friday to December 24th). Yes, it's cold and snowy so people are thinking about Xmas.

My Xmas Wish List is almost finished (note to self, put Wii on list, then I'm done). My wishes for you, of course, are warmth, health, family (born into and/or chosen), prosperity, and happiness. I thought I'd get my shopping done early. You're welcome.

Every year I think I'm going to get so much more done. This year I was hoping to get a story out that I was going to chapbook as gifts (and release here). Maybe we'll get snowed in and I'll be able to get it out. I have no idea what it'll be about (although I'm thinking it'll be a Windswept, Ohio story, hopefully below 3000 words, hopefully about this time of year).

This weekend is going to be busy. Saturday we're going to Carousel Dinner Theatre (oh noes, it's an Elvis musical, no wonder my wife said she didn't know what is was about, tricksie she is). That's a whole day event. Sunday is our wedding anniversary (#11, Steel), writers group (of which I'm still reading, have about 40 more pages to critique), and that's the day our Parks and Rec board decided would be a good day to put up the Village holiday decorations. I have a feeling I'm going to be missing at least one of those.

You say it's your birthday

Happy 10th Anniversary to the International Space Station, aka Enterprise. Here's a big candle for you.