Author: Don

Chapter XXXVI

Kinda like last year, I got some of the best presents a writer can get.

My favorite, I have to say, was the one I got for myself–the newest productivity tool. It’s not tech. I finally got the Moleskine Planner cover I wanted from Renaissance Art, which is the most stylish hPDA case you could ever ask for!

Other presents included…

1
Two vintage Doctor Who novelisations: Earthshock by Ian Marter, published by Target and Doctor Who and the Day of the Daleks by Terrance Dicks, published by Pinnacle. The Pinnacle books were the ones with the cool introduction by Harlan Ellison.

2
Birthday love from family and friends via phone, email, snail-mail, messages in bottles, etc.

3
And as another present to myself, the opportunity to help the cause of highlighting the work of writers of color. Like me 🙂

Not a bad start, I daresay.

Kickin’ It Old School

We’ve all been so proud of our blindness
No kindness to share
I used to cry for the lost
Until I had to turn away
Then I looked inside
Past the fool
And found some deeper words to say

-Chicago, “Cry for the Lost”

Since LoudTwitter is dead, I’ve shunted my Twitter feed over to a widget on the sidebar. Just as well, really. I’ve been feeling the itch to bust out of the 140-character mode and stretch a little.

We’ll see how long it lasts.

“All Afternoon Those Birds Twitter Twit”

  • 03:54 "Four in the morning came without a warning…" #lyrics #insomnia ♫ blip.fm/~92i50 #
  • 04:01 On page 36 of 256 of We Never Talk About My Brother by Peter S. Beagle. 5* for "Uncle Chaim and Aunt Rifke and the Angel." Slow pace paid… #
  • 07:26 3 hours of sleep. God, why?? Oh yeah, the coffee I drank while cleaning out the closet 🙁 #
  • 07:52 Damn you, red-eye. You are a cruel mistress. Yet, I always come back… 🙁 #
  • 07:56 twitpic.com/8r0hw – Sure it doesn’t look like much now. It took culling of 4 yrs worth of BS to get here. #
  • 09:20 FTW: Thursday off for a 3 day work week! Thinking I should’ve taken today off and gone back to bed, but this works, too. 🙂 #
  • 09:53 My birthday gift to myself! It’ll be a literal Xmas in July! bit.ly/6EzH4 #
  • 11:47 Yesterday’s crit group evisceration posted, incl. the best advice I’ve gotten in awhile. bit.ly/Od21C #
  • 13:13 Cafe where I’m eating lunch isn’t helping my sleep deprivation playing the slow version of "Valerie." Hence… ♫ blip.fm/~935hw #
  • 13:43 Got caught in the rain sans umbrella twice in as many days. Am soaked and unhappy! OTOH I am more awake. #
  • 16:59 Got to leave work early. Bypassed PM writing spot. Need bed….zzzz. #
  • 17:11 Letting playlist of missed podcasts lull me to naptime. #
  • 19:12 Had a nap & dinner. Almost feel like a real human being again :). #
  • 19:19 Lots of good stuff in this Odyssey podcast: Bruce Holland Rogers on Flash Fic Structures, Pt. 2 bit.ly/WoQPm #mp3 #

Via LoudTwitter

Tough Love

The Critique

Yesterday’s crit group crucixion–painful as ever, but it was one of those sessions where a lightbulb went off in my head that will affect my writing positively from here on out.

I attempted two things with this story: (a) to finally break down whatever wall that’s prevented me from writing something connected to my Asian-American experience ( as well as develop another niche to pimp out my stories) and (b) to write about a fascinating sub-culture that I’ve only a passing familiarity with.

How did I do, according to my critique group?

FTW

  • Set-up was “intriguing”
  • Usual compliment re: my “hip rhythm,” esp. w/dialogue
  • A sci-fi story w/a lot of tech stuff, but still about people/characters having to make particular choices.
  • One reader got “everything I need to know about the [protagonist’s] family [of origin] dynamic.”

Fail!

  • (From the tech guy in the group, keeping me honest) Nix the term “RFID,” which is already dated (my story takes place, oh, about 15 minutes in the future).
  • Need to be clearer what I’m talking about when I make other references (e.g. to cochlear implants, etc.)
  • Not really clear how pervasive and powerful the tech is that I’m writing about.
  • Protagonist’s motivations unclear–is what the protagonist doing legal? How does he feel about the world he’s about to step into? Why’s he stepping into it? (Grrr!)
  • Short debate about expanding/expounding on technical descriptions but being careful not to do that at the expense of character.
  • The most helpful comment and the one I’ll take to heart for the rest of forever: To make the world of my story as clear as I made the protagonist’s family-of-origin dynamic!

Duh! Not that I didn’t know I should do that, but it helps to have an example to point to in my head.

“All Afternoon Those Birds Twitter Twit”

  • 09:01 Looking at yesterday’s 1.1k words. Need at least one scene more for crit group today. #wip #
  • 09:27 Last min crit-group writing playlist: my British Blue-Eyed Soul station on Pandora. #
  • 09:50 Vid of last nite’s @sufferjets bout. Man, that was fun! www.vimeo.com/5359976 #
  • 16:34 Back from biweekly crit group evisceration. Painful but badly-needed feedback, as usual. Blow-by-blow to come…. #
  • 16:42 W00t!! Since everything’s signed and official, I can announce this: bit.ly/f5peK #blog #
  • 19:18 Leave my Google Reader alone for 2 days and I’ve got 350+ unread items?? Oh, hell no. Cut, cut, cut, cut, cut…. #
  • 19:19 Time to finish cleaning out office closet. The one I made the mistake of telling gay coworkers about. /Still/ haven’t heard the end of it. #
  • 19:27 Closet Cleaning/Going In/Coming Out Playlist: Cole Porter–no, I mean CHICAGO XXXII:STONE OF SISYPHUS. #
  • 21:10 Closet-cleaning experience: "Or I stumble through the doorway to space and time." #lyrics bit.ly/vv4YN #

Via LoudTwitter

“All Afternoon Those Birds Twitter Twit”

  • 08:23 On page 15 of 256 of We Never Talk About My Brother by Peter S. Beagle. 1/2way thru "Uncle Chaim and Aunt Rifke and the Angel." Usu don’t… #
  • 08:28 Going to @ithacamarket this morning. Haven’t been in weeks. Miss the food & the people-watching. My stories need characters ;). #
  • 10:29 Can actually see spots of blue sky here @ithacamarket! And the people-watching hasn’t disappointed ;). #
  • 12:33 When we’re not crucifying ourselves on Easter: RT @melvingibbs Filipino prisoners reprise cellblock ‘Thriller’ dance… bit.ly/a1hMP #
  • 12:41 Accomplished a few non-writing tasks this AM: @ithacamarket, haircut, shopping, & found missing cell. #
  • 12:43 Wimbledon distracting me from the writing I need to get done before watching @sufferjets tonite. 🙁 #
  • 14:10 OK, I gotta get out of here if I’m gonna get writing done. Can’t afford to be this absorbed in Wimbledon–it’s only the 3rd round!! #
  • 14:40 Good news: scored table w/outlet at cafe. Bad news: wifi enables me to listen to Radio Wimbledon. #
  • 14:44 You heard ’em, folks! RT @sufferjets @DonP uh oh…better get some writing done so you can come to the game tonight! #
  • 15:29 Was working at a good clip until the drama at the Ferrero/Gonzalez match. Hawkeye taken out of service. #wimbledon #
  • 15:45 Ferrero wins after a double-fault. I can get back to work, now :). #wimbledon #
  • 16:05 @Catrambo My pleasure :). #
  • 16:06 RT @Catrambo I have been videocast! blip.tv/file/2290230 #
  • 16:07 Pasting the last week’s worth of #wip puke drafting together to see what sort of Frankenstein’s Monster results. #
  • 17:07 I’m #reading 2033: Future of Misbehavior by Nerve.com – tinyurl.com/lm649o #
  • 17:11 On page 14 of 200 of 2033: Future of Misbehavior by Nerve.com. Needed research material for current #wip! Serendipitous find at $5.99. #
  • 18:14 RT @sfwa If you want to follow along, @brendacooper is tweeting the Locus Awards live. #
  • 18:15 Unfortunately, I can’t follow along. I’m so close to finishing the first 1k words of the #wip. Then, dinner, then off to @sufferjets game! #
  • 22:10 Had a total blast attending my first bout! RT @sufferjets 248 sufferjets 102 Ottawa #

Via LoudTwitter

“All Afternoon Those Birds Twitter Twit”

  • 08:37 On page 103 of 400 of Conjunctions: 52, Betwixt the Between by Bradford Morrow. Think I’m going to put this one on the back burner for a … #
  • 09:00 Chastized my coworkers–there will be no #MichaelJackson songs sung in tribute around me. #
  • 09:48 Control of the work CD player = Sugarman 3! 🙂 #
  • 10:29 #followfriday Keeping me productive, as much as they can, anyway: @portableapps @TiddlyWiki @gtdguy #
  • 10:47 Because I love circumventing The Man: Use Gmail Drafts to Mail Yourself Unallowed Files bit.ly/HWbph #
  • 11:28 Some days at work, I feel like an air traffic controller. From 1981, all frustrated and stuff. 🙁 #
  • 11:41 God, this was me last crit group. Probably the next one, too 🙂 RT @inkyelbows The Writing Critique: ow.ly/fV9L #
  • 12:23 @ColleenLindsay I’m keeping such things at bay with Miles Davis’s version of "Human Nature." 😉 #
  • 12:27 Turns out the 250+ words from last night will probably be the new intro to current #wip. #
  • 13:30 Business about to pick up at work. Not in a good way. #
  • 14:52 "A plastic face on satellite TV/ Says, ‘Life is filled with give & take’/ He’s takin’ & I’m givin/ So I dance" #lyrics bit.ly/xVlai #
  • 14:55 RT @goodreads 5 more days to win a free copy of Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout bit.ly/6LdS0 #giveaway #
  • 15:51 @inkyelbows You hit so close to home with that critique one, I couldn’t help it :D. #
  • 17:38 Idea so nice, I’m tweeting it twice: RT @Lifehacker Use Gmail Drafts to Mail Yourself Unallowed Files tinyurl.com/mwves7 #
  • 17:42 #followfriday Places kind enough to publish me online: @McSweeneysBooks @fantasymagazine @sixsentences #
  • 18:16 Planning to go: RT @sufferjets Game tomorrow, can’t wait! It will be a great day for the SufferJets to Celebrate the Right to Roll! #
  • 18:18 FTW: Short story contract in my email inbox! W00t!! #
  • 21:40 RT @fantasymagazine #Fantasy #Magazine #editor @catrambo interviewed on the Novy Mirror blip.tv/file/2290230 #interviews #publishing #
  • 21:40 Story contract signed and back out in the (e)mail!! Double w00t! #

Via LoudTwitter

“All Afternoon Those Birds Twitter Twit”

  • 07:38 On page 97 of 400 of Conjunctions: 52, Betwixt the Between by Bradford Morrow. 5* for China Mieville’s exerpt of THE CITY & THE CITY. Sli… #
  • 07:42 I want to read: The Museum of Dr. Moses: Tales of Mys… by Joyce Carol Oates – tinyurl.com/lndbs6 #
  • 07:54 E55th & Cedar=Memories! RT @WEWS Area Of Cleveland On Most Dangerous Neighborhood List www.newsnet5.com/station/19844389/detail.html #
  • 09:07 Obviously, this recorded webinar I’m required to watch has my /full/ attention. :p #
  • 09:13 RT @jdwcornell slashdot article on #CornellFAIL sensitive data loss is.gd/1cxvj #
  • 10:01 You know those folks who stare out the rainy windows in ads for antidepressants? That’s what this dayjob webinar is doing to me. #
  • 12:12 RT @tinytempest comics #racefail – JLA fans don’t deserve to have McDuffie writing for them. assholes. ow.ly/15G7xn #
  • 12:24 Lunchtime writing plan: plotting & research. #wip #
  • 14:52 Just heard how a friend got the #CornellFAIL email /after/ hearing about it on the radio! Lovely. #
  • 14:54 Best resource I’ve found for the current #wip is @hplusmagazine! Finished reading all 3 issues. #
  • 14:55 Overwhelmed myself w/online research for #wip. Solution: taking pen to paper to organize & mindmap. #gtd #
  • 16:44 RT @gudmagazine RT @apexjason Apex Magazine coming out of hiatus: bit.ly/RRoMo #
  • 17:52 Hi-tailed it home after work in the torrential rain. Might’ve been a little premature. Gonna get food & maybe head to the PM writng spot. #
  • 17:55 100 Awesome Open Source Tools for Writers, Journalists, and Bloggers bit.ly/Jbgsw #
  • 18:33 Thought the news about #michaeljackson broke Twitter for a second 🙁 #
  • 21:16 Had to go back to dayjob for my forgotten USB drive and ended up writing somewhere w/no WiFi. Good news: +250 words! #wip #
  • 21:26 Ending my nite with #BurnNotice :D. #

Via LoudTwitter