“All Afternoon Those Birds Twitter Twit”

  • 08:42 Slept in way too long today. It’s okay though, considering I got through half my studying yesterday. T-minus 3 days to the final! #
  • 08:44 I’m #reading Intercourse by Robert Olen Butler – tinyurl.com/qe4du9 #
  • 08:55 Got a phone call to make, breakfast to eat, and the last half of my studying to do! #
  • 10:43 Looks like the local bagel place is going to get my breakfast *and* lunch money today. OK, let the wristcu–I mean, the studying, commence! #
  • 10:53 Study playlist: My "Ce Matin La" playlist on Pandora (Air, Zero 7, &c.) #
  • 12:31 Tired of playing these games. Game theory games, that is–payoff matrices, dominant strategies, &c. And I wonder why my head’s gone numb. #
  • 12:48 @Abyss_Apex Trying to start a #slushfail day? 🙂 #
  • 13:14 @Abyss_Apex I’m all for #slushfail education! #
  • 13:59 @Abyss_Apex FTW, right? 😉 #
  • 15:50 Had a nice lunch and a walk home. With all the stuff I got done, I figure I can slack for 1, maybe 2 hours more :). #
  • 16:07 RT @cspan YouTube video of Wanda Sykes at White House Correspondents Dinner: tinyurl.com/pfg58r #

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“All Afternoon Those Birds Twitter Twit”

  • 23:13 @jeffreyeford I’d consider re-reading the first INTERFICTIONS if my reading backlog wasn’t so huge :). #
  • 08:17 Torn between going to Farmer’s Market or just immediately commencing with studying/torture. T-minus 4 days to the final. #
  • 08:25 Squeeing from all the @ replies and RTs last nite from writers whose stuff I love! #squee #
  • 10:04 Trying to open up the skoolbooks here at the Farmer’s Market. Took the netbook out instead, which was a bad, bad move. 😉 #
  • 10:41 twitpic.com/4ugov – Another postcard picture perfect day at the dock of the Farmer’s Market. #
  • 10:43 @GrassRootsFest Bela Fleck alone would’ve been worth the price of admission. But with Sharon Jones & the D-KS there, he’s icing ;). #
  • 11:21 At the library downtown. I think I can get into the skoolwork groove now, provided I stay away from the new fic section. #
  • 13:14 Brain is pretty mushy right now. Dare I risk spot at library to get some caffeine…? #
  • 13:30 Wondering if STMC(studying) > P(shutdown)…? #
  • 14:27 Need a change of study venue, I think. And, some food. #
  • 16:55 RT @readerville Harlan Ellison Calls Lifetime Achievement Award a Sham. tinyurl.com/ph2q8z (via @Danchaon) #

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“All Afternoon Those Birds Twitter Twit”

  • 07:49 Fried myself last nite & slept in this morning. Will get to skoolwork later today. T-minus 5 days to the Final. #
  • 08:10 I don’t seem to know which way is up this AM. 🙁 #
  • 08:49 Actually eating breakfast (yes, w/a red-eye) and jamming to new Tower of Power, El Michels Affair, and old Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra. #
  • 09:11 #followfriday Odd mix of celebs I follow: @chicagotheband @diablocody @amber_benson @moonfrye @DaveSFoley #
  • 11:15 No, no, no, no, NO! www.booksale.org/ #
  • 11:37 RT @victoriastrauss Life is what I do to escape from writing…. #
  • 12:00 "You didn’t have to love me like you did/ But you did, but you did/ And I thank you." #lyrics #
  • 12:00 Body working only by sheer willpower and the rhythm of old school R&B tunes in my head. Hands shaking, tho. Not good. #
  • 12:23 Just heard coworker refer to Fritos as "Satan’s hors d’oeuvres." #
  • 12:58 Not gonna study at lunch. Gonna eat and slack, and hit it tonight and over the weekend. #
  • 13:37 Enlisted coworkers to help me monitor @GrassRootsFest website for date of Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings show. #
  • 13:40 RT @PasteMagazine Daptone Excavates Vault, Releases The Budos Band EP tr.im/kG3X #
  • 14:09 @GrassRootsFest I feel bad that they’re obsessing for me, so a DM certainly wouldn’t go unappreciated :). We can keep it under our hats! #
  • 15:02 @GrassRootsFest Thanks!! I’ll be there with at least 3-5 of my closest friends :). #
  • 15:04 Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings @GrassRootsFest on July 17. Sometime in the later evening. Campbell Bros. likely playing right before or after. #
  • 19:30 Home alone, having refused to see STAR TREK on opening weekend. I learned my lesson at STAR TREK VI w/noisy Klingons sitting behind me. #
  • 19:48 @AWDawno Not to be left Trek-less, I’m flipping back & forth between ST:FIRST CONTACT & ST:NEMESIS on TV ;). #
  • 22:19 @WannabeRSwriter That’s what I’d call a party :). #
  • 22:20 @jeffreyeford You, M. Rickert, & Ray Vukcevich would be three reasons enough to get INTERFICTIONS 2! #
  • 22:43 @Cbarzak I don’t doubt it for a second, especially with @adeniro to boot! #

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“All Afternoon Those Birds Twitter Twit”

  • 07:49 Would rather be sitting with writer’s block than reviewing skool problem sets. T-minus 6 days to the Final. #
  • 08:32 "It’s a big enough umbrella/ But it’s always me that ends up getting wet." #lyrics #
  • 08:32 Studying isn’t going very well this morning. 🙁 #
  • 08:55 Took 10 minutes to do a problem that should’ve taken 2. Time to quit for the morning. Gonna slack before the dayjob. #
  • 08:57 Nah, you know what? I’m good for one more problem. #
  • 10:36 Where’s my notebook? "The Top Ten Rules of Space Opera" bit.ly/45DMb #
  • 11:46 Index of Bruce Holland Rogers’ "Short-Short-Sighted" columns bit.ly/rryGi #
  • 11:59 RT @Catrambo Jeremy Tolbert’s 5 lies writers believe about editors – bit.ly/16BIwr #
  • 12:02 @Catrambo I like the drinking water/sewer pipe analogy, myself. #
  • 14:30 Probably just now killed off some of the hopes of his classmates about the final exam. (*snicker*) #
  • 16:16 RT @gtdguy Paying attention to paying attention to what has my attention. #
  • 19:25 I’m going to get my second wind, if I have to siphon it from someone else’s lungs! #
  • 21:12 Hate, hate, *hate* having to interrupt my study groove just to frakking eat! #

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“All Afternoon Those Birds Twitter Twit”

  • 07:54 T-minus 7 days to Final. Time to "Battle Without Honor or Humanity" again. bit.ly/2YPDzr #
  • 09:08 Isn’t it funny how I’ll write ’til the last second before I leave for dayjob, but need at least a 30 min. buffer after skoolwork? #
  • 10:51 Finally did online class evaluation at the last minute. I was just too darn busy *studying*–hello!! 😉 #
  • 11:29 LOVE it: "Their long arm of the law has stretched all the way around the internet to spank themselves in the ass." tinyurl.com/dn3ncl #
  • 12:23 Dizziness is not conducive to effectively dealing with the mad rush of work/skool/writing stuff to do. Just sayin’. #
  • 14:51 Definitely paying for the days I spent away from skoolwork. Dismayed by how much has leaked out of my brain. #
  • 16:33 I think my nervous system short-circuited for a little while today. Rebooted after lunch, tho. #
  • 17:20 Had to turn off today’s @totn podcast. Too fried at work right now & not in the headspace to listen to an angry guest bash Neal Conan :(. #
  • 17:24 Ah, a BookExpoCast…much better. #
  • 17:55 RT @gretchenrubin From Psychology Today: to make yourself like something more, nod while looking at it; to be more negative, shake your head #
  • 18:01 There will be family discord for the next two nites. Tribe vs. Red Sox. #indians #
  • 20:29 I come home and what do I find? Cleveland down 1-2 to Boston :(. #indians #
  • 20:57 How am I supposed to study, between Tribe/Red Sox and GHOST HUNTERS?? #
  • 22:06 Doncha love double plays? Tribe: 9, Red Sox: 2 #indians #
  • 22:28 RT @diablocody My life won’t be complete until I’ve reimagined the entire cinematic canon as a Fox Thursday night lineup. #

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“All Afternoon Those Birds Twitter Twit”

  • 07:51 On page 88 of 192 of Break It Down: Stories by Lydia Davis. "Cockroaches in Autumn" is a little too cryptic for me. 3* #
  • 07:51 On page 91 of 192 of Break It Down: Stories by Lydia Davis. "The Bone" shows the stuff lasting memories are made of. 5* #
  • 07:52 On page 99 of 192 of Break It Down: Stories by Lydia Davis. 1st 2 pgs of "A Few Things Wrong with Me" hit close to home. 5* #
  • 08:10 Momentarily sidetracked by teh intrawebs. Will focus on fiction sub, now–my first in how long?? #submissions #
  • 09:00 Preparing incense and a small sacrifice to the critique group hive-mind for help with my contest sub. #submissions #
  • 11:46 "Pulling Mussels (From the Shell)" by Squeeze & "Mighty Love" by the Spinners in my brain simultaneously. Dichotomy is giving me a headache. #
  • 12:37 "Time just crawls here behind my eyes…" #lyrics #
  • 12:41 That was the first song in my head all day that wasn’t 80s New Wave or 70s R&B. I blame caffeine. #
  • 13:23 Forgot my skoolbooks at my desk. Maybe it’s my subconscious telling me to have lunch in relative peace again? 🙂 #
  • 14:40 Okay, tonight I’ve *got* to get the study-ball rolling. T-minus 8 days to final! #
  • 16:44 *sigh* I can see the last-minute work emergency coming a mile away… #
  • 16:53 "Failure to plan on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine," huh? Oh, if only… if only… #
  • 17:27 Work emergency buck passed to the appropriate person. I can resume end-of-day exhaustion in peace ;). #
  • 19:44 Forcing myself to sit with the skoolbooks open. Nothing, yet. I’ll be breaking out the Red Bull shortly. #
  • 21:10 zomg! Meat Loaf concert doco on TV. The haircut I get. Going without the disheveled tux/cloak…? Just not the same. #
  • 21:42 OMG again! Apparently, a key part of this Meat Loaf doco is on how he purposely goes back to the tux shirt look. This is surreal…. #
  • 21:47 Meat is in the tux! He’s in the tux!!! And the scarves are tied to the mike stand, too. #

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“All Afternoon Those Birds Twitter Twit”

  • 07:46 On page 82 of 192 of Break It Down: Stories by Lydia Davis. "In a House Besieged" is 7 dense sentences that begs 2-3 rereads. 5* #
  • 07:47 On page 84 of 192 of Break It Down: Stories by Lydia Davis. "A Visit to Her Husband" is Carver-esque in its subject matter. 5* #
  • 07:49 It’s not even 8 AM–can’t I go anywhere in this town before 8 AM and *not* run into a coworker?? #
  • 07:51 Critique processing playlist: CHICAGO XXXII: STONE OF SISYPHUS #
  • 07:52 "A dream is make believe until/ Blood, sweat & tears turn faith to will/ It’s gonna take some miracle, man/ To show there’s a way" #lyrics #
  • 08:12 Hm. I wrote flashes last week. Just heard about this contest w/@fantasymagazine. Fate? tinyurl.com/cueqja (via @charlesatan) #
  • 08:39 Sunday’s crit-group crucifixion session summary posted: tinyurl.com/d4gv78 #
  • 09:12 On my camera-meat debut last nite: tinyurl.com/c5ccas (I should use my blog more often, no?) #
  • 10:58 No class this week, so I get full lunch hours! I’m almost tempted to *eat* rather than study for the final. T-minus 9 days. #
  • 11:43 RT @warrenellis @menianoon Advice on breaking into comics? 1) Google is your friend. 2) Don’t do it. You will die angry and colostomised. #
  • 12:06 Might go back here for lunch since there’s no drunken-student-zombie apocalypse to navigate thru. www.nygreencafe.com/main/index.php #
  • 12:10 "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." #lyrics #
  • 12:13 "What Is Microfiction" debate at FRiGG www.friggmagazine.com/issuetwentyfour/poemsstories/fiction/whatismicro/whatismicro.htm #
  • 13:38 RT @ strikethru The White House Flickr stream is really fascinating: tinyurl.com/cxdksz #
  • 13:39 No, I’m not studying right now. Decided to enjoy my first Monday lunch hour in God knows how long :). #
  • 13:42 Any place that plays the song "Sticks" by Cannonball Adderley while I eat lunch is a cool place. www.nygreencafe.com/main/index.php #
  • 16:26 Work CD player is apparently a hole in time between the present and 1985. #
  • 16:45 I like AOR as much as anyone, but I just don’t need Air Supply on the work CD player right now. Now, where’s my copy of CHICAGO 17…? #
  • 17:21 Not a rough day, really–certainly nothing like Friday. Feels like the weekend never happened, tho :(. #
  • 18:25 If I was smart, I’d head straight home, directly to my desk where my skoolbooks are waiting. But motivation & energy are soooo < 0. #
  • 19:53 Clearly, I’m not smart. #
  • 20:44 Poring thru Creative Commons images for flash fic contest entry. Counts as "writing," right? #wip #

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“On the screen tonight / And when you wanna / They treat you like a prima donna”

A couple months ago, on a lark, I agreed to be camera meat in a local student film. That was an experience, in itself. I learned a lot, including the fact that there’s actually a small community of actors in the region who will come out and audition for student film productions. Makes total sense, since since there’s more than one film program in town.

And then I saw myself on the screen! Damn, it was surreal.

I was impressed by the short films I saw. Sure, they were undergrad film projects, and there were some cliches I saw that I half-expected to see going in: Mafia riffs, torture pr0n, taboo subjects, Quentin Tarrantino dialogue, and a little John Woo gun-fu action thrown in. But the creativity level was incredible, all the way around. You could tell, warts and all, that at least a modicum of care was taken (by some more than others, but such is the way of any group of people in creative endeavors) to make each film a good product.

Tough Love

I didn’t read at the last crit group-flogging, but made up for it this time with two flash fiction pieces. I finally had the guts to try and combine some flash fic with a bit of fantasy. Did it work? Here’s what the group had to say.

Story #1, 100 words:

For the Win:

  • It was a “complete story.”
  • “Every word counts.”
  • Good “rhythm” to the sentences.
  • Plot/fantasy element was clearly understood, depending on the reader’s interpretation.
  • In a session where the nit of the day seemed to be repeated words, the fact that I purposely repeated one particular phrase still worked.

StoryFail:

  • More than one reader wanted, well, more.
  • One reader noted the story title’s original connotation that has nothing to do with the story.
  • My last sentence needlessly made my usually-ambiguous ending even more ambiguous by being too long.

Story #2, 1000 words:
For the Win:

  • One reader immediately picked up on the meta-fiction aspect of the story!!
  • “Weird, but believable.”
  • Good “characterization” i.e. the way I played around with stereotypical epic fantasy adventure characters.
  • Same thing about “adventure cliches”
  • “Twisty phrases”
  • A “satisfying” (read: unambiguous) ending.

StoryFail:

  • Definitely went a little overboard trying not to make my sentences Carver-esque. Some of the them were too long. One reader made a comment about the sentence-length being good for an exercise, but not necessarily for this particular story.
  • …which makes some of the good “twisty phrases” a little too twisty.

Okay, maybe that second story had a bit more of a fundamental Fail, but I’m just glad that for once, the Win columns are a bit longer than the Fail ones!

Still, this’ll probably be the last pieces I bring for the next few sessions. It’s a new subs period for quite a few mags, and now I’ve got a nice little pile of stories to revise and submit! Because there have been precious few scorecard entries this year, and that makes me sad.