• 09:40 Like the phoenix from the ashes, I have slept, but now I have awakened!! And I’m the one who’s sorry…at work. 🙁 #
  • 09:41 I’m half brain-dead, and I still managed to solve three of my coworkers’ problems. Would gloat if I weren’t so groggy. #
  • 11:13 Since this tweet disappeared yesterday: Will be camera-meat in local film student’s project this Sunday nite! ACTing!! #
  • 11:13 Trying to conserve my energy to make it to this, this afternoon tinyurl.com/cepvf9 #
  • 11:15 Just for kicks & giggles, I’ll show up Sun w/script notes in red & demands for my trailer. 🙂 #
  • 12:34 Of course, since I’m scheduled to have an early day, the next 2.5 hours are going to be the longest. of. my. life. #
  • 12:57 RT @victoriastrauss Things to do in private: Playboy puts 53 back issues online for free tinyurl.com/c597st [Y’know, 4 the articles.] #
  • 13:40 I’d feel so much better if I could just temporarily detach my head and drain it! #
  • 14:04 Am cautiously optimistic about tonite’s #BSG finale. Who’m I fooling–I’d watch it even if I wasn’t ;). #
  • 14:21 Unless I can finagle access, I prolly won’t be livetwittering from this talk 🙁 tinyurl.com/cepvf9 #
  • 16:02 Yes! Tenuously connected to teh interwebz! I am here: tinyurl.com/cepvf9 #
  • 16:08 Lesson 1: good impressions matter in job interviews, even if you don’t get the gig. People could refer you w/out knowing. #
  • 16:10 Lesson 2: damn, show business can be cold–to one’s advantage. #
  • 16:14 Lesson 3: the importance of any kind of arts education to learn to tell *stories*. #
  • 16:16 Lesson 4: school won’t/can’t teach you some things about "the Business." #
  • 16:22 Lesson 5: careful which bridges you burn, but you gotta do what you gotta do #
  • 16:29 Lesson 6: the importance of the fist legit job. being a writer means getting read. being a director means getting stuff seen. #
  • 16:30 …and then, the (show biz) agents start calling *you* #
  • 16:42 Lesson 7: Pitching to networks = pitching the *series*, rather than just the premise. #
  • 17:04 Lessons 8-327: more going on during the Q&A than I can possibly tweet 🙂 #
  • 18:12 Made sure not to cough in my hand for the entire presentation hoping for the chance to shake hands with the man, which I got! #
  • 18:21 Recalling conversation at work re: St. Paddy’s day festivities masking my symptoms. Decided to give that approach another shot. #
  • 18:30 RT @The_Rumpus the editor’s desk, note from austin, how to make money in the arts tinyurl.com/cnftdu #
  • 19:07 Accepted that I’ll get very little done tonite. Just gonna kill time until #BSG finale. #
  • 20:08 Gah! It’s that sucktastic 3rd-last #BSG ep. The one where we find out Baltar was descended from the McBaltars. #
  • 21:42 Did I glimpse a gold centurion? #bsg #

Via LoudTwitter

  • 08:32 Not sure if I’ve got the Andromeda Strain or just really bad allergies. Called in today, anyway :(. #
  • 08:40 Might even *gasp* write today! Later today. After breakfast and a nap. #
  • 11:58 Illness definitely feels more like bad, bad allergies than the Andromeda Strain. If only I could temporarily disconnect my stuffy head. #
  • 16:30 I know I’m out of it, but I could swear I’m missing some tweets. As if I could go 5 whole hours without rambling about something or other 🙂 #
  • 16:46 Watching SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER on AMC. Hearing Yvonne Elliman’s "If I Can’t Have You" never fails to make me swoon :). #
  • 17:02 Yes, it’s a fetish, I’ll admit. You don’t even wanna know what I think of her as Mary Magdelene in JESUS CHRIST… ♫ blip.fm/~369j5 #
  • 17:45 Time for another dose of meds, I think. #

Via LoudTwitter

Tweets for Today

  • 01:32 Local diner patron, an hour ago: "Drunk people’ll be here in 30-45 minutes." Me and my group: "Yeah, we’re here, now!" #
  • 01:33 Home now, struggling to get to bed, preparing for tomorrow’s hangover after 4 pints + a Manhattan. Maybe I do have Irish in me after all :). #
  • 07:16 Last nite’s carousing has taken its toll. Andromeda Strain has taken me over. Called in to work and didn’t have to fake anything *cough* :(. #
  • 10:35 Listening to my ambient/chillout station on Pandora, trying to figure out what to do with myself during my sickday :(. #
  • 10:36 Surprisingly, not half as hungover as I expected. Must’ve been the 1 am diner food :). #
  • 12:21 @verybigjen I always thought the ending to BLAKE’S 7 would be a tough act to follow. Definitely took LIFE ON MARS to do it! #
  • 14:01 @verybigjen I’m hopeful! Hope being the key word, which is why LoM’s ending beat B7’s, I think. #
  • 14:01 @GigiVernon Yikes! Don’t end up sick like me!! #
  • 14:08 Asked to be in a local film student’s project this weekend. Am afraid I’m going to be like Gina Bellman’s character in LEVERAGE. #
  • 18:48 2.5-hour nap just wasn’t enough. I have, as they say in STAR WARS, a bad feeling about this. #
  • 19:20 Steven Millhauser has jumped my reading queue at a coworker’s suggestion. Impressed, so far. tinyurl.com/dnlt2c #
  • 22:29 @diablocody Ooh, good for you! I’ve been out of MMA training for 3 years and have lacked the resolve to get back into it. 🙁 #

Via LoudTwitter

Tweets for Today

  • 08:17 Whether I get to drink green beer tonight solely depends on the amount of writing I get done between now and then. #
  • 08:19 Summary of Sunday’s (fair and just) critique group evisceration of my 830 words of Fail tinyurl.com/d4sfex #
  • 11:55 No no no no NO! Do not want 100-wd. intro to a *new* piece. Need to finish the *old* piece. *headdesk* *headdesk* *headdesk* #
  • 11:59 *headdesk* I still have that 400-wd intro I coughed up when I should’ve been working on preventing last Sunday’s CritFail 🙁 #
  • 12:18 My favorite writers, listed in order, on goodreads (aka my beloved, glorified list manager) tinyurl.com/d3dghc #
  • 12:24 Speaking of reading, that’s what I’m about to do outside, in the sun, while eating lunch :). #
  • 14:19 Some pr0n really is scripted–who knew? Or is Larry Flynt an auteur? tinyurl.com/3sy23x (via therumpus.net) #
  • 16:37 Looking at the miniscule amount of (wrong) words I wrote today and thinking, "That’s enough for green beer tonite!" Sad, sad, sad. #
  • 16:48 zomg, I might actually get to leave on time! In the sun!! #

Via LoudTwitter

Tough Love

No justifications, no explanations, no excuses, though I will offer that some of these things might have been answered if I brought in the amount of material I’d intended to bring in before Life Happened the week before.

For now–possibly from now on–I won’t be posting Il Buono, il brutto, il cattivo of what I brought. Every comment I got was either Scene!Win or Scene!Fail. And the Fail list is sooo much longer…

Scene!Win

  • Scene I brought was “believeable, in a weird way.”
  • The “usual” compliments (smooth writing, believable/snappy dialogue, etc.)
  • Bits were “funny.”

Scene!Fail
(From lowest to highest degree)

  • “Soda” vs. “pop” (vs. “coke”)
  • Need to give a little better sense of exactly who the protagonist, by this point.
  • Need to be more explicit about the protagonist’s feelings toward his overall situation.
  • Need to show my protagonist’s reactions to the fantasy element (good, bad, or indifferent).
  • Confusion about how I described a facet of the fantasy element. (Totally unnecessary confusion, on my part.)
  • The fucking scene doesn’t really add anything, leaving some to still ask themselves exactly what the fucking story’s really about!!

*Sigh*

Hindsight is 20/20, but I’m thinking the reason I forced myself to bring and read 830 words of fail was for the symbolic victory of having written despite the week’s obstacles. Obviously, it didn’t even qualify as a Pyrric victory. It might’ve been if I’d have been able to finish more of it–I actually had about 500 more words, but I just couldn’t get them polished in time.

I think it’s time to drag my Inner Drill Sergeant back out…

Tweets for Today

  • 07:55 RT @drmabuse: New Podcast! Bat Segundo #273: T.C. Boyle #
  • 07:56 2nd thoughts about posting yesterday’s crit group evisceration. Damn, that’s a long list of FAIL. Will suck it up anyway. #
  • 08:09 Eh, I’ll post it over lunch. Too much FAIL to look at first thing in the morning :(. #
  • 09:46 Working earlier than usual means leaving earlier than usual! I get to enjoy the sun!! #
  • 09:47 RT @drmabuse The Sci-Fi Channel to be rebranded into Syfy. [Filed under: "WTF?"] #
  • 09:54 RT @mightymur Every time you type "should of," Thor kills a puppy in retribution. #
  • 09:54 Quiet day at work so far. Can you tell? #
  • 11:29 Tempted by chance to have shrimp w/lobster sauce for lunch today, and seeing as I forgot last nite’s leftovers (of shrimp w/lobster sauce). #
  • 13:03 Processing yesterday’s list of critiques outside. Sun is hiding, but the temp is still nice! #
  • 13:18 Feh! Had to move indoors ‘cos I forgot I used the netbook before work; battery was low :(. #
  • 17:43 So much for leaving early *as scheduled*. Work emergency :(. #

Via LoudTwitter

Tweets for Today

  • 08:10 I am *so* screwed for group unless I can haul ass on this damn story! #
  • 10:18 RT @GrantaMag Get your "Vitamins" (that is, the Raymond Carver story), online here for free: tinyurl.com/baavmm #
  • 10:19 Christ, nothing I’ve written for the past few days (except the new WIP that I’m *not* bringing to group) is remotely readable! RRARRGH! #
  • 11:41 Managed to salvage 3/4 of my progress for crit group. (Salvage = make sentences read like coherent English) #
  • 18:02 Will post crit group crucifixion tomorrow. Suffice it to say that the FAIL! list was (justifiably) longer than the WIN! list. 🙁 #
  • 20:43 Gah! Spaced out on chores & forgot all about #KINGS. Just as well–like I need another show to get hooked on. #
  • 20:46 Do I have the stomach for BookTV’s AFTER WORDS with Ann Coulter? Then again, I did just have shrimp w/lobster sauce for dinner. #

Via LoudTwitter

Tweets for Today

  • 09:51 Productive morning of breakfast out and grocery-shopping. What to do next, what to do? (As if I didn’t know.) #
  • 11:11 Instincts pushed me into a used bookstore while doing more errands. Found 2 Joy Williams short-story collections that I’ve wanted for ages. #
  • 15:13 This AM I was scraping frost off the car. Now I’m writing outside in a t-shirt and sunglasses!! #
  • 15:29 Okay, maybe I need to put my sweater back on. Still beautiful out here, watching folks milling about. #
  • 15:52 Netbook low on power so I had to move indoors. Hoping music by Clannad will help me resolve plot points. #
  • 16:34 Isn’t buying 3 used books enough? Don’t I have enough reading backlog? Do I need to take out a library book, too? #
  • 18:10 Gonna keep my eye out for this film tinyurl.com/bwfyvg//www.google.com/reader/view/user%2F02123373233520796283%2Flabel%2Fdailies&#
  • 18:35 "So close / But so far away" best sums up my readiness for crit group tomorrow. ♫ blip.fm/~2zo1l #

Via LoudTwitter

Tweets for Today

  • 08:10 Hardly got any writing done yesterday. Will have to try to get back into the WIP today. Yes, on a skool day. #
  • 09:26 Wrote 400 new words–a 1st draft of a *new* story. WTF? How does that happen?? Still have crit group to prep for, too! Arrrgggh! #
  • 11:52 Gearing up for walk to skool. Hopefully it’s warmed up a bit since this morning. #
  • 13:31 Students heading out for spring break makes for a quieter life. Temporarily ;). #
  • 13:40 Gonna spend the rest of my lunch walking in the sun & not berating myself for writing 400 wds of new WIP instead of current WIP. #
  • 16:02 I fraking *knew* the quiet was too good to be true, even for the Friday before Spring Break! Fail!! #
  • 16:49 So far, potential emergencies have been diffused or redirected, thank Christ! Means I might have the energy to write a bit tonite (b4 #BSG). #
  • 19:10 Struggled to stifle a hategasm at work; glad I left when I did. Will try to sublimate the anger into the WIP. #
  • 19:35 If I was going to get a writer’s planner, it’d definitely be this one. lcrw.net/wordpress/?p=890 #
  • 19:42 PLANET OF THE APES is now! "Assembling ammunition in advance reveals ape’s unsuspected ability to plan for future" tinyurl.com/b7d8ya #

Via LoudTwitter

Tweets for Today

  • 10:20 All right, this DST fight to get out of bed every morning is getting pretty damn old, pretty damn quick! #
  • 11:48 I *so* don’t feel like writing at lunch; almost can’t bear the thought. But can I bear the guilt of not writing? Bleh. #
  • 17:28 Listening to podcast of Diablo Cody interview on KCRW’s THE TREATMENT tinyurl.com/bbnb9h #
  • 19:21 Must…write…something. Anything. #

Via LoudTwitter