Author: Don

Tweets for Today

  • 07:29 Mother-in-law still with us. Expect the rest of the family in later this AM. Well-wishes still coming in from every channel. #
  • 07:32 Haven’t had to function on so little sleep since my first go-round at grad school. They won’t do caffeine IVs here–I checked. 🙁 #
  • 13:52 Almost made it to class today, but had to turn back at the last second. More relatives have arrived; other folks to take the night shift. #
  • 14:16 Mark Waid on pitching comics scripts. His succinctness never ceases to astound and amaze. tinyurl.com/8t756y #
  • 15:20 Decided, come what may, I’m off work for the rest of the week. #
  • 15:24 Accumulated about 5 pages of notes, observations, and other misc words to be filed away until I need them. I’m a writer, sue me. #
  • 15:38 Main priority–find a place to take a nap. #
  • 17:22 A writing exercise from Jeff VanderMeer. I’ve done the first 1/2 of this quite a few times. tinyurl.com/94mev8 #
  • 17:24 I suppose I could be working on my 2 WIPs or reading stories, instead of dicking around on the interweb. #
  • 20:12 @GigiVernon Never ceases to amaze me how the first couple pgs a good story looks typed out in MS format. I like the sense of shape it gives. #
  • 20:23 Why Alan DeNiro (one of my faves!!!) writes sci-fi tinyurl.com/8c7sju #
  • 20:28 Still at the hospital, along with all the family who needs to be here. ♫ blip.fm/~1py17 #

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Tweets for Today

  • 01:08 Mom-in-law xferred to hospice; things stable enough for us to be able to get some sleep at home. Will go back in a few hours. #
  • 07:54 Phone calls being made to relatives. Will be spending the day back at the hospital. #
  • 09:40 Things look a bit better at the hospital this morning. Relatives were called & our on their way down. Taking 3 seconds for coffee. #
  • 09:41 RT @warrenellis "I think I might just turn Twitter off until after the Obamascension." #
  • 11:37 Catching snippets of the Obamascension! #
  • 12:17 Mom-in-law (understandably!) slept thru the Obamascension. #
  • 12:18 Me, I can’t remember the last time I was so Proud to be an American. #
  • 12:19 Now, I’m kinda hoping the ceremony gets wrapped up quick so he can get to work! 🙂 #
  • 15:10 Lack of sleep catching up with me. No change in anyone’s condition…for better or worse. #
  • 15:25 First round of well-wishers have come and gone. More expected tomorrow. #
  • 16:03 I’ve noticed that while doctors and nurses vary like most people, some ancillary pallative-care staff seem like trained diplomats. #
  • 18:47 Spending the night at the hospital. Called off for tomorrow. Will likely skip skool. #
  • 21:55 Lost track of how many times I’ve discharged/recharged the netbook battery today. #
  • 21:59 Situation quiet for now. At least we’ve got LEVERAGE, thanks to the hospital’s cable TV. #
  • 22:13 As if I needed another reason to love LEVERAGE–Doctor Who namecheck x3!!! With Sarah Jane, to boot! #

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Tweets for Today

  • 07:19 Back to skool today! Gonna see if this old dog can learn some more new tricks. Now, where did I put that abacus? 🙂 #
  • 09:00 Hm…I think I fixed 2 competing critiques of the end of my last WIP by rewriting 3 words. That, or made it worse. #
  • 11:38 Joy of having the same prof as last semester= being able to download the syllabus & first set of notes before setting foot in the classroom. #
  • 13:31 Boggles my mind when I compare last fall’s registration runaround to the ease of this time around. #
  • 13:34 Love hearing *other* people get the "waiting list" speech for a change. Yeah, I’m petty–deal. 😉 #
  • 17:24 This day wasn’t really that hellish–so why do I feel so damn exhausted again? #
  • 22:57 Not sure what to make about having free WiFi access at the hospital ER. #
  • 22:58 Here in support, waiting to see what happens. #

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Tweets for Today

  • 08:42 Slept in a little today to stay healthy for my upcoming hell week. #
  • 08:53 "Musings to Myself" – the perfect title and the perfect groove to get me in the writing headspace this morning. ♫ blip.fm/~1no6j #
  • 09:08 Currently flying thru teh Intarweb: This about wraps up one writer’s career tinyurl.com/9jrrpt #
  • 18:24 Sitting with a glass of wine, ready to pore over today’s group critiques of the WIP. #
  • 18:43 I will not read my latest batch of comics until I finish processing my critiques. I will not read my latest batch of comics until I finish.. #
  • 19:54 Done reviewing the scars…I mean, my critique from group :). tinyurl.com/8sv2bo #
  • 19:55 Now, I’ve got two months of DMZ, X-FACTOR, and JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA to catch up on! 😀 #
  • 21:57 Is it decadent to run my music off my netbook at the same time I work on my old laptop? #

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Tough Love

Time once again to process my latest batch of critiques from my biweekly crucifixion session that is my critique group. The points are pretty brief. The passages I read totaled a mere 1,025 words. The important thing is that I finally managed to write an ending to this last WIP, and as soon as I figure out which of these critiques to use and finish up some rewrites, I can put a wrap on this beast.

The Good

  • This story (thanks to a revised intro) is now solidly and unequivocably involves a faerie–really an ex-faerie–which enabled me to emphasize her “faerie-ness” in ways people seemed to like.
  • The end had a “convincing twist.” One person used the words “O Henry-like,” but I’m pretty sure it was meant in a positive way.
  • There was suprise the ending was happy, even “sweet.” Not my usual fare, it’s true. (Note to self, next story should include some “extreme horror” elements.) 😉
  • Folks liked my juxtaposition of worlds where the mundane world of people in a dead-end job mixes with the world of faeries.

The Bad

  • Some narrative problems describing some physical mechanics involving a truck poised on the edge of a bluff, a rope, and the best place to tie…well, I could say more, but I’d be giving away plot.
  • I gave some (too) vague hints that the faerie in question had put herself in a LITTLE MERMAID-type situation. But folks needed/wanted more.

The Ugly

  • Since I created a setting where the workaday world of grocery-store employees mixes with the world of faeries, some readers needed to know the extent to which the main characters’ co-workers were aware of that particular reality. (I kinda, sorta addressed this in a rewrite no one’s seen yet.)
  • People wanted a little more about faerie mechanics in this little world I’ve set up, specifically where it relates to a plot point about faerie anatomy.
  • There was some lively debate about the ending, the implications of which were strikingly clear to some who read it exactly as I intended, and strikingly unclear to others for whom questions were raised. I admit, I wasn’t prepared for that.

I’ll worry about that last point once I polish off the middle section of the story. Should take me another day or two if work and school (which starts tomorrow–ack!) doesn’t get in the way too much. It’ll put me behind schedule, but at least I’ve already started my next story!!

Tweets for Today

  • 08:19 Weather for this morning says "Fair -6F." Fair?? #
  • 09:20 Gonna brave the cold (because it’s all old hat by now), get breakfast, & get s’more writing done. I can finish this story today, I know it!! #
  • 11:35 Got my tankard of coffee and a table next to an outlet. Must resist temptation to take a "writer pr0n" picture of my setup. #
  • 11:36 Of course, I totally would if it wasn’t such a pain to remove the MicroSD chip from my cell (I’m much too cheap to pay data usage). #
  • 11:38 A sampling of this morning’s writing music. Will probably be followed by Toto later. ♫ blip.fm/~1n7yp #
  • 12:39 Line edits are going slowly and painfully. Should’ve ordered a red-eye. #
  • 13:06 Jeezus, did I say the last 5 pgs were as good as they were gonna get, too? Yeah, no. #
  • 13:56 Slightly revised intro + complete ending = probably have enough for group tomorrow. Still have a lil’ ways to go to be 100% done. #
  • 14:26 Resolve waning. I edit one paragraph for 5 minutes and spend the next 5 reading RSS feeds. #
  • 14:28 Been to enough cons to know more people should read this Guide to Wearing a Corset at a Con. Just sayin’. tinyurl.com/7at2qu #
  • 15:57 Back in the cold apartment, printing out pages for copying. #
  • 16:00 Of course that means I’ll be stuck with what I have. And you know I’ll end up rewriting things. Gah! #
  • 16:53 Feeling woozy as I go out for groceries and copy-making. Hoping it’s just due to the horribly skewed coffee-to-food ratio in my body. #
  • 19:10 I will not look at the copies of the WIP. I will not look at the copies of the WIP. I will not look at the copies of the WIP. #
  • 21:08 7 minutes in and I can tell THE IMMORTAL VOYAGE OF CAPTAIN DRAKE is gonna be so craptastic. #
  • 21:09 Funny how Adrian Paul, like Chrisopher Lambert, keeps finding ways to keep doing HIGHLANDER without calling it HIGHLANDER. #

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Tweets for Today

  • 08:07 Writing from the backup site this morning. Couldn’t resist allure of bagels and cream cheese. #
  • 08:09 And, they’ve got something funky playing on the house system! ♫ blip.fm/~1mhy9 #
  • 08:44 Feeling disturbing twinge in my back as I sit here editing… 🙁 #
  • 08:49 Did I say the 1st 5 pgs were as good as they were gonna get? Yeah, no. #
  • 10:38 Edited 8 pgs this AM. I’m at work with no long-ass meetings scheduled. I’m being treated to lunch. Life is good! #
  • 10:39 Waiting for the "fit to hit the shan", now that I’ve said that. #
  • 10:53 Given peer review forms for coworkers’ annual reviews. Thinking I’ll just write the same set of vague Barnum statements for all of ’em ;). #
  • 11:17 Hahaha! Every "Extreme Horror" story ever written. So true! tinyurl.com/86989x #
  • 12:38 Coworker has fallen victim to office Andromeda Strain :(. Gotta get some Vitamin C in me. That or Red Bull–either one. 🙂 #
  • 13:50 Spent my lunch coming up with the first 100 words of my *next* story!! #
  • 17:24 No early escape from Alcatraz tonite 🙁 #
  • 17:38 Hm, that might’ve been a premature assessment, after all…. >:) #
  • 18:39 Staring at the WIP. Possibly too fried to write. Hope a mocha and some 80s AOR will help. #
  • 19:40 @noells If you like Bill Champlin, you’ll probably like his old band The Sons: tinyurl.com/9fokhj #
  • 20:29 Cleaning up the WIP, one scene at a time. Might even be done by tomorrow! Maybe. #
  • 21:28 Was never a huge, huge fan, but I’m almost interested in the new BATTLESTAR GALACTICA tonite. Kinda, sorta. #
  • 22:01 Praying the final Cylon turns out to be Dirk Benedict. #
  • 23:05 BSG: Two years for that? I know that if I’d liked the show to begin with, I’d be pissed. #

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