Author: Don

Tweets for Today

  • 07:54 Walking on snow is so much easier than the impromptu ice skating I was doing yesterday. #
  • 08:06 Cleaned up 2 new pgs from last nite. I figure I’ll finally have a completed 1st draft by Sunday. Fingers crossed! #
  • 09:21 Note to self: make sure any .rtf you save in OpenOffice looks okay in MSWord at some point. 🙁 #
  • 09:59 Don’t know why this song suddenly appeared in my head. ♫ blip.fm/~1hd5v #
  • 11:09 1st new piece of valuable writing advice for 2009: Cory Doctorow on Writing in the Age of Distraction. tinyurl.com/8n5kox #
  • 11:10 This’ll immediately solve a couple of tiny problems I’ve been having lately, too! I smell a blog entry…? #
  • 11:50 One way or another, I’m going to get more done at lunch today than I did yesterday, dammit! #
  • 13:14 Lunch definitely more productive today. Transformed some scene beats into 1.5 pgs! #
  • 17:59 @GigiVernon The hardest piece of advice for me is "Leave yourself a rough edge," esp. when it feels like I’m on a roll. #
  • 18:40 Got another 1/2 page in. Could stop for the day. Probably should stop for the day. We’ll see what happens after dinner. #
  • 20:29 Got PageFour set up on the netbook and imported WIP drafts/notes. Why, oh why, did I have to discover TreeDBNotes? tinyurl.com/6wkom8 #
  • 20:37 Eh, I’ll figure it all out tomorrow. Back to writing (on PageFour) www.softwareforwriting.com/pagefour.html #

Via LoudTwitter

Tweets for Today

  • 07:54 "And I’m going insane / And I’m laughing at the frozen rain" that almost killed me on the walk to the bus stop. ♫ blip.fm/~1gn8i #
  • 07:56 Finished reading my first novel of 2009 last night! Now, back to my backlog of story collections. #
  • 09:53 Bunch o’ staff out due to ice. Glad I had my morning coffee before getting to work :(. #
  • 09:53 At least I got my USB drive back! #
  • 10:35 Part 1 of podcast of Cory Doctorow’s SOMEONE COMES TO TOWN, SOMEONE LEAVES TOWN tinyurl.com/8ycmbq #
  • 10:52 Gonna take an early lunch, just ‘cos. Hope I can walk to cafe without splitting my head open on the ice. #
  • 11:25 The one day I don’t make my lunch this week is, of course, the day the cafe next door’s closed, probably due to ice, motherf…! #
  • 11:26 Oh well, I made a few notes. Guess I’ll just have to write a few lines at my desk after lunch, won’t I? #
  • 12:36 This was the single most craptastic lunchtime experience of my current day job. #
  • 13:34 Every episode of THE PRISONER online!! tinyurl.com/a7m6y2 #
  • 15:28 Set a more solid writing agenda this evening to make up for my lunchtime debacle. #
  • 15:51 I will not leave my USBdrive at work. I will not leave my USBdrive at work. I will NOT leave my USBdrive at work…. #
  • 17:45 Good news: did not forget the USB drive. Bad news: blood sugar too low. Need dinner. Always something, isn’t it? 🙂 #
  • 19:44 Defiantly wrote about 1 pg of notes/draft, despite a day of icy roads, bad lunches, last-minute work nonsense, and broken down buses. #
  • 19:45 And now that I’ve had dinner, I’m gonna write some more, so everything that’s conspired against my writing today can just suck it! 🙂 #

Via LoudTwitter

Tweets for Today

  • 07:24 Determined to write an ending–any ending–to my WIP today, just to have something to work with later. #
  • 09:18 And work is off and running with the first Code Blue of the year 🙁 #
  • 09:22 Sad that F&SF is going bi-monthly 🙁 tinyurl.com/a37yo3 #
  • 11:54 Manning the con solo. Great time to brainstorm. #
  • 13:17 Finally at lunch. Managed to cram a sandwich down my pie-hole. Too wiped to accomplish much, but at least I’ve got the WIP file open :). #
  • 13:43 FINALLY figured out the end of my WIP!! Now, I’ve got two weeks to try and make it work!! #
  • 13:44 Of course, tune back tomorrow when I tweet, "WTF was I thinking?" 🙂 #
  • 19:20 Bad news: left my goddamn USB drive at work again. Good news: reconstructed my work, and then some. I’ve got my ending!! #
  • 19:20 Now to connect it all (from a backup). #
  • 19:40 Backup is one day too old. Feh! #
  • 19:50 I’m not gonna sweat it. Just gonna eat dinner, read some more novel, and end the nite with LEVERAGE. #

Via LoudTwitter

Tweets for Today

  • 07:12 @kajamarie A genre fiction critique group. #
  • 07:15 In fact, here’s the summary of yesterday’s (kind) evisceration: tinyurl.com/9czmor #
  • 07:21 December’s submissions scorecard. Really, don’t bother clicking… tinyurl.com/ayfhjz #
  • 09:11 Highlite of my 1st day back: being forced to change all my passwords. Thank God for password algorithms :). #
  • 10:54 Already planning time-off for around Spring Break. Gotta have something to look forward to. #
  • 11:33 Definitely feeling a low-level First Circle of Hell malaise at my desk today. #
  • 12:57 New netbook is now registered with the University’s wireless network…muah-ha-ha-ha-ha! >:) #
  • 14:26 Cat Valente’s ORPHAN’S TALES now a podcast series!! www.catherynnemvalente.com/podcast/ #
  • 16:12 Looking forward to after-work coffee and writing time! (i.e. building a routine that’s gonna change in a week) 🙁 #
  • 20:01 Writing progress was extraordinarily slow tonight 🙁 #

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December Scorecard

Pathetic, I know. This is what happens when I allow finals, work, and holidays to interfere.

Rejections:
Submissions:
Acceptances:
Publications:
Circulating:
1
0
0
0
2

I’ve got a list of markets that have opened up and some “You Gonna Publish My Story, Or What?” emails to send. This’ll actually be a good week to get cracking on those.

Tough Love

One of my New Year’s Resolutions is to make this here blog more than reposted tweets. Here’s a start, the return of the play-by-play of my biweekly crucifixion session that is my critique group.

My current WIP has been a bitch and a half to write. I wrote my last story in two weeks (and it’s gotten one good personalized rejection so far). My trauma with this piece has gone on for over two months! I’ve rewritten the intro about five times, fleshed out characters before removing them completely, and removed scenes I really, really liked.

Finally, there was nothing left to do but bring it to the group last night.

It’s been so long since my last dissection. Let’s see if I remember how to do one of these.

The Good

  • The usual positive comments, the story “intriguing,” the prose “smooth,” and the characters “well drawn out.”
  • One member enjoyed how the main characters, a couple, argued “fairly.”
  • One liked the “ordinary setting” of the story (a grocery store), going with what the group sees as my pattern of stories of ordinary people in extraordinary situations (Note to self: time to break the pattern, maybe?)

The Bad

  • How many drafts of the fucking thing did I write/rewrite and still not catch “two-gallon milk jugs” instead of gallon jugs?
  • Might be too much focus on the wrong details, esp. in some conversations between the main characters.
  • “Cut page 4.” (Similar to John Rogers’ advice that “You Don’t Need pg. 11.”)
  • I sort of (playfully) rip on a particular recording artist and her fans. Only two out of the eight readers in group got it.

The Ugly

  • I’ve got the right POV character, but maybe not the narrative focus on the right character’s actions/plans.
  • The kinda-sorta-maybe fantasy element I’ve got going–I’ve got to be clearer about it either way.

Those last two points are gonna take some fixing. My biggest worry, before I even brought the story to group, was that kinda-sorta-maybe fantasy element, which was really evidence of things I haven’t quite decided on yet.

Can I fix it in two weeks and have an ending by the next group session, so I can keep another New Year’s Resolution of writing one story a month in 2009?

Tweets for Today

  • 08:05 Gonna head out for food, coffee, and one last pass through the WIP to make it readable for crit group today. It may be a lost cause. #
  • 08:20 Rather, I *was* gonna head out now–it’s only 2 degrees??? #
  • 08:43 @kajamarie I read 1/2 of that book about a year or so ago. It’s still in my reading queue. Good stuff in there! #
  • 09:23 2 degrees, my ass. It’s gotta be at least 17, maybe 18. Balmy! Okay, to work! #
  • 10:21 I think what I’ve got is as good as it’s going to get. Still, I fully expect to be crucified at group. #
  • 18:34 Crit group today was the gentlest crucifixion I’ve ever experienced ;). #
  • 18:44 Unlike yesterday, I’m gonna eat and rest before I dive into edits. #
  • 22:44 Finished processing the group’s critiques. Have a *very* rough map of the changes to make on the WIP this week. #
  • 22:49 I’m really, really not ready to go back to work tomorrow :(. #

Via LoudTwitter

Tweets for Today

  • 08:28 Have to sneak in a haircut and other sundry errands between writing. I know it should be the other way around, but group’s tomorrow! #
  • 08:30 Will have to be online, too–the 11th Doctor Who will be announced today!! #
  • 08:48 Bruce Holland Rogers on writing expressionistic short-short fiction: tinyurl.com/7q23jn #
  • 09:02 Classic Marion Zimmer Bradley essay on writing commercial short stories: mzbworks.home.att.net/what.htm #
  • 09:03 Okay, I’m done. No more interweb surfing…well, after I find out who the next Doctor Who is going to be. #
  • 12:39 I’ve never, ever felt so frustrated by a WIP. #
  • 12:43 Will start by cutting…the story, that is, not myself. #
  • 13:09 Change of writing venue for coffee and that lost-in-a-crowd feeling. #
  • 14:14 Edits made, but I’m really doubting the wisdom of reading at group tomorrow 🙁 #
  • 14:16 These Doctor Whos are apparently getting younger and younger: tinyurl.com/85w9rv #
  • 15:05 Will keep my ass in this chair and continue analyzing scenes from the WIP and not walk around to look at books I have no business buying ;). #
  • 17:17 Body in pain for sitting 3 hours writing in a comfy chair. Too busy to think about ergonomics or food; now I’m paying the price. #

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Tweets for Today

  • 08:12 Spent evening cleaning out my TiddlyWiki and learning MonkeyGTD. Still trying to decide if I want/need to run both. #
  • 08:20 Yes, "Cleveland Rocks," but I’m ready to go home now. ♫ blip.fm/~1e0k3 #
  • 08:24 Planning to be lazy during my last morning here. So, why do I have the WIP up on my screen? 🙂 #
  • 09:07 Do I still need Google Notebook if most of my stuff is now on personal wikis? Hmm…. #
  • 11:19 My year-in-review blogmeme: tinyurl.com/8hzje4 #
  • 11:19 Now, I gotta pack. #
  • 12:19 Hittin’ the road back to I-town! #
  • 19:26 Yes, "Home Again!" ♫ blip.fm/~1eakl #
  • 19:28 Good thing I got a new laptop, ‘cos the old one doesn’t seem to be running right… 🙁 #
  • 19:33 Okay, old laptop sorta functions–if you can call taking 15 min. to start up "functional." #
  • 19:52 Now that I’ve pretty much unpacked, time to figure out where I’m going to write tomorrow. What’s open around here, anyway? #
  • 20:56 Okay, I think–think–the old laptop is back to normal. I hope. Almost forgot what a normal size screen looks like 🙂 #

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2008 Year in Review

Since I’m too chickenshit to post my yearly submission stats (I’ll do last month’s later), I’ll do this first-line-of-the-month blogmeme thing instead.

January – “Self-Esteem Issues”

February – Last year I tried to keep a running tab of submissions, rejections, and pubs.

March – Anyone have an opinion on the wisdom (or lack thereof) of writing while pursuing a (non-writing) graduate degree?

April – The editor of Six Sentences reminded me that I have a Twitter account.

May – I can’t believe I haven’t gotten to this.

June – Perhaps there was a deeper, more subconscious reason I haven’t blogged in weeks…

July –

August – This is on my goodreads “to-read” list and should be on yours, too.

(B. – it’s on my list, dude, I swear!)

September – 07:35 As usual, I’m going to spend Labor Day laboring.

October – 07:25 Back in the saddle today. ♫ blip.fm/~bgys

November – 08:09 TONIGHT! Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings!!! ♫ blip.fm/~mbbw

December – The subs period for a few of the mags I like to try closed last month.