Author: Don

Tweets for Today

  • 12:37 Reinventing the wheel at work. Again. #
  • 15:14 Finally, finally, FINALLY sent a story out again! Almost forgot what that felt like. #
  • 18:14 Jonesing for caffeine like a junkie from a ’70s blaxploitation movie. #
  • 20:36 Staring at my latest editing project. Just staring… #
  • 21:59 Following The News Hour, Meet the Press, and Talk of the Nation here on Twitter. Two of the three are following me. Why? #

Via LoudTwitter

“Feels like the first time”

Despite the Tweet, I made the Sign of the Cross and sent out my first story in months. The summer was just so crazy, what with cramming for the GRE and having to quickly formulate and reformulate my grad school aspirations about twelve or so times. I had to cram in the editing time I could. I think I’ve lost count of just how many stories I have in the trunk to revise–three or four. Well, at least I got one down.

I seriously forgot how hard it is to just let a piece go. I had to make myself do it! Just like that first swim in the summertime when you’re a kid, and you’re dreading how cold that water is, no matter how many times you’ve already jumped into the damn pool. Finally, your only options are to walk away or just say “Fuck it…”

Tweets for Today

  • 08:45 Finally got FF reinstalled. Lost all my local bookmarks though–not like I used them much anymore, anyway. #
  • 15:53 No longer feeling the need to rip out anyone’s jugular 😉 #
  • 18:40 I think I’ve finally reverted back to Bruce Banner, now… #
  • 19:14 I recommend editing to the music of Return to Forever. #

Via LoudTwitter

Tweets for Today

  • 17:47 Feeling ’bout half past dead. #
  • 17:48 Finished one editing pass on a project. Just one more and it’ll be ready to get shipped out and get rejected!!! #
  • 17:50 Now if I can just figure out why the hell FF crashes on startup!! #
  • 21:39 Spent the majority of my Fri. nite waiting for things I shouldn’t have been fucking waiting for!! #
  • 21:39 And now I’m gonna take it out on someone thru a customer service survey. #
  • 21:40 "I don’t wanna hear shit, and I don’t give a shit." -Ricky Roma, GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS #
  • 21:40 Just my way of "paying it forward." 😉 #

Via LoudTwitter

Tweets for Today

  • 12:07 Day 2 of class–things look a bit more promising since the herd seems to have thinned itself a bit. #
  • 12:07 Might have to just eat the cost of the book, though 🙁 #
  • 13:37 In any case–tonight, there will be writing. I mean, *editing*. Whatever. #
  • 15:40 @GigiVernon "I’m not gonna post anything," she said. I knew it ;). #
  • 19:46 WTF? Since when does Firefox repeatedly crash on startup??? #
  • 21:43 Running a total virus/malware/bot check on the laptop after un-/re-/un-/re-installing FF. #
  • 21:46 Thank God I’ve got a second laptop. Runs like crap, but it runs. #

Via LoudTwitter

Unvarnished Reviews

I haven’t done one of these in awhile even though I’ve been poring through short story collections, as any survey of my goodreads account will show. But I just had to say something about…

M. Rickert, “Evidence of Love in a Case of Abandonment: One Daughter’s Personal Account” — The Oct/Nov issue of F&SF couldn’t come fast enough because I’ll buy anything with M. Rickert’s name on it. Such is my cultish devotion to her writing. This one didn’t disappoint. I’ve enjoyed some of her other stories more, but this one has some jaw-dropping craftsmanship. I can’t think, off the top of my head, of a story she’s written that this blatantly political. It’s got the tropes of the sort of story I usually can’t stand–a near-future world where certain partisan values have run amok and the citizenry has become generally inured. Even the protagonist. But even though the protag doesn’t rail against the system, she’s not blind. She’s fully aware of the effect the system is having on her and hers. Until she decides that she’s finally going to cope with it all in a way–and this is the best part–that most of us would probably cope. 5 out of 5!