Chapter XXXVIII

Today, Chapter XXXVIII of my life began.

After having survived past the midpoint of a year that’s really been more bad than good so far, I got to spend some time with some good friends, and had a chance to take a good look at some stuff on the horizon that makes me smile…

  • I’m starting a new dayjob on July 15th.  I’m working for the same uni health center, and I’ll still be pushing paper.  But, as I joked to a friend today, I’ll be pushing higher-level paper at a higher pay rate!
  • I just submitted my first piece of fiction for 2011 today.  Given that (a) life has made it very hard to get into fiction-writing lately and (b) most of my writing time has been spent preparing for my presentation at this year’s Rod Serling Conference, I think it’s quite the accomplishment.  It’s like a dam just broke.  Which is good, ‘cos I got a lot more fiction planned for this year.
  • In just 11 days–Readercon, where I’ll get to renew some friendships and revitalize my writing mojo like I did last year.  

Y’know, things may just turn out all right.

One of These Is Not Like the Others

I was doing research down a line similar to this–I guess you could call it music video anthropology–and I stumbled on some live performances from the Tower of Power of their classic song “So Very Hard To Go,” performed by various line-ups of the band over 35 or so years.

Now, I’m not saying anything about quality.  Just that one of these is not like the others.


I’m just saying.

“Funny days in the park. Every day’s the Fourth of July.”

More pics from this year’s Ithaca Festival at Stewart Park.  The weather was beautiful, so it was pretty crowded.  I didn’t stay long and didn’t really pay as much attention to individuals as I did the other day.  I visited the drum circle and saw a smattering of bands, but I spent most of my time watching the Ithaca Shakespeare Company’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.  I’m sure you’ll be able to suss out those pics.

I have to say, I think that was the true highlight of my festival this year.  Not only did I like the performance, but it was fun watching little kids get into it, and reacting to what was in front of them, rather than to “The Bard.”

Here are the rest…

“People talking, people laughing. A man selling ice cream, singing Italian songs…”

The weather might’ve slowed the Ithaca Festival down a bit, but once the sun came out, so did most of the people.  The only things missing were some of the bands I’d seen on the Saturday part of the Ithaca Festival for years.  They either just aren’t on the schedule or were playing on different days.  But still, I had my camera, and therefore, more potential story prompts.  More importantly, I ran into some cool folks!

Some friends of mine had a booth for the second (maybe third) year in a row, doing business as Flying Whale Studios.

I’ve talked a bit before about artist Jime Grabowski.  I first saw her work at the local comics show a few years ago.  A print of “The Doll Factory” hangs in my home office, and I can pretty much stare at it for a good hour or two at a time. 

Check out her site Prettylines.  Trust me, just go there now.

Anyway, here’s the lot.  Every year, I want to call the album “Saturday in the Park,” like the Chicago song.  But the park–i.e. Stewart Park–is tomorrow.

“I am an artist. I LOVE a good party. So, truce. Commence au festival!”

Summer in Ithaca has officially started, with the Ithaca Festival Parade, after which will follow three days of some of the best people-watching a writer could ask for!  I realize how prickish that must sound, and I’ll cop to saying/feeling that in a prickish manner when I experienced my first Ithaca Festival.  I’m not sure what changed, but I feel like it was something more than a mere moment of clarity. Anywho, the fact remains that every parade, I get a bunch of potential new story ideas, which is why my camera is my best friend this time of year…

My pals, the Ithaca League of Women Rollers (mostly Bluestockings, with a smattering of Sufferjets), were rolling at the parade, too.  Unfortunately, they were rolling a little too fast for me to get better pictures. 

“I can still hear you saying you would never break the chain…”

All I can say is, never say never… 🙁

I can say, though that May does look a bit better than April, which looks a damn sight better than March.

The life drama of the past few months is sort of heading toward better.  Some potential (good) dayjob drama is coming down the pike.  But life has eased up a bit, leaving me room to put some effort into my writing again.  Fiction, that is!

I’ve put the Serling project temporarily on hold for the rest of the week (although, I’ve already “failed” at this on a couple of occasions) and am working on a couple of short-stories, both for upcoming anthologies.  I almost forgot how good it felt!  After those first drafts done (I have a good 2-3 months for them), I’m hoping to use some of that momentum to finally get more done on my novella project. 

Yup, I think I feel like a writer again for the first time in a long time.

The Seekrit Nonfic WIP — Revealed!

I’ll be giving my first academic presentation ever at Ithaca College’s 2011 Rod Serling Conference in September.  The conference is “an interdisciplinary academic conference dedicated to the works of Rod Serling.”

Here’s my abstract…

Where Else Would You See a Story Like This: H.P. Lovecraft Adapted for Rod Serling’s Night Gallery

Writer H.P. Lovecraft describes “Weird Fiction” as a literary form which focuses on evoking atmospheric and psychological dread, as opposed to the simple description of physical horror.  Adapting this literature for film and television typically relies on the depiction of physical horror as a concession to visual media.  Two successful attempts to adapt weird fiction with its sense of dread intact are found in the anthology series Rod Serling’s Night Gallery, where such weird tales as Lovecraft’s own “Cool Air” (adapted by Rod Serling) and “Pickman’s Model” (adapted by Alvin Sapinsley) found a natural home.  An exploration of Serling’s and Sapinsley’s individual approaches to adapting Lovecraft’s work for Night Gallery will show how, despite allowances that were made for the television medium (and in some instances, because of them), they succeeded to a greater extent than other film and television adaptations of the same material.

Now, I just have to finish writing the paper. I already know that I’m starting the presentation with this video clip…

Maybe I overdid it with the cloak and dagger, but I just couldn’t bring myself to say anything publicly until I got the proposal submitted and received a response.  I did tell a few select individuals what I was up to (Though I accidentally spilled the beans a bit when I was interviewed on Functional Nerds a couple of months ago).  But the folks I told were the ones I trusted to talk me out of this if they felt they had to.  I’m glad they didn’t!

Nope, Still No Damn Jet Packs

(via Paleofuture)

This year’s local Spring (W)rites literary festival snuck up on me this year. Like last year, I made it to a single event.  Yesterday, I attended a panel on “Sci-Fi vs. Sci-Fact” with local authors Nick Sagan (yes, Carl’s boy) and Paul McEuen.  I almost didn’t come, because I’ve been to this panel at sci-fi cons before.  But the names drew me.  

I don’t recall the jet pack being mentioned, oddly enough.  The cell phone via Star Trek communicator was, as was Arthur C. Clarke’s geostationary communications satellite, how close science-fiction does/doesn’t/should/shouldn’t stick to science-fact, and the difficulty of science fiction to predict what’s coming down the pike. 

My only gripe is the one I have every time an authors talk or present on topics that don’t necessarily have anything to do with the writing process–i.e. the townies who are determined to make it about the writing process.  I still wince, remembering when Joyce Carol Oates came to town a couple of years ago to talk about a nonfiction work on the social and psychological factors that shaped the writing of Hemingway and Fitzgerald among others.  Sure, I’d’ve loved to have asked Oates about her own writing process, but I thought that talk was neither the time nor the place.  Not to worry though, because a fellow audience member had no trouble chiming in with, “Where do you get your ideas?”  I wanted to smack that person on the nose with a rolled-up newspaper, scolding “No!”

Still, I’m glad I stuck it out to the end.  Chatting with Nick made it all worthwhile, as it always does.  We talked about our projects, the publishing game, and the other writers who’ve walked this town, like that Lolita dude and the Twilight Zone guy. 

That said, yeah… I think I’m done with “science fiction vs. science fact” panels for the time being.  

“Traffic was slow for the crash years/ There’s no other show like it ’round here”

I promised weekly writing progress reports, and I’ve fallen through.  On several levels.  So, here it is.  No excuses, no explanations, other than to say that my personal life has taken quite a few hits and it hasn’t stopped.

Prepare to be underwhelmed…

Pathetic, isn’t it?

I’m turning comments off for this entry.  I’m sure any number of friends will read this, cheer me on, and tell me not to be too hard on myself.  It’s so tempting to let them.  But the only person that’s going to get me writing again, despite everything else going on in my life, is going to have to be me.

With the help of my inner drill sergeant…