A Nod to Nothing: writing

Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Typing

My sister showed up this morning with a chocolate covered donut. That's beyond exciting when you're confined to a basement and incapable of procuring your own donut. Particularly when you manage a weekly donut (and other treats) day at work. She brought my niece with her who really wanted to know what my grabber was for. I told her it was for reaching things I couldn't reach while my shoulder was broken, and then proceeded to try and grab her orange sucker out of her hand with it repeatedly.

The hardest part about my broken bones seems to be typing. I guess, more accurately, it's walking. But I don't walk far (I use the walker and stick to the right side), so it's not as noticeable as typing, which is part of my day. I try to keep a bit of sanity about me by reading and by editing the novel I was writing. I can only get about five pages before I have to rest for a while. Less if I'm blogging or writing or doing bills. Frustrating.

Made it outside for a while today, but the metal deck chair isn't comfortable with the broken hip. On a positive note, it keeps me from staying in the sun too long and getting a burn, which would be awful.

Friday, March 09, 2012

Strange Horizons and What Not to Write About

I love the Strange Horizons list of sci fi topics you probably shouldn't write about. The list reads like a breakdown of the DSM-IV, full of addictions, parental issues, and opposite sex issues. One of my first stories appears on the horror story list of things not to write about. Very disappointing. But understandable. I also like the advice not to consider the list a challenge.

I notice Strange Horizons isn't telling me I can’t write a story where someone calls technical support and is never allowed off the call. So hijinx, no. Stultifyingly boring…maybe. I’ll call it 1-651-FOREVER or 1-612-SUPPORT. That's so clever it'll override their rules. Right? Right?!

1. Someone calls technical support; wacky hijinx ensue.

a. Someone calls technical support for a magical item.

b. Someone calls technical support for a piece of advanced technology.

c. The title of the story is 1-800-SOMETHING-CUTE.

And this one is for Ming. Proof that you can break the rules, create Avatar, and make tons of money, despite the disapproval of Strange Horizons and Ming.

1. White protagonist is given wise and mystical advice by Holy Simple Native Folk.

While you're out there, you should check out their backlog of stories. Much of what they've published is available online. A nice way to get in a lot of reading for free.

One Down, Ninety-Nine to Go?

My scifi story was turned down. On a positive note, that means I can (slightly) rename it, which I'd been meaning to do. I have magazine number two picked out and now I have my first electronic rejection letter. Probably my own fault for going high end, but I thought it was worthwhile to try a few professional publications before I settle back into something else. I'm not particularly concerned about getting paid. After all, I have a day job. But I wanted to see if I was even a candidate. Fortunately I have a big list. Unfortunately it's one at a time (e.g. no simultaneous submissions for most magazines) with up to a three month wait, so I'd better pull together a few other stories so I can rotate as necessary. That's much harder to do with a day job.

Tuesday, March 06, 2012

Home Improvement

I'm on page eighty of writing a book. A large part of the reason I'm not blogging so much. And then I get a scifi book that was released yesterday on my Kindle that I'd preordered, which surprised me because I thought someone was misusing my account. I entirely forgot I'd ordered it. But I was excited. So I'm almost done reading it two days later, despite some killer work hours. And what do I find in this scifi book - one of my own scenes. Not like sort of close...really close...DAMN close. So close I find it hard to believe. Now, to be fair, my scene differs in the King Kong movie referenced - I use the '76 Jeff Bridges version, not the Empire State Building version - but where they intersect after that, crazy. I'm glad I have a dated copy, just so when a friend reads both, I can prove I wrote my blurb prior to the March 5th release date of the other book. Maybe I should just be pleased my brain works so much like an author I really like.

On to the title story. We had an appraiser come by to assess our home value. I'm taking our loan from 30 years to 15 year at 3.25%. It should shave over $100,000 off the total payout. I don't think there's much else I can do that saves me almost $7K a year, even if I have to pay a bit more each month. Ming asked if I was nervous my wife wouldn't be able to afford it on her salary if I lost my job. I pointed out she couldn't afford it on the 30 year mortgage, so that was just bad logic for making a decision. The appraiser showed up, took his outside pictures, and then looked around the house and took pictures. This was our discussion:

(In the dining room)

Appraiser: Did you update this room since you bought the house?