I sure am posting a lot of these lately.
2) How to clean oil off a pelican.
3) How to tell a completely believable story.
4) How to make crappy Hollywood movies.
5) How to plot a novel, Glenn Beck style
This doesn’t work
StandardThis is one of those complaining posts, because sometimes shit just doesn’t work out. There will be one positive note included at the end, just so you don’t think everything in my life is petty annoyance. People who hate to read griping should skip to the end.
First: My modem at home has died. I emailed a link to myself from work at 5pm. When I got home at six, the email was there, but I couldn’t connect with the web. After more than an hour with tech support, they decided that I just need to buy a new modem.
I’m counting that time as my “cleaning” time for yesterday. Grrr. Today I need to take a bus clear across town to buy a replacement. Maybe that will be my… I don’t know. Maybe I can’t follow my guidelines today.
Second, after a night of leg cramps and nightmares, I completely overslept. I hate oversleeping, especially on day-job days, because that’s my writing time. So not only was I nearly an hour late for work, but I have written nothing today.
Third, (just to bury the lede) I may be losing my day job. It’s not an ideal job, but I need to be part time on these particular days, or I can’t work here. The company is “reorganizing” (iow, trying to drive out a union for a different dept) by combining all its call centers into one. I will go from being employed by a non-profit to a state employee, which means I’ll be doing the same job, but starting over as a new employee.
That means: new benefits, six-month probation, loss of accrued sick time, an end to my retirement plan, new bosses, new office, new co-workers, etc. Will I still be part-time? Will I keep my same shift? That “hasn’t been decided yet.” They still have to “examine the work flow.”
Did I leave my wife alone in upstate NY to deal with all this family crap because I didn’t want to lose a job I was going to lose in two months anyway? Shit.
Anyway, here’s the upbeat news. I’ve received permission to post Chapters 2 and 3 of GAME OF CAGES online. Chapter 1 is already here, of course, but the next two won’t go onto the internet until closer to completion date (especially considering the work I have to do to get them ready).
Quote of the day
StandardFive Thousand Gulf Oil Spills. That’s the rate that people are releasing carbon to the atmosphere from fossil fuel combustion and deforestation today. I know, it’s apples and oranges; carbon in the form of oil is more immediately toxic to the environment than it is as CO2 (although CO2 may be more damaging on geologic time scales). But think of it — five thousand spills like in the Gulf of Mexico, all going at once, each releasing 40,000 barrels a day, every day for decades and centuries on end. We are burning a lot of carbon!
Randomness for 6/16
Standard1) Mary Jane Watson, master of the obvious. Now THIS is writing!
2) Thomas Kinkade, if Thomas Kinkade was cool.
3) I know I’m behind the times linking to this, but damn! This is cool.
4) Look upon the face of evil.
5) Night Of The Killer Lamp: 23 Ridiculous Horror-Movie Adversaries
6) The Stockholm Library. It’s a rare library that gives me vertigo. There’s this one and the main downtown library in Seattle. Brrrr.
7) Star Wars, now with more pants.
Randomness for 6/15
Standard1) Tee hee.
2) All fame is fleeting. Best-selling books of decades past.
3) Somehow, I don’t think Syfy is taking their movie originals very seriously.
4) How to keep someone with you forever.
5) A friend made a documentary called THUNDER SOUL about a famous high school funk band from the 70’s
and their reunion tour. Listen to the band here.
6) Quote from article: “The findings do not directly link playing video games to reckless driving. They only show an association. Researchers say the impact of playing games like “Grand Theft Auto” is minimal.” Headline to the same article: “Study: Video Games Linked To Reckless Driving.”
OOOOoooooo!
StandardI just noticed, as I signed the contracts for the French language rights to Child of Fire and Game of Cages, that Bibliotheque Interdite is planning to publish them in hardcover!
Whoa! Also: Awesome!
How not to be lonely.
StandardNo, this isn’t actually a plan for avoiding loneliness.
As I mentioned before, my wife and son are in upstate NY for the rest of the month, dealing with the death of my m-i-l. That means I’m home alone for that time.
Normally, I’m a complete ass when it comes to productively using private time, especially when I have a lot of it. For these two-plus weeks, I have to be better. Therefore! I have made these resolutions:
1. No fancy cooking. I can’t be spending hours and hours prepping foods that I eat in 15 minutes. Sandwiches, salads, pastas, etc. Simple stuff.
2. Exercise every day. I have time for it, therefore I have no excuses.
3. Clean kitchen at the end of every day. No going to bed with dirty plates in the sink or crumbs on the table.
4. Spend half an hour each day cleaning the apartment. The kitchen doesn’t count toward this goal. Vacuuming doesn’t take long. Neither does a quick sweep/wipe down of the bathroom. Making bed: 15 seconds, tops. If I set aside this time and try to rush through it, it should be a huge burden or time sink.
5. All writing goals will be increased by 500 words a day. That doubles the quota for day-job days, and increases the day-off day quotas to 2K. I’d like to try for 3K, but that’s a lot of story for me. This isn’t listed fifth because it’s the fifth most important, but because it’ll be an easy goal to meet.
6. Only drink beer on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays. Moderation is the key.
7. Watch grown-up movies. Because of the boy’s screwed-up sleep schedule, the only time I have to watch movies for adults is the morning, and morning is writing time. As a result, I pretty much haven’t seen any R-rated movies for a couple of years. At this point, I don’t even care if they’re all that good, I just want to watch some. I may even go to (gasp!) a theater.
Of course, none of this works without:
8. Sensible amounts of internet time! Like many people, my time online expands to fill the amount of time I have. I can’t keep doing that. Therefore, I resolve to follow fewer links, join fewer discussions and let my email program chime to let me know new messages have come in, rather than check over and over.
Hmm. Maybe I should add: Write shorter blog posts.
edited to add: Oops! I forgot one: 9. Eat fruit and vegetables every day.
Game of Cages Chapter One
StandardDel Rey included a teaser for Game of Cages in the back of Child of Fire, but it was just a few pages, not the whole first chapter. Behind the cut, for those who are interested, is the full deal: the complete chapter one of my upcoming novel.
GAME OF CAGES
CHAPTER ONE
It was three days before Christmas, and I was not in prison. I couldn’t understand why I was free. I hadn’t hidden my face during the job in Hammer Bay. I hadn’t used a fake name. I honestly hadn’t expected to survive.
I had, though. The list of crimes I’d committed there included breaking and entering, arson, assault, and murder. And what could I have said in my defense? That the people I’d killed really deserved it? Continue reading
Three semi-revealing things about me
Standard1) While descending toward JFK airport, the plane I was riding hit the worst turbulence I’ve ever experienced. I was seriously thinking I might never see my family again. I also wondered if I could find a way to fold down a couple corners of a page of the book I was reading so that it would highlight a special message to my family, just in case the book made it through the crash but I didn’t. It seemed like a nice idea, but unworkable, so I didn’t try it.
2) It was only after spending 12 hours in airports and airplanes, having returned home to my own city, that I realized I have the house key’s to my father-in-law’s house in my pocket. Luckily, I know they have a way inside. I’ll express mail them tomorrow.
3) Every time I go out of town for a while, I always half-expect to come home to a smoking wreckage. What if the building burned down? Who would be able to contact me about it?
This is how screwed up I am.
Anyway, I just spent a week out of town because my mother-in-law died. I hadn’t been talking about it publicly because my apartment was going to be completely empty for a week, and what if the burglars who hit us two years ago saw something on my blog that invited them back. (Actually, I had mentioned it in unlocked posts, but then thought better of it and locked them.)
More about all this later. It’s nearly 2 am PST.
Brief notes, briefly
StandardMy post analyzing THE NIGHT STRANGLER, the second of the Carl Kolchak tv movies and the lead-in to the series, doesn’t seem to have posted to my LiveJournal friends list. I wonder if it came up as backdated, which prevents it from appearing on the list. It’s on LJ right here. Warning, it’s a long post.
Also, the back cover copy for Game of Cages has appeared on Amazon.com. Here it is:
A SECRET HIGH-STAKES AUCTION
As a wealthy few gather to bid on a predator capable of destroying all life on earth, the sorcerers of the Twenty Palace Society mobilize to stop them. Caught up in the scramble is Ray Lilly, the lowest of the low in the society—an ex–car thief and the expendable assistant of a powerful sorcerer. Ray possesses exactly one spell to his name, along with a strong left hook. But when he arrives in the small town in the North Cascades where the bidding is to take place, the predator has escaped and the society’s most powerful enemies are desperate to recapture it. All Ray has to do is survive until help arrives. But it may already be too late.
I like that.
Also, I have to put up a complete first chapter for GoC soon, along with revamping my website a bit. I haven’t done it yet, because Life keeps getting in the way. Soon, though. Soon.