the boy

Two requests for recommendations, homeschool and software editions

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First things second: Does anyone reading this record their computer game play sessions? I mean the way you see them on YouTube, where the screen shows the game with the player narrating. It would have to be Mac-compatible, of course.

I’ve done a bit of research into different programs, so I’m not looking for links to reviews. I’m looking for folks who are using a certain piece of software and feel they can recommend it. iShowU looks like a winner for this. Thanks to everyone who offered suggestions.

Second things first: The science books I’ve been using for our homeschooling just suck. I have to admit it. They’re ass. Is anyone using a book/set of books/something else they like? They’re for a bright but only half-interested 8 year old.

Thanks very much.

Just got back from our “tour” of Seattle gingerbread house displays.

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They were beautiful, but there weren’t very many to see.

For me, I was hoping to have A Key, and Egg, An Unfortunate Remark ready to send to my agent before I left for upstate NY. I leave on Monday (by train!) but looking over the number of words left to revise, I know it’s not going to happen. Sorry, [my agent]. Maybe at the start of the new year? I feel almost like I have a handle on the voice at this point, so revisions are doing much better than expected.

Now I’m off to help pack. We have quite a bit to do before we go, not least of which is prepping enough activities to occupy an 8 year old on a long train trip through the snowy northern U.S.

Meanwhile, check out these pics of the gingerbread houses. Everything is made of food (mostly candy, gingerbread, and icing).

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The Fremont Troll!
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More at the set.

Some crap about my life

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While Minnesota is getting socked with snow, we’re getting unusual rainstorms. The radio is not only talking about flood warnings for several counties, but landslides, too. Man, I wish we hadn’t moved into that clifftop mansion.

Yesterday was a good writing day, the first one in a while. I’ve been complaining about what a struggle this book is, but silently. Only to myself. I know there are a lot of writers out there with a lot of despair and frustration to vent, but I try not to do it very much myself. (It’s kinda dull) But what happened? I let myself complain to some friends, and while talking I realized what I was doing wrong. So, yesterday = good. And god forbid that public whining is part of my process.

After writing, the whole family went to see Rudolph, The Next Verse. It was comic improv theater about the difficulties Rudolph had on the night of his famous flight. And of course, those troubles (and other details) were decided by shouting 4-9 year olds. The whole thing was very funny, had a lot of firearms and radiation in it (courtesy of the kids) and a bit of singing, too. My son was one of the kids who got up and danced during the “Radioactive Candy” song. Thanks, Andrew!

After the show, we dropped in on Half-Price Books where I bought an ARE of Child of Fire. I’d given mine away for reviews and whatnot, and I’d always regretted not keeping copies for myself (Posterity!) They had a copy some reviewer had sold them (shelved in Mystery, for some reason) so I snapped it up for my collection. And yeah, I checked for my own signature/inscription, just to see which dear friend had boxed and sold it off for a couple quarters, but surprisingly it was a rare unsigned copy.

And now I’m off again to the local cafe to try to have another good day.

The obligatory Turkey Day post

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The pies have been made, the dishwasher has been unloaded, loaded and then run again, the coffee has brewed, and it’s snowing. Thanksgiving! (for Americans, at least) Me, I’m about to go do today’s pages before I get together with the family for cooking, eating and watching some old movie (up this year: Errol Flynn’s THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD–and didn’t my 8yo roll his eyes when he saw that DVD cover.)

But it’s a time to take note of those things we’re thankful for. Me, I’m a guy who thinks about thankfulness and gratitude all year long; in a sense, I obsess over it. I’m always measuring my debt to those who are kind to me or who love me, and I’m constantly trying to pay back. However, today is a day when those feelings are normal, so I’m going to indulge, especially since I have something new to add this year.

First I’m thankful for my family. Nothing is ever going to trump that. If aliens came down in space ships and gave the world free energy machines, pills that heal knee injuries, and cameras that never took a picture of a politician with their mouth closed, I’d still be more amazed that my wife not only puts up with me and all my craziness, but agreed to have our child.

But for the first time I have something new to add to the list. Maybe I should have said this last year, but I was still kinda dizzy from publishing that first novel. I’m thankful for all the folks who read my books, enjoy them, and recommend them to their friends. It’s a tough economy right now, and a lot of new series are struggling or have already been cancelled. The Twenty Palaces books still have a chance to continue, though, and that’s because the readers have been so great.

So thank you for reading and spreading the word.

The menu for today is pretty traditional: Filling but unhealthy breakfast, then cut vegetables with dip, along with pickles and such. For dinner: brined turkey, sausage stuffing (I ground the sausage myself), giblet gravy, mashed potatoes, roast asparagus, cranberry sauce, honey-glazed onions. If I’m lucky, the boy will try–just try–the turkey and cranberry sauce. We also have some nice wines to enjoy after dinner with Errol and sweet potato and/or apple pie.

And finally! I’m am thankful to the guys at Wyrd and all the folks doing great work on the book trailer. And because I can’t resist, one more image. This time, it’s not a photo taken on set; it’s an actual frame grab from one of the shots, showing Ray throwing his ghost knife.

Frame grab--Ray throwing ghost knife

Damn. Now that’s Ray Lilly.

Book trailer wrapup post, snow, and happiness.

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In fact, I returned home yesterday afternoon after picking up my son at my wife’s work. It was snowing then and it’s snowing harder now–it’s not accumulating on concrete but it is on lawns, roofs, cars, etc and it’s really beautiful. I know some of you live in very northern climates and hate the snow–it’s dangerous, too–but I find it gorgeous and peaceful. Later, if it sticks a little more and this cold I seem to be building to goes away, I’ll be heading out with my wife and son to cardboard sled down the hill behind our home. (Yeah, it’s good to see them again.)

As a followup to my Los Angeles trip, there needs to be an English word that means “work that is fun but also satisfying,” because that’s what I did this weekend. The book trailer shoot, (see day one and day two with photos of the main characters from books one and two, as well as the ghost knife prop, sets and production process) was exactly this sort of thing. It was work, it was fun, and it was very satisfying to do. Writing is like this, often.

The guys at Wyrd are doing a great job. Seriously. When they asked me what I wanted in the trailer, I wrote a script that seemed cool and somewhat ambitious. They took that and ran with it, making the shots more complicated, adding effects, motion, conflict, all sorts of things. Honest-to-God, I was amazed at what they’re doing. The actors have been terrific, the footage is beautiful, and the work everyone has been putting in is profoundly humbling.

But! “Fun, satisfying work” needs a word of its own, so we can describe some of the best moments of our lives and better tell young people what they should be striving for.

What should the word be? Is there one in a foreign language we can steal borrow, or do we need a portmaneau?

Added later: To followup on Shecky’s comment on my main blog, I will now be promoting the word “vocate” as a verb form for vocation.

In which I delight myself by sending an email.

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Yesterday, in the midst of all the usual family stuff, like washing the boy’s bedsheets to get the cracker crumbs out, sweeping the kitchen floor, cleaning the bathroom, and introducing my son to BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA, I submitted a short story for the first time in three years.

First I polished it, then I checked the guidelines, then boom, out goes the email.

I don’t read as much short fiction as I used to, therefore I rarely write it. But it’s nice to have the time to focus on a side project once in a while.

Now back the the Auntie Mame Files.

Halloween followup

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Friday night, my wife and son stayed up until midnight listening to L.A. Theater Works’s production of War of the Worlds and Lost World. You can listen at the site, at least for a while. Give it a try. My son rated it “Awesome!”

The picture says it all

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Happy Halloween!

Remember, the original TV series Kolchak the Night Stalker is available on Netflix Streaming. Me, I’ll be getting back to my Kolchak rewatch writeups soon.

The awesomeness of my holiday vacation

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You know what’s funny? It’s cheaper to take Amtrak from Seattle to Rochester, NY to visit my in-laws than to fly there. It’s not a lot cheaper, because it costs extra to have a private room for most of that trip, but it’s still cheaper.

And that’s what I’m doing. When I visit my wife’s family for Opressmas this year, I’m going by rail. I leave in the late afternoon of the 20th and arrive on the morning of the 23rd, and I’m taking my son with me.

Yep, my eight-year-old son and I are taking a train ride across the country.

I don’t know how that sounds to you, but I think it’s going to be a fantastic trip. I’m really looking forward to it.

After the holidays, I’ll be heading back on the train alone so he can spend a little extra time with the family. Besides, I’m not sure he’s ready for two 64-hour trips; he’ll fly home with his mom. However, that means I’ll have a few internet-less days to do nothing but read, write, and watch the country pass by. It’s going to be amazing.

Plus, I should have a lunch-time layover in Chicago (barring delays). Anyone in the Chicago area want to get together for lunch on 12/28?

Poetry for rugrats

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My somewhat precocious 8yo son is in need of some poetry for his reading edification. He’ll be reading The Hobbit soon, but I want to give him a chance to read outside the so-called invisible style many kids books are written in today before I set it in his lap.

Anyone have any recommendations?

Funny poetry would be best. Spooky or weird would be good, too. Also, as a kid, if he doesn’t like the first taste it’ll be hard to get him to try again, so nothing too mature.

Thank you.