New Project

So, the Steampunk convention we attended earlier this year has invited us back. I'm not entirely sure if I'll be running another panel or not. As much as I would love to, we'll see how the chips fall and if there's space for me. However, they've decided to do a writers showcase/contest of a sort and I've been invited to participate. I'm kind of nervous and excited about the opportunity. I don't necessarily want to win, but the idea of my stuff making through the 'slush pile' to a staged reading would be quite nice. I've never had my work presented in such a fashion.

Ultimately, it's the age old adage - 'shit, or get off the pot'. I've stalled out on my own writing due to work constraints going on between myself and the wife, but it's really a thin excuse. I've become preoccupied once again with trying to gather more information, read other people's work, do more research, flesh things out, etc. I end up spinning in place all under the guise of amassing more of what I need to continue writing. As if the words aren't already in my head. Well, they're not, but you get the gist (is that how you actually spell that word?).

Anyway, the piece for the convention is going to be short. Just about 10 pages, which I assume should put me in the 4,000-7,000 word range or something like that. I've got a couple of ideas in mind, certainly some different avenues. I'll see what shakes out.

They say the second post is always the hardest...

...and they're probably right. I have no idea who 'they' might be, but they're probably the ones selling us on that hackneyed b.s. about hating one's job, but learning to deal with it anyway. Run on sentences, yeah. I also consider it a win that I got to walk through the park today.

Anyway, in terms of my writing, I'm still kind of in the Dark Ages. I've got myriad ideas, most of them scrawled across page after page of tiny little notebooks (thanks, Wifey) from Wal-mart. Gods, that place is a bitch with big tits. No matter how many times you try and run away screaming, you see those pointed nipples of ridiculously low prices and before you know it, you're on your knees staring at something shiny and ignoring the fact that you're getting cornholed with a shitty product overall. ~Sigh~ I needed to get that out.

I'm still trying to work myself away from corporate book-monkeying into our own gig. It'll help to have a job somewhere closer, preferably part-time so I can finally put the pedal to the metal and type out several concrete things. Will my ass go numb? Hopefully with pleasure, because remember kids - just say 'No!' to Anal-eze.

Vic's debut is changing every day, I'm getting some of the larger puzzle pieces to start fitting nicely. As we all do, I worry about being trite. Hopefully I'll be able to avoid such a pitfall. We're thinking of buying a year's subscription to online version of 'The Writer's Market'. Still doesn't help much if I haven't got several things to put in people's hands. That's on me, though.

I'll be posting various bits of my other writing and rambling here as I transfer old blogs into this budding new territory. Hopefully that'll work out well. I know for sure it's going to fucking take a while.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that I've managed to gig for the Wife to sell books and for me host/moderate some panels at a very small Steampunk event in Atlanta. It's all being put on by a chick I currently work with and some of her friends. Theater majors can apparently be quite motivated. I figure it will be a great way to get some experience and practice doing that kind of thing. I'll be talking about Steampunk as a literary genre and then to folks about being a writer and trying to write in general. I'll probably be posting more about it as the event gets closer.