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.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Friday, August 14, 2009
Update
Yikes. A lot is going on. The wife is potentially about to go into a triple-stacked employment situation. I'm also going like gangbusters with the writing, despite the fact that I've slowed up a bit. My word count is my word count, but depth of the characters has really begun to develop. I'm trying to stay away from flat characterization attached to two-dimensional background, i.e. just a series of things that happened to them yesterday, the day before, and the day before, yadda yadda yadda.
I'm likin' the new job, still adjusting. Though, the gods do bless me. I got to work with an awesome geek-girl at the last job, now I get to work with another one. A Whedonite, at that.
Oh yeah, after a year of dutifully hauling me in and out of the North Georgia 'mountains', the truck's clutch system kicked. It hurts. A lot. But, yay for in-town jobness and a city transit system. It's actually been quite nice to take the bus. I get to walk about a mile's worth of varying hilly terrain, and get work about an hour early, which means I'm catching up on my reading. The bus passes are a bit more expensive than I had hoped, but lots of friends have been willing to give me rides at various times, so it's been fairly worth it thus far. And boy-oh-boy do you get a glimpse at a slice life riding the bus.
On a personal note, getting more into Krav Maga on the martial arts front. Teaching the wife some Muy Thai and the basics of KM. Tai Chi is going well, though I'm mixing Chen and Yang style quite readily. We've been walking 2-3 miles 3-5 times a week as well. I've been doing tons of push-ups and sit-ups, too. I'm slowly, but surely, working myself back into a state of physical fitness. I pretty much have to if I expect to get back on the ball with Capoeira and actually start advancing. Blegh.
I could keep rambling at length, but I'll choose to quit now. Leave some for later or something, heh.
I'm likin' the new job, still adjusting. Though, the gods do bless me. I got to work with an awesome geek-girl at the last job, now I get to work with another one. A Whedonite, at that.
Oh yeah, after a year of dutifully hauling me in and out of the North Georgia 'mountains', the truck's clutch system kicked. It hurts. A lot. But, yay for in-town jobness and a city transit system. It's actually been quite nice to take the bus. I get to walk about a mile's worth of varying hilly terrain, and get work about an hour early, which means I'm catching up on my reading. The bus passes are a bit more expensive than I had hoped, but lots of friends have been willing to give me rides at various times, so it's been fairly worth it thus far. And boy-oh-boy do you get a glimpse at a slice life riding the bus.
On a personal note, getting more into Krav Maga on the martial arts front. Teaching the wife some Muy Thai and the basics of KM. Tai Chi is going well, though I'm mixing Chen and Yang style quite readily. We've been walking 2-3 miles 3-5 times a week as well. I've been doing tons of push-ups and sit-ups, too. I'm slowly, but surely, working myself back into a state of physical fitness. I pretty much have to if I expect to get back on the ball with Capoeira and actually start advancing. Blegh.
I could keep rambling at length, but I'll choose to quit now. Leave some for later or something, heh.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Been a while...
Yeowch. I just got a look at how long it's been since I updated this thing. My bad.
I've made the transition to the new job. I no longer work for one big-chain book-retailer, I work for the other one. :) And yes, they're precisely the hippies I thought they were. All-in-all, I like my job. I didn't realize how much I missed regular book-retail and how much pressure and awkwardness there was in the world of textbooks. I definitely feel a lot more productive on a day-to-day basis and am happy to be back in a situation where I feel I have much more knowledge and control of what's going on around me. Granted, Corporate is Corporate and the Corporation has its ways; ways which confused and frustrate even the best of us.
On the writing front, I'm at 44,500 words. My 50,000 personal word mark is in sight and I kind of want to drop everything and claw at it like a madman until I reach it. Ah well, c'est la guerre. The story is going well, but I continue to add and remove entire chunks of plot. It's kind of crazy, but the basic premise seems to be the same. The issue I'm running in to right now is som eof the construction of the world. I love SteamPunk. It's something I sincerely want to write about, but I do not want to do it from a Londoner's perspective. Part of the reason for that is because I'm not a Londoner and I have only literary and historical reference for what Victorian England was like. It's a wondergul genre, but it's focus on that is..somewhat disheartening. I would really like to take it to the West, with our wild, cowboy mis-givings and see what I can do with it. I dunno. I'll eventually figure something out.
I've made the transition to the new job. I no longer work for one big-chain book-retailer, I work for the other one. :) And yes, they're precisely the hippies I thought they were. All-in-all, I like my job. I didn't realize how much I missed regular book-retail and how much pressure and awkwardness there was in the world of textbooks. I definitely feel a lot more productive on a day-to-day basis and am happy to be back in a situation where I feel I have much more knowledge and control of what's going on around me. Granted, Corporate is Corporate and the Corporation has its ways; ways which confused and frustrate even the best of us.
On the writing front, I'm at 44,500 words. My 50,000 personal word mark is in sight and I kind of want to drop everything and claw at it like a madman until I reach it. Ah well, c'est la guerre. The story is going well, but I continue to add and remove entire chunks of plot. It's kind of crazy, but the basic premise seems to be the same. The issue I'm running in to right now is som eof the construction of the world. I love SteamPunk. It's something I sincerely want to write about, but I do not want to do it from a Londoner's perspective. Part of the reason for that is because I'm not a Londoner and I have only literary and historical reference for what Victorian England was like. It's a wondergul genre, but it's focus on that is..somewhat disheartening. I would really like to take it to the West, with our wild, cowboy mis-givings and see what I can do with it. I dunno. I'll eventually figure something out.
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