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Updates for 2009-03-15

  • I wrote 713 words in 34 minutes with Write or Die. http://lab.drwicked.com/writeordie.html Time for round two… #
  • 1700 words done in three 30 minute sprints. I decree writeordie.com to be my new favorite web ap. #
  • Also, as many have pointed out, today is a geek/awesome nexus: Pi Day, Einstein’s Birthday, Linux’s birthday. I should run a game tonight. #
  • ((Sorry, that’s not writeordie.com – though it should be – it’s http://tinyurl.com/bbo3st #
  • Seriously, Write or Die should be a downloadable app that saves final output to sequential files when you hit ‘done’. Someone get coding! #
  • Adrift: I shine a light into the shaft (smooth, undecorated; a launch tube turned sideways?) and ask how .. http://tinyurl.com/c3653d #
  • Ordered Papa Johns in honor of Pi Day. Watching Bambi with Kk. Twitterpated. #
  • Nice big fat chunk of words today. Finally got out of “create polished scenes that blend seamlessly” mode and into “just write it” mode. #
  • When I’m first-drafting, “just write” mode is easy. When I’m writing new scenes for existing, polished work, it’s damned, damned hard. #

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Updates for 2009-03-14

  • To anyone who has their Twitter set up to see @replies directed at people you’re not following (why?) i apologize for the last hour of spam. #
  • QftD: “Outlining, researching, talking to people about what you’re doing, none of that is writing. Writing is writing.” – E. L. Doctorow #
  • Adrift: In a place that’s nothing more than ships purposely crashed together, no passage is straigh.. http://tinyurl.com/apgkml #
  • I wrote 592 words in 23 minutes with Write or Die! http://lab.drwicked.com/writeordie.html (thanks @toniandrews : awesome ap!) #
  • You speak truth, @LuciasM. I ask my daughter if she wants to watch Avatar, and she says “No, I want to watch Sokka.” in reply to LuciasM #
  • RT @turbine Aren’t you glad you’re following us? You’re the first to know that Book 7: Leaves of Lorien arrives on Tuesday, March 17! #
  • RT @turbine LOTRO: Final patch notes for Book 7 are up. http://tinyurl.com/cpc2t2 (Must. Get. Writing Project. Done. This. Weekend.) #
  • Been hard, remembering how to write Hidden Things – everything (other stories, blog, twitter) is different from its cousins. Getting better. #
  • RT @TerryMoran Just finished interviewing three of the top Alzheimer’s researchers in the world. Bottom line:There’s hope on the horizon. #

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Updates for 2009-03-13

  • Retweet @toniandrews Part 3 of article on common issues that get manuscripts rejected is up, this time on http://www.DeadlineDames.com #
  • Adrift: The traceback means unfriendly people on the way. With friends. I tell Mak I need an exit route n.. http://tinyurl.com/crw3cs #
  • There really isn’t a Zelazny story I’ve read that fails to impress. Like unadorned furniture built by a master, it endures beyond trends. #
  • Sub-productive day. Patience-trying evening ahead. No news from home and no time to write tonight. Rawr. #
  • Cleaned out a lot of crap in my hosting account. My finger hovers over “delete” on the 108mb Movable Type DB, but… no. Not yet. #

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Zelazny

I’ve been thinking about an interview with Roger Zelazny that I read a few years ago. I remember very distinctly a few of the things he wrote:

“I try to write every day, four times a day… It doesn’t sound like much but it’s kinda like the hare and the tortoise. If you try that several times a day you’re going to do more than three sentences, one of them is going to catch on. You’re going to say “Oh boy!” and then you just write. You fill up the page and the next page. But you have a certain minimum so that at the end of the day, you can say “Hey […] at least I didn’t goof off completely today.” I don’t get writer’s block. I’ve slowed down sometimes. I can always write and that’s the thing with three sentences at a time, even if you’re feeling sluggish you can always get three sentences out.”

I’ve always found Zelazny’s attitude towards writing very inspiring (the guy’s output was amazing) — there’s no mystique about it; his is a very workmanlike process and as a result, he almost never got blocked.

[update: found the interview over here]

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Updates for 2009-03-12

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“My safeword is ‘apples’.” – Why you should be watching Castle.

Yeah, I know it’s the kiss of death when I’m interested in a new show, but here it goes.

Reasons to watch Castle:

  1. “… starring Nathan Fillion.” You know what? I’ve been watching Fillion in a lot of different stuff for awhile now, and in the first episode of Castle I saw some stuff from him that he hasn’t used in previous work. He’s smart, he’s quick, and he’s funny. (Kate adds: ‘adorable!’)
  2. The cop partner. To paraphrase one of the finest compliments I’ve ever heard: “She keeps up.” There’s a lot to keep up with when Fillion’s on the screen, and she handles herself really well. There’s a scene where Castle ‘reads her’ and talks about her past, and the subtle way her face goes from cocksure to hurt over the course of 20 seconds. She’s good.
  3. The Bright Daughter. The writer has a smart, bookish daughter. Huge surprise, right? Well, no, but the pleasant part of the non-surprise is how well the actress playing her pulls of the sharp “almost-equals, who’s taking care of whom” repartee.
  4. The writer’s dream gig. Are you kidding me? The titular character has a gorgeous apartment with room for his daughter and his (boozing, aging-cougar) mother (awwwww), he has signing parties that look like music biz album releases, and he’s got the mayor of NYC on speed dial. These things NEVER happen in real life, so writers and wannabe writers? G’head and watch the show and vicariously live the-dream-that-never-is.
  5. The tension. Yeah yeah. Sexual tension between the two leads. That’s been done. The far more interesting bit (to me) is the fact that Castle’s publisher rep is his ex-wife. Ouch. In the real world, there’s no reason those two would have to work together (and many reasons not to – don’t marry your agent, people), so why do they?
  6. The dialog is snappy and smart. I laughed many times. Reincorporation is funny.
  7. 11 million viewers for the first episode. Compare that to the (steadily dropping) 3.4 million viewers that Dollhouse is clinging to after four episodes, and you’ll see a snappy, funny show with people you like… that might actually survive to a second season.
  8. The show is pro-reading. Seriously. This seems obvious, since the titular character is an author, but it goes beyond that. I counted no less than a half-dozen pro-reading references in the show, some of them quite overt, some pretty subtle. I like it – it might be the thing I liked the most about the show.

And that’s it. It’s a good show. Murder mystery/comedies are fun. Get it on the DVR and watch it.

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Updates for 2009-03-11

  • In this, the ambulatory, caffeine-tropism phase of pre-consciousness, I ask you, Twitter: “Sup?” #
  • “-if there was a chance you could stop it? I did it 35 minutes ago.” *snicker* “What?” “Daylight savings time, Veidt. Didn’t change clocks.” #
  • *stares outside* Snow? It doesn’t drop a flake for 3 months and now, snow? *shuts off sprinkler before his yard goes Edward Scissorhands* #
  • The day is conspiring to make sure I have nothing else to do but revisions. Stupid day, trying to be productive. *hrmphs* #
  • My sympathies, @fredhicks. iTunes provides so much wonderful stuff, but SO POORLY that I actually prefer NOT having the wonderful stuff. in reply to fredhicks #
  • Colorado people: Anyone interested in a biweekly Wednesday night game of [insert Indie rpg here]? Seating limited. B.Y. contributive energy. #
  • Adrift: The anger isn’t in her voice. She’s just confirming Jon’s order to cast off and.. http://tinyurl.com/bfajwr #

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The thing that woke me up this morning.

“Do it?  Did you honestly think I would explain my master stroke if there was the slightest chance you could stop it? I did it 35 minutes ago.”

“… really?”

“Yes Dan, really.”

*snicker*

“… you’re… you’re sure?”

“Yes Dan; I’m the smartest man in the world. I’m sure.”

*snicker*

“Rorschach? Are you…”

*snicker*

“What?  What is so bloody amusing?”

“Daylight savings time, Veidt. Didn’t change clocks.”

“… oh, bloody hell.”

“You are such an asshole, Adrian.”