Jay Lake: Writer

[cancer] The clock in my head

My sleep patterns tell me a lot about how my body is doing. On chemotherapy, I routinely slept anywhere from nine to eleven hours a night and often took naps. I did not awaken reliably. I was groggy many days.

In the past few weeks, I’ve been able to wake comfortably and fully rested with six to seven hours a night of sleep. I still seem to need a longer night every few days, but not by a lot. This is allowing me to recapture much of what I consider to be my productive day.

Also, I’ve once more begun waking up when I decide to. This is a trick that I’d lost since last November, through the surgeries and the chemo. In my normal health, I can tell myself before I go to sleep when I want to wake up. I wake up then, usually three to five minutes ahead of the target time. I can go weeks without ever using my alarm.

That clock in my head is finally back. I hadn’t realized how much I missed it, simply as a signifier of how I feel.

Tags: Cancer, health, Personal

Posted: 6:04 am Tue November 16 2010 | Comments(1) |

[photos] Your Tuesday moment of zen

Your Tuesday moment of zen.

, 2006. © 2006, 2010, Joseph E. Lake, Jr.

This work by Joseph E. Lake, Jr. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Tags: Child, Photos, zen

Posted: 5:59 am Tue November 16 2010 | Comments(0) |

[links] Link salad leaps forward greatly

Sunset on Mars — No spiders, though.

A fantasy flying boat from x planes — Paging Mr. Bel Geddes to the game room.

The complete story of The Register‘s paper airplane in space (PARIS) — Much expanding on yesterday’s Technology Review article. (Courtesy of chriswjohnson.)

Is That Bottle Talking to Me? — For the truly dedicated drinkers among you. (Thanks to my Dad.)

Clowns Kicked KKK Asses — Hah. Social protest at its finest. (Via scarlettina.)

TSA Opt-Out Day, Now with a Superfantastic New Twist! — (Thanks to danjite.)

?otD: What color is your pair of shoes?

11/16/2010
Writing time yesterday: 2.0 hours (5,000 new words on Kalimpura, to 61,700)
Body movement: 30 minute stationary bike ride
Hours slept: 6.75 hours (solid)
This morning’s weigh-in: 246.4
Yesterday’s chemo/post-op stress index: 3/10 (fatigue, peripheral neuropathy, emotional distress)
Currently reading: Act of Will by A.J. Hartley

Tags: Art, Cool, Culture, Links, Personal, Politics, Science, Tech, Travel, Videos

Posted: 5:57 am Tue November 16 2010 | Comments(0) |

[books|writing] Kalimpura Progriss Riport, More More

Another 5,000 words on Kalimpura today. Now at 61,700 words. I should be done with this first draft in about three more elapsed weeks of writing. Or a bit less, if I pull a couple of additional big days. Though the combination of SteamCon and Thanksgiving is definitely going to get in the way. In any case, the manuscript is flowing smoothly and fairly quickly from my fingertips, which seems to be the ‘book three’ effect. Fie on peripheral neuropathy, I say. Fie, fie, fie.

I am noodling with a change to my novel drafting process. Specifically, I am considering taking one to two days off per week to work on short fiction. It’s not such an issue with this book, but the Sunspin project will be a long haul indeed. Such a writing pattern might keep me fresher and let me take my mind out for a wander every now and then. So maybe worth testing here.

And meanwhile, some WIP…
Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Books, Conventions, Kalimpura, Process, stories, Sunspin, Writing

Posted: 8:36 pm Mon November 15 2010 | Comments(1) |

[sale] Short story “West to East” to Subterranean Online

Short story “West to East” was accepted by Subterranean Online yesterday. Old school SF, through the Jay Lake filter.

That makes eighteen short fiction sales for the year to date, not all of which I’ve been able to announce. Two of those were jointly written with calendula_witch. Not so bad for a year mostly spent on chemo and its discontents.

Tags: Sale, stories, Writing

Posted: 6:46 am Mon November 15 2010 | Comments(2) |

[photos] Your Monday moment of zen

Your Monday moment of zen.

the_child at Christmas, 2006. © 2006, 2010, Joseph E. Lake, Jr.

This work by Joseph E. Lake, Jr. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Tags: Child, Photos, zen

Posted: 6:41 am Mon November 15 2010 | Comments(0) |

[links] Link salad meets the new Monday, same as the old Monday

The Million-and-First Little Lie — Scrivener’s Error on James Frey’s brilliant little idea factory.

Still Life Still Alive — Re-creating art with live models. (Via Dark Roasted Blend.)

Plagiarism and the mechanics of privilege — Teresa at Making Light with a great set of quotes and a link to a difficult but interesting topic.

Home from Above — APOD with a very human space image.

Paper Planes in Space — Could paper airplanes and helium balloons be cheaper solutions for space photography?

Species Loss Threatens Humankind — But we were given dominion over the beasts of the field and the birds of the air!

?otD: Is Monday a happy day for you?

11/15/2010
Writing time yesterday: 1.0 hours (2,500 new words on Kalimpura)
Body movement: 30 minute stationary bike ride
Hours slept: 6.0 hours (solid)
This morning’s weigh-in: 247.0
Yesterday’s chemo/post-op stress index: 3/10 (fatigue, peripheral neuropathy, emotional distress)
Currently reading: Between books

Tags: Art, Cool, Culture, Links, Personal, Photos, Publishing, Science

Posted: 6:39 am Mon November 15 2010 | Comments(1) |

[conventions] OryCon, Day 3

Good day today. Up early, exercised, blogged, wrote a full Lake, made it to a breakfast date on time, paneled (including some dreadful puns), saw many many friends, bought a gift or two, some personal time, AuthorFest at Powell’s Cedar Hills, dinner at Henry’s with calendula_witch, Seanan McGuire, David Levine and Kate Yule. Much loitering at Powell’s City of Books with the same crowd. Home. Tired. Up late. Heavy day at work tomorrow. Good night.

Tags: Books, Calendula, Conventions, Personal, Portland

Posted: 11:33 pm Sun November 14 2010 | Comments(1) |

[conventions] OryCon, Days 1 and 2

OryCon has gone well, if surprisingly busy. Friday of course started out with me being de-cyborged at the surgical oncology unit, and wended on through calendula_witch’s reading (she did beautifully) and ended with the RadCon party. Toxic waste: bedtime tonic of champions.

Yesterday calendula_witch and I both had panels, I had my reading, the_child was in attendance, I spent some time at the Fairwood Press table with the mighty kenscholes, and I actually managed to stay up for the parties, mirable dictu. Like a grown up and everything. I even had a tiny bit of champagne, courtesy of the sabred bottle at the zeppelin party.

Today more programming, then off to Powell’s Cedar Hills for the AuthorFest, followed by a trip to Powell’s City of Books with seanan_mcguire, plus dinner in there somewhere for the three of us.

Many friends old and new have been seen, dined with, hung out with, and encountered in passing. And I feel good, for the day-three-of-the-Con value of “good”. It’s almost like I’m over chemo and surgery or something.

Excelsior, y’all.

Tags: Books, Calendula, Child, Conventions, Publishing

Posted: 8:20 am Sun November 14 2010 | Comments(1) |

[photos] Your Sunday moment of zen

Your Sunday moment of zen.

Art of the_child. © 2006, 2010, B. Lake

This work by B. Lake is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Tags: Art, Child, Photos, zen

Posted: 8:18 am Sun November 14 2010 | Comments(1) |