Jay Lake: Writer

[publishing] The Fathomless Abyss

So I’m part of this shared world project being run by Phil Athans and Mel Odom. It’s called The Fathomless Abyss, and is a pretty neat little deal. Lots of details on the world and the publishing concept here at Phil’s blog. We’ve got a pretty cool bunch of contributors, including Philip Athans, J. M. McDermott, Mel Odom, Cat Rambo, Mike Resnick, Brad Torgersen and of course, me. My story in the initial release is “That Which Rises Ever Upward”, and deals with grand ambition among people with limited means.

In the spring, we’ll be releasing a series of novellas set within the shared world, one by each contributing author. I haven’t written mine yet, but inspiration will surely strike.

Cover art © 2011 by Matts Minnhagen is pretty nice, too.

Watch for a December release, just in time for your holiday reading needs.

Tags: Art, Publishing, stories, Writing

Posted: 6:43 am Wed November 30 2011 | Comments(0) |

[personal|tech] Having issues

My apologies for the relatively light link salad today, as well as the lack of any more substantial post. Chemo brain seems to have infected my MacBook Pro, and I’ve spent most of my blogging time this morning dealing with rebooting to clear a virtual memory issue that seems to be able to persist even through a shut down cycle.

I’ve actually been wrestling with this for a while. It’s a subtle error, and only appears on occasion, so my trip to the Genius Bar a while back was pretty much a waste. But when the error does appear, TextPad stops being able to save, which screws up my blog post build. Restarting TextPad doesn’t help at that point. If I don’t reboot then, eventually I get a system error that the startup disk is out of space for virtual memory. Mind you, this is a disk with 100GB available. At that point, there’s nothing for it but to Force Quit any open applications and reboot. And the Mac’s attempt to save my working state means that sometimes I come back from the reboot with the error still in play. Which requires yet another reboot.

So far, attempted fixes include replacing the hard drive in case of a bad sector, upgrading to Lion in case of an oddball system incompatibility in the previous OS release, and swapping Web browsers, twice. The problem still comes back, on an apparently random basis. This morning’s outbreak was by far the worst yet.

Of course, here’s me in late stage chemo, when I am not at my troubleshooting best. It’s entirely possible this is some obscure form of user error. But I can’t replicate it, and because I can’t replicate it, I can’t even do the requisite troubleshooting to pin down the offending application(s) or Web sites. Meanwhile, I’ve been considering buying a MacBook Air, and I’m now wondering if going to all new hardware will allow me to simply walk away from the issue.

All of which is a very long-winded way of apologizing for the dearth of new content today. I lose enough quality blogging days to chemo brain. It’s frustrating to lose one to tech wonkery.

Tags: blog, Cancer, health, Personal, Tech

Posted: 6:35 am Wed November 30 2011 | Comments(5) |

[photos] Your Wednesday moment of zen

Your Wednesday moment of zen.

elusivem and garyomaha, at the Lied Center © 2007, 2011, 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: Photos, zen

Posted: 6:26 am Wed November 30 2011 | Comments(0) |

[links] Link salad celebrates hump day

The Fathomless Abyss — A shared world project of which I am a part is announced. Go check it out.

British garbage worms survive in space without human help — Boy do I feel better now.

‘New Earth-like planet may have water, life’

Turn on, tune in and get better? — Hallucinogens and other street drugs are increasingly being studied for legitimate therapeutic uses, such as helping patients deal with post-traumatic stress disorder, addiction, chronic pain, depression and even terminal illness.

The Accented Activist, the Blue Woman and One Curious Year in Court — Ah, justice. (Via tillyjane.)

The Afghan General Who Fell to Earth — She was a national hero—and some powerful men didn’t like that.

?otd: Work a five day week?

11/30/2011
Writing time yesterday: 0.0 hours (chemo fatigue)
Body movement: 30 minute stationary bike ride
Hours slept: 8.0 (fitful)
Weight: 212.4

Tags: Culture, Iraq, Links, Personal, Politics, Publishing, Science, stories

Posted: 6:23 am Wed November 30 2011 | Comments(0) |

[process] Perseverance

I was emailing with someone yesterday and mentioned that it was eleven years from the time I workshopped my first story (summer, 1990) to the time I made my first sale (spring, 2001). (See my Facebook thread on this for a ton of comments from various folks.) In that time, I wrote one or two or sometimes three stories a month, sent out hundreds of submissions, and workshopped twice a month for most of the decade. That’s the value of perseverance, right there.

It still amuses me that now, ten years after that first sale and twenty-one years after I got serious about trying to be an author, some people still seem to think I was some sort of overnight success. That’s a long damned night. I am who I am today in my writing life and in the field because of years of toiling alone in complete obscurity, then slowly engaging and emerging into the company of writers as I earned my place with my efforts.

Do I have talent? In all honesty, I rather think I do. But talent wouldn’t have gotten me anywhere without all those years of perseverance.

Do I have an easy, extroverted personality that helps me fit in and get along with damned near everybody who bothers to try to get along with me? Well, yes, but that’s an artefact of my middle age and has nothing to do with the millions of words of first draft I’ve written. I was for many years young, socially awkward and unpublished.

Do I have good connections in the field? Yes, now after twenty-one years of effort, countless hours at conventions and workshops, and many publications in most of our major and independent markets. I didn’t get published because I know people. I know people because I got published. A lot of times over the years.

Everything I’ve earned, my publications, my public persona in the field, my network of friends and associates: it all comes down to perseverance. Writing. Constantly. Last year, with six months of chemotherapy and a round of liver surgery slowing me down, not to mention a full-time job I never took off from during my illness and a teen-aged daughter in the house, I still wrote a quarter million words of first draft, and roughly that much again in blogging. Which wouldn’t be a bad total for a full-time writer working with no major distractions. This year’s numbers will be fairly similar, under fairly similar circumstances. That’s what keeps earning me my place at the table. Not talent, or being fun at parties and a dab hand with a microphone, or knowing a bunch of writers and editors. Writing.

Writing.

If you want to see your work published, be on panels, emcee the Hugos, get to know your writing heroes, all the fun stuff that goes with being a working writer, then, well, write. And write more. I’ve been doing it for two decades, and am still just as serious and hard-working as I was back at the beginning. More serious and hard-working, frankly. 1990 me would have been appalled at the prospect of writing an entire 250,000 words in year. 2011 me is appalled at writing only 250,000 words in a year.

Write more. Keep writing. Everything else flows from that.

Tags: Cancer, Child, health, Personal, Process, Writing

Posted: 6:26 am Tue November 29 2011 | Comments(6) |

[sale] “A Long Walk Home” to YBSF29

I am pleased to say that Sunspin novelette, “A Long Walk Home”, has been accepted by the inestimable Gardner Dozois for reprint in Year’s Best Science Fiction 29. For those of you wondering where this piece fits with the novels-in-progress, it’s deep backstory, about the Mistake. So while it doesn’t directly inflect the plot, “A Long Walk Home” definitely carries some of the world-building and future history.

I’m particularly pleased about this because it means Sunspin continues to receive favorable attention in the field. That hopefully will help drive the future reach and success of the novels.

If you’d like to read it now, the original appearance of the novelette at Subterranean Online is here. I also note with some pride and optimism that Subterranean Online will soon be running a Sunspin novella, “The Weight of History, the Lightness of the Future”, which is in a sense chapter zero of the novels, and takes place immediately prior to the opening of the story in book one, Calamity of So Long a Life.

Further, I will make the observation that this novelette is probably my best candidate for Hugo or Nebula award consideration in the forthcoming award year. So if you’re an eligible voter, please consider having a look at the above link.

See also my Facebook thread of yesterday for a number of comments on the sale.

Tags: Awards, Books, Calamity, Sale, stories, Sunspin

Posted: 6:22 am Tue November 29 2011 | Comments(2) |

[photos] Your Tuesday moment of zen

Your Tuesday moment of zen.

garyomaha, rural Nebraska © 2007, 2011, 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: Photos, zen

Posted: 6:01 am Tue November 29 2011 | Comments(0) |

[links] Link salad dances the cotton-eyed joe

A reader reacts to Endurance — They liked it. Interestingly, they read and enjoyed this book without having previously read Green. That pleases me.

The Tweets of War: What’s Past Is Postable — Re-enacting historical events on Twitter with realtime WWII. (Via my Dad.)

Fluorescent Spray Could Help Surgeons Identify Cancer Quickly — Having been the recepient of an erroneous surgical procedure which also missed an existing tumor, this might have saved me immense trouble. Though I wonder how much good it does for tumors embedded within healthy tissue, as opposed to on the surface of an organ.

Virtually indestructible robostarfish penetrates tiny cracks

Reverse Mentoring Cracks Workplace — Top Managers Get Advice on Social Media, Workplace Issues From Young Workers. I don’t normally bother to link to the Wall Street Journal, which is basically FOX News for the 1%, with all the same lies and distortions of reality, but this is interesting and nonpolitical.

Flaming Napalmed Knickers — Language Log (again) on the completely and objectively false conservative meme that Obama uses “I” more often than other presidents, and is therefore a narcissist. I especially like this comment, which could apply to virtually all conservative allegations about Obama: Frankly, I’m disappointed in these people. Can’t they invent new fabrications instead of tediously repeating old ones?

God and man and William F. Buckley

When Did the GOP Lose Touch With Reality? — Conservative David Frum: I can’t shrug off this flight from reality and responsibility as somebody else’s problem. I belonged to this movement; I helped to make the mess. Something very, very few conservatives are willing to say. Good for him for at least partially owning up to the hideous monstrosity the GOP has become.

The Price of Intolerance — It’s early yet for a full accounting of the economic damage Alabama has done to itself with its radical new immigration law. And it couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch of small-minded conservative bigots. But I repeat myself. Reality, meet ideology. More on this in other Southeastern states pushing little brown people out in the name of pursuing immigration ‘reform’.

Secret Bill To Be Voted On Today Would Allow The Military To Sweep Up US Citizens At Home Or Abroad — This is beyond disgusting. Where are those self-proclaimed Constitution-loving conservatives now? (Via danjite.)

?otd: Would you have been married a long time ago?

11/29/2011
Writing time yesterday: 0.0 hours (chemo fatigue)
Body movement: 30 minute stationary bike ride
Hours slept: 8.0 (fitful)
Weight: 211.0
Currently (re)reading: The Warrior’s Apprentice by Lois McMaster Bujold

Tags: Books, Cancer, Culture, Endurance, healthcare, history, Language, Links, Personal, Politics, reviews, Tech

Posted: 6:00 am Tue November 29 2011 | Comments(0) |

[process] Psychotic persistence and deliberate practice

Over the weekend I posted a link to a story on Freakonomics about deliberate practice in achieving excellence. I’ve written about this before as an auctorial career issue in the framing of what I only somewhat jokingly call “psychotic persistence”. (See [ jlake.com | LiveJournal ] and many other places on my blog.) What’s interesting to me about the Freakonomics piece is the focus on directed learning. That is to say, learning in a focused, intentional way.

In effect, they’re saying simple, sheer practice is insufficient in its own right. You have to employ focus, direction and a high degree of self-awareness. (For a casual but effective example of this, see this post a few days ago from matociquala, a/k/a Elizabeth Bear.)

Well, this is what all the manifold stages of writerly development are for, is it not? In my case, years of workshopping with instructors, mentors and peers are many different levels. Frequent mentoring and teaching of my own, once I reached a point where I could deliver value there, because talking to others about their work also focuses me on craft and development issues in my work. A constant reconsideration of my own goals and capabilities. Directing my novel projects towards specific objectives, such as writing Green to tackle female characters and the techniques of tight first-person POV.

But mostly just writing. And writing. And writing. But with intent.

You can’t find that intent all on your own. At least I can’t. Maybe some people can. Writing is an inherently solitary act, but writers don’t develop in a vacuum. We are influenced by the books we read, the advice and commentary we pay attention to, the people who fill our heads with critique and technique and bar gossip. The deliberate practice discussed in the above link is something that has to be learned, like everything else.

So I try to listen and learn. Not just from writers, but from artists and moviemakers and children and the world at large.

In this vein, I was thinking this weekend about art guru James Gurney’s frequent posts about his going out to sketch. Here’s one from yesterday. This is a man at the top of his career, with international best selling books both of and about art (he’s the Dinotopia guy, if you don’t recognize the name), and he practices, all the time. This particular post led me to ask myself if I practice, in the sense that Gurney does.

The answer to that is no, not really. Pretty much everything I write is intended for market. Unless you count my blogging output (which I do not, in this context), I don’t do the literary equivalent of sketching in a notepad.

And maybe I should.

When chemotherapy has released its grip on me, sometime early next year, I’m going to try a new-to-me kind of writing exercise. I’m going to go sit in a public place with my laptop (sorry, scalzi, but writing by hand is a truly lost cause for me) and I’m going to sketch in words what’s going on around me. Setting, maybe a little character, sensory detail. Just let it flow without direction or commercial intent. Do what James Gurney is doing, exercise my writing muscles in the real world, for no other purpose than deliberate practice. Heck, I might even write some poetry, and I am a dreadful poet.

I’ve never done that. I’ll be quite curious to see what I get. As I won’t be able to do this for a while, if you’re moved to try this exercise, do report in and let me know how it goes.

In the mean time, practice. Deliberate practice. As I’ve said for years, there’s only one piece of writing advice that is truly canonical, and that’s “write more”. Everything else is a matter of perspective.

Tags: Process, Writing

Posted: 6:53 am Mon November 28 2011 | Comments(5) |

[personal] Spinning suns and the travails of LiveJournal

Last night I went to bed quite early, in an attempt to manage my sleep hours properly and be able to get up in time to go to work this morning. (I succeeded.) While in the drifting state of hypnagogic semisomnolence that often characterizes my sleep these days, my missing-in-action right brain sent me another postcard. This one had to do with the mechanics of a Kardashev Type II civilization going wandering and taking its solar system with it. I don’t normally write SF that’s quite that Big Iron — my imagination seems to want to focus more tightly, even though one of the things I really admire about writers like Greg Bear and Iain M. Banks is the audacious scale of their imaginings. Right brain failed to provide plot or character, but that’s never stopped me before. This will turn into a short piece next year, I’m guessing novelette or novella. At the moment it’s sort of a mental Post-It note.

Speaking of stars, some minor good news on Sunspin came yesterday which I’ll share in due time. Also look for a new Sunspin novella soon from Subterranean Online.

Anent LiveJournal, at this point the only reason I haven’t abandoned it is that I have a healthy blog commentor community there. This morning it is again acting very strange, largely unavailable for service. This is beyond inconvenient for me, as I don’t blog during working hours, so while I may compose posts in the afternoon or evening, on weekdays I always post them prior to 6 am Pacific when my Day Job office hours commence. So if LiveJournal is being weird first thing in the morning, it screws up my narrow window of opportunity to get the posts up. This after LJ’s recent ‘upgrade’ broke my WordPress cross-poster again. I know at least some of LiveJournal’s problems are due to DoS attacks from elements supporting the Russian government’s campaigns against their own dissidents, but fundamentally, for me LiveJournal is a time-dependent service that is not reliable either in terms of time or service. Should I be standing up against cyberbullying by an oppressive regime? Certainly. But I still need to blog before 6 am. And I’m reluctant to abandon that active portion of my readership.

No conclusions here. Just thoughts.

Tags: blogging, Books, livejournal, Personal, Process, stories, Sunspin, Writing

Posted: 6:47 am Mon November 28 2011 | Comments(2) |