[personal] Baby, it’s cold outside
Important safety tip: If the only thing keeping your breath from freezing on your mustache is the warm snot running down from your nose, perhaps you should be working out at the gym instead of walking for distance. I think this is the first time I’ve walked here in Omaha for quite a while where I didn’t see any wildlife. Probably because they were all smart enough to stay in their burrows, keeping warm.
In other news, I apparently have two sets of galleys to turn back to Tor, Very Quickly. (The mmpb of Escapement and the thb of Green.) Unfortunately, I am not home to receive the galleys or do anything with them, and won’t be able to remedy this situation until next Monday, thanks to the confluence of a trip to Omaha and the magic that is Orycon. This will make next week very entertaining, I strongly suspect.
All of which in turn encourages me to get the first draft of the synopsis of Sunspin nailed down this week if possible. Already it’s longer than any synopsis I’ve ever done, and I haven’t even gotten to plot or character yet. This is going to be a real adventure. There’s a couple of possible projects which may shift Sunspin back in my schedule, but I have some months to figure that out.
Off to the office in a bit. Y’all play nice while I’m saving the world for SMS. (Or possibly from SMS.)
Tags: Conventions, Escapement, Green, Omaha, Personal, Sunspin, work
Posted: 5:15 am Tue November 18 2008 | Comments(0) |
[links] Link salad contemplates the unbearable lightness of Thursday
Workin’ at the Internet Cafe: Laptop Dilemma — The agony of the coffee house.
Satellites map cholera outbreaks — Wow. The next time you’re tempted to think intellectual incuriosity is a virtue, politically or personally, reflect on how ideas like this came about. As demonstrated by the policies and rhetoric of the last eight years, a conservative world does not look into the future. (Thanks to lt260.)
Q&A: Islamic finance — Banking, Shariat style. Good worldbuilding, at the least, not to mention an insight into a critically important contemporary culture. (Snurched from Slacktivist.)
The President, the Economy, and the Lag — Freakonomics on presidents and the economy. (Surprised?)
The New York Times: A Senior Fellow at the Institute of Nonexistence — A fake expert and a phony think tank fool bloggers and the mainstream media. Some serious culture hacking here. (Thanks to danjite.)
Question of the day: Are you from outer space, or do you just work there?
11/13/08
Body movement: 30 minutes on stationary bike
Last night’s weigh-out: n/a
This morning’s weigh-in: 223.2
Currently reading: Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett
Tags: Culture, Links, Personal, Politics, Religion, Science
Posted: 6:06 am Thu November 13 2008 | Comments(1) |
[links] Link salad sings Aïda
A Doctor, a Mutation and a Potential Cure for AIDS — (I lost track of who sent me this, I’m sorry.)
A brief encounter and life erupts — Not valid for Young Earth Creationists or ID proponents. (Thanks to lt260.)
Fly Stick Van De Graff Levitation Wand from ThinkGeek — :: wants :: (Thanks to willyumtx.)
European tram makers stand to gain from U.S. streetcar push — Including my own fair community here.
Loot! — Chicago, the Iraq War and archaeology. (Thanks to Scrivener’s Error.)
Obama Positioned to Quickly Reverse Bush Actions — And so the nation begins to be governed again, instead of simply be politicked from the White House. (Thanks to lt260.)
The Importance of Being Careful — “Bush never gets sloppy when he is speaking publicly. He chooses his words with care and precision, which is why his style sometimes seems halting. In the eight years he has been President, it is remarkable how few gaffes or verbal blunders he has committed. If Obama doesn’t raise his standards, he will exceed Bush’s total before he is inaugurated.” Um. Wow. Talk about a bad case of the conservative stupid virus. On the other hand, this is the same guy who said a few years ago, “It must be very strange to be President Bush. A man of extraordinary vision and brilliance approaching to genius, he can’t get anyone to notice. He is like a great painter or musician who is ahead of his time, and who unveils one masterpiece after another to a reception that, when not bored, is hostile.” Cult of personality, anyone? (Hat tip to Talking Points Memo.)
Question of the day: How tall was Charles the First when he ascended the throne? How tall was he when he left it?
11/11/08
Body movement: 30 minutes on stationary bike
Last night’s weigh-out: n/a
This morning’s weigh-in: 223.0
Currently reading: A Hat Full of Sky by Terry Pratchett
Tags: Cool, healthcare, Iraq, Links, Personal, Politics, Science, trains
Posted: 5:18 am Tue November 11 2008 | Comments(1) |
[writing] Tourbillon progris riport, day 50
Today’s wordage: 4,100
Today’s writing time: 2 hours
Total wordage: 196,400
Total writing time: 107 hours, 30 minutes
Editorial note: I am very close to the end, but I strongly doubt I will write more today. This draft should likely be wrapped by Tuesday, somewhere just shy of or right at 200,000 words. Which, oddly, was my original prediction.
WIP: Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Books, Tourbillion, wip, Writing
Posted: 11:14 am Sun November 02 2008 | Comments(0) |
[travel] Hold lifted
Hold lifted, delay status unknown.
Tags: Travel
Posted: 10:40 am Thu October 30 2008 | Comments(1) |
[travel] Sea-Tac is in lock down
Sea-Tac is in a security lock down. No flight operations, everything is frozen. No further info. Group of writers trapped at C2D.
Tags: Conventions, Travel
Posted: 10:02 am Thu October 30 2008 | Comments(0) |
[writing] Tourbillon progris riport, day 46
Today’s wordage: 3,500
Today’s writing time: 2 hours
Total wordage: 178,600
Total writing time: 99 hours, 30 minutes
WIP: Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Books, Tourbillion, wip, Writing
Posted: 6:55 pm Wed October 29 2008 | Comments(0) |
[politics] I may have been too quick with my cynicism
I was fairly cynical this morning about the Powell endorsement of Obama. jennawaterford dug more deeply into it than I did, and points out this remark of Powell’s.
“Not just small towns have values,” he said, responding to one of Palin’s signature lines.
Good for him. Very good.
ETA: My dad sends this analysis from Time along for further consideration.
Tags: Politics
Posted: 10:41 am Sun October 19 2008 | Comments(1) |
[personal] “In my thoughts I have seen / rings of smoke through the trees”
Drove out to Lincoln City this afternoon for a wrap party to a writers’ workshop I had previously attended. I sometimes forget how much I like driving, especially on secondary roads through pretty country. Spent a bunch of time thinking my own thoughts about life — making and remaking the bed I lie in, so to speak, with the sheets folded this way and that, tucking the corners then untucking them.
The party was fun. Saw some dear old friends and met some neat new people. Re-created my Seven Point Plot Outline as a Sex Act schtick, pace a memorable few moments at FenCon.
Back at the Genre car, I discovered that odd bit of Oregon weather where, with the top down and the heater running, my windshield is still completely fogged. That can happen when it is fairly cold and extremely humid, but the precise combination of circumstances is rare in my experience.
Finally got that sorted out and hit the road. The moon must have risen around 9 pm, but I was driving (roughly) east into the Coastals in OR-22, which twists a lot and enjoys a horizon interrupted by all sorts of mountain peaks, so when I did encounter the gibbous moon, it was one of the strangest moonrises I’ve ever seen. I swung around a curve and the moon was in the sky like a dirty headlight, emerging for the first time quite suddenly from behind a mountain peak (given my perspective), and therefore appearing extremely large in a textbook case of the “moon illusion.” The moon then vanished almost immediately into a ribbon of very heavy mist.
It seemed as if the night sky had opened up a sleepy, pale eye and winked at me.
The miles gave me more thoughts, including quite a few ruminations on writing, process and competency, and my general approach to life. I concluded that the piper probably never would lead me to reason, but I think I’m okay with that. After all, I live a life messy and unmade, wherein even heaven occasionally winks at me.
Tags: Oregon, Personal
Posted: 11:25 pm Sat October 18 2008 | Comments(0) |
[writing] Tourbillon progris riport, day 33
Today’s wordage: 3,800
Today’s writing time: 2 hours
Total wordage: 126,400
Total writing time: 72 hours, 30 minutes
Editorial Note: Due to a very crowded schedule after work this evening, I forsook my long walk and did 30 minutes on the bike at the gym next door to the hotel, then put in my two hours on the book. I knew that whole waking up at 3 am thing would come in handy. Also, although I don’t explicitly think in terms of the three-act structure, I seem to be closing in on the end of the second act.
WIP: Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Books, Tourbillion, wip, Writing
Posted: 4:20 am Thu October 16 2008 | Comments(0) |
|