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With coffee and writing implements at hand, I can determine the shape of today. |
| I tend to write in the morning. After morning coffee and writing comes whatever the day holds...work, more writing, family time, reading, maybe even some gaming. It just depends...but writing first, always. And once I start writing, I get an idea not only of what I'm writing about, but how the rest of my day will go. Hence, the shape of today. |
| This morning I realized my browser's "bookmarks" bar was getting so crowded the Scrivener forum button had been forced off it. I rectified this by renaming the social media button "The Cacophony". It fits, don't you think? Social "media" has played a heavy hand in the disintegration of our culture, because those who love strife find it a very useful tool for spreading the worst humanity has to offer, at lightning-fast speed. I know it doesn't have to be that way; I use it myself mostly for staying in touch with family members and quickly contacting my gaming guild. It's also useful for keeping up with local news like severe weather or other important information. Social media is a tool. So is a hammer, but you can use a hammer to build a home for someone, or to bash out their brains. As Eric Clapton said, it's all in the way that you use it. I know it would be pointless to try to convince everyone of this; it would be like trying to make them understand that reading is better for the mind than a steady diet of television. Better to just live according to what seems best for me, and use my time constructively when I'm not working or attending to life obligations. The clock is always ticking. |
| Once again, some kindly soul at WDC upgraded my membership for a couple of months, so I'm able to actually update my blog. The least I can do in return for this is try to be active. Real life has been kicking my tail of late, but at the moment I am reading Stephen Koch's The Modern Library Writer's Workshop, which is providing me with some inspiration and impetus to keep pecking away at my stories. He draws from a wide variety of writing heroes to shape his lessons on storytelling...and I'm especially appreciative of the fact that he focuses on storytelling above all. Something I need to bear in mind myself when I work. I sometimes tend to get too caught up in backstory and lore, and he argues that it's vital to get the story down first, then worry about the window dressing. Real life calls me yet again, but hopefully I'll be able to return to the keyboard later and attend to a story or two. |
| It's been about a year since I've taken any online courses, which are available through the library's website. I believe I may have been signed up for a writing course, but upon checking my account this morning I see I'm still only signed up for a history course which I haven't started yet. Either I finished the writing course or I was removed due to inactivity. It makes no difference, things were a little crazy this time last year. In any event, I just signed up for and began an intensive refresher course on English...punctuation, grammar, sentence structure, the works. It's a long one with many lessons, but I believe it will help me. I was taught all that in school but that was a long time ago. It can only do me good in the long run! |
| Reading another WDC member's writing blog has gotten my pumped up to get to my own material again. I have this week's guild announcement to write (not a "real" writing gig, but one I enjoy and use to sharpen my skills), an idea for a submission for a contest here, a smattering of stories, the crown jewel, and an article or two. I grumble extensively about life getting in the way but truth be told, I need to discipline myself more. I can't do anything about life getting in the way, but when I'm sitting here and not else-wise occupied I can focus harder on what needs to be done. Reading the thoughts of that other writer (who seems to be a college student), I can see where I can make improvements to my own approach. None of these things, not even the guild announcement, are going to get written unless I bear down harder on myself. And a workday is headed down the pike toward me, so I'd better put a few minutes in on something this lovely morning... |
| I am blogging rather later in the day than is usual for me, but I'm waiting for some wild rice to finish cooking and don't want to get involved in anything too intense or distracting until it's done. So here are Friday afternoon developments: After more than a decade, I have removed the monitor stand/keyboard drawer combo from the desk. I got a new keyboard from Amazon this week (my old one was getting faded and grungy-looking) and took the opportunity to remove some clutter. The metal shelf/drawer dates from a time when monitors were much more cumbersome than they are now; even this twelve-year-old Dell monitor is not as clunky as the monitors the shelf was designed for. It sits a little lower since it's now just sitting on the desk surface, but that's not a problem. And the keyboard, though quite basic, feels wonderful. No more rattling! The aforementioned wild rice is to be part of a broccoli casserole recipe I haven't tried before; I wanted to try something different today. I'm going to try some modifications (why use an abomination like "Cheez Wiz" when you can use actual shredded cheese?) and I'm looking forward to the results. Rice is nearly done...time to head back to the kitchen! |
| Yesterday I began reading M. John Harrison's The Pastel City, which I recall Neil Gaiman recommending in The View from the Cheap Seats. This slim novel was written in 1971 and looks every bit of it, from the figure of a knight on the cover to the title's font that screams '70's. The protagonist, Lord tegus-Cromis, is already known to me from a short story by the author called "The Lamia and Lord Cromis" which I read many years ago. Harrison's hero is moody and his world bizarre...a fantasy civilization that has grown over the rubble of a prior technologically advanced one. And the writing is beautiful, which brings this world up nearly to Lovecraftian fever dream levels. It is a delight. Among my irons in the writing fire is one that I've been mulling over for a few days; an article on Weird Tales which seems to be dead again. Others have already written about the Unique Magazine's last incarnation and how it went sideways, but I fear it will get lost if someone doesn't try to resurrect it one more time. I don't entirely understand what happened there (someone of Marvin Kaye's caliber certainly should have been able to make the magazine thrive), but it would be a pity for it to slip into obscurity so close to its centennial. So I may dig into that. In the meantime, the workday beckons... |
| Little by little, I'm taking the steps in the right direction! When my tax refund (such as it is) finally cleared this week, I kept a promise to myself and took out a subscription to Asimov's. I had one many years ago but was forced to let it lapse for the usual financial reasons. However, I want to get an idea of what they're buying story-wise and there's really only one way to do that. I have been over their guidelines and I believe that I can produce something they'd like with my "Lab" series. I've already started writing one of these, deciding it's more important to get the story rolling and then shape it with the proper research and characters later on. It's a world that will need a bit of developing. I've been watching a lot of Neil Gaiman videos on writing; these seem to feed my desire to write even more strongly than Stephen King's writings on the subject. It's strange since I've been following King a lot longer, but I won't question it...I'll just run with it! Now, to the day's business. The kitchen is in severe need of a deep cleaning... |
| A peaceful Sunday morning; some showers passed through in the night and cooler weather will be around for a couple of days. The laundry has been started, and I'm contemplating today's project...which is actually a work project. I have been wanting to use Publisher to create a three-panel handout for some time, specifically exhorting patrons to make use of the "list" feature. Much about the catalog software is clunky and exasperating, but the "list" feature is great, especially if one is a fan of series like "A Song of Ice and Fire". One searches the catalog and finds books like A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings and so on, then places them in a list created for them. So when the time comes to read the next book in that favorite series, it's a cinch to put them on hold or find them in the local library. Someone went to the trouble and expense to include this in the catalog's software package, so the feature should certainly be utilized. There's more to this than simply sharing a great feature. The library's management is aware of my interest in creating this handout and have encouraged me to work on it. Also, I'm hoping that by doing so I can showcase my enthusiasm for creating library material in this fashion, and maybe one day become the "go-to" person for such projects. It's a feather I can put in my librarian hat that can serve me well in the future. Plus, it's fun. The one caveat is that I'm not supposed to be doing this on my own time, officially, since it's library "work". The only problem with that is that my "off the desk" time at work usually means shelving, shelf-reading, or some other project that is often interrupted by the ebb and flow of library peak times. So the plan is to get a portion of the handout created, then send it to my work email and pretend I've been working on it all along. Sssshhh, Writing.com. This is our little secret. |
| Though I didn't realize it yesterday, a significant anniversary was observed. A quarter of a century ago a swarm of tornadoes tore through my little corner of Georgia, leaving a lot of death and destruction in their wake. It later came to be known as the Palm Sunday Tornado Outbreak, and it stands out in my mind to this day because I distinctly remember an Atlanta meteorologist pointing directly at the system on a map the night before the storms. At that time they were still in Alabama and still terrifying-looking on radar. Forecasting tech was nothing like it is today, but you could still see how dangerous those storms looked; a massive clump of orange, red, and fuchsia. I recall the following morning, March 27, as being hot and still. Dad told me, "We have bad weather on the way, let's stay close to home." And by lunchtime, there was no longer any doubt. The weather radio was howling and we could hear cries of alarm on the police scanner as the sheriff's department tried to get tourists on the town square to safety. My strongest memory is that of standing and looking out the office window at the backyard just as the first of the storms struck. It had grown as dark as twilight and the tree branches were whipping in the wind, but there was no sound. Even the thunder we'd been hearing earlier had died away. When the tornado hit, it did so to our north which was fortunate; this little wooden house would not have survived a direct hit. Wind slammed the kitchen door open and shut and Dad sent me to close the inner door--we'd just recently tiled the kitchen and he didn't want rainwater seeping between the tiles and loosening the adhesive. Just as I got to the door, however, I glimpsed the funnel cloud in the distance and an even stronger gust of wind rocked the house. I completely lost it, spinning around, fleeing through the house, and shouting "TO HELL WITH THE FLOOR!!!" It wasn't long after this that much of the county lost power and phone service, and it was days before we knew more than rumors regarding the damage and fatalities. Just here, on the western edge of the county, damage wasn't too bad. To the north and east was another story...my hairdresser and her family had kept horses and lost all of them along with their home. That part of the county literally looked like a war zone, with snapped-off trees scattered like dropped toothpicks. Wires draped over the highway made it impossible for Dad to drive his truck up to his brother's house (their home was also damaged but luckily no one was hurt). This experience left me shaken and easily spooked by thunderstorms for a long, long time. Eventually, I got over this fear. Eventually, after mourning the lost (5, in our county, there were 40 overall), people healed and rebuilt. Eventually, the savaged trees grew back. Because this after all is part of the rhythm of life. It grows, flourishes, gets cut down by some calamity or other, and grows anew. For my part, I'm thankful I was out of the scythe's path and am able to sit here today and remember. |
| For the first time in far too long, I'm seeing things clearly. I finally made my long-delayed trip to the eye doctor a week or two back, and yesterday I was able to trade in my poor, battered, rimless glasses for a nice new pair of metal-framed ones, with an updated prescription. The improvement was instantly apparent, as I left the eye doc's office and noticed how terribly my car needs to be washed. Since then I've noticed how many other things need doing...all kinds of cleaning around the house, the yard's a mess, and this desk is a whole other story. I suppose there's some deep, philosophical insight that can be drawn from being blind to one's own laziness and then suddenly having one's eyes "opened". Though to be fair, it is sometimes physical pain in addition to life's other demands that prevent me from doing all that needs doing. In any event, with a five-day break coming up, it's time I made a start. And try not to muss or break my nice new glasses in the process. |
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