It takes...

It takes a certain amount of wonderful insanity to daily sit before the computer and play with the often wacky paper dolls of fantastic nonsense. This is fiction writing as I see it.

Bookstore, Shall we ever decline?

The modern Bookstore. Ah yes. I'm partial, of course, to Borders, though I won't say I haven't found things I've enjoyed at B&N or even the wretched other store locally (I shall not name it).

I think I enjoy these stores so much because I can still remember times of waiting for things to come back from loan at the library, and ordering books from the local "book store" in our rural town(s). Ah, the book store.

It was an old, old two story house with a vague sense of "Victorian" swoop and a big comfy wrap-around porch. It sat across the street from a fire station and a big corroded barn. Both stories were book filled, and the books you purchased were a sort of function of what they had in stock. I trusted them to stock good stuff, and really never questioned if a book would be good or not.

I was first exposed to science fiction there.

The modern book store, well... to think I can walk in with a book in mind, and the chances are, it's there, waiting for me. The books I buy are calculated, now. I hear something about them, and nab them up.

No more the random. Well, at least, not until yesterday. My wife and I were at Borders and she was buying a present for her mom and a book for herself, and I was confronted with the fact that, "Hey, these books here are 'buy two get one free.' I was the one! I got to pick a book and it would be free!" I didn't really know any of the books on the table (all except "Eats, shoots and leaves," yet I can't bring myself to read a book about grammar and punctuation). I settled on a book called "Through a Glass Darkly" by Karleen Koen.

I've never read it, never heard of the author. It's a thick tome, and I'll read it, I'm sure. I think if you ask the advice of any writer on "how to write," first they will say, "read." Oxford's notes on admission into their English program state that the applicant shall have read widely and voraciously.

In that way, I should mention I was also given a Sony Reader as an early Christmas present. Surprising? Not at all, but exactly what I wanted. I've been piling books on it as well, random smatterings of bookitude from Austen to Asimov. Still not out of the A's. Lots of things to read, though. Interesting thing I've been forced to consider in my time with the Reader: Will this whole advent of techo-reading (if you prefer a less sci-fi term, "ebookin'") finally catch on, after the 5th effort by major manufacturers? Might there come a day when a weekly trip to the book store no longer be practical or commonplace for avid readers? From the moment, with the limitations of online bookstores, it doesn't seem terribly likely, but on the other hand, probably every book is made digital before it is printed on paper, these days... something to consider.

Anyway, there is a point in all of this... this is a great season for reading!

YOU FAIL

Oof, I will admit it, I completely sacrificed finishing my novel within the bounds of Nanowrimo for school work. I couldn't handle both. I am weak. WEAK!!!!

I don't actually feel guilty. I've proven to myself that I can do the whole "novel in a month" scenario... now, lets see if I can write a good novel in... say, 4 months.

I spent about 10 minutes this evening reading through an old book of poetry from about 7 years ago.

Yikes.

Of course, everyone looks back on their old writings and cringes. It would derail the process of improving if you didn't, I suspect.

It's not that I think everyone should throw out their old work, or deny it... far from it. It's always fun and a little silly to go back and re-read. Still, no point buying a house and living there, in the past... let's see, I think it was Patricia McKillip (Ok, I admit, I know it was her, I'm typing the quote out the book right now to make sure I get it right) that said of her "Riddle Master" series, "It is, and will always be, closest to my childhood's heart, the heart of whoever that young woman was who wrote those novels." It isn't her favorite work, and she could not write it again now, just out of pure... change. Growth? Experience? Change of opinion? Another reason?

I'm going to go write now.

The rare crossing of nerd and... well, actually, nerd of another variety.

This evening, as I read through my copy of "The Oxford Essential Writers Reference" (I was re-reading the wonderful list of common cliches in there, and also the chapter on manuscript submission), I was struck with a memory.

Granted, not one from very long before I found myself there, in the comfey chair in the library, reading one of the best ways to spend $6.99... rather, one from a few hours earlier.

Today, I met this for the first time in person. I was impressed, sincerely. The eInk technology is really cool and, though at first I was a little disheartened by the price, the realization of what the technology actually offers is pretty impressive. I must admit I thought back to the "reading devices" seen in a number of science fiction movies and TV shows. This technology is very similar to that.

Now, if only we could get that whole "hover car" thing down, and get working on that whole "light speed travel" nonsense, as well.

Honestly, though, I was thinking to myself, "What would Strunk and White say about this?"

For those that are unfamiliar, William Strunk Jr. (Ohioan, stodgy linguist) and later, E.B. White (Charlotte's Web), one of Strunk's students, rendered unto us one of the most stunting and bland works of English instruction, "Elements of Style".

What would they say, these gentlemen so enamored with their own grasp of English mechanics, to the possibility that anyone with the ability to crud out a PDF could, in fact, be widely read.

"Hmm... balderdash!", I imagine.

MM, sore throat.

Amidst Nano-noveling, school composition writing and various other things, I am sick. It is really hard to focus on writing while you're not feeling well, especially when it's varied types of writing.

Still, I've been doing my best to space it and shift gears as that is probably the best way to keep my momentum.

Now, I'm pretty typical when it comes to being sick... I crave soup. I went to the store and bought "cup noodles" and "Ritz" crackers. I don't know why I crave these things, but I'm sure it stems from some collection of experiences of days long ago.

Today I noticed a marvelous fact about instant noodle cups. They are "instant lunch". Mind you, they are not "instant soup" or "instant snack" or instant anything but lunch.

So, it seems that one cannot go wrong with treating a 50c cup-based soup as a meal, for it is, in fact, both instant and lunch.

This news should shake society to it's very foundation.

My sodium runneth over.

wri-mo

Today begins Nanowrimo, the National Novel Writing Month (also known as November to calendar traditionalists).

The goal is to write 50,000 words in a month. I've written 0, but it's day 1. I'll probably spend this evening putting too many words down for a story I've been looking forward to focusing on.

What is the point of doing this all in one month when there are so many other things one should probably be focusing on in a month like November? Well, personally, I write much better when I have something else I'm supposed to be doing. Really, though, I think it's because people love to talk about writing but without some sort of organized structure, frequently they will not actually put the words down on paper. They'll have an idea but it will only ever be an idea. If this is what it takes to convert that idea into something worth the time, then bring it on!

I think it also helps people learn how to self-manage a timetable for your writings so they don't drag out over years. It helps in turning off the internal editor when writing (that thing that makes you delete and re-write sentences instead of plunging forward to finish crafting the story). All in all, Nanowrimo is a great thing because it has helped countless people achieve even an small ammout of success at writing, even if that success was just learning that you don't like doing it.

Good luck to anyone doing it.

Beyond Paper

So, in line with my obsession with Nerd-Nerdy-Nerdinson the III gadgetry of the nerdy variety, I want to share my list of gadgets that are neato for writers.

Novel Writing:
Scrivener, a complete Story Crafting Tool (vs. just a word processor) allowing for all of the elements of a novel to be stored together including notes, ideas, pictures/sketches, outlines and notecards. Nifty tool for getting a story done!

Screenplay Writing:
Final Draft. Yeah, everyone knows final draft for screenwriting, I know, but it's worth noting because it has massively powerful features. Notecards view that is separated from the screenplay in that you can go in and make cards first and then write the scenes. Also, Collabowriter aka their chat system which allows for transfer and editing to be done on the fly online. Pretty cool.

Online Writing:
Google Docs (formerly Writely.com). Google's purchase of Writely was a pretty good idea as the site is pretty brilliant. Online Word processor that, aside from being fully featured, allows you to export to .doc, .rtf, .pdf and open office format. It also lets you email a "document" in, taking the body of the email as the document and subject as the filename. I use it constantly, especially for quick notes (the sort I used to email to myself).

Of course, there are also all sorts of gadgets that let you write electronically, anything from trusty old laptops (see: cheesy heart icon superimposed over my mac), writing only devices like the Alphasmart Neo, Portable PC-type devices like the Pepper Pad, portable fold-up bluetooth PDA keyboards and even phone/note devices like the T-Mobile Sidekick and Sony Mylo.

Do any of them actually replace the solid pen and nice notebook? Probably not. Do they increase productivity or creativity or story quality due to their nifty organizational functionality? Maybe... but people have managed to write without them for a long time. I figure, why pick one method. Use everything.

Thought Experiment

"Prediction is the business of prophets, clairvoyants and futurologists. It is not the business of novelists. A novelist's business is lying." - Ursula K. Le Guin (from the introduction to "The Left Hand of Darkness")

Manufactured Truth: Where does it come from, what is it, and why is it so desirable?

I think a lot about what it is that makes people sit and read, sit and play games or sit and watch. There is something meaningful that happens in the process of entertainment, and I think I agree with the authors of "Rules of Play" when they say it's interaction with others, real or imagined. With games it's easy to disassemble - you input, you receive a response.

With movies and books and things... it's a little harder. What is it that people receive from the experience of riding along with the experience in a manufactured reality? Memories, I think. Memories of these places you've never been, but through the emotions described and subsequently experienced in these locations they become so real and so tangible that it's like a photograph you can go back to and look at.

Readers remember a time when they read a book that completely absorbed them to the point where the words on the page became a liquid mess of symbols representing ideas representing images which are absorbed by the sponge of your mind.

Of course, simplifying the experience to such a mechanical level is as betraying to the core of the enjoyment as is completely dissipating it's meaning into a cloud of existential idealism... (wow that sentence sucks)

Reading is enjoyable because you like the stories. Writing is enjoyable because the stories spark in your mind and exploring them is frequently more fun than reading them, at a deeper level of commitment.

Strange, they are, the things you do when you're not writing.

Let me back up a bit. I write. I "enjoy" writing, which is to say that if no one pays me to write or even acknowledges my writing, I'll continue to do so. As it turns out, no one currently does either, so it stands to reason that I'm not full of whatever it is exaggerators are full of. I assume it's 30% crap and 60% sawdust with the remaining 10% being a sweet cotton/poly blend and unidentifiable "materials". Sort of like a pillow. "Enjoying" writing, I think, says nothing about state in which you perform the task - bitter, frustrated, snippy, aggravated, malicious and unapproachable are all reasonable ways to describe folks who enjoy writing at certain times throughout the process. It is, as they say, all good.

I'm also a student... English, currently. This, of course, provides me with endless hours of things to do. Frequently those things are... reading and writing.

I like making lists, but not of things to do, things to get. I'm a gadget fanatic. I usually write about my gadgets, both ones I want and one's I've acquired.

I enjoy movies, and also writing about them and writing them. I enjoy photographing digitally, video and stills.

I like music, making it, listening to it and writing about it.

Why do I say they're funny, those things you do when you're not writing? I can't really think of anything I don't eventually write about.

I'll try to limit it to the interesting items here.

And that, as they say, is a quick bio.

Stay tuned for sporadic, random and nonsensical postings.

Testing.

Hello World.