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.