I signed up for overtime for the next couple of weeks, so y’all won’t be seeing much of me here. I will be working 80 hours next week and hopefully 80 more for the week after that. The reason for the bell-to-bell insanity is simple: it’s Christmas and I want to give some people good gifts this year and I want to be able to hire an editor for my next novel… and maybe finally get myself a Blu-Ray player. The output might decrease, but since I have WordPress on my readers, I can still keep up with a post a day. It’s not going to be the full 500 words, but I hope to have something up for you to read.

The schedule change doesn’t mean, however that I am going to take a hiatus from writing. I am taking along my Nook which has a word processing program, so I can at least write during breaks and lunch. I might try to work on something else while I’m there. While the program is compatible with my version of Word, I hate having the notion of uploading every evening with my head being a little fuzzy. Besides, I have a lot of ideas I would like to get out onto… electrons? Photons? Well, it isn’t paper, that’s for sure! 😀 I might start something and just start running with it – not like most of my projects where I have major scenes plotted out already. I’ll flip through my book and see what catches my eye. I wish that work hadn’t blocked Zoho, I could cut and paste stuff there and work on it at home and away as it were. I know why they did that (cut and paste your way to free money!), but I find it to be awfully inconvenient. It’s almost like they want me to focus only on what they want when I am there. How rude! 😀

Anyways – this will my last few days of a normal schedule. I am hoping to use the December paychecks to get editors and a website going. This reminds me, I need to contact Gator Host and see about using Stripe and WordPress on their site. I know they have their own processing company, but I want to be able to use Stripe since they only charge per transaction and no monthly fees. See – I can use my work knowledge outside the office. Now, all I have to do is take a shower to wash the unclean feeling off of my skin.

On the upside – no Christmas music at work! The ‘on hold’ music is the same lame Pan Flute music they sold to you late night. Hooray for progress!

Well, off to that shower since I’m running late. Have a good day everyone.

Sincerely,

Seething Apathy

When I was younger (much, much younger – single digit younger), I had three problems with my body:

1. Asthma (brought about by cats and my mom’s incessant smoking)
   
2. Lots of heartburn
   
3. Sleep disturbances (going to bed at 8, waking up at 11 and thinking I’ve slept until morning and starting to get ready for school)
   

When I moved out for college, it all stopped. Got a full ten hours of sleep, could breathe in and out without sounding like Darth Vader and had no painful heartburn (I mean ‘twisting in the bed thinking the acid was going to just eat through my torso’ bad). I felt good about my health for a few years. I had some reoccurrences, but not for weeks on end like it was at home. Stuff I could handle – no big deal for the most part. A couple of hours off my pace, maybe avoiding the spicy food for a meal or just a whisper in my lungs – what I would almost call ‘background misery’ before I knew what ‘background misery’ really was.

Some of my old friends are back. I went to bed at 2:30 AM (not all that unusual), but I woke up on my own volition at 7:00 AM. I made one mistake and I looked at the clock. I tried to put that time out of my head and go back to sleep. No such luck because everything from yesterday and what was waiting for me today settled into my mind and kept running around in a loop in my mind. I closed my eyes, I counted down from 5 and said click (an old trick, picturing your waking self like a light and turning yourself off), I even told myself stories to put myself to sleep (I’m not that boring, thank you). No such luck and I finally got out of bed, resigning myself to a lot of Pepsi Max and trying to keep myself from shouting at the dogs next door. To offset the chill of the morning, I have a friendly fire in my stomach. Hail, hail, the gang’s all here.

Since I was up anyways, I decided to go on ahead and do most of the editing for my first novel. I just have to re-write a couple of scenes and try to save one. So, a late December release still looks good, but I am not above holding it until January or February to make sure it is the best that I can bring to the table. I am going to get back to I/O Error, but I also want to get something out there so I can start making some sort of money so I can pay off some bills two or three months down the road (the great and honored tradition of fuck-you money).

Wow – it is 10:00 AM and I am still feeling wired and unrelaxed (my traps are as hard as steel). This is going to be an interesting day. I hope your sleep is sound and the ghosts of your Taco Bell run stay quiet.

Sincerely,

Seething Apathy

I have a friend if mine – nice person, really goes out of his way to help people – who works as a caretaker in a house for people with mental disabilities.  He’s been working two weeks straight.  No days off until last Sunday and was promised a day off today.  Well, yesterday he was brought in by the head of the particular house he’s working in (he rotates between houses) and was praised for his efforts. Really laying it on nice and thick.

Maybe this is my particular set of psychological maladies, but when someone starts handing me compliments, I get suspicious. Not my friend, however. Then the head of the house asks if he could work Tuesday… the other day off.  I can’t believe that he fell for it and what’s worse he’s doing it.  Another full week. 

I’m much more irritated that he just rolled over and took this.  Granted, yes he’s doing great work and really enjoys helping people. I am mad that:
1) the director assumed that giving out compliments would make him more pliable.
2) he went along with it.

Yes, I might sound a little shriller than usual about this, but this is a friend of mine.  I am loyal to my friends and I take it personally if one is injured.  This is insulting.  I should call that director and let them have it… and that more than likely would get my friend fired.

Well… enough of this.  I’m running a bit late. I promise tomorrow more writing and less drama.

Since the turkey wasn’t going to return itself, I decided to go on ahead and make this. I would have made this Thanksgiving, but… well… I didn’t have the energy Thursday, but I had some Sunday. You know – I’m a pretty good cook and the meal was a lot easier than I had considered. Here it is in its pre-‘get in mah belly’ phase:

Not pictured: Massive weight gain

Of course, I have to point this out:

Who knew vegetarians could make everything so tasty?

No more stew left, sorry to say. Apparently the ‘4 to 5 people’ listed in the recipe are very tiny people because I had 2 ½ bowls and finished everything. I was also very hungry. Still have plenty of drop biscuits, though. They were good, too. If you want any, just open your CD drive and I slide you some through the Internet (Mac users need not apply). I might cook again. Guests must notify their intentions of gluttony via e-mail, smoke signals or phone call.

Anyhow, back to writing. I slacked off Sunday because it was Sunday and I have a habit of watching football. I have the Washington/Dallas game save on my DVR because I want to be able to sit down and watch the whole thing without interruptions, so it’s going to be a next Sunday game. Sundays are also days where I do very little in terms of writing or anything else for that matter. I/O Error is still coming along. I have gotten some feedback and I might have to make my first set of revisions soon after the finish. In the beginning, when I was describing anything that Gail was viewing, I tried to include any sort of calculations she would be making in her head (processor?) – really trying to give the reader an ‘android-eye view’ of what she was seeing. This would be important in later scenes with the Twins (spoiler image). However, I had a line that popped into my head which sounded nice – but looking back at that line:

The logical side of her processor noted that Milo was an independent device and did not need or benefit from any sort of increased attention. The quantum side of the processor told the logical side to put a sock in it.

There are more lines like this throughout the book where we see the logical processor (the traditional computer) and the quantum processor (the part of her that can make non-logical, human-like leaps of conclusion) either bicker or cooperate. In doing this I am ignoring one of the Pixar’s Rules of Storytelling. So (with the prompting of my writer’s group… more on that later), I am going to go back through and take out the logical/quantum processor interchange (to be honest – they did have one good interchange about the first ghost they directly encounter… I am going to miss that moment, but it doesn’t serve the story). Well, I might leave that part in the story and see what the group thinks. It might warrant keeping it in there.

Well, I have a manuscript to write, so I need to get cracking.

Sincerely,

Seething Apathy

Hello everyone.  I have a Kindle Fire (the replacement for the one that just ‘screw the lot of you, I’m going home) and I an writing this episode on it… mostly because I want to try this small keyboard.  Thankfully, you can’t see that for every five keystrokes I have to take back three.  Just trying to get used to this smaller keyboard.  There was a Nanowrimo write in that I had to skip because… well… I am not the social creature that such a thing requires.  Yes, I went to couple of them and to be honest — there wasn’t any great benefit to it for me.  I came in, sat down, put in my head phones and started writing.  The only difference was that there was coffee closer by to me and my greatest weakness there: red velvet cake (I wish I could quit you…).  So, today I made the choice to sit this one out.  Sorry, guys — there was little point in being there.  Oh, that and I had no money for coffee or cake.  When I end up going to some sort of coffee place or bakery to meet someone, I feel like I should get something. Unfortunately, I don’t have enough to my name and the holiday season approaches.

So, I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving.  I spent mine at home (no surprise), but I had fun.  I also got to find something on YouTube that bears some excitement.  Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome has been released there, with the promise of unedited Blu-Ray being released in February.  About this I have several mixed feelings.  I think BSG is the best series that the Sci-Fi channel has put out (before you send the hate mail, I also like Warehouse 13) and how they’ve shoved it to the Internet with almost no notification is despicable.  Yes, it gets mocked for their bad movies and their programming choices, but every now and then — it showed some real merit.  Now?  Once Warehouse 13 ends its run… there is little to hold me to that channel. It’s a shame, given that sci-fi TV gets the “funny uncle” treatment. I know that at the root of all this is the Almighty Dollar and Universal is trying to make a profit by trying to fit the channels to the times (G4… the ‘G’ now stands for ‘gone’), but that is a horribly narrow view.  If you want an example of the power of fandom, just look at “Firefly”.  That show never got a full season and was mismanaged by Fox, but it got a movie to tie up the story.  How many cancelled series can say that they got that?  Going on 10 years and there are still Browncoats (including me) flying.  I know that I am a single voice amid that crowd and just me isn’t going to change anything.  I can say this: keep flying guys.

Now that I am done frothing at the mouth over that, I can move on to other things.  I/O Error continues along its pace.  I am thinking that there should be a couple more spooky moments just to drive home that there is something wrong with the ship that a simple coat of paint and a swapping of parts can’t fix.  I want to get to the Sisters in a little more depth when they hit the heliopause — one of those ice cream scenes I’ve been holding on to for a while.  My next project is going to be “Valentina’s Feast” so I can keep up this horror vein I have been working in for a while.  My tent pole series will be worked on after “Valentina’s Feast”.  Now, this is not meant to lessen any of the other works. I take all of this very seriously.

Well, I have rambled on long enough about these things.  If you want me to ramble about other things, feel free to drop me line with a suggestion.  I hope y’all have a good evening

Sincerely,
Seething Apathy

Hello, all – I’ve been busy making a quick change to my Thanksgiving Day plans and went the sandwiches and chips route. It was fun and I also got a surprise in my X-Box which I played most of the day and finished. Not that this should be construed as a complaint – Gearbox has been amazing with DLC, and with it they do advance a general story line about the world that you’re on, but this one was done in a matter of hours and I had to play online to complete it (I don’t think there is a way to finish one of the races without a partner). I don’t mind playing online, but I don’t think you should have to do so to finish the game. Oh, well – if you’re a Borderlands fan, you’ve already gotten this and started making little explosion sounds and talking like a certain professional wrestler. Not unlike me.

I took yesterday off, it being a holiday – but I still have some momentum to carry me through the next few days. I am trying to shoot for a December finish and trying to get the professional editing done before the end of the first quarter. The pace is picking up and we’re going to have the first major spooky event with the new pod soon. It’s coming together nicely – just looking forward to having it done so I can move on to the next one… which ever that one is. Maybe I’ll start that romance novel Valentina’s Feast and get that going. I have two series that should get started (well, started and completed for both of them, but are we surprised? If you are, then you should read some of the earlier posts). I like the idea of working on single shots to get an idea of what needs to be done in order for the tent pole series (Spooksayer
and
Tyro’s series – thus far unnamed) and get them successful. My first novel (the one finished editing and almost ready for release into cold, cold world) is a test as to how to get everything set up for more than one market – mainly Amazon, Smashwords, Barnes and Noble, along with CreateSpace to get physical books out there. Also, I am getting ready for the website to go up shortly before the release of the book on the various formats so I can have everything linked together for convenience’s sake. For that, I am going to recommend this book for anyone taking the same route I am taking: Are You There Blog, It’s Me Writer. It’s about setting up and using social media to support your work. I am reading it right now and it’s a nice, witty look at how social networking can be used to advance your fanbase.

Well, since I don’t have Friday off, I’m going to hit the shower and get ready for work. With any luck, it’s going to be a slow day.

Sincerely,

Seething Apathy

I don’t know about you, but it’s becoming more and more apparent that I am an afternoon person. It’s getting harder to get myself mentally moving in the morning, so I apologize if I seem a little scattered-brained today. I had some issues with my Kindle Fire – and to Amazon’s credit, they handled it very quickly… in face a day sooner than I had anticipated. So – kudos for Amazon’s Customer Service on their handling of this inconvenience with my device. Granted, this doesn’t help my fatigue, but I thought I would get that out before I forgot.

The novel I/O Error continues along. Right now, I am giving out the major hint that what is ailing the ship may not have simple roots in structural issues or a simple pod malfunction. I tried to work on this at the last Nanowrimo write in, but I was so tired and I forgot my power pack that I could only write for a couple of hours before heading back home for dinner and laundry. It was an exhausting Saturday, but a fun one. I’ve been getting a lot of positive feedback so far – although I need to remember next time to ask about pacing. Pacing is very important for horror and I am not sure if I am keeping the pacing at a good level. However, I am going to continue on as if I am crafting the next Bram Stoker and Nebula winner. Who knows? I might just be doing such a thing. As far as Nanowrimo goes… well… thankfully, I have Thursday off. I was going to cook a nice pot of turkey stew and drop biscuits, but given how far behind I am, I might just do that later and have the somewhat less traditional turkey sandwiches, chips and salsa con queso. Less time to fix but more time to crank out the words… like, 15,000 of them. 10 hours of work for me and there is only one football game on Thursday that I am really interested in, so I’ll have plenty of time to get back to where I am supposed to be (38,341 – although I think the final word count is going to be more than 50,000. If my last one is any indication, I’m looking at around 70,000). I’m just looking to hit the 50K mark on November 30^th, but I want to finish the novel before the year is out.

Well, on the personal front, there is very little to report. I’ve been letting a lot of movies slip by me – I should (if I have the time) go see the movie Argo. My reading (thanks Kindle and Nook!) has been taking off – I’m reading Choke and I have to admit – I like this man’s style of storytelling. Very stripped down and quick moving with a tad of social commentary mixed in, but you don’t feel like you’re being pushed along unwillingly. I recommend Choke if you are looking for something to read that’s light and quick.

With all of that being said, I do need to get back to my own novel. So – y’all have fun.

Sincerely,

Seething Apathy

The Hand of Fate pushes me along further still! I got my manuscript back from the editor and there are only a couple of major changes to be made, mostly its typos (understandable since I never learned to type… or proofread apparently) and I am set to go. All that’s lacking is the cover art, but I’ve been told that it is getting put together now. On my end, all I need to do is start getting information together to get the website set up, but I am not going to actually get that done until I have the whole book and artwork – since I also need to start seriously looking at web hosting services. I wish I could convey just how darned happy I feel right now. I am finally getting everything together to live the life that I feel that I was destined to live. I just wish I had the gumption to try this a lot earlier, but hey – better late than never, right? Let this be a lesson – never let anyone or anything stand in between your dreams.

Anyway – I am still hacking away at I/O Error. I am still working on the releases – I am going to limit the files to three, then have her tell us about the rest (ignoring the whole ‘show, not tell’ rule). It’s not out of laziness that I do something like this; I just need to keep the prose as tight as possible – especially with a horror novel.

Drat! I need to shower. Sorry this one’s so short.

Sincerely and Soaped Up,

Seething Apathy

I overslept a wee bit today and by wee bit, I mean two and a half hours and by oversleep I mean my alarm didn’t go off. I’m still a little fuzzy in the head, so if this particular entry doesn’t make sense after reading it two or three times, blame Samsung for putting in batteries that can’t take a bit of a Southern chill. Really – it was only 29 degrees last night. We’re not even in winter yet. Hmph.

The novel has hit another snag – this one in how to parcel out the information about the vessel the Eliza
Jenny. Gail has downloaded a bunch of files concerning the ship and the overall picture I want to convey is one of creeping terror. The whole premise for the book stems from a bit of nautical folklore about naming vessels. The skinny of it is this: when renaming a vessel, you have to remove every vestige of the original name. Not just the name on the prow or on the aft, but every last location – even the name of the vessel on the floating keychain has to be removed and there has to be a rededication ceremony. So, in this particular vessel the name has not been completely removed, so hijinks ensue. Gail, in doing research for the pod that’s still in the bay (spoiler: it’s going to stay there for a while) makes the discovery and that is going to be the trigger for bigger and badder things to happen. I’m just trying to figure out how much information about the Eliza
Jenny I want to give out and whether or not to introduce the sisters. Well, I’ll mull this over during work… provided I can get into the phones this time (I don’t want to get into that right now…)

Right now, I am looking forward to getting my Nanowrimo bracelet. It’s a 2 GB flash drive in a silicone rubber bracelet with ‘My Novel’ stamped on it. Yeah – geeky to be sure, but hey – fake it til you make it, right? Gah… my mind is moving too slow for things today. That and the dogs are barking. I was hoping that the chillier weather would have them inside for the season, but no luck. Sorry everyone, I am still a little out of it and I even had my normal ration of caffeine. I think that oversleeping (while very good, since I had a dream with Bruce Campbell, Timothy Oliphant and Lena Olin discussing a plan with me. I’ll have to file that away in my ‘plot bunnies’ file) might have done me in as it were. Then again, when I wake up to the alarm I’m out of it. So – today’s secret word is snafu. Feel free to use it in a sentence. More than likely, you’ll use this at work like I do.

Well, I am going to grab my notebook and write out a series of articles for Gail to read… and try to wake up.

Sincerely,

Seething Apathy

As dome of you might have noticed, there was no posting for last Saturday. I went to a Nanowrimo ‘write-in’ and that kinda threw off my schedule. This Saturday is more than likely going to be more of the same – writer’s group in the morning, Nanowritmo write-in in the afternoon. I see lots of coffee on that day. It’s not a complaint, I love what I do and I look forward to doing it for a living. I just am going to have to cover a lot of ground that day. Laundry and groceries might get a break and not get done until Sunday. Yes, there are 24 hour grocery stores and I am a bit of a night owl; but I am also someone that likes to have a time to pause at the end of the work week. Also, I am going to start getting stuff together for Thanksgiving dinner. I already got the turkey cutlets (might get some more just to be on the safe side) freezing for next week (gah!), so I just need to get the rest of the stuff together for the dinner. I am looking forward to this meal. Going to be one of my best… of course, my criterion for that is simple: as long as no one dies, we’re good.

The novel continues along, although I did lose a Sunday because of football. I’ll make up for that day today after work. The story is still coming along, and the end of the second act is approaching. I just hope that I haven’t been hitting people over the head with the supernatural before I am supposed to in the third act. I am having fun trying to figure out how to show just how Gail is going to perceive everything, which will color the reader’s perception of everything that happens in the book. My only big issue is that there will be someone who is going to look at the main conceit and roll his (or her) eyes and put the book back on the shelf. I know the idea is out there as far as sci-fi goes, but then again, this is also a horror novel.

Speaking of horrific things: Blood and Chrome is on YouTube! I’m not saying that Blood and Chrome is horrible, but its treatment by Sy-Fy is – especially given that the parent show was widely received – borders on war crimes. So far, I like what the YouTube channel hosting it is doing. They are the ones that put up Halo: Forward unto Dawn and I looked forward to it every Friday. Now I have something new to look forward to! I still think it’s a shame that it’s being put out almost sight unseen (my eternal thanks to nodwick.com for pointing it out to me). But, hey – we can see it somewhere, and we can get it on DVD and/or Blu-ray.

Well, I need to divide my attentions between “Talking Dead” and the novel. I hope everyone have a good day.

Sincerely,

Seething Apathy