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

I think the fish that this restaurant used for my sandwich last night is getting the last laugh. I don’t think I am going to be able to make it into work… so on top of nausea, will come the guilt. I can take a vacation with no problem, but when I call in sick, I feel like a loafer. When I went to school I only missed days when I was sick – I even went to high school when it was closed (in my defense, it was during winter and I missed the school closing announcement). Granted, I liked getting the extra days off from the snow (as rare as it was), but it never occurred to me that I could skip a day. I guess that carried over to work. I call I sic, I feel guilt. Vacations are fine and permissible, they’re accounted for and approved – no one loses. Sick days? Not approved. They’re like the brother-in-laws of the work world as far as I’m concerned. They show up on your couch uninvited, make the house smell weird and bug you about getting more beer… but if you need a body moved, then they’re the one to call since their silence can be bought. As much as I know that the people on the phones would be better served by someone who is not jumping up to purge themselves every few minutes, I feel that if I am not there doing something, I am… lesser as a person.

Enough of that – on to the writing! I am getting ready to introduce more androids into the novel: Mindy (handles the medical issues and integrity [making sure the exterior hulls don’t come apart]) who is going to get a lot of questions concerning people getting a radiation bath and making sure that no one takes more medicine than what’s needed. What I am finding interesting is trying to imbue the other androids (or if you have to get technical androids and gynoids) with a sense of personality, but keep them in the uncanny valley so to speak. The only one I want to have a real genuine personality is Gail, the main character for obvious reasons. I don’t know if I should give the others a bit of a personality (with the exception of Nathan – he needs to be the adversary to Gail… which means he gets less of an personality than the others). So far, however, I am pleased with what’s going on in the story.

My stomach is still squirrelly, so I am doubling down on soup and ginger ale for the day. With any luck, this will… pass and I will be better off by Monday. For now, it’s just going to be me, the TV, ginger ale and maybe a trip out to get something safe for dinner. I am going to try to write and take advantage of the day. Wish me luck.

Sincerely,

Seething Apathy

I’m going to show my age on this one: I hate these home fluorescent bulbs. When they’re on, they make this high pitched sound that even gets through the other high pitched whine in my head (I think that one is tinnitus, but I’ve had that sound since I was 6… and I don’t remember going to any rock concerts before then) and it’s driving me to distraction. Oh, which reminds me – I need to buy some light bulbs, some incandescent light bulbs – the ones that sit in the corner and quietly glow. Yes – I sound like I should be yelling at you to get off my lawn, but I’m sure you can understand that there are some sounds that drive you crazy (telephone ringing, baby crying, the in-and-out breathing of that guy sitting next to you at work). Of course, it’s early in the morning here for me (check local listings for morning or time to be forcibly awakened by an alarm), so I haven’t my morning infusion of caffeine, so that might be a factor as to the tolerance of that particular noise.

Anyway, back to other things. The novel chugs along and I am still ahead of the Nanowrimo curve. I’ve got a day’s worth of work on it, so if I need to I can skip a day. I’m starting on the conflict between Nate and Gail – which I am hoping to turn into a major conflict along the lines of Ahab/Starbuck. Actually, come to think of it – that’s a pretty good pitch line. I’ll have to work on that a little bit. After I finish this blog and get some aspirin. I am going to try to finish the second act later on today and get into the real conflict by the weekend, where I can throw myself with little abandon into the real conflict. I can’t wait! This is going to be the novel that’s going to put me on the map, as it were.

Thanksgiving is getting prepared. I’m heading out to the grocery store Saturday to get the materials for the stew. For those of you who may be new – my Thanksgiving tradition is to make a turkey dish, not a whole turkey. Last year, I made turkey ravioli (it was good – however if I try to make ravioli again, I’ll try to find a ravioli press). This year, it is going to be turkey stew. I like cooking and given my schedule, I don’t do it that often. So, Thanksgiving is like my Super Bowl moment. All that I am missing are cheerleaders in the kitchen, and yes, I’ll accept applications for the position of kitchen cheerleader for this year. Pictures can be posted in the comments section. Applicants must be willing to wear a skimpy turkey costume and do dishes. Pom-poms will be mandatory.

Well, I am going to wrap things up here and get to work on the novel. Hope you all have a good day.

Sincerely,

Seething Apathy

Well, I go back to work today. Thankfully, that’s not the highlight of my day. The highlight of my day is going to be listening to talk radio and listening to how they’re going to parse this election. Either they’re going to blame the media, or they’re going to say they made the mistake of trying to succeed with a bad candidate. I am not going to get into politics – that’s someone else’s job. All I am going to say is if you didn’t vote then don’t complain.

Anyway – I am still on track to finish the novel by the end of the month, which is good because so far my plan on getting out of the prison that is work is best summed up with this saying: quantity has a quality all its own. I figure that rather than write a few books and charge a high fee, I am going to flood the market with my cheap, shoddy wares and make up the difference in volume. Now, some of you might be saying ‘no, you’re a good writer – you’ll do fine‘, and would thank you for your discerning taste; however, I want to make sure I don’t have to go back to a job that I like less than I like beets.

Speaking of the novel: I am beginning to wonder if I am going too far with the whole quantum/logical dialogue with Gail. The quantum side is the part of her processing unit that can better understand human qualities and make non-logical choices. The logical side is really nothing more than a sophisticated computer which deals with anything that would need brute force processing. Their interactions are more along the lines of Oscar and Felix, or an old married couple, and provides quite a bit of comedy. The goal is to show how Gail is dealing with the incursions from the Eliza
Jenny (sorry, don’t want to give away too many plot points), and not to have the reader as being an omniscient, far removed viewer. I want the reader to travel along with Gail in her understanding as to what’s happening with the ship, but not be completely immersed in the experience, simply because I am horrible at writing in first person. In fact, I am going to write something in first person just to see how badly I mangle it. If we’re lucky, I will like it enough to commit it to the roster of novels published. If not… then it might end up here to quietly waste away.

While we’re on the subject of wasting away – which is not going to happen here with Thanksgiving a couple of weeks away – I need to get the stuff together for this Thanksgiving Day meal: turkey stew with dumplings, drop biscuits and apple pie a la mode for dessert. I get paid tomorrow, and then I get paid Thanksgiving Day (theoretically) so I have to make sure that I get everything before the big cooking day. Are you invited, dear reader? Of course… as long as you promise to get the dishes for me, that would be super!

That’s all for now, I need to get back to the novel and try to get to the magic number of 15,003. Wish me luck.

Sincerely,

Seething Apathy

Go Vote.

Don’t Know Where To Go: This Will Tell You.

Go Vote.

Don’t Know Who’s Running? This Will Tell You.

Go vote.

The batteries in my spiffy wireless keyboard had the temerity to die on me today. Thankfully, I have a spare keyboard to plug in until I get a new set of batteries. Poor thing – there was no warning for it, no ‘flee! Flee while you can!’ for it. Well – welcome to the NFL, here’s your helmet. Speaking of needing helmets, Wednesday is coming – which means I will be heading back to work. On the plus side, no one from work has called me, so as far as I know, I am still working there. Granted, I would like to leave there one day, and with any luck, I can leave during the next year and start going to conventions for business rather than pleasure… most of the time. I might have to have a gopher and a booth babe in tow, but that’s for later.

I’ve got to get 3,000 words today if I am to stay ahead for Nanowrimo. 3,000 might sound like a lot, but I can usually get that down in an uninterrupted setting. That’s the key word: uninterrupted. I have to admit that I am my own worst enemy sometimes, with the TV and the radio being willing and highly skilled accomplices. I think after this and dinner, I am going to retreat into the study and get those 3K out today. I also have to admit, I like the feel of this keyboard as I type. One of the few things I don’t like about getting a tablet is missing the feel of the keys under my fingers. I like the sound of the clicking keys – while, yes there are programs that can replicate that sound, but I shouldn’t have to put on headphones to feed my nostalgia. I should put on headphones to keep the outside world at bay.

I/O Error is taking a bit of an interesting tack before I had to stop for the night – I’m looking at Gail as being far more like a battlefield than a character. There is the quantum and logical sides of her warring about the day to day, while there is another battle going on about the ship between two camps of entities aboard ship. Not to mention Gail versus other members of the crew – there is going to be a lot more going on in this story than what I had originally planned – I love being a hybrid writer. I love (sometimes) when the characters go in a different direction. I said sometimes – there are points when the characters want to go one way, but I have to bribe, threaten and cajole them back to the right path. I swear I am not crazy. Really. Stone cold sane. Just me and the voices.

Speaking of voices, I need to get back to work and make some peppermint tea. So, I hope y’all have a good day and a better evening.

Sincerely,

Seething Apathy

Yes, I know that I am working on I/O Error for publication, but I want to look forward to the next novel – my question is that should I start a long term series (without end) or something that has a definite end to it (a trilogy)? The long term series is called Spooksayer and is a series of murder mysteries. The short term series doesn’t have a series title so far, but it’s a fantasy (steampunkish/western/gothic that if you squint hard enough, you could see some Gnostic influences) series that I’ve been working on for a few years in my head (it’s the series that goaded me into writing). I actually could use some advice. Would I be biting more off than what I can chew by doing the long series or could I alternate between the books? Well, one of the reasons I am looking for some advice is that I don’t want to fall into the George R. R. Martin trap (years in between books). Anyway – my mind is always working ahead, and I just found out that Amazon has a serial option with books. I might do something with that, I have another idea that would fit nicely into it. Yes – I have ideas on top of ideas and very little time with my schedule of work. I will iterate this: I feel that 2013 is my year… unless that whole Mayan thing is true, then I’m gonna be pissed.

My vacation is going to end in a few days (Nov. 7^th) and I will be heading back to work. *Sigh* It’s been a fun few days away from the chatter and the phone sounds. I have one vacation day left and I am going to see if I can get just one more three day weekend before the end of the year. It’s been a productive break and I got some great movies (seriously, get ‘Sunshine’ – a movie that was robbed in the box office). I’m now looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas when I get a Blu-Ray player and “The Avengers” on Blu-Ray and make some Turkey Stew and dumplings for Thanksgiving. Gonna be a good holiday season this year – even better if I can get something to press; which will happen soon, I know it in my bones. Don’t worry, when that happens, I will let you know…. unless you happen to hear my screams of joy, which you might if you’re close enough to where I live… in the US.

Well, I do have some housework to do – dishes to scrub, laundry to finish washing and a spiffy movie to watch. I hope everyone here has a good day.

Sincerely,

Seething Apathy