I love this artist. I love her voice even though I can’t understand a single thing she says sometimes. Why is such an odd confession? Because if you were to look though my music library, you’re going to find these guys, and these guys and almost everything that these
two have put out. I guess that I am starting to mellow out in my old age. Well, I did discover her while watching Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. So whatever I have lost in metal cred, I hope to gain in anime cred… or would that be yen?

Anyways, I am still plugging away at I/O Error and it is transitioning from plug to slog. While I am attracted to the main premise and how to make it work I am getting stuck in a minor scene to the point where I don’t really want to tackle it. So, I think I will just wrap it up as best I can and get on with the rest of it. Maybe something better will come to me in the meantime. I am still in the planning phase for Out, Out Brief Candle (working title), but it’s getting along a lot better than I/O Error is. I’ve got the route that the main character takes thanks to Google maps; I just need to get the outline of the story finished. It’s a simple monomyth – almost sounds like I’m mailing it in as it were. Hopefully this one will pan out a little quicker.

Well, there is little else to report on as far as the homefront goes. My paycheck is a little less now that I am officially working part time, but then again, I’m getting burned out at work. Since they’re not replacing the people that have left (especially the higher ups, which were the first to go when the company got bought out), I have a sneaking suspicion that the department is going to be moved to a brand new location… out of state. The company is only hiring for two positions: neither of them are technical related and this particular company has a history of moving departments around geographically. So you can see why I am a little anxious about getting a novel finished.

Since the dishes and the laundry refuse to do themselves – I guess I should take care of it. Hope y’all have a good day.

Sincerely,

Seething Apathy

So… yeah. Nothing really earth-shattering or even mildly trivial to report here. I’ve taken to walking to and from the library at night after work in an attempt to get some exercise and for some odd reason, the joint of my nose hurts when I press down on it. See? Absolute boredom.

Out, Out Brief Candle is getting scribbled down on my little graph notebook. I am going to get some things settled down in it before I whip out Scrivener to use on it. I just seem to focus on one project. So, I am going to try to follow some sort of schedule as far as getting one out of the planning phase (Out, Out, Brief Candle), one finished (I/O Error) and one re-written (The Quietest Heart – which is turning into a disaster). I am still trying to get something finished by the end of the month, so my weekend plan may be nothing more than sitting my butt down in front of my laptop and getting the last one done. The re-writes should come a little faster since it’s now just a matter of cutting down unneeded words and tightening the prose. I can do it if I apply myself. See? I said that with a straight face – that means I’m serious. Since today is Thursday, and I got hammered yesterday at work, I am hoping to be able to get a little more done on Out, Out Brief Candle… particularly the faction of ghosts I am calling the Riders for now. I used to call them the Fisher Kings – a name I think I am going back to later on given what the Fisher King is and what that concept represents. Also, I want to use the title the Rider on another project. I really hate using the same sort of title over two different projects, especially if they don’t have the same continuity. So, I might keep the title of Fisher Kings. I’ll need to put that in the notebook.

As for movies – I’ve seen Wreck-it Ralph and it is a funny movie. If you’re a gamer, you’re going to get a lot more out of it than the average person. I saw it with a non-gamer and they were impressed with it. If you have little ones, they’re going to like the animation. I’ll also let you know of this – there’s an unexpected voice actor in the movie. I am not going to say who it is, but when you see who it is when you see the cast list, you’ll flip. If you can’t wait, or can’t get to imdb, highlight the empty space after this sentence: Alan Tudyk is the voice of King Candy

I am also going to finally go see Evil Dead this weekend. I think I am going to bail on the writer’s group this Saturday. I should have enough for movie and lunch and I haven’t been to Clucker’s in a while.

Well, I should get to the notebook and to my other lunch. I hope you all have a good day.

Sincerely,

Seething with Apathy

Well, I finally finished the biggest part of the re-write for the novel – I finished re-writing the three chapters… well… I got through the most of it, but I am not happy with the ending of the chapter (which I threw together as my laptop said it was going to quit). I am just happy to have gotten through the meat of it and everything else should be fairly straightforward. Chopping sentences here, swapping words there and I should I be finished within the week… I swear. I am limping along to the end of this. Last Saturday I went to the Louisville Science Center to see the Vital Exhibit. $20.00 and you can play ‘Spot the Necrophile’ in about a space a little larger than my house. Not exactly a great value if you came for just that exhibit, but if you wandered about the rest of the center like I did, it was a good day. The Vital exhibit was a very visceral cautionary tale of eating right, exercise and not smoking. Fortunately for me, I had seen some of those things before in medical dictionaries I would read for fun when I was growing up. Yes, I had odd reading habits when I was little.

I’m linking this here, since it looks frightfully helpful. It’s a series of links for writers. I just found it on reddit and I thought that this would be worth passing along to everyone else. I’ve been working on more of another ghost story in my head called (for now) Out, Out Brief Candle. I don’t want to give out more details than that it takes a couple of my favorite things: ghosts and post-apocalypse. This is going to be the next thing after I/O Error and continuing the ghost universe (?) that works through Night of Life, I/O Error and Out, Out Brief Candle. Yeah, there are some things I am carry over from one to another – hopefully this will all work out. Stephen King did this with his Dark Tower series and actually there is a webpage that links all of his works together, unfortunately, I don’t have it handy. It’s something that you could sit down for a few hours to see some of the links between some works that you’d think would have nothing between them. Makes me wonder of he did this on purpose from the very beginning, or this came later on.

Wow, I need some caffeine. I stayed up last night after the game and watched a show called “Ultimate Soldier Challenge”. Yeah, as much as I don’t like reality shows – I do like ones about the military. I pass it off as research (and some of it is), but it’s interesting that I see some of the same people in different shows. Anyways – my love affair with Apple TV grows with every show. I am considering getting a Roku just to see if I can get some shows that I am missing from Apple (‘Person of Interest’, I’m looking at you).

OK – enough commercials. Caffeine time.

Hope you have a good day.

Sincerely,

Seething Apathy

Well – how to sum up the events of the past month… this. Yeah – it’s been a hectic month with me quitting and coming back to fewer hours (my choice) and trying to finish the novel (more on that later). Wow. It’s been a time of trials for me – but I don’t have it as bad as some people. I’ve also been out tending to friends in the aforementioned ‘as bad as some people’ department. I’m not sure if what I did helped any, but it was in earnest and in the desire to help – so either I helped like a good friend or I helped like a drug addled baboon.

The novel – it continues along with me hoping finishing the final re-written chapter by Friday and work this Saturday to finish the rest of the proof-reading. Sure, I’m a wee bit over my deadline, but since I have a lot of I/O Error already done, I am hoping that the head start will help me get to the new deadline: end of June to finish the rough draft. I am also looking at various webhosting sites and I’ve seen this one. I’m hoping that it will stay up until I get the novel finished and put there for purchase (point price for a 70K word novel: $5.00 – a fair price, don’t you think?) if you don’t want it on Kindle. Yes, this will keep me from having Amazon doing all the heavy lifting as far as advertising, but I want to have my work out there for everyone – not just the people who have Kindles (yes, I know that’s the majority, but I want to have more than one income stream). Gradually, everything is coming together… gradually in a geologic sense of the world.

I did cut the cable and I have Apple TV. It is somewhat of a godsend. Yes, $100.00 does get me quite a bit (2 seasons and maybe a movie). The downside… there is so much stuff out there that $100.00 is a drop in the bucket. If I could find a way of posting my Apple TV wish list, then you will see what I am looking for as far as films and TV shows, only to realize that I am going to hit $5K easily. Another small downside is that for all the stuff there is out there, there are shows that aren’t appearing or I will be a season behind (‘Person of Interest’ is not there and ‘Game Of Thrones’ is a season behind. HBO – if you had just a web subscription service, I would jump on that in a heartbeat – same for you Showtime). All in all – Apple TV works for me as far keeping up with my favorite shows, but when it comes to finding new ones, it is a bit lacking.

I hope to hear from you soon, and I will do my best to get back to daily updates about things.

I hope your day is well.

Sincerely,

Seething Apathy

Well, this is certainly something that will make me want to re-watch the series (not the prequels for God’s sake). I’m sorry that I have been lax in updating this blog. Things have been getting hairy at work and I am working on the novel to try to get it finished by the end of March. If I get lucky enough, I am going to have the three added chapters finished by the end of this week and send off the second draft to the volunteers (no, really – I politely asked them and they agreed… the fools…). I’ve fallen behind on several of my favorite shows – with Fox, that’s usually the kiss of death. Anyway – I have some biscuits and gravy with a side of coffee in me, so I am feeling a little better.

As I mentioned earlier, the novel is coming along. I am going to work to get the chapters finished and put into the novel with any luck by the end of the week. I like the turn at the end of the chapter I am working on now (‘Paid‘). It does reflect on Rhona’s set of morals – yes, she actually has some and we get an idea on how strong Anya’s sense of honor is. Personally, I will be happy when this is done and gone. I am itching to work on other projects and get other things published. I am working to make this my career, and I’ve been told that the back catalogue will be where most of the money will be made. So I need to work on that back catalogue. On the up side, I’ve got so much stuff in my head I don’t think I’ll be out of work anytime soon.

They tell me that this Wednesday is going to be the first day of Spring. We had snow in my location yesterday:

The perils of being non-migratory

While I love the cold weather, I am ready for Spring. This has been a rather bitter Winter and not that much in terms of snow. Of course, feel free to point this blog out to me when the Summer heat hits me like a hammer. I am not a fan of Summer, but I am hoping this year to have enough money to try to go to a local water park, or at least get to a hotel with a pool. On completely unrelated news… I preordered Bioshock: Infinite and I got a little surprise – Bioshock! I got the original game on my computer. Seriously, as far as scary games goes – Bioshock is one of the better ones, especially with the better graphics than the X-Box version. I knew the Splicers were disfigured, but on the PC… yuck! Wow. This game is one of my favorites – an honest story line, choices that have strong repercussions further down the game and several very cunning lessons in economics, philosophy and politics. I hope that Bioshock: Infinite will be a successor to the franchise.

Well, it’s time for more coffee and a shower.

Hope y’all have a good day.

Sincerely,

Seething With Apathy

I had a good writing session last night and I had a good idea that I can’t wait to develop on – I am a little hesitant about it because it might paint the main character as a bit self-centered. Yeah, I don’t want her to be the white knight since that’s a stretch for her morally, but I also don’t want her to be the other villain. I might expand on it a little bit more – add in a smaller scene and switch POV characters in the following chapter. I think I’m going to get this done by the weekend and get it off to everyone by the beginning of next week – a little ahead of schedule! – and I can get to I/O
Error and get that finished a little ahead of time on that one as well. Just need to try to build on the successes that I am making today. I’m getting a little excited and giggly… no, wait – that’s the coffee.

Today I think I am going to go on ahead and finish up the Dungeons and Dragons cartoon series and do my own little analysis of it next Saturday. This Saturday, I have the writer’s meeting to go to so I’ll have to get up earlier than normal. Loki said it best – it would be nice to sleep in on every Saturday, but this is helping me with the novel. I wish I had net this group a lot sooner… I also wish I had taken this up a lot sooner as well, but only because of Amazon am I able to get stuff out there. I’m doing it now, however and that’s all that matters. Well… that and a payday.

In a couple of weeks, I will have a few days of vacation coming up to play this on Steam and hopefully get in contact with some friends. I’m going to write on Monday, since the game won’t release until midnight; but I have no illusions about Tuesday or Wednesday – few things are going to tear me away from the computer. Which is why I am going to try to get the novel’s re-writes done so I can dedicate some time to writing and some time to the game. Speaking of games – I am almost finished with Halo 4 and my disappointment with and of it grows mightily. I’m saving that for a future blog post.

Well, I must shower and get ready for work… 8 days remain.

Sincerely,

Seething With Apathy

The last time, I recommended the show, today I recommend the podcast. It’s one of the better show related podcasts that I’ve listened to (given that the show is still going… sorry ‘Awake podcast’) in a while. They keep up to date with news in the show and entertain listener’s e-mail without being snarky. All in all, this is one of the better podcasts I listen to on a regular basis.

Well, the chapter has ended and I am getting ready to start the second chapter for re-writes. This chapter should be a little slower than the previous one, with this one there is going to be more conflict and we get to see that the Scholars aren’t just swords a-flashin’ and a-stabbin’. There should be one more re-written chapter and a little tweaking of the following chapter – thus ending the main set of re-writes. I’ll send it off to my editor and my beta readers for a final look-over to make some changes and call it done. Celebrations will be had, bail will be paid and work on I/O Error will resume. I am confident that I will have the novel’s final draft finished by month’s end and eyeing an end of July formal release into the wild. I am going to shoot for an October release for I/O Error with Valentina’s Feast coming out hopefully for St. Valentine’s Day. Hopefully with those three books out, I can start to make enough income to either reduce my hours at work or even quit. I think I can take one more year there (provided I’m not fired in the meantime).

I had a wireless keyboard, but I had to let it go. It was dying and not sending all the letters I was typing. I changed the batteries, reset the connection a couple of times and there was no joy. So, I gently set it to the side and got out the original keyboard for the PC. I have to admit – I like the feel of these keys. Yeah, I am weird that way. I like my keys to feel and sound a certain way when I hit them, just like I use only one pen when I write (you’re welcome Pilot Pen – since Pentel killed my favorite.) on paper. Yes, I am picky about the pens in my hands and the keyboard under my fingertips. Sadly, I can only find my pens at one location, so I am going to have to start hording them soon. I don’t have a problem. Not at all.

I am going to do something over the next few days. Since I got the Dungeons and Dragons cartoon, I have been considering watching the episodes again and making some commentaries about them. I love the cartoon and I am trying to sharpen my critical writing skills a little. If I have to do something like this, I should do it with something that I love. I might do it once a week – Saturday seems appropriate. I am going to finish off the series (given my speed, the first review might be this Saturday) and start the reviews.

Well, I need to write, shower and trudge off to work. Hope y’all have a good day.

Sincerely,

Seething With Apathy

If you’re not watching this show, you are missing out. I’m a fan of the comic and I have to admit, I like the different direction that this show is taking. I do need to get back to the comic, I think I’m at least 4 or 5 volumes behind. Seriously – AMC is cranking out some good shows and it’s a pity that two of them are going by the wayside. Oh, well – I should cut back on my TV viewing anyways and make more room for writing. Yeah – that didn’t sound sincere to me either. 😀

I am rewriting a couple of chapters in the novel, and I have come to a bit of a crossroads. Do I make one of the members of the carnival somewhat sympathetic to Rhona in the last art of the chapter, or do I go on ahead to the next chapter and keep the carnival as a group of people that we are to dislike passionately? For now, I do not see the carnival coming back into Rhona’s life any time soon, so I don’t believe that there is a need to start to kinda-sorta humanize them. On the other part… well, no – there is no other part to it. We should keep the carnival as a group of miscreants and lowlifes. There – it’s done. We can go back to disliking them. I’m going to have a good reason for everybody to hate them in the next couple of chapters and I can’t wait to write it. Frankly, I can’t wait for this book to get done and printed. Which means I am going to have to work some more on it tonight… more coffee for me I suppose.

I still get ideas and I feverishly write them down, no matter how bad they seem to be at the time (why would someone want to be possessed?) since from some of the worst ideas I think I have, they can still be folded into something else and have a chance to shine (‘Lord of the Rings’ meets ‘Frankenstein’… really?). Never discount an idea would be the third good piece of advice I would give to aspiring writers. The first two would be: 1) read 2) write. Well, speaking of that, I should get back to the novel and get that new chapter started. I hope everyone has a good day.

Sincerely,

Seething Apathy

I know that I am going to be loopy tomorrow, but I can’t sleep right now since work has gotten me too keyed up to relax. Seriously, at this point, if I am fired, I would be the happiest person on the planet. They can take the house, the car and almost every possession. As long as I have a laptop, a power source and a wi-fi connection, I can write and do what I feel I was meant to do. I am just tired of having to bite my tongue when I am the one being called a liar at work because the sales people are the ones who are making it hard on me. Honestly, if I get another ass-hat on my phone tomorrow; I will stand up, gather my things and just walk out. One person who reads this blog (and such a benighted soul she is) understands what I am talking about since she worked in the same company I do. Seriously, most of my job is helping people – but it’s those few salesmen that I have to deal with… or more accurately, clean up their messes – that make me want to throw my hands up in the air and just hand the keys of the house over to the bank and say ‘Here you go, nie moj cyrk, nie moje malpy.‘

I acknowledge that I complain about my job and my life circumstances, and I also acknowledge that only I can change these things. However, the cost of changing them may be too high right now. I know that it is in my best interest to hang in there… but I feel that I have been doing that for far too long. As the Bard said: … and thus conscience makes cowards of us all. Of course, when that was spoken, it was suicide that was being contemplated, not foreclosure – but in my circumstance, it’s the same thing. To be honest, I feel at times that I am still at this job because it’s expected of me. I signed the papers and took the job. I better appreciate what Tyler Durden’s point he was trying to make in this speech. I don’t really have a house or a car or a TV or anything, really. All I have are a list of obligations – giri to use the Japanese term, but that’s sounds just as hollow. Giri is bound in honor and unswerving loyalty to your master, even if it calls for death. Is this it? Is my diamyo a bank – a huge faceless thing that reminds me that my duty is as light as a feather… or a headset in my case? Should I try to buck the heuristic learning of my parents who had the only concern that I stay employed, no matter the mental or emotional cost? I’ve spoken that when I am at work, I feel like I’m drowning. I know that one thing that I feel I’ve been called to do, and I want to run to it with the abandon reserved for lovers – but at the same time, I like that I have a roof over my head and a car in the driveway.

Am I the only one who has this issue? Or am I the only one who’s talking about it?