It’s already Thursday here. This week continues to fly by – then again, I did do a lot last week. I’m also going to meet with the writers’ group here on Saturday (which means waking up earlier than I normally do on the weekdays, but it’s only once a month. No biggie then), so I’ll need to get everything ready for them tomorrow night. Since my printer still refuses to print black, I’m going to have to print my submission in a festive red color. In the New Year, I might just ditch the thing. Hardly print, copy, scan or fax anything anyways – when I need that, there are Kinko’s or an Office Max within shouting distance. Might just scan a few pictures I’ve been meaning to put into my picture collection (going on 6 GB now) and then just cast the printer into the can and save up the money to get something a little more upscale and reliable. We will see what 2013 brings us… assuming that the world doesn’t crashing to a halt. If it does – I expect several girls from high school to show and fulfill their promises.

The sisters have been introduced in I/O Error! With this, signals the beginning of the second act and the fight to maintain the ship. Speaking of acts, there is a wonderful blog concerning story
structure and I recommend it to everyone… the fact that it is written by the Hulk and that I am at heart a Marvel fanboy has absolutely nothing to do with it. Nope. Nothing at all. I am also working on creating a central mythos with this story that would link it to one other story I have written and several I have in my head. Stephen King did this with Flagg with the conclusion in The Dark Tower (I think he shows up in ‘The Talisman’). I like those moments when you read something, then realize it shows up in another work and you follow that thread through several books. Nerdy? Sure. Fun? Of course! I am aiming for a late February completion date for I/O Error and hoping to get it out there by end of March.

The holidays approach and I am getting things together for the marathon. Popcorn, movies, Danish cookies and hamburgers are being lovingly gathered for Christmas. If anyone in the blogging area is bored with hanging out with family and wants to watch a horror movie (or three) is invited. I will even make dinner (hamburgers) for those who come in. All I ask is that you have a love for horror films, and like your burgers cooked medium-well.

Well, off to get well-scrubbed and ready for work. Y’all have fun.

Sincerely,

Seething Apathy

… because I know what puts eyeballs on the page, ladies. 😀 OK – maybe not that. It’s a bit of a hassle to shave in the morning and people seem to like me with a beard. So, I might just go on ahead and let grow out for the winter.

If you were looking for deep philosophical discussions and keen insights into society – you might want to look elsewhere. Sorry – this is only the warm-up for my head in the morning, or to rant about TV shows or movies. Don’t worry, if I get one of those keen insights, I’ll put it here first. I promise.

We’re about a third of the way through I/O Error and I am getting ready to bring in the Sisters. I’ve been waiting to get to this point since I started to put words on the page. When this little scene is done, I’ll get to Rob’s scene in the airlock – although I think I might move around some things and get the airlock scene earlier to ratchet up the weirdness factor of everything. I also don’t remember is I discussed this or not, but one of the things I was doing was having Gail’s consciousness (?) split into two sides: the quantum side (which deals in quantum processing and allows to tackle non-linear things and to work better with people in general) and her logical side (a traditional computer processor, albeit one that could run laps around anything we have today). When I would write – I would have them interacting with each other like some sort of Odd Couple:

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.

It’s a cute line – it gives us a lot of information in few words. We see one of her internal conflicts and that could come into play in later scenes:

“Get a hold of yourself.” She muttered as she walked down a flight of stairs. “It’s only a CME. Milo’s been through worse. I’ve been through worse. The guest pods are working fine. There is absolutely nothing that’s going to happen.” Her logical processors pointed to everything she had said earlier and affirmed that the probability of anything to endanger the functioning of the Massive Internal Logical Operator, the guest pods and the android identified as Gail unit 23-Green were infinitesimally small enough to be categorized as non-existent. The quantum processors emphasized that even a stopped clock was right twice a day. Gail rubbed her temples – less a command of her dithering program and more of a mannerism adopted from one of the techs she worked with.

Again – interesting lines, but alas; they are not lines that should be in this story. The concept is that the reader is seeing everything that Gail sees, so when the others start to doubt what she is experiencing is that we are sitting in our comfy (or uncomfy bus benches) and harshly whispering ‘Yes, it’s there! Just look!’ So – in keeping with Pixar’s Rules of Storytelling, I am going to have to cut lines like this; however, I am going to wait to do the first round of re-writes first. Everything in its time.

Well, speaking of time – time to dunk under myself warm water and scrub myself clean. I hope y’all have a good day.

Sincerely,

Seething Apathy

… there has to be a temperature between 0 Kelvin and Just After The Big Bang, right? Yes – old heaters are like toddlers: they’re more durable than you think, but they only have the two settings of full tilt and naptime. At least I have my shorts unpacked, so I can wear those inside. It’s all about comfort, isn’t it? It’s not like I’m going to have visitors dropping by at random times. Even the Jehovah’s Witnesses don’t stop by anymore. Sheesh – you open the door in a black robe with a blood stained knife and suddenly I’m
the neighborhood weirdo? I almost feel slighted. Oh, well.

I/O Error resumes regular work tonight. Monday was a bit of an unexpected slow day at work, so I’ve been working on a separate piece on my tablet. As always, when I work on one thing, ideas for other things pop up. I have a new idea for how Gail sees everything, so I might go on ahead and make the changes. The idea is best described as ‘Terminator-vision in print’. The re-write for the first novel is going to go on Saturday and I hope to have it finished then. I have another writer’s group meeting, so I might have to cut out some time from doing laundry (Oh, who are we kidding? When I say ‘doing laundry’, I mean this). I like the group. I’m getting some really good feedback on my work, and I am getting exposed to new restaurants. My new favorite? B.D.’s Mongolian Grill. If you haven’t been there, I highly suggest you go at your first chance. Back to I/O Error: the whole plot is basically man vs. nature (stretching the notion of man) or number 31 (stretching the definitions of ‘god’ and ‘man’). This is going to be a good book since I love to tweak tropes and plot points. I just got to get it finished. Maybe before February 2014 at this rate – just maybe.

Next weekend, I am going to venture forth into the Christmas crowds and do a little holiday shopping for others and maybe even catch a movie. I doubt Argo is still in the theatres (which is a shame), so I’ll go see The Hobbit instead. My Christmas plans are coming along – I might end up buying Cloverfield before Christmas since it’s an integral part of the holiday season. After all, nothing says ‘merry Christmas’ like this. OK – odd Christmas habit to be sure, but it works for me. If any faithful readers (all three of you) have movie suggestions, I will be more than happy to entertain them. All I ask is that it’s a horror film. Bonus points if it’s either J-horror or K-horror.

On another thing, I am considering dabbling in Apple products. They’re selling 1^st Gen iPads for about $300.00 at Target. I figure that this is cheap enough (for Apple) that I can dip my toes into the system and if I am not satisfied, I haven’t plunked down a lot of cash. Of course, $300.00 is also the cost of having a website hosted for a year. So, I’ll have to prioritize things. I also need to get that tattoo I promised myself. We will see what I get as far as a paycheck goes and work from there.

Speaking of work – I need to get showered, dressed (yeah – apparently nudity is distracting at work… even more so for me) and off to work. I really hope that this Tuesday is a slow one.

Sincerely,

Seething Apathy

No more overtime for me this year. Nope. A 61 hour work week is good enough for gifts and a little something for me. This Christmas, I am going to follow the tradition of cooking hamburgers and watching horror films. The prospective list:

• The Ring (always starts the marathon)
  
• 1406
  
• Population 426
  
• Drag Me To Hell
  
• The Ruins
  
• Cloverhill (always ends the marathon)
  

I’m not a fan of the holiday season, and this is the best way to celebrate it. It’s not candy canes and wrapping paper, but it works for me. Standing invitation for readers of this blog – I’ll cook for you and we can enjoy the movies. Popcorn, hamburgers, fries and beans – nothing says ‘holidays‘ like screaming at the top of your lungs.

As some of you might know, I am a fan of paranormal shows… but I think with the show Haunted Encounters we’ve jumped the shark. There are some good shows out there, but now it’s as if the only way to get a show is you have to have ‘paranormal’ in the title. Personally, I am waiting for The Paranormal Top-Chef Survivor Race to come out next year. I promise that I will bemoan the death of TV on the Saturday posting.

Now that I am back to the regular hours, I am trying to get back in I/O Error and get to the climax by the end of January. Also, this Saturday, I am going to finish the re-write for the first novel and get that out the door. This reminds me; I have to get back to the artist and give her my notes on the cover art and write the back blurb for the book cover. Once all that’s done, I can start to get my stuff together for the website. With any luck, it’s going to be early next year that the site goes live and I will soon be able to give y’all the video of me cashing the first royalty check and having my lunch.

Another thing I will need to consider getting over the holidays is a new coffee machine. It’s getting colder and I could use a warm caffeinated drink in the morning. I also found this, so I am certainly going to give it a shot. It might be the thing to get me going in the morning or at least keep me warm. Don’t get me wrong, I am not going to abandon Starbucks, but there is no store on my way to work. I know, I am just as shocked as you are. Since I keep some odd hours, there are no open Starbucks on the way home either (I take a different way home than I do from work). The only one I am near is the one in the local Kroger’s and I hit that on the weekends.

Well, I need to get ready to head out. Hope you all have a good day.

Sincerely,
Seething Apathy

The plumber is coming.  Which means I get to remind myself that I can freak out privately when he’s gone.  Sorry, I don’t like strangers in the house to the point of insanity, but the plumbing needs to be fixed.  So, between that and the few hours of sleep I’ve been getting, this is not going to be the best of days.  Time to double (or even triple?) down on the Pepsi Max (you listening, guys?) and smile on the phone.

Well, the writing has dropped to a crawl thanks to the extra hours.  This weekend, I am committed to finishing the last of the re-writes and maybe getting someone new to read it.  I’ve got to get back with the artist and give my notes concerning the cover art.  After that, I need to get the websites set up and get it uploaded.  I will be happy to get that novel finished so I can give I/O Error my full attention and get it finished before the end of spring. I’ve read from another successful self-published writer that you have to manage a book a year.  I am fairly certain I can do more than that.  Of course, she writes erotica, so I would imagine she’s going to be a little more popular as it were.  I can give that a shot… under a pseudonym obviously.  Which means I’ll have to read erotica to get an idea as to what is expected and some sense of vocabulary.  Work, work, work. 🙂

I think the plumber is here, so I am going to sign off and quietly panic.

Sincerely,
Seething Apathy

They cut my overtime hours. Seriously. Of course, not today… but for the next week, I am going to be working from 12:00 pm to 12:00 am. Apparently those extra 5 hours are going to make a world of difference. I’m sure most people would say neat, I can get some more sleep. I’m saying: sleep is for the week, I need cash. Sci-Fi artists and editors aren’t cheap.  It’s not only that (and this could be the sleep deprivation talking), but if you say that you need my help from x to y and I agree… then give me x to y. Now, I have to change my schedule again. I’m the kind of person that can’t change the mental aspects of a plan easily. I’ve got to get myself mentally ready (work myself up to it, and I was ready to go).

The way they did it was a little rankling. I would have liked to have gotten something in the way of thanks for stepping up to help, but it looks like we’re not going to need all of those hours you put in. Not don’t come in until 12:00 for the rest of the week.  A little acknowledging of volunteering to work 16 hours a day for five days a week on only five hours of sleep per day would be nice. The paycheck would have been nice too. It is, however, the principle of the matter for me.

Well, round two is gearing up, so I must hie and away. I will have a better post for you tomorrow, I promise.

Sincerely yours,
Seething Apathy

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