Captains · Courageous

( SPOILER ALERT!!! Don't click on this unless you're fine with having the plot of this movie spoiled.... )

Part of the problem with being a "full time writer" is that you don't actually get to spend the whole day writing. Taking the past few days as an example, my full-time writing has also included lawn mowing, gutter cleaning, setting up my parents' computer*, running a check to the bank for my wife, chasing down and medicating one neurotic dog who is already so freaked out by the firecrackers that she won't even let me use the bathroom in peace, cleaning the house, and oh yeah, minor things like meals.

I've settled into a routine with three writing stints: one stretch in the morning, one after lunch, and one in the evening. If I do 1000-1500 words each time, I come out with a respectible day's work. But it's a nice little reality-check to the daydream about quitting the day job.

Thanks for all of the comments and suggestions about the collection intro. Sorry I haven't been quite as responsive as usual, but if you've been reading, you know why.

Finally, I noticed that the "Friend of" list just crossed the 600 mark. Which doesn't actually mean anything, but it's fun to see the numbers turn over. I know a few people de-friended me the day of the pig/frog post, which I kind of expected, but it's nice to see more new people stopping by.

And now I'm off again to:

A) Start re-reading The Mermaid's Madness
B) Start writing that introduction
C) Start writing a letter of reference for a friend

But before I go back to the writing, I have to:

D) Clip a dog's toenails so she stops tearing up our door**

-----
*They fed me dinner, so I'm certainly not complaining!

**Because the cats have already been vaccuumed.

Current Mood:

accomplished

Ow. Not going into town after all. Ribs on the other side decided to hurt. In a lot of pain, drugging myself up now. What's wrong with me?

Okay, here they are, finally! Pictures from two days of Disney. These are just a few; if you follow the link to the Flickr set, here, you'll see a bunch more. And this isn't even all of them. I would've been way over my free Flickr upload limit for the month, and I'll still want to put some pictures from Montana up later. Anyway, guess there's no question about my favorite subject. :)  Also, just wanted to say that Orion's uncle Keith took off time from work to go with us, and that was an added bonus. Thanks, Keith, for everything! 

Here we are on the tram the first day, heading to the main gates.

I had not been on the submarine ride since they updated it to the Finding Nemo theme. 

Orion and Keith shoot 'em up in the gift shop after the Astro Blasters ride.

Day Two was across the way at California Adventure. How could I resist THIS picture with my "O" boy?

Under the Golden Gate Bridge...replica.

With Chip. Er, Dale. Uh...one has a black nose, one a red. I can never remember. :)  Orion was looking at the waterfall, and the 'munk came up to him and tapped him on the shoulder. He was certainly surprised!

With Frozone, from The Incredibles. 

Yes, they are Bug Buggies. Bumper cars that went soooooo slow! But Orion loved it. Funny how he could get a kick out of this ride, and also enjoy (the most!) the high speed roller coaster "California Screamin'" (more on that for a later post)

We ran back to Disneyland after California Adventure closed at 10 pm. Finally, Orion gets his big lollipop. Who says this isn't one of the Happiest Places on Earth?

We didn't see Mickey the whole time there. But we did catch the other half...

After midnight, heading back to the car. Orion's Disney adventure is complete--he can barely keep his eyes open.

Hot Chicks: the Roleplaying Game

It's like the evil twin of Awesome Women Kicking Ass.

Hat Tip: thebitterguy

Update: They've got a whole line of badly done poser art! Oh boy!

Update 2: The most amusing thing to me is that none of these faux women are, in any way, "hot."

Look for "Alien Voices" by P.R. Frost from the "Future We Wish We Had" anthology edited by Greenberg and Lickiss 12/07

Also "The Final Choice" by Irene Radford from the "Fate Fantastic" anthology edited by Greenberg and Hoyt 10/07

If you'd rather not download from the SFWA website, I can send you electronic copy via email. You know how to find me in the directory.

If you aren't a SFWA member, you can find the stories in the available anthologies.

A great big huge thankyou to all who have already recommended either or both of these stories. Virtual hugs to one and all.

Current Mood:

hopeful

Later in the day we tramped all over the surrounding meadows in waist high wet grass looking for Banockburn. At the time we didn't realize the famous battle field was 4+ miles away.

I finally got to pay homage to Robert The Bruce when I went back for WorldCon in 2004.

Have a safe and happy celebration.

This is by the talented and amazing Lea Hernandez, divalea here on LiveJournal:

When she changes shape, she still has her glasses, as seen in these roughs by Lea:

Her Grades (game stats) are:

Citizenship: C
Fitness: B
Hygiene: C
Occult: C
Scholastics: B
Vocational: A

divalea

Here are some nice pictures by my friend Louis le Clerc:

*Only kidding* We'll be watching safely from the sidelines. I couldn't get Mama to ride in the little red wagon, anyway.

But that's not what he said. The remark they're hopping on is this: "Well, I don’t think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president.” Clark did say that, but the comment is out of context. Clark was being interviewed on FACE THE NATION, and the interview went more like this: Clark was questioning McCain's actual experience to be Commander-in-Chief. He said: "I certainly honor his service as a prisoner of war… But he hasn’t held executive responsibility. That large squadron in the Navy that he commanded—that wasn’t a wartime squadron. He hasn’t been there and ordered the bombs to fall."

Moderator Bob Schieffer interrupted at that point, saying that “Barack Obama has not had any of those experiences, either, nor has he ridden in a fighter plane and gotten shot down."

Clark responded: “Well, I don’t think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president.”

You see: Clark used the image that Shieffer put out there, and responded properly. There was no disrespect for McCain, and in fact, Clark made a comment that is perfectly valid.

But you'd think from the McCain camp that Clark had gone after McCain with a carving knife.

What's horrible is that the media rode the controversy -- just as they did with the Swift Boat ads. What's disturbing is that Obama caved almost immediately and 'rejected' Clark's remark rather than saying "Hey, that was a remark taken out of context, and there's nothing wrong with it. The truth is that getting shot down isn't a qualification to be president, any more than being black or being a woman qualifies you to be president. What qualifies you to be president are the ideas, the policies, and the vision you bring to the table."

Interestingly, you can see Rove-ian fingerprints all over the McCain response. The McCain campaign trotted out retired Col. Bud Day to froth at the mouth. He said: “This backhanded slap against John as not being a worthy warrior because he just got shot down is one of the more surprising insults in my military history."

As the NY Times column by Paul Krugman points out, this is the height of irony, since Day appeared in the '04 Swift boat ads questioning John Kerry's military service. Wow. Kettle, meet pot. That's ignoring the fact that Clark never said McCain wasn't a "worthy warrior" and had in fact a moment before praised McCain's war service.

Welcome to Karl Rove's third presidential campaign. Expect more of this crap. The question is: will it work this time? Will the media continue to just gleefully pile on whenever a misdirected and questionable 'scandal' erupts in the campaign? Will the Dems continue to respond as spinelessly as they did during the Kerry campaign when it happens?

While gas is definitely a LOT more expensive than it was during vacation time last year, for this big trip for two of us, it was still infinitely cheaper than airline tickets, and, of course, gave us a lot more flexibility. Having places to stay at most stops didn't hurt the final bill either. :)

The final gas bill was $323.
Total miles driven: 3,100

In case you're curious as to what the prices were like around the West, they ranged considerably. Here are a few examples:
$4.18 a gallon in McMinnville OR
$4.59 a gallon in Los Angeles, CA
$3.97 a gallon near West Jordan, UT
$3.99 a gallon in Ronan, MT 
$3.89 a gallon in Couer d'Alene, ID

My Toyota Corolla (2006) got pretty good mileage, as high as 45 mpg, to a low of 32 mpg. The 32 mpg was during the trek from LA, through the desert, past Las Vegas, as far as Cedar City UT.  At one point, outside temperatures (according to my outside temperature gauge) hit 114 degrees F.  I hit 44 mpg and 45 mpg on the Oregon leg and the leg from Utah toward Montana.

Our stops included:
McMinnville Oregon (Hendees)
Sacramento (my sister was working here, and put us up at a hotel for the night)
Sunland, CA (Keith)
Anaheim (hotel)
Sunland, CA (Keith)
Cedar City, UT (hotel)
West Jordan, UT (Ken Rand)
Lakeside, MT (my folks place on Flathead Lake, two nights)
back home!

Route outlined in red:

But right now, I'll post a few pics and a link to the full Flickr set for our visits with Barb & JC Hendee, Ken Rand, and Keith Boulger (Keith went with us to Disney, too, but we'll keep those pics in a separate set).

Barb & JC hanging out in their office. Those are framed art pieces of cover art from their Noble Dead series.

Ken Rand signing one of my books!

Orion at Keith Boulger's house. Honna's brother is quite the artist, AND home remodeler. He's in the midst of it, and we saw quite a bit of amazing work he's already done. This is the morning before heading out to Disney, the first day, as evidenced by Orion's shirt, How to Be a Pirate (Mickey - style!)

Find the Flickr set right here.

But the earlier convention allows me to go. First time for everything, I guess, regarding panels. I got put on three!

They are:

Clarion West Student Readings: The Late 80s       Fri       11:30       
On-demand publishing - Trends and possibilities    Sun     10:00       
Small Press Publishing                                       Wed     16:00       

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/livejournal/MAIg/~3/326286507/imagine-if-they.html

However, o experienced ones, once you have a series of deadlines that demand quick and steady production, does that mean your position on that sliding scale moves toward more careful plotting up front?  Less plotting? Or do you advance-plan your books with about the same level of detail as before?

Current Mood:

curious

2. Ever repeat a word so much it starts to lose its meaning? Writing a book is like that, only with 90,000 words.

3. I need a little help from the LJ mind. In addition to the novel, I also told my German editor I'd try to write an introduction for my collection. The trouble is, I've got no idea what approach to take with this. So I thought I'd ask all of you. What sort of things do you like to see in the opening pages of a collection or anthology? What approaches bore you to tears? What special insights would you want into either the stories or the author?

4. In the first chapter of the latest Simon Green book, our hero shoots several demons with a gun that fires projectiles made of frozen holy water. It's a brilliant idea ... or rather, it would be, if I hadn't seen the "ice bullet" myth so conclusively busted on an episode of Mythbusters. Maybe this is supposed to be a magic gun, I don't know. But I think Mythbusters should be required viewing for would-be authors.

Actually radconbob had a hot pink T make up that says, "All my black t shirts are dirty."

Have you noticed that almost all con t shirts, and t shirts available at cons are black?

Did you know there are about 85 shades of black? I mean it. Go to a fabric store and grab a bolt of black broadcloth. Take that bolt over to the wall of velvets. They won't match. One will be greyer, or bluer. Now walk the bolt over to sikies and you'll find a dozen or more bolts, none the same. You can take that bolt of broadcloth through the entire store and be lucky to find a match.

So with that in mind, I dug out my black shorts for the first time this season. All those black con t shirts look tacky with them because they don't match. Then when I used the lint roller on the shorts, the white lint came off looking royal blue. Go figure.

Just musing on colors. Nothing important here.

Current Mood:

weird