Some nice comments about my story, “Your Own Personal Genie” up on Every Day Fiction.

Cool.

Originally published at Grá Linnaea. Please leave any comments there.

So, as i’ve probably mentioned, i’m *ahem* a writer. Though lately i haven’t written much of anything. This must change.

Here’s what i wish i was doing lately:

1. Finishing the first 50 pages of “Losing Candyland.” (Some folks think it’s fine and i should just send it out. Others think it’s broke. I just want to do one last reorg and polish and send it out.)
2. Polishing the short stories i have and sending them out.
3. Writing a story a week.
4. Submitting to the major markets regularly.
5. Figuring out this !@#$ MFA thing.
6. Starting the next big project.
       Either the next novel.
       or a comicbook script.
       or a screenplay.
7. And i note that NaNoWriMo is right around the corner.

Some complications are that i will be travelling this month, am a panellist at TWO conferences (see next post), have lots of pay-work to do and am generally feeling overwhelmed and stressed. Furthermore, being sick and stuck in the house has left me really stir-crazy.

So here’s the plan:

1. Get out of the house.
2. Break everything down to reasonable chunks and only worry about the chunk currently in front of me.
3. Set a timer to force myself to take breaks.
4. Schedule each category for each work day. So some pay-work, some writing, some long term planning, some downtime.
5. Don’t spend all my downtime online.

I do want to do NanoWriMo or something similar, so part of this will be scheduling a chunk of time everyday to chip away at that.

So i might add a daily update to the bottom of my posts: What i’m working on , how it’s going, what comes next. We’ll see.

Who knows, maybe i’ll do another of my insane challenges or contests. I’ll keep you posted.

Originally published at Grá Linnaea. Please leave any comments there.

My novel, gently edited by one, or both of my little bundles of joy. Where’s the water bottle?

Originally published at Grá Linnaea. Please leave any comments there.

Guess i should at least mention how it was to go down to Writers of the Future, right?

It was cool and crazy and sleepless. Met some really cool people, made some new friends… awesome.

If you’re a writer, and you aren’t yet eligible for SFWA, you should be submitting to this every quarter. Some people have concerns about the organization behind the contest. I’ll let Frederik Pohl address that. Writers of the Future gave me more money for a single story than i’ll ever likely see again.

They put me up in a hip, swank hotel.

My fellow students were talented, funny and just great to be around.

They made me write an entire story in 24 hours.

And while the first half of the ceremony was imperfect. The second half was amazing and touching.

Notice Hercules in the lower left corner.

That's Eric Kotani on my right. He was full of rule.

Before the ceremony, they unveiled our story art. I was blessed to have mine done by Ryan Behrens. You should watch for this guy’s name and/or hire him. He’s immensely talented.

Me with my artist, Ryan Behrens

The signings they arranged had their problems, but i generally had a great time and it was good practice for doing signings at cons.

I cut a rubber stamp specially for this book and stamped every book i signed. Whew. It was so many books that i used up an entire ink pad!

So, let’s sum up, class. It’s surreal, a decent little boost for your career, pays well and is a lot of fun.

Do it!

Originally published at Grá Linnaea. Please leave any comments there.

John E. Rogers, Jr. writes on the Asimov’s Forum:

“LIFE IN STEAM by Gra Linnaea
(Illustrated by Ryan Behrens)

The first truly superb story in the anthology. Answers the age-old question of what would have happened if James Blish had tried his hand at Steam Punk. This would. I hereby dub this sub-sub genre Steam Monk. Religious intolerance, agents of the Inquisition, artificial “Babbage” brains made of wood and brass, chasms full of clanking and hissing machinery, an impossibly alternate world where travel upward into the “heavens” involves spider ships that crawl along the fixed, solid firmament of the sky, crises of intellectual and spiritual “conscience,” and some good, old fashioned action. What’s not to love?”

I feel a little squee.

UPDATE

John goes on to say later:

“Linnaea’s bizarre, rule-breaking steam monk story “Life in Steam” exhibits a form of literary bravado (and bravura) we need to see more of.”

More squee!

Originally published at Grá Linnaea. Please leave any comments there.

What can i say, i have a lot of interests …

CATEGORY: Awesome

Paul Cornell picks the thirty best comics for next year’s hugo awards. Neil’s recent Batman comic is on there, which *ahem* prompted me to finally go read it. Good job, Neil!

Of the comics on the list, the Secret Six arc charmed me the most.

CATEGORY: Politics

Mamaherb: I love this site. It’s a non-profit wiki that lists real home remedies and herbal cures. What an amazing idea, get free health information into everyone’s hands.

Marion Nestle discusses, “What you should eat, and what companies want you to eat, are not necessarily the same thing.”

Listing of which seemingly friendly local organic brands are really owned by which major corporations.

CATEGORY: Writing Stuff

The Sarah pointed me at these cool articles on Avoidance speech, and Uncontacted_peoples

From there i found an article on the Taboo against naming the dead

Sarah also challenged my to write a story about Carousel horses, so i bookmarked this.

I have this weird idea to write a creepy story around the long and strange history of the song Hey Joe.

Oh, and Joe Hill mentioned this classic haunted house, and i wanted to look into it further.

My good friend Damien wrote this article on how authors can find their digital readership.

Sarah’s bugging me to submit to this Good Housekeeping story contest. They pay a ton!

CATEGORY: Techie

Developers create a tiny super fast OS in machine language.

If i ever have any money, munna get me a netbook!

This is awesome. SUSE linux has an online linux tester. You can build a linux install in your browser and then download an ISO of your exact build. Sweet!

I’m really pleased to see Sony moving away from DRM eBooks.

Also awesome. These hardware hackers have built a scalable modular motherboard. This is possibly the future of computing hardware.

CATEGORY: Learnin’

Still looking at MFAs. Here’s some northwest possibilities:

Courses in British Colombia. (Though i hear they arn’t down with non-realist fiction, especially traditional genre.)

The Whidbey Island Writing Workshop sounds really cool and they offer a MFA. Hmmm…

Which reminds me, i need to get my old transcripts from Central and Colombia.

Ok, enough for now.

Originally published at Grá Linnaea. Please leave any comments there.

So,

I notice i’m spending a sizable chunk of my time and attention on NOT WRITING.

This is an issue.

Ok, sure, i’m researching MFAs (or feeling overwhelmed and getting nothing done about MFAs) and my Writers of the Future award and workshop are coming up fast, but … i feel grumpy about not writing.

Me no like.

I think it might be time for me to do another DIFFICULT AND LUDICROUSLY PUBLIC CHALLENGE.

I have some ideas, but nothing has quite come together yet. May have to wait till i get back from WotF. But i know it’s going to involve YOU and will be about setting daily goals and completing them and possibly CASH challenges.

Stay tooned.

Originally published at Grá Linnaea. Please leave any comments there.

Motivation and i are on a trial separation. I’ve been casually dating the twins, Procrastination and Distraction and my old girlfriend, Apathy keeps calling.

Feh, i say!

My writing’s been derailed since i finished the first draft of the novel. I’ve done a few pokes at a couple of stories, but nothing’s really gelling.

Me no like.

So, as always, this calls for drastic measures. I don’t know what yet, but stay tuned, cause it might involve cash prizes or at least me making a fool of myself.

Oh, and i might as well start doing music and art again if i don’t start writing regularly.

See you soon.

Originally published at Grá Linnaea. Please leave any comments there.

Readercon! Never been. A bunch of friends recommend it. It’ll be interesting to compare it to WFC, Orycon and Norwescon. This’ll be my first east coast con since i started writing.

Of course i’m mostly excited to see Sarah, closely followed by Paul, a bunch of Sarah’s friends (and possibly family) and, oh yeah, Readercon.

I’m excited, nervous, all the usual. I’ve been trying to do the whole professional prep thing: Black suit, biz cards, etc. But i’m having trouble getting my head into con mode. We’ll see…

Originally published at Grá Linnaea. Please leave any comments there.

It’s done. The book’s not in perfect shape, matter of fact it’s pretty sickly. But i’ve let go of this draft and sent it off to some initial readers.

Which means ….

I can shave off these ridiculous sideburns!

Here’s a recap for those who missed the progression:

Then i dyed them purple.

And now, with the novel off to the readers, i SHAVE THEM OFF!

OMG!

Hmmm … what should i do with this novelburns fuzz? Maybe i’ll threaten to mail it to someone who’s behind on their wordcount?

Suggestions?

Originally published at Grá Linnaea. Please leave any comments there.

Like the climactic final scene in the action thriller, i have to satisfactorily end my novel and write at least 3000 words doing it.

Wait.

Which action thriller is that?

I mean it’s like a show down between me and Valerie and E.J. I have my laptop and they have … wait … where is this metaphor going?

FINAL DAY! Valerie Polichar and Eugene Fischer (DOUBLE DAY!)

I need to hit 95,000 words and THE END. Otherwise, i owe them each $10.

[Imagine that whistling music from "The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly"]

Let’s see what happens…

Originally published at Grá Linnaea. Please leave any comments there.

I’m a little worried about today.

Sure, the end is in sight, but i think the climactic scene could likely be the hardest in the book to write and i have a bunch of meetings today and will be running around a lot.

Whine. Whine. Whine.

So, note to self: Rewriting a novel in 25 days … is hard.

So here’s the plan, fit in writing in little dribs and drabs when i get time, use tomorrow to pad out any scenes that are too spare, and then maybe go over the whole thing to look for anything too blatantly stupid.

Then i ship this off to the initial readers. Whew.

More importantly, THEN i shave off the novelburns. Pictures to follow.

Originally published at Grá Linnaea. Please leave any comments there.

For those new to the site, this will make much more sense if you read this first.

Hey all,

Been gone the last few days, so i need to catch you all up!

To start with, here’s a picture of me presenting Diana with her ten dollar reward.

Thrilling!

Ferrett, because he rocks, donated $20 in my name to GLADD. (This was especially nice since the &%$#@!^* had threatened, in the comments, to donate my $10 to the Prop-8 people if i lost.)

Let’s recap the last few days.

Day 20 – Monday, June 8th: Misa Arant and Jerry Oltion (DOUBLE PAYOUT DAY!) – YES! (80,018 words)

Misa Arant, you get a starfish. Jerry, you get an old fashioned pinball machine!

Tuesday, June 9th: OFF DAY! – (but i spent all day catching up on work. whew)

Day 21 – Wednesday, June 10th: Lydia Rhoads – YES! (84,282 words)

Lydia, you get a bowling pin.

Day 22 – Thursday, June 11th: Josh English – YES! (88,111 words)

Josh, you get a pocket knife.

Day 23 – Friday, June 12th: Teng Chek – YES! (90,254 words)

Teng, you get a bench.

I have a secret …

Ready?

… i’m one scene away from finishing the novel. (!!!!?!!) Maybe a little denouement after that, but that’s it.

Whew.

I guess to honor the contest, i’ll have to go back and find stuff that needs more description or see if there’s a missing scene. We’ll see.

Tomorrow’s contender: Saturday, June 13th: J Peters – 92,000 words

Novelburns update:

Health update:

Ugh. Haven’t been exercising at all lately. Hoping to pick it back up in the next few days.

Originally published at Grá Linnaea. Please leave any comments there.

Hey all,

I’m on track, but i’ll be mostly away from internets for a day or two… but will still be writing!

I’ll catch you all up Thursday or Friday.

Rawk,
Grá

Originally published at Grá Linnaea. Please leave any comments there.

Misa Arant and Jerry, i didn’t forget you. But i’m just starting now on the last 2800 words of the day, so we’ll see.

Whew.

UPDATE:

Totally did it. 80,018 words. Real update tomorrow, after i’ve slept.

Originally published at Grá Linnaea. Please leave any comments there.

Diana Standish is our second fabulous cash prize winner!

Yeah. Another burned-out day. Though honestly, i feel pretty proud. I wrote 2000 words that were pretty good. I’ll pick up the extra tomorrow.

Look for a picture tomorrow.

—————————————————

Next up: Oh snap! Misa Arant and Jerry Oltion

Crap, another DOUBLE PAYOUT DAY! I have to make up my lost wordcount and get to 80,000 words, or i have to pay BOTH of them $10. The deadly $20 day comes!

So, yeah. Going to bed.

Originally published at Grá Linnaea. Please leave any comments there.