As you no doubt remember, Faithful Reader, in our last exciting episode Our Hero visited the Opthalmologist after discovering a new and rather annoying floater in his left field of vision. After an exam, it was determined that he was suffering from vitreous detachment. That is when the vitreous jelly (the clear goo that fills the eyeball and helps it hold it's shape) pulls loose from the retina. This is a common and generally not terribly troublesome side effect of aging.

The Opthalmologist told me to come back in thirty days for a follow-up visit, as it usually takes about a month for the detachment to reach completion. Occasionally the detachment isn't complete and the vitreous jelly can tear the retina as it pulls away. Otherwise, the detachment isn't a serious problem.

So I went back to yesterday and got some photos taken of the inside of my eyes, and had some other tests done. The doc wanted to check my eye pressure again as well. Today I went back a third time to go over the results of the tests and to have him dilate my eyes and check the vitreous detachment. The pressure in my eye is a little lower than last time, which is good. But the depth of field test* indicated one tiny area (in the left eye again) where I may have an issue.

It could be nothing, just a flaw in my visual field that's always been there and always will be. Or it might indicate that I'm at risk of developing glaucoma. So they'll have me come back every six months to retake the test and see what happens. If it does turn out to be glaucoma, they'll have detected it very early and can treat it long before I'd ever have noticed any problems. (Note: apparently, mostly glaucoma is never noticed by the sufferer thereof until it has advanced severely, so this is good.)

On the other hand, a visual inspection of my left eye detected a possible tear in the retina. The opthalmologist had a retinal special at the clinc take a look. Yes, he told me, I have a small tear in the retina. That's probably what the prominent and annoying floater is from--bleeding from when it tore. Good news is, that means the floater will eventually go away. Bad news: I have a tear in my retina.

Ten minutes later I was in the laser lab getting the tear treated. This consists of putting anaesthetic drops in my eye, then putting some sort of lens on my eye that keeps my eyelid from blinking AND prevents the laser from zapping the central visual area of the retina.** Then I stare into a very bright light as the doctor peers into my eye and aims the laser. Then he zaps me repeatedly with the laser, which cases a blinding flash of vivid green light.

Repeatedly. Mostly it was just painfully bright. A few times it felt like getting a poke in the eye with a finger. Once he'd dealt with the tear, he took a second good, steamy gawk--and found a second, smaller tear. So more bright lights and more pokes in the eye with a bright green laser finger.

Now I'm home and I can just about see again. Having my eyes dilated and then getting lasered made it impossible to focus up close for a couple of hours. I have to go back next week so the retina specialist can check up on me. Or sooner, if I suddenly notice a lot of new floaters in that eye--in which case, I have his card and I'm supposed to call immediately, and there'll be someone on call.

So that's my exciting laser adventure. Now I can truthfully say that I've looked in the laser, and that I hope I never have to look in the laser with my remaining eye.

*You stare at a target point while lights are flashed in different places in your field of vision, at varying levels of brightness, and you click a button whenever you see one. This way they can find any blind (or reduced sensitivity) spots in your visual field. They do this separately for each eye.

**Apparently, that used to be a risk of this kind of laser surgery. If the laser hit the wrong part of the eye, it could affect your vision. The lens prevents this (I don't know how, unless it diffuses the beam somehow if it's aimed at the wrong place).

I screwed up my computer. I accept full responsibility. I ignored a warning and paid the price for it.

However, I am now once again posting from my own computer. Thanks to the helpful folks at the OpenSuse forums, I got the advice I needed to fix the problem. In fact, the computer display has more resolution now than it did before my little "accident." (I think the fix involved changing video drivers, and the driver I'm using now can handle a true widescreen display, unlike the one I was using before.

I think. Not that i have any desire to monkey with it again, and won't for a long while.

I was also advised not to rush into updating my OS. Version 10.3 (my current version) was a very good, very stable release. The current release, 11.2, is also a good release--but there are issues with drivers for ATI video cards, which is what I have. The helpful fellow who told me how to fix my problem said that if I wait a month or two, there will very likely be some improvements in that area.

So I won't be rushing to update my operating system for a while. Besides, I've noticed a distinct lack of enthusiasm in myself for doing so already. This is my work computer now, not just my hobby box. In the past, if I screwed it up and it took a day or two to fix, it was frustrating and annoying, but only frustrating and annoying. Now it means I can't use my computer to write, and I wouldn't have easy access to my working files.

I would have access, mind you. They're all backed up (I back up everything offsite religiously), and the online backup means I can access them from any internet-connected PC. But working on someone else's computer is a pain in the ass.

Victory is mine! On this eighteen day of November, Two thousand and nine, I finished my Nanowrimo project well ahead of schedule. I have a novel under my belt. Not a good one--but a novel nonetheless. I'm very pleased.

In other news...I'm posting from my wife's computer because I've royally fucked mine up. One of the good things about Linux is that you are not at the mercy of Microsoft. You have far more control over what your computer does and doesn't do, than most Windows users.

The bad thing about Linux is...you have far more control over what your computer does and doesn't do than most Windows users.

In my case, I was trying to get more resolution from my video driver software. It isn't using the current monitor to its full extent. More importantly, I can't update my operating system (OpenSuse 10.3 at the moment) to anything more current because anytime I try i get a black screen and the error message "Input Signal Out of Range". That's been the case since I bought my widescreen LCD monitor, but it wasn't an issue until recently.

OpenSuse 10.3 has officially reached the end of its support cycle. No more updates or patches. I need to update my OS. Which wouldn't be a problem...except that my video card and/or drivers can't handle the newer versions. I saw a message today on the OpenSuse forums that yes, this is a well known issue. My Radeon 9200 video card is officially legacy hardware.

I was hoping to use a fix i read about on the forums to give me a little bit more performance. Alas, now my system won't boot into the GUI. it crashes back to the command line. I've tried almost everything _I_ know to try. Now I'm asking for help on the OpenSuse forums. If all else fails, I can always reinstall 10.3 from scratch. it will be a pain in the ass, and take a couple of hours...but I can do it, if I have to.

I'd rather not. it would still leave me with the original problem. If that's the case, I'd rather just get a quick fix and then address the underlying problem. Which is that I'm going to have to bite the bullet and upgrade my video card--which means I need to figure out what newer video cards a) will work with my equally antiquated motherboard (Microstar International's MS-7104), and b) will work and play well with OpenSuse and my Hanns-G HW191 monitor.

It's annoying, but it's also my own damn fault. I clicked 'yes' when I wasn't absolutely sure it would work. That'll teach me, I guess.

Project: Strange Attractors
New Words Written: 3,313 (very good)
Present Total Word Count: 50,445 words (50,082 according to the NaNoWriMo word verification page, but what do THEY know)
Goal: 50,000 words by November 30





Stories in Circulation: 12
Rejections: 20
Stories Accepted: THREE!

I'm less than 3,000 words from the end of my 50,000 word novel now. I should hit the goal tomorrow! Go me!

This novel will never see the light of day, of course. It will remain a deep, dark secret, shared with no one. Not even my lovely and talented wife. It's purely for practice, and as such I'd prefer it not be exposed to even the kindest eyes.

But I'll have a novel under my belt. Which means the next one will be a lot easier to write. I'll know--not think, but know--I can write a novel. And I've learned things from this effort. I need to be crueler to my characters. More conflict. Lots more conflict. Get deeper into their heads. And other lessons I'll be contemplating for a while to come.

But I'll have written a novel, damn it! And someday I'll mine this one for characters or ideas, I expect. I will certainly recycle the title and the character names, if not the characters themselves. Even some of the ideas for places and events. But done, you know, better.

Project: Strange Attractors
New Words Written: 3,423 (very good)
Present Total Word Count: 47,132 words
Goal: 50,000 words by November 30





Stories in Circulation: 12
Rejections: 20
Stories Accepted: THREE!

Nothing of note to add. Just the facts, ma'am.

Project: Strange Attractors
New Words Written: 3,653 (very good)
Present Total Word Count: 43,709 words
Goal: 50,000 words by November 30





Stories in Circulation: 12
Rejections: 20
Stories Accepted: THREE!

Day 14 was a bust. I didn't write at all. I didn't get around to writing until this evening, but I had a goal and I achieved. I broke the 40,000 word mark.

As is typical of my experience with writing, I alternate between feeling good about what I've done and thinking that it's no good at all. Now, on this particular effort, even at my best I've thought it was only good for practice at sustaining a story for novel length word counts. Today I'm feeling like it's not even that.

I will finish it. That's a given. But I have no idea how to wrap it up and I'm getting to that point. On the other hand, I had no idea how I was going to begin or continue it--and I'm four fifths of the way through it. So I'll just keep chugging away on it. When it's done, if it's as awful as I suspect, well, nobody else ever needs to see it. But I'll have written a novel.

Which means that the next one should be easier. And better.


Project: Strange Attractors
New Words Written: 3,969 (excellent)
Present Total Word Count: 40,056 words
Goal: 50,000 words by November 30





Stories in Circulation: 12
Rejections: 20
Stories Accepted: THREE!

An excellent day on the nano writing front after a slow start. I also had an idea for a new story, which I'm hoping to start writing on soon.


Project: Strange Attractors
New Words Written: 4,045 (excellent)
Present Total Word Count: 36,087 words
Goal: 50,000 words by November 30





Stories in Circulation: 12
Rejections: 20
Stories Accepted: THREE!

Thursday I had real trouble getting motivated to write. By pure will power I managed to produce 2,042 words. A mediocre showing at best. Friday I took the day off from NaNo. I slept in, I went by the comic shop and bought a compilation of Noble Causes, went to the library, and a few other places. Nothing special, just going wherever I felt like going.

Thursday night I went to my regular weekly face-to-face RPG session (GURPS Traveller currently). It was a lot of fun. Lots of combat, lots of fear and death-defying action.

Tomorrow (well, later today, now) it's back to the NaNo project. Also, my second sale, Bound by Convention, a sequel to Flying High will go live on the Cobblestone-press.com website. Yay! I'll be posting promos on various promo yahoo groups and elsewhere. Feel free to take a look.

For now, though, time to eat something and go to bed.


Project: Strange Attractors
New Words Written: 2,042 (meh)
Present Total Word Count: 32,042 words
Goal: 50,000 words by November 30





Stories in Circulation: 12
Rejections: 20
Stories Accepted: THREE!

...shamelessly stolen from www.wwtdd.com

Today of course is Veterans Day in the US, where we honor the awesome killing power of the American military and the god like race of supermen who defend us. Our military is so advanced and our soldiers so superior that if our government wasn’t filled with such panicky little girls they could go to war with any country on Earth and it would be the equivalent of Zeus throwing lighting down on the trembling peasants below.

Most people in Hollywood look down on the military because they’re pussies who want you to believe problems can’t be solved by kicking the other persons ass. Rest assured that any guy who ever says that has witnessed first hand as violence solved quite a few problems, but maybe can’t see it that way because he was the problem. When someone says violence never solves anything, what they really mean is, “oh please god stop hitting me.”

I'm at 30,000 words exactly on my NaNo project today. That wasn't by design. Oh, I wanted to reach 30,000 words today, but hitting that total exactly was pure coincidence. I hit what I thought was a good stopping point for the day's writing, checked the word count and there it was. Thirty thousand words precisely.

My next project today is to finish filling out the cover art request form for my latest sale to Cobblestone Press.

For those who don't know, the process goes like this:

You receive an email with a contract offer.

You have seven days to sign and return the electronic contract, which includes all your contact information, pen name you're using, if any, how you want to be paid (Paypal, electronic deposit, or a check--and whatever infor is needed for the option you choose), and so forth.

You also have to fill out and return a book information form. That includes your contact info (again), pen name (if any), title of the work (and series title, if applicable), word count, the author bio (again), two blurbs (one 50 words or less, the other 100 words or less), and 3 possible log-lines (10-15 word one sentence description that, ideally, will motivate people to want to read the book),

Finally, you fill out and send in a cover art request form. While CP has final say on cover art, they do ask for your input, and will send you a proof of the planned cover art to look over before it's finalized and banners, various size cover images, and other promo items based on the art are generated. The form asks for descriptions of the primary characters, any special symbols or themes you'd like to see in the cover art, and what kind of image you have in mind. The artist will try to meet your request, but as I say, ultimately the publisher gets final say on the art.

I've had two covers done so far and I like them both. Neither of them is quite what I envisioned, but they're both very much what someone else might imagine based on my descriptions.

That's what I need to finish up and send back to them in the next few days. So, I guess I'd better get to it.


Project: Strange Attractors
New Words Written: 3,504 (good)
Present Total Word Count: 30,000 words
Goal: 50,000 words by November 30





Stories in Circulation: 12
Rejections: 20
Stories Accepted: THREE!

I chalked up more than four thousand words today. Go me!


Project: Strange Attractors
New Words Written: 4,081 (excellent)
Present Total Word Count: 26,496 words
Goal: 50,000 words by November 30





Stories in Circulation: 12
Rejections: 20
Stories Accepted: THREE!

The story continues to go in unexpected directions. But I'm just letting it go where it wants, though trying to throw in surprises and cliffhangers along the way. Tomorrow I should hit the halfway mark, exceeding 25,000 words!


Project: Strange Attractors
New Words Written: 3,274 (good)
Present Total Word Count: 22,415 words
Goal: 50,000 words by November 30





Stories in Circulation: 12
Rejections: 20
Stories Accepted: THREE!

Nothing more to say right now.


Project: Strange Attractors
New Words Written: 3,118 (good)
Present Total Word Count: 19,141 words
Goal: 50,000 words by November 30



Stories in Circulation: 12 <---one less today because...
Rejections: 20
Stories Accepted: THREE! <---...I sold another one!

The novel is coming along. I have no idea from one scene to the next what I'll be writing, I'm just making it up as I go along, and trying to end each day's writing (or each chapter, if it feels like a good place for one) with a cliffhanger. Both for practice at writing a cliffhanger and also because it gives me a hook for the next day's writing session.

I haven't worked on any other fiction this week, alas. I'd hoped to do so but it just hasn't happened. Maybe next week, now that I'm less worried about getting my novel writing done. I don't feel as much pressure now; I still don't think this novel is going to amount to anything, but I feel a lot more confident in my ability to get it down on paper (or carved in electrons) in a reasonable amount of time.

Quantity, as the Soviets used to say, has a quality all its own. Let's run the numbers, shall we?

• On my worst day so far, I wrote 1,736 words. So 1736 words x 30 days = 52,080 words. More than long enough for many an epublished novel, based on my research into various epub sites, but not really enough for a dead tree novel from a New York Publisher. Even so, if I take two months to write a novel at that rate, at the end of sixty days I'll have 104,160 words. Now we're talking!
• My best day so far clocked in at 3,855 words, or 115,650 words in 30 days. That's more than enough for a New York published novel.
• My six day average is 2,670 words. Over a month, that adds up to 80,115 words, or somewhere in low-to-mid range of words for a novel from a New York publisher.

All of this is a long-winded way of demonstrating to myself that writing a novel length story is well within my power. It's something I've worried about. I've never done it before, but experience will go a long way toward convincing me (and my skeptical subconscious) that it's possible. And that's good.

Why? Because once I've demonstrated to my own satisfaction that I can, in fact, write a novel-length story, I can spend more time and attention on making it a good one. One step at a time, baby. One step at a time.

Project: Strange Attractors
New Words Written: 3,277 (good)
Present Total Word Count: 16,023 words
Goal: 50,000 words by November 30




Stories in Circulation: 12 <---one less today because...
Rejections: 20
Stories Accepted: THREE! <---...I sold another one!

Today was both good and bad. Good, in that I went out to get lunch for myself and Twoson at the local bakery, and when I returned I found an email from Cobblestone Press with a contract offer for "Queen Bee". That makes my third sale to them! The editor's email was very ego-boosting, too. She really liked it. So that was a very welcome surprise.

On the other hand, I just barely exceeded the daily minimum for NaNoWriMo today. That's not so bad because I'm well ahead of schedule--I'm 25% of the way through my novel and we're only five days into November. But I'd hoped to double today's production. But it was not to be.

Part of the problem was that we had a crew in today to thoroughly clean the furnace and heating ducts, so as to minimize my lovely and talented wife's exposure to allergens. I doubt the ducts have ever been cleaned before, and certainly not in the many years we've been living here. It was well worth the time, expense and noise--but it was very distracting and made it hard to do a lot of writing.

I admit, I might have done more writing this morning but I worked on other projects. I have my journals (this one and the livejournal of the same name), my Facebook and Twitter accounts, and I'm subscribed to a number of Yahoo groups of one sort or another. These are all personal accounts. Then there are the Facebook and Twitter accounts I've created in my pen name, along with the numerous Yahoo promo groups I've joined under that name.

That's a lot of accounts, and it means constantly signing in and out to use the right name with the right account. It got tiresome. So I installed a secondary web browser (Seamonkey) in addition to Firefox and did some organizing. Now all my personal accounts are signed in via Firefox, and all the accounts I access via my pen name are segregated to Seamonkey, so I don't have to be signing in and out and in and out all the time. Plus, when I open Seamonkey it puts me in the "this is business" frame of mind. I think that'll make it easier to juggle all those accounts.

Tomorrow, though, I need to buckle down and produce some serious wordage. And more cliffhangers. I'm trying to end each day's writing session with a cliffhanger, just for the practice. Today...not so much. But there's always tomorrow. I'm learning from this experience, and that's really the point.


Project: Strange Attractors
New Words Written: 1,736 (meh)
Present Total Word Count: 12,746 words
Goal: 50,000 words by November 30




Stories in Circulation: 12 <---one less today because...
Rejections: 20
Stories Accepted: THREE! <---...I sold another one!

I wrote 3,211 words on my nano novel today. Then I opened the file for another story I'm writing (working title "If You Catch Me" but ultimately to be called "Fast Friends")...and I had nothing. The novel effort seems to be soaking up all my writing mojo. I may try again later tonight, but I don't hold out much hope.

So, with a little less than an hour left before I had to drive downtown to pick up my lovely and talented wife from work, I opened the Nano file again and added 644 additional words. I figured, the sooner I get it done, the sooner I can get back to writing other stuff.

But while I was working on it, I had an epiphany. I could see the flaws (the big, big flaws) in this story. Which, to be clear, I was aware of from the beginning. But I realized I knew what those flaws are, and that I also knew what I needed to do in future to do better. (I have no intention of trying salvage this novel once it's done. It's practice. I'll finish it, celebrate having done so, and then file it where it will never see the light of day again.*) But the next novel will be better.

And that's when it hit me. I caught myself thinking about the next novel. I realized that a) I was learning from this, and b) that I was contemplating doing it again. Not for NaNoWriMo either, but with Intent to Publish in the First Degree. Wow. Maybe writing this terrible, terrible mess of a novel isn't just finger exercises. Maybe I am actually learning something from doing so.

To be perfectly honest, my lovely and talented wife has said as much to me. She's been incredibly supportive, not just of my bellyaching over NaNoWriMo, but of my writing efforts in general. I appreciate that immensely. She's said that this was practice, practice with my process--which I'm stretching from short stories to novels, a learning experience. And I agreed. Intellectually. But today I grokked it in fullness, as Valentine Michael Smith might say.

I'm learning more from this experience than I expected I would. And that's great. It's liberating. And now, on with the countdown!

Project: Strange Attractors
New Words Written: 3,855 (good)
Present Total Word Count: 11,010 words
Goal: 50,000 words by November 30




Stories in Circulation: 13
Rejections: 20
Stories Accepted: TWO!

Drove my lovely and talented wife to work this morning, then headed down to Eugene to retrieve Twoson. He spent the month of October there to help Oneson and DIL before and after the birth of Granddaughter, though he stayed with his dad. Now he's back here with us.

Yeah! Five hours in the car--woo! Well, five hours including a fairly quick stop in the McDonalds drive-thru to get a sausage biscuit, hashbrown and orange juice. I almost never eat at McDonalds, and never anything but the aforementioned items. But occasionally I just gotta have that sausage biscuit.

Then I drove down, collected the kid, and drove home, stopping to pick up some pork chops for dinner. Which Twoson cooked. Delicious!

I didn't get around to writing until late in the day due to my long-distance errand. I ended up writing 2,009 words, for a grand total of 7,155 words to date on the novel. Which still sucks. But which I am still intent on finishing. Today I made use of Dashiell Hammett's advice--when you don't know what else to do, have a man come through the door with a gun.

So I did. Well, actually, he was already in the room. Undercover. But he kick started something. Now the cops have arrived. We'll see how it goes.


Project: Strange Attractors
New Words Written: 2,009 (meh)
Present Total Word Count: 7,155 words
Goal: 50,000 words by November 30




Stories in Circulation: 13
Rejections: 20
Stories Accepted: TWO!

Wrote 3,239 words on my NaNo novel today. Or 3,184 if you go by the word counter on the NaNoWriMo site rather than the word count in OpenOffice Writer. But either way, I'm at over 5,000 words for day 2. Which pleases me mightily.

It's not the same novel I started yesterday. I mean, it is--I didn't scrap anything. But hard as I tried to push it in the direction I originally intended, I just couldn't get it to gel. But that's okay. I'm going in an entirely different direction, striking out into uncharted territory. I still suspect it will suck mightily, but that's not gonna stop me writing it.

While stewing about this issue last night (I didn't get the brainstorm and/or give myself permission to change the novel concept until this morning), I assembled bits and pieces of another story I've been thinking of turning into a novel for some time. All told, that story is already at around 14,000 words of previous work. I thought about using that as my backup story.

I might still work on it some this month, but not as a last-minute swap-in. Just as another story to be finished eventually.

Borrowing a page from the Book In A Month workbook, I started a companion document for keeping notes on the novel. I noted that I needed to change the description of the opening setting (a moderately large house) to something different (a small apartment), I've swapped out the heroine's name, personality and talents for someone entirely different, but who will suit the new direction.

Which means, of course, that the original character(s) remain available to me for some other story.

In other news (already shared on Facebook), I got a rejection letter from The Atlantic. No surprise there. I haven't seen the story out again yet, but I will. I've been busy writing til now.

And I got the first monthly royalty check from Cobblestone Press for "Flying High" (www.cobblestone-press.com/catalog/books/flyinghigh.htm). It's tiny, but it's a check! I hope to do better in the future, since a) this check covers only September and the story only went live on the 25th, and b) I aim to do more promotion. Plus, as of the 13th of this month, I'll have TWO stories to promote.

Anyhow, that's it for now.



Stories in Circulation: 13
Rejections: 20
Stories Accepted: TWO!

I've written 1,907 words today. It's possible I'll write more, but at a minimum I've done my first day's quota.

And I think it sucks. This can't possibly be any good. I can't possible write a novel based on this! Or says my ego.

And to my ego, I say, "Nuts to you!" The absolute worst thing that can happen is that when I'm done, I'll have 50,000 words of crappy novel--which will include at least some good bits. Good bits I can steal to use in other stories. So I'll just have to deal with these feelings of inadequacy and soldier on. Harder in practice than in theory, but still do-able.

I gotta say, though, that I'm discovering depths of self-doubt and fear in my attempt to write this novel that I haven't had to deal with on short stories. Or maybe I got past that and blotted it from my memory. It's an interesting experience. A "learning experience", as they say. But it's good for me.

In other news, I received rejection on "Ink" from Strange Horizons on Saturday. I immediately sent it out to Shock Totem. Never say die!




Stories in Circulation: 13
Rejections: 19
Stories Accepted: TWO!

1. Comment to this entry saying 'ICONS!'
2. I will pick 6 of your icons.
3. Make an entry in your own journal and talk about the icons I chose.

ithildyn chose the following icons for me. Within one exception, all of these icons are related my (mostly-former these days) online role-playing games.


This is a photo of Fred Gwynn (most well known as Herman Munster), but was also great fun to watch in My Cousin Vinny as Judge Hardass (not his real name). I introduced an NPC character into one game who was the CO of a Russian stargate project. Also a Highlander-type immortal. Which led to interesting consequences when he got his head blown off--by aliens invading thru the stargate--while my Immortal PC was standing nearby....



Jon Bartidge was the name used by Jack O'Neill's teenage clone in game I played in. Because I sometimes posted for him, I added an icon for the character that I used to identify the character being played.



The Grue, of course, comes from the Infocom game ZORK (among others). Toward the latter half of the Crossing Lost/Fandom Isle crossover RPG (fandom characters on the island from LOST), when things were dying down, I introduced the Grue. It very messily killed Charlie (in the body of Shannon--don't ask...), leaving Shannon permanently trapped in Charlie's body. It was only a threat in absolute darkness, but it guaranteed that nobody would venture into dark places without a reliable light source and a damn good reason.



Online RPGs are supposed to be fun. Alas, some people take them too seriously. And they create drama. This icon was lifted from a post on Wade Wilson's livejournal pointing out that roleplaying drama derives from a lack of perspective. It relentlessly mocks people who take such things too seriously, reminding everyone that we're playing pretendy fun time games, and cannot, should not, must not take them seriously.

I used this icon occasionally when I felt it was necessary to remind folks in the game not to get too worked up over what was, after all, a rather silly way to amuse ourselves.



This was my first icon. And for a very, very long time my default icon. I just like the Shadow, and the movie this icon was based on. It didn't do all that well at the box office, but I loved it. It had, as a friend said, "just the right amount of mystic wierdness."



Another roleplaying icon. Again, Molly Green was a character created and played by someone else. But occasionally I posted for her. This icon was used to identify the character in such cases.

The human eye is not hollow. It is filled with a transparent substance called Vitreous Fluid. About the consistency of egg whites, and 99 percent water. As you age it can change in consistency.

It can also detach from the retina--and will, generally speaking, in most folk as they get older.

A couple of days ago I noticed a new and prominent floater (shadow that can look like strings, streaks, clouds, bugs, dots, dust, etc. which are the shadows of debris inside the eye falling on the retina) in my left eye. It was rather more obvious than most, and close to my center of vision. Annoying, but not terribly problematic--except that its sudden appearance worried me.

Yesterday I called my doctor and got a referral to an opthalmologist. That night I noticed a new symptom--in addition to the prominent new floater, when I looked at a light or a large, brightly lit uniform background I could see thousands of almost invisibly tiny specks drifting around, shifting when I moved my eye. Not good.

Today I had the appointment with the opthalmologist. I had a standard vision test, a glaucoma test, and then had my eyes dilated. The doctor studied the interior of my eyes--which was unpleasant, as I'm very light sensitive and it involved lots of bright lights in my eyes.

His diagnosis was, as you've probably guessed by now, vitreous detachment. The vitreous jelly is pulling loose from where it was in contact with the retina. It's occuring in both eyes, actually, though more advanced in the left. It generally happens to everyone as they get older and is not usually a serious problem...unless it fails to detach cleanly. In which case it could tear the retina. If that happens (indicated by sudden appearance of flashes of light in my vision*, or a veil falling across part of my field of vision), then we're looking at more serious issues. It could well require laser surgery to weld the torn retina back into place.

With luck, that won't be the case. I've got an appointment to go back and see him in a month--the process generally takes a month or less. So he'll take another look then. If it's done and there's been no retinal damage, I'll be good as...well, not new obviously, but as good as can be expected. The new floater won't go away, though it may eventually drift farther from the center of my field of vision. Even if it doesn't, it won't present a serious problem--I'm already learning to ignore it, and at its worst it's simply annoying.

I am, however, vastly relieved that what I'm experiencing isn't terribly serious. All my worst-case scenario fear fantasies have turned out to be just that. It was a worrying day or two, though.

*And they won't be subtle, he told me. Like flashbulbs going off, so hard to miss or mistake.

I've been pretty pleased with how my linux experience has gone overall. There've been times when I've been horribly frustrated by it not doing something that ought to be simple, or doing things I didn't want it to do. As a rule, I've been able to hammer out the issues sooner or later, even if sometimes it required a complete reinstall--though that hasn't happened in a long time now.

On the other hand, I had the same experience with Windows, so "user friendliness" or the lack of same, is hardly unique to Linux.

On the other hand, of late I've been having more and more difficulty with getting videos or java applications to work. I kept getting "you need to update to the latest java" messages--and no matter how many times I tried to download and install it, the problem didn't go away. So this morning, when I got that message again, I started Googling for answers.

I began to get an inkling of the problem. I opened YAST and looked for Firefox. I saw that the latest version was available but not installed. Funny--I HAVE the latest version installed. And that was the clue I needed. I had manually installed Firefox to the wrong directory. It worked...mostly. But the OS wasn't seeing it, so some of the addons and plugins that should have been cooperating weren't.

I installed the latest Firefox via YAST and fired it up. Now when I type "about:plugins" in the Firefox bar, I get a long, long list of plugins I wasn't seeing before. Yay! No more issues with java apps or videos not running. Now I've uninstalled the erroneous installation (and checked, and the correct installation still works as it should). Hurrah!

Now, if only I could upgrade to a more current version of OpenSUSE. I'm still running 10.3 and they're up to 11.something. Alas, when I've tried to begin upgrading, I lose my monitor. I don't think that's a Suse issue, though. It's a monitor/video card issue.

I installed a wide-screen flatscreen monitor a year or two ago. Alas, my (old) video card doesn't have the capability of doing true wide-screen imaging. It's just sort of...stretching the images horizontally a bit to fill the screen. Which is an adequate work-around until I figure out what sort of video card WILL provide true wide-screen imaging AND will work with my several-years-old motherboard...but apparently, trying to upgrade the OS causes the system to default to a format that doesn't register.

Again, I'm sure there's a way around this, but I haven't been willing to invest the time and effort to find it, since I suspect it would require finally figuring out what video card will work with my motherboard and also give me the video performance I'd need. That, and I don't want to spend any money on it just now.

I've been working on edits to "Bound by Convention" the last couple of days, and it's been a chore. Not the edits themselves--that's gone smoothly. But for some reason the editor and I have had the worst time with bizarre issues when we email one another the text with the "track changes" feature turned on. Lots of text mysteriously transformed into all caps and lined out, comments missing, even several paragraphs vanished into the ether between when he send me a file and I opened it.

We're getting it hammered out nonetheless, but it's been troublesome--and in a way I never had to deal with on the first story. I don't know if it's because OpenOffice and Word don't work and play well together, or what. But as I say, we didn't have this problem with "Flying High" and I worked on that in Open Office too. It's weird.

In other news, I've been submitting stories to markets with faster turn-around times lately. Which means that when they sell, they'll sell pretty fast. It also means that while they're being bounced, I'm getting rejections at a faster clip too. Ah well. It helps build a thicker skin, I suppose.

Just got in from an evening of role-playing. It was fun, but now I'm tired.

Stories in Circulation: 13
Rejections: 18
Stories Accepted: TWO!

Two great things that go great togeth--no, wait. They don't. Never mind.

Anyhow, I got pinged in IM the other day. The artist who was assigned the cover art for my second Cobblestone Press story, Bound by Submission, happened to see me online. She'd finished the first draft of it and sent me a link so I could look at it. I had one minor quibble, which she was going to fix. Other than that, it's ready to go--and it looks pretty neat! I should be getting the official email packet fairly soon.

In other news, I saw Zombieland this weekend. It was damned funny. Gory as heck, but funny! If you don't mind gore, I highly recommend this movie.

In other other news, this week I was full of Writer!Fail! I didn't write anything much, certainly didn't finish anything, and didn't get anything out in the mail. But the week is over and done with. Or as Raoul Julia said in some road race movie (as he ripped the rear view mirror off the windshield and tossed it away, "The first rule of Italian driving writing--what's behind you is not important!"

I will simply work to make sure that this week I do get a story finished and in the mail.

Stories in Circulation: 13
Rejections: 16
Stories Accepted: TWO!

I spent quite a long while today finishing another Iron Maiden story to send to Cobblestone Press. (They seem to like them, and I like writing them, so....) The main reason I spent so much time on it today, though, was to reach my goal of getting two stories completed and in the mail this week--and that was the second one.

The first story, "Reunion", is a short short. About 1900 words. Not a flashfic, but much shorter than most of the stuff I've written of late. I like it. My lovely and talented wife likes it.

Tomorrow the cycle starts all over again, with a goal of getting two stories written. However, November is now less than a month away. I'm going to participate in Nanowrimo this year--for the first time ever--so next month I'll be scaling back to one short story a week plus work on the novel.

I'm in the market for a first reader. While my lovely and talented wife has been serving that purpose, I think it would do me good to see if I can find at least one more. She admits that she may not be critical enough for the purpose, though that's not necessarily true--and if it was, not insoluble. I may need to learn how to ask questions of her, to draw out her reactions to my stories.

Still--what am I looking for in a first reader? Allow me to crib from Dean Wesley Smith's blog:

– A first reader reads your story when you feel it is ready to go out to an editor. (Never before.)

– A first reader reads for pleasure to see how the story works to a general reader.

– A first reader stops the author from mailing a story that might be wrong in execution or too many craft issues.

– Some first readers copyedit a manuscript, but not a critical feature of first reading....

So, what makes a good first reader?

— The good first reader must understand and like your style and voice.

— The good first reader must look forward to reading your next story.

— The good first reader must be able to stand up to you and tell you a story doesn’t work, and exactly why, when given the chance to explain. And must be as excited for you as you are when a story really works.

— The good first reader does not have to be a writer, but must love reading.

— The good first reader must not have any agenda of their own to place on your work.

So there you have it. I'll add that I'd also want someone who can read it and get back to me fast.

Stories in Circulation: 14
Rejections: 15
Stories Accepted: TWO!

Woohoo! I watched Glee with my lovely and talented wife tonight, then wandered over to my computer to check my email. I usually keep Gmail open in Firefox so I can see at a glance if I've gotten any mail, just in case sometime wants to buy one of my stories. Most days it doesn't happen.

Today?

Tonight I found a contract offer for "Bound by Convention" from Cobblestone Press. It's my second sale, and a sequel to my first. The editor wrote, and I quote, "You sure make 'super heroines' fun to read about. Enjoyed revisiting the Black Knight and his Iron Maiden." I'm glad to hear that, 'cause I like writing about them--one of the stories I'm working on this week is still another in that series. Needless to say, I'm very pleased.

Stories in Circulation: 12
Rejections: 14
Stories Accepted: TWO! <---Yes, a SECOND ONE just today!

My story "Ink", that is. It's been bounced from four markets in the last two weeks. Ah well. Quick responses are no worse than responses that take weeks--and in most ways are much better.

I've got two stories under way this week. The previously mentioned "Chicago Style" and a new one I started last night, tentatively entitled, "Reunion". It's an idea that's been kicking around in my brain for many years, and had its origin in an idea for a role-playing game plot that I never got around to using. So now I'm using it in a story.

Stories in Circulation: 12
Rejections: 14 <---Yes, still ANOTHER new one today
Stories Accepted: ONE!

I got an emailed rejection for "Ink" from Clarkesworld. So I sent it out again to the next market on the list. That was a quick response--less than 48 hours, just as advertised. The next market promises to be almost as quick.

Quick response times mean faster (and therefore more) rejections over a given period of time. But also means the possibility of a sale that much faster too. And it helps me practice Rejectomancy. I don't feel so disappointed now when I get a rejection. It's just the cost of doing business.

I did a little writing on the current story (tentatively entitled "Chicago Style" at the moment, though I'm hoping to conjure up a better title before I send it anywhere). Tomorrow, more writing. I want to get that story finished this week. And, ideally, a second story as well. Two weeks in a row now, I've failed completely to get two stories done. On the other hand, I've gotten one story written each week, so I've got that going for me.

Stories in Circulation: 12
Rejections: 13 <---Yes, still ANOTHER new one today
Stories Accepted: ONE!

The big toe joint in my right foot (the ball of the foot) is hurting today. My "bone spurs with degradation consistent with arthritis" are acting up today. I pushed the push mower around the back yard the other day, and washed my car this afternoon wearing my worn out sneakers. Maybe that's the cause. In any case, it was hurting pretty good earlier. I took one of the anti-inflammatory pills the doctor gave me way for this way back when, along with a couple of Tylenol (can't take Advil while I'm taking the anti-inflammatory--they don't play well together). It's somewhat better now.

In other (writing) news, I got a form rejection for "Ink" from Fantasy & Science Fiction yesterday--exactly the same rejection it got from the Way of the Wizard anthology. Not too surprising, since the same editor is reading for both. Oh well. I immediately sent it out again.

Stories in Circulation: 12
Rejections: 12 <---Yes, a new one today
Stories Accepted: ONE!

My much-remarked upon (at least by me) first fiction sale, "Flying High", was released today by Cobblestone-press.com. It is, in fact, available here: http://www.cobblestone-press.com/catalog/books/flyinghigh.htm

Feel free to look. Feel free to buy it. :D

Meanwhile, I gotta get back to my writing, so I can do this again. I like this feeling!

Well, okay, technically it won't be in circulation for another thirteen hours or so. I'll drop by the USPS tomorrow morning to mail it after I drive my lovely and talented wife to work. But it's been written, spellchecked, first readered, corrected, printed and sealed into a mailing envelope with cover letter and SASE. It's as ready as it can be.

I'm pleased that I got it done. I started yesterday by taking one of my previous unfinished openings and continuing it. It was mostly done yesterday. This morning I briefly reconsidered, and wrote a page or so of a different story (same events, different POV and thus a different story). But I reminded myself of Heinlein's second rule (You must finish what you write), and deleted that. Instead I made a few changes to the current story, added a few hundred words, cleaned it up a bit, and finished it. Go me!

Tomorrow, I start on a second story for this week. Last week I failed to get a second story done. I must do better this week. I will do better!

In other news, my first sale (Flying High, under my Gail Roarke pen name) goes on sale this Friday at Cobblestone-press.com. Hurrah!

ETA: Just got a rejection on "Clean Up Detail"--and sent it right back out again to another market. C'es la vie.

Stories in Circulation: 12 <---Yes, a new one today
Rejections: 11 <---Yes, a new one today
Stories Accepted: ONE! (To be released by Cobblestone-Press.com next Friday, September 25th!)

Stories in Circulation currently:
Clean Up Detail (fantasy-flavored crime story)
Hotel Party (erotica)
Man-Ape (science fiction)
Watching Jennifer (erotica)
Home Invasion (mystery/suspense/crime)
Making Friends (erotica)
Surprise Party (erotica)
Bound by Convention (erotica)
Unconventional (erotica)
Queen Bee (erotica)
Ink (urban fantasy)
Drowned (mainstream/young adult)

I sent the story off yesterday evening. By the time I got home tonight from gaming, I had an email rejection waiting in my in-box. Oh well. That just means I can write another wizarding story and submit that for the anthology. They'll be taking submissions until sometime next year....

In the mean time--Rejectomancy! I looked at my market list for this story, then wrote and printed a cover letter, printed out a SASE and packaged up the story for submission to my next market, Fantasy & Science Fiction. Tomorrow morning, after I've driven my lovely and talented wife to work, I'll stop by the USPS and drop it in the mail.

I didn't do much writing today. I thought about possible story ideas and looked over some partials, but didn't get much accomplished, really. Tomorrow I'll have to sit down and write. While technically I have until Sunday to get my second story finished, I'm going to be busy with social engagements for large parts of both Saturday and Sunday, as well as the usual weekend chores, so...I need to get the bulk of the project done Friday.

Stories in Circulation: 11
Rejections: 10
Stories Accepted: ONE! (To be released by Cobblestone-Press.com next Friday, September 25th!)

I just emailed "Ink" to The Way of the Wizard, a 2010 anthology about--you guessed it!--wizards. It's the first of two stories I intend to write this week, as part of my goal of writing and submitting two stories a week (or one novelette or novella, if that's what it turns out to be) for the next few months.

I wrote this story over the course of a few hours yesterday and today, including some modest revisions this morning once I figured out where the story was supposed to go. Nonetheless, I count that as a single draft since I cycled through and updated before I finished the story. Then I spellchecked it, printed it out and gave it my trusted First Reader (aka my lovely and talented wife) to read. She loved it, which is good to hear. She really liked it, which was even better.

So with that in mind, I immediately emailed it to the first of ten markets on a list I researched this afternoon. When/if it gets rejected there, I have nine additional markets to work my way through before I have to go back and find more.

I think that I'm going to stop tracking raw words produced now--at least while I'm writing short stories. When I start writing novels, I'll probably go back to tracking words written daily--but even then only on individual projects. The running total since May has done its job, convincing me that I can produce words on demand. Now it's time to focus on producing finished projects.

Words Written Today: Irrelevant
Words Written YTD (since May 1): 131,457
Stories in Circulation: ELEVEN! <---yes, another one!
Rejections: 9
Stories Accepted: ONE!

My lovely and talented wife and I spent four days at the coast this past weekend. We drove down on Friday morning and enjoyed lunch at Kyllo's, a great seafood restaurant there. We enjoyed the beach for a while, then checked into the inn where the workshop was to be held. The workshop was all day Saturday and Sunday, with extra bonus activities on Saturday evening. While I was workshopping, my lovely and talented wife was busy enjoying the coast. We ate lots of good food all weekend and had a wonderful time. We even stayed over Sunday night to spend the next morning on the beach and eat lunch (Kyllo's again) before heading home.

So. The workshop. It was a two day introduction to life as a professional fiction writer, aka The Kris & Dean Show, taught by Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Katherine Rusch. With nearly a couple hundred published novels and hundreds of short stories between them, to say nothing of experience as editors and publishers at one time or another, they had a lot to convey. There were nine students there, including myself.

First thing they brought up was Heinlein's Rules for Writers:
1. You must write.
2. You must finish what you write.
3. You must not rewrite except to editorial demand. (Harlan Ellison's addition: and only if you agree.)
4. You must mail your story to an editor who will pay you for it.
5. You must keep your story in the mail until it sells.

That's it. That's the whole secret of being a successful fiction writer. Simple in theory, but hard to do in practice. Fear will stop you in many, many ways--Heinlein's rules are largely designed (intentionally or otherwise) to circumvent those fears. If you follow the rules faithfully, you'll do what you need to do even if you fear rejection or failure. Afraid you're no good? Write anyhow. Afraid your story sucks? Finish it anyhow. Afraid it needs rewriting--an excellent way to avoid sending it out? Mail it. Afraid a rejection means you're a failure, an awful person? Keep sending it out. Just because one editor (or a hundred) rejected it, doesn't mean the next one will.

Kris Rusch mentioned that she'd recently just sold a story that's been circulating for TEN YEARS. Sometimes you let a story rest--when you've tried all the markets you can find--but when you discover a new potential market, out it goes again. Never say die.

They spent time busting some of the myths that have grown up around writing. Myths like "Good writing takes a long time.*" Lots of classics of modern literature were written very quickly. Many if not most successful fiction writers write quickly. Writing quickly helps keep your internal editor out of your way.

Myths like "You must rewrite to write well." Again, many successful writers do no substantive rewriting*. That is, they write a first draft, spellcheck it, have a trust first reader look it over, make any minor changes the reader suggests (assuming they agree) and then sent it out. Rewriting (actually changing character actions, plot points, and so forth) generally doesn't help-- it does, however, allow you to sand off the sharp edges and rawness that gives your work your distinctive voice.

Myths like "You need an agent to sell your story." No, you need an agent to negotiate a contract once you have an offer on the table. And to play attack dog for you when you need one to shake loose overdue checks, maybe. But that's it. You don't need an agent to submit your story to a publisher, no matter what the publishers tell you. And you never, ever, ever submit stories to an agent, or listen to any agent who wants to tell you how to improve your manuscript. Agents don't buy stories. Editors buy stories. See Heinlein's Rule #4 again. If the editor is paying for the privilege, HE gets to suggest changes. Nobody else.

Myths like "Nobody but a handful of big name writers can make any real money writing fiction." That's just not so. They went into a lot of detail about this one, explaining just how you can make a very good living writing fiction. I may go into the details in another post. But suffice it to say for now, that making a living as a writer of fiction is not only very possible, hundreds of thousands of people do it very comfortably. It only requires that you write a lot (so writing fast is good), and that you keep your work circulating.

They also had lots of practical advice on writing--physically writing, I mean. You can't spend hours every day sitting at a desk wiggling your fingers over a keyboard without serious physical issues if you don't a) make sure your desk, chair and computer are aligned properly, and b) get up and move around regularly, including lots of exercise. Writing is a sedentary job, but you have to take care of your body all the same.

They also gave us advice on other issues--tracking your manuscript submissions, making sure your stories and documents are safely and redundantly backed up in case the worst happens (Dean's house burned down many years ago and he lost a lot of his early manuscripts in that fire), and other practical issues.

I'd heard much of this before, of course. I read both of their blogs. But a good part of the material was also new to me. And it was all very inspiring. I came home with a renewed desire to write, write, write--and get my stories out in the mail (or e-mail, as the case may be).

My goal for at least the next few months is to write and mail two short stories (or one novelette or novella) a week. The more stories I can get in circulation, the better.

*A caveat: there is no one Right Way to write. Some writers DO write slowly, and some do rewrite extensively. If that works for you, go for it. But at least as often as not, and maybe more often than not, that's not the case.

So I'm watching Glee! this season. They ran the pilot last spring, then again last week. The first new episode aired this week. I enjoyed it all very much.

I didn't think I would. When I first heard about the show and its premise I figured, "Pass!"

But then I stumbled into the first episode last spring and it was...surreal. Crazy obsessed people, music and dancing, weird relationships, high school as hell redux. It was fascinating.

And the second episode gives me confidence that it will continue to be a fascinating, slightly surreal world peopled with oddballs. And as the spouse and I discussed on our drive to the coast today, almost everyone on the show is Crazy!

Our hero, Will, teacher and glee club facilitator? Crazy.
Will's wife, self-absorbed housewife and crafter? Crazy!
The cash-flow obsessed Principal? Seriously crazy!
OCD Guidance Counselor in love with Will? Crazy.
Football Coach pining for OCD Girl? Crazy.
Butch Nazi-esque Cheerios Coach? Dangerous Crazy.
Cheerios? Run-of-the-mill celibacy club Crazy.
Rachel, would-be superstar? Crazy.
About the only character who isn't clearly crazy is the football quarterback Will had to mousetrap into joining Glee...until he admitted to himself that he liked it and chose to stay.

The first episode introduced us to everyone and sketched out the relationships. This second episode dug a little deeper--and there's been movement on some storyline fronts already, a very good sign.

Football Coach's speech to OCD Girl was heartfelt and made some valid points. I was pleased when she changed her mind to accept his date and backed off a little from her daydreamy pursuit of (the married) Will.

Cheerio Coach was simply growling at Will in the first episode. She was protective of her turf but didn't feel seriously threateneed. Now that she's had her funds reduced slightly--and lost face in a couple of showdowns with Will in front of the Principal--she's definitely out for blood. Will, of course, is clueless about this. He really doesn't grok--yet--just how seriously she takes this threat to the Cheerios' supremacy in school. But he'll learn...the hard way, probably.

There was lots of good stuff in this episode. The only real flaw, in my view, was when Will's wife learned that she wasn't really pregnant...but didn't admit it to him. Yes, she's self-absorbed. She's materialistic. She's a social climber. She shamelessly manipulates him emotionally. But I was really hoping she'd come clean--that we'd see that there was some line she wouldn't cross.

Alas, they went for the easy--and predictable--plot point of having her lie to him. Instead of telling Will she'd learned she wasn't pregnant after all, she told him she'd learned that it was a boy at her appointment that day. Sigh. So far there is nothing to suggest what Will ever saw in her besides her looks. I was hoping for better.

She did back off on the new house, agreeing that they could stay in the apartment they've got. Which, as my spouse pointed out to me, was some growth for her. But not much--and giving her some much needed humanity would strength the love triangle subplot. At this point, Will's choice is between his (self-absorbed, greedy, materialistic, manipulative and now deceitful) wife and OCD girl, who clearly has her own problems but at least sees him as something more than a meal ticket and fashion accessory. Were she more sympathetic, Will might have a genuine dilemma...if he ever sees the truth.

Will is almost painfully naive. He doesn't see his wife's flaws. He's the ONLY person in the entire school (including the students) who doesn't see OCD Girl pining for him, and he has no clue the Cheerios Coach has him in her mostly-metaphorical gunsights.

But overall I'm really enjoying this show a lot. I recommend it!

Had a nice Labor Day today. Hung around at home, wrote, netsurfed, did the laundry, did two loads of towels as well, wrote some more, watched television, and wrote a little more to make my goal of 3,000 words. Not an exciting day, but an enjoyable and productive one. Tomorrow, the spousal unit goes back to work and I do more writing.

Words Written Today: 3,415
Words Written YTD (since May 1): 131,457
Stories in Circulation: TEN!
Rejections: 9
Stories Accepted: ONE!

Today was a good day in writing. I printed out the first draft of my most recent story and edited it in the waiting room while my lovely and talented wife was being tormented treated by her dentist. When I got home I made the revisions to the story, hammered it into the proper form for an electronic submission, wrote the cover letter--and emailed it.

I also did the final edits on Flying High and emailed them to my editor. (I have an editor--squee!)

And I got an email from the publisher's announcements list--Flying High will be published on September 25th! No wonder my editor told me we were on a tight schedule for the edits. (It wouldn't have been quite so tight, but the first time they emailed me the manuscript to edit, it went to the wrong email address. It didn't bounce, so apparently that address exists--it just isn't mine. So we were late getting started once the snafu was straightened out.

But it's done, and on track for publication on schedule. Yay!

So--tomorrow. That's when I decide which story to finish next. I have several in various stages, from a fuzzy idea in the back of my mind to those with several thousand words written, but no real structure yet. I'll pick the most promising and start on it tomorrow.

Words Written Today: 2,942
Words Written YTD (since May 1): 128,042
Stories in Circulation: TEN!
Rejections: 9
Stories Accepted: ONE!

I'd hoped to get several stories in the mail this month. I managed one. A second is nearly done, but won't be ready until tomorrow at the earliest, so it won't qualify. I've done considerable writing, but not much has jelled this month. I hope to do better in September.

On the other hand, I'm now into the third round of edits for Flying High with Cobblestone Press. This is the final round, and then I assume I'll be slotted into the publication schedule and get a date certain for its release. I will, of course, let all and sundry know the moment I hear anything.

The editing process has been interesting. We've been sending drafts back and forth using Microsoft Word's Track Changes and commenting feature. Or they have, anyhow. I've been using either Word (on the laptop) or OpenOffice (on my primary PC). OpenOffice can handle Word's formatting, so it works--but either a) the translation is not 100 percent, or b) my unfamiliarity with the Track Changes and Style features of these programs is causing me trouble.

I've almost never used the Styles or Formatting features of Word or OpenOffice. We never made much use of it in my late, lamented day job, and I never used it at home. Any formatting I did I generally did by simply inserting italic or bold coding where needed, or justifying the text, or changing the font size on an ad hoc basis. Which was all I needed at work OR at home 99 percent of the time. Plus, mostly I formatted things to be printed, not electronically published.

That's a whole 'nother kettle of fish. I'll master it in the end, but it make take a couple of days of reading up on it and practicing. It'll do me good in the end. It'll add to my skills with Word, which won't hurt when job hunting, and since I fully intend to sell more stories to epublishers, knowing how to use these features to write and edit my manuscripts won't hurt in that arena either.

So. On to other things. My goal for September: to get at least three stories finished and submitted for publication. I'll also be attending the Kris and Dean Show in Lincoln City two weekends from now. I hope to learn a lot there. I will report on how it went.

No word count report today. That is all.

I worked as the afternoon DJ on weekends (1 to 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday) in my father's radio station. I had to get a third-class radio license from the FCC so I could legally operate the transmitter (i.e., turn it on or off) because I was usually the only person in the building. I read the news, torn directly from the teletype machine (AP or UPI, depending on which service was cheaper or had not recently done something annoying). I read the weather reports (ditto). I read some live commercials, or played prerecorded commercials, and even recorded a few myself. I answered the phone*, read obituary announcements and, of course, played music.

Part of the job involved arriving a few minutes early for my shift to pull 45s from the record library; the current playlist was kept in the studio, but you also needed some older stuff to fill in, hence the library. I also had to make sure there was paper in the teletype (paper which came in 18-20" long boxes, almost a foot deep, filled with one long fan-folded sheet), and change the ink ribbon when it started getting faded. (There were a few occasions when I went to get the latest news and found the machine banging away on the paper with no ink, with yards and yards of blank paper piled up on the floor. Occasionally, I'd discover the machine banging away (with or without ink) on the bare platen because it had run out of paper. Oops.)

*The phone "rang" in the studio by causing a lightbulb to flash. And you never answered it when you were talking on-air. So I learned to ignore a ringing phone until and unless I was good and ready to answer it, a habit which has served me well over the years. I feel absolutely no compunction to leap up and answer a ringing phone (unless, you know, I'm getting paid for a job where I _am_ supposed to answer it) just because it's ringing. Phone calls generally consisted of people calling to request a particular song**, or a call from one of the local funeral homes to give us an obituary. Many's the time I had to scribble down the details hastily while a song was playing so I could use later that afternoon.

**It was aggravating in the extreme to have someone call up to ask me to play a song...when I was playing it at that very moment. Especially when the song was really, really popular and I was sick to death of it. (It was a country music station, and if I never hear "Lucille" by Kenny Rogers, it will be too soon.)