Author Archives: Adam

Nine Days Until Clarion Deadline

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I’ve been thinking about Clarion for nearly five years now. Every year I have talked myself out of applying due to the difficulty of getting the time off of work. I tell myself that next year will be a better time to apply.

After giving it a lot of thought and talkign to my friend shweta from AbsoluteWrite, who’s already been accepted for the class of 2007, I have decided to get my application in and worry about the logistics if I get approved.

The application requires two short stories between 2,500 and 6,000 words. I only have one recent story that falls into that range that is representative of my current writing abilities. That gives me nine days, between now and April 1st, to write a second story and edit both of them up so that they represent the best work I’m currently capable of.

I still need to maintain my work load but as long as I don’t procrastinate and waste time there is no reason I can’t make the deadline. The added bonus is that April 1st is also the deadline for the workshop at Penguicon.

As a matter of accountability, I’m going to post daily updates. If you see me miss an update, feel free to send me angry emails and tell me to stop being a slacker.

Last night I typed up all of the notes I had about the new story and tonight I write a 700 word outline.

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In like a Lion…

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I’ve been keeping pretty busy between work and writing so here’s some quick bullets.

  • We took in a matinee showing of 300 on opening day. Great movie, worth seeing.
  • I found what looks to be a really useful book being released later this month. Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction.
  • A new year and a new Penguicon. This’ll be my fifth year attending. Instead of spending all of my time hanging out with my Linux friends I’m going to work the sci-fi side of the con. There is a workshop that I’m thinking of submitting to.
  • Working on the second draft of a cyberpunk short story. I’m weighing the pros and cons of workshopping the story at Penguicon (see above).

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Mice can do that?

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Mice are nibblely little creatures. They chew anything that tastes good, like cheese or peanut butter, which is a very effective lure to use as bait for the trap. I would have never expected todays turn of events, though.

Dena’s car was having troubles running. Some days it would be fine, others it would die every time it came to a stop. We ran through fuel cleaner, water remover, etc. We exhausted our meager non-mechanical options and took the car to the dealership to be looked at. The problem turned out to be that a mouse had chewed through some wires and the moisture in the are was causing them to make some kind of electro-erotic connection. The computer was getting hot and bothered and shutting itself off.

There was also a recall on a fuel pump or gasket or something, so we got that replaced and got out of there for a measly $210, a far cry from what I was expecting to pay.

Time to make the cats earn their keep and toss them in to the garage for a couple of hours.

Ecto and WordPress 2.1

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WordPress, the software that powers this blog, released a new version recently and I, like many others, upgraded right away. As it turns out, there’s a minor bug in the XMLRPC handling that breaks my favorite blogging client Ecto.

If you’re using Ecto and WordPress, you can apply the patch or you’ll have to wait for the next maintenance release of WordPress.

About damn time.

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Now that I’m all settled into my new office I’ve been able to organize my work flow a bit better. I’ve setup one workspace specifically for writing. Having a dedicated area to go where I can write undisturbed for an hour or two should help. I’ve already participated in my first Flash Fiction challenge at Absolute Write.

I’m happily back to using WriteRoom for my first drafts. I’m also looking at two other applications: Scrivener and Storyist. I’m going to give each of them a try and see if either one is useful to me.

I’m considering going to Confluence in July. We’ve been meaning to take another road trip to the New York area to visit friends and family and a stop in Pittsburgh could be arranged. If anyone knows of any other cons that are worth going to, let me know.

New Office

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I’ve had my office in the basement for as long as we’ve lived in our current house. It’s been pleasant to have a consistent place to sit since I started working at home. The problem is environmental. During these cold midwest winters it becomes unbearable to spend more than a few minutes in the basement.

Dena and I debated the pros and cons of getting an office outside the home but in the end we came up with a great alternative. We decided to usurp the guest bedroom. It only gets used a handful of times a year. By moving some furniture around and putting the bed in the corner we were able to free up quite a bit of space. We made the trek to Ikea and spent less on office furniture what I would have spent on one months rent for a small office elsewhere.

I finally have a proper office area to work again. My Mac Mini on the left desk and a PC on the right, with various laptops and other sundry scattered around. I now have a comfort zone to work or write, without the need for slippers, a blanket, or snow suit.

My Viking Name is…

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Auðun Bonesmasher

Your Viking Personality: You’re a fearsome Viking, but you aren’t completely uncivilized. The other Vikings make fun of you for that. You have a thirst for battle — unfortunately, you’re not terribly good at it. You probably know which end of a sword to hold, but you’re not a fearsome fighter by any stretch of the imagination.

You might grumble a bit at the lack of amenities on board a Viking longboat, but you can handle it. Other Vikings tolerate your presence, though they’re not quite sure if they can trust you to fight dirty.

You have a fairly pragmatic attitude towards life, and tend not to expend effort in areas where it would be wasted. Other people tend to think of you as manipulative and conniving.

What is your Viking Name?

How cliché

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The Cliché Finder is a fun little tool. It compares the list of clichés published in the Associated Press Guide to News Writing to your text and highlights any matches:

Ken Starr, who is spearheading the campaign to get the President,
says he’ll leave no stone unturned in his intensive investigation
to discover the true facts behind the latest sworn affidavit.

Taking leave from his prestigious law firm job, Starr has left
gentle hints that so far we’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg.
He paints a grim picture of the the red-faced pillar of society
who has tried to sweep the facts under the rug.

Both sides have unleashed a storm of protest in the ongoing battle
for the reins of government. But defenders are few and far between
for the disgraced and dishonored President, who aides say is
nervous and distraught.

I don’t know if it’s particularly useful, but it won’t help you find that forgotten can of corn.

Refund, please.

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A lot of stores offer price guarantees. If the price drops within 30 days, they will credit you the difference. The trick is that you have to request the credit. It’s a little easier now, if that vendor is Amazon.com, thanks to RefundPlease.com. Register your purchases with them and they will monitor Amazon for price fluctuations and notify you if there is a change in your favor (they will even include the direct link to requesting a credit).

I think it sucks that someone had to build a system to automatically watch for money due to the consumer when businesses themselves should be doing it. I think it makes good business sense for more businesses to be proactive about putting money back into the consumer’s pocket instead of playing lip service and playing the odds to increase their margin (only a third of shoppers actually send in rebate forms, I would guess much fewer are applying for price protection credit) .

Kudos to RefundPlease for coming up with a great service.