Since all the cool kids are doing it, here’s are my results from the Aspie Quiz:

Your Aspie score: 162 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 52 of 200
You are very likely an Aspie

So, err, yeah.

Time for a weekly update, since I’ve been slacking. Work is still trying to kick my ass but I’m giving as good as I’m getting. This is the month of two or three major updates that will make my job much easier. I still have to let go and delegate the work, but the tools are now there for other people to use.

I’ve been weighing the benefits of participating in this years NaNoWriMo. I really need to get back into a regular writing schedule and NaNo would sort of force that. On the other hand, I could take that same amount of time working on a couple of shorts and accomplish the same thing. It really comes down to prioritizing my time and forcing myself to set and follow a schedule.

I finished another Flash Fiction and an entry in Jim Van Pelt’s 7 sentence story contest over the weekend. Nothing serious, but fun to do and it reminds me how much I love this. I’ve got a few stories bouncing around in my head that I’ve been neglecting, so I’m going to focus on writing until I clear them out.

My monthly subscription buy continues, this time with an old favorite, Asimov’s Science Fiction.

I’ve picked up a couple anthologies since last month’s subscription: The Best American Short Stories 2007 edited by Stephen King and This is my Funniest, edited by Mike Resnick. The second edition, This Is My Funniest 2, was just released and contains a story by one of my IRC buddies, Deirdre Moen, so go pick up a copy.

It’s been a busy couple weeks (as evidence by the fact that I’m still awake and working). I did want to share one small thing. My prose tends to be minimalistic. I don’t pad my word count with flowery language or filler. I’ve tried. It just doesn’t work well for me. I look at writing like painting a picture. I start by sketching out the framework. Next I fill in the major elements, define the lines and highlight the edges. From there, it’s a matter of filling in the gaps, some strokes broad and others very thin, laying on the paint until I have a picture I’m satisfied with.

One of the forms I’ve enjoyed reading is the six word story. To me, it’s an awesome example of the art of sparsity. Hemingway once wrote “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” Six words, but the story it tells!

There’s an ongoing thread of six word stories over at Absolute Write. Here was mine:

Moon falling. Earth colliding. Sudden death.

Now, back to work.

Stephen King has an essay up at the New York Times: What Ails the Short Story.

It’s a damn good assessment, I think.

We went to the Riverfront Playhouse last night and saw Night of the Living Dead: The Musical. Yes, you read that right.

Good stuff. Campy fun times for all. We’ll be going back.

The Midwest Literary Festival kicks off next Friday in downtown Aurora, IL with an all-day writers workshop and a weekend of panels.

It’s not too late to sign up for the workshop, although most of the one-on-one sessions with agents are booked solid. I’m thinking of going to the workshop (schedule). There are panels on plotting strategies and suspense that look interesting. Nothing specific to SF/F but worthwhile nonetheless.

I’m home, safe and sound, and mostly recovered from the trip. The flight from Southern California to Chicago smooth and productive. I splurged a little and upgraded to first class (my first time riding up front). Overall, it was what I expected it to be. Squishier seats, more personalized attention, and better food. Warm chocolate chip cookies, you say? Yes please. For all of the security measures taken, I find it humorous that they still serve drinks in first class in a glass. I mean, I guess if you’re flying in style, you must be a sane, stable person, right?

I finished my last revisions to the first two scenes of “Wholesale Goods” during the flight. I think this story is wrapping up more or less the way I intended. Once this revision is done, I’m sending it off to the Writers of the Future contest and getting back to work on other stories. Two more to revise, lots more to create.

I think I’ve finally figured out what Jim Gunn meant when he talked about presenting a story dramatically. It’s one thing to hear the words and ‘get’ the concept, another thing entirely to understand it in a way as to put it into practice. I’ve internalized it, as I’m wont to do. The newest story I’ve been working on has, I think, really worked well in that regard. Now I need to keep putting it to practice until it’s as natural as breathing and send more stories out!

I caught a blurb on the news this morning about a new TSA program to help them identify people acting suspiciously while standing in the security line at the airport. Teams of screeners have been trained to look for signs of “stress, fear and deception”. From an article on the program:

The teams have referred more than 40,000 people for extra screening since January 2006. Of those passengers, nearly 300 were arrested on charges including carrying concealed weapons and drug trafficking. TSA officials will not say whether the screeners have helped nab potential terrorists, but they say terrorists and other lawbreakers exhibit the same behavioral clues.

A success rate of 0.75%! Great work, guys. Let’s roll that out across the nation, privacy and sanity be damned!

When asked what techniques were being used for this identification, according to the news report on tv, officials cited security concerns and refused to elaborate. In essence, “trust big brother, we’ll look out for you”.

I’ll be going to the airport in six hours. Let’s hope I don’t wrinkle my nose wrong, sweat, avoid eye contact, look at people, shuffle my feet, or worry if that pair of fingernail clippers in my pocket is on the prohibited items list.

Despite careful planning and the best of intentions, yesterday’s travels turned into a comedy of errors. Flav and I planned our flights so we’d arrive fairly close together. From there, we’d pick up the rental car reserved by work and make our way to the hotel.

I woke up at 5:30 and jumped in the shower. By the time I made it downstairs, I had three messages on my cell phone, all from American Airlines. My flight was canceled. They rebooked me on a new flight that left an hour later but had a layover in Dallas. The extra hour gave us time to stop for breakfast on the way to the airport.

At the airport, check-in goes smooth. I get to the gate with plenty of time. I sit and write. The plane at the gate, going to Boston, hasn’t moved. They announce maintenance is looking at the brakes. Then they announce the plane is grounded, and my flight is now changing gates. Run across the terminal to find new gate.

Flight to Dallas is smooth. I have five minutes to run across the terminal to find my connecting flight and get a seat assignment. The only food vendors nearby are Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts. I pass.

The trip from Dallas to Orange County goes smooth. I break down and spend $5 on a “turkey wrap” in-flight.

All told, I added a new scene to “Wholesale Goods” and read about half of Nebula Awards Showcase 2007. Lots of good short stories in there.

In Orange County, Flav finds me and we head to pick up the rental car. We go to the pickup area and are sent back to the airport to the service desk to “check in”. Back in the airport, we find out that the person who made the reservation made it for a day earlier, so the reservation is automatically canceled. After a half-hour I finally wade through the red tape and have a car.

By the time we get to the hotel, it’s 5PM local time, 7PM for my body and with the exception of what passes for an airline snack, more than twelve hours since I had any food of substance. We checked in, freshened up and grabbed dinner.

We get back and plan to meet, to prepare for the meetings today. I’m checking my email, news, etc., when I find the news about Robert Jordan. That puts a damper on what’s left of my mood.

Here’s to a better day.