Slowly but steadily, progress continues.

When I went in to the CSSF Workshop, I had all sorts of problems with my writing. My prose was passive, I told instead of showing. The ideas were solid, but the execution was lacking.

I focused on the grammatical in the weeks and months before and after the workshop. I’m reasonably certain that I’ve got a solid grasp on that aspect of the craft now. Feedback from my writers group seems to back that up.

The focus now shifts to characterization. What I’m finding is that I’m almost too tight, I think, on the details I put into the story for fear of infodumping. At some point, some infodumping is necessary, I think. The trick is limiting it to only as much as necessary. I’ve spent time revising and rewriting to reduce infodump and passive prose but at some stage I cut out too much and I need to work out how, where, and when to add detail that is vital to the motivations of the characters and tone of the story.

I put a widget in the sidebar on the right (for those of you reading this from LiveJournal, click here to see it).

There they are, in all their glory. My 2007 stats, current and up-to-date.

I know lightning and thunder are different, but Thunderstruck sounds cooler. First, everyone is ok. Just collateral damage around the house.

I woke up around 3AM this morning to a thunderstorm outside and rain coming inside. I got up and shut the windows, got a towel and dried off the ledge. I climbed over Perl (the dog) and got back down in bed. My eyes were just shutting when a thunderous pop filled my ear and a bright light filled the room.

I sat right up and Dena woke up. The dogs were alert: Dora cowered and Perl ran to the window to investigate. I checked around briefly to make sure the house wasn’t on fire. Adrenaline took a half hour to drop to normal levels and we went back to bed.

The fun began this morning. Dena woke me up because there was a buzzing noise coming from my office. That’s enough to get me out of bed, wide awake. I think we got off lucky. So far the damage is pretty minor. Both Vonage boxes (so our phone lines are out), the speakers connected to my desktop are kaput (although the desktop appears to be fine), and the cable box in the bedroom. Nothing irreplaceable.

I still have to test the rest of the household electronics and computer gear that was plugged in. The ground fault circuits tripped and did their job, as did the surge protectors on the big stuff. At least I know first-hand what a lighting strike sounds like.

When I was running WordPress I wrote a small plugin to track stories, word count, status, etc. Part of the reason for switching back to MovableType is that it’s running perl and I just love writing perl code.

Now that the move is complete, I’ve started on a Story Tracker plugin. Basically, it gives an author a nice little interface to keep track of a story — title, word count, genre, if/when it’s submitted/published. Basically a glorified spreadsheet. Coming from the Open Source world, I like doing things out in the open where other people can learn from my mistakes.

Once those basics are done and I’m generating some nice looking widgets for the sidebar to the right, I’m looking at adding licensing information (Creative Commons) and display options. It’s all for fun, but hopefully in the end it’ll be useful to someone other than myself.

Charlie Stross has an excellent writeup on doing readings.

I fear the day that I have to do a reading. I’ve never been a smooth talker in public settings. I’ve deliberately put myself in situations where I had to speak in public. In high school, I opted to take Public Speaking instead of the regular Speech class. It took me a couple tries to actually pass the class, but when I did I did so with an A. I’ve been a member of Toastmasters and I’ve run panels at Penguicon (some better than others).

It’s strange. Despite the fact that I talk to people for work on a very regular basis, have stood up and spoken in front of groups of strangers on many occasions, I still stuffer from extreme anxiety at the thought of speaking in front of groups. The thought of reading something I wrote is downright terrifying. It won’t stop me if/when the situation presents itself but I apologize in advance to those who end up suffering through it.

It’s been one of those weeks. Work has consumed most of my time and energy. I managed to do most of the research I needed to start on the story and start on the first scene, but I’m feeling edgy. I need to take some ‘me’ time and make some real progress. This weekend is looking like a good candidate for productivity.

I’m taking the rest of the night off. My writers group meets tonight, and I have a story up for critique. I’m going to head out early, and have some dinner. That’ll give me plenty of time to finish reading the other story being critiqued this week and maybe, just maybe, get some more work done on my new story.

I was going through my stack of Realms of Fantasy back-issues tonight after reading the slushmaster’s request to find a few issues to fill his collection. Somehow, we managed to get a copy of Realms of Fantasy issue 1 from October 1994. Pretty cool! The cover is loose but otherwise it’s in good shape.

While diligently doing my research, I stumbled across the perfect resource: Nikola Tesla: Colorado Springs Notes, 1899-1900. My WIP begins here, in 1899, in Colorado Springs, in Nikola Tesla’s laboratory. Score! Or so I thought. Amazon has a ship date between four and six weeks.

I decided to visit the library and see if they had a copy or could get one for me. After getting a library card (yes, I’ve lived here more than six years and never went to the library, bad Adam), I asked a librarian for help. As it turns out, he is also a fan of Nikola Tesla. He’s also a writer that wanted to write about Tesla, although from a historical perspective.

It turns out that the book I want is owned by only one other library, in Colorado Springs, and they don’t lend it out. The librarian helped me find two other books that should be useful: Wizard – The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla: Biography of a Genius and The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla. And I ordered the book from Amazon. Even if it isn’t here in time to help with this story, it will be a nice reference to have. I am, after all, a giant Tesla fanboy, as was made clear as the conversation with the librarian progressed. I know more about Tesla than the librarian/historian interested in him.

As far as the writing goes, I have enough information to tell my story. I’m being extremely picky about making sure I have my historical details accurate, in as much of the story actually takes place in 1899.

I’m having a bit of a fun time doing historical research for this science fiction story, which starts out in 1899. I’ve found interviews with my protagonist in a couple of magazines from the era that, transcribed on random websites. I’d like to see if I can find copies of the actual magazine to photocopy for posterity and accuracy.

Where does one look to find a magazine published in 1899? The first one is Pearson’s Magazine from May 1899 and the second is Collier’s Weekly, dated February 19, 1901. I have vague memories of visiting the library as a teen and doing research via microfiche. I don’t know if going to a library is my best option, or if it matters what library I go to.

I’m a little late on the discussion, but I want to chime in on the topic of the slushmaster’s Subscription Drive. In a nutshell, it is a plea to all readers to support their favorite magazines by subscribing.

My thoughts on it are this: if you are a reader and enjoy short fiction, show your support for the form by subscribing to your favorite magazine. Have more than one favorite? Subscribe to as many as you can. A subscription to Fantasy and Science Fiction costs $32.97 a year. That’s only $2.75 a month for seven or so stories worth of entertainment. Many novelists, particularly in the Science Fiction and Fantasy genres, get their start writing short fiction. It’s how we (hopefully) make a name for ourselves and hone our writing skills in the process. If you’re unfamiliar with short fiction, stop by Borders or your local magazine rack and pick up a copy. If you like what you see, buy a subscription.

I’m lucky that I’m in a stable financial position. For my part, I’m going to subscribe to one magazine per month. Thirty bucks a month is a small price to pay for the entertainment value, not to mention better knowing the markets I’m submitting to.

Here are the markets on my list, in no particular order. Feel free to suggest more that I should consider.

• Fantasy & Science Fiction
• Asimov’s
• Analog
• Black Gate
• Realms of Fantasy
• Locus Magazine
• Subterranean Magazine
• Interzone

In each case, I’ve read at least one copy, either borrowed or bought. I like them enough to want to subscribe and in most cases plan to submit to them one day (except for Locus, which is more of a trade magazine for writers).

It all comes down to voting with your wallet.