The New Writing/Editing/Podcasting/Reviewing Agenda/Plan/Thing (Yeah)
The last few weeks have been nothing short of crazy. My sister spent two weeks (ish) in town, which was great because I’ve only seen her all of four hours in the last two years. Likewise, the school season started up again, putting me head first into a poetry/film course that (let’s face it) is way outside of my area of expertise (though I’ve been inspired to write some pretty nutty poetry as of late, which Adam Callaway has read and subsequently went nutty over — you can read more about that on my Google+ page). I’m also teaching a Survey in American Literature course, which is an amazing experience, but also a good deal of work. The result of all these events has been a pitiful output of writing-ness, which includes, in partial-list form, the following: Editing on WISB chapters are behind my proposed schedule WISB Podcast chapters, subsequently, are behind my proposed schedule WISB Podcast funding updates have yet to be announced (ANNOUNCEMENT: I made it!) All writing in general is at a complete standstill, with the exception of poetry (something I rarely do and never thought I would do in any significant form) Behind on my reading Behind on reviewing (I swear, Strange Horizons, a review is coming to you for Harbor by Lindqvist!) The articles I’m supposed to be working on for my academic career are way behind too Plenty of other things are behind too… This is unacceptable. Completely and utterly unacceptable. So, I’m going to do the following to resolve this: Limit my Internet usage timeIt should be easy to manage with my girlfriend going on vacation, which opens up my evenings; I can devote more time to catching up, while missing her terribly. Set blogging “time limits”I shouldn’t spend more than an hour doing blogging things, including things for The Skiffy and Fanty Show. This means I’ll have to get quick at writing my TV/movie reviews, rather than spending hours doing them. Set reviewing timeI need to write a review a week, or more. And I need to get better at writing reviews…time limits might help. Set reading timeBecause I need to read more. Set academic-stuff timeBecause I need to finish those articles! Make sure when I am studying, prepping lectures, and so on, that I am only doing thatWhy? Because when I do these things, I find myself doing lots of other things too, like wasting time wandering the Internet. I don’t know what these limits and what not are going to look like, but I think it’s safe to say that I will put a lot of extra time into editing to get caught up on WISB. I’m behind. I don’t like it. At all. So there you have it. That’s my mini manifesto thing.
Sensawunda Donation Drive: Help a Friend in Need
My friend Adam (who you all have probably heard enough about on this blog) is having some financial problems. Like many Americans, he is having issues finding a job, which is particularly troublesome as a newlywed and a quasi-semi-not-really-graduated-college-student. He and his wife need some financial help to pay off their overdue power bill, but rather than take your money and give you nothing but an Internet-thank-you for your trouble, Adam is offering up all kinds of free fiction, books, and other goodies (similar to what I’m still doing for WISB, but now w/o the financial necessity). Adam’s short fiction is really quite good, so if you’ve got a few bucks to spare, please head over to Adam’s site and donate. Who knows, maybe if someone agrees to cough up a goodly amount, Adam and I will write a story together involving you as a villain, with he and I as the exaggerated heroes. It’ll be like Arnold Schwarzenegger had a love affair with a bizarro story and Mary Poppins…a kind of weird fantasy/scifi/horror threeway. Without protection…
RIP: Taj
I’ve had Taj (a bold stripe/jungle leopard gecko) for several years, but had to have her put down today due to severe symptoms of what appears to be gout. I was going to say some sappy stuff about the vet appt., the time I had with Taj, and so on, but I don’t feel motivated to do that right now. I’ve lost five leopard geckos in two years, so it’s not exactly been the easiest of journeys. Florida and I are certainly not best of friends these days… Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go watch The Pacific (for the fifth time) and maybe some bad TV while munching on a greasy burger, ice cream, and baked potatoes. Because I’m feeling pretty low and I need heart-killing food in me… For those curious, here’s a picture of Taj from before her illness. She was a beautiful lizard. *sigh*
Guest Post on Young Adults and Literature!
For those of you who don’t follow John Ottinger’s Grasping For the Wind, you really should, because then you wouldn’t have to read this post telling you to check out my guest post there called “Our Inner Children and Childhood Suppression: Let Kids Be Kids.” Seriously, you should read it. But first, here’s a little taste: It’s only as we get older that our wonder and imaginations are clamped down on by society. Schools stifle creativity by resorting to “by the numbers” teaching styles and teaching goals. Parents begin to tell us to grow up, to act our age, to stop talking to ourselves in the corner or playing house or all those silly little games we used to play. Hooray for out of context quotes!
The Halfway-Point Donation Push: I Will Embarrass Myself For You (Ha!)
If you haven’t heard, I am selling my body to readers of this blog and my Twitter followers. Let me explain: When I began podcasting The World in the Satin Bag, I set up a donation tier, which offered those of you willing to donate $1 or $10 or whatever some perks and personal bits to keep you happy. Those perks include copies of the ebook, paperbacks, silly handwritten letters from me, and other goodies that you should check out. But I also offered to do something embarrassing and altogether unbecoming of my nature (at least to those that don’t know me personally). I said that if I met my funding goal for the month ($1,000 by July 1st; you can see the progress on my sidebar), I would do something on camera for everyone to watch…and you’d decide what I would do. Thanks to some friends and acquaintances on Twitter, I have agreed to do these silly things: The Truffle Shuffle (from The Goonies) AND Peanut Butter Jelly Time I’m perfectly open to more suggestions, and will add them to the list as they are made aware to me. But these are conditional. I have to reach that goal, and I’m not there yet. So, if you want to see me embarrass myself by doing two dances which will likely outlive my reputation as a science fiction and fantasy writer, you should do the following: Donate anything you can. Look at the donation tier if you want even more perks beyond the privilege of laughing at me. Tell all your friends and get them to donate too. Share this on your blog, your Twitter, Facebook, or wherever. Check out the novel podcast. It’s on iTunes and on this blog (either in the Podcast section or under the WISB Podcast tag). There are less than two weeks left to reach the goal. I need about 68 people to donate $10 each to reach it (as of 6/16/2011), which doesn’t sound like a whole lot, but is actually a lot more than you might think for a fairly small fellow like me. And that’s all I’ll say on that. Spread the word!
SF Signal Mind Meld: The Russ Pledge
I was asked by the wonderful Fabio Ferndandes to participate in the latest SF Signal Mind Meld by answering the following question: What’s The Importance of ‘The Russ Pledge‘ For Science Fiction Today? Check out what I wrote and feel free to contribute to the discussion! P.S.: Are you taking the Russ Pledge?