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Dollars and cents.
Sick again. Crept up on me last Thursday and manifested as a sore throat. Things went downhill from there and, naturally, at the onset of a three-day weekend. I spent my day off yesterday on my sofa, dozing in an out of consciousness with the help of some sinus medicine. So while Erica and her friend Mike sat and played cards, I remained semi-lucid on a sickbed. What a great weekend.
Needless to say, I didn’t write anything over the weekend. I’m not writing anything today either. Only reason I’m even pecking away in Wordpress right now is because I’m on my lunch break and, without a book to read or real writing to do, I’ve got to occupy my time somehow.
Here’s a funny little story courtesy of Fark about a man down in Florida who’s selling ghosts in bottles. I don’t know whether to insert a joke referencing The Legend of Zelda or Joe Hill’s Heart-Shaped Box.
Borders now has its own website. I say “now” because its previous incarnation wasn’t really theirs. Amazon operated their site, but it looks like they’ve separated themselves (and for good reason, I suppose) from the epic megaconglomerate that seeks to dominate all things publishing. I’ll be the first to say I don’t care for the new site, but maybe that’s because I’m so used to it looking, well, “Amazonian,” so I’ll give it some time to grow on me.
Naturally I looked up my own novel just to see what the turnaround time is like. Amazon keeps a few copies in stock so it’s ready to ship right away, but since Borders is operating on its own now, I had to check and see. The verdict? Four to six weeks. God I love on-demand publishing! It gets better, too. If you check out the “Borders Marketplace,” you’ll find copies of ALT going for as little as $68.66! What a steal.
I see shit like this and keep telling myself it’ll be worth it. Some day. All the while my more naive, younger self is deep down inside slowly rocking back and forth, whispering “I just wanna write, I just wanna write” over and over.
On that note, I’m going to go eat my sandwich. Happy Tuesday, folks.
TK
Evil Happy Smiley Face Man
Just ran across this via CNN, and I have to admit it gave me a chill.
As Gannon and Duarte investigated the deaths, they began to see a trend. The cases spanned 25 cities in 11 states, and at least some of them were connected by a creepy symbol left near the water’s edge: a smiley face painted on trees and other surfaces.
The detectives believe that the smiley faces were left by the killer or killers. They varied in size, with each face more haunting than the next.
The most sinister was found in Iowa. It was drawn in red with a devil’s horns. Next to the smiley face was a note that read, “Evil Happy Smiley Face Man.”
I have a number of theories, ranging from a gang of pissed off ex-girlfriends who are out to torture and kill drunken frat boys, to a super-secret cult of smiling fanatics. Regardless, it’s rather creepy, and I couldn’t help but think about that new movie The Strangers that starts next week.
It certainly gives me ideas. So what do you folks think? Feel free to speculate!
TK
Little Brother
I’ve fallen in love with the freedom of writing scenes that will most likely not make the cut for the final draft. I’ve written one full scene like this for imagiNATION and started two others, and the cool thing about them is that, even if I don’t use them in their entirety, they serve as wonderful backdrops and springboards for other more fully realized scenes in the future.
Hello, by the way. I meant to do this over the weekend, but it’s not the weekend anymore, so I’m forced to do this in the wee hours of the morning before work. In any case, the writing’s moving slowly, as it always does. Doing it by hand is a labor of love, and if my hand could talk, it would scream for me to stop. There may come a point in the future where I’ll have to switch over to plugging away at a keyboard, but I’ll try and delay that for as long as possible. Besides, I like writing in my little notebook. I’m not fully convinced anything will come of this novel, or if this new draft will amount to anything better than its previous incarnation, but the work I’m putting into it is, at the very least, great exercise and a way of flexing the novelist side of my brain. In case my friend Bill the Editor is reading, fret not, dear sir, for I will finish it at some point. Whether it’s good or not is another thing altogether. I suppose that’s the name of the game, is it not?
So it’s much too early for pondering the nature of the novel and its many processes. Instead let’s move on to other things before I lose my nerve and fall asleep at the keyboard (I’ve not even had my coffee yet).
My intent this morning is to direct everyone over to Cory Doctorow’s latest book, Little Brother. It’s a young adult novel, but don’t let that fool you. I gave it a chance and discovered it’s one of the most pertinent, important books I’ve ever read. If you’re like me and are obsessed with methods of subversion in this day and age, and feel the rights of Americans are being trampled upon, then please, read this book. I can’t stress that enough. Read. This. Book. It’s easily one of the best I’ve read in a very long time and, if I was a teacher (perhaps in some alternate reality), I’d teach this alongside Orwell’s classic. “But I spent all my money on a tank of gas,” you say. “How can I possibly afford a hardcover book?” Well, friends, the good news is you don’t have to. It’s free. You can download the PDF right here at no cost to you except some bandwidth and time.
I took a couple of days off from writing so I could read it. I suggest you all do the same. Go on. I’ll wait. And when you’re finished, feel free to come back here and discuss it, as you’ll no doubt have opinions.
TK