My boy.
June 10, 2008
Seriously.
Obviously my baby wants a Kindle
June 1, 2008
This weekend was spent mostly hanging out with Baby Will, and we had a grand old time together reading, giggling and making spit bubbles. (I’m a slightly better reader but Will has got the giggling and spit bubble parts down pat).
It is remarkably hard to tear myself away from that little sprout and write. I often walk around the apartment moaning that “if I only had an office, I’d get so much more done” but I suspect that this is a bit of bunk. If I had a room down the hall, I would just be that much closer to the cute and therefore more easily tempted by it’s spit-bubble making trickery. The only thing the office would be good for would be displaying all of my geeky stuff. Comics, books, statues . . . on second thought the office is a fine idea. I’m back on the office train!
It’s a thing, I suppose. Time spent with Will is probably the most important job I have right now, but it’s a slippery balancing act. You’d think they would have licked this family/career thing long ago. Someone needs to get back to work on that, please.
Drafts delivered and a ripping good yarn
April 9, 2008
So I’m sorry that I’ve been MIA lately - between finishing edits on Powerless and watching the unbearable cuteness that is my son I have had little time to blog.
But I have been reading and man it’s a good one. The Lies of Locke Lamora is one of those door-stopper sized fantasy novels that intimidate 98 pound readers like me. But I am about 400 pages through it so far and I am loving every page. No “chosen one” farmboys here, no axe-wielding orcs and Scottish dwarves or boy wizards - just good old fashioned skullduggery! Think Ocean’s Eleven set in a fantastical Venice filled with wit and adventure. The writing is superb. The story is absolutely engrossing.
What a great read. (so far, if the ending blows I’ll find Scott Lynch and hammer him to death with this twenty-pound monster)
Kid, it’s only going to get worse
March 23, 2008
The Saloon is Open for Business!
March 22, 2008
Miracle of miracles - I left the house the other night for beers and burgers with friends. Trust me, between deadlines and dirty diapers this is an event worth marking.
To sweeten the deal, the friends were some buddies from my old writing group, The Fantastic Saloon, and I’m happy to say that the band (as they say) is getting back together.
Writing groups are a unique thing - I can’t really picture groups of painters, for example, huddling together over coffee and suggesting changes to each other’s works - “You know the yellow bit really works for me, but I just don’t buy the brushstrokes in the bottom corner there. But maybe that’s just me.”
And in New York the various groups of speculative writers have taken on a certain prestige. There are hard-to-get-into groups, boasting memberships of hot published writers and influential junior editors, as well as the countless groups of passionate unknowns.
The Saloon definitely belongs to the latter category. But just look out, because we’re taking our vitamins.
Gary Gygax Eulogized in NY Times
March 9, 2008
So many know that geek patriarch Gary Gygax died last week. The co-creator of Dungeons and Dragons has been eulogized on so many blogs, on so many websites that I didn’t feel that I had much to add. D&D influenced an entire generation. It shaped the landscape of fantastical literature. It brought together the nerds who would go on to build the information technology of today.
And the New York Times has taken notice. God rest ye, Gary.
My own pox party
February 25, 2008
I avoided the Chicken Pox for 34 years, and let me tell you when it finally catches up with you in a long dark alley - payback is hell.
Sorry about the lack of posting, but last Monday night I came down with a low grade fever that within a matter of days turned into a full blown case of the pox. It’s funny, when I was a small boy I used to envy the kids who got the Chicken Pox - two weeks off school. Sure there was some itchiness involved, but c’mon - two weeks off school!
It’s a whole different scenario when you’re an adult. Four days of fever and chills plus three days of itching. My wife urged me to post a picture of my pox-ridden self here on the blog but I never got around to taking the photo (too weak with fever . . . too . . . weak). So here’s a little visual approximation curtousy of WoW (I think it captures the emotional truth of the experience quite effectively):
The wife left me alone last night with the baby . . .
February 18, 2008
. . . And this is what happened:
Thanks to our great friends Dan and Susannah for taking the missus out of the house for an evening, and Baby Will - I’m sorry.
I’ve just blown my first deadline! Now I’m a REAL writer!
February 16, 2008
So February 15th has come and gone and the first round of editorial revisions on Powerless are still not done. Granted, my editor Joan is terrifically understanding person and therefore the Feb. 15th date was always sort of a soft deadline, but still it’s kind of frustrating.
I’ve decided that books are like babies - you expect them to conform to tidy little schedules and work around the important things in your life, but they have an uncanny tendency to surprise you with all-nighters and painful growth spurts.
Baby Will has decided that sleep is for the weak, and Powerless has somehow grown by nearly two thousand words in the editing process, even though I’ve cut two chapters nearly in half.
I love them both dearly, but . . . c’mon! If anyone knows any great nannies who do freelance copy-editing on the side, send them my way.
Read a Good Book - Help a Writer in Need
February 9, 2008
I just picked up from Ecstatic Days that that there is yet another freelance writer who needs a little help paying the medical bills. This time it’s Caitlín R. Kiernan, the popular writer of dark fantasy and horror. I don’t know Caitlín personally, but I do know plenty of other writers and artists who’ve ended up in the same predicament. It’s disturbing to see how many successful freelancers are forced to go without health insurance in this country. Too many Americans have to roll the dice against their health - forced to choose between insurance and the other necessities such as rent. Here’s to hoping that whichever party takes over the White House in January ‘09, the two sides can finally sit down and do something about this national disgrace.
In the meantime, scoot over to Caitlín’s site and buy a book. A good read for a good cause.
