Kurt R.A. Giambastiani

It’s not Them, It’s Us

15 Jul 2014 by KRAG

Coffee and Newspaper I’m going to blame the victim here. Or at least those who see themselves as the victims.

We’ve all heard the complaints.

The Never Enough Complaint:
The news media doesn’t cover [insert pertinent topic here].
The Corporate Overlords Complaint:
The mainstream media only reports what they’re told to report.
The Media Bias Complaint:
Network news is so slanted, it’s better to go to independent outlets like Reddit.

It all makes for a great whinge-fest, but blaming the media is foolish. The problem isn’t them. The problem is us.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged broadcast news, gannett, independent outlets, internet fast, lamestream media, mainstream media, Media Bias Complaint, modern living, news media, newscorp, newspapers, rupert murdoch | 3 Comments »

Keeping Track

10 Jul 2014 by KRAG

Okay, so I don’t always think things through.

Ages ago, when I was writing nothing but short fiction and sending out MSS to the far corners of the publishing world, I had an idea for a computer application for writers. It was a struggle to keep track of where my dozens of MSS were; where they out with a publisher? For how long? Too long?

So I thought: What if you could enter the names of all your MSS into an app, note when you sent it out, and keep track of where everything was and how long it had been there?

It seemed like a good idea, and so I cracked my knuckles and began to write the code for my MSTracker app.

Posted in Writing | Tagged creative writing, manuscript tracking, short fiction, short story writing, Writing, writing tips | 4 Comments »

Old Dog Meets New Trick

08 Jul 2014 by KRAG

After successfully avoiding pen and paper during my recent vacation (Thank you, World Cup!) on Sunday I finally grabbed myself by the collar, sat myself down at the deck table, put a pen in my hand and paper before me, and started the short story that has been nipping at my heels like a poorly trained corgi for nearly a month.

I started writing at about 7AM Sunday and finished it at around 11PM. It clocked in at about 3000 words.

For me, that is fast writing. But that wasn’t the interesting bit.

Posted in Writing | Tagged Characters, creative writing, short stories, Writing, writing techniques, writing tips | 2 Comments »

Resurfacing

03 Jul 2014 by KRAG

One evening, when I was courting my wife-to-be, we were at my place when the phone rang. Since we were talking, I ignored the phone. “Aren’t you going to answer that?” Nope. If it was important, they’d call back (I didn’t have an answering machine). This was my relationship with technology in those days. Technology was my servant, not the reverse.

Well, sometime during the last three decades, that has changed, so I’m just now coming off a full week of an “internet fast.”

Overall, I am surprised at how easy it was. I stuck to my “going dark” guidelines so successfully that when I tried to go back online, I found that all my little electronic connectimoids needed to be charged up. The computer, the tablet, even the smartphone had gone almost entirely unused for a whole week.

What did I miss? What didn’t I miss?

Continue Reading »

Posted in Culture, Hi Tech, Low Tech | Tagged creative writing, internet diet, low-tech living, quiet living, Serenity, simple living, simplicity, social media, unplugging, Writing | 3 Comments »

Going Dark

25 Jun 2014 by KRAG

TFL Problem

I will not be employing a shabbos goy this week.

When I lived in Jerusalem, I learned about the shabbos goy. The shabbos goy is a non-Jew who will do tasks of work which are forbidden to Jews on the Sabbath. To keep everything on the up-and-up, the shabbos goy should be someone who would be on the premises anyway, such as a maintenance worker or babysitter. Thus, on the Sabbath, a shabbos goy can turn on the house’s lights or rekindle the fire (both of which are forbidden to Jews), and everyone benefits from the work that the shabbos goy did. No commandments were broken. Nothing to see here. Move along.

So, as I said, I will not be using a shabbos goy this week.

In a prevoius post, I mentioned that I was considering an “internet diet.”

Well, today it begins. Today I’ll be going dark.

I’ll be taking it One Day at a Time, but my goal is to go a full week without major technological contact.

What does that mean, specifically? Good idea. Let’s define terms…

Posted in Culture, Hi Tech, Low Tech | Tagged internet diet, low-tech living, quiet living, Serenity, simple living, simplicity, unplugging | 2 Comments »

Writing Process Blog Tour – Station Four

24 Jun 2014 by KRAG

Writing with Pen and Paper Welcome one, welcome all, to the fourth stop on the Writing Process Blog Tour, one of those writerly process-ish bloggy tour-like things that we use as an excuse to talk about our passion: writing.

My name is Kurt, and I’ll be your host for as long as you keep reading.

Thanks to my predecessor, J.Z. Murdock, author of darkness, for the invitation to join the tour.

The premise is simple. At each stop along the tour, the author talks about his/her writing processes, and then hands you off to the next writer in line. (Todd…you ready?)

It’s just four simple questions:

What am I working on?
How does my work differ from others in its genre?
Why do I write what I do?
How does my writing process work?

Still here? Good.

Here we go…

Posted in Writing | Tagged creative writing, j z murdock, novel writing, Seattle, The Fallen Cloud Saga, todd baker, Writing, writing process, writing process blog tour, writing techniques | 6 Comments »

Running the Zoo

19 Jun 2014 by KRAG

The other day a friend asked me what my “dream job” would be. The phrase that leapt to mind was: independently wealthy, incredibly influential, international food critic.

Then I gave the question a little thought. What would be my dream job?

The fact that I did not pick my current job–Software Developer–was no great surprise. Neither was the fact that I did not choose any job I’ve had in the past. Some people may find pumping gas or running a web-press fulfilling, but I found the former stultifying and the latter terrifying.

Curiously, though, neither did I did not pick one of my current avocations, i.e., “Writer” or “Chef.”

For “Chef,” I know too well how much work and dedication that job really takes to make a living at it; I get enough of a workout just cooking for my small family. For the “Writer” job, well, let’s just say that I got close to that, know how unstable the industry is and how unreliable writing income can be; I just can’t put my family through that kind of financial and emotional stress year after year.

So, what would be my dream job? Eventually, I settled on three:

Posted in Culture, Writing | Tagged chef, cooking, curator, dream job, horologist, symphony conductor, what is your dream job, Writing | 6 Comments »

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Kurt R.A. Giambastiani

Words and Works from a Seattle Author

It’s not Them, It’s Us

Keeping Track

Old Dog Meets New Trick

Going Dark

Writing Process Blog Tour – Station Four

Running the Zoo

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