Posted in Books, Hi Tech, tagged amazon, creative writing, hachette, publishing, Writing on 24 Jul 2014| Leave a Comment »
Last weekend, the Seattle Times ran two opposing op-eds on the Amazon/Hachette contretemps. Frank Schaeffer wrote in favor of Amazon, while Nina Laden countered in favor of Hachette, creating a “debate” of sorts. I put “debate” in quotes because, from a purely debating standpoint, it was no contest.
Unfortunately, both pieces missed the main point.
Posted in Writing, tagged creative writing, file management methods, metro bus, Poetry, Writing on 17 Jul 2014| Leave a Comment »
I’ve never really been one who lost things. (Except for gloves. I used to lose gloves all the time.) And I’m especially good about computer files. After once losing the first three chapters of a novel, I got really strict about my file management methods.
So, back in the mid-Naughties, when I “lost” a handful of poems, I was pretty mad at myself. Granted, I had a couple of “vascular events” during that time, brought on by workload and stress, but still, I was disappointed. I mean, how can you “lose” a computer file? Luckily, I was able to recreate most of them from offsite storage, but a few were lost and gone forever.
Then, two days ago, while editing my latest short story, I noticed a folder in my “Writing” directory. The folder was labeled: Poetry.
Guess what I found in there.
Here’s one of them: Non-Euclidean Geometry
k
Posted in Writing, tagged creative writing, manuscript tracking, short fiction, short story writing, Writing, writing tips on 10 Jul 2014| 4 Comments »
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 Characters, creative writing, short stories, Writing, writing techniques, writing tips on 08 Jul 2014| 2 Comments »
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 Culture, Hi Tech, Low Tech, tagged creative writing, internet diet, low-tech living, quiet living, Serenity, simple living, simplicity, social media, unplugging, Writing on 03 Jul 2014| 3 Comments »
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?
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 on 24 Jun 2014| 6 Comments »
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:
Still here? Good.
Here we go…
Posted in Culture, Writing, tagged chef, cooking, curator, dream job, horologist, symphony conductor, what is your dream job, Writing on 19 Jun 2014| 6 Comments »
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:
Kurt R.A. Giambastiani 