Rob's Journal o' Stuff

I had a bit of a mix-up with the OWW in handling my membership dues, but I guess things are cleared up because I'm back in as a full-paying member.  I've been editing along through the novel making some good cuts, at least I hope they are. I need to do some critiques because for some reason, that always energizes me to re-examine my own work.

I made some headway and edited three chapters today, so things are moving along pretty well.

One thing I try to do, with less success than I'd like, is to pare down my writing.  I sort of threw everything onto the page as I was writing through this novel and planned on trimming the fat on the second and subsequent passes. I try not to get too wordy or overly descriptive in any of the fiction I'm writing and I usually do this on the second and third passes of chapters.  I am learning, through the helpful critiques at the OWW, that I'm not as good at trimming as I'd hoped. 

I revised my first two chapters slightly and posted the third in the Workshop yesterday.  I've been reading about a submission a day and I'm pretty impressed with some of what I read.  I never know how to feel about what I'm writing. Strike that reverse it, I usually feel pretty good about it once I finish it but then I go and re-read it and I'm not satisfied.  I think that's good, though.

I think I'll begin using my LiveJournal account to track my progress in the Online Writing Workshop.  I've reviewed about four submissions so far and just reviewing them helps to put me in a better frame of mind when I go to tackle my own writing.  As it stands now, I have two submissions in the OWW, the first with 2 chapters and the second submission as the 3rd chapter. 

With the folks who've come out of the OWW like R. Scott Bakker, Elizabeth Bear, Joshua Palmatier, and Chris Evans, I think I'm taking the best step towards selling and publishing my writing.

Time will tell.

New ‘Watchmen’ Trailer Goes Online; Check Out A Gallery Of Our Favorite Images!

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It is banned books week so go out and buy and/or read a banned book. If you want to make a meme of this, for both the authors and books, Bold and Italicize the ones you've read.

The “10 Most Challenged Books of 2007” reflect a range of themes, and consist of the following titles:

1) And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson/Peter Parnell - Reasons: Anti-Ethnic, Sexism, Homosexuality, Anti-Family, Religious Viewpoint, Unsuited to Age Group
2) The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier - Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Violence
3) Olive’s Ocean by Kevin Henkes - Reasons: Sexually Explicit and Offensive Language
4) The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman - Reasons: Religious Viewpoint
5) The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain - Reasons: Racism
6) The Color Purple by Alice Walker - Reasons: Homosexuality, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language,
7) TTYL by Lauren Myracle - Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group
8) I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou - Reasons: Sexually Explicit
9) It’s Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris - Reasons: Sex Education, Sexually Explicit
10) The Perks of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky - Reasons: Homosexuality, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group

Off the list this year, are two books by author Toni Morrison. "The Bluest Eye" and "Beloved," both challenged for sexual content and offensive language.

The most frequently challenged authors of 2007

1) Robert Cormier
2) Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson
3) Mark Twain
4) Toni Morrison
5) Philip Pullman
6) Kevin Henkes
7) Lois Lowry
8) Chris Crutcher
9) Lauren Myracle
10) Joann Sfar

Ironic that this is Banned Books week - the same week Sarah Palin, who supposedly wanted books removed from the library for objectionable content, will be participating in her first Vice Presidential debate

It's the end of an era, so to speak as my career as a Marketing / Business Development Editor / Specialist in the Engineering Consulting industry has come to a close. At least for now, the old adage of never say never is a truth in which I find myself believing. I spent just about five years in the industry through a strange set of circumstances and it is scary how quickly those five years flew in my life. I met some really interesting, strange, brilliant, eccentric , funny, kind, amazing, and wonderful people, some of whom, I hope to keep in touch with in the future. Some people who may be reading this know to whom I refer, whether an acquaintance or those reading it directly.

Now; however, I'm going back to the publishing industry. Essentially the rots of where I began my true professional career. There were many things I enjoyed about the publishing industry, and since I'm an admitted biblioholic, I'm thrilled to be going back to my roots. Granted, the last publishing job I had kind of chewed me up and spit me out, but the situation was completely different than what it is now. Since then, I've grown both emotionally and intellectually and am eager to face this next challenge in my life.

Of course, it doesn't hurt that the new job is the next town over from where I live, cutting my commute by 2/3. This is great because it will allow me (hopefully) more time to devote to my writing.

Never, in my 15+ year association with Rutgers as an undergraduate and alumnus did I expect the football team to be ranked in the top 20, to be undefeated, or to defeat a top 10 team. Well, I suppose I know what the Red Sox fans were feeling in 2004 when their team won after so many years of not winning.


By no means is the season over. Now, it gets interesting. The football program has respect, something its been lacking ever since it went Division 1. Right now, I'm just enjoying the win and all the talk on ESPN and the radio about the Scarlet Knights.


The school has always had a nice academic reputation, but this is nice, too.

Win a signed ARC (advanced reader’s copy) of the novel The Cracked
Throne and read it before its release in hardcover on November 7th, 2006!
All you have to do is post a copy of this contest description in its entirety
onto your LiveJournal, blog, or webpage sometime during the month of September,
thus infecting all of your friends on your friends list. Then email Joshua
Palmatier at jpalmatier@sff.net with your name and a link to your posting.
I’ll draw a name at random on October 1st, 2006 and announce the winner on my
LiveJournal.


But wait! There’s more!


Preorder The Cracked Throne or The Skewed Throne at
Clarkesworldbooks.com between now and October 31st and for each order
you’ll be entered into a contest where you could win one of the following
prizes:

Grand Prize: A signed ARC (advanced reader’s copy) of the novel
The Cracked Throne, five copies of The Skewed Throne so you can infect
your friends, and a pen shaped like a dagger.

First Prize: A signed hardcover edition of the novel The Cracked
Throne and a pen shaped like a dagger.

Second Prize: A signed hardcover edition of the novel The Skewed
Throne.

Third Prize: A signed paperback edition of the novel The Skewed
Throne.

Order multiple copies and be entered into the contest once for each copy
ordered! See the complete official rules at Clarkesworldbooks.com.

I know I may be a bit late in singing the praises of scott_lynch’s debut novel, but I should hope this doesn’t make these praises any less worthy. After just finishing Infoquake, I suppose I can consider myself lucky at having read two of the best debut novels in their respective branches of Speculative Fiction in the past few years. So far these are the two best books I’ve read this year, although Sean Williams The Crooked Letter might make it a three-way tie for my top pick from this year’s bunch of books.

The Lies of Lock Lamora was a great, entertaining, balls against the wall story. Its no wonder the book has been optioned by Hollywood, Mr. Lynch writes with a very cinematic style. Few people have as good a pen for dialogue as him, except maybe Matthew Stover. For a book that isn’t explicitly comedy, it has some of the best one-liners in any genre or book.

I loved the alternating chapters, between Lock’s “now” and his youth with Chains. It's a good technique to shuffle the reader’s perceptions about the characters with each past revelation. It also worked to build the tension enough at the end of each chapter with the slight shift in tone from past to present.

The book reminded me in parts of Steven Brust, Goodfellas, Matthew Stover and the film Snatch. This works great for me since I love Brust and Stover’s writing and count Goodfellas as one of my top 10 favorite films.

Besides, how can you NOT like a book that’s got a quote for the crazy old closer from the Phillies, Mitch Williams?

I’ve a strong feeling* The Lies of Lock Lamora is just the tip of Lynch’s iceberg. This is a very good thing indeed.


*well duh, the second book comes out next year and just about everybody who reads in the genre knows about the projected 7 books in the series, not to mention the <a href="http://scott-lynch.livejournal.com/213929.html>three novellas</A>.

I was having an e-conversation with writerly friend gary_wassner, author of the wonderful GemQuest saga and I came to something of a conclusion. The pirate story I mentioned in my earlier posts is taking over, even after I finished the story. I tried to go back to a novel I've been writing for a couple of years and the pirate girl keeps pulling me back to her story.

On one hand, I want to finish the couple years old novel, I'll call it the GodTree novel. On the other, I don't want to push away a story I feel NEEDS to be told, the pirate story. I know I need to focus, but they have both been fighting for my writerly attention.

Here's the monthly post for the LJ....

The first draft of my pirate story is complete. It ended where I wanted it to end, but I think I took a few too many words to get there. I wrote what felt like a couple of really neat scenes. At least from my mind's eye, they looked pretty cool. I don't think I've finished spinning tales with Vette the Pirate, the protagonist of this pirate tale. I want to learn more about her and how she got the mysterious cargo she is transporting.

I also returned to the big, godly fantasy I've been writing for the past few years. On a very long, solo drive over the weeked I told myself part of the story, essentially working out plot points as I drove. Fortunately, I still remember most of it and have been writing it into the novel. Of course, it was after the car ride when I got home that my wife suggested I should have brought the tape recorder.

Between this and this/this, my inner swashbuckler is itching at the barnacle to be unleashed.

The chronicle of Vette the Pirate has begun in earnest.

Thank God and Mother Nature the weather finally broke today. After the soggiest week I can remember, we actually had a full day of sun here in Central New Jersey. Mrs. o' Stuff and I were able to get some outdoor projects around the house closer to a state of completion.

The next county over really did get hit bad with floods and water damage. Towns were flooded for a majority of the week and Main Street in New Hope, PA (a relatively popular day trip for Jersyians) was completely underwater with some businesses ruined.

Work Life has been very hectic lately, there have been a lot of deadlines, and they are all NOW. I also think I'm one of the only people who has to go into work on Monday. At least traffic won't be so bad.

I've been spending more of my fiction-writing time on short stories lately and I'm having fun with it. I don't know how odd this is considering I enjoy reading novels more than short stories. Hopefully in the next day, the story I started earlier in the week will be finished so I can release the next story idea from my imagination to the page.

Still trying to decide if I should do more posting here or at blogger

Well, things happened a bit quicker than I expected and the ending wrote itself. I can officially say I've completed the novel. At this point, I'm calling it Devil in the Barrens, although I don't know if that is final. I like the sound of it the more I repeat it to myself, but who knows. Maybe when I do the first edit/re-write something else may come to mind. Of course, I've only finished the first draft. The sucker needs to sit for a while untouched and stay away from me so I can look at it with fresh eyes, touch it up, and cut it apart with my editorial hands.

I also know the story continues in another novel, but I don't want to start that until I give the first book another re-read. I realized fairly early on in writing Devil I wanted to tell a story about these characters and the worlds they visit in more than one book.

Besides, I've got a couple of other unfinished novels I want to complete, perhaps one by the end of the year. I'm also going to work out some short stories I've been mentally throwing around for a while. All I know at this point is that I have a number of stories I need to tell.

The Sopranos ended with a family scene, like most of their season-ending episodes end. I wasn't too thrilled with this half of the last season. Sure there were some interesting points along the way, but I found myself more annoyed than entertained.

Earlier today, I posted my review of Hal Duncan's audacious debut novel, Vellum. It was a hyped book last year when the Brits published it, and for the most part, it lived up to the expectations.

Friday was the last day at the old job and I start tomorrow at the new place. I've got mixed feelings, of course. I'm both excited and anxious about starting at the new place, I know I've made the right move. On the other hand, I'll miss the people I worked with at the old place; well, most of them anyway. The commute is a bit longer, but the better pay and potential for moving up at the new place very much outweigh the extra three or four miles I'll be driving.

This one's been going around the blogs/journals. What better way to keep your LJ updated than a meme? Here goes:



create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.

Writing is a very personal thing for some people, myself included. When people I work with discover that I'm writing fiction in my spare time, they ask me questions like what is it? What is your story about? Is it a fantasy? Does it have castles? These are things I'm sure many a writer has dealt with when their "secret" is discovered by the people they see on a daily basis.

The current writing project isn't my first attempt, but right now, I know it is my strongest attempt at telling a novel-length story. I've been a lot more consistent with my writing schedule, writing at least five days a week, and very often seven days a week. Is all of it my best work? I don't know, I don't have enough distance yet to judge the quality, but more often than not when I finish my writing for the morning or night, the day seems a lot better. However, when I refer to something, which occurred at an earlier point in my story, I do read some of what I wrote a month or a week ago and a big smile grows on my face. I have the sense that, yes, I have something of a clue about this writing thing.

Another strange thing about funneling your creative energies into fiction writing is how the brain must be continually "on." Writer's jobs never finish once the computer is turned off, and I know that statement is no schematic for wheel reinvention. I'm a person who goes to the gym three, mostly four days a week. What do you think I do between reps and sets? Work out plot points of my novel, or I hone the dialogue I want my characters to use, of course. For some reason, exerting physical energy also allows me to focus my mental and creative energy. This writing, it is really a continual thing.

Take for example this past week. I've been mulling over a plot hurdle for a while now, trying to figure out exactly why a put a character in certain place. I knew the motivation, I had a pretty clear idea of the end result of his visit to this place, and I was trying to work out the specifics of some of the intermediary points. After doing a set of bicep curls, or some other exercise, it came to me. I laid out, perhaps subconsciously, reasons earlier in the story that would logically funnel into later portions of the narrative.

It was at that point I felt like "Yeah, maybe I DO have a good idea of this writing thing." I'm sure the other people doing their workouts in my area were wondering why a huge grin suddenly appeared on my unshaven face, but I wasn't going to tell them. Writing is a personal thing. Besides, they can find out when I publish the book.

J.R.R. Tolkien: Lord of the Rings. You are

entertaining and imaginative, creating whole

new worlds around yourself. Well loved, you

have a whole league of imitators, none of

which is quite as profound as you are.

Stories and songs give a spark of joy in the

middle of your eternal battle with the forces

of evil.


Which literature classic are you?
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I'm not sure how often I'll post at this Journal, I've got the blog, so this is primarily a placeholder so I can have an LJ account. Here's the main blog:

http://blogorob.blogspot.com