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[Jul. 10th, 2009|11:42 pm] |
Well, it's been a while since I updated - luckily only a couple of months this time. To make matters even better, I actually have been writing in the interrim.
But let's see how I've fared in my writing-related goals thus far, shall we?
( And let's do it below a cut, because I am a classy fellow like that. )
If I was grading myself, I'd probably be generous to award a 4/10. Given that I went into it with a 0/10 average, I'm not too disappointed. Still - lots of room for improvement.
I'd like for my goals to be more simple, and to revisit them often so that I can make adjustments as necessary. I'm also pretty busy this summer, so "writing every single day" doesn't necessarily make sense. With that in mind, here are my short-term goals:
JULY
- Write a short story every week for the ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) tamingthemuse prompt.
- Write a 15 minute flash piece every week for 15_minute_fic.
- Finish my lingering short play.
- Edit the short plays I wrote earlier this year.
I'd like to start editing Blue Goo, too, but if I don't get started on this until August I will be in good shape. |
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| Time flies when you're... um. Doing. Stuff. |
[May. 4th, 2009|01:22 am] |
Ahh yes, the same sad tune plays over and over again: I haven't updated in months. But not to worry! You're not missing out on anything, because I haven't written anything in months, either. So, you know. That solves THAT.
My general updates, in a nutshell:
- FREAKIN' GRADUATED. Rawk.
- Wrote 49 pages for Script Frenzy. Not a win, but a few completed short plays under my belt.
- Won an essay-writing contest for a paper I wrote last term. Had another potential winner this term, but couldn't submit because of the first win. (Oh noes! I'm so sad!)
- Submitted four stories to VOX. Had all of them published. Woot!
- Won (and generaly dominated) a photo context for VOX, too. Got 50$ for my troubles. Also Woot!
- Went to an English conference and presented a paper about Batman Begins.
- Directed a Tom Stoppard short play for school. Have also participated in some local theatre-type workshops, which has been fun.
- Played Hamlet. Rocked the world. Fulfilled a life-long dream.
Now in... less than eight hours, I'll be starting work at my old job at the giant computer company. I feel a little ambivalent about having made essentially NO progress in that regard, but it's a job with great pay (yay for debt reduction!), an awesome boss and good coworkers, and it's one that I already know how to do and which gives me the shift I need to keep my theatre prospects open. Um, yeah. The choice is kind of obvious.
The destruction of my debt is only one part of my plan for the coming year-and-four-months, though. Part of the reason I'm not going straight on to grad school is that I feel a bit burnt out on the academics and need to recharge other areas of my life. Playing various instruments, singing, acting, being more physically active... and, of course, ( reading and writing. Behold my master plans below the cut! )
I am really excited to have some time to devote to this stuff. Tomorrow is my official start date (and I should probably go the heck to bed, since I need to be up at HOLY CRAP AM for work.) I'll try to keep the minutae off of this journal, but expect more activity in general. |
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| I feel good! I knew that I would! |
[Dec. 14th, 2008|08:48 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | accomplished | ] |
I submitted some stories to VOX, my school's literary journal. I significantly reworked a couple of them, and substantially touched up a couple more. I feel bad that I don't have anything RECENT or NEW to submit - I think the newest thing is two years old, minimum. However, I do feel that I have grown at least somewhat as a writer since then, and as such I was able to rework/edit the stories in a way that makes them much stronger. So I can't COMPLETELY bash myself.
But I can MOSTLY bash myself.
Having said that, though, I am really happy that I have finally submitted some stuff: I have gone over some things that I have written and, after some work, thought, "Yep, this is strong enough that I am not embarassed to show it to people - heck, I'm not embarassed to suggest that it might be publishable." I'm not fooling myself into thinking that VOX is a particularly difficult place in which to get published, but hey. It's something. And some of my profs, who are highly esteemed as writers in their own right, are going to be reading it. That's pretty cool.
( A bit more rambling about writing processes lies within. ) |
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| Back to the old grind... |
[Dec. 4th, 2008|10:32 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | determined | ] |
Now that my Media Living class and NaNoWriMo are over and my school projects are winding down, it's about time I actually made this blog into my writing journal again, wouldn't you say?
I've taken all of the legitimately for NaNo stuff that I wrote last month (not counting school papers, etc.), as well as the short story I wrote in mid July, and updated my total all-time wordcount:
401591 / 1000000 words. 40% done!
Not bad! I'm up 4% from last time. (Which was back in JUNE. Ouch.) Have I been keeping up my pledge to write 500 words per day? Heck no!
I've got a couple of projects in the works this month though: Vox, my school's literary journal, is accepting submissions until December 15. By a strange twist of fate, the Saint John Theatre Company is accepting short play submissions until the same date. Now, my submission for Vox is fairly easy: I'm going to edit and submit a couple of existing short stories, as well as send in a few of my best travel photos. But the SJTC thing is VERY exciting - last night I brainstormed an idea that I am going to work on over the next week as I wrap up the school stuff. If they like it, it could wind up in the Theatre on the Edge festival next summer, which would rock.
There's lots of time left in the month that needs to be filled up with projects, though, so I am trying to decide what to focus on. I need to get into some regular writing exercises, and crack open Blue Goo again. It's hard to believe that it's been kicking around for over four years now, eh? About time I sat down and did something with it. Maybe I'll focus on the above while I do some reading - I have a couple of lovely SF anthologies given to me by the Script Frenzy peeps in Sydney that I am dying to get into, and I don't think it would hurt to spend some time soaking in my favourite medium (namely, short stories).
[Edit:] Oh yes, and I am embarking upon a massive scriptwriting project in order to hone my skills and exorcize some demons. What is this project, you ask? Why, re-writing and re-scripting the entire Star Wars prequel trilogy, of course!
Having just subjected myself to Episode I again, I have decided that the material is still useful - as background information, to be alluded to at opportune moments (you know how Leia and other people obliquely reference "the senate" in "A New Hope"? That's what I'm talking about.) The re-write is going to be fun, engaging, caper-like and character-driven, because there's no Big Scary Death Star to center the plot around. I've started making some broad notes, and I am making it my mission to re-write at least the first prequel for Script Frenzy next year. |
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| Media Living: The Last Stand |
[Dec. 2nd, 2008|08:33 pm] |
Well, it looks like this is it for the Media Living journal. I have a few closing comments to make that have to do with the last reading for the course, and a few more media use-type things to mention, too. Then this journal goes back to being my writing journal, and none too soon - I've got to get a few submissions to Vox out by the end of the week, and now that NaNoWriMo is over for another year (and as you can tell by my icon, I am a WINNAH!), my creativity has been kicked into high gear.
Last week was basically paper-writing week, which means that my life has basically been cycles of MS Word usage and, briefly, Rock Band / The Bully playing as brain breaks. I've been downloading stuff a little more lately, too - found a Cat Stevens song that I wanted to learn on the guitar, and one of my study breaks on Saturday was my learning to play it. And does anybody else remember "Saga," the Canadian progressive rock group from the eighties? My folks liked their stuff a lot and, as much eighties music does, it inspires me with nostalgia. My dad was listening to the radio the other day and "Wind Him Up" came on, and I remembered how much I liked it, so I poked around online and found that album. It's decent, but I don't know if I would bother purchasing it - there are only two songs that interest me (the other being "On the Loose").
I found "Wind Him Up" on YouTube too, and the "more info" that accompanies it is interesting:
Saga - Legendary Canadian Progrock
Live at the Metropolis - Montreal 1984
Rock Etc Canadian TV Broadcast
www.saga-world.com
Over half the songs from the show including this one, DID NOT make it to the Silhouette official DVD.
Here it is for your enjoyment.
This is kind of cool because it shows that putting concert footage up on YouTube isn't usually about any kind of disrespect for the bands, or even for the companies that have the rights to the footage. Lots of info about the group and the concert, even where the concert was broadcast, is included there. But there's obviously some annoyance about the DVD not having this and lots of other songs - how are consumers supposed to have any iota of support for centralized production and distribution if they're going to omit desired material? I recently found some Utopia videos from a concert in 1982 which belong to a discontinued DVD, as well. Obviously lots of stuff that IS available is spread around, and that's the main concern that copyright holders have (I'd wager), but it isn't the ONLY thing going on. People will happily distribute things themselves if they aren't worth it for a company to do it, or if a company is slack about it (like with the Saga DVD above.) And it isn't all about simply sticking it to the man.
( More hides behind the cut! ) |
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| Media Living: Gender online, and general musings |
[Nov. 24th, 2008|11:13 pm] |
Yikes! The term is, apparently, almost over. I'm hoping to make at least two more journal entries (including this one) before I have to turn it over to Dr. M. This week is all about getting my paper for Lit Theory done, and (of course!) finishing the novel. I have some major work to do on both fronts. Tonight I have been going back and forth between reading stuff for the paper and adding to the novel word count. I'm not sure if I'll catch up today, but I'll be pretty close.
When it comes down to it, I really have to cut myself off from (most of) the internet in order to get a lot of work done on papers. For these journal entries and lighter fare (even some readings that I've had to do online) I can deal with the background distractions, but for some reason they are KILLER once I'm in paper-writing mode. Tomorrow I'm spending a few hours at the school library after my classes so that I can do a bit of research and get some serious rough-draftage happening. The library and the Tim Horton's on King street are effectively my "hide away from the world and work" spots, and I like both of them because they have a little bit of white noise and people sounds in the background without being so intrusive as to be uncomfortable. I think that's why that atmpshere is conducive to writing: I don't feel totally isolated, but I feel in no way obligated to interact with anybody. Like a cat, I like being around people, but I am much more productive when I don't have to actually talk to them.
It's a relief to have Chicago done with, though I am going to miss seeing everybody and getting to listen to such awesome performers (both the singers and band) all the time. I'm also enjoying things like Rock Band, which I haven't played since sometime early last week, and I like that I am home to catch my regular re-runs of The Simpsons (they just happen to be really well-timed for meal breaks. What can I say?
I did the reading for this week a little while ago, and I should probably talk about it a bit, though it may be in a slightly abstract way since my PDF reader doesn't let me cut and paste stuff. But as this is boring I shall do it ( under a cut. ) |
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| Media Living: Game mods and user-generated content |
[Nov. 14th, 2008|12:16 pm] |
Sadly re: this week's reading topic, I haven't been playing a lot of video games lately, but that's nothing new. (Just Rock Band. I love it because it's a bit of physical exertion as well as a totally different way of engaging my brain. Makes for wonderful study breaks!) Mostly I'm spending a lot of time on email, making appointments to meet with profs and people for school groups, occasionally conversing with friends. I also tend to email my papers to myself as I work on them so I always have a backup (I also have saves at several stages).
I liked this week's reading, though (namely, "Playing on the digital commons: collectivities, capital and contestation in videogame culture" by Sarah Coleman and Nick Dyer-Witheford,) and I want to comment on a couple of things re: my own gaming history, a gaming mod project I was involved in at one time, and some hopes I have about the future of rhythm-based gaming like Rock Band/Guitar Hero - a future that may very well revolve around hacking/modding.
( Come hither! ) |
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| Media Living: Quickie update about Paticipatory Journalism |
[Nov. 7th, 2008|12:13 pm] |
I thought I would have more to say about this week's reading, but I am realizing something as I go through it: I don't really participate in participatory journalism. I know that it happens. I am also sometimes directed to political blogs and mainstream news sources with copious comments by other internet users - which, I guess, is really a big part of the whole idea of participatory journalism anyway. Even though my livejournal friends page is not entirely politically-geared, they can essentially morph into political discussion spaces, drawing in mainstream and blogosphere sources at the drop of a hat and spreading them meme-style.
Which I guess is a way of expressing - maybe even expanding upon - the introduction to participatory journalism that comes up in this week's reading from The Media Center:
"Participatory journalism flourishes in social media — the interpersonal communication that takes place through email, chat, message boards, forums — and in collaborative media — hybrid forms of news, discussion and community."
What I'm suggesting, I guess, is that the boundaries of participatory journalism are really easily blurred into the space that one could more generally call "participatory culture."
I don't have a lot else to say, but I wanted to also comment specifically on the weaknesses of "discussion group" settings:
"Weaknesses: Sometimes forums are too open, easily garnering flip, reactive comments. Active, large forums can get noisy, with so many posts from so many members, it's hard to determine what information is meaningful or useful. In addition, some moderated forums require each post to be pre-approved before it appears online, slowing down and smothering the conversation."
My comment is generally an emphatic YEP! This is, in a nutshell, why I don't go out of my way to participate in political (and other forms of) discussion online. In my last blog post I talked about the difficulty of navigating in a forum populated by thousands of active participants. And re: the modding business, I have heard some interesting and frightening horror stories about having to moderate big-name forums. Though this wasn't so much about conversation-smothering as reigning-in-the-hatemongering, which is a definite up-side to forum moderation. (I should point out that this reading does also focus on the positive aspects of online discussion groups, which I generally agree with as well - for instance, the ease of participation and the lowered technical and financial resources for participation in general.)
That's it from me for now - off to class! |
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| Media Living: What Twitter Tells Me |
[Nov. 5th, 2008|12:21 am] |
Phew! Been a little while since I updated - I forgot to do it last week, but at least I was keeping up with the Twitter stuff for a while, there. I trailed off with it after about a week, but I think I got enough data for it to be useful. I'll probably pick it up again at least once this month, so I can use it to talk about all of my freaking homework and paper-writing and noveling and such.
It's election night, and I've been peeking at the results on CBC (interesting that we Canadians have our own coverage of the US election, and it's at least as comprehensive (maybe even moreso) than our OWN election coverage. I also love that there are election parties going on around here, like the one at the campus bar. I can't really stand to sit and watch the results roll in, myself, and I have homework to do, so I'm just sticking it out and home and will find out the good news (oh god, I hope it's good news) tomorrow. Normally I hate when our news is overloaded with American stuff, but in this case it's nice to have media people that I'm familiar with and a media outlet in general that I'm familiar with handling things. (I haven't done this week's reading yet about the news, but I'm pretty sure it'll be relevant to this discussion - will probably make another mini-post later in the week to talk about it more in-depth.)
But enough about politics. NaNoWriMo is underway! I've been writing almost exactly my quota of words every day, but I discovered something very sad today: I'm not enjoying what I'm writing. I'm not being compelled to write; I'm not feeling the magic of having new characters spring to life. So it looks like I might need to start over (though I'll keep my existing wordcount - can't really erase it from the stats, anyway. I'm familiar with this game, I think I've done this same thing at least three or four times.) Tomorrow amid frantic paper-writing I am going to start brainstorming new novel ideas and maybe outlining. Silliness is in order, but I'm having a hard time finding my voice for my current idea, so maybe something else will come more naturally.
Ah yes, and then there's last week's fun with Twitter. ( Let's put this bit under a cut, shall we? Because we might go on for a little while. ) |
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| Media Living: Fan culture and grumpy authors. |
[Oct. 23rd, 2008|10:27 pm] |
Okay, I'll admit it: I really did find that first Jenkins article that we had to read for this class boring. But Jenkins has completely made it up to me in this article on fan culture and collective intelligence (which I think I've read before, but I enjoy it so much that I don't care.) It's written in a very accessible style, so if you are at all interested in fandom I recommend you take a look at it. It's a bit long, but it's worth it. I'll be quoting from it somewhat liberally this week.
What makes it so topical is a discussion I had with my friends over the weekend, after we'd finished recording my podcast about podcasts (which I'll be putting up this weekend.) This is a conversation that we've had before, and it may be familiar to some of you, especially people who are familiar with fandom and fanfic in general.
We were talking about how Anne Rice is insane.
Okay, okay, so that might be a bit harsh. In the interest of protecting my ass if her lawyers come after me (which they probably won't unless I start writing fanfiction based on her characters), I'll use my "I statements". I think, based on many of the things she's said on her website and in Amazon.com reviews of her own books, that she has some ISSUES, with a capital ISSUES.
( Below: Does Ms. Rice exemplify fears of new communications technologies and the fandoms that use them? Or is she just... DIFFERENT? ) |
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