Category: Uncategorized

My Intersectional Author Bio

I’m subscribed to just about every major science fiction and fantasy podcast on the internet, and one of the most annoying things they do is use the author bio to virtue signal about how woke or intersectional they are. So just for fun, I thought I would get in on that action and write an insufferable author bio of my own:

Joe Vasicek is a fourth generation immigrant whose ancestors were slaves a thousand years before the Native Americans discovered Europe, but because they were white he’s still a racist bastard who has yet to check his privilege. Until the 1970s, it was legal in the state of Missouri to kill him because of his religion, so it’s a good thing he was born in the 80s and has never had a desire to live there. Besides, he’s a Mormon, so the law was probably justified. His preferred pronouns are His Majesty and His Greatness, but he will answer to anything, including racist, sexist, bigot, homophobe, Islamophobe, Nazi, or hey stupid. He lives in MAGA country and owns a lot of guns.

NaNoWriMo 2020 Day Thirty

It’s done! I did it! Hit the big 50k word mark in thirty days! The T-shirt is on the way!

Here are all of the stories that I wrote for NaNoWriMo 2020:

  • “Lord of the Slaves” (about 9,200 words)
  • “The Real Hell” (about 3,700 words)
  • “The Scales of the Space Whale” (about 9,800 words)
  • “A Fatal Rebirth” (about 1,000 words)
  • “The Manchurian Paradox” (about 4,000 words)
  • “Schrödinger’s Diaper” (about 800 words)
  • “The End of Elysium” (about 9,000 words)
  • “The Final Turning” (about 1,800 words)

The difference was made up by six stream-of-consciousness character interview exercises that I did for the main viewpoint characters in my current WIP, Queen of the Falconstar. Final word count for NaNoWriMo 2020: 50,044.

My favorite story to write was probably “The Scales of the Space Whale,” an upbeat humorous space opera piece, but “The End of Elysium” was a close second. That one is a post-apocalyptic piece, very reminiscent of Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, and I wrote both stories with help from the Mythulu cards.

All of these stories are going to need some serious revision before I feel that they’re ready to submit. But at a rate of 1-2 stories per month, that shouldn’t be too hard to do.

This was a lot of fun! I definitely would like to do it again next year.

NaNoWriMo 2020 Day Twenty-Eight

  • Words written: 3,700
  • Total words written: 46,385
  • Stories written: 7
  • Character interviews written: 5
  • Total words behind: 282

Only 3,615 words to go! I won’t be writing tomorrow, since I don’t generally write on Sundays, but with how close I am to beating this challenge, you can bet that I’ll be pounding out those words on Monday!

The seventh story for the challenge wasn’t too bad. Needs a lot of cleanup, including naming some characters and making their dialogue a little less cliche and straw-mannish. But I’ll take care of that later. In the meantime, I’ve got one more character interview to do, and maybe a flash fiction piece if I can pull it off.

NaNoWriMo 2020 Day Twenty-Seven

  • Words written: 3,140
  • Total words written: 42,685
  • Stories written: 6
  • Character interviews written: 4
  • Total words behind: 2,315

Catching up in the home stretch! Here’s hoping I can pull through the next few days to the end!

NaNoWriMo 2020 Day Twenty-Six

  • Words written: 2,682
  • Total words written: 39,545
  • Stories written: 6
  • Character interviews written: 4
  • Total words behind: 3,788

Catching up! Slowly, but surely. We’re in the home stretch now, and with just over 10k words to go, I think I may actually be able to pull this off. It’s gonna be close, but I may just be able to do it. Maybe if I also do author’s notes for the short singles I have yet to publish, hmm. That could pad things out.

Looking ahead, I’m going to revise and clean up all these stories before submitting them, probably at a rate of 1-2 per month. If I can use these nanowrimo stories to get into the habit of writing 1-2 short stories per month, that would be fantastic.

Thanksgiving went really well for us this year, but it’s late, and it seems that Mrs. Vasicek fell asleep while putting the baby down. Better sign off and go see to that.

#GiveThanks Day Seven

(87) I’m grateful for my pilgrim ancestors who came to this country seeking to build a more godly community, and gave us a heritage of self-government and self-sufficiency.

(88) I’m grateful that my pilgrim ancestors actually survived, which was not at all a foregone conclusion, or even likely.

(89) I’m grateful for the native Americans like Squanto who welcomed the pilgrims and helped them to make it through that first winter, when everything was so precarious.

(90) I’m grateful that the tradition of Thanksgiving was established in our American culture, and that we have a holiday where we remember the pilgrims and the contributions that they made to our culture and history.

(91) I’m grateful for turkey and cranberry sauce. It’s a wonderful combination of flavors, and I always forget how good it is until Thanksgiving rolls around.

(92) I’m grateful for Thanksgiving leftovers and how delicious they are!

(93) I’m grateful for the opportunity to celebrate Thanksgiving with family this year, and that Utah wasn’t nearly as Draconian with the lockdowns as some places.

(94) I’m grateful for all of the people who are defying the lockdowns to practice their religion and celebrate the holidays. At this point in the pandemic, given all that we now know about the virus and how to treat it, I consider it an important act of civil disobedience against would-be tyrants who care less about our health and safety and more about power and control.

(95) I’m grateful for the unexpected growth in book sales that I’m currently experiencing, and the fact that my sales have more or less held steady through this difficult time.

(96) I’m grateful for how much I’ve grown as a writer in just the last few years.

(97) I’m grateful for every short story sale that I’ve made, including the ones to the token paying markets.

(98) I’m grateful for all of the readers who follow my newsletter and reach out to me via email from time to time. I wish I could respond in a timely manner to all of them!

(99) I’m grateful for all of the readers who take the time to post a rating or a review. It really does help other readers to find and enjoy my books.

(100) Finally, I’m grateful to be alive in what is, without a doubt, the best time in history to be a reader or a writer!

NaNoWriMo 2020 Day Twenty-Five

  • Words written: 1,823
  • Total words written: 36,863
  • Stories written: 6
  • Total words behind: 4,804

We’re coming into the home stretch, and I’ve still got over 13,000 words left. It’s going to be a close one. At this point, if it weren’t for these character interviews, I would be able to keep up.

Today was a tough day, partly because our baby kept waking up all night, and partly because of family obligations that kept us busy and made it difficult to write. But family comes first, and we had a good time and made some positive memories.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, but I think I’ll still be able to make significant progress on my word count. Dinner is at 4pm, and we aren’t cooking it, so hopefully the baby sleeps well, Mrs. Vasicek and I sleep well, and Mrs. Vasicek and the baby have a pleasant, restful morning while I have a productive one. Here’s hoping for the best.

#GiveThanks Day Six

(73) I’m grateful that my only food allergy is chicken meat, and that I can still handle Turkey just fine.

(74) I’m grateful for books like The Fourth Turning and The Next Hundred Years, which really help to open my eyes to what’s coming, and prepare.

(75) I’m grateful for our renters and the blessing that we are in each others’ lives.

(76) I’m grateful for my ancestors who made the Mormon Pioneer Trek so that their descendants could grow up in Zion.

(77) I’m grateful for my ancestors who emmigrated to the United States, so that I could grow up in this great nation and understand the meaning of freedom.

(78) I’m grateful for my ancestors who fought for this country so that I could still have those freedoms enshrined in our Constitution.

(79) I’m grateful for all of the sacrifices that my ancestors made, especially my grandfather, to make sure that their children and grandchildren could have better lives than they did.

(80) I’m grateful for the opportunity that I have to pass on those blessings to a new generation, and to be another link in the chain.

(81) I’m grateful that the masks are finally coming off now, that the enemies of this country are revealing themselves for who they really are, and that tens of millions of Americans have just woken up and been red-pilled, as painful as that may be.

(82) I’m grateful that Winston Churchill was right about America: that you can always trust us to do the right thing, after we’ve done everything else.

(83) I’m grateful that my own red-pill experience happened from 2016-2017, so that I’ve already been mentally prepared to deal with the things that are happening now.

(84) I’m grateful for the fact that I live in a country where making ourselves ungovernable is a part of our cultural heritage.

(85) I’m grateful to be alive and able to have an impact in such a pivotal time in history.

(86) I’m grateful that I live in a red state that is very well positioned to ride out the coming collapse.

NaNoWriMo 2020 Day Twenty-Four

  • Words written: 2,414
  • Total words written: 35,041
  • Stories written: 6
  • Total words behind: 4,959

Today I brought the truck into the shop to get an oil change and renew the registration, and it took more time than I thought it would. Spent most of that time up at the BYU Library catching up on back issues of Locus Magazine. It was rather tedious, and I didn’t get to writing until after I was back and the baby was asleep. Still, the character interviews are turning out to be a good way to catch up on my word count. Tomorrow looks to be another busy day, so I’ll probably do another one after we get back from Christmas tree hunting.

#GiveThanks Day Five

(61) I’m grateful for my truck and the mileage I’ve gotten out of it.

(62) I’m grateful for our Toyota Camry and the diligent service that the previous owners put in it, for it to run so well.

(63) Believe it or not, I’m actually grateful for the fact that our baby always gets up before 6am. On a good day, it allows me to get an early start to the day, and on a bad day, we just sleep in with her for a couple more hours.

(64) I’m grateful for all the baby clothes that our neighbors gave us.

(65) I’m grateful for all the board and picture books that my parents and friends gave us.

(66) I’m grateful that we have everything we need to take care of our baby’s needs.

(67) I’m grateful for the fact that I have a wife and a baby, and that my life doesn’t just revolve around me anymore.

(68) I’m grateful that I was able to grow up in an era of peacetime, between the end of the Cold War and the era of endless wars in which we now live.

(69) I’m grateful that our leaders, including President Trump, have made such incredible progress toward peace in the Middle East in just the last year.

(70) I’m grateful that I was able to read the Book of Mormon in another language (Arabic) for the first time this year.

(71) I’m grateful that I was able to see Jerusalem and spend a significant amount of time in the Holy Land while studying Arabic in college.

(72) I’m grateful for all the ways in which my experiences with Middle Eastern cultures and history have enriched my writing.