family – Page 8 – One Thousand And One Parsecs

Fighting for a Homeland

For the past few weeks, I’ve been brainstorming ideas for my next big novel project. One of the ways I’ve been doing this is to by trawling tvtropes and putting together a mashup of the story tropes I’d like to play with.

By far, the one that’s struck me the most is Fighting for a Homeland. This is basically when a band of displaced warriors is wandering the Earth, trying to find their own promised land. There are a lot of examples of this on the tropes page, but the coolest one is probably this from real life:

The first Czech legion, after World War one. Their country was then merely a province of Austria-Hungary, who started the war and teamed up with the Germans. The Czechs had very little reason to fight for them, and surrendered to the opposing Russians whenever they could. Through a lot of political scheming, the Russians were convinced to raise a Czech legion of 60,000 men to fight against the Austrians.

Then the Revolution broke out, and with the peace treaty between Russia and Austria, and the vicious warfare and politicking in Russia, they would not get their goal, an independent Czechia, so they turned to the western allies. They could not leave the country through the western side, so the allies chose to rendezvous with them in the port of Vladivostok, on the other side of Russia.

They crossed the country in three years, using the railways that they hijacked, joined with the Russian White Army (anti-communists) and the allies, stole the Tsar’s gold, traded it for free passage to Vladivostok with the advancing reds when they lost, and safely sailed home, to the newly founded country of Czechoslovakia.

Isn’t that friggin awesome? What’s even cooler is that I might have ancestors who fought in the legion. My great grandfather emmigrated from Moravia right around that time, perhaps a little before. Man, if I ever write a historical novel…

But yeah, the trope almost perfectly characterizes Danica and her band of mercenaries, who feature prominently in Bringing Stella Home. Their homeworld, Tajjur V, was fighting for independence right before the Hameji conquests began, and the New Gaian Empire put down the rebellion rather forcibly. Later, when the system fell to the Hameji, their homeworld was bombarded and slagged into oblivion, leaving them with nowhere to call their own.

Long story short, the story of the Czech Legions and their epic journey across Siberia has totally inspired me for this next novel. I’m going to make Roman (Danica’s NCO) a major viewpoint character, bring back the old mercenary team, throw in a few new ones (including a character from Desert Stars)…man, it’s going to be AWESOME!

In other news, “Decision LZ1527” and “From the Ice Incarnate” are both available for free from Diesel Ebooks. Genesis Earth is also up there too, so if you feel inclined to post a review, I would certainly appreciate it!

Also, if you REALLY want to help, drop by the Amazon pages for “Decision LZ1527” and “From the Ice Incarnate” and fill out the little form where it says “tell us about a lower price.” I’m trying to get Amazon to offer my short stories for free, but the only way to do that is to make it free somewhere else and get Amazon to price match.

Hopefully, by making them free it will get me more exposure and drive more interest in the novels. Moses Siregar did a guest post on that just this morning.

Also, I think I’ve found a new template that might work well for this blog. What do you think? Obviously, I would tweak the background and header (and possibly the color scheme as well). The main thing is that it has multiple sidebars, which will make more room for my books. But if you have a better suggestion, please let me know.

Tag and such

So my cousin Angela tagged me in this cross-linking truth-or-dare blog game, and it looks fun so I figured I’d participate. Here goes:

Do you think you’re hot?

I suffer from no illusions as to my ability (or rather, lack thereof) to carnally attract the opposite sex. That’s not to say I’m ugly, but when you apply the Pareto principle to dating (and let’s be honest, it’s really more of a 90/10 split), I don’t make the cut.

And you know what? I’m fine with that. Because it only takes one…

What is your current desktop wallpaper?

This glorious image from APOD (Astronomy Picture of the Day). It’s enough to make me want to move to Iceland, and that’s saying something.

When was the last time you ate chicken?

I made some awesome fajitas last week, and the chicken was on sale at Maceys. I always cook my own chicken; I hate the precooked frozen stuff.

What were you thinking as you were doing this?

Who comes up with these things anyway? Hmm, I wonder if I could start one…

Do you have nicknames?

I have two internet screen names, which are probably the only nicknames of mine that are still in use (besides the ones people use behind my back). The first is “onelowerlight,” and it’s all over the place. The second I use only on deviant art and a certain fan-fiction site, and it is and shall remain a closely guarded secret.

Tag eight blogger friends…

Alright, let’s do this. LEEERRROYYY…

Gods, Witches, Space & Stars
Kate in Katy
Myself as Written
One Modern Mormon
Truthiness
Fertilizer
Not A Villain (technically a webcomic not a blog, but hey she’s an old friend)
سفريات أنثون

Who’s listed as number one?

My old writing friend Laura, who just got back from an LDS mission in Armenia. Has a lot of interesting and insightful things to say, such as her last post on the difference between strong female characters who are independent vs. strong female characters who are interdependent.

Say something about number five.

Sarah is one of my little sisters, and she just had a baby! Also, she worked for a couple years in a survivalist-oriented wilderness therapy program, and knows how to make traps, kill and eat animals, and make fire with sticks and a bow. Oh, and she’s also hilarious. If I’m ever stranded on a desert island, she’s my first pick for who I’d want with me.

How did you get to know number three?

Chuck? I think she showed up at a writing group meeting when I was VP of Quark. She was never really active in the club, but we also took Sanderson’s 318 class a couple times and went to CONduit in 2008 together. Meh; she’s alright, I guess (jk!).

How about number four?

(who comes up with these questions?)

Mykle is my geekiest brother in law, at least in terms of books and sf&f fandom (linux, that would be Danny). He married Sarah two months after meeting her and I think it was the best decision either of them ever made. He doesn’t blog much, but when he does, it’s always thoughtful and interesting.

Leave a message for number six

Thanks Kindal for the feedback on Worlds Away! Blunt as always but quite helpful.

Leave a lovey-dovey message for number two

For my sister?? Ewwwww…

Seriously Kate, I love your blog. And you have the freaking cutest daughter on the face of the planet. Thanks for making me an uncle!

Do number seven and number eight have any similarities?

Yes, in fact. Aneeka (no. 7) spent a couple years teaching English in Japan; Anthon (no. 8 ) hasn’t spent more than a week or two in the same place (or more than a month or two on the same continent) for the last two years. Let me just say, I am in awe of these world travelers and hope to do likewise at some point in the future.

That’s it folks. At least I have chicken.

Where will Joe go?

Just a quick and dirty update before bed, because hey it’s been forever since I’ve posted to this thing.

Holy crap, this last week was CRAZY for my family! Youngest sister got married, middle sister had a baby, and oldest sister…well, I’m not at liberty to discuss that yet. But congratulations to all of you!

It was fun to get out and see everyone, but now that I’m back, man I’m looking forward to the next month. Wrote 2.5k words today in ITND, only two more chapters and an epilogue to go.

And strangely enough, I don’t feel like the project totally sucks. Usually by this point, my fingertips are bleeding it hurts so much to write. But no, even though this is a rough draft and it needs some major story level edits, I don’t feel that it totally sucks (knock on wood).

Now, whether that’s a sign that I’m maturing as a writer, or simply self-delusion …your guess is as good as mine. Probably better, actually.

One thing I’m really wondering about, though, are my post-summer plans. Originally, I was thinking of taking a year to teach English someplace where I could earn enough money to live off of until I break in with my novels. Now…well, I’m not so sure. I’d love to go back to the Middle East, or maybe someplace like Georgia on the TLG program, but Korea…I dunno.

As some of you know, I’m in a local Provo band. Right now, we’re just writing music, but it’s coming along quite well, and we’re hoping to start putting on shows in August. Except…that’s when I’d be leaving, if I were going to Korea. For a year.

Also, I’d miss out on some prime opportunities to build my writing career, like Worldcon, and that seems rather foolish if what I really want to do is be a writer.

The TLG program looks interesting because 1) it’s closer to the Middle East, geographically and culturally, 2) it’s much shorter, and 3) the program isn’t quite as rigorous. In short, it seems like a great way to test out whether I can juggle a TEFL career with my writing, whether I’m suited to TEFL, and whether dropping everything to travel for a while is really a good idea.

Trouble is, the program doesn’t pay much, so I wouldn’t be any better off financially once I get back to the states. Also, if I sign up now, I’d still be there through much of the fall, cutting me out of band stuff.

But if I do decide to stay in Utah for the medium term, I feel like I should at least get something out of it–like, say, a master’s degree. In something. Not sure what yet, but I’ll start looking into that ASAP.

Man, I can just imagine my parents cringing as they read this…

But I still haven’t nixed Korea as an option. The applications are still going through, and I plan on completing the online TEFL course this month. Perhaps finishing the course will help me find out if this is what I want to do. I don’t know.

But what I really want to do (besides go back to the Middle East) is write. And I’m not going to lose sight of that, no matter what happens.

Back in Mass

Mass = Massachusetts = “back east,” for all you unwashed Utahans!

My sister’s wedding is this weekend, so I’m back at my parents’ place helping them get everything set up. It’s going to be a busy day tomorrow, but I’ve got my netbook and will probably get a couple good hours of writing in.

I managed to write a bit on the plane today, but not as much as I was hoping. My goal is still to finish Into the Nebulous Deep 1.1 by May 14th; I’ve got about 15k-20k left to go, and since I’m taking the next few weeks off to work on writing projects, I shouldn’t have any problems meeting that deadline.

Yesterday, I took the unedited manuscript of Genesis Earth and formatted it nice and pretty so my friend Laura could read it on her Kindle, and…man, it looks like a real book! There’s something about seeing your work in the actual form that people are going to read it in that is just…well, for lack of a better word, magical. It’s definitely motivated me to get GE up quickly, as well as Journey to Jordan. More on that in the next few days and weeks to come.

It’s getting late out here and I’d better get some sleep, but before I do, I want to put a plug in for my new favorite webcomic, The Zombie Hunters. Ross Wolfe, Quark’s renowned zombie expert, introduced me to the comic a couple months ago, and I have been totally hooked ever since.

The comic is set in our world after the zombie apocalypse, where a band of five thousand survivors struggles to rebuild civilization on an island that was previously the site of a major research campus. The zombie plague has a dormant phase, where the infected can live normal lives, but turn into zombies when they die.

The infected live in segregated barracks as second class citizens, but teams of them regularly venture out into the wastelands to salvage supplies from the zombie-infested ruins. The comic basically centers around one of these teams of zombie hunters; their struggles and challenges, their relationships with each other, and their hopes and dreams for the future.

The storytelling is fantastic, the characters are engaging and real, the post-apocalyptic setting dark, gritty, and yet totally immersive and frighteningly believable–man, it’s just awesome. And the longer it runs, the better it gets! I can’t wait to find out how Charlie the half-life fits in with his ability to communicate with the zombies, or to get the full backstory with Jenny and Milo. And I love the banter between Jenny and Sammie, her alcoholic sociopath best friend.

Right now, though, the main storyline is on hold while the author works through some business problems, but the short story is absolutely fantastic. I love her fantastic use of point of view–how she gets into the little boy’s head and shows the apocalypse unfold from his perspective. And the kid’s grisly end…man, zombies are even freakier when you never see their faces! I wouldn’t be surprised if I have nightmares tonight about it–I have in the past. Crazy awesome zombie nightmares, heh.

As a side note, may I point out what may quite possibly be the perfect weapon for the zombie apocalypse, the AA-12 shotgun. All it needs is a bayonet and like a bajillion clips of ammo. A must-have for any zombie contingency plan.

But yeah, let me just say I am in awe of The Zombie Hunters. Awesome, awesome story–every time it updates, I get immersed again in the post-apocalyptic world, and it is amazing. If I ever end up writing a zombie apocalypse story (which will probably involve starships and space travel in some fashion), I would be tickled if it’s even half as good as this excellent webcomic.

How to say “I love you” in math

I was having dinner at the McQueens today, and after chatting with my brother in law’s cousins about numerous interesting subjects (zombie contingency plans, preferred food substances to swim in, and the amount of sugar it would take to launch you into space), we got onto the subject of math as a language.

Side note: I am on a quest (well, more of a subquest) to prove that math is not a language–at least, not in the same way that English is. The question I always pose to throw people off is “how do you say ‘I love you’ in math?”

Well, I posed the question, and Sarah came up with the best answer I’ve heard yet:

7i + 3u < 24u

Har. Har. Har.

In unrelated news, I’m going to find out on Tuesday (read: tomorrow night) if I made the semi-finals for the 2011 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest. I’m starting to freak out a little bit about it, but at least it’s come this far…okay, who am I kidding? GAAAAAHHHH!

In related news, I am totally going to base a character in one of my novels off of Sarah…but only tangentially, of course.

Just another update

A few updates, in case you’re interested in what’s going on with me:

I’m getting ready to post a new story to Amazon. This is going to be the one that won first place in the 2009 Mayhew short story contest at BYU. It’s also an excerpt for Genesis Earth, which is currently in the quarter finals for the 2011 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. More news on that as it comes out.

Into the Nebulous Deep is coming along. Surprisingly, the rough draft follows a very tight, coherent plot structure. At this stage, every other novel I’ve written is usually all over the place. This one looks like it’s going to be twenty chapters, with four parts of five chapters each.

Right now, I’m in the middle of chapter 13. I was hoping to finish it this week, but my sister was in town this weekend, so I spent most of my time with her instead. Not that that’s a problem; I can probably catch up tomorrow. I’m hoping to finish part III before the end of next week.

It’s going to be tough, though, because I’m starting a new temp job on Monday. It’s 40 hours per week at $9, which is pretty sweet, especially since my tax return is basically going to cover all my expenses this month. Hooray for cheap Utah summers! The full time work is going to be tough on the writing, though.

Which brings me to my last update: the guys at Pioneer Book called me back today and set up a job interview on Tuesday! Hooray! I’m totally stoked–this bookstore job would be awesome. I might even postpone my TEFL plans for a while if I get the job. It probably won’t be full time or pay much more than minimum wage, but dude, it’s a bookstore. Plus, part time work is perfect for writing. As long as I have enough to get by, I’ll be happy.

And to close, let me leave you with this awesome trailer my brother in law shared with me. I haven’t seen this movie, but it looks absolutely freaking awesome–like the kind of film my old roommate Steve Dethloff would make.

Man, Steve and I would make an awesome duo in a post-apocalyptic world. I should move to Dallas just so we can be ready to team up when it happens. If they made a movie of our exploits together, it would totally be just like this. Lost Vegas…

Steve, if you’re reading this, I want you to know that there’s no one I’d rather be killing zombies with than you.

Beard pics and other updates

In case you didn’t know, I’ve been experimenting a bit with facial hair recently. I figure, hey, I’m no longer a BYU student, so I might as well, right? Well, the results are in, and I must say I’m quite pleased.

I mean, check out how awesome I look:

Alright, fine, so that’s actually Waylander from David Gemmell’s Drenai series, but hey, a man can dream, right?

So anyways, here’s what the beard REALLY looks like:

I figured it would be good to keep it short, and trim around the neck and cheek; kind of like Riker, actually (no joke–his look was kind of what I was shooting for).

One of the funny things I’ve noticed is how many girls have actually complimented me on this thing. It struck me as quite a surprise, because from previous conversations with the opposite sex, growing a beard is something of a kiss (or lack thereof) of death. Interestingly enough, I’ve gotten as many or more compliments from women as I have from men. How does that work?

I guess that girls are opposed to beards as an idea, but (like most guys) they just don’t know what they want until they see it.

Probably the most hilarious about-face was from my sister Kate (who just started a new blog, hey!). When I was contemplating growing it earlier this winter, she kept telling me not to–that it would look hideous, that no girl would ever want to date me, that it would ruin my social life, etc. Well, guess what she said today?

Me: so you like my beard, eh?
oh ye of little faith
Kate: yes
…
Kate: I like it
I think it makes you look good
you need to be sure to keep it trimmed
it looks good
I’m really surprised
Me: hehehe
Kate: I eat my worrds
Me: so why are you so surprised?
Kate: hahaaha

So anyways, what do you think? Should it stay, or should it go? I’m kind of partial to it, but I’m open to hearing any contrary opinions, if there are any.

In unrelated news, I am sooo freaking close to finishing WAFH 2.0, and it orders of magnitude better than the first draft. Still, it needs a lot of work, so I’m looking for first readers to help me out with it. If you’d be willing to help out, please let me know (and please, only people I know in real life–as much as I love you for reading this blog, I’d prefer not to hand out my work to complete strangers) (also, some of you have already emailed me and I haven’t gotten back to you yet, but don’t worry–I haven’t forgotten. Expect an email about it sometime in the next week).

If you’d like to volunteer as a first reader for WAFH, I’d ask you to finish it by April 15 (tax day, joy!). My next project is Edenfall, and I expect that to take me at least a month and a half. I’m really hoping to get WAFH publishable before the end of the year, so I’ll probably start the next draft by May.

In other totally unrelated news, I’m going to write Edenfall 1.0 entirely in longhand. Crazy? Perhaps. I’ve got the notebook for it, though, and did some arts and crafts with it over the weekend–pictures to follow. Also, I’ll be sure to let you know what it’s like to write a novel in longhand; it should be interesting.

Aaand that’s about it for now. Gotta write!

Some thoughts on the future

I went to the first class of English 318 yesterday, and the lecture got me to thinking about my mid- to long-term future as a writer.

Brandon spent most of the period organizing the class, which was made doubly difficult by the ridiculously small classroom size. I swear, bureaucracies exist only to make life difficult. This year, for the sole sake of screwing with everyone, they are trying to limit his class size to thirty people (twenty students, ten auditors), but that’s a whole other rant in and of itself.

Oh well–at least there’s still room on the floor.

Anyhow, after getting all the administrative stuff done, Brandon talked about the practicalities of being a writer. He made the very interesting point that as a writer, it doesn’t matter where you live–moving further away from the city won’t negatively affect your earnings, unlike most jobs. That means you can save a lot of money on a house if you’re willing to live 50 to 100 miles away from a major population center.

That got me to thinking: maybe, once my writing career starts taking off, I’ll move down to southern Utah for a while. The country is absolutely gorgeous down there, and the people don’t seem hard to live with. Small house with lots of space, maybe a garden, lots of outdoor stuff all over, plenty of privacy–sounds great!

So here’s a tentative map of the next few years:

present–fall 2011: Get a job, build some credit, get TEFL certified. Keep writing, attend some cons (LTUE, Worldcon), develop new projects.

fall 2011–2012: Teach English abroad for a while (Korea, Japan, etc), build up some savings, have some adventures. Keep writing and submitting.

2013–2014: Get a teaching job in the Middle East (gulf region), have some adventures down there, continue to build savings and gain experience. Hopefully I’ll have broken in to publishing at this point; if not, keep on trying.

2015–2020: Come back to Utah (maybe Salt Lake), live off of savings for a while and really focus on building the writing career. Attend cons and workshops, network, write like crazy (the adventures will probably give me lots of material), work on promotion if I’ve already got a publishing deal, etc.

2020–????: Hopefully, somewhere along the line I’ll meet my wife and get married. Also by this time, my writing career will hopefully be earning me a living–enough, at least, to support a family. With all these things in place, we’ll select a home out in southern Utah, settle down, and start having kids.

That’s one plan, at least. When 2020 rolls around, I’ll probably laugh at my naive and short-sighted view of the future–but at least it’s something to work with.

Brandon did make the point that it’s not as hard to make a living as a science fiction & fantasy writer as most people say–which isn’t to say it’s easy, but it is possible.

According to Brandon, about 1,000 to 2,000 writers in sf&f are currently making a full-time living. Most of them are mid listers–authors you probably haven’t heard of, but see their books occasionally in the stores. If your books sell about 5,000 copies in hardcover over the first three years in print, your publisher won’t cut you–and with the way ebooks are changing things, new business models will certainly evolve, presenting a whole new host of challenges and opportunities.

Bottom line, this is something achievable, so long as I keep producing consistently and work hard to improve my craft. I’m very optimistic about the long-term.

Now, all I need is to find a job…ugggggggh.

(image courtesy Postsecret)

The Obligatory Christmas Post

Just a quick post, because I figure I shouldn’t let Christmas go by this year without at least mentioning it in some way.

I’m not much of a Christmas person, and I think I get that from my Mom. I still remember the year when she suggested we stop doing presents altogether. That didn’t pass, of course, but as you can see in the photo, she successfully downsized the Christmas tree. Even I would never stoop so low.

In a lot of ways, though, I sympathize with her. The blatant commercialization of the holiday shocks and disgusts me. I find nothing redeemable about the Santa myth, and will teach my children not to believe it. Until Thanksgiving rolls around, I prefer to act as if Christmas doesn’t even exist.

But I’m not a Scrooge. The holidays are for family and traditions–for being with and appreciating each other, making fond memories, and be quirky together in that special, unique way that makes family what it is (for better or for worse).

When celebrated well, it’s also a time to step back from the grindstone and recharge the spiritual underpinnings of one’s faith–kind of like a Sabbath for the year. It’s getting increasingly difficult to balance that with all the secular noise, especially in this panicked, self-conscious economy–but hey, faith by definition is never easy.

Anyhow, I had a great Christmas, in spite of the fact that I didn’t go home.

Explanation: we have an arrangement worked out with my sisters’ in-laws, where we alternate Christmas and Thanksgiving. This year, Thanksgiving was for the Vasiceks to get together, while Christmas was for the Challises and the Laws.

And anyway, home isn’t a place, it’s the people you’re with. I spent Christmas with my sister here in Provo, and all her in-laws, and it was great. I managed to get a small present for everyone, and it was a lot of fun watching them open theirs. I didn’t get as many presents as perhaps I would have gotten at home, but I love everything I got and got more than I expected (an illustrated translation of One Thousand and One Nights, a novel by L.E. Modesitt Jr, and Daft Punk’s Alive 2007 album. Oh, and some money from home–thanks Pop!).

We spent the day lazing around, watching Northern Exposure (which is actually a really good TV show–or was, back in the 80s when it aired), playing around with our presents, eating dinner, and doing other stuff. The Laws tend to be laid back, and I like that. I feel at home with them.

We ended the day by playing Apples to Apples, and let me say, it is a much different game playing it with old people (aka non college students). The first round, I didn’t get a single card. The second round, I got “weird” and “unhealthy.” The third round, I got “patriotic,” “shallow,” and a mildly suggestive one which I’ve since forgotten. Steve should have chosen my card (“picking your nose”) when the word was “bold.” Connie skunked us all.

So yeah, that was Christmas. I wasn’t expecting it to be super awesome, but it was. Thanks to the Laws for letting me share the day with them!

And to finish off this Obligatory Christmas Post, here is an awesome Christmas video. Even though it’s not Christmas anymore, you need to watch it–now. You won’t regret it–or maybe you will, but in an awesome kind of way. Just watch it.

Thanksgiving report from Texas

So for Thanksgiving this year, I drove down with my sister and brother in law to have Thanksgiving in Houston with my other sister’s family. It’s Friday night, and I’m about to hit the sack to get prepped for the long 24+ hour drive back to Utah, but let me say, this vacation has been great!

It’s so good to spend time with family, especially when you live across the country and can’t see each other very often. My niece has grown so much in the past year, and she is so freaking cute it’s unbelievable. Earlier tonight, we were watching slide shows on my sister’s projector and playing around with my niece: “Where’s Aunt Dot? Where’s Oopah? Where’s Uncle Joe?” Heh, Uncle Joe. I will do my best to live up to the awesomeness of that title.

Thanksgiving dinner was AMAZING. Holy freaking crap, my sisters can cook. They put together a traditional dinner from scratch, and everything was perfect. I’m so glad they’re sending a bunch of leftovers with us on the drive tomorrow, because I would much rather subsist on that than random junk food from gas stations.

Besides family, though, one of the coolest parts of the vacation was visiting the Houston Space Center and seeing mission control and one of the original Saturn V rockets. That’s right–see that room in the picture? I was there.

Which immediately begged the question: Why am I not in space right now? Seriously, I would do just about anything to go up in space. Thinking about the Pilgrims made me think about colonizing other planets, and how the difficulties may be similar and yet different. It also made me think about my latest novel, Into the Nebulous Deep, which (I’m hoping) is a colonization story set in space, and how I can use some of the stuff from the Pilgrims in my own work.

Speaking of which, the writing has been going very slow recently. A lot of it has to do with interruptions from the vacation (which frankly are more important), but it also has to do with my growing frustrations with the current project. I’m about 15k in the rough draft of ITND, and…it just doesn’t seem as good as my other work. Of course, it’s just a mental thing–none of my rough drafts has ever been any good–but man, it’s tough to get through.

To complicate things, I’m going to have to find a job for the Christmas season, at least to tide me over. I’m really hoping to get that wilderness job, but the training starts January 13th, and I don’t have the funds to spend all my time writing, like I have this past month.

I’ll know for sure the first week of December whether I’ve been invited to the training–and if I am, it’s going to throw a real kink in my writing routine. Each job shift lasts a full week, during which time I’ll be completely unplugged, living in the wilderness. I might get some time to work on poetry or short stories, but no novels.

The upside is that I get six days off completely free to do whatever I want, but I’m worried that it’ll be difficult, at least at first, to regain sufficient momentum in that short time. I’m sure I can get used to it eventually, but for the first few months, it will probably be tough.

For that reason, I want to get as far in ITND as I can before January 13th, perhaps even finish it (HAHAHAHA!!! As if that’s going to happen). So the fact that I haven’t progressed from this one scene for like a week is really killing me. Throw in a temporary job for the Christmas season, and I’ll probably go crazy.

That’s what my writing angst says, anyways. In other words, everything is fine and life is great. Now I’m going to get some sleep before driving across the freaking country all day tomorrow and Sunday. Night!