Electroshock Boogie VII

Today is a damn good day.

That’s what I love about being an unstable, emotion-driven member of the human race; sure you have inexplicable bad days, but you also have inexplicable good days.  I woke up feeling like a millions bucks today:  my kids are cute, my wife is amazing, and the coffee tastes better than usual.  I am also very aware of how lucky I am to have this amazing family that I love so much, and that loves me right back.  So today, you are getting flowers and rainbows.  Today you get a magical fairyworld where uptight republicans don’t try to define marriage.

Grab a handful of puppies, sing tra-la-la and get ready to bring the joy: It’s Happyland! Boogie time!

‘Cause I Love all the Animals

Katie over at Human Textuality wrote a really neat post today, talking about a decision she’s made to go vegetarian.  Generally speaking, I roll my eyes when I hear someone say this.  Their reasons are fairly generic and wholly self-serving, but I do respect a person’s desires to stop eating meat.  What I typically hate is their arrogance about it (wow, that all makes me sound like a hypocrite).

But Katie is different; she’s laid out her reasons, why she believes in them, and how she plans to tackle the entire deal.  One thing I really dig about her process is that she has looked into hunting and free-range as an option, and fully admits that logistically it just doesn’t work for her – but she sticks to her guns and isn’t going to backslide into eating processed meat because it will be difficult.  Her attitude with this decision is the humble kind of cool I’ve come to expect from reading what she puts out on the ‘Net, and I fully extend my wishes of support and hope she finds happiness in this decision.

I don’t think it’s something I can do.  I’ve tried it, several times, but it never stuck.  Living in Santa Fe, you are subjected to super-vegan and ultra-hippy philosophy a lot (whether you like it or not), and one of their main tenets is vegetarianism and the vegan lifestyle.  A good friend of mine, Melissa Pardaehton Houser, went vegan over her time in Los Angeles, and much like Katie, has an amazing outlook and philosophy on how she approaches it without being an overbearing Nazi.  She did, however, attempt to convert some of us in the most insidious of ways – she became an amazing vegan chef, and fed us tasty treats.  Evil, huh?  I seriously considered it, even kept solid to it for about a month (though, that may have been because I was flat broke and too lazy to find a job, so Missa was feeding me).

My final thoughts are this: if you want to become a vegetarian or vegan, do it for the right reasons.  Don’t do it because you are being pressured.  Like any dietary change, figure out what it is you want and be absolutely certain your health will not be adversely affected.  Something as simple as changing one of aspect of your diet can have a devastating impact on your life; not just in your health, but in your social group and in meeting new people.  Whatever you decide, be cool and realize that we all make our own decisions.  Like all things in life, do not try to control another person’s choices

End-of-the-Year Project Locked

I have some goals to get completed by the end of the year, and over the last week, I’ve locked in one of the major ones.  With the herculean task of finding two therapists almost over, I can get my attention back where it firmly needs to be.  My goals are:

• Finish a freelance assignment (and find more).
• Finish my serial (all plotted out and a few chapters done already).
• Finish off SystemX and Brimstone (shared with Maggie, and a lot is done).
• Finish a novel.

Now, you may notice that last one has nothing in parenthesis after it.  Of my goals, this one has been the most nebulous.  I am slowly but surely breaking out of the fantasy mindset.  While I love the genre (and seriously, I do) I don’t know if I want to commit to an epic work just yet.  I think its best I get a novel or two finished and under my belt before I work on some ten-book stretch.

I have this folder I call my morgue. This is an idea I picked up in film school, and one I love to share.  You cannot control when you are going to be hit with a good idea – they will just spring to you, and if you don’t do something about them, you will forget them.  However, you may not be in a position to work a new project.  You may have too many going; your life may be too hectic, so on and so forth.

So what my Digital Cinematography instructor urged us to do is to take a shoebox with a slit in it and write the word “morgue” on the side.  Any time you have a good idea that excites you but you can’t work it right then, write it down on an index card and slip it into the morgue.  When you’re out of idea and have some free time, flip through your morgue.

My morgue is a folder on my computer, and it’s crammed with fairly cool (and a lot of ignorant) stuff I’ve been thinking about over the last six years.  One idea hit me a year or so ago when I was deep in world building on my fantasy world, so it got stuck in the morgue and that is what I am going to work on for my novel.  It’s kind of a contemporary fantasy/horror deal, and I am expecting it to run ~80,000 words.

So my schedule is locked in place – all of these tasks must be completed by the end of the year (or by their own deadlines, when applicable).  Focus, direction, and goals – now the discipline part needs to be hammered in.

For note, the working title is Among the Fireflies. That is very likely to change.

Other People Are Happy, Too!

Let’s talk about some cool people out there in the Tubez.

Did you know that John D. Kennedy and I have entered a Flash Fiction Battle?  If not, you should read his first entry, Twilight of Avalon, here.  I have to concede – his first is better than my opening, Dinobot Mountain Chapter I.

Will Hindmarch over at The Gist answers a question about what makes the best supernatural fiction, and his answer gives a lot to think over.  Why not ask him some questions on Tumblr, and while you’re at it, buy a copy of The Bones?

And in case you somehow missed it, Chuck Wendig of Terribleminds has done it – the first episode of the Codpiece Johnson epic is up, Codpiece Johnson and the Hamsters of Anamnesis, Part One: “The Squeaking Tower of Shadow”. If you don’t read this cool, your face has every reason to jump off you and find another body that isn’t lame.

I think I made it through an entire blog post without cursing.  Holy shit!