A Blast From The Past

Every time I go to post a pic, Blogger asks if I want to choose a picture already on the blog. It makes me remember when I used to post drawings and sketches all the time. I figured I would repost this one then, to relive my glory days, and of course, recycle old content.

This one was a doodle done at work.

Happy Day

Well... That Sucked

As of this writing (Sunday), I'm way behind my writing goals. Namely my Nano plans. I had hoped to get a huge amount ahead early on during the month and coast through the rest of the month, but instead I got behind almost right off the bat. I've got a great idea for a novel that has been percolating for a while. I'd outlined it and once I started writing I got derailed right off the bat. Figures. Now I'm back to trying to figure out what I want to write as I write... I don't encourage that behavior. The big hope is that I'll write myself right back into my outline.

Still, it's fun, and I'm writing. I may be posting about my story for the next few weeks. Maybe make it a public brainstorming session. Maybe not. Just be prepared.

I Want A New Body

I went to the doctor the other day, I have to go every six months in order to get my medicine that continues to keep me alive (relax - I have high cholesterol), and while I was there I tipped the scales at a good 204 pounds. Five years ago I was freaking out because I was one 165. Two years ago, not too long after I started this blog, I was tipping the scales at around 175. I've been creeping ever closer to enormous for a few years now. Looks like it's time to get radical.

That gastric bypass thing has been around for a few years, nice, but not for me. The problem is that it doesn't really give you immediate results. You still have to actually lose the weight. Way too inefficient.

See? I trade body "A" for body "B"

No, I am looking into a body transplant.

Yes, I had heard about the experiments done, mostly during the 50's and 60's, where assorted animal heads were detached from their bodies and either A) they were kept alive without any body attached, or B) they just attached it to something else and kept it alive that way.

It wasn't until this weekend when I was researching* for my Nano novel that I saw photographic/video evidence that this happened. It's as surreal a moment as I've ever seen. Then I was hit with the epiphany that they already have the technology, it's decades old, why not use it as a weight loss program?

You know, get fat, trade in your flabby body with some young, fit person who will take it (and money) and they hit the gym. Everyone wins.

Anyway, all kidding aside, do yourself a favor and check out the video. It's a 15 minute documentary about that whole head transplant rage that swept cold war era scientists for a time. Looks like the U.S. preferred using monkeys/apes for research while the Russians preferred dogs - just like the space race. I'm a huge fan of science and I hate to criticize folks in the pursuit of knowledge, but seriously, did anyone at all consider the ethics of this sort of thing?



*meaning, I was avoiding writing.

Meme Spreader!

Rogue Mutt tagged me in a meme thing the other day. I debated on whether or not to respond. I decided in the end that I probably should. This blogging thing is all about being social, after all. So, let's just dive right in here.

 
1. If you could go back in time and relive one moment, what would it be? There is no way in hell I'm sharing that one. No way.
2. If you could go back in time and change one thing, what would it be? Uh, did you ever see a time travel movie, ever? I mean, any time travel movie? Going back in time and changing things leads to disaster. Let's see, Back to the Future, The Butterfly Effect, The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror # 7 (or 8, whatever, the one where Homer's toaster turned into a time machine), crap, what was the Ray Bradbury one, the movie I mean, not the book? I think The Butterfly Effect has already been taken. Anyway, that one. There was Primer, the small indie movie about that guy that invented the time machine... all of them shared one thing. If you screw around with the past, it will be a disaster. That said, I'd definitely go back and muck around. Picking lottery numbers seems like a popular choice, but I'd just like to go back and talk to myself at around the age of 14 or 15. That's it.
3. What movie/TV character do you most resemble in personality? Geez. Stupid as it is, I think it's Paul Rudd as he was in, I Love You, Man. 
4. If you could push one person off a cliff and get away with it, who would you choose? That really isn't my personality to do that sort of thing, you know, murder people. But, I really didn't like my 3rd grade math teacher. Did she really have to be that mean? It was every day with her. She stole my damn eraser because she said it was a toy. WTF? It was an eraser! I used it to erase things, nothing else. Damn that woman. So petty. 
5. Name one habit you want to change in yourself. I wish I could quit obsessing over my third grade math teacher. Damn her, that woman was mean.
6. Why do you blog? Narcissism. 
7. Name at least three people to send this to: Rogue Mutt, Rogue Mutt, and Rogue Mutt. I just want to see if he'll do it again.

That's me on the left

Nano update

Not going real well, I'm finding lots of things very distracting right now. Like, for example, the fact that I think I'm being featured at The Best of Everything blog today.

I need to stress that I only think I'm going to have something there today, as I tend to write these things in advance and you never know what might come up and make things go awry. Still, you should check out the site, I managed to reveal more of myself in that short interview than I ever have here, with nearly 200 blog posts under my belt.

Of course, if I'm not featured, check it out anyway.

November Edition Insecure Writer's

The months keep whizzing right on by. Can't believe another month has gone by since the last post I've made as my part of The Insecure Writer's Support Group, as hosted by Alex J Cavanaugh (who by the way, saw his novel, CassaStar, hit the top 10 in space opera on Amazon last weekend. Good job, dude!).

This is always difficult for me, not because I don't feel insecure, but because I'm not sure I can articulate all that mess that is going on in my head and it come out in a way that the reader can understand. Well, there's that, and I can kind of be like that guy, the one that just broke up with his girlfriend and won't stop talking about it. I mean, at first you try to be supportive, you listen as he tells you about how much he cared for her, how she crapped all over him, how she was so awful when they were together. How much better it will be now that she's gone.

Then, the next day, he says the same thing. The second time through you kind of figure he just needs to get it out of his system, and you try your best to come up with a reason to leave. Then before you know it, it's been two weeks and every time you've seen or talked to the guy he's trying to corner you so he can complain about his crazy ex-girlfriend.

Well, I've been on both sides of that. I've been that guy who can't shut up,and I've been that guy who takes the long way to the bathroom at work because I'm avoiding that other guy.

So, now I'm here, given the freedom to talk about what I'm feeling insecure about. Well, in the immortal words of Dave Coverdale, "Here I go again."

No, wait. I don't want to go there again this month. What am I insecure about? Well, among other things. I'm afraid that I'm going to give up one day. I have a history of it. My rock star dreams, my artist dreams, even my photography dreams. I don't trust future me to want the same things that present day me wants.

I don't trust me to pursue my dreams. Again, I've gone to school to be a bible scholar, a biologist, an accountant, and have pursued none of those things. I dreamed of being an actor, but never auditioned for anything. I'm tired of obsessing over something new every 5 or 6 years. Dammit, I'm done with my wanderlust.

I'm a writer. I hope.

A History of Me and Nanowrimo

It begins today. I didn't have my outline as fleshed out as I wanted to, but I got enough to at least start writing. I've been saying all along it's fantasy... really it's science fiction. But without me telling you that it's Sci Fi, I'm pretty sure you wouldn't know. As it's clearly fantasy. Well, that doesn't make a ton of sense, but I think my conceit is pretty clever. I won't give it away yet. As I want to pretend for a while that it's completely unique.

But I also realized that I've participated in several Nanos to date. I figured I'd recap previous years entries to see what I've done.

Year 1: James and Galfar: The Blutonian Death Egg. Yes, this book is my first ever Nano attempt. I had written several short stories before, but nothing serious. This was my first try at a novel. It was really, really bad. I had rants that went on for days. I had a kernel of a story I liked though. But I shelved this one, chalking it up for experience.

One sentence synopsis: An average guy ends up being humanity's ambassador to an alien race.

Year 2: The Alarming Alterity of James Coastsman. This was a sequel to the previous Nano. Even though I knew the previous year was chalked up as practice, I liked where I was going and so I wrote more. It was a much better attempt at a novel and I still really like it. I plan on revisiting this later this year.

One sentence synopsis: A new kid in school claims to have moved here straight from outer space.

Year 3: The Bleeted Undulations of an Aphasic Universe. This one was a framed novel. A present day story with a long novella length tale set about a hundred years ago within the larger story. I love the novella part, but not the modern day part. That's kind of a mess. I think I was trying a murder mystery, those things need more planning ahead of time. It might be salvageable, but I have no plans to try. Well, the novella will probably get recycled for something else.

One sentence synopsis: When a gas station attendant that runs a website dedicated to welcoming aliens to earth receives an artifact unlike anything he's ever seen, people start dying and he has to run for his life, all while trying to uncover the artifact's origins.

Year 4: The Blutonian Death Egg. I went back to year one's Nano and started over from scratch. This novel has been shopped around some without anyone showing any real interest. Although I continue to query.

One sentence synopsis: Twentysomething slacker and gifted codebreaker is drafted to take a top secret mission to discover the secret of an alien artifact that's been found near Earth's moon.

My personal life got a little crazy not too long after this and I didn't write for a couple of years. Well, I did write, but only short stories. So when I came back I decided I was going to really try to get something done and see if I can make this writing thing work. I'm still in the middle of that - I'll let you know how that goes.

Year 5: Crazy Shit with Space Aliens and Stuff: Yes, that is only a working title, I realize that it might need a bit of work. I wrote A Dead God's Wrath and another novella length piece set in the same universe. I even have a spreadsheet that details the history of the universe that I use as a guide. This one is set in the modern day and is probably the most fun I've had writing since I was much younger. Full of insane aliens and zombie attacks... as well as the possible end of all life on earth. I tried to raise the stakes here. Well, the end of all life on earth is something I've tried before. But this at least was more of an immediate threat. I really like the concept here, but this novel is pretty rough. It needs tons of work before I can start showing it to anyone.

Once sentence synopsis: When his grandfather dies, a man finds his grandfather was part of an ancient secret society that has vowed to protect the earth from an unnamed threat - that threat has now arrived.

Year 6: The Wizard's Secret. That brings us back to the present. This year is again, an attempt at fantasy. That medieval society with monsters and magic and all that. I've tried to spend some time doing some worldbuilding. I haven't got as much as the story plotted out as I meant to. Enough to get started I suppose, but not what I wanted.

One sentence synopsis: When Jeb flees his village and into the forbidden lands beyond he stumbles upon a dead wizard, and is now the only hope to save the world from an ancient evil.

And now you know. Wish me luck with this year.