Tag Archives: texas bound

10.05.29 [Saturday]
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comics, library, writing

join the fight

This afternoon between downpours I went to the library for a comics making workshop run by John Toone and GMB Chomichuk (which is pronounced completely differently than I would have thought). It was a good time and I wasn’t even the oldest person there (it was billed as being a YA event), not by far. They talked about formatting issues and pitching your ideas in one sentence, about following instructions and how emails are legally admissible in court. There’ll be another session next week and we have homework to do, which I realize I need. I need some sort of deadline to get work done. So tonight I’ve outlined out the arc of the rest of my graphic novel (Animus Lost, the one that Hassie and I did the idea spitballing for however many years ago). The first near-20% is scripted, and now I know where the rest of it is going. Which is more than the homework but once you get working, good work sort of pulls you along. So yeah, good times.

Also, the other day I noticed that Texas Bound (my story published in Broken Pencil) is now online. I’m not saying you’re going to like it, but it’s there.

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10.02.09 [Tuesday]
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journalism, writing, 中国

maybe i should have some content up

So I got something fun in the mail today. The latest issue of Broken Pencil, the magazine of zine culture and the independent arts. The reason this is extra fun is that I have a story in it. It’s near the back, is very short and is not a real pretty story. It’s called Texas Bound. Mom, you won’t like it. (I like it though.)

I just kind of panicked when it came in the mail because my bio/blurb after the story mentions this here website and I realized I haven’t written anything besides book reviews on here in quite some time. So, if you’re here from Broken Pencil and aren’t really keen on reading all my half-assed book reviews, check out my China posts. They’re probably the best stuff on here since the unpleasantness I’m not supposed to talk about. And I just noticed most of the links are broken on the Journalism page. That’s too bad. But I’ve got a Flickr account and Vagabondscrawl is my linkblog if you care what I’m reading.

Anyway. I had a good day. I have a couple of book reviews that need writing, but I’ll get them up tomorrow. Tonight I have Lego robots to build. On Friday I’ve got the day off and I am totally getting my shit together to take some decent pictures of them.

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09.11.28 [Saturday]
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whining, writing

in my old kit bag

I’m in a weird non-reading kind of mood these days. It just seems like so much work to arrange the blanket as I sit on the couch and hold up the book and creep a couple of fingers out to turn the pages. Also, the whole latitudinal early darkness is getting to me. Last night I thought it must be like 10 at night when it was 6:20. One would think I’d get used to this place some time.

Tonight I’m putting that aside. It doesn’t matter if it feels like the sun is just about to come up at 10pm, I’ll be heading down to the 1234V Issue 3 launch party. Woo zines!

Also, a story I tentatively sold to Broken Pencil magazine almost a year ago is finally going to be seeing print in the next issue. That’s good. The story seems far shorter than I remember it but whatever. I will be paid for my tale of hobo-molestation. (Yeah, mom, you probably wouldn’t like this story.)

I despair at how shitty my writing output has been this year. I was telling Holly how I feel like 2009 will go down in my books as “The year the condo ate my life.” It’s just that all this stuff gnaws away at your brain all the time, preventing the good cool things inside from working themselves out. I realize there’s a bit of “Oh, when things are perfect I’ll write more” to that statement, which is generally bullshit. A writer doesn’t give a shit. A writer just writes. But I’m just not that strong I guess.

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07.09.19 [Wednesday]
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tech, writing

words that mean things other than what they say

I find myself enamoured with the idea of translators. Probably because my own language ability is so mediocre. My horrible novel I’ve been plowing 1000 words/day into features a translator, though I’m finding myself staying away from anything that makes him interesting. Too scared to write the cool stuff I guess. And too scared to fall completely down the research rabbit hole to make stuff cool as that means my words aren’t getting churned. Whatever.

When I got back from my weekend away I heard from the editor I’ve been editing this one story with. He’s going to bring it to the Chief editor guy now with a recommendation to publish it. Hopefully the top guy likes it, and I’ll be in a magazine. Or more accurately, the part of me that’s embedded in those 700 words about a hitch hiker meeting David Lynch will be in a magazine.

I really wish my computer would detect our WiFi network more reliably than once every couple of days, though I guess it keeps me from getting lost looking out the Google window all day. Into those rabbit warrens of the network.

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07.08.28 [Tuesday]
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writing

napping on the porch

Just sent in a new edit on that story. And it does keep getting better. Even though I liked the second version better than the first I completely see how this third version is better than those.

Next week I’m looking after my mom’s dogs for ten days. That seems like a long time.

I forgot my keys when I went to work today, so I had to wait till Alison got back to let me into the house after work. I really have to stop switching jackets just before I leave the house.

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07.03.22 [Thursday]
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writing

wordhackery

I finished the rough draft of the second of my Murakami-esque stories I mentioned last week. It’s called Tar Pit. The second pass through it will either make it much more so, or much less so. It needs a lot of editing but I needed to get everything down once so I can dramatically reshape it afterwards.

I also dug up a story I wrote last year to see if it was any good. And it was much less crap than I remembered it. I did an editing pass and will probably do another this weekend before trying to find a market for a 1500 word story about (maybe)David Lynch consensually assaulting a drifter on the side of a highway. What it needs is for me to decide if it’s going full on explicit in the description or relying on more implication. ‘Cause now it’s in a weird limbo zone that would probably get me kicked out of a church organization if I was affiliated with one, while getting a “Why doesn’t he grow some balls?” reaction from anyone considered ‘edgy’. Not that I need to pick a side forever and ever amen, but the story needs a bit more consistency. This is much less work than I thought it would need though. And I liked reading it, so that’s the main thing, right?

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