Because a #writingspace should have inspiration......behind the door. Something to keep me going. #dragontattoo
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Saturday, March 28, 2015
When I was 14, true story
When I was 14, true story
Reliving some song-emories tonight. When I was 14 the album Prolonging the Magic by Cake got a lot of spins. In particular, this song Let Me Go was my favorite song at that time. It is still one of my favorites. And the entire album is still incredible to listen to. It doesn't feel like it's aged a bit.
Side note: I sang Mexico off the album in karaoke style at the end of that school year in choir. Not that I'm bragging, because I was 14 and the body was still figuring itself out.
Thursday, March 26, 2015
If you use Google Docs and Google Keep, this is good news. You can now convert Keep notes to Docs. Rock on. Thanks...
If you use Google Docs and Google Keep, this is good news. You can now convert Keep notes to Docs. Rock on. Thanks to Patricia Pinto for sharing it.
Originally shared by Google Docs
Whether you're jotting down a shopping list or putting ideas together for your next novel, Google Keep helps you capture your thoughts in the form of notes. Starting today, when you visit http://keep.google.com, you can export notes to Docs to expand, edit, and polish your ideas.
Tuesday, March 24, 2015
Episode 166 - Killing Me Softly on Newbie Writers Podcast
Episode 166 - Killing Me Softly on Newbie Writers Podcast
Here is the interview I did on Newbie Writers with Damien Boath and Dionne Lister. Had a whale of a good time talking about #writing , especially related to the I Will Kill you for $5 project I'm doing. We also covered #standupcomedy , since I'm two months into trying that out, spam emails, and we even had some #squawking . Yes, there was squawking. Much squawking.
We also did a short reading of Damien's short story of death that I wrote. I butchered an Aussie accent, and then eventually gave up and stuck with British. It was safer there.
Highly recommend listening, because I'm awesome and I'm not biased, and also because it's a fun podcast.
Saturday, March 21, 2015
I'll be the special guest on The Newbie Writers today
I'll be the special guest on The Newbie Writers today
In less than hour, 5pm CST, I will be joining Damien Boath and The Newbie Writers podcast. It will be streamed live via Google+ and published postmortem to iTunes in a higher quality audio.
He tells me the interviews are usually 45 minutes in length, so I'll have to make sure I come with the crazy. :)
Originally shared by Damien Boath
Nathan Weaver is an author who likes to kill people... for $5 no less and Damien was privileged enough to be "offed" in one of Nathan's stories. We will explore this, his website: http://talesfrombabylon.com and much, much more!
Friday, March 20, 2015
Google+ is a ghost town, get with the program (warning: satire)
Google+ is a ghost town, get with the program (warning: satire)
There are a lot of people across the interwebs who agree with me that #googleplus is a ghost town. They've agreed with me that it's a ghost town the moment it was born. Which is like proclaiming after the miracle of birth to its mother, "Congratulations! It's a ghost. Nobody loves you or your baby. If you refuse to stop loving this baby, which is very clearly a ghost, we will continue to call it a ghost and make fun of you every chance we get for having so much love for something so futile."
I don't see anything
If you want proof that Google+ is a ghost town, join it for the first time with a new account. Don't add anyone to your circles, and just sit there and look at all the nothingness and pointlessness. If you're not sure how you would go about doing that, it would be akin to joining Facebook with a new account, not telling anyone about it and not adding any friends. It would be pretty empty and lifeless. So, for practice, do it in Facebook first.
What is all of this mess?
Want more proof it's a ghost town? Perform a search or click on a popular hashtag. There's just stuff everywhere. What does that even mean? Where does it come from? Your mind will be overloaded with all of these things (which we will not call content). Not sure of what I mean? Go to Twitter and try the same task. It's the same type of stuff. Just all of these things! What a ghost town, Google+, what a ghost town indeed.
> Do not perform a search on Facebook during this test, it will only hurt your brain.
Closing remarks
I appreciate all of the people on Google+, like the millions of users, who will have the opportunity to discover, search, stumble upon, comment, share, read, and view this post... because without all of you ridiculous amounts of users on Google+ reading this post, I'd have a hard time making my point to such a large audience. And for that, I am eternally grateful.
Now, after reading my post, accept the fact that you are in a ghost town. And just deal with it.
--
photo credit: Robert Moran (https://flic.kr/p/9JHFD6)
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
The Haunting of Weasley Manor, Chapter 1
I've had this idea for sometime to write a series of books about a pair of sleuths, an investigative journalist and his adopted teenage daughter. The idea came about many years ago, and has gone through many iterations without much words being written. I don't do this often with stories, I normally get an idea and jump into the deep end of the pool and start writing. I tried that with these stories at first, and the deep end swallowed me whole. My first outing was very much churning up garbage, so I discarded that and went back to the drawing board. It needed way more development before I could start writing it seriously.
Self-torture is not an act of attention
I suppose it's been said a thousand times, but some folks feel like self-torture or self-mutilation (such as cutting) is an act of attention. But as someone who is bipolar and knows several folks who are also bipolar, let me take a few minutes to talk about self-torture.
If you're wondering how a post like this would have anything to do with writing (since this is my blog for my writing), think about this: we write characters. And characters, if you play your cards right, should be like real people. Fictional, but realistic. Well, for the most part, sometimes we're just writing comedy or pulpy stuff and being real doesn't necessarily have to count for the popcorn style of stories.
In the image for the post, I gave the Oxford definition of self-torture, because from my perspective I think it really gets to the heart of the matter of self-torture. It states that self-torture is "the act of inflicting pain, especially mental pain, on oneself." In my experience, and from what I know of others' experiences, all self-torture (even cutting) starts internally, mentally.
Whether you're tearing yourself down, feeling worthless or a burden on others, and that manifests itself into cutting or attempted suicide. It's starting within. It starts inside the head and works its way out, or not. In my case, it typically stays in. I self-torture myself internally, and at most sometimes that affects my health. I can have stomach cramps, or possibly even a panic attack, if I keep torturing myself internally over something. I've never taken to cutting, thank goodness, and suicidal ideation has only happened once (and once is enough, so I'm hoping that never happens again).
But you see the thing of self-torture isn't that people want to try to draw attention to themselves, it is typically a result of badgering themselves for one reason or another. Sometimes they are badgering themselves because they feel guilty about something or like a failure, or they could be badgering themselves for things that haven't happened or did happen but they keep replaying in their minds.
And again, when I say self-torture, I'm not just talking about physical cutting or torture. It can be a simple badgering of the mind. A constant nagging inside, beating yourself up, dunking yourself through the water-boarding of your mind.
Really, self-torture is not an act of attention, but rather an act of aggression against one's self.
As a general rule, I think everything in life affects my writing. All the phases of life, all the characters I meet. All the things learned or unlearned. And being diagnosed bipolar, becoming aware, and having that writer and actor's gift to analyze I began really examining myself. Kind of the old "write what you know" saying.
I can definitely see where in some of my more recent stories, I've become more understanding and better at writing introverts. I am actually an extrovert myself, but being bipolar means I have my moments where I have no desire to be around people and can become very antisocial. Is that the same as being introverted? No. But as I've analyzed my behavior more, I've become more understanding of introverts.
I've also started weaving in bits and pieces of myself into characters. I have a short story I've been crafting about an introverted UFO hunter, who has a lot of anxiety. This was a story I had started to work on before my diagnosis, but post-diagnosis I was able to start over and make him a much more believable character. And focusing in on his anxieties, which is something I have, it gives me a platform to talk about those things through him.
If you're wondering how a post like this would have anything to do with writing (since this is my blog for my writing), think about this: we write characters. And characters, if you play your cards right, should be like real people. Fictional, but realistic. Well, for the most part, sometimes we're just writing comedy or pulpy stuff and being real doesn't necessarily have to count for the popcorn style of stories.
Self-torture starts within and can stay there, too
In the image for the post, I gave the Oxford definition of self-torture, because from my perspective I think it really gets to the heart of the matter of self-torture. It states that self-torture is "the act of inflicting pain, especially mental pain, on oneself." In my experience, and from what I know of others' experiences, all self-torture (even cutting) starts internally, mentally.
Whether you're tearing yourself down, feeling worthless or a burden on others, and that manifests itself into cutting or attempted suicide. It's starting within. It starts inside the head and works its way out, or not. In my case, it typically stays in. I self-torture myself internally, and at most sometimes that affects my health. I can have stomach cramps, or possibly even a panic attack, if I keep torturing myself internally over something. I've never taken to cutting, thank goodness, and suicidal ideation has only happened once (and once is enough, so I'm hoping that never happens again).
Badgering, the constant nagging
But you see the thing of self-torture isn't that people want to try to draw attention to themselves, it is typically a result of badgering themselves for one reason or another. Sometimes they are badgering themselves because they feel guilty about something or like a failure, or they could be badgering themselves for things that haven't happened or did happen but they keep replaying in their minds.
And again, when I say self-torture, I'm not just talking about physical cutting or torture. It can be a simple badgering of the mind. A constant nagging inside, beating yourself up, dunking yourself through the water-boarding of your mind.
Really, self-torture is not an act of attention, but rather an act of aggression against one's self.
How self-torture, bipolar, and being aware has affected my writing
As a general rule, I think everything in life affects my writing. All the phases of life, all the characters I meet. All the things learned or unlearned. And being diagnosed bipolar, becoming aware, and having that writer and actor's gift to analyze I began really examining myself. Kind of the old "write what you know" saying.
I can definitely see where in some of my more recent stories, I've become more understanding and better at writing introverts. I am actually an extrovert myself, but being bipolar means I have my moments where I have no desire to be around people and can become very antisocial. Is that the same as being introverted? No. But as I've analyzed my behavior more, I've become more understanding of introverts.
I've also started weaving in bits and pieces of myself into characters. I have a short story I've been crafting about an introverted UFO hunter, who has a lot of anxiety. This was a story I had started to work on before my diagnosis, but post-diagnosis I was able to start over and make him a much more believable character. And focusing in on his anxieties, which is something I have, it gives me a platform to talk about those things through him.
The Haunting of Weasley Manor, Chapter 1
The Haunting of Weasley Manor, Chapter 1
I can't believe I hadn't posted this to my blog already and shared it with all of you. But here it is....
I started writing this as my nano story for 2014.
What's it about?
Skeptic and journalist, Tom Bradshaw, and his adopted, teenage partner, Rachael, are employed by wealthy recluse Arthur Weasley to investigate the Weasley Manor regarding a supposed haunting.
It's horror, mystery, and hopefully enjoyable.
#amwriting
Monday, March 16, 2015
Murderers should not be allowed to investigate their own crimes, or how ridiculous it is that schools conduct their...
Murderers should not be allowed to investigate their own crimes, or how ridiculous it is that schools conduct their own internal investigations
First things first, this is a response to the idea of colleges and universities investigating the crimes committed on their campuses. You can read more about this idea at the link provided.
My rant/observation/solution
To me, the obvious answer in a lot of this is that schools need to quit trying to investigate themselves. It's backwards. If a crime is reported, it should be handed over to the local authorities. Granted, sometimes that doesn't even work, but that's another debate.
These people are adults. Adults. Which means they can walk into a police station and press charges against another adult, if they want. The problem is that the schools have created a system of "come to us and tell us everything", which is not what an adult should do. They are giving students bad advice from the get-go. Not to mention, the obvious conflict of interest the school has in investigating crimes committed on its campus.
I can recall one time, many years ago it seems, sitting with an 18 year old girl who had been abused off and on most her life. I explained to her, "You're an adult now. The next time your mom lays a hand on you, you can call the cops and press charges against her for assault, because it's violence committed from one adult to another." The problem is when we create relationship scenarios like, "She's my mom, I can't press charges against her," or, "I can't report a crime and press charges against this guy, I have to go the school authorities and tell them," we're creating a scenario that sets people up to be systematically abused. "I'm your parent," or, "We're your authorities", and there's nothing you can do. But the reality of it is that there is plenty an adult can do.
If I was the chancellor of a school right now, my goal would be to create a policy of handing over ALL reported crimes to local authorities. Because the school isn't designed or trained for handling such things. And, I would also work towards making sure all students understand that they are adults and how the criminal justice system works. They DO NOT have to report the crime to the school first or at all, they can go straight to the police if they want, because that's what a normal adult would do. No more treating students like kids, when they are old enough to drink, smoke and vote.
*/End rant.*
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
I came here to chew bubble gum and post an update...
I came here to chew bubble gum and post an update...
Monday, March 9, 2015
You know you've goofed up somewhere, when you need a flow chart to figure out the pricing for all the new Apple...
You know you've goofed up somewhere, when you need a flow chart to figure out the pricing for all the new Apple Watches.
#applewatch
This is why businesses should adopt a cloud solution sooner rather than later. The longer you wait, employees will...
This is why businesses should adopt a cloud solution sooner rather than later. The longer you wait, employees will move on without your IT.
Originally shared by G Suite
While most of the attention is focused on consumer file storage in the workplace, people are actually trying to work together more easily, not just share files. Learn how to engage users, understand what they’re trying to do and give them great tools that are better than what they could find on their own. http://goo.gl/4dVgvz
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
Sortd for Gmail, turning email messages into To Do lists
Sortd for Gmail, turning email messages into To Do lists
To those who live and die by Gmail. Would this be cool, useful or just plain wrong?
#gmail #sortd #todolist #email
The Last Man on Earth (1964) Review
Note to self, I need to watch this film. Started to years ago, and never got to finish. To those who know nothing about it, it's the first adaptation of I Am Legend with Vincent Price. Later, we'd get Omega Man with Charlton Heston. And even later still, we'd get I Am Legend with Will Smith. True story. Well, that those are adaptations of the same story, not that the story is real.
All writers are learning, mind your manners
MJ Bush won the Internet today.
Go here and read her post about writers who are rude to other writers
It unfortunately does seem commonplace for some writers to be absolutely arrogant when it comes to their and others' works. Their work represents all that is beautiful and perfect with storytelling, and others' represents all that is wrong and ignorant.
Yes, there are rules. But if I learned anything worthwhile from reading Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk, aside from all the horrible things, it's that the rules of writing were made to be broken. I have never read a book in first person perspective that sounded so much like dialogue, as if Edward Norton was in the room narrating a story. When you listen to the voiced over parts of the Fight Club film and compare them with the same narrative in the book, it's the same. That was sort of a mind blowing moment for me in my writing, and that was in high school many years ago. Granted it would take many years later before I could consider any of my work decent, and in a few years I'll consider my current work drivel I'm sure of it. But the point is this...
We are all learning
Some of us are ahead of the curve, and that's fine. But being ahead of the curve is no reason to be arrogant, rather it is a reason to humble yourself and give back to the community with grace.
So, thanks to MJ today! I'm so glad she won the Internet, and that the Google+ algorithms worked in my favor and fed me that post.
Monday, March 2, 2015
In case you missed it...
In case you missed it...
#googleplus #googlestreams
Originally shared by Bradley Horowitz
Just wanted to confirm that the rumors are true -- I’m excited to be running Google’s Photos and Streams products! It’s important to me that these changes are properly understood to be positive improvements to both our products and how they reach users.
In my opinion, MJ Bush won the Internet today. Just read this post, +1, comment and log off for the day. Game over.
In my opinion, MJ Bush won the Internet today. Just read this post, +1, comment and log off for the day. Game over.
Follow through to her post to comment.
#writing #jerks
Originally shared by MJ Bush
I can't quite believe this needs to be said. Again.
I have SIMPLE GUIDELINES if you want to comment on my posts. (And most of you totally get it.)
No bashing how others are learning to write.
No saying "You're missing the point" ...unless you try to explain it.
ABSOLUTELY no ad hominem attacks.
The basic point is to respect and support others. Most of you are wonderful, and I know you support me when I defend writers of all stripes. It doesn't matter how we learn or how we write.
We are creative creatures, bending the human experience to our will for the sake of imagination and story.
We are able to learn and grow in perpetuity.
We are unique, and no amount of teaching can make us fit into boxes.
WE ARE WRITERS.
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