Joss Whedon on the Writer's Strike

I'm home sick today, and came Joss's across the comments via Chet at The Vanity Press.

It's a good read.

My favorite quote:

"We’re talking about story-telling, the most basic human need. Food? That’s an animal need. Shelter? That’s a luxury item that leads to social grouping, which leads directly to fancy scarves. But human awareness is all about story-telling."

People forget that writing is a craft and a trade, and that people need to be properly paid for their work.

Support the writers. They need all the help they can get.

Geek Link!

Quick lunch time blogging, especially for a certain friend of mine who shall remain nameless until she writes in to yell at me.

It's a giant, prehistoric bug!


(image from the BBC)

Hey, at least it wasn't a spider.

Heh, heh.

I am in such trouble.

Just call me Wylie Coyote

I knew there was a reason I was picked on in school! It's because I was a genius! And the other kids felt threatened by my massive intellect!

It has nothing to do with the fact that I was an overweight, glasses-wearing geek who spent all his time with a nose in a book and looked down at the stupidity of all those around him!

Nothing I tell you!

...All right, it had a lot to do with that, but I can dream, can't I?

The Coolest Little Girl in the World

One more quick note before I'm back to work:

H/T to A Creative Revolution

This girl started Little Women for Little Women in Afghanistan and is raising money for female teachers so girls can go to school.

I hope her parents are very proud of her. I am.

Keep up the good work, Alaina.

Geek Link!

A comet blew up and is now the biggest thing in our solar system.

Check it out!

(check their Nov. 15 archive if viewing after today)

Also on the same page, some cool satellite photography of earth.

Yay!

Quick lunchtime blog:

The Fall of Fred Phelps?

Good. Fred Phelps and his group are lower than a snake's belly in a wagon rut at the bottom of the grand canyon (sorry, came over all prairie there for a second). I hope this ends their activities for good.

I doubt it, but I can hope.

Geek Link!

Still working madly, if sporadically on the website. How can you tell you're dating a novelist? He neverr finishes anything on tiime!

Anyhow, I saw this story and thought I'd share. It's about dinosaurs!

Dinosaurs Killed by Indian Volcanoes, not meteor: paleontologists

Of course, if one thinks about it, a giant meteor slamming into the planet could cause enough plate shift to result in the massive volcanic activity.

It doesn't have to be one or the other...

Important Post from Wyrdsmiths

Sorry I haven't been around for a while, but my time is getting chewed up by my website, which I am redesigning and starting to feel grumpy about (HTML takes too long and just annoys me) and pounding away at Cold Magics, which is also taking too long and which I am also starting to feel grumpy about.

But, important things:

For all the writers and wannabe writers out there:

Writers Write

Read. And when you are having troubles, read it again.

Hey, you!

VOTE!

Vote for MMP, Vote Against Tom Teahan

I ran into my local Liberal Candidate, Tom Teahan, today at the subway, and asked him what his position was on MMP. He said he was against it.

You know, I was kind of hoping to vote Liberal this year. I like parts of what they've done, and their campaign feels more realistic than the other parties.

Instead I will be voting for my local NDP Candidate, Michael Prue, and I am encouraging everyone in my riding to do the same. Michael Prue supports MMP, and so he gets my support.

MMP is the single most important issue on the table this election. It is a chance to fundamentally change the way we elect our provincial parliament and will increase accountability, democracy, and cooperation with our provincial government.

Any candidate who is against MMP is against democracy. Do not vote for them.

And since I mentioned two politicians during an election campaign, this will probably be my most read post in a while. So if you're dropping in just to read this, take the time to buy my book, Small Magics. Because after the election, you'll need something new to read.

Update: Never blog when tired. My local NDP candidate is Michael Prue, not Peter Tabuns. I have corrected it in the text above.

Now I feel like an idiot.

Anyway, vote for MMP, don't vote for anyone who is against it.

Authors, Wine and Book Launches

A rather funny article about the perils of book launches and the drink served therein.

Which reminds me, I have to plan what sort of wine to have at my book launch for Small Magics.

Yes, I'm having a book launch if it kills me. I worked hard on it and I want a party and a chance to flog it for all it's worth to a small, trapped crowd.

I will post where and when in the near future. All are invited. Come buy my book and drink some wine.

It'll be fun.

And this is the end of the week's worth of blogging. Time to write for a little while, then sleep.

Shakespeare told dirty jokes? Say it isn't so!

So the book "Filthy Shakespeare" is hitting the shelves. Apparently, the book will let those not in the know understand that William Shakespeare was a populist who wasn't above using foul language, double-entendre, and dirty jokes in his work.

Now, anyone who has studied Shakespeare beyond high school already knew that, and those of us who performed Shakespeare knew it intimately. In fact, half the fun of doing Shakespeare is figuring out how to get the jokes to the audience.

Might be a fun read, though.

Geek Link!

Okay, this is cool. Gigapixel-sized panaoramic photos available on the web. You can upload your own, and you can look at other people's work. And it's free. Neat.

gigapan.org

This Magazine

A magazine I came across one day while looking for other things. It's progressive, interesting and deep. They've got a wide variety of articles, and it isn't just the usual media drivel.

Here's the link:

http://www.thismagazine.ca/

And because I didn't say it in the last post, buy my book.

I Have an Office!!!

And I am happy as all get out. I have a door I can close, a library of bookshelves waiting to be filled with our library of books and a workout space just waiting to be cleared. The feeling is fantastic. I am a happy, happy monkey.

Of course, the job is not over yet. I still have to shim all the bookcases so they are more or less level, screw them to the walls in case a certain little monkey tries to climb them, fill them with books, clear out the boxes, get the workout space cleared, add floor mats to it, buy/build a chinning bar (probably the latter. Those things are expensive) and put down the threshold. May do that last tomorrow, if my child naps. If not, then soon.

And there's the whole house to get done as well, but for now I have an office, and it's a good start.

And now, I must write.

Okay, I have a week's worth of blogging I want to do, but I must also write.

Lunchtime Blogging

Been busy for the last little while. And sick. So blogging has come to a virtual standstill.

Of course, so has my life, so I'm not too worried.

Got the bookcases and everything upstairs, went apple picking on the weekend, and generally did a whole bunch of stuff not related to writing or being published or even home renovations.

Good weekend. Wish I wasn't lugging this cold around with me.

Anyway, because they are cool, here's a link to Wyrdsmiths, who are putting together some good writer resources and are well worth a look. I visit often.

Back to work. Once I finish my sandwich.

Done!

The floor is in, the quarter round is in. The room looks fan-expletive-tastic. Yay!

Actually not completely done. The doorjamb needs to go in but that is a one hour project I can do any time this weekend. So I'm done!

I am so proud of myself, I might just explode.

I also wired myself with caffeine today so I could get the job done this evening. I'm wide awake and ready to haul boxes as soon as the floor dries! Wheeee!

No, really. Wheeee.

Happy, happy, happy happy.

Tonight, I haul boxes. Tomorrow night, bookcases, filing cabinet and put together the desk and computer. Then I have office! After that, other housework.

And the website, and the book promotions, because Small Magics is out and available!

Got to get the promotions going and have myself a book launch!

Also, this weekend, we clean. By end of weekend, we have almost functioning house!

Again with the yay!

And Once Again...

Nothing quite goes to plan.

Cheops Law: "Nothing is ever completed on time or under budget."

First read that in a Heinlein book. Can't remember which one. Time Enough for Love, I think.

Anyway, one section of the room has a bit of a jog which it took me the better part of an hour to shape the quarter round for. Didn't help that the laminate was just a bit further from the corner than I had expected. Rigged something and it doesn't look bad, but by then the kid was in bed and I had an errand to run and here I am. The work is so close to done I can taste it. Think I'll go up and do the last of the cutting before I go to bed (manual saw, no real noise). That way, tomorrow I can just nail everything into place.

On the other hand, I might just spend the night writing instead.

Heck, I'll do both. Who needs sleep?

If a project seems way harder than It should...

Chances are you're doing it wrong.

(A quick lunch-time blog)

Nonetheless, and screw-ups set aside, the floor is now down in my office. Tonight I install the quarter-round trim around the walls, then start hauling up boxes and boxes of books and bookcases and my desk and the many and sundry other things that are going upstairs.

Very happy to get the job done. Very tired or I would have got the quarter round in last night. That and I didn't have any nails.

Once the office is set up, time to focus in on the new website because the current one, you'll notice, is tacky. And badly out of date.

The new one has cleaner lines and looks much prettier. And it's more up to date.

And then, it's time to promote my book! Yay!!!! Buy Small Magics!

The Floor! The Floor!

No, it isn't done, but it's started.

Hat tip to hammerzone.com (Better living through Handymanlyness) where I found the plans to to build the workbench I needed to cut the laminate to lay on the floor.

Here are the plans, should you need a workbench.

The floor is one quarter down. Laminate is easy to lay on the floor, easy to cut, and a pain in the neck to make join together properly. If anyone has any tips, they're appreciated.

Also, there's an 8 PM cut off time in this neighbourhood. Too many neighbours with small children and not enough light.

Think I'll write something.