Tag Archives: Musings

The Luddite Technologist: Mimosa at St. Paul’s International.

Last week Tuesday, Lauren and I spent 21 hours in some form of travel or travel-related waiting. By the time we got to Minneapolis, it didn’t matter that we only had thirty minutes layover, we were going to eat.

“Lauren, are those iPads where there should be menus?”

Yes. Those are. Continue reading The Luddite Technologist: Mimosa at St. Paul’s International.

Falling Short: When Goal-Setting Fails.

Hey Everybody!

Tonight’s the last night of my Louisiana thanksgiving vacation extravaganza. I had an absolutely great time, caught up with old friends, and ate dangerously. All in all, a success. Well, in most ways. How’s my 1000 word/day fiction target and one blog a day working out?

Date Fiction Written Non-Fiction Written Total Written
11/25/2012 0 0 0
11/24/2012 0 0 0
11/23/2012 1069 800 1869
11/22/2012 1045 1063 2108
11/21/2012 0 0 0
11/20/2012 1034 991 2025
11/19/2012 1062 640 1702
11/18/2012 0 0 0

…Oh.

Continue reading Falling Short: When Goal-Setting Fails.

Downer Endings: The Novel’s Answer to the Hollywood Ending!

I’ve been jamming tons of text into my eyeballs lately, flash fiction and short stories, novels and craft blogs.

I also told you how I really feel when I wrote Things I’m Sick of Reading About in September. In it, I railed against stories that lack a proper ending. TL;DR If you misuse authorial power so blatantly, this is you:

“My writing bores me. You finish the story, peon!”

Call me old-fashioned, but I believe in real stories; stories with beginnings, middles, and ends. Stories that leave the audience satisfied, rather than befuddled, upon reaching the end. When someone writes a story with no end, I wonder, did they have a purpose in writing at all, or did they just want to waste my reading time? In 100% of apprentice writers, 99% of journeyman writers, and 95% of masters, the inconclusive ending flops.

So I stand unapologetically pro-ending.

Next question! Given that an ending must exist (assuming you buy my unconvincing and ill-backed opinion), what kind of ending shall we have? Continue reading Downer Endings: The Novel’s Answer to the Hollywood Ending!

Creator or Critic?

During my group’s New Years’ Eve party, one of my friends since before High School and I got to discussing what we’d been watching lately.

“I’ve been enjoying Shakugan no Shana,” I said. I am, as usual, late to the scene, but to my surprise my friend, with much more free time on his hands, had just finished watching the second season, so I was only one behind. Continue reading Creator or Critic?