Canadian Short Story Magazine

So love to come across Canadian publications. www.storytellermagazine.com

Consulting & Feedback Issues

I consulted with a professional on some business issues, and I've decided to get a stamp made reflecting the feedback that I got.

Pillage

Is it wrong to root through an entire carton of cheesecake ice cream and just pick out the chunks of cheesecake?

Fear Not

Scientists are on their way to developing drugs that inhibit our fear response, supposedly in order to treat anxiety & phobia disorders.

I find this idea really scary. If people no longer fear, they no longer have good judgement. These drugs could be abused by terrorist groups, radicals, gov't training & military, etc etc. Screwing so much with the human body leads to no good.


*Gosh* (I've just reread that last line. Heh. My bad.)

Kicking inspiration right up your ass

The last three posts of Storytellers Unplugged, a blog hosted by a number of authors, gives writers a good reality check. Read 'em and weep, then go do something about it.

Workshop

Went to the writers workshop yesterday, that I have neglected for about four months. I had to catch up on everybody's stories, as most writers have been submitting one chapter of their novels per month. It's a little silly to try to critique one chapter without knowing what went on before.
PLUS, these stories are DAMN GOOD! I've missed seeing how these characters and plot lines are developing. When you're supposed to be critiquing a piece, and you end up reading through four chapters voraciously, it's a good indication that there's some quality stuff there. I've been reading a ton of fantasy/spec fic lately, from small press to the big guys. It's been very inspiring, because some of it just isn't very good - causing the book to be thrown against the wall. If that type of stuff can get published, these novels that are developing from my fellow writers are very publishable, and I expect will succeed in whatever channels they take.

Here's a big hurrah to you guys. You know who you are.

Number of searches to double check facts: 2
Trips to dictionary.com to use thesaurus: 1
Beer & cigarette break: 1
Words: 113
Current Efficiency rate: 2%

Cupcake Orange

Snipped from Publishers Weekly:

Sneek peeks of next week's reviews: From prostitute-cum-successful-litigator Cupcake Brown is a heartfelt memoir A Piece of Cake;

The next Canadian umm... that dude who does stuff

Rick Mercer's blog. Very funny. I love the "Monty Chretien".

I've found my writing stride

It consists of slamming out anywhere from 77 to 124 words, then completely draining mentally - my creative flow oozing down the side of my executive chair, onto the towers of file folders on the floor surrounding the desk.

*wait one to four weeks*

Repeat.

And you thought the show was about boo*s.

Pamela Anderson acting in Fox's Stacked. For such a bad premise, the show could be a lot worse. However, I'm a little thrown off in discovering the entire marketing gimmick going on. I found the reference on Neil Gaman's blog. Never read the guy, but millions of people say he's good. :)

GOOD GOD!

As some of you may know, I manage a small ski/bike resort. Check out this tidbit I ran across, on the world's most expensive ski resorts.

--"Spanish Peaks in Big Sky, Mont., charges members between $500,000 and $1.3 million for access to 3,500 private acres of skiable terrain and an 18-hole golf course. Tallus, a members' club in Mammoth Lakes, Calif., charges $795,000 for each member, along with quarterly fees of $3,418 and approximately $13,672 in annual fees."--

Insert string of profanity here.

EverythingSoundsLikeColdplayNow

Heh.

Locus Mag

Woohoo! Received my copy of Locus Mag in the mail today. I pillaged that baby in about 20 minutes.
The subscription prices will be going up in January, so now is a good time to renew/order. For those unfamiliar with the magazine, it is a "Magazine of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Field" - author interviews, publishing news, reviews, events, etc etc. I shall be perusing the extensive listing of cons and making my wishlist. : )