Picasso’s Cat & Others Heads to the Publisher
May 22, 2010 Business, Short Stories
The tentative title to the collection is Picasso’s Cat and Other Stories. It’s soon to be winging it’s way the the Merry Blacksmit Press for them to do their magic. I’m pleased to confirm that Mike Resnick graciously agreed to write an introduction.
The TOC lines up like this right now:
The Disappearance of Josie Andrew – Writers of the Future (1998)
Just Business – Analog (2003)
The Test of Time – Return of the Dinosaurs (1995)
Stealing the Sun – Analog (1999)
The Taranth Stone – Analog (2000)
Parchment in Glass – Analog (2002)
Barnstorming – The Leading Edge (2001)
G-bomb – Men Writing SF as Women (2003)
Echoes in a Shattering Silence – Artemis (2001)
A Matter of Pride – Analog (2000)
Learning the Language – Land/Space: An Anthology of Prairie Fiction (2003)
The Vacation – Future Wars (2003)
Out of the Blue – Writers of the Future (1999)
1 is True – Asimov’s SF (2006)
Picasso’s Cat – Nature (2006)
It’s been a heck of a lot of fun to work on putting this together. Hope a few folks enjoy reading it.
Short Story Collection
May 7, 2010 Business, Short Stories
I’m terribly excited to note that I’ve agreed in principle with The Merry Blacksmith Press to publish a collection of my short stories. I’ll be working to create the lineup here in the next few days, and I expect a title will shortly follow. I will, of course, post more as progress is made.
Easy Writing
May 4, 2010 Daily Writing, Novels, Short Stories
Okay, here is a sentence I never thought I would ever type.
I’m finding Frank Sinatra music is easy to write to.
Yes, me. Frank Sinatra. Got a problem with that? I guess it’s all those 4-4 beats and jaunty melodies, but it just kind of keeps the fingers going–at least it did this morning. I write with music on, but the sound down low so that the lyrics don’t jumble my brain too much. Actually, I write to a lot of classical stuff, too. I assume it’s not too unusual to write with music on in the background, but I’m willing to bet that I’m in a pretty big minority with the Voice today.
Just my little Ron-fact of the moment.
Progress: Officially completed the pilot bit as far as the novel is concerned. I think I need to add a small transition scene to it if I want to make it into a true short story, which I may do tomorrow. But for now it feels good to be done with this portion of the work. It grew to a considerably bigger project than I had first envisioned.
Lesson Learned
May 3, 2010 Daily Writing, Novels, Short Stories
Okay, I’ve learned a bit of a lesson. The idea of splitting a short story out of a novel is great, and all. But let me tell you that the process can be a bit of a pain in the backside.
The sub-plot story of my two pilots is rounding into shape, but the process of getting it back into the book is quite tedious. The story is told in the novel via a series of scenes separated by some distance. And I decided that it would be a good idea to keep the two in sync, so as I change things in the short story I go back into the novel and change it there, too, assuming it makes sense, anyway.
So the process is a bit of a bear to maintain.
Still, the act of looking at this bit as a stand alone short was worth it.
Zombies, Grass, and Other Fancy Stuff
Apr 28, 2010 Daily Writing, Life, Novels, Other Writers, Short Stories
I admit I’m not an expert in the field of zombie stories, but I’ve got to think Maureen McHugh’s The Naturalist is a really outstanding example.
For those of you who mow the lawn with self-propelled push mowers, here’s a little learning I had last night…when the self-propeller dies, those things are a pain in the tush to use. Yes, I passed up a trip to the gym yesterday after work in order to take advantage of the weather and cut the grass. I was actually bemoaning the fact that I wouldn’t get a full workout in, but the fates apparently listened. An hour’s work pushing along a 9,000-ton piece of equipment can totally kick your butt.
I know, my life is tough.
Progress:
I’m coming to the end of this little dalliance of mine to clean up my pilot sub-story–at least I’m coming to the end of this pass at it, anyway. I’m liking how the characters are working, but my spider-sense is tingling and I’m thinking I’ll need a later pass at it to make the rest of its message resonate at the book’s scope. Bottom line at this point is that I’m feeling myself learn again–which is great. Attempting to pull this bit into a stand-alone short story was a great decision, regardless of whether it ends up fully working or not.
