Mark W. Tiedemann's Blog, page 97

Bridges In Need Of Crossing

Busy stuff today.  It's warm enough (again) to go to the gym, but I have to get an oil change in Donna's car (which means I get to drive the new one!) and then run a grocery errand.  Donna is doing a quick review of her second go-through on my new book, which means some time this week I'll be starting on final draft stuff.  So I have to get a few things out of the way.

Last night I had a phone interview for a job.  I have serious problems with this, of course, but that's a post for another...

Kage Baker, A Fine Writer, Gone

Following upon the previous post, Kage Baker has passed away.

A few years back she was guest of honor at ConQuest, in Kansas City.  Here in St. Louis some folks at the public library contacted me to see if I could get her to come here to do a presentation.  In my office at the time as president of the Missouri Center for the Book I made inquiries, set up a venue, and actually made arrangements.  A couple of local fans who were at the Kansas City convention volunteered to drive Kage and her...

Celebrity and Unread Books

J.D. Salinger is dead.  Age 91, he died, according to reports, of natural causes, at home, away from the media.

I confess—I never read him.  Catcher In The Rye is one of those touchstone books everyone had read, but not I.  For whatever reason, it never crossed my path.  I remember those bright red covers in high school, sort of wondered about it, but…

We can't read everything, and some books, if you don't get to them at a certain period in your life, you might as well not bother.  I doubt...

Quote For The Coming Times

"Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense." Buddha

Psychedelic, Man…

Did a little playing with Photoshop today.  Just fooling around to see where it would take.  Ended up in a very 2001: A Space Odyssey sort of visual space…

I can see how this can get very addictive…to the point of absurdity.  Still.

New Draft and Other Stuff

This morning I completed the second draft of the new murder mystery, The Drowned Doll.  The first draft came in at about 70,000 words, this one is just shy of 93,000, which is right about where I wanted it.

I then got dressed and went to the gym.  January has been abysmally cold, so I haven't been going.  I used to be very susceptible to colds at below 25 degrees, and although I'm not so much anymore, I still draw the line at 10 degrees and stay home.  It's been push-ups and aerobics for the l...

Avatar

Okay, so I contributed to the James Cameron Self Love Fund and saw AVATAR. Yesterday we went to the 3-D showing (no way I would spend money on the normal view, I can wait for the DVD the way I do with 99% of the movies I see anymore).  I've had a day to think about it now and I've come to some conclusions, which are hardly profound, but I think worth saying.

Let me say up front that I wasn't bored.  Visually, this is a stunning achievement.  But that's what everyone is saying.  It is, in...

For The New Year

Starting off on a positive step, I've made a change on the site.  Not much of a one, but it could lead to something special.

The Art page has been static for some time now.  Technical issues among other things.  But I decided to move the art to a site that can give me a little better control and offer the possibility of expanding this part of my creative life.  Take the plunge, go for it, I say, put your stuff out there where people can see it.

So over the weekend, with a bit of help from my...

2009…Assessment

Annual reassessments are dicey things.  If you have a terrific year, they can sound like bragging, which would be nice for a change.  If you had an absolutely lousy year, they sound like whining, something I do enough of as it is.

On the other hand, they can be autobiographical in instances where the possibility of anyone (including yourself) ever doing an "official" biography is next to nil.  In this instance, honesty is called for, the kind most people rarely indulge in public.  It gives...

New Look

Since I'm in the process of penning a contemporary murder mystery, I thought it might be a good idea to trade in the silver space suit with shoulder flashes and Flash Gordon ray gun for a more up-to-date image.  Last week, Donna and I had some fun doing new photos.  One of them will end up being a new bio image for conventions, interviews, and the like, but I had wanted something with a bit more panache, a bit more attitude, a bit more…

Well, I like this.  I don't think it would be suitable...