Katherine Nabity's Blog, page 260
February 25, 2011
Book #5 & Nebula Short Stories
Book #5 - A Sense of Where You Are by John McPheeSubtitled A Profile of Princeton's Bill Bradley. Which is exactly what it is.
I'm not a big sports fan. I didn't grow up with sports. Attending UNL made me into a mild 'Husker fan. I've never been to a Nebraska football game, and I had never watched a basketball game at all until Eric decided to take me to one on a whim back when we were still on campus in 1998-ish. Incongruously, I picked up a slight interest in non-collegiate tennis before I met Eric.
Moving to Arizona intensified my sports fandom. Partly because I am now "out-of-state" and sports are a means of maintaining allegiance to my home state. Partly because I now play a sport and am around more people who are sports fans, Eric included. And part of it is also because sports have become my seasons. The move from NE to AZ meant no more seasons as I knew them. No falling leaves, no snow, no thaw, no bloomin' spring, but lots of what a Nebraskan might consider summer. It started with football season becoming my fall. Tennis (French Open, Wimbledon, US Open) became my respite from the heat of summer. And basketball has become my winter. I'm a newbie fan to all these things. My history/knowledge of theses sports only goes back a few years, so I pick up a sports book here and there.
Conversely, I've always enjoyed a good sports story. I'm a total sucker for overcoming the odds and triumphs of the spirit. A Sense of Where You Are isn't one of those sports stories. It's a profile. Bill Bradley was an outstanding player. While he himself might have downplay his physical abilities, he was not particularly handicapped in any manner. Growing up, he had support of his ideas and goals. From McPhee's profile, it seems that Bradley took what ability and talent he had, worked damned hard and became an outstanding basketball player. While he obviously had passion for the game, it wasn't his end goal and that's an interesting story in itself, but not one told in my edition of the book.
My edition, published 1967, only includes Bradley's collegiate career. It is assumed, at the end of this edition, that Bradley will go on to Oxford as a Rhodes scholar, utterly leaving basketball behind. This older edition kind of leaves off in the middle of the story. But still, I came way with a slightly better understanding of basketball and bit of its history. That was worth the quick read.
---###---
I dove into the Nebula nominated short stories having already read three of them. I have a round up of my very shallow thoughts on them over at Reading Notes.
I'm not a big sports fan. I didn't grow up with sports. Attending UNL made me into a mild 'Husker fan. I've never been to a Nebraska football game, and I had never watched a basketball game at all until Eric decided to take me to one on a whim back when we were still on campus in 1998-ish. Incongruously, I picked up a slight interest in non-collegiate tennis before I met Eric.
Moving to Arizona intensified my sports fandom. Partly because I am now "out-of-state" and sports are a means of maintaining allegiance to my home state. Partly because I now play a sport and am around more people who are sports fans, Eric included. And part of it is also because sports have become my seasons. The move from NE to AZ meant no more seasons as I knew them. No falling leaves, no snow, no thaw, no bloomin' spring, but lots of what a Nebraskan might consider summer. It started with football season becoming my fall. Tennis (French Open, Wimbledon, US Open) became my respite from the heat of summer. And basketball has become my winter. I'm a newbie fan to all these things. My history/knowledge of theses sports only goes back a few years, so I pick up a sports book here and there.
Conversely, I've always enjoyed a good sports story. I'm a total sucker for overcoming the odds and triumphs of the spirit. A Sense of Where You Are isn't one of those sports stories. It's a profile. Bill Bradley was an outstanding player. While he himself might have downplay his physical abilities, he was not particularly handicapped in any manner. Growing up, he had support of his ideas and goals. From McPhee's profile, it seems that Bradley took what ability and talent he had, worked damned hard and became an outstanding basketball player. While he obviously had passion for the game, it wasn't his end goal and that's an interesting story in itself, but not one told in my edition of the book.
My edition, published 1967, only includes Bradley's collegiate career. It is assumed, at the end of this edition, that Bradley will go on to Oxford as a Rhodes scholar, utterly leaving basketball behind. This older edition kind of leaves off in the middle of the story. But still, I came way with a slightly better understanding of basketball and bit of its history. That was worth the quick read.
---###---
I dove into the Nebula nominated short stories having already read three of them. I have a round up of my very shallow thoughts on them over at Reading Notes.
February 24, 2011
RoW80 - February 23rd Check In
Finished my first pass of rewrites on Monday, writing a tad over 600 words. The manuscript is still not 40K words.
Yesterday and today, I took a look at the list of scenes and decided what each scene does, what each scene should do, and jotted down some thoughts on how to make up the difference. Eric and I will talk about all of this tomorrow and over the weekend around his homework and studying. In the meantime, I should write some faux news stories which are going to go between chapters.
Had a moment today when I marveled at how much rewriting I've done thus far. Eric's been a little impatient with this project and is pushing me to get the editing done. This rewrite pass might have taken a month in the past instead of a week.
I'm also quite tired of this project. I really want a break. This is probably just general/hormonal malaise that will pass. This is the hard part of writing and I'm not allowed run away. Yet.
Yesterday and today, I took a look at the list of scenes and decided what each scene does, what each scene should do, and jotted down some thoughts on how to make up the difference. Eric and I will talk about all of this tomorrow and over the weekend around his homework and studying. In the meantime, I should write some faux news stories which are going to go between chapters.
Had a moment today when I marveled at how much rewriting I've done thus far. Eric's been a little impatient with this project and is pushing me to get the editing done. This rewrite pass might have taken a month in the past instead of a week.
I'm also quite tired of this project. I really want a break. This is probably just general/hormonal malaise that will pass. This is the hard part of writing and I'm not allowed run away. Yet.
February 22, 2011
Recently Read
(x-posted from Reading Notes)
Book #4: Descent into the Depths of the Earth by Paul KiddTo me, Paul Kidd's Greyhawk novels and short stories personify the sheer fun that is tabletop RPGs. Using classic modules as a backdrop, Kidd presents us with a fun, slightly munchkin, party. At its core, there's the Justicar, a dour ranger; Cinders, his sentient hell hound pelt; Escalla, a slightly naughty faerie; and Polk the plain-old human teamster. The characters are eccentric and, occasionally, Kidd's jokes go on just a little too long, but that's how it sometimes goes in gaming.
I haven't been a big fan of novels based on fantasy RPGs. Usually, they boil down to being fantasy novels and not much else. Kidd's tales read a little more like a campaign journal. That's both good and bad. On the one hand, if you're familiar with the game, you can see how the game mechanics get translated into narrative. That sort of wink-and-nudge is a nice touch. On the other hand, sometimes that battles are too blow-by-blow and get a dry.
My favorite bits though are when Kidd describes parts of the world. Despite the zany antics of the ranger and the faerie, Kidd treats war-torn Keoland with respect and poetry.
Short Stories: "By the Job" by Paul Kidd "Keoland Blues" (Dragon Magazine, December 2000 - Issue #278) prompted me to buy Kidd's Greyhawk novels, but I hadn't realized that that was his second story for Dragon. "By the Job" (Dragon Magazine, May 2000 - Issue #271) is the first and the origin story of Jus and Cinders.
"Breakaway, Backdown" by James Patrick Kelly Not sure I agree with all the science, but a good story in that "what space would do to society" kind of way.
---###---
Nebula nominations have been announced so I'll probably try to soak up some of that goodness in the next few days.
Book #4: Descent into the Depths of the Earth by Paul KiddTo me, Paul Kidd's Greyhawk novels and short stories personify the sheer fun that is tabletop RPGs. Using classic modules as a backdrop, Kidd presents us with a fun, slightly munchkin, party. At its core, there's the Justicar, a dour ranger; Cinders, his sentient hell hound pelt; Escalla, a slightly naughty faerie; and Polk the plain-old human teamster. The characters are eccentric and, occasionally, Kidd's jokes go on just a little too long, but that's how it sometimes goes in gaming.
I haven't been a big fan of novels based on fantasy RPGs. Usually, they boil down to being fantasy novels and not much else. Kidd's tales read a little more like a campaign journal. That's both good and bad. On the one hand, if you're familiar with the game, you can see how the game mechanics get translated into narrative. That sort of wink-and-nudge is a nice touch. On the other hand, sometimes that battles are too blow-by-blow and get a dry.
My favorite bits though are when Kidd describes parts of the world. Despite the zany antics of the ranger and the faerie, Kidd treats war-torn Keoland with respect and poetry.
Short Stories: "By the Job" by Paul Kidd "Keoland Blues" (Dragon Magazine, December 2000 - Issue #278) prompted me to buy Kidd's Greyhawk novels, but I hadn't realized that that was his second story for Dragon. "By the Job" (Dragon Magazine, May 2000 - Issue #271) is the first and the origin story of Jus and Cinders.
"Breakaway, Backdown" by James Patrick Kelly Not sure I agree with all the science, but a good story in that "what space would do to society" kind of way.
---###---
Nebula nominations have been announced so I'll probably try to soak up some of that goodness in the next few days.
February 20, 2011
RoW80 - February 20th Check In
Been doing rewrites, so my word counts are fairly irrelevant. Wrote about 2000 words since Wednesday, but only added about 700 to the manuscript. I'll talk to Eric later today about whether these changes have been good or good enough. We made several decisions to connect a few characters and I like these changes. The plan is to finish up this pass of rewrites on Monday and then start over with per scene detailing of priority events.
Felt terrible the last couple days. My elbows and knees, hands and feet have been very achy and I'm tired.
If I had a blogging platform, it would likely be based on really bad analogies and what lessons I keep learning over and over again. Ultimate frisbee continues to point out interesting behavioral things. For example: more chances for success translates to more likelihood of failure. I've been playing ulti for ten years now. My in-game throws are passable enough (no pun intended) that, in league, I get called as a handler. This isn't a position that I'm comfortable with, but there it is. This means that I will touch the disc often and have more opportunities to cause a turnover. Sure, I have more opportunities for success too, but I remember the crappy shanked backhand, not the...uh...well, I'm sure I did something good. I guess the point is, you can't get away with only ever being successful. The only way I could avoid screwing up on the ultimate field is to not play ultimate any more. The only way to avoid screwing up as a writer is to not write. The only way to avoid failure is to not do anything. Which is a bigger, uglier failure because there's no chance at success either.
Click to go to Mr. Linky
Felt terrible the last couple days. My elbows and knees, hands and feet have been very achy and I'm tired.
If I had a blogging platform, it would likely be based on really bad analogies and what lessons I keep learning over and over again. Ultimate frisbee continues to point out interesting behavioral things. For example: more chances for success translates to more likelihood of failure. I've been playing ulti for ten years now. My in-game throws are passable enough (no pun intended) that, in league, I get called as a handler. This isn't a position that I'm comfortable with, but there it is. This means that I will touch the disc often and have more opportunities to cause a turnover. Sure, I have more opportunities for success too, but I remember the crappy shanked backhand, not the...uh...well, I'm sure I did something good. I guess the point is, you can't get away with only ever being successful. The only way I could avoid screwing up on the ultimate field is to not play ultimate any more. The only way to avoid screwing up as a writer is to not write. The only way to avoid failure is to not do anything. Which is a bigger, uglier failure because there's no chance at success either.
Click to go to Mr. Linky
February 17, 2011
An Update to my Update
Eric and I had our talk about Luck for Hire. We looked at the retro-outline and juggled a few things, solidified some chronology, identified some weak spots. One of those weak spots is the lack of relationship between Luck and Dana. While giving that issue (and a couple others) some time to ferment, it was decided that my next step was to decide what each scene is meant to do in order to decide whether each scene *does* those things.
After the talk, we had dinner. I watched a basketball game and Eric watched some other TV. And then Eric started watching Inception. He hadn't seen it until today and has stopped the movie numerous times to expound on different things. I'm not giving much a away when I say that Inception is a heist movie. It follows certain heist tropes: the initial job, assembling the team, and...the complication from the past.
Eric had the idea that Luck for Hire needed a complication from the past. I one-upped him and suggested that Dana and Aleister have a past. I'm a little excited about the prospect; Eric thinks it might work. "How much do you want it?" he asked. "What do you mean?" I asked, warily. Was I willing to write 4000 words by Monday to kick off the idea? Yes. Within a few minutes, I had made another devilish deal. Bologna might still be had. Or I might burn-out spectacularly.
And it will all be Inception's fault.
After the talk, we had dinner. I watched a basketball game and Eric watched some other TV. And then Eric started watching Inception. He hadn't seen it until today and has stopped the movie numerous times to expound on different things. I'm not giving much a away when I say that Inception is a heist movie. It follows certain heist tropes: the initial job, assembling the team, and...the complication from the past.
Eric had the idea that Luck for Hire needed a complication from the past. I one-upped him and suggested that Dana and Aleister have a past. I'm a little excited about the prospect; Eric thinks it might work. "How much do you want it?" he asked. "What do you mean?" I asked, warily. Was I willing to write 4000 words by Monday to kick off the idea? Yes. Within a few minutes, I had made another devilish deal. Bologna might still be had. Or I might burn-out spectacularly.
And it will all be Inception's fault.
February 16, 2011
RoW80 - Februray 16th Check In
Spent Monday and Tuesday doing a read-/skim-through of Luck for Hire. Filled out a chonology spreadsheet with chapters, POVs, and problems that need to be righted. Righted a few of those problems. And listed characters and places. I really should have gone through my notes too, but I haven't yet.
Today, Eric and I need to talk, figure out what events need to be juggled around, what needs to be emphasized in each chapter, what needs to be added. Right now, we're at novella length with an "action" plot pretty well worked out. It may be the A plot, it may be the B plot. It may be the only plot. The process on this book has been different, so it's harder for me to tell exactly what we have left. It might just be a matter of me being way too brief in my writing.
But, I feel much better about we we have done. I've felt like it was very loose, very disorganized, but it's not as bad as I thought. I'm too close to this to make any other judgments.
Click to go to Mr. Linky
Today, Eric and I need to talk, figure out what events need to be juggled around, what needs to be emphasized in each chapter, what needs to be added. Right now, we're at novella length with an "action" plot pretty well worked out. It may be the A plot, it may be the B plot. It may be the only plot. The process on this book has been different, so it's harder for me to tell exactly what we have left. It might just be a matter of me being way too brief in my writing.
But, I feel much better about we we have done. I've felt like it was very loose, very disorganized, but it's not as bad as I thought. I'm too close to this to make any other judgments.
Click to go to Mr. Linky
February 14, 2011
Leave it all on the field.
I ran the Skirt Chaser 5K on Saturday. As I crossed the finish line, I thought to myself, "I should have run harder." Don't get me wrong, my leg muscles were in anaerobic land and my lungs were struggling to efficiently exchange gasses, but I had something left in me that I should have used up. I should have run harder. My second though was, "My whole week has been like this."
Many times last week I thought to myself, "Why didn't I get more done yesterday?" Yeah, I know, I got a lot done last week, but I could have done more. I should have run harder. Why didn't I?
There's the fear excuse: If I run hard or get this crazy amount done, it will be expected of me all the time (by me, by others, but mostly by me) and I don't think I can or I don't want to do this amount all the time.
There's the marker excuse: I didn't see the mile marker or didn't know all that was going to be expected of me, so I didn't pace myself properly.
Both are bad excuses. Both keep me from being a stronger runner, having a stronger writing career. Every-so-often, there's a controversy in ultimate frisbee when one team doesn't hear the time cap horn. "We didn't hear the horn; we would have played differently." And the right counter argument is, "You should have been playing your hardest no matter what the score or how much game is left. You should be leaving it all on the field."
That's how I should be working. It's not a comfortable mindset, but I won't die if I run my hardest, and I won't run out of work, ever.
Many times last week I thought to myself, "Why didn't I get more done yesterday?" Yeah, I know, I got a lot done last week, but I could have done more. I should have run harder. Why didn't I?
There's the fear excuse: If I run hard or get this crazy amount done, it will be expected of me all the time (by me, by others, but mostly by me) and I don't think I can or I don't want to do this amount all the time.
There's the marker excuse: I didn't see the mile marker or didn't know all that was going to be expected of me, so I didn't pace myself properly.
Both are bad excuses. Both keep me from being a stronger runner, having a stronger writing career. Every-so-often, there's a controversy in ultimate frisbee when one team doesn't hear the time cap horn. "We didn't hear the horn; we would have played differently." And the right counter argument is, "You should have been playing your hardest no matter what the score or how much game is left. You should be leaving it all on the field."
That's how I should be working. It's not a comfortable mindset, but I won't die if I run my hardest, and I won't run out of work, ever.
February 13, 2011
RoW80 - Februray 13th Check In
As I write this, Eric is out picking up dinner. Yes, I have avoided bologna sandwiches by meeting my 10K-a-fortnight goal. Chicken schnitzel cordon-bleu, rösti, coleslaw, marinated green beans, and tomato-basil salad will be eaten soon.
Word counts:Wednesday: 1601Thursday: 202 - Things were looking grim. I knew what scene I needed to write, but got stuck on it. I should have either talked with Eric more about it or moved on. This is a lesson I keep (not) learning.Friday: 1616 new words, cut 133Saturday: 0 - Yeah, who was I fooling by thinking I'd get anything done in the morning after staying up until 3am or in the evening after running a 5K and then indulging in quite a few beers?Sunday: 1177 new words, cut 278That makes 10,036 for the fortnight, 7819 written this week. The manuscript is just over 38K. I suppose it could be considered a zero draft. Instead of starting another 10K fortnight, I'm planning on some reorganization and clean up during this next week. Eric and I need to hammer out the exact details, but I'll probably start with Monday and Tuesday being read-through and note-taking days. More details to come.
Word counts:Wednesday: 1601Thursday: 202 - Things were looking grim. I knew what scene I needed to write, but got stuck on it. I should have either talked with Eric more about it or moved on. This is a lesson I keep (not) learning.Friday: 1616 new words, cut 133Saturday: 0 - Yeah, who was I fooling by thinking I'd get anything done in the morning after staying up until 3am or in the evening after running a 5K and then indulging in quite a few beers?Sunday: 1177 new words, cut 278That makes 10,036 for the fortnight, 7819 written this week. The manuscript is just over 38K. I suppose it could be considered a zero draft. Instead of starting another 10K fortnight, I'm planning on some reorganization and clean up during this next week. Eric and I need to hammer out the exact details, but I'll probably start with Monday and Tuesday being read-through and note-taking days. More details to come.
February 11, 2011
Not very Flashy and also Slow
I've come to the conclusion that for me balance in life is not obtainable. Oh, overall everything probably evens out, but on any given day/week/month the scale might be weighted toward writing or socializing or VOTS stuff to the exclusion of most other things.
For example, my good intentions of writing flash fiction every week and posting it for #FridayFlash or on Fictionaut weren't worth very much. But, hey, failure in the past doesn't guarantee failure (or success) in the future. Therefore, here is my semi-regular "where am I on the web today" roundup:
Finished posting part I of Pas de Chat on Sunday. Part II is much shorter.Posted "Orange Box" at Fictionaut. It's a piece that didn't make the cut for 52|250. I also have an EtherPad version if you're interested in seeing all my typos as I write. The piece is a little autobiographical based on many Saturday afternoon excursions to Sutherlands with my grandpa.Need to do a ton of writing to avoid bologna sandwiches. I didn't get much done yesterday because I'm a putz (who probably deserves bologna sandwiches) and I seem to have it in my head that I can't write while the sun is up. Or something like that. League took up my "prime" writing hours of 8-10pm. We lost. My play was pretty decent and involved some smooth H-stack play.
Tomorrow, I run the Skirt Chaser 5K again. I doubt that I'll beat last year's time since I'm not even beating last year's non-race times. I've set up a 31 minute playlist that should get me through it in a semi-respectable manner.
For example, my good intentions of writing flash fiction every week and posting it for #FridayFlash or on Fictionaut weren't worth very much. But, hey, failure in the past doesn't guarantee failure (or success) in the future. Therefore, here is my semi-regular "where am I on the web today" roundup:
Finished posting part I of Pas de Chat on Sunday. Part II is much shorter.Posted "Orange Box" at Fictionaut. It's a piece that didn't make the cut for 52|250. I also have an EtherPad version if you're interested in seeing all my typos as I write. The piece is a little autobiographical based on many Saturday afternoon excursions to Sutherlands with my grandpa.Need to do a ton of writing to avoid bologna sandwiches. I didn't get much done yesterday because I'm a putz (who probably deserves bologna sandwiches) and I seem to have it in my head that I can't write while the sun is up. Or something like that. League took up my "prime" writing hours of 8-10pm. We lost. My play was pretty decent and involved some smooth H-stack play.
Tomorrow, I run the Skirt Chaser 5K again. I doubt that I'll beat last year's time since I'm not even beating last year's non-race times. I've set up a 31 minute playlist that should get me through it in a semi-respectable manner.
February 10, 2011
RoW80 - February 9th Check In
As Eric and I were taking a walk on Monday evening, I noted that if I were to write 1560 words every day, Monday-Friday, I'd be back on track after writing only 2200 total last week. "You can do that," said Eric. "That's like a mini-NaNoWriMo." I agreed. Those numbers are doable. "What do you want for your carrot?" he asked. We decided on dinner at Beaver Choice. I spent half a block swooning over the thought of chicken schnitzel. And then came the stick plan. If we didn't have a good dinner, we'd have a bad dinner. Both of us. Cheap bologna on cheap white bread. Possibly with a side of plain label mac & cheese. Between the carrot and the stick, I'm not sure which is more motivating.
Word counts:
Monday: 1572
Tuesday: 1651
Nothing yet for Wednesday. It's going to be a long night. We had a good chat this afternoon and I know which scenes I'm writing next. This novel is winding down a bit. It's short. It's messy. The next fortnight might be used to reorganize and clean-up as well as add words.
Click to go to Mr. Linky
Word counts:
Monday: 1572
Tuesday: 1651
Nothing yet for Wednesday. It's going to be a long night. We had a good chat this afternoon and I know which scenes I'm writing next. This novel is winding down a bit. It's short. It's messy. The next fortnight might be used to reorganize and clean-up as well as add words.
Click to go to Mr. Linky
