Kurt R.A. Giambastiani's Blog, page 53

Let’s be Bad Guys

I’m still only at about 80% on the health scale–this head cold is a brute–but there’s a definite upward trend, so I figure I can manage one post this week. A dozen topics have risen to the top, only to slip from my focus, except for one. Luckily, it’s a writing topic, so I can […]

Not All Here

I missed a post deadline (or two), and I’m going to miss some more. Thanksgiving was interesting. The goose was…well…let’s just say I have a lot to learn about cooking birds that haven’t sat around in a cage their entire lives. Geese seem to have more bones than other birds I’ve parceled out, and they […]

Reinventing T-Day

I don’t like turkey. This will come as a shock to my family, who as I grew up watched me order a turkey sandwich every time we went out to eat. It didn’t matter where we went or when–breakfast at IHOP, dinner at Denny’s, a special meal at Sabella’s–I always ordered a turkey sandwich. (I […]

I’m Sorry, Dave

I’ve finished nine novels, but I’ve probably started a hundred. Not a hundred different ones. Just the same ones, multiple times. And that’s where I am now. Starting a project is, for me, a difficult transition. There are so many pivots to make–away from research, away from outlines and characters and structural thinking–and so many […]

Taking a Breath

The weather has turned cold here in Seattle.Nothing like what most of the nation is experiencing, to besure, but cold nonetheless. The leaves that haven’t fallenare withered and frostbitten on their stems, and the remnants of Autumn’s glory now lie in patches ofbrown detritus scattered across the gardens. On clear, cold afternoons, when the sky […]

Music for a Bad Week

The week started badly, and ended with a… What? It’s only Thursday? Well, Hell. So, it’s been a trying week, so far. I’ve had injury (wrenched back), illness (rhinovirus), family issues (no comment), excitement (took our neighbor to urgent care after an accidental toddler-induced head-butt), day-job frustrations (left hand…have you evenmet the right hand?), and […]

Happy 35th 25th

This weekend past, two friends celebrated birthdays. They’re both a good bit younger than I am, but that didn’t bother me. After all, alot of people are younger than I. This weekend past was the 25th anniversary of the day the Berlin Wall came down. Yes, a quarter century since the end of the Cold […]

Anatomy of a Smackdown – Pt 3

Time for specific answers to burning questions. Just what werethe WTF momentsIoD slapped me with? Are they legitimate? (If you’ve just joined, here’s where you can find Part 1and Part 2of this conversation.) The book I submitted wasUnraveling Time,which I still feel is one of my best books. It does, unfortunately, suffer from having one […]

Anatomy of a Smackdown – Pt 2

There are severalthingsthat, in younger years, I might have done withsuch a scathing critique as I received last week from Jefferson Smith’sImmerse or Die report. (If you’ve just joined, Part 1 of this conversation can be found here.) Most of these reactions are defensive in nature and, as such, they bring nothing to the table […]

Anatomy of a Smackdown – Pt 1

This post is hard to write. It’s uncomfortable, and not a little embarrassing. No. More than that. It’sbloody humiliating. I debated whether or not I could ignore the situationentirely and pretend as if nothing had happened — Move along. Nothing to see here. — That, however, would have been neither honest nor productive, both of […]