Cesar Torres's Blog, page 17

Cesar Torres to Read at Tuesday Funk January 4, 2011

I'll be reading new material. A fitting choice, given we will be living in the NEW YEAR.

Come on down. I want to see your lovely face at the Hopleaf.

What are your new year's resolutions?

Why I Got Strong and Fat in 2009

I am a writer, and I run.

I am a runner, and I write.

For me, both acts are inextricably linked. I never realized how much so, at least not until this year, which is about to come to a close. Without running, I have no copy to work with. Without writing narratives, without writing copy, I have no stories to reflect on while I train on the lakefront, running the miles. For a long, time, I have been under the same writing and running routine, but things changed in 2009. I suppose we all get a little bit retrospective in these last few weeks of the year, and now, as the ice encloses the city, I am asking myself, what exactly did I write this year? Also, how much did I run this year, and how well did I do each activity?

My first published book, "The 12 Burning Wheels," saw the light of day this year, marking 2010 as the most significant year of my budding writing career. Yes, my book is real, a physical object of paper, images and words. And now it's also part of the ocean of information of the digital era, because it's also an e-book. It's all I could ever wish for, this entry into the world of the published author. Sometime in 2009, I also got "The Nagual's Elision," another short story, published, too.

But after my book released, what else happened? I wrote a few more stories, and "The Nagual's Elision," another short story, got published. But how much did I write, and how good was it? I'm still not sure, even as I review my files of my writing. I have a lot of snippets, a few short stories, but "Rotnacht" deserved a little more care, a little more attention. The main prize, the novel, was relegated to the distance. One might argue that I needed some distance from writing itself to come right back to it. I would argue that I needed to get higher word counts out, and I didn't, and that's the truth.

Now let's see if we can look to my running for evidence of why this was the case.

Up through September of 2009, my routine was straightforward. Three runs a week, followed by a long run of about 8 miles on the weekend. In September of 2009, though, I changed to a 3×5 powerlifting plan, a plan that allowed me to pack on mass in a way that was so Herculean, so Jack-Kirbian, so fun. It was a good thing. The body is so malleable, it's inspiring to change it like the taffy of carbon that it is. The program works if you simply follow it. Size and strength increased quickly. We men are stupid creatures, easily satisfied by the obvious, and when someone proclaims, "man, I put on 20 pounds of muscle," there' hadly going to be a man in the room who won't see that as an accomplishment. Yeah, I'm 30 pounds heavier and probably the strongest I've been in my life, but what happened to my running during this time of physical growth?

I moved running to a place of lower priority. I suffered an injury in May, and taking time off from running meant I could focus more on the barbell workouts. But in turn, my distances suffered. I was at one point running about 20-25 miles a week in 2009. 2010 saw a weekly run in the summer, at best.

Sometime around the Fall, as I healed from injury, I also began to miss running so badly it hurt. I missed it in the same way I missed writing. Running requires dedication, and patience, as we re-conditioning. It can't be pushed. Just because I could run 10 miles causally in 2009 doesn't mean I can get back to that overnight in 2010. And now, 2011 is at our door. In December, I am focusing on walking barefoot, and in fact, I'm barely running. Why? Because the goal for 2011 is to emerge into barefoot running, faster running, long distance running. I may lose some strength and mass from my experiments with the barbell, or as I call my gym training, the circus. The one benefit is that I will lose body fat. Barbell training, after all, does require gaining fat in order to gain muscle, too.

Next year will go like this, friends: December will be for walking. January will see the start of mileages outside, as I am known to do, but I will slowly incorporate barefoot and minimalist running indoors, preparing for the reveal in the spring and summer. Faster, leaner, able to withstand more in the realm of endurance. I hope I don't lose the strength I have put into my arms, legs and torso, but my body will actually be the one to dictate what happens to my size and shape.

Writing will be no different. I may have had to focus more on marketing of "12BW" this year, learning the lessons of the market and of indie publishing, but the chair, the word processor, they are calling my name.

2011 looms pivotal. Longtime readers of this blog know that I don't bullshit myself or anyone with "New Years' Resolutions." I set goals, and writing down goals, especially in the public forum on this here pamphlet, keeps me accountable. In the span of a year, I can come back here and see how I'm doing.

My writing goals for 2011: Completion of the current novel manuscript, which I am renaming (more on this in future blog posts). I also plan to write a longish piece meant for multimedia use. Part stage play, part video scripts, part internet snippet, this will come to light soon. And yes, I will have a few short stories thrown into the mix. Would you like a sequel to "The 12 Burning Wheels"? You tell me.

My running goals for 2011: I will overcome the injuries of 2009 (I basically have already), and by late summer, I want to run the Chicago Half Marathon barefoot, on September 11, 2011.

When it comes to writing, it is my work to do in solitude, and the solitude of writing fills my mechanical heart with contentment. As far as running goes, the training I do there will also happen alone, except for longer runs for the half-marathon. If you're interested in training with me, do let me know. I would love to share my weekend long run with other people. If you want, we can even do it virtually. Welcome to the future.



Back to summertime and springing forward into the fossilized forests of past winter.

I Will Write You a Short Story in November. Yes. For You.

During the month of November, I will write a short, very short, story uniquely crafted just for you, and I will do it for FREE. To find out how to commission me, visit my author page.

Apologies

For not updating this blog more regularly. School and other obligations have been pulling me away, away.

Starting in mid-November, I'll be going back to my current project, Rotnacht. Until then, I'll post some music clips, and author interviews. Don't forget to see me on Twitter, too.

I love you all. See you on the other side of manuscript word count completion.

Brand New Story in Issue 21 of M Brane SF

Yes! I have a new story in M Brane SF. It's called "The Nagual's Elision," and it shows the pitfalls of using things such as Facebook in a world where ancient magic and bloody ritual are alive and strong.

Seriously, this will make you think twice about using Facebook.

So, you can get issue number 21 of M Brane here, and you can even subscribe for a whole year.

And to tease you a bit, here's a teaser from "The Nagual's Elision":

The Nagual's Elision

By Cesar Torres

My son Alan and I share eyes the same shade of brown, the color of mountain earth, sprayed with narrow flecks of black. He sits across the table from me, wide shoulders hunched, anxious. My laptop's on sleep mode at the edge of the table, a black plastic wafer. Next to it, a wooden box, plain but splashed in color, its wood etched in butterfly shapes, divides the space between us. The box is nothing but a folk-art trinket one buys on the side of the road for a handful of dollars on the way to Mexico City. A father should never play favorites, is what my wife always said, but my youngest, Alan, has always been closest to my heart. I can't deny it. He is my favorite.

Dame. Dame, Alan repeats. Dame. Strange how his voice rumbles deeper when he speaks in Spanish. Let me have at it, Dad, he says. Outside the wind whips the house. It's the end of April but the temperatures still say winter. I see Rina the collie cross the neighbor's yard and a pair of pigeons dance on a light pole. Of course, Alan's eyes have not left the box once.

Before I tell you about the box, I say, you must know: no one — no one — takes a picture of a nagual.

The word nagual makes Alan bolt upright in his chair and his eyes peel back. You're still trying to spook me with the old stories, he tells me. You don't even believe in naguales.

It's all brujeria to me, son. Naguales, shamen, witch doctors, limpiadas, a bunch of bullshit. Same as the stories about some skinny Jew who came back from the dead after getting nailed to a cross. Nothing but words someone invented to hold power over someone else.

And yet, I say. And yet. Son, we cannot deny the fact that a nagual should never, under any circumstance, be photographed. You see, when you take a photo of anagual, you allow him to come through the photograph, like a secret door in a funhouse. The image — the photo — is a doorway for the nagual.

Read the rest at M Brane SF #21

Urraca Spins Off A New Tumblr Blog 'Paper Killer'

Just like "Joanie Loves Chachi" did so many moons ago, I am spinning off.

Starting today, you can find all my posts on the aspects of usability, user experience and cognitive science of e-books at my new Tumblr blog:

Paper Killer.

Yeah, you heard right. Paper killer. I am so in love with the printed book, my first true love, that I want to kill it from use in the average reading experience from now on. That means I still treasure physical books, but I want to preserve natural resources, make information widely available to the poor and underserved, and the way to do it is through technology. Get your Kindles, ready, cause I will put rake you through the coals if you're not on board to bring the book forward into the current century.

This blog will not go away, but I will be able to keep my posts focused on my writing, my published works and the world of writers and readers.

And yes, I treasure nothing more in my home than my books and their bookshelves. I'm just not planning on buying many of them in the future.

Tuesday Funk, Are You Going?

Back in the summer I read from my book "The 12 Burning Wheels" at this event. This time it's nice to have less pressure and just be in the audience. Do you want to come get a beer with me? This event is not just fantastic for readers, it's also great for writers.

How To Increase Your Creativity

Via John Cleese.

I myself treasure sleep for my problem solving, and I respect my time and space I set aside for writing. But, let's hear from John:

Consistent Word Counts? Spirit Crumplers? Yeah

I wrote 800 new words in the WIP yesterday. Yeah, it's the very same project I was calling Rotnacht about a year ago. I think it merits a new name (to reflect the new work regimen and direction). Feel free to suggest names.

Later this week I'll post an item on the workflow for this project. Lots of new writing tech has rolled out since my last novel manuscript, so it will be fun to talk about the iPad and syncing apps.

But, 800 words is only 800 words. That is not a novel. Also, it's first...

New Story 'The Nagual's Elision' in Oct. Issue of M-Brane SF

My short story "The Nagual's Elision' will run in the October issue of M-Brane SF (#21). Get it at www.mbranesf.com, y'all!

What do you think the story's about?