Jeffrey Ricker's Blog, page 59
February 26, 2011
Two more days to get "Normal"
So, as I mentioned back here on the first of the month, in honor of Untreed Reads' first anniversary, I'm giving away a copy of my short story "New Normal" at the end of the month. (Check that earlier entry for details on how to submit your entry.) Don't look now—well, actually, yes, look now—the end of the month is this Monday. Meaning that on Tuesday, I'll send an e-mail to the lucky winner letting them know how to get their story.
At the moment, that winner would be one of two people. Yes, I could take that to mean that everyone reading this has already bought a copy of the story—and if you did, thank you! By the way, if you did buy a copy, what did you think of it? Could you take a moment to go back to the store where you downloaded it and leave a review? I'd be eager to know.
Unless you hated it, in which case I'll just say all sales are final.
Kidding! (Well, not really, as I'm pretty sure all sales are final, but if you didn't like it, tell me what didn't work for you.)
Where was I? Oh, right. Two entries. If you haven't bought it and are interested in reading it, your odds of winning it are pretty darn good. You've got until midnight on Monday. Go for it!
(If, on the other hand, contests are not your thing, my story and every other title at Untreed Reads is 25% off through the end of the month.)
Continue the discussion on redroom.com
February 24, 2011
100 words about getting back into a story, or What's my motivation?
The hardest thing about rewrites is getting back into a story after several months have passed and you've moved on to other things. It's like you've broken down the set in your mind where these characters rehearsed and performed, and now you have to call them back to the studio, get wardrobe to find their costumes, and make them go through their lines again. Also, you've recast them in other parts since then, and now the dialogue doesn't sound right in their voices anymore. I usually have to go back to the beginning and read through, and find the thread.
Continue the discussion on redroom.com
February 22, 2011
Want a free copy of "New Normal"?
Just a reminder, to celebrate Untreed Reads' first anniversary this month, I'm giving away a free copy of "New Normal." Just check out this post at Redroom.com (or just scroll down on this page for the matching post) and see how simple it is to enter. It's not too hard, is it? I ask only because just one person has entered. I mean, are you telling me I can't even give it away? Or is it that all of my loyal followers (all six of you, bless your hearts) have already bought it? Just remember, you can always give it to someone as a gift. Right?
February 20, 2011
Rub a dub*
I've been looking everywhere I can for the upside to this inconvenience (not to mention the frequently astonishing pain) caused by the coup d'état my back has staged. It ain't easy. I could dwell on the fact that I can't walk more than a few yards without needing to sit down, or how nighttime sleep has become so abridged you'd think it was a Reader's Digest edition.
Instead, I'll just mention that I've rediscovered the pleasure of taking a bath.
See, in addition to not being able to walk very far, I can't stand for very long. In this case, "very long" would be the same as "the length of time it takes to wash my hair," much less the rest of me. So yesterday I finally had to relent, move all the soap and gels and stuff to where I could reach them, and filled up the tub for a bath.
It was wonderful.
Eventually, I know my back pain will get better, or at the very least I'll have learned to deal with it better. But really, the nicest part of my day lately is lying in a hot bath with a cup of coffee and a New Yorker.
Maybe I should move the coffeemaker into the bathroom.
*At least I didn't make the title "Tubthumping," did I? Otherwise you'd have that song running through your head all night. Oh, wait….
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February 17, 2011
What's a 140-letter word for "Ow"?
So, I decided to write this blog spot in a series of tweet-length bursts. Why? That pretty much describes my attention span with this pain. (139)
I've been having this bout of low back pain since Feb. 7. I bent over to pick up a dog food bowl, and that's all it took to screw things up. (140)
Since then, it's migrated from my lower back into sciatica, which gives me stabbing pain in my right glute and shooting pains down my leg. (138)
I've been to the doctor and gotten a prescription for muscle relaxants, and made two visits to the acupuncturist. Still, it hurts like hell. (140)
When the pain was in my low back, it really hurt to lie down. I slept in a recliner for a few nights. That helped the pain but not my sleep. (140)
Now that it's turned into sciatica, it hurts to lie down, stand up, walk, cough laugh, sneeze. Sitting is OK, but the pain is still there. (138)
The way this pain distracts me is much like trying to hold a conversation in a room where there's also a television that you can't turn off. (140)
You try to focus on the person talking, but in the background all you hear is the dialogue coming through the TV, and it sounds like this: (138)
"Ow. Ouch. Ow ow ow ow ow ow. Lean back. Ow. No, don't do that. Lean forward. Oh, not that either. Sit. Stand. No, sit down again. No. Ow." (139)
Or maybe compare it to reading when someone is also talking to you at the same time. Eventually, the words in the air and on the page blur. (139)
It's even more fun when that voice is chattering in your ear while you're trying to go to sleep. Explains why I slept only 3 hours Tuesday. (139)
So you start dividing your day into small, manageable chunks that center around avoiding or minimizing the pain as much as you possibly can. (140)
Getting out of bed (or, in my case, getting out of the recliner) is usually the worst. That's when the pain is hottest. It shouts at you. (137)
Fortunately, it's usually less intense as the day goes on, but that's all relative. The sciatica is worse than the original back pain. (135)
This isn't the first time this has happened. It started in 2003. I herniated a disc doing yardwork. (Advice: Never uproot a shrub by hand.) (139)
It also drastically reduces your patience, because it's hard to concentrate on two things at once; the pain is always one of those things. (139)
Basically, it sucks. (20)
And it usually lasts six weeks. Three weeks to go. (40)
Continue the discussion on redroom.com
February 6, 2011
Pain is good for writing. Pain is also bad for writing.
I hate that the old cliché is true, but I've done some of my best writing when I've been incredibly unhappy. Glutton for punishment that I am, I've been able to take psychic pain and turn it into prose on numerous occasions (some of which have even been published). I only wish that this worked for physical pain. In case you were wondering, or in case you didn't already know from personal experience, it doesn't help one bit.
Oh, maybe it would help if you needed to describe pain as wearing a belt that had been cinched too tightly. Or getting kicked in the back repeatedly. Or pain that makes your eyes tingle, sparkles your vision, and feels like a cinderblock has landed on your back. That last one was really fun. I hope I never encounter that one again.
Certain kinds of pain make it impossible to concentrate. Even 100-word bursts are difficult to muster, because you're concentrating on the pain instead. Or rather, you're very focused on not doing anything to make the pain worse: should I move this way or that way? Sit or stand? Lie down? Back, belly, or side? Which side? How do I get up if I'm lying down? Is there something I can lean on? (Note: the answer to all these is, apparently, sit. Don't stand, and whatever you do, for God's sake, don't lie down. Sleep in the recliner. In the morning you'll be grateful you did.)
You get out the back brace you were fitted for the first time this happened, eight years ago. Unfortunately, you were twenty poounds lighter back then and now the fit is, well, a bit snug. (Will losing weight help with the back pain? you ask yourself.) You look down and see how you're walking and imagine yourself at age 70 or 80, moving like this. Your eye starts to water and you wonder, is this possibly related?
The worst part is wondering how long it will last. Is it going to be a week, a month? Two months? Maybe this is the time that it's never going to end, that it's just going to be something you have to manage.
Wow, this is the most I've written in one go all week long. See what I said about pain?
Continue the discussion on redroom.com
February 2, 2011
My novel's soundtrack, or "It came without a warning or a clue"
In an earlier post, when I asked about music that inspires your writing, I mentioned that my book has a soundtrack of sorts, songs that I listened to often while I was writing, or songs that came up randomly in iTunes and made me think of a character or a scene. Per Marika's request, I present the list here.
Breathe Me, Sia
Moments Of Pleasure, Kate Bush
I Wasn't Looking (When I Found Love), Emma Bunton
Summertime, The Sundays
Wild Horses, Susan Boyle
Precious, Erasure
Don't Push Your Foot On The Heartbrake, Kate Bush
What Have I Done To Deserve This? Pet Shop Boys
Save Me Darling, Erasure
I'm with Stupid, Pet Shop Boys
DHDQ, Andy Bell
Stand Back, Stevie Nicks
White Lies (Radio Edit), Paul Van Dyk (with Jessica Sutta)
Somebody Else's Business, Pet Shop Boys
Break My Fall, Tiësto Feat BT
So Long, ABBA
You Don't Treat Me No Good, Sonia Dada
Your Kisses Are Wasted On Me, The Pipettes
Calling It Quits, Aimee Mann
Shambala, Three Dog Night
One By One, Enya
Mornin Song, Monica Casey
Dizzy, Throwing Muses
Grand Canyon, Tracey Thorn
Flamboyant (Michael Mayer Kompakt Mix), Pet Shop Boys
Gray, Amie Miriello
They Don't Know About Us, Tracy Ullman
Love Locked Inside, Voice of the Beehive
The Saltwater Room, Owl City
Get Together, Madonna
Wild Horses, The Sundays
Who Knows Where The Time Goes? Judy Collins
The Dreaming Road, Mary Chapin Carpenter
Lovers Rock, Sade
As you can imagine, I've tinkered with this playlist to no end, changed the order, deleted songs that, in hindsight, don't fit the story anymore. This is pretty good, at least until the director's cut.
PS: Let it be noted that no one is more acutely aware than me of the absence in this track list of Kylie. Had Aphrodite come out before I was finished with the book, it's certain "Looking for an Angel" would have been an inspiring song. So consider that a bonus track.
PPS: Hey, Marika! I've shown you mine; you show me yours!
February 1, 2011
Happy anniversary, Untreed Reads
It's hard to believe Untreed Reads has only been around a year. This is the publisher that released my short story, New Normal, as an e-download last year, as well as Huey Dusk, written by Whitney Howland, who's in my writing group, Writers under the Arch, and will be publishing another member of the group, Chris Bauer. (There must be something in the water around here.)
Where was I? Oh yeah. Happy anniversary, Untreed Reads. To celebrate, they're actually giving gifts, not receiving them. For the month of February, they're giving away the first three books they published last year. They're also taking 25% off everything else. So, I'm finally buying Huey Dusk, which I should have done a long time ago. (Sorry, Whit. Of course, I already know how it ends, since I was present at the creation, or at least the recitation.)
So, in honor of the festive occasion, I want to give away something too. I'll give away a free copy of my story, New Normal, to one person who can answer the following question:
Which three authors did I interview (back in the day, as the kids are fond of saying) for PlaybackSTL magazine?
E-mail me the answer before Feb. 28 at jeffrey@jeffrey-ricker.com, and I'll choose one person at random from the folks who get it right. (You'll find the answer on my website, so really, copying and pasting my e-mail address is probably the trickiest part of this.)
Of course, if I get no responses, I'll know that no one loves me and I will sink into a pit of despair, bitterness, and Chubby Hubby ice cream.
Continue the discussion on redroom.com
Happy aniversary, Untreed Reads
It's hard to believe Untreed Reads has only been around a year. This is the publisher that released my short story, New Normal, as an e-download last year, as well as Huey Dusk, written by Whitney Howland, who's in my writing group, Writers under the Arch, and will be publishing another member of the group, Chris Bauer. (There must be something in the water around here.)
Where was I? Oh yeah. Happy anniversary, Untreed Reads. To celebrate, they're actually giving gifts, not receiving them. For the month of February, they're giving away the first three books they published last year. They're also taking 25% off everything else. So, I'm finally buying Huey Dusk, which I should have done a long time ago. (Sorry, Whit. Of course, I already know how it ends, since I was present at the creation, or at least the recitation.)
So, in honor of the festive occasion, I want to give away something too. I'll give away a free copy of my story, New Normal, to one person who can answer the following question:
Which three authors did I interview (back in the day, as the kids are fond of saying) for PlaybackSTL magazine?
E-mail me the answer before Feb. 28 at jeffrey@jeffrey-ricker.com, and I'll choose one person at random from the folks who get it right. (You'll find the answer on my website, so really, copying and pasting my e-mail address is probably the trickiest part of this.)
Of course, if I get no responses, I'll know that no one loves me and I will sink into a pit of despair, bitterness, and Chubby Hubby ice cream.
Continue the discussion on redroom.com
January 31, 2011
Finally dipping my toe in the e-reader pool
No one would ever accuse me of being an early adopter. The last time I plunged into cutting-edge technology was when I bought a first-generation iPod back in 2001, and only then because I was buying a new laptop and figured, in for a penny, in for a pound.
Since then, I never install software until at least the first revision (preferably the second), I am never the first person on the block to have the newest gizmo (we just got a flat screen and a Blu-ray late this past year), and when I finally do cave in, I'm not liable to get the top-of-the-line model.
So it took me until this month (along with a sale price and a gift card) to finally take the plunge and buy an e-reader. Call me a luddite, but I have a hard time relinquishing the feel of a bound set of paper pages and the ease of flipping directly (or near enough) to a page in the middle of a book without having to wait for screen redraw.
However, a compelling argument in favor of my getting an e-reader can be found in just about every room of the house: the bookshelves stuffed to overflowing, with books stacked sideways on top of others and rows two deep on the shelf. No, not all of them have been read (I shudder to count all of the books that make up my multipart "to be read" stack). There's a certain amount of guilty feeling to be had there, but if I'm going to be addicted to something, I've always thought books were a sort of noble addiction.
But, like Scotty, I canna change the laws of physics. There are only so many books we can squeeze into this house (which is not a TARDIS), and something's gotta give. So, I gave—myself a Kobo.*
As of yesterday, I was reading three books: one a hardback of the latest Michael Cunningham, one a murder mystery by a friend of mine (she published via Amazon, and I have to say, this book is hilarious), and Conquering Venus, by Collin Kelley, whom I met last May at the Saints & Sinners Literary Festival in Atlanta. Collin's was the first of the three that I finished (it was excellent—but more on that in another blog post), and I think, much to my surprise, that the e-reader format had a lot to do with how quickly I read.
I doubt I'll be clearing off the shelves and replacing everything with a digital copy, but I do think I'm going to be consiering more carefully whether I want one or the other. For one thing, all of those books are heavy, and I don't look forward to packing (and paying for) them the next time we move. Certain choices, on the other hand, are no-brainers: books by writers I know, I'll want to get a paper copy. After all, it's hard to get an author to sign your Kindle or your Nook.
At least, it is for now.
*They're not paying me for mentioning them. I should be so lucky.
Continue the discussion on redroom.com
