Jamie Todd Rubin's Blog, page 363
January 10, 2011
New York Times bestsellers for the week I was born
Thanks to biblioz.com, here are the fiction and non-fiction bestsellers for the week ending April 2, 1972:
Fiction
The Winds of War by Herman Wouk
Wheels by Alex Hailey
The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth
The Assasins by Elia Kazan
The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty
The Word by Irving Wallace
The Blue Knight by Joseph Wambaugh
Message From Malaga by Helen MacInnes
The Betsy by Harold Robbins
The Friends of Eddie Coyle by George V. Higgins
Nonfiction
The Game of Foxes by Ladislas Farago
Eleanor and Franklyn by Joseph P. Lash
The Defense Never Rests by F. Lee Bailey
Tracey and Hepburn by Garson Kanin
Bury Me at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown
The Moon's a Balloon by David Niven
Bring Me a Unicorn by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
The Double-Cross System by J. C. Masterman
Souls on Fire by Elie Weisel
Buying Country Property by Herbert R. Moral
What fascinates me most about these lists is the nonfiction part. No self-help books, as far as I can tell. A few celebrity book, of course, but no books by politicians trying to sell themselves. Our taste in fiction has stayed generally the same, but our taste for nonfiction has clearly gone downhill in the 39 intervening years.
January 9, 2011
Progress report on "Rescue" novelette
I haven't been doing any actual writing on "Rescue". Instead, I've been reading the first part of the NaNoWriMo novel from which I am cannibalizing the story. It turns out to be the first time I've read this straight through since I wrote it in the first 10 days of November. It is 35,000 words long so it's taking a while, plus I am heavily annotating what I'm reading on the Kindle. (It is so wonderful to be able to do this, but it would require another post for me to describe that process.)
What I'm trying to do is take the story I told in Part 1 of the novel and make it into a stand-alone novelette. That means taking a 35,000 word story with a whole bunch of loose-ends left open and cutting it down to a 15,000-20,000 word story, all neatly tied together. It sounds like a tough job, but so far, it has been a lot of fun, even though I haven't done any actual writing.
I've come to discover that one of my favorite parts of the writing process is the second draft. The first draft is fun, but for me, it is like an artist's sketch. I get the story laid out roughly and don't worry too much about smoothing it out until later. When I get to the second draft, I do a lot of cutting and rewriting and general tightening up. I see the whole story so I can add elements early in the story that better tie into things later in the story. In a way, the work I am doing on "Rescue" is kind of like second draft work. I am identifying themes, and I am figuring out which characters and view points are interesting and which ones don't really work. I've already figured out how to add an element of mystery to the story, and how to tie that in with the overarching storyline.
One complication is that the novel, as written, is told from as many as five different major character view points. I am hard pressed to think of short fiction that does this well. I'm looking at cutting it to 3 major characters, but the story still shifts between three viewpoints. While it is clear and obvious when this happens, I don't know how well it works in short fiction. I think there were some stories in Asimov's FOUNDATION series that did this. If there is anyone out there who can think of recent novellas or novelettes that used multiple view points, I'd be interested to know what they are.
I'm currently about 25% of the way through my read and I've got 36 notes that I've made on what I've read so far. But I have definitely gotten a vision for where the novelette version of the story will go. It was my intention to finish my read-through today and start the actual writing tomorrow morning, but I'm juggling so many tasks that I might not finish until Tuesday or Wednesday. I'll report back again once the writing portion of the project is underway.
January 8, 2011
Excellent customer service from Jiffy Lube
This afternoon, on the way back from patrolling a bookstore, I took the Kia over to our local Jiffy Lube in order to get a car wash. The car had accumulated crud from the variety of chemicals spread on the streets to melt the snow, to say nothing of the dirt and grit from our two minor snowfalls so far this season and was in desperate need of a wash.
I went inside to pay for the car wash, and was told that they only take cash. Ah well, thanks anyway, I told the man at the counter, maybe next time. I didn't have any cash with me and I wasn't planning to run out to get any just for a car wash.
"Hang on," he said, "I'll give you a basic one. Just remember to bring cash the next time you come in for a car wash." He rang up a basic car wash and when I offered him my credit card, he said, "No, on the house this time."
Now that is what I call a positive moment of truth. Our Kia is brand new and we get our maintenance and service through the dealer, but you can bet that all my future car washes will be at Jiffy Lube. Nice job, guys!
1939 is complete
Just a quick note to let everyone know that I have managed to locate and obtain all 1939 issues of Astounding Science Fiction that I was looking for. I know have the July – December issues in various states of shipment and on their way to me. I'm heading out to a few local bookstores later today to see if I can start filling in the 1940s.
January 7, 2011
What I will be doing this weekend
I've managed exactly 1 writing session in the first week of the year. Bad, bad me. But there is a lot of things I've got going on and I'm going to try to use the weekend to organize. My weekend tasks can be divided into 3 categories.
Writing-related things I will be doing this weekend:
Finish reading Part 1 of my NaNoWriMo novel so that I can start transforming it in the my "Rescue" novelette.
Actually start writing the novelette
Finish reading the May 1994 Science Fiction Age
Write my post for the May 1994 Science Fiction Age
Visit 2 local bookstores in search of more issues of Astounding
Possibly visit a third bookstore
Finish preparing for my talk on science fiction for the Arlington Writers Group
Family-related things I will be doing this weekend:
(Possibly) taking the Little Man to Gymboree
Chores around the house
Preparing a dinner or two
Going to the park, if the weather permits
Watching Mater/Sponge Bob/Fineas & Ferb/Mickey Mouse Club with the Little Man (over and over and over again)
Miscellaneous things I will be doing this weekend:
Elliptical machine (x3)
Either retiring the antediluvian iMac we currently use as a server, or upgrading it to Leopard (ETA: retirement and/or upgrade postponed until next week)
Start pulling together tax records (most of which are fortunately digitized this year)
Other tasks as assigned
What I won't be doing this weekend:
Getting much rest
Happy Friday!
Gift ideas for 2011
Like anyone else, at various special times around the year, friends and family will ask me what I want for [fill in the occasion]. My standard answer has always been books. No one ever takes that seriously for some reason and I really don't know why. In any event, for 2011, my standard answer has changed. So, friends and family:
If there is a special occasion and you are looking for a gift idea for yours truly, here it is:
Used copies of Astounding Science Fiction from July 1939 – December 1949.
"Where do I find those?" I can hear you asking. Well, local independent (used) bookstores that specialize in science fiction often have boxes of them, cheap, too. Comic books stores sometimes carry them. And of course, they can be found various places online.
"Ah, yes, but how do I know if you need the one that I've found?" Well, I've put together this page that lists all of the issues I am trying to collect. Issues that appear in bold are already in my collection. I have them, you need not worry about them. Issues that appear in blue mean that I have a line on them and there is a good chance that I will get the issue, but check with me if you are not certain. All other issues are up for grabs and if you happen to find one for a buck-fifty in the back closet of that used bookstore down the street and want to give me a nice birthday present, have at it. As soon as I know for certain that I've obtained a copy I will update the list so you can be reasonably sure it is up-to-date when you check it.
"Why are you collecting 60-70 year old issues of a science fiction magazine?" I take it you're new here.
Seriously. If you are considering getting me something this year (a completely unnecessary, but much appreciated gesture) and are looking for a gift idea: this is it. It will be appreciated more than you could ever imagine.
July, August, September, October 1939 Astounding's are mine!
It's official: I have located the first four issues of Golden Age Astounding and they are being shipped to me. They are scheduled to arrive in the next 7-10 days or so and I am so eager to get started digging into them that I can barely sit still. A few people have asked if I would post how/where I obtained the issues. I am doing this in a spreadsheet and once it is a going concern, I'll make it available on Google Docs. Meanwhile, I can now rest easy knowing that the first four issues are on their way.
I purchased these through eBay, via their bidding system. It was the first time I ever used eBay for bidding and it took some getting used to. I'm sure there are tricks and strategies that I should have followed but I wanted these issues badly. I actually bid on 6 issues (July – December 1939) but I lost on the November and December issues. Averaged out, I think I paid about $30/issue, which is well worth it in my mind, considering they are listed as very good condition. Besides, there is a pleasant symmetry to paying for Golden Age science fiction magazines with the money I get from writing science fiction stories.
This weekend, I plan to comb 2 or 3 local bookstores that I know carry boxes of old science fiction magazines. And I have friends scattered about the country doing the same. In the meantime, expect my post on the July issue to come close to the end of the month.
January 6, 2011
Writers groups rock
I belong to 3 writers groups and I wish I had thought to join one 15 years ago. Two of the three groups are online and have some membership requirements, like completing a workshop or having at least one professional story sale. But I am also a member of the Arlington Writers Group which meets in person weekly in Arlington, Virginia and it is a particularly good group of writers to be associated with.
For me, the value of a writers group is threefold:
It provides you with a kind of expert audience to test out whatever it is you produce, in my case, short fiction. I say "expert" because, in the case of the groups I belong to, the other writers involved know how to provide useful comments and criticism. In many cases, they are published writers or editors who have been there, done that, and have a lot of experience and wisdom to offer.
It teaches you how to look critically at a piece of writing, be it a work of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, personal essay, whatever. I often find it difficult to look critically at my own work, but my participation in these writers group have helped me improve on this.
It provides an environment of people who drink the same Kool-Aid as you do, a place where you can talk shop without driving your significant other insane, and of course, this kind of bonding with other writers helps you build your network of connections.
I enjoy the Arlington Writers Group in particular because they meet weekly for two hours and the core people in the group are excellent critics. There are often strong differences of opinions about a given piece, but that is true with any published piece of fiction and it helps a writer to focus on what is most important to them. Another good thing about the group is that they don't focus on any one specific genre of writing. There are science fiction writers, mystery writers, fantasy novelists, essayists, poets, news editors, playwrights, screenplay writers. It allows for exposure for someone like me–a science fiction writer–to the wide world of writing outside my genre. Lastly, there are many different levels of experience within our diverse group. There are people in the group who make their living from writing. There are people in the group who are just attempting to write their first piece of fiction. And of course, a range of skill levels in between. This makes for a setting in which you can learn a lot, no matter what your experience level.
If I could give one piece of advice to new writers (or to myself, 17 year ago), it would be: join a writers group.
And if you happen to live in the Northern Virginia area, check out the Arlington Writers Group. They are a good bunch.
Addendum to My Social Network
I wanted to mention that the social network diagram on my social network post yesterday was created using Google Docs drawing application.
I have been impressed by Google Docs. The applications are simple, which is to say they are not overloaded with features I don't need or will never use (hear that, Microsoft?) but focus on those things that are useful. I've been particularly impressed by their Drawing application, which is among the finest I've used, far superior to Microsoft Paint, and even superior to some of the image editing tools that came as part of MacOS.
I use Google Docs for other things as well, including managing my list of story submissions, but whenever I need to create a diagram from scratch, I always start with Google Docs drawing application, and so far, I have not been disappointed.
January 5, 2011
My social network
Because someone asked me about it today, I present the core of my social network and how it operates (click on the image for a larger version):
Each arrow on the diagram represents an automatic forwarding of information from one part of my social network to another. The explanations below are keyed to the numbers:
Posts to my blog (what you are reading) are automatically relayed to my LiveJournal blog via the LiveJournal Crossposter plugin for WordPress.
Posts to this blog are also automatically relayed to my Twitter feed via Twitter Tools for WordPress.
Posts to this blog are also automatically relayed to my Facebook wall via Wordbooker for WordPress.
All posts to my Twitter feed are automatically relayed to my Facebook wall. This is configured through the Twitter website. This also explains why you sometimes see things (like blog post announcements) twice on my Facebook wall.
Updates to my Goodreads author page are automatically relayed to Twitter.
Updates to Goodreads are automatically relayed to Facebook.
Updates to FourSquare are automatically relayed to Twitter.
On occasion, notes that I make on my Kindle are relayed to Twitter.
Twitter posts are relayed to my Google Buzz
There are a few minor ones that I left off here and maybe I'll add them in the future. For instance:
All my blog posts are relayed via RSS to my Goodreads author page
All my blog posts and tweets are relayed to my LinkedIn profile
The best part about all of this is I only have to update one place (often just my blog or twitter) and the updates propagate throughout my social network.
