Jason Arnett's Blog, page 3

I’m the X

I made a list of people, 21 of them, and I’ve vowed to myself that I will reach out to one each day and just tell them I’m thinking about them and hope they’re well. No expectation of a reply, but it feels like doing this small thing might increase my personal contentment. I know when I hear from someone I hadn’t heard from in a while it makes me feel valued. Doing a nice thing for someone else is always good for one’s soul.

Hi, I’m Jason and I write science fiction stories. My latest is The Envoy and I’m super-pleased with how it came out. 

The Sound of Endless Construction

I recently spent six days in Baltimore for a conference. Really interesting city and I paid my respects at the burial site for Edgar Allan Poe, the master of macabre stories. My history with Poe goes back to 1976 or so, when I was a kid, and I heard Dream Within a Dream/The Raven by the Alan Parsons Project. KY 102 in Kansas City was an album oriented rock station and often played entire sides of albums, so they played a lot of songs off a lot of albums as I was growing up.

But Dream/Raven was an amazing introduction to the world of Poe and I dove in with both feet and shouting “kowabunga!” We had a collection of The Great Works that included a Poe volume and I devoured it all, including the poetry. Not too long after I cracked that book open, I heard the Alan Parsons interpretation of The System of Dr. Tarr and Professor Fether and it was that basso “just what you need to make you feel better, just what you need to make you feel” along with the guitar that changed me.

Well, it primed me to appreciate Poe. I bought the vinyl of the record and loved it like no other (until I got into RUSH, but that’s another story) and in high school, there was a unit on Poe with another volume that had other stories not included in the one I already had. Both books have places of honor on my shelves and are consulted semi-regularly when I have an urge or something triggers a memory.

Visiting Poe’s burial site was the closing of a circle. Sort of. Acknowledging that influence and the history that goes along with it is important. The inventiveness of Poe’s tales, combined with my consumption of Twilight Zone episodes late night on channel 41 (also out of KC) planted some fertile seeds there. I developed a literacy for the odd, the outre, the far-out stuff. And I liked that sometimes it scared the shit out of me.

Another Side of Me

This summer has turned out to be an expensive one in terms of money and time and inconvenience. 

We pulled the trigger on getting new siding on the house because it was necessary. My student loans are due beginning this October and that’s expected, but still… Then three weeks ago a water main broke at the bottom of my front yard and undermined my driveway AND the street. Once I was reassured I wasn’t on the hook for the river flowing from my front yard out into the parkway, I was able to calm down. Concrete was poured ten days ago and the street was repaired a couple of days ago so now we can park in the garage again.

Next, the compressor on the air conditioner decided to crap out. Sheesh! I mean, really? (And never ask what else can happen, because…) The new compressor is coming but it’s a day or so away leaving us with window units cooling the entire house. If it weren’t for our elderly dog, Stella, I wouldn’t have been so concerned but it was SO HOT here for that run of days.

Stella and me.

Then I went to the eye doctor and I have to have cataract surgery. Ugh.

First world problem, right?

All this gets me thinking about how fortunate we are. I wasn’t going to be able to buy a new driveway for some time to come and I hadn’t anticipated a new compressor, either, though there’s enough savings to pay for it. I’m fortunate that I don’t have to cope with a hot home or finding a place to board Stella. We’re fortunate that the electricity hasn’t gone out.

Other people in other places in America and around the world, aren’t so fortunate and no one listens to them complain or plead for solutions to alleviate these problems. So I tell you all this to ask you to buy my books so the royalties can help defray the costs that are looming on the horizon. There’s no GoFundMe coming, just a plea to take a look at buying A MAP OF THE PROBLEM or RUDOW CAN’T FAIL or THE ENVOY to help me out. Check out the Books page for links.

Keeping Secrets

I’m not a huge fan of musical theatre (with Hadestown being a notable exception!) and so I’ve never really connected with musical episodes of TV shows. I have, in the past, been annoyed by sketch comedies that use musical numbers especially when they go on for far. Too. Long.

So it’s not a surprise I wasn’t looking forward to Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ “Subspace Rhapsody” episode in season 2.

But.

Damn, this was good. The reason for the musical numbers was a problem that had to be solved and that kept the Trek-ness of it. The fact that Pike was beyond concerned when everyone around him was breaking out into song brought me fully into the concept and I truly enjoyed each number. And the fact that the solution was identified by (spoiler) who then led the grand finale linked back to the season 1 episode that brought me fully into the series was perfect.

Look, this was fun for me and it may not be for you. That’s okay. There are a bunch of other episodes of Trek you can watch. All I can say is that if you’re invested in the characters, you should give this a try.

Social Spaces

I got an invite and have joined BlueSky. If you’re there, I’m @ajasont just like I am in about every other social space.

Me.

Which brings me to Twitter, I’m sorry ‘X’ or whatever. It’s unfortunate that a site that I had curated to be fun for me has devolved so thoroughly that it’s no longer enjoyable. I’m not deactivating there because there are a few people I follow who are ONLY there, but I will keep myself primarily to Threads and BlueSky, Tumblr (though less often there) and Instagram. My author Facebook is an afterthought.

The lesson I learned is not to engage the trolls, not to insert myself into a conversation that will likely turn argumentative, and to really just treat social media as actually social. At least, that’s what worked for me. 

At Capacity

Jeez, that was a long one. It’s been a slog here these last few weeks but all in all I’m in a good place. I have a good day job that I love, we have a solid home, we’re in love with each other, and I am in a good place mentally to find a way to take care of everything. I’m pretty fortunate that way. Not everyone is. The more we help those who are brave enough to reach out the better our society becomes, and the more those folks will contribute. A helping hand doesn’t often cost much more than time and some capacity for caring.

So I take a moment every day to take stock of where I’m at and I have to admit I’m doing all right despite the mountain of potential calamity outside my door. I hope you are, too. If you aren’t, reach out to someone who might be able to help. Hopefully they have the wherewithal to assist you or the gumption to find someone who can.

Hang in there. Drink your water, stay cool as much as you can, and get some rest. There’s nothing wrong with making things easier for yourself no matter what anyone thinks. Go ahead and do it. I said it’s okay.

See you when I see you.

Lift Up Your Spirits

Social media was supposed to be a way to put everyone in touch. It’s turned into a hell fest of politics and hate for some and a bunch of others have elected not to participate. There’s another group that decided they only wanted to be in touch with people who were interested in similar things (creatives) and/or were just plain interesting. Each new social effort is trying to be better than the big ones and everyone says they’re looking for what that last category of folks curated their feeds into.

It’s all a dream, friends. The fever upon us is an ideal we’ll never reach until we can separate fantasy and reality. Hi, my name is Jason and I write things you can escape into if you like.

ORGAN OF RECORD

The Envoy launched in paperback on July 1 and for Kindle later in the week. I’m proud of the work and hope you’ll like it.

For my own part, I think it’s the best thing I’ve written yet. But I’m working on the next one and I’m pretty pleased with how that’s going, too. The goal is, of course, to get better with each work and I can see improvement over the now 9(!) titles I’ve written. I’m also in a place where my output should increase over my current one-novella-per-year pace. I’m hoping that MASQUE, the second of the All the Devils Are Here tetralogy, will be out to you before the end of the year but that’s a goal and not a promise.

Buy from Amazon: Paperback & Kindle

Remember that ratings and reviews are lifeblood to anyone producing independent art. If you like something, including my books, please let others know.

I’m so grateful for everyone who’s bought a copy of THE ENVOY so far. I love you all and you’re absolutely the best.

LIKEABILITY

My requirements for enjoyment of the media I consume are pretty minimal. Am I entertained for the duration of the work? To what degree am I entertained?

I’m not a critic so I don’t often speak to things of a technical nature because I’m not fit to judge them other than as art. I don’t care about sales as a measure of quality, either, because we each have different tastes and what you like may not be for me.

So when someone says a piece of entertainment ‘sucked’ I shrug and move on from that opinion. I think critics who are trained to be critical are better suited than the average bear to declare something is ‘bad’, but even then I don’t take that opinion on as my own. Remember that everyone involved in creating a piece of entertainment (or art) is doing their best to make it the best they can. Different skill sets and levels of those skills are revealed in the execution of the entertainment and we all have opinions on the effectiveness of that execution. I wish we, as a society, appreciated the effort of the creators and used less hyperbole in our daily lives.

With that in mind, I try to say I enjoyed a piece of entertainment and why. If a piece doesn’t connect with me, I try not to say anything. Popularity doesn’t mean it’s good, right? Only that it appeals to a broad audience. Popularity is ephemeral and should never be chased. A creator should only make what they want to make for themselves and let it find its audience. 

If you like a piece of entertainment, you should feel free to rate and comment on the piece wherever is appropriate. The creators will appreciate it and it increases the visibility of the work. When you feel the need to comment, it’s enough to say “I like it” in the same places. 

Now all this applies to every piece of entertainment we consume. It doesn’t matter if it’s big Hollywood studios or someone making a photocopied mini comic they’re leaving on a table in a cafe. A little appreciation of the effort to create helps offset some of the pain of being ignored or, worse, the mean-spirited comments.

MISCELLANY

The Weird Math of Creativity and Idea Husbandry

20th Century Men

GreenGate Audio

AT CAPACITY

I always say it and it’s always true: you’re loved, you’re valued, and there are people that would be lost without you. Take some time to let that sink in. Then tell the people that matter to you the most that you love them. It’s good for you, too.

If you’re in and around Kansas City, you might think about attending Fountain City Con August 5 & 6. I’ll be wandering around on Saturday.

I suppose I can say that I will be appearing in support of THE ENVOY at The Amazing Freestate Comicon on September 9th. If you’re not there, I’ll see you when I see you.

The Envoy: First of All the Devils are Here

Buy on Amazon

Inferno

Welcome to summer in Kansas where the outside air becomes an oven before noon and lasts until well after dark. Where we sweat through two changes of underwear without doing anything but walking the dog and going to the store. The humidity here is enough for seventeen Amazon forests and no reasonable person is on the highway at rush hour for kicks. Air conditioners and electrical transformers fail regularly and we are hardy enough stock to withstand a day of the brutality of the merciless sun but it darkens our moods.

Hi. I’m Jason and I write things for your pleasure. If I haven’t offended you yet, I’m sorry. 

Organ of Record

The Envoy, my friends, is nearly ready for release. I will have a proof in hand in the next day or so and if it’s good, I’ll push the big red button and make an announcement. I will talk more about the book when that time comes.

There’s a lot that goes into prepping a book to publish. This is my third self-published book through the Amazon process, and it’s my most successful, I think, in terms of the presentation.My first self-pubbed title (A Map of the Problem (2019)) was pretty messy. (Still is, actually, though I intend to clean it up and offer a revised edition before the end of the year.) There are spelling and usage errors in there because I didn’t pay enough attention to the line editing process. There are blank pages with page numbers on them. Rookie mistakes. I made ‘em and I own them. I’ve left them long enough but it was important to get the book off my desktop and into the world. 

With Rudow Can’t Fail (2021), I wanted to give the story a sense of immediacy and put the start of each new chapter a couple of line breaks below the end of the previous one. The headers and footers were more challenging given that both Rob Schamberger’’s and my names were on the even pages and the title was on the odd page. That meant the page numbers had to be on the bottom. There were some awkward scene shifts as a result. Line edits were better on that one but still not perfect. 

You’ll see in The Envoy that there are three parts to the book. Formatting challenges aside, I think it will make a fine presentation. I’ve taken a lot of extra time and care with this and so any errors of grammar or usage that come through are true survivors at this point. The look and feel of the pages isn’t quite what I want my books to be, but they’re closer this time. I’m confident that this book is absolutely as good as I can make it at this point. I hope you’ll like it when you read it.

Watch my socials (I’m @ajasont just about everywhere) for the announcement. It will have a physical release, an ebook, and sooner or later an audio version. I’m working that bit out now.

Consumables

The 800th issue of Wonder Woman dropped last week and the ‘back-up’ story by Tom King and Daniel Sampere is one of the most intriguing comics I’ve read. The children of Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman are a new trinity and there’s a mystery to be solved. It’ll pick up in a new Wonder Woman #1 and I think I’m going to see what that first issue looks like.

Because I’ve bought more Wonder Woman comics over the last three years than in my entire lifetime. DC’s Future State event introduced me to Yara Flor who fascinates me. Then there’s the Queen of the Amazons, Nubia, who is also deeply fascinating as a character. Reading more widely across books and comics has certainly broadened my horizons.

And I’ve recently finished Ted Chiang’s EXHALATION which is another excellent collection of his stories. I don’t know what to say about his writing that hasn’t been said more elegantly by critics and fans than “he’s a treasure of American letters” and I hope he’s recognized as such even if his output is less than others who’ve earned that distinction.

Oh! The new season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is a helluva lot of fun and boy am I looking forward to the last season of Reservation Dogs in August. (If anyone asks me what I think of Crime Scene Kitchen I will deny knowing anything about the show or that I ever heard of it. But I like it.)

At Capacity

Confrontation in fiction is different than in real life. Taking one for the team or sucking it up are the default settings for most of us despite the gains we’ve made in respecting mental health and developing as a whole person. Just because you could do something for the good of all, if it makes you miserable maybe you should think hard about that option.

You have to take care of yourself. We’ve learned that much recently, but it’s a lesson that not all have embraced. If you are faced with an untenable choice to ‘suck it up’ or take care of yourself, I hope you’ll do what feels right to you. It’s important that you meet your own expectations. That’s how you get to success. 

Drink lots of water. Rest. Stay out of the heat. Be good to each other and practice empathy. Really listen, eh? That’s how we learn.

Rudow Can’t Fail

In partnership with my friend Rob Schamberger, this is the first of three planned novellas beginning The Wave saga.

Buy:

Amazon Paperback. Amazon Kindle

A Map of the Problem

A short story collection from my time in writing with the collective The Confabulator Cafe.

Buy:

Amazon Paperback Amazon Kindle

Here In This Vortex

The process of writing is more than just putting your fingers on the keys and typing away until you think you’re done with the story. It takes a lot of revisions, especially at my level (which we’ll go into in a bit), and even when you’re traditionally published, you go through a bunch of revisions looking for everything from typos to problems of timing and clarity.

Hi. I’m Jason and I write stuff for myself first.

Down the stairs…

So I sent out one of my works in progress a while back to trusted first readers, asking for all-important feedback. I was confident enough in the revisions I’d done to that point to ask for that feedback and that’s always nerve-wracking because I’m so close to the story I can’t see the flaws. I know what I’m thinking about, I know what I mean to have on the page so I need to know if that comes across.

Big, overall notes like “I was confused in this section, it needs clarity” can confirm for me that I didn’t tell the story well enough. That means more revision.

But wait. I’ve already revised this thing half a dozen times. Why aren’t I done? There’s this thread by Delilah S. Dawson on Twitter which offers some insight into the process at a traditionally published level. While there are many more people involved at that level so part of the training of being a writer is to be open to criticizing one’s writing in an objective way. Am I repeating words? What about the relationships, do they seem real? What about time? Is it Wednesday in the first part of the chapter and Monday at the end and only an hour has passed? And how do all these things fit with the rest of the work?

Writing is hard work, friends. Writing well is harder and writing well enough for others to want to read you is the goal. Everyone may have a novel in them, but can they get it out? And will someone else want to read it?

All this to say, and I will continue to say it over and over because it will always be true, that the process of writing is different for each of us who pursue the craft. Some take fewer revisions than others but all of us have someone who gives us notes on how we tell our stories so the idea of being in a vacuum is a romantic notion that needs to stay in Hollywood. No one is so talented that they can turn in a draft that doesn’t require revisions.

A Dream is Just a Shadow

Speaking of Hollywood, the Writers Guild of America strike continues and I understand why, though I don’t agree with it. Most everyone with money doesn’t want to ever let go over it, especially when they contract with someone to produce something they will use to make money. When animated films are being remade into live action ones (which I will never understand) from basically the same scripts and the writers aren’t being compensated? Bullshit. When stories are being reduced to the notion of “content” that studios will use AI to enhance for consumption? Also bullshit.

I support the striking writers. They are not asking for much but what they are asking for will transform their lives and allow them to have careers like many, many others across all the other sectors of American society. Without writing, there aren’t many things that can reach us as people. (And before you say music, that’s writing, too. Also, painting is writing, though much, much for subtly.) If you think about it, not much in our world isn’t writing. If you don’t believe me, the warnings and instructions that come with your prescriptions are all written by someone.

At Capacity

And that’s all for this time. Take care of yourself. Eat your veggies, get some exercise, take time away from screens. Enjoy nature. Read a book. Listen to music with your eyes closed. Let the world slip away for a little while so that when you come back, you’ll feel like it makes slightly more sense. Write down your thoughts and look back on what you thought yesterday. That’s how you can track growth.

The Devils Are All Here

The Juggling Act

And so it came to pass that a new draft was created, and it was good. The creator sat back and breathed out his relief at having completed this draft knowing that the next project was already waiting for him the next day. But for the time being, all was right with his world.

Hi, I’m Jason. This is my little corner of the Internet. Welcome.

Organ of Record: The Envoy and other works

For those keeping track, this is – well, I don’t know what number the draft is but it’s the best one of THE ENVOY so far. I think it’s very satisfying and it’ll go out to trusted readers this week. Last time I mentioned that the middle was terribly mushy and I’ve fixed that with more action, more subplots, and better definition of character motivations. It now ticks the boxes it should have in the last draft.

Art by Arie Monroe.

I wrote the Zero Draft of this book very quickly, and in between various obligations, basing it on a previous work of mine and deciding halfway through what the novella really wanted to be. I’ve spent months and several drafts solving the problems that decision caused. It’s a fairly common thing in my own work and I’m figuring out how to solve those problems before I begin the actual writing. (I’m pretty sure this won’t help me with titling which was a struggle on this one.)

Most everyone calls it plotting, so that’s what it is. What I’m doing with my next novella (which is the second in the series starting with Envoy, more on that later) is doing a lot more pre-writing, even coming up with what might be considered a treatment. My intention is to go over the treatment with my Trust and look for plot issues before I start writing. 

Since Envoy was an adaptation and I was writing by the seat of my pants from halfway on, I didn’t have the opportunity to fix plot or character motivations. Live and learn, yeah?

Now I’m moving into revisions on WAR IN VAIN and will likely take a look again at some short stories I started late last year. I also got hit with an intriguing idea for another project that will have to germinate for some time before I’m comfortable actually giving it some close attention. Then there’s a potential project that will have to be readied for the end of the month and then pitched. 

There are times when I wish I was a full-time writer because I’d be a lot further along in developing each of these things. Sigh.

Seal of Approval

Do we ever talk enough about the things we like? I try to, really try. I’ve managed to eliminate the negativity from my social media feeds because honestly there’s enough of that already. So, here, I’m sharing a couple of things I liked. If you didn’t like them, that’s okay. I enjoyed them and that’s what matters to me. As always, your mileage may vary.

STAR TREK: PICARD SEASON 3 was a fun ride with lots of nostalgia. It was great to see everything that happened, everyone that came together, and the threat was legit galaxy-shaking. The shining performance was Amanda Plummer as Vadek, though. She was deliciously evil, supremely confident, and the end of her arc was appropriately spectacular. I will say that as much crap as has been loaded on the previous two seasons, you don’t get this one without those. The reunions were tearful and beautiful and I’m glad I was there for them.

There are so many HBO miniseries that it’s a crapshoot which one is my most favorite but right up there is FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON which contains one of my most favorite hours of television in Episode Ten: Galileo Was Right (right up there with the very weird but strangely beautiful Episode 8 of TWIN PEAKS: THE RETURN).

The crew of Apollo 15 learning how to tell the story of a place through its geology is exactly the kind of thing that trips my trigger hard. When you hear the joy of the astronauts’ voices as they survey Hadley-Appenine, it’s a feel-good moment to top them all. It’s pure science and hearing them being able to speak that language clearly and with such effect – man, it doesn’t get any better than that. 

While the so-called Genesis Rock at the end of the episode proved not to be part of the Moon’s primordial crust, it’s still about 4 billion years old and is a significant find but the Apollo 15 crew. None of that diminishes the power of the episode, which you may be able to find streaming for free somewhere if you’re of a mind to.

Lastly, I’m a bit over halfway through Alice McDermott’s book, WHAT ABOUT THE BABY? which is not your typical writing advice book, or at least it’s speaking to me very clearly on a number of issues. In particular, the chapter on E.M. Forster’s classic A PASSAGE TO INDIA and the lesson on ‘only connect’. If you’re not a writer, it won’t mean much to you unless you’re a close reader of literature. The lesson is something like Chekhov’s exhortation to use a gun in Act III that you introduced in Act I but with Forster’s use of ‘the Malabar Caves’. This book, along with my return to reading Michael Moorcock (The Whispering Swarm came last week!) has my creative juices flowing. You may have seen something about that on my Instagram.

Anyway, these are things that are working for me. (Also the just-completed season of THE MANDALORIAN was a hoot as well as Tom King’s and Phil Hester’s GOTHAM CITY: YEAR ONE but there’s been plenty written about how great that one is and all you’ve read about it true.) I encourage you to yap on about the things that you’re liking to whomever’ll listen. 

At Capacity

I meant to keep this one short but hey, whatever. I’m taking more time for myself and spending more time in reflection and relaxation. I hope this will help me avoid a repeat of the depression from the first part of the year. Spring may help, too, though the allergies that come with it are tedious, and exercise. It helps me to get out and walk more and with some speed. My heart pumps a little harder and my brain works a little more efficiently. Taking the time to take a walk allows me to work out some story problems. Maybe it’ll work for you.

Thanks for reading here, friends. If you like my books, please rate them or review them (however briefly) and I’ll see you when I see you.

Bonus thing I liked:

Wait For Me There

What a month March was. I had COVID for the first time. Traveled for my day job. Had multiple extra curricular obligations. And my favorite event of the spring, Planet Comicon happened. That three weeks was intense and I took a couple of days just to reset afterwards. Later, in a meeting at work, I admitted I hadn’t been at my best for several months and that I hoped having some time off would help me get back to where I needed to be for myself and everyone who depends on me. 

Hi, I’m Jason and I write stories I hope you’ll read and like. Thanks for coming over to read. (Some of this may be familiar ground if you read each of these entries. Not an apology, just a heads up.)

Organ of Record: The Envoy and War In Vain

Once I’d gotten over being sick, I dove back into revisions on THE ENVOY. I had begun a Big Fix pass because the the middle of the story was really – soft. If you’re a writer, you’re familiar with the term Mushy Middle and that was the problem with that draft of Envoy. It wasn’t bad even though it didn’t live up to the promise of the first third, but it wasn’t exciting and moved things forward very slowly. It was mushy in the way quicksand of 1970s TV shows was mushy. And about as dangerously boring. 

Amid the various obligations and unacknowledged depression that was mounting I started the Fix. Then I got sick, then and then and then. My process involves paper and red pens and then going back to type so I’ve been dragging the manuscript back and forth with me to work on it when I have five minutes. Two days ago I finished the red pen fix and am typing up the changes. I’ve read this book over a dozen times now and I love how it’s getting better and better with each draft. It’ll go out to a couple of trusted readers before the end of the week.

And while I’m doing that, because I can’t spend all my day in front of screens, I’m going back to revisions on WAR IN VAIN, the next installment of The Wave stories with Rob Schamberger. The benefit to that one having been sidelined as long as it has is that I’ve learned a lot from what’s happened with Envoy so I’m hoping I can speed this process up with War. 

I recently took a test that claims I’m familiar with 22,400 word families. Using those word families to create stories – choosing the right ones and then placing them strategically so that they are coherent – is harder than it looks. That’s the battle. That’s what makes writing difficult. There are over 140,000 words in the English language in regular use throughout varying industries and realms, so the math of stringing words together is formidable when you think about it. Writing is work, friends.

We’ll Remember Distant Times & Places

At Planet Comicon, I acquired a Batman book I’d been looking for since I was a kid for a great price. Since I didn’t table this year at the show I was able to spend time in the comic boxes looking for the stuff I would like to have in my collection, even though I recently downsized it considerably. Finding that DC Special inspired me to search further for the others in that line with the Flash and Superman. I’m pleased that now I have all three and treasure them as much as if I’d been able to buy them at The Town Crier back in the day.

Batman Spectacular (DC Special #15), Flash Spectacular (DC Special #11), and Superman Spectacular (DC Special #5). Covers by Marshall Rogers (Batman), Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez (Flash), and Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez with Dick Giordano (Superman). Man, I just REALLY love the Dollar Comics format. It made the books special and they stood out on the rack. I also have the Jonah Hex and one of the Swamp Thing books in the DC Special series. JLGL did the Hex cover and Swampy’s cover was Wrightson because who else could have?

And I’ve been a fan of Shawn Levy’s adaptation of THIS IS WHERE I LEAVE YOU since I first encountered it on cable a few year back. In fact, the most recent viewing of it reminded me (again) that Jonathan Tropper’s book was still out there for me to read so I went to my library and borrowed a copy yesterday. (Having just finished Michael Moorcock’s THE ELRIC SAGA PART I, I was between books even though I have Anne McDermott’s WHAT ABOUT THE BABY? essay collection and I need to review SEE YOU AT SAN DIEGO for a potential project that will occupy my summer while I’m revising.)

There’s a scene in this movie with Tina Fey and Timothy Olyphant where her character (Wendy) asks if his character (Horry) hates her for leaving him after the accident that leaves him brain damaged. It’s a beautiful moment that tells almost their entire story in about 2 minutes. 

But it’s not just that one moment, the script is full of shortcuts that reveal a ton about the characters while moving the plot. It’s funny, bittersweet, and just about perfect, I think, as is the cast. I recommend it.

At Capacity

I will never be embarrassed to admit that I struggle sometimes. I tend to overcommit myself at work and in my writing ambitions, and that contributes to the overwhelm which contributes to the feelings of dismay and disappointment that builds and builds on my metaphorical shoulders until it sinks me. I want to accomplish so much and be the person I see in my head. When I can’t get that image to match up with the guy in the mirror looking back at me I despair. 

Look, you’re not alone if you have times you feel like this, too. I find talking it out with my wife, with my colleagues, with my brothers and friends helps me put it in perspective. The bags under my eyes get heavy and pull me down but not nearly as fast as it used to. I hope you have a process that works for you in those situations and if you don’t, I hope you keep looking until you find it. You matter to the ones who love you I’m glad you’re here. 

I’ll see you when I see you.

First Quarter Finish

Oh, boy, it’s been a busy, BUSY first three months of the year. The day job saw me take on several projects, an important hiring committee, and join a task force. There’s been a time-consuming volunteer project for my professional organization and a conference I traveled to Michigan for. And after avoiding it like the plague, COVID-19 finally got me. I was down for a week with what amounted to a really bad flu but I’m glad I’ve had all the shots that mitigated it to that.

Hi, I’m Jason and I write science fiction stories that I hope you’ll like. Welcome.

Pole Shift

The last part of that sequence above is Planet Comicon in Kansas City just happened. This is a now HUGE show for the Midwest and KC in particular. The first night saw it competing with a WWE event basically next door, the end of spring break week for local school systems, a cold St. Patrick’s Day parade, and two years of trying to get ‘back to normal.’

And boy did Planet get back to normal and beyond this weekend. Wow. Record sales for Saturday following a Friday the like I’ve not seen since before the pandemic. Not only that, the cosplay was so varied and wide that it was hard to spot a trend except that there were far fewer Harley Quinns and Deadpools than in recent years.

Universe BJerry and Cullen of The Worst Comic Podcast Ever at the Hero Initiative booth with me at Planet Comicon in Kansas City 2023.

I did not table this year at Planet because I didn’t have any new books to hawk and as noted above I had been busier than normal heading into it. So it was fun to just buy a weekend pass and be a tourist. I saw a number of the cohort I run with at this show and missed some others. A couple of conversations inspired me to rethink something I’d considered a number of times in the last year. It’s cool to give things a project or code name, so I’m going to call this thing The Dodge Activity which has almost nothing to do with what it is.

As is usual at the beginning of any undertaking, I’m super-excited. This is different than most things, though, and feels an awful lot like when I knew THE ENVOY was really working. I’m sure this is going to carry through because I’ve already got a lot of information about how it could go wrong. It’s likely I’ll make mistakes along the way but I am confident in a way that tells me this is the right move. I’m going to do this and when I tell you what The Dodge Activity is, I think you’ll agree it’s the right thing for me.

Big Buzz

The update on the above-mentioned story, The Envoy, is that the re-write is at about 75%. I’ve got a bit more clean-up to do before it goes back out to beta readers. I am positive it will be out before summer but having this kind of control is important. Deadlines are self-imposed, but I treat them with respect though I don’t share them with anyone but my wife, and that will apply to all my creative things. I don’t want to promise you all anything I can’t deliver.

Lessons were learned about outlining and not falling too much in love with what you write. Also, the promise you make in the first third has to be followed through in the middle or it’s going to fall apart at the end.

At Capacity

I’m about 65% extrovert and the rest is undeniably introverted and can be overwhelmed. I’m creatively recharged but socially exhausted. I’ve taken a couple of days for myself to reconnect back at home after the marathon of the first quarter of this year. I’m looking forward to dropping back into a regular routine that gives me time to do things around the house, spend time with my wife, and focus on my writing and the things I need to do around that.

Never be afraid to step back and take care of yourself. Drive hard to accomplish the stuff you want because you want it that much, but then take time to breathe. Do something you need to recharge or just rest up so those batteries refill. It’s important. Whatever success I have is because I didn’t give up or just haven’t yet and I don’t intend to. Stubborn, that’s me. If that’s you, too, I understand. We’re in this together.