David S. Atkinson's Blog, page 146

I Kept My Mouth Shut For Once

My wife kept talking about this scene from European Vacation because of our upcoming trip to London:

Then, we got stuck in traffic on the way to see Cabaret downtown. We were going to drive by the ballpark, but heard there was a Rockies game in progress and decided that would be bad. We drove by Elitch and the Pepsi Center instead, which turned out to be worse.  Events were going on at both and we got stuck in a lane for around a half hour because people in front of us kept turning and the light only let one or two through at a time (two blocks ahead). My wife kept trying to get into the moving lane next to us, but the traffic made that impossible. She was getting really mad, nearly running late as we were. It was only through the best sense of self preservation given the situation and the references she kept making to the above that I didn’t shout: “Look kids, it’s Big Ben” while it was all going on.

She would have killed me.

No, that’s not true. The truth is I only thought of it afterward.

Now I’m Just Wasting Your Time

Now I’m just wasting your time.

What am I even thinking here?

An evening of poetry & drinks at Fort.Greene: Ft. Green Presents Cheeseburger Nebula Galactic Press.

An evening of poetry & drinks at Fort.Greene: Ft. Green Presents Cheeseburger Nebula Galactic Press!

Saturday November 5. Doors open at 8PM. Readings by Dustin Holland, Hillary Leftwich, William Seward Bonnie, Lorenzo James, David S. Atkinson, and more. Fort Greene Bar, 321 E 45th Ave, Denver, Colorado 80216.

Once Bitten at the Fbomb (Tuesday October 18 at 7 PM Mercury Cafe Denver) Next Prize Reveal!

Once Bitten at the Fbomb: prize 2 of 3 for the best non-vampire costume at the event on 10/18! The reveal? A bundle of signed books!

Puppet Skin by Danger Slater, Exponential Apocalypse by Eirik Gumeny, Towers by Karl Fischer, and Not Quite so Stories by David S. Atkinson (me). All signed! Well, these ones aren’t signed yet. They will be by 10/18 though. I promise.

(Once Bitten at the Fbomb. Features: Danger Slater, Eirik Gumeny, and Karl Fischer, and there will be open mic, Tuesday October 18 at 7 PM Mercury Cafe Denver. Go here to go sign up on the Facebook page for the event.)

A Musical Interlude

And now, a little musical interlude:

No, I’m not going to bother explaining why I’m playing this today.

Let’s Have Another “Not Quite so Stories” Goodreads Giveaway!

I’ve got a bunch of print copies of my short story collection Not Quite so Stories, but I need to start thinking about promoting my fourth book Apocalypse all the Time coming out in January. As such, let’s giveaway some signed copies!

Goodreads Book Giveaway


Not Quite so Stories
by David S. Atkinson

Giveaway ends October 17, 2016.

See the giveaway details

at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

 

The Emotional Impact Of Not Fully Knowing The Story

My wife took me to see Cabaret recently. I only had a vague idea what it was about. It’s about a cabaret, right? Liza Minnelli starred in a version of it, right? There is a certain fragile comfort in thinking you have some idea what a story is about. It can make the ending a bit more emotionally moving than you expected.

For example, I wasn’t sure going in whether this was set in Paris or Berlin. I thought perhaps Paris. I thought it was amidst WWII, not post WWI as the Nazis were just getting started. I didn’t realize how it was all about leading up to the incredible horrors that were coming. I realized these things slowly as I watched, but only so much. When we got close to the ending and the backdrop pulled back, my stomach literally dropped as I felt the thrum and was blinded by the glare of the furnace (for this version). When the Master of Ceremonies took off his leather overcoat to reveal a concentration camp uniform (again, for this version), my jaw was on the floor.

“I should have warned you it didn’t have a happy ending,” my wife remarked afterward. Well, with something set in the time period where the Nazis were coming to power…how could it? I didn’t expect anything happy, and had plenty of time to correct any misapprehensions on that aspect, but I was still nowhere near prepared.

I think it’s better than I wasn’t prepared. I think it was best to have that kind of emotional impact. It seems like that’s the best way.

Odd Feelings About Carnegie Deli

I’m feeling a little odd, having heard that Carnegie Deli is closing at the end of the year. It’s sad, but I keep reminding myself I’ve never been there.

I wanted to go. I’ve been to the Vegas location. When my wife and I went to New York, I tried. However, my wife was unwilling to wait in the line that stretch down the block for the place. We went to a different deli across the street instead, which was also pretty good. Then we tried again on a later New York trip, but my wife was unwilling again to wait in the still tremendously long line.

Now it looks like I won’t get back to New York before it closes.

Is it weird to be sad about the closing of a place I’ve never been? I’ve been outside. I’ve heard mentions of it throughout my life I’m sure. It’s an icon, part of my mental map of New York despite a huge amount of personal in person connection.

Still, it feels kind of weird to be sad about it since I’ve never gotten to eat there.

Reading Aloud Can Make You Hate Anything

I’m a believer in reading drafts aloud. For some reason, I catch mistakes and awkward language in ways silent reading simply doesn’t catch, as well as there being other revision benefits. I think the brain processes differently when it reads aloud than when it reads silently. Whatever, but I value the practice during revision. I recommend it when possible. However, one thing is abundantly clear.

You can come to hate anything if you read enough of it aloud.

This comes up as I’m in the midst of a particularly intensive editing session of a novel I originally started writing 14 years ago. I’m really trying to get it finished-finished and perfect (as much as possible) before sending it to a publisher who has expressed interest. I promised them I’d be done by January, which means I want to go over it again and again a ton in the next couple months to be done on time. After all, the initial draft was finished over 12 years ago and I’m such a different writer now than then. Some might even recommend junking something so old rather than continuing to work at it, but I am very fond of this one…it being the first full book I completed, not to mention all the other reasons. So, over the last couple weeks I went through the whole thing line by line with a fine-toothed comb.  Now I’m reading each chapter aloud, line by line. One chapter a day.

Now, this isn’t easy. It’s a short novel, but there are only 8 chapters. For me, these are some helluva long chapters. I am very fond of this book, but reading that much of it aloud I am coming to hate it.

I think trying to read that much of anything aloud would do the same.

Still, it’s got to be done. It’s the only way I’ll be satisfied with this thing enough to send. 14 years means I’ve gotten locked into a possibly endless cycle of revision and re-revision. I need to put this thing to bed…one way or another.

Mr Sacca Revisited: A Corpse For All Seasons

Years ago, I wrote on here about Mr. Sacca. You should really look back at that post for context, but I happened to find a picture of an old collage I made about it (probably over 16 years ago by now):

Mr. Sacca is truly a corpse for all seasons.