Steven E. Wedel's Blog, page 41

End of the year; return of the wolf

Here we are on the butt end of 2010. What a strange year it's been! After 25 years of writing I finally got a big ol' check for a book, and yet didn't have a book published for the first time in several years.

Also for the first time, I've questioned my decision to become a teacher. The year began with constant threats of termination from the principal. Not directed just at me, but at the entire staff. That finally stopped about the time the burnout settled in. Usually the staff doesn't feel beaten down and worn out until the fourth quarter. This year, with no raise, a stolen planning period, an extra teaching hour, double the morning duty, and no paid time for helping students after school, most of us were burned out by the end of the first block. It hasn't gotten any better, and it looks like another morning duty will be added after the Christmas break because our ghetto kids won't stop tagging the bathrooms. Yes, we might find ourselves stationed in the bathrooms for 20 minutes enjoying the sights, sounds, and aromos of high school students relieving themselves. Things like this, along with the constant flood of papers and essays to grade, assignments to prepare, all on my own time, makes me wish I was digging ditches and could just drop the shovel and go home and forget my job at the end of the day. Sometimes. Then some brat does something to remind me why I wanted to teach in the first place.

I used some of my money from the sale of After Obesession (formerly titled Ghost Sickness) to buy a new laptop computer. I bought a Gateway NV59C. I've had issues with it from the beginning. The touchpad is completely out of control. I've made every adjustment to it that I can, but still the computer randomly highlights and deletes text while I type, scrolls to the bottom of the screen, etc. When I'm sitting down to just write, I can turn the touchpad off and all is well. But any other time, including while I work on this blog entry, I'm constantly fixing mistakes caused by the jumping cursor ... which makes me a curser.

I put aside The Fetch manuscript about a month ago. The tediousness of changing it to first person present tense was getting to me. I have so little time to write because of the school work, that when I do have time I needed the emotional lift of actually creating versus rewriting and cutting. So I finished fixing up the manuscript of The Girls Nobody Wanted to Date and sent it to my agent, then turned my attention back to my Werewolf Saga. I added about 2,500 words to Nadia's Curse this weekend. The ordeal with Scrybe Press still isn't settled. New, renegotiated contracts were supposed to be done before the end of the year, and they have not been delivered. That's another reason the new werewolf book was abandoned for so long. But, I couldn't stay away any longer. I need to finish this one. Will it be the end of the Saga? Maybe.

Back from the dead?

It kind of feels like I'm back from the dead. A long time passed without any writing on my end. Not just here, but any at all. All things considered, that's pretty ironic. Over 25 years of trying to "make it" as a writer, and the month I finally get my first really significant paycheck for fiction, I write next to nothing. It figures. But, last weekend I put aside Scratch (formerly known as The Fetch) because the conversion process from third person, past tense with multiple pov's to first person present tense with only two pov's was just too tedious. I picked up The Girls Nobody Wanted to Date again, wrote a couple of patch chapters and did the clean up on about half the manuscript last weekend. I'm hoping to finish it this weekend, but I have a stack of essays to grade. Definitely before Christmas, though.

So, yes, I did get a big paycheck last month from the sale to Bloomsbury of the YA novel written with Carrie Jones. That was sweet! Most of the money went to pay bills, though. I did buy myself a new laptop. It's a Gateway. I often want to throw it out the window or stomp on it. The touchpad is incredibly sensitive. The computer is almost unusable in the same room as my wireless router. The cursor keeps jumping to wherever the mouse is, which usually causes me to highlight and delete text. Then I have to stop and fix that. I've adjusted the sensitivity, but it still does it.

Bloomsbury has changed the name of our novel. I didn't ask if I could announce the new name, so I won't. I'm not thrilled with the new name, but my female students love it and the rough cover Michelle sent, and teenage girls are the target audience. So, it's good.

I have no news about anything werewolf related. Nadia's Children remains just how it was months and months ago. But I'm really missing my werewolves and wanting to get back to them. Plus, there's no therapy in editing Scratch. The therapeutic part of writing (for me) is creating that first draft.

And I'm needing the therapy. Since we had that planning period stolen from us and another class added, plus teaching both the junior and senior AP classes, I'm just burned out. I always have a stack of papers to edit and grade and lesson plans to do, tests to write, books to read or reread, etc. There hasn't much time for anything not school related. But I'm making myself take time to write, at least on weekends. Otherwise I get kinda cranky. Just ask my wife and kids. haha

Unholy Womb and Other Halloween Tales

Fine Tooth Press, publisher of my short story collection Darkscapes, has long been incommunicato. I have no idea what's going on there. So, I have considered my contract with the company terminated. To mark that, and to celebrate Halloween, I have pulled my three Halloween-themed stories from the book, added in one that was anthologized last year, plus one brand new, never-before-published story, and created a new little collection called Unholy Womb and Other Halloween Tales that is now available as a Kindle download at Amazon. Here's the link.

I'm still not a big fan of self publishing, but I don't have much work available electronically. At least, not legally. "Unholy Womb", the story, typically gets pretty hot this time of year and I often have to do my own search and demand that people remove it from their sites because I once allowed it to be published online. Anyway, if you buy the Kindle version, you are now reading the only version that supports the author ... if that means anything to you. Oh, and you don't have to have a Kindle to buy Kindle downloads; I have a Kindle app on my computer. It's a free download from Amazon and gives you access to a nearly endless supply of public domain works at no charge.

I hope you have a wonderfully spooky Halloween season.

Obama Hails Passage of Latest Health Law

Key members of President Barak Obama’s cabinet gathered in the Oval Office earlier today to sign into law legislation designed to make combat America's obesity problem and ease the burdensome expense of the health care legislation that was passed in his first term.

“This law may not be popular now,” Obama said, “But in the long run Americans will see that what we do today is in the best interest of everyone.”

The law regulates the kinds of food people purchase. Between one-third to two-thirds of every food purchase must be made up of fruits and vegetables, according to the new law. The more “junk food”, alcohol, or tobacco purchased, the higher the percentage of required fruits and vegetables.

“We could not have made this paradigm change even 10 years ago,” Obama said. “Fortunately, thanks to the 2009 stimulus plan that put control of most banks in the hands of the government, we are able to make America healthier.”

The current cashless society allows the government to monitor food purchases made with bank debit cards. Monitoring of purchases falls to the Social Health Care Bureau created in 2013. Grocers will be tasked with reminding consumers of the new requirements. Consumers who refuse to abide by the new law will be subjected to fines and can be placed in “fat camps” for health education.

Opponents of the new law, many of whom still question the legality of Obama serving a third term as president, say the new law will not stand up to Constitutional scrutiny. Legal analyst Christopher Osgood says the bill will stand because, like the earlier health laws, it is for the common good.

“There was a time in this nation when people were citizens,” said one opponent of the bill who refused to give his name but identified himself as a former Republican who is now in hiding since Obama turned the RICO laws against the defunct opposition party. “Now people are surfs, scrambling to feed an out of control deficit that keeps getting bigger as Obama steals our freedoms.”

Obama said this new law not only ensures that Americans will eat healthier, but creates 10,000 new jobs as agents are added to monitor purchases. “It also supports the economies of our allies abroad as they grow and harvest the fruits and vegetables that will be eaten in America.”

Liz Morton, an elementary teacher in Virginia Beach, Va., welcomes the new law. “I have tried for years to lose weight, but lacked motivation to stick to a diet,” she said. “Now the president will help me eat right and stay on track.”

The new law will be fully implemented by December 2021.

Pet Sematary movie

The wifey and I watched the film adaptation of Stephen King's Pet Sematary again last night. I hadn't seen it in a while, but I remember having particular feelings about it. Watching it again only reaffirmed what I recalled from my first couple of viewings. In other words, Eh.

I didn't like the novel the first time I read it. I was young and didn't have kids. But, because of all the hype surrounding it and some things Doug Winter said about it in one of his books about King, I reread it at some point. At some point after having kids, mind you. Wow. Totally different experience. Once you have a kid of your own you really see the horror of what Louis Creed experiences and can understand the horrible decision he makes. But this isn't about the book.

The movie is based on a screenplay by King himself. That's usually a good thing. And it sort of is here because he does cover all the major plot points of his novel. The film comes in at 103 minutes, a little longer than the standard 90 minutes that was the norm in 1989, and yet it feels very rushed. We are dragged from event to event without every really getting to fully digest what is happening. One of the most disappointing aspects was Jud Crandall (played perfectly by Fred Gywnne). In the book he is a very deep, complex man. With a wife. In the film, he has no wife and he's reduced to a shadow of who he is in the book.

And, sadly, Gywnne was just about the only person in the movie who was any good at acting. Dale Midkiff (as Louis) and Denise Crosby (as wife Rachel) seemed detached the whole time. Rachel's character, too, was incredibly complex in the novel, coming with more baggage than a 747 could haul, but all of that is pretty much reduced to a few scenes with a deformed sister in the film. Blaze Berdahl was wooden as daughter Ellie; her crying scenes are just horrible. Miko Hughes as two-year-old Gage was brilliant, though.

The dead Victor Pascow character (played by Brad Greenquist) was an eye-roller as he tried to add dark humor to the plot. He basically played the same role Jack Goodman in An American Werewolf in London. Pascow would show up to offer advice to Louis, the only one who could see him. He also helped influence the thinking of other characters by telling them things like what rental car was available. I kept expecting him to say, "These aren't the droids you're looking for."

This is a film that, like almost all the ones that turned a buck in the '80s, is being remade. Mathew Greenburn, who did King's 1402 (which I thought was just a mess), is doing this remake for a 2012 release. I'd say I hope for an improvement, but how often has a remake been better than the original? Yeah. At least we still have the novel.

Revision time. Again? Yup, again!

I almost can't believe it's been nearly a month and a half since I posted anything here. But, not a lot has happened. Despite my best efforts, school work comes home with me and eats up almost all my time. Having four sections of AP English means lots of writing assignments to grade. I haven't written anything at all in two weeks. Rewriting The Fetch drags on and on and Nadia's Children is stalled just before Shara and Chris reunite, both with new partners.
That's about to change, though. You see, I got home from school yesterday to find this on my front porch: Inside the envelope that looks all wrinkled and yellowed like an old man's face was this bundle from Bloomsbury. That top page was the first page of a 3-page letter from editor Michelle Nagler detailing change suggestions on Ghost Sickness. (Note how I've marked out the addresses? Carrie doesn't want any stalkers. I might be okay with it, but the wife says no.)
Within that bundle were pages that look like this. (I know you can't see it very well ... and you're not really supposed to.) See the writing in the margins? That's what editors do. This is a first for me. The small press publishers I've worked with don't do this, which means they must think I'm a genius, right? Hmm. It means something, I'm sure.

So, lots of work ahead. I see participation grades coming for my students. Actually, the timing isn't bad, considering what I have planned for them at least this week. English IV is taking the final test of Beowulf, finishing the movie, then starting Macbeth (thank you, Shakespeare Appreciated for your brilliant audiobook!). My AP Literature class is reading The Old Man and the Sea while looking for Christ imagery; they're also working on group projects and a major essay. AP Language ... well, they'll be picking apart an essay.

I did start a blog the other day, then killed it. It was kind of a tirade. I'm going to mention it in passing here because it still bothers me. A guy I considered a good friend recently "unfriended" me on Facebook after I made a political statement he disagreed with. This wasn't just some random person I only know online. This is somebody I've shared a hotel room with and let my students interview over the phone. I've promoted his work and he's promoted mine. I have one of his posters on the wall in my classroom. I was shocked and hurt by the unfriending. If I unfriended everyone who disagrees with me the Web would be a pretty lonely place. Anyway, the point here is that if you, too, feel you can't be friends with someone who believes the federal government should have VERY limited involvement in our lives, you may want to leave now and never look back.

Remembering university days

Kim went up in the attic for something else tonight and found a box I've been looking for on and off for several years. Inside are three photo albums. One of them is full of baby pictures of our oldest son. It's hard to believe how much he's changed! Another is the album I kept as a teenager, which means it's mostly filled with old pictures of Kim. She had at least three different bikinis back in the day. The last one has pictures and memorabilia from my days at the ... I don't even like to w...

Dog Day

Apparently it's dog day (for another hour). Here's my Bubba. You may note that Bubba is sitting on my bed, alertly looking into the hallway as if there might be an intruder. But no, more likely he's listening to activity off in the kitchen and wondering if it would be worth giving up his spot on the bed to see if he could get in on some dropped food. If Kim was home, his time on the bed was short lived. Bubba would like to thank carriejones  for pointing out that today is Dog Day, otherwise...

Back in the academic groove

School started last week. In some ways it doesn't really feel like it yet. I mean, there are those two days that are kind of like practice. This week, kids will be fixing their schedules, transferring from one class to another, and teachers will be waiting and hoping things settle down quickly. Not waiting too much. We have to get started. If a new kid shows up in class, he'll just have to work a little harder to catch up.

I'm feeling pretty lucky this year. I have two sections of my AP Litera...

Summer, where are you going?

Well, it was time to report back to work last week. Not just the as-needed excursions I'd been making off and on all summer, but back to school for real. Students return this coming Thursday. I have a pretty sweet schedule this year, with two sections of AP Language, two sections of AP Literature, and two sections of English IV. One of the English IV classes has 30 kids in it, but in the other classes there are no more than 15 per class. I'm a little nervous about the AP Language class since ...