Sidney Blaylock Jr.'s Blog, page 67

Ugh! Wi-Fi, Writing & the Limits of Technology

So, last week I shared with you that Apple released an iOS update that I thought would fix my Wi-Fi connectivity issues.

Well it worked for most of the week until last night. Last night as I was working on section number two of Project  Roland, my wi-fi decided to disappear and it has not reappeared as of my writing this blog post right now.

Luckily, I had mostly finished the part of the section that I was working on, but last night I was really in the groove.  I feel that I might have finished the entire section although it would’ve cost me several hours of sleep.

This blog post is being written on my iPhone you seeing my cell network and voice dictation.  It is not my preferred way to work, but at least technology allows you to have other options should your primary option on the street not work the way you need it to.

I do hope that Apple gets its iOS and network problems sorted soon.  Even though I am using a workaround, it is very different and difficult to create a blog post where as normally it is much easier and doesn’t require nearly as much effort.  I cannot imagine trying to work on project Roland portly using this method, let alone trying to write a long form work this way.  

For those who are wondering, I’ve been to several Apple support the red’s in the past. I am going to paste in a post from one of these threads that illustrates what I am currently facing: I had no trouble with wifi connections until I installed 8.3  Now I keep losing the wifi connection on my ipad2 . . .  I have tried the reset network connections, it really didn’t help, the wifi connection is intermittent.  Works for a while then drops out, nothing I can do to get it back but wait and wait and wait, then like magic, it comes back, but who knows for how long.  Please, Apple, fix this!!!  This is from a user named JaneSCA56 and Her post describes exactly what I am going through.  For those who want to follow this thread to find out when or if my issues will be fixed I have hopefully linked the thread to that message so all you need to do is click on the message to follow the thread  (as I will be doing).

To tie this back to technology, I think we need more stories about how technology doesn’t work or works only intermittently and heroes and protagonists must find ways to either work around the problem or or where they must find new and different ways to solve a problem even when technology doesn’t work as intended. I think that as I go forward I will try to add in more stories with these  themes.

Ugh! ��Wi-Fi, Writing & the Limits of Technology��

So, last week I shared with you that Apple released an iOS update that I thought would fix my Wi-Fi connectivity issues.

Well it worked for most of the week until last night. Last night as I was working on section number two of Project  Roland, my wi-fi decided to disappear and it has not reappeared as of my writing this blog post right now.

Luckily, I had mostly finished the part of the section that I was working on, but last night I was really in the groove.  I feel that I might have finished the entire section although it would’ve cost me several hours of sleep.

This blog post is being written on my iPhone you seeing my cell network and voice dictation.  It is not my preferred way to work, but at least technology allows you to have other options should your primary option on the street not work the way you need it to.

I do hope that Apple gets its iOS and network problems sorted soon.  Even though I am using a workaround, it is very different and difficult to create a blog post where as normally it is much easier and doesn’t require nearly as much effort.  I cannot imagine trying to work on project Roland portly using this method, let alone trying to write a long form work this way.  

For those who are wondering, I’ve been to several Apple support the red’s in the past. I am going to paste in a post from one of these threads that illustrates what I am currently facing: I had no trouble with wifi connections until I installed 8.3  Now I keep losing the wifi connection on my ipad2 . . .  I have tried the reset network connections, it really didn’t help, the wifi connection is intermittent.  Works for a while then drops out, nothing I can do to get it back but wait and wait and wait, then like magic, it comes back, but who knows for how long.  Please, Apple, fix this!!!  This is from a user named JaneSCA56 and Her post describes exactly what I am going through.  For those who want to follow this thread to find out when or if my issues will be fixed I have hopefully linked the thread to that message so all you need to do is click on the message to follow the thread  (as I will be doing).

To tie this back to technology, I think we need more stories about how technology doesn’t work or works only intermittently and heroes and protagonists must find ways to either work around the problem or or where they must find new and different ways to solve a problem even when technology doesn’t work as intended. I think that as I go forward I will try to add in more stories with these  themes.

Lots of Things

Today is a “Lots of Things” day.  I had 1 topic that I wanted to share, but it has suddenly ballooned to 4 things based on events from last night and this morning.  I’ll try to be brief with them, however.  Here goes: 

 1) PROJECT DARK TOWER – started a new story for an anthology that is accepting submissions.  It is a story about the Dark Tower (from Robert Browning’s Poem–Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came).  This story has been in my head for years.  It was supposed to be my “breakout” novel (as Robert Browning’s poem is already arranged in 34 stanzas/cantos already).  I’m still learning how to write a novel, however, and this story is demanding to be written now.  It is coming together in my mind and there is a tangible market asking for stories about the Dark Tower.  I have my main character, Roland, who is a fully realized protagonist in my mind, so I figure its time.  Maybe I will expand it into a novel later, but right now I think I’ll strike while the iron is hot. 

 2) WIFI ISSUES – Readers of the blog know that I’ve been struggling with my wifi since Christmas 2014 when I integrated a new router to my network.  Apple JUST released an update to iOS that fixes the multitude of issues that my phone and ipad have had since Christmas.  So far, so good.  Now, my computer is temporarily out of commision, and I think that my Keychain access that holds my wifi passwords was also at fault for the lack/loss of connectivity.  Not sure if my Mac OS has had an update yet, so some issues may still persist, but hopefully, my wifi network is on the mend.

 3) HACKED! – So about 2 weeks ago, thanks to Gmail’s security team, I was able to intercept and stop an attempt to hijack my email account.  However, this morning, I woke up to 2 emails from Microsoft that said that my gmail account had been linked to a outlook.com account and that outlook account had changed to sblaylock2012@outlook.com.  This is NOT my account–so if you get messages from this account be sure to delete them (I think they’re trying to gain access to my Amazon.com account as I intercepted and stopped an attempted breach there about 1 year ago).  I spent about an hour on the phone with the Microsoft Accounts Live department and they said that my gmail account did not appear toenou be linked to this account.  I remain skeptical of this (based on the attempt hijack 2 weeks ago), so I’m going to create a new email account (actually 2 email accounts–1 personal & 1 professional) and then abandon my current gmail address.  Unfortunately for the scammers/hackers out there: I’m not emotionally tied to email addresses.  I abandoned my AOL email address after 6 years and I will abandon an address when I feel it is no longer useful.  It’s not really all that difficult to change your credentials at various sites–just do the most important ones in a day or two, then do the others as you log into to them/use them. 

 4) LEARNING HOW TO WRITE A NOVEL – That’s my big focus for this year.  I’ve heard that novel writing is “simply the accumulation of pages day after day.”  I don’t think I have thought about my story, setting, characters well enough when I try to write a novel and I think that’s why it falls apart.  I just don’t know enough about the world, the people, the plot, etc.  When I write short stories, I don’t need to know EVERYTHING, but when writing novels, you do need to know how it all works and relates to each other.  I bought 2 notebooks and I’m going to use 2015 to fill them up with everything that I have (notes, characters, story, setting, etc.)  At the end of 2015, I’m going to pick a notebook and start drafting the novel.  This year is all about “preplanning” the stories that I want to tell (aka “training” for a marathon to use a sports metaphor.)

Well, that’s it for this week–hopefully I’ll be back next week with my computer and not my iPad (& hopefully with a stable wifi connection).  Later.

Trials and Tribulations

This will be a super short blog entry: just wanted to check into to say that the past 3 weeks have been extremely trying for me both personally and professionally. ��I won’t go into the specifics (or the “horrifics”–if you’ll allow me the horrible pun), but it hasn’t been a fun few weeks. ��I even managed to miss the deadline for the Far Orbit Anthology that I posted here a couple of months ago. ��(Boo!)

That being said, I wanted to quickly note that I’ve both finished and submitted HawkeMoon to a short-story market. ��I sent it off via email attachment literally minutes ago. ��(Yay!)

Hopefully, I can get things turned around and get back to a more regular schedule–but I make no promises. ��Gotta’ run. ��More later (hopefully!)

Where You End is Not Where You Begin – Time Travel in Movies

I just finished watching The Edge of Tomorrow – Live.Die.Repeat last night and I found it to be very good (It would earn a B+) for its Sci-Fi Action elements. ��It’s not my favorite Tom Cruise Sci-Fi (that would currently have to go to Minority Report), but it is fun nonetheless.

Now, no spoilers, but this movie is part of the “repeating day” genre popularized by Groundhog Day (starring Bill Murray). ��There have been several of these repeating day/repeating time/”timeslide” movies in the Fantasy and Sci-Fi genre. ��While they’ve mostly been enjoyable, they always seem to mess up the resolution��of the story.

Again, without spoiling anything, at the end you’ll find that the main character goes through the classic character arc, but (ultimately) the female lead’s arc is cut short by the time travel that takes place. ��For me, this was a bit unsatisfying (and why I wouldn’t give the movie an “A”).

Deja Vu (starring Denzel Washington) had the same problem, but in its case, it was the female lead who went through the arc and it was the main character whose arc was cut short.

In both cases, neither of the two characters were the fully realized characters at the end of the movie as they were portrayed throughout their struggle in the movie. ��And each seems slightly unsatisfying at the end of the movie (even though Deja Vu has one of the most innovative car chase sequences that I’ve ever seen.)

And these are two of the best movies–there are others that are not nearly as effective, such as:

Prince of Persia, Next, and Source Code failed to find amazing theatrical success, I would argue, because of the problem of the nature of the “timeslide” and that audiences found the movies’ ending unsatisfying in the extreme. ��I know I did–they��almost had that “it was all a dream/dream sequence” element to them.

I’ve learned 2 things about writing my own Time Travel stories from watching these movies:

1) Main character and secondary characters MUST change from their experiences DURING the “Timeslide.”

2) Somehow, they need to RETAIN what they’ve learned and MUST��understand how the “Timeslide” affected them in order for the ending to be completely satisfying.

Currently (Re) Reading: The Malloreon by David Eddings

I’m currently re-reading the Malloreon by David Eddings. ��I prefer the Belgariad by him, but I read that last semester. ��I really enjoy this series–I think it is because of the banter between the characters.

My family had banter (although not to this degree) when I was growing up–and devices like puns, quoting from movies, ��etc., was highly prized and rewarded. ��Being able to be mentally adroit and using advanced wordplay to cause laughter and humor was something that our family did really well. ��This is the closest book in the fantasy genre that seems to truly encapsulate the “Star Wars” (original trilogy) for me as a reader. ��It seems as though I’m chuckling at a clever turn of a phrase or the many uses of sarcasm and irony (including dramatic irony) on every other page.

I reread all of my favorite novels (even more so since rise of the “Grim Dark” writers of fantasy like George RR Martin–don’t get me wrong–not hating on the author, just the whole nasty people doing nasty things to one another doesn’t appeal to me NO MATTER the genre). ��This series is one that I have pulled out and reread yearly for the past 5 years straight. �� I sometimes reread the TAMULI series (also by Eddings), but mostly its the BELGARIAD and MALLOREON. ��I wish more authors would write in this mode, but I guess it is passe’ now.

I can’t WAIT for the whole “Grim Dark” trend to go away so that more books like this can��be published.

Sigh. ��I really could use some more banter (read: laughter) in my life right now.

Author’s Note: HAWKEMOON

Well, it’s been a long, hard, road (much longer than it should have been–more on that a little later), but I finally FINISHED my short-story entitled, HAWKEMOON! ��It needs a little more revision before I’m ready to send it out to markets, but the hard work of creation is done–now it is all about refinement and evolution. ��In college, I took a Creative Non-Fiction course where we wrote an “Author’s Note” about the creative influences, hopes, and goals for our work after we finished a draft (sort of like a “Postmortem” from video games, TV, and Movies). ��In the same spirit, that’s what this blog entry is about. ��So without further ado:

AUTHOR’S NOTE–HAWKEMOON

HawkeMoon started out as a concept that I had in response to a Call for Submissions for two anthologies that Rhonda Parrish (the Editor of Fae who bought my story, “Faerie Knight”) was doing last year. ��The anthologies,��Corvidae��and��Scarecrow were to have stories��of Corvids (birds like crows, ravens, etc.) and Scarecrows in them.

The story came together from a note that I’d made to myself about a “Hawk King and Raven Queen.” ��I was going to use this idea to submit to her anthologies. ��Originally, the story was to be two linked stories–one dealing with the two main characters, the Hawk King and the Raven Queen. ��In the second story, those two characters��were going to have to deal with an on-coming evil, a darkness consisting of a King of the Scarecrows.

Then, school started. ��To say this year has been more challenging than last would be an understatement. ��I was not able to get any traction on the story at all. ��I tried one aborted attempt at it fairly close to the submission deadline, but the tone and the characters were all wrong. ��In the draft that didn’t work, I’d made them brother and sister, but those two had a banter and playfulness that didn’t match the grimmer story that I had in my head (FULL DISCLOSURE: I actually liked those two and may reuse them in another story at a later date, but they just didn’t work for this one). ��In my head, these two didn’t know each other and had to discover more about the other.

So the project went on ice and seemed destined not to get written in the way I wanted. ��That was until the 1st expansion for Destiny came out–The Dark Below. ��In it, their main character was an agent who had infiltrated the Hive named Eris Morn. ��She had three items in her inventory that players could work for called: Predawne, Middaye, and Sunsetting.

BOOM! ��Somehow, my mind clicked and the story came together. ��It would take place in one day. ��Predawne would be the beginning and focus on the Hawke, Middaye would focus on Moon, and in Sunsetting, they would have to find a way to stop an evil or die a horrible death. ��I even added an epilogue of sorts called Morn to finish out the “day.”

So, I’ve been writing it since about the last of December/first of January. ��I was on track for my normal 3-4 months writing cycle when I heard an episode of about making a living as a writer on the Wisconsin Public Radio show “To the Best of Our Knowledge.” I’ll have a LOT more to say about that episode in another blog post, but in it, it talked about ways of making it a full time writer. ��I realized that I’m taking too long for short-stories based on their rate of return. ��So I challenged myself a goal of a short-story a month (writing on weekends). ��I normally write about 4-5 scenes in the story and if I can write a scene or two a weekend, I can do it. ��So I challenged myself to finish HawkeMoon by the end of Feb. ��and I finished it Feb. 28.

The title is an amalgamation of the two characters names Hawke and Moon joined together. ��It is also a play on a powerful hand cannon��found in the game Destiny (Hawkmoon) that I’ve yet to acquire (gun drops in that game are mostly random and while I’ve been lucky with other rare items, I’ve not manage to acquire this one, so the title is also a bit ironic as well.) ��:)

I’ve already picked out a market that I want to send HawkeMoon to first. ��As the deadline for Far Orbit is at the end of this month (3/31), chances are good that I’m going to let HawkeMoon lie fallow for the month and pick it up for revision with (hopefully) fresh eyes in April. ��With any luck, I’ll send it out to its 1st market by Tax Day (April 15), but you never know.

So that is a little peek behind the creation of my story HawkeMoon.

ROUTER UPDATE–Router stable, wifi unstable (up Friday & most of Sat., down today–Sunday)

STORY UPDATE–HawkeMoon FINISHED! (yay!). ��Upcoming–Rocket-Man revision for submission to Far Orbit Anthology Call for Submissions.

Oscar Night

Super short post today. Didn’t write a post because I wanted to spend most of the day WRITING. ��I managed to get most of HawkeMoon done. ��Just missing the climatic scene & epilogue. ��Want to finish HM in Feb. & start a new story for March.

Oscars inspired me to start a screenplay. ��Prob. won’t be great but at least I’m TRYING to “Dream Big!” ����

Snow Day

Rare snow day here in the The South (USA), so I took the time to read, something I rarely get to do these days.

So I finished a comic book on my backlog-Star Wars 01 (2015) Marvel Comics. The story features the original characters (Luke, Leah, Han & the rest) and is set between Star Wars: A New Hope & The Empire Strikes Back.

I wrote a short review at http://www.Goodreads.com. I’ve quoted here as well:

As a “child” of Star Wars (Star Wars, Empire, and Return of the Jedi were my “Harry Potter” & “Hunger Games”), I always view new interpretations with both excitement and trepidation. Excitement, to see my favorite characters in new stories and trepidation, hoping that the creators don’t mess it up and get it wrong. The new Star Wars comic by Marvel has been getting good reviews, so I took a chance and bought issue 1 via Amazon. Well, so far, these creators got it RIGHT!

The characters act and sound just like they should. The story setting is interesting and the story itself has that original Star Wars feel (not that slightly nebulous and incongruous feel of the prequel trilogy.) I’ve ordered issue 2 and if it is good then I think that I’m going to try follow it regularly.

I know I’m high on my score (most are giving 4 stars), but I’m really pleased with it. Now, 1 issue does not make (or break) a series, but (just like the upcoming 2015 movie The Force Awakens) I am cautiously optimistic about Star Wars’ future in the near term. The Force is Strong with this one.

Blueprints – Writing and Letting Go

A LOT has happened in the past two weeks and I’ve changed quite a bit (at least I like to think so).

First, I caught a cold from one of the students on Friday and felt terrible from Saturday morning when I awoke until Monday morning when it was time to go back to work. ��I literally did nothing the entire weekend. ��I did get to watch the Super Bowl, but that’s about all I did was simply watch it (and the commercials). ��I had been stressed the entire week before at work and I learned that my body and stress don’t mix well. ��Lessons that I learned on how to cope had to be relearned as suffered through the weekend. ��As much as I want��all my students to be brilliant, make good grades, and behave well so that I can teach them, the fact is I can’t control what they do or don’t do, I can only control my reaction to them. ��So that’s what I focused on all of this past week — letting go.

So it was timely when I heard this week’s IGN UK Podcast: “The Force is Strong With this One.”�� The interview is with Gary Whitta who works in Hollywood as a Screenwriter. ��He has worked on��The Book of Eli, After Earth,����and has just finished up work on��The Star Wars: The Force Awakens. ��

Now, as he’s talking I realize first that the podcast is talking the way that I’d envisioned the blog operating–not��just��about writing, but about all things Science Fiction/Fantasy (from movies to games to novels to little hints about the industry that he works–the whole nine yards). ��I realized that I’ve seen both��Interstellar��and��The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug and haven’t at least shared opinions on them (and yet, they are in part why I write Sci-Fi and Fantasy–to do what they did, just on the page).

But one thing that��REALLY struck me was the idea of writing (scripts especially) as��BLUEPRINTS. ��Essentially, he notes that in Hollywood, the scriptwriter sells the script and is no longer in control of the script’s (and by extension–the story’s) fate.��It is��the movie’s director��who ultimately becomes the��“author.” ��He shares that his��movie��The Book of Eli��was unique in two ways 1) it was ORIGINAL–not based on some preexisting property (which is rare in Hollywood) and 2) what ended up on the screen was MOSTLY what was on the page. ��The movie After Earth–well, not so much.

You have to let go of the process in collaboration. ��In movies, there are hundreds, if not thousands of people spending millions to make your vision come alive and you have to hope that it turns out like you have it in your head (or laid it out on the page).

The implications for me are clear: when I write scripts (Graphic Novels), I need to turn it over to my artist and not try to “direct.” ��If it matches my vision, awesome. ��If not, move on to the next project in hopes that the next one will. ��My first experience with collaboration went well up until I saw the finished artwork. ��With all due respect to my artist (whose artwork was awesome) it just didn’t match up to the Marvel artwork at the time that I was reading and envisioned for the project.

Lastly, I can also use this for the rest of my writing–right now, I spend months on short-stories for a $10 – $25 payment. ��I’m very detailed and I don’t want to lose that, but I’m making a couple of small tweaks to writing to help me be a little more efficient. ��Instead of writing at night after teaching all day, I’m taking a little time on the weekends and dedicating it to writing (I’m writing the blog post right now during this time, so hopefully its working!). ��I can still write during the week if I feel so inclined, but I��KNOW that I’ll have a block of time to write no matter what if for some reason (tired, illness, etc.) that I can’t write during the week.

There were many other takeaways from this past week, but I’ll save those for future blog topics. ��Expect more of “round robin” approach on future topics as well–not just on writing and my process. ��Later, all!

Tech Update – Strangeness! ��Router=stable, Wifi=comes and goes at��its whim (been up for 3 days without a hitch, though.

Writing Update – Slowness! ��Added a little more to 2nd scene of HAWKEMOON. ��Worked on setting and characterization. ��Hoping to finish this scene today. If so, 2 down, 2 to go.