Sidney Blaylock Jr.'s Blog, page 9

Movie Review: 1917 (2019 film)

Image Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1917_(2019_film)

MTSU subscribes to a couple of movie databases that professors can use to request movies in order to show students and discuss them in class. I’ve actually used the databases before as an instructor, requesting Frankenstein for the students in my Themes in literature: Science Fiction class (funny story, I was actually so invested in getting Frankenstein that I forgot that I would also need Star Wars. By the time I realized it, it would have taken too long for the process to occur, so I had to give students temporary access to my Disney+ account so they could watch it for those who didn’t have it any other way. Ah, the life of an instructor–but it worked out). They’ve had several movies that have been in the cultural “landscape” recently that I haven’t seen, so I decided that it would be a good idea to see these “classics” or “modern classics” as I could over the semester.

One of these movies was 1917. I’d heard that it was unique due to its one long “take.” I was curious and in a rare moment of downtown, I decided to watch it.

The Good

Even though I knew that it was shot in such a way as to look like it was all one long, extended take, I was pleasantly surprised at how engaging it was in terms of storytelling. Now, this isn’t the first instance of this that I’ve seen. The video game God of War (2018) used a similar storytelling conceit (and is something that I need to review as I’ve finished the game before Christmas of last year), and so I was familiar with what the director was trying to do. I found the characters and story engaging, and I think that all of the elements, characters, setting, plot, and theme all came together in a cohesive whole. Even though this is a period piece, World War I, I found the entire story and characters compelling. While it seems to have more than a passing resemblance to Saving Private Ryan on its surface (i.e., the World War I equivalent to the story), I was also reminded of another “war” movie, Black Hawk Down and how the idea of ordinary strength in extraordinary circumstances is a common theme that binds all three movies (and perhaps the entire genre of the “realistic” war movie) together.

The Bad

1917 isn’t without its faults, however. One of the main places where it faltered, for me, was the “sniper battle.” Without going too far into spoilers, there is a place where the main character must “battle” a sniper. The main character closes with the sniper and they fire at each other. The main character wakes up later that night and you discover what happened to him and the sniper, but because it is night, it isn’t obvious. You have to “piece” it together through context clues. On top of that, the town that he is in where he had his “duel” is on fire, and that when he had the duel, it was daytime, but now it is night-time.

All of these things add up to suggest that maybe all of the following events (all of the “nighttime events” are occurring in his mind, like (Spoiler Warning–skip to the next paragraph if you don’t want to see a reference to a “classic” short-story/movie with a “twist” ending. Spoiler in 3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . . An Occurrence at Owl Creek.]

For most of the second act (i.e. all of the scenes at night), I wondered if I could trust what I was seeing, or would it be revealed that this was some sort of dream/hallucination as it didn’t seem quite real, or rather there was an ethereal quality to it. Again, I think that if the director had made it clear what happened (that the helmet saved the protagonist), then I wouldn’t have been so “lost” and “distrustful” of the narrative.

The Bold

I could almost put the “ugly” here as this is a fairly graphic movie in terms of physical violence. Death and brutality are not romanticized, but rather are depicted in a realistic, even horrific, fashion. Death can come at any time and men can be utterly barbaric in wartime situations. However, I used the “bold” to describe the relationship of men who are in battle together and the will to preserve through with the mission even through the most desperate of danger. While the other war movies come to mind when watching this movie, another movie also came to mind, well, a trilogy of movies, and those are The Lord of the Rings movies. It is said that Tolkien created LotR not from WWII, but from WWI, and that the Frodo and Samwise comradeship mirrored that of WWI soldiers and I could easily see that from this movie. I could also see the same dogged determination to finish the mission, no matter the cost, in both movies as well. This movie celebrates the indomitable spirit of humankind, and while it does feature violence and brutality, it also showcases elements of humanity in the midst of the horror.

Overall Rating: A (95)

Rating: 5 out of 5.

In case you can’t tell, I really liked this movie a lot! While it isn’t something that you’d think I’d be interested in (not Sci-Fi or Fantasy), it is still a movie that really engaged me and was tense all the way through. Outside of an unfortunate comparison with another movie due to the “ethereal” nature of its second act, I thought this was an absolutely fine movie and a great example of the technical prowess of the “long shot” married to compelling characters and plot. I definitely believe that this movie deserves its status as a “modern classic.”

Sidney

Please consider supporting these fine small press publishers where my work has appeared:

Read Skin Deep for Free at Aurora WolfRead Childe Roland for Free at Electric SpecPurchase  HawkeMoon  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or eBookPurchase  Dragonhawk  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindlePurchase  WarLight  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindlePurchase  Ship of Shadows  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindlePurchase  Faerie Knight  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindleCurrently Working On (April 2021):Unhallowed (Weird Western Story)
2021 Revision: In ProgressStarlight, Starbright (Science Fiction Story)
2021 Revision: Completed; Waiting to Send to Market.The Independent (Science Fiction Story)
Out to MarketTo Dance the Sea of Storms (Fantasy Story)
Prewrite: Completed, Plan & Outline: Completed, Write a first draft: Completed, Revision: In Progress

Weekend Creative “Growth” Spurt

Image Source: https://www.literacyideas.com/latest/2020/12/9/growth-mindset-writing-activities

Much like growth spurts that we all have during childhood, over the weekend, I had a creative “growth” spurt where I was able to work on several projects AND formulate a couple of (personal) creative goals that I hope will help me as I continue to grow as a writer and author. Unfortunately, there was a cost involved with that, in that I didn’t get a chance to grade student papers over the weekend. While I’m not massively behind on grading, I had intended to “catch-up” over the weekend, but this didn’t happen. It seems that when school is in session, I need to go back to what worked before the pandemic: the week is for making sure school-related things get done, but the weekend needs to be for things that I need to do for myself. This might even be another creative goal that I might want to lock into my personal routine.

Starlight, Starbright

So, I’m not sure that I’ve talked about this story on the blog in the past–I think I have, but to sum up, it is a simple sci-fi story that I’ve worked on throughout the years and has gone through a couple of name changes. What I did over the weekend was finish the revision of the story. I’ve been working on the revision on and off though the semester, but I finally finished the revision. Using some of Scrivener’s new and advanced tools, I saw that about 95% of the story’s focus was description and about 5% was dialogue. Now, if you think about Marvel’s films (currently, the most successful storytelling out there), there ratio is closer to 30% description (in my opinion–and I define it as all the cool visuals in which characters aren’t actually talking) and about 70% dialogue. In other words, I’m asking readers (editors/readers) to interact with a story format that isn’t very reader friendly and focuses more on plot than characters. So, I’m lowering my sights for this story and looking for places to publish it even if they aren’t paying markets–something that I did when I was just starting out as I now look for paying markets almost exclusively.

Revision Plan

Which leads me into my first personal creative goal: Revision Plans. Now, there are some things that I know that might be able to do increase my chances of selling Starlight (shortening the title, for instance, like I just did here). Or maybe punching up the dialogue that I do have in the story until it shines. I don’t think I can add much dialogue–in an older version of the story I had a direct conflict with quite a bit of dialogue, but when I revised the story so that it made more sense and had a character that was less of a cipher, I didn’t need nearly as much banter between the protagonist and antagonist, and so I stripped it out. However, I can put these ideas down in a file and work on them during Christmas Break at the beginning of the year. I feel like what I have currently is a strong revision (story makes sense, there is some characterization, edits are done and there are no misspellings, grammar issues, or dropped words). So, for 2021, this is the revision that I’m submitting, but as I see possible improvements that I can make, I’ll drop them in a file and revisit the story every year, revising it to make it better and better, until hopefully, it sells. So, I’m resolved not to touch Starlight again until 2022 in terms of revising–just submit it for the rest of the year and see what happens. I intend to do that with all the stories that I write using the Writing Process model (see below).

Unhallowed

When I wrote Unhallowed, I included the main plot of the story, and a “sub-plot” that showed the main character’s (Arizona’s) backstory. On the feedback of one editor, I stripped it out for later submissions as the editor felt that the backstory slowed the pacing of the story down. However, even though I didn’t have time to work on it this week, for my 2021 revision, I plan on putting the backstory back in. The way that I wrote the ending obliquely references how the world came into being and not having it there, I think, handicaps the story and doesn’t give it the gravity it needs to really land that impact. Now, I’ll probably have to do some serious pruning (of both the backstory and main plot). I think it is about 6,500 words with the backstory and the market that I want to send it to next has a maximum of 5,000 words, so I’m going to need to lose approximately 1,500 words. I also need to do a better job of establishing the “space” of the story as a different editor liked the story, but felt that he got “lost” in the story and couldn’t quite tell where the main character was in relation to the world in the beginning of the story.

Project Wall

On this one, I did some prewriting. As usual, I already have the “plot” or events of the story mapped out as this is what usually comes to me first. However, the character (outside of the name) wasn’t really a character still, but rather a cipher (placeholder). Over the weekend, the main character and protagonist, Jharra, came together for me and I found a “handle” on her character and wrote a character sketch for her. Jharra’s external problem is that she must save her brother in a futuristic world. Jharra’s internal problem is two-fold: 1) she doesn’t want to be alone (from her backstory) and 2) she has anger issues. Those two internal problems will make it hard for her to resolve her external problem. I’m cautiously optimistic for this particular story.

Project Children

I think I’ve mentioned this project before–I may have even mentioned the title or called it something else entirely, but I can’t remember and I don’t have the time to go searching through past blogs to see if this is the case. I’ve written a 1st draft, but wasn’t happy with it at all. I’ve gone through “prewriting” again to try to come up with a strong revision and I think I have after last weekend. I planned and outlined it last weekend and need to just draft it. I also need to do a character sketch for the “new” main character that I’ve developed.

To Dance the Sea of Storms

Like Project Children above, I’ve finished the first draft of the story, but felt that it was missing something. I went back and wrote out a new outline that added new material while incorporating the old draft (with planned changes). So, I feel confident that I’ll be able to write a strong revision for this story (by focusing more on establishing the world more in the first part of the story).

Writing Process

Which brings me to my final point for the post and my last creative goal that I discovered. Visualization of the Writing Process.

Image Source: https://www.scribbr.com/academic-writing/writing-process/

By using this image to visual the steps of the writing process and marking off the items of where I am in the process for a given project, I’ve really inspired myself to keep going. For most of the semester, I’ve been mired in the belief that I wasn’t making any real headway on my various projects and that I was just “spinning” my wheels on multiple projects. However, by taking the time to note where I’ve outlined, where I’ve done prewriting in the form of character sketches, notes, or brainstorming, by taking the time to highlight that I’ve worked on (and finished) a draft (good or bad), I see that most of my projects are either in the revision or first draft stage. I’m doing the work–now, I just need to take the time to see the work through to completion.

This was strangely cathartic to me! It isn’t that I’m starting and stopping projects–it is just that I’m not getting the revisions done, so that I can move on to the editing stage (or the first drafts done to move on to the revision stage). In other words, visualization of the writing process is allowing me to see where I am in terms of the projects and why my plans aren’t working–and why it always seems like I’m abandoning one project for another. Like Starlight, I need to do a revision, make it as best as I can, and then edit and submit it, and then if I think of better ideas and plans later on, create a file and move to yearly revisions (instead of the nearly continuous revisions that are currently happening).

This was VERY MUCH of a revelation to me and one that (while I knew it intuitively), really helped when I printed out the “chart” and started mapping my own stages on top of it. Now, to be clear, I knew about the “writing process” already (since high school as a matter of fact), but what really makes this useful is to note on the chart itself what I’ve completed and where I am in the process. It really is a GREAT help (to me) to see where I am on this chart for any given project. I think this will make it more likely that I’ll complete more projects as I can now see that I’m much further along on many of them than I actually thought I was. I highly recommend this strategy to other writers out there!

Well, that’s all I have time for today! Have a great week!

Sidney

Please consider supporting these fine small press publishers where my work has appeared:

Read Skin Deep for Free at Aurora WolfRead Childe Roland for Free at Electric SpecPurchase  HawkeMoon  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or eBookPurchase  Dragonhawk  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindlePurchase  WarLight  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindlePurchase  Ship of Shadows  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindlePurchase  Faerie Knight  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindleCurrently Working On (April 2021):Unhallowed (Weird Western Story)
2021 Revision: In ProgressStarlight, Starbright (Science Fiction Story)
2021 Revision: Completed; Waiting to Send to Market.The Independent (Science Fiction Story)
Out to MarketTo Dance the Sea of Storms (Fantasy Story)
Prewrite: Completed, Plan & Outline: Completed, Write a first draft: Completed, Revision: In Progress

What’s Going On? Why are You Not Blogging?

Image Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-9126839/People-share-hilarious-memes-poking-fun-start-2021-claiming-WORSE-version-2020.html

Hi Everyone,

As the title suggests, I imagine that many who have subscribed to the blog (thank you all, by the way!) have been wondering where I am and why, all of a sudden, that I’ve not been blogging on even a semi-consistent schedule. After all, I know have a new(wish) computer (a 2020 MacBook Pro) that I bought for school–and while I still have the Chromebook, I’ve pretty much relegated it to the the “dustbin” (it hasn’t been charged up for most of the year). So, what’s going on, you might ask?

To be absolutely honest, I’m not quite sure. I’m going to try to identify 2 or 3 “big” issues in my life right now, but to be truthful, I don’t know why blogging (and writing in general) has become very difficult lately.

2021 (and 2020)

Let’s just say that 2021 has been a “rough” year so far. I’m typing these words a 3:11 am, and I’m as awake as I would be if it were 12 noon. I don’t drink coffee and I drink only half a can of coke with lunch per day, so caffeine shouldn’t be an issue. However, I routinely don’t sleep through the night anymore.

Obviously, Covid is still a “thing” as I write this. I’m scheduled to get my first vaccination shot tomorrow morning–well, later this morning, now that I think about it, but sticking to my own personal “lockdown” (even at a time when America is rushing headlong into crisis by trying to reopen as fast as humanly possible) is taking a toll. For me, home has always been a respite–a place where I go to unwind from the pressures of the workday (in whatever form it takes, be it from the library, the sixth grade classroom, or the duties of grad student/teaching assistant).

The fact that home, now, has to become the primary place where I work, while great for my peace of mind and my personal safety (I think, with sadness, about the bus driver who sadly lost his life by not having the same advantage I had when Covid first started) it hasn’t been great for my creativity. Obviously, I’m grateful that I’ve not been required to be in the classroom before the vaccine was developed. However, the fact that work-life and home-life are bleeding together makes it hard for me to find the time and the will to do MORE work (aka, the blog–while it is fun, and I’m passionate about writing, make no mistake, this is EXTRA work that I’m doing by writing these entries) on TOP of the work that I’m already required to do–which, now that I’m in the dissertation phase of my education, is legion.

Add to this fact that 2021 seems to be going much worse for me personally than 2020, and you’ll see that the impetus for writing just isn’t there–when you have to spend $200 on a camera system for home security because there are people seeming to be canvasing your house and another $100 for a secure, locking mailbox because other people are attempting to steal your mail looking to steal your identity because your workplace mails you the documents you need to file your takes AND a certificate for an award that you’ve earned is STOLEN in the process, I’d imagine that you’d also get pretty world-weary pretty quickly too.

Dissertation

Speaking of the dissertation earlier, that’s ANOTHER sore spot. While I love my topic and I have an “outline” of what I want to write, actually finding the time to write is another point of friction. Part of the issue is that “writing” a dissertation, doesn’t include JUST writing–you’ve also got to be reading, and taking notes, and writing, and noting sources, and citing, and . . ., and . . ., and . . . . It’s never ending, and worse yet, if you’re NOT doing one of these myriad of things, then you’re just feeling GUILTY because you COULD be doing them, instead of eating, instead of grading, instead of relaxing after a 6 hour shift in the Writing Center (online), etc.

Writing a dissertation is like having a paper that is ALWAYS due. You know it’s there, you know you should be working on it, and it basically demands EVERY bit of free time that you have or, (yep, you guessed it) here comes the guilt for NOT working on it. Add to that the obligation of being in the Writing Center, and teaching a course (as I’m doing both remotely this semester), and well, things get very dicey, very quickly. Add to that a myriad of other responsibilities, such as moderating my first conference sessions and working on various committee for both church and school, and things become even MORE problematic.

Even my creative writing has suffered under the groaning weight of too many responsibilities and not enough delineation between my work-life and my home-life.

If You Can’t Say Something Nice . . .

Finally, while I’ve had more medical issues (again mostly minor, but just as annoying), really, they’ve not affected my desire to blog as much as this final topic–I have a LOT to say about quite a few things, but, unfortunately, they are mostly negative.

While I don’t use my blog for political sentiments (I leave that to others), I’ve noticed that there have been some trends lately that I REALLY want to call attention to in the general culture (popular culture) which IS part of the purpose of the blog. The problem is that these AREN’T good trends and I feel like I’ll be just like everyone else on the on the internet–“Mr. Negative”–yelling at people to stop being idiots.

Case in point–I just read two news stories about Playstation and Microsoft. One article called out the very “narrative” (that Sony isn’t just focusing on blockbusters as it reorganizes some of its studios) while another article sang the praises of Microsoft and totally “trashed” Sony for reorganizing its older storefronts. It was truly a sight to behold–and you could CLEARLY see each author’s biases on display (and might I remind you that these are video game journalists), supposed “adult” professionals who are acting much like school kids on a playground “discussing” the merits of their favorite systems.

Another case in point–the Cyberpunk 2077 situation and the way both journalists and the public handled the marketing and then then reality of the game. I’ve written a draft post about this and may go back in and clean it up and release it, but the lack of skepticism that both the journalists and the public showed about the game before its release was appalling. There’s a reason why PT Barnum is reported to have said: “There’s a sucker born every minute,” and the way people (journalists along with the public) ate up the game’s 48 minute “gameplay demo” AND Keeanu Reeve’s appearance to promote the game on Microsoft’s stage (see, no video game “journalist” talks about that little fact) really irks me. Yet, the gameplay demo was a “lie” and the game wasn’t the same game as what was MARKETED. I want to talk about these things, but as they tend to be negative, I don’t want to contribute to the “angry internet troll” meme. However, I do really feel these things need to be pointed out and so I’m often conflicted–I’ll spend an hour or two that I can’t “afford” in order to write a draft post, only to then not release it because it sounds too negative after its written (I’ve got 3 or 4 like that right now).

So, I’m trying to work through this as well. Hopefully, one day soon, maybe tomorrow, maybe not, I’ll get back to a more regular schedule, and then back to pretty much a daily schedule, but for now, please understand that this year just doesn’t seem to be going particularly well for me at the moment and that I’m trying to figure out how to do all the things I’m supposed to do at the same time. Bad year(s) + Bad culture = Bad blogging habits.

I hope this helps to explain why I’ve not been post regularly and thanks for listening!

Sidney

Please consider supporting these fine small press publishers where my work has appeared:

Read Skin Deep for Free at Aurora WolfRead Childe Roland for Free at Electric SpecPurchase  HawkeMoon  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or eBookPurchase  Dragonhawk  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindlePurchase  WarLight  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindlePurchase  Ship of Shadows  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindlePurchase  Faerie Knight  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindleCurrently Working On (April 2021):Unhallowed (Weird Western Story)
In for Revision & EditingStarlight, Starbright (Science Fiction Story)
In for Revision & EditingThe Independent (Science Fiction Story)
Out to MarketTo Dance the Sea of Storms (Fantasy Story)
Prewrite: Completed, Plan & Outline: Completed, Write a first draft: Completed, Revision: In Progress

Even Scholars Need Their Sleep

Image Source: https://www.funnybeing.com/70-most-awesome-sleep-memes/

It is 4:20 am in the morning as I write this post. I have been awake since approximately 1:45 am.

Is it because I was working on a new creative writing piece? Nah . . . I did that at 8:30 pm last night.

Is it because I was re-reading Afrofuturism by Ytasha Womack or Changing the Subject: A Theory of Rhetorical Empathy by Lisa Blankenship for my dissertation? Nah . . . I did that at approximately 4:30 pm yesterday, after work at the Writing Center and then recording a “mini-lecture” for my asynchronous class.

Is it because I was perhaps working on my PowerPoint so that I could guest lecture in one of the professors’ classes at MTSU for valuable classroom experience and teaching advice? Nah . . . I already did that on Monday (it seemed to go well by the way as the students were engaged and really interested in the class).

So, then why am I awake and pounding out a blog post in the middle of the night/wee early morning hours?

BECAUSE A GROUP PEOPLE DECIDED THAT MY FRONT DOOR WAS THE PLACE TO STOP AND “PARTY” (which is, in case you didn’t know, a “euphemism” for doing drugs).

Of Security Cameras and Police Sirens

To set the scene, I rarely stay up all night anymore. After doing some research on the effects of sleep deprivation on the brain and seeing how even one night of missing sleep can do lasting damage to brain and its chemical function, I have tried to make a concerted effort to go to sleep on time.

However, in my neighborhood, sleeping comes with risk. This neighborhood actually used to be a true neighborhood. However, due to the closing of a housing project in the area and the death of older homeowners and the renting of houses, this neighborhood has stopped resembling a true neighborhood and is quickly becoming part of the “Hood.”

On two different occasions, once in 2020 and once in 2021, I have caught people actively rooting inside my mailbox. I have replaced my mailbox twice–both times with a locking mailbox, and the second time with one that is actively designed to not just lock, but deter theft from the mailbox. I have had to fix an outdoor floodlight that senses because a next door neighbor’s shed was broken into. Nothing of value was taken–he’d moved all the valuables from the shed and house while he contemplates what he intends to do with the house, but my light has a motion sensor, and its position on my house means that if it had been working, it would have probably deterred whoever broke into the shed as the light would have sensed movement, and even though the light falls mostly in my yard, it still would have encompassed the area, protecting it. So I had to get that working again, not only to provide my neighbor with some protection, but also to act as a possible deterrent for any who might think of targeting my house next.

I’ve even had to go so far as to install security cameras in strategic locations around the house. I won’t go into too much detail as this is social media, but suffice to say that I now have the capability of both live viewing and recording options, in addition to motion sensing options. Why, you ask? I keep my outer gates locked, but I’ve had to buy new padlocks as I’ve found the old ones unlocked at least twice (and neither I nor my family had unlocked them). I’ve even seen a drug deal go down last week with a dealer riding a bicycle–while this didn’t happen on my street, it did happen on a crossing street at the upper end of the block.

And yet, at approx. 1:45 am this morning, I was awakened out of my sleep. As I lay in bed, I thought that I could hear distant voices outside. Reluctantly, I grabbed the phone, and checked the security camera app. I didn’t see anything, but I still heard the voices. As I was just considering putting on my glasses and grabbing my robe to get and look out the door, I heard a police siren. It got louder and louder (as police sirens do), and then I saw a strange thing. On the camera app, I saw movement, like car doors closing, and then–to my surprise–car headlights flared–RIGHT OUT IN FRONT OF MY DOOR/MAILBOX. As the siren got louder, the car pulled away.

At first I was stunned, then annoyed, and then angry. What woke me was the people in the car, I’m sure of it. Why I couldn’t resolve the car in front of my house even looking at it through the camera is a mystery to me. Maybe I wasn’t truly awake, maybe I needed my glasses to resolve the fine details of the dark car on the dark street, but whatever it was, the only reason why they had left was because the oncoming siren spooked them. I don’t think they were thieves or after any property as they were far too noisy for that (unless they were incredibly bold), but I do think they were either on drugs or doing drugs in front of my door and that is a practice that most certainly intend to put a STOP to (there have been on-going issues with drugs on this street for a while now).

And so, as I type these words, it is now 5:12 am, and the birds are starting to chirp, even though it is still dark and raining, heralding the morning. The sun will be rising in about an hour and half/two hours and then my biorhythms, even if they allow me to nap for a couple of hours, will kick in and I’ll be waking up in about two hours or so myself, with only a maximum of 4 hours of sleep after two really intense work days (and having to go to work today as well). And that’s only if I manage to nap–if not, then I’ll be operating on about two hours of sleep.

Yay?

Even Scholars Need Their Sleep

While I was working at the Public Library, and even as a school teacher, especially when I woke up in the middle of the night, say 2am or 3am, and I would get up and play games on the PS3/PS4 for an hour or two (usually an hour) and then I’d go back to bed. This didn’t affect my sleep, nor my quality of work. When Destiny came out for the PS4, I’d often play on my own until 9pm or so, but that’s when the West Coast players would come on and look for people for Raids. I’d often hop in, hoping to be finished by midnight or 1 am, but the sessions would usually stretch until 2 am or even 3 am. One time, I had to teach and the sessions stretched until 4:20 am. I managed to go sleep and get up at about 7:30 am (we had a late 9:00 am start time, thank goodness) for a fairly restful 3 hours of sleep. I didn’t do this often, about once every week or every two weeks, but my body seemed to handle it fairly well.

However, once I started in the PhD program, this all changed. I noticed that the more I tried to do this, the worse the effects would be the next day. Trying to pull an all-nighter, like I had in my undergraduate years, and even into grad school, produced even worse results, so much so, that I could barely function the next day and couldn’t even think about trying to pull an all-nighter on days that I taught. I’ve gotten to where I don’t even try to do an all-nighter, even when I’ve not finished a paper/work. I just work until my normal bed-time, sleep, and then try to set my alarm for an hour earlier wake-up. I can so much more done if I’ve slept than if I haven’t that even one hour or so is equivalent to what I could accomplish if I tried to stay up all night.

So, I’ve learned to try to get to bed at a reasonable time and while I don’t always sleep perfectly (who does?), I have managed to become much better at going to bed at a good time and waking up refreshed . . . that is, until this past year or so thanks to people “prowling” much more and now, people “partying” in front of my door.

If it happens again, I intend to confront the individuals and to call the police. And I intend to call the police again and again, until the “party-goers” get the message. Find some place else to do your “partying.” In front of my door is off-limits.

Why? Well, even if you do think that “partying” in front of someone’s house isn’t a sufficient reason, I can give you another one:

Because even scholars need their sleep.

Sidney

Please consider supporting these fine small press publishers where my work has appeared:

Read Skin Deep for Free at Aurora WolfRead Childe Roland for Free at Electric SpecPurchase  HawkeMoon  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or eBookPurchase  Dragonhawk  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindlePurchase  WarLight  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindlePurchase  Ship of Shadows  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindlePurchase  Faerie Knight  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindleCurrently Working On (March 2021):Unhallowed (Weird Western Story)
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Sonic The Hedgehog (2020) Movie Review

Image Source: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3794354/

I know that I may be giving away my review in this first sentence, but I fount that this movie wasn’t actually all that bad and is one that I enjoyed. I know this may sound like it is faint praise, but considering the train wreck that I thought the movie was going to be originally based on the original CGI for Sonic in the trailers, I found that the extra work put in by the CGI artists really payed dividends and worked much better than the original concept that the filmmakers had originally opted for. As the movie Cats showed us, ultra-realism is NOT always the way to go.

Before I get into the review proper, I should probably not that I’m not as much of a die-hard fan of the character of Sonic as many might be. While I did have a Sega Genesis around the time Sonic was popular, my parents bought the system for me before Sonic was a pack-in game with every system, so Altered Beast (“Rise from your grave”) is what I grew up with rather than the “blinging” of Sonic rings. I saw the Sonic games around in gaming magazines and the like, but never really felt the need to ask for the games for Christmas or my birthday. In later years, I’ve played the newer Sonic games (3D) and wasn’t really impressed and I’ve played some of the older Sonic games on compilation disks put out by Sega, but again, the games never really appealed to me, so while I’m going in with some level of nostalgia for the movie, it isn’t something that was integral to my childhood.

The Good

Considering the low bar that most video game movies have to endure, I thought this started out from a fairly good place. The story is VERY familiar (more on this later), but in some ways, that helps this particular movie out. The backstory is plausible enough (considering the subject matter) and the protagonist’s inner conflict comes from this backstory (something that many licensed properties, video game movies or otherwise get wrong). The movie’s theme, finding friendship and commonality despite differences and how the concerned group is stronger than the brainy, but rude, individual also comes directly from the inner conflict that Sonic faces (the fear of being alone). While the humor isn’t the most original, I did enjoy it, especially the sister’s continual harping on the husband and the way that is played for laughs when the sister gets her “comeuppance.”

The revised CGI was also a highlight as there was no way that I could have enjoyed the original version of the movie (even if the plot and all other elements had been the same) because the Sonic would have been too different/too alien from what I know the character to be, even if that character isn’t one that I have strong feelings of attachment to from the games. There was something “off-putting” about the original design of Sonic, so much so, that it would have completely ruined the movie for me.

The Bad

Similar to above, the story is VERY familiar. After the first five minutes of the movie, you pretty much know where this movie is going in terms of conflict, resolution, and tone. This is a story that you’ve seen many, many times before–one obvious reference that jumps quickly to mind is the fairly recent movie version of The Power Rangers. It has very much that style and scope in terms of what it is going for, with Sonic standing in for the teenagers of that movie. There are elements of the “buddy cop” movie as well as the “road trip” movie (there is literally an extended sequence where they are on the road, fight with the bad guy, stop at a bar, get into shenanigans, start and win a bar fight, and then get back on the road again). Basically, the only tension in the movie is watching how the story elements fall in place and how they use the final scenes after the resolution to set-up for a sequel.

The Ugly

This one will be highly dependent on the viewer. For me, this movie did everything (outside of a ridiculously over-familiar story, which also helped it in some ways) moderately well. This is a movie that you don’t hate automatically because it is a “video game” movie. The producers/filmmakers didn’t try to go edgy, dark, ultra-realistic (after the backlash), or treat the property as some sort of . . . well, property. They took a proven formula and then applied it to a fairly well liked video game character and the results are . . . decent. Decent isn’t the best word, though as it is better than that because the filmmakers/producers actually seemed to care about the product they were putting on the screen (as evidenced by putting in the extra time/money to “fix” the CGI) and, to me, that attention shows through, and elevates it into something, that isn’t spectacular, is still good nonetheless.

Overall Rating: B (83-85)

Rating: 4 out of 5.

I would give this either a 3.5 star or a 3.9 star rating if I could go that fine, but I can’t, so 4 star it is. I know this will be controversial, but I don’t care. I liked this movie better than the average C/3 star review that I’m sure others probably think it deserves. I can say this, even with the familiar story and knowing how it would resolve after the first five minutes, I STILL had a better time watching it than I did with The Dark Knight (wonderful performance by the late Heath Ledger aside). There is a sort of “childlike” wonder with the character that is missing with a lot of properties. To others, they are just “properties” to be exploited because of their name recognition–you loved X and you’ll love X even more when you see X in our new movie. Assassin’s Creed (2016) is a prime example of this phenomenon, but certainly not the only one as other video game publishers have fallen prey to this way of thinking as well. I would argue that one of the reasons Transformers died on the vine and is no longer a “thing” is that, after the first movie, they forgot what a movie was and began banking on a “franchise” and those are two very different things.

But that’s a blog for another time. Have a great day everyone!

Sidney

Please consider supporting these fine small press publishers where my work has appeared:

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Rhythm of War: Book Review

Image Source: https://www.amazon.com/Rhythm-Stormlight-Archive-Brandon-Sanderson/dp/0765326388/ref=asc_df_0765326388/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=459559487726&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=5192376959006262636&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1025943&hvtargid=pla-917808360122&psc=1

During the Fall semester of 2020, one of my three favorite authors released a new book and when they do, I always try to buy it and read it over the intervening break. Unfortunately, one of my three is semi-retired and even though she has a series still in progress, she’s not really writing it at a normal pace anymore. My other favorite writer has returned to a series that I’ve loved from my childhood, but while I enjoyed the novella setting up the story, I’ve found that he’s almost pulled a “Disney Star Wars” routine where the main characters have had a crappy life so as to focus your attention on the new, upcoming coming characters and I HATE when authors/creatives do that. I much prefer the “Lucas Star Wars” way of doing things which is skipping the intervening time periods, catching us up on the current status of the characters and then letting the story flow organically from there. We can also do prequel/far future, and we can do near future, but the “gritty, hard life” after setting up “hope” at the end of the trilogy really ruins the story for me because it is like the previous story/trilogy meant NOTHING to those characters (a very “Grimdark” way of doing things–which is a pet peeve of mine). So, that leaves my third author, who, luckily, is writing in an epic style in full on professional writer mode and with no “hint” of Grimdark anywhere around–even though the book is probably one of the “darker” entries in the series. So, I set out to read Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson over my Christmas Break. At over 1,000 pages, I have to say that it took me a little longer to finish than the 3-4 weeks of Christmas–I actually only finished about a week and half ago and I’m sitting down now to write down my thoughts about it.

The Good

I really liked the way that the story continues. In an age where George R. R. Martin’s popularity is finally starting to slip (at least until the next GoT series rears its ugly head), fantasy is beginning to turn away from its “Grimdark” obsession (again, for now). Sanderson was one of the few authors not seduced by the “dark side” of GoT‘s popularity and money and wrote epic fantasy with complex characters, worlds, and plot lines, that were still fun and didn’t wallow in the tortuous Les Miserables “everything’s dark and grim” fantasy like so many others.

I really liked the way Sanderson inhabits his characters. I liked most every scene in which the viewpoint characters interacted–sure, in a book with over a thousand pages, there were several times where one storyline or another wouldn’t grab me, but every time I thought that I wasn’t interested, Sanderson had a twist (either in plotting or characterization) that made me perk up and take notice of what was happening. I can say that his characters, unlike Robert Jordan’s sometimes, don’t fall into stereotypes or caricatures. They may be of a type, but they definitely are true “characters” who have motivations and desires and their actions stem from those elements. The hero isn’t always “good” and the bad guy isn’t always “bad,” but for more complex reasons that have to deal with personal history rather than the “Grimdark” philosophy of “gray” characters. Sanderson is much more like Tolkien in this manner, drawing from the world’s history and the character’s personal history to add in complexity rather than just having a character be mean to his/her fellow characters “just because they can” (which in many authors and critics point of view makes the character “oh, so complex” (when it doesn’t–it just makes them a jerk!)

The Bad

Okay, so there’s not really much bad here–I love this series and I love the author’s writing! While my favorite authors tend to fluctuate based on the projects that they write and the way they execute them, I can easily say that Brandon Sanderson is easily in my Top 3 pretty much all the time. However, this is the first book in the series that didn’t earn 5 stars from me. So, what gives? In a word: pacing. In the Stormlight books, Sanderson must balance the POVs of several major characters (anywhere from 2-5) per book while dealing with a handful of minor characters (again, in that 2-5 range, not including the one-off POVs that may come in during the Interludes). Taken all together, you get a full story and rich picture of what’s happening in the book, where each main character has a huge piece of the puzzle/discovers a huge piece of the puzzle, and the minor characters have smaller slices that, once are integrated, give you the complete story. Usually, Sanderson is able to pull off these stories in the correct proportion, but this time, I felt that he didn’t quite get the proportions just right–the struggle seemed to go on for too long and the resolution and redemption arcs weren’t as developed as I would have liked. Sanderson likes to “reset” the hero to zero (almost like a video game) for each book, but during the course of the story, the hero learns some piece about themselves, which allows them to “level up” so to speak and push forward. This happened in the book, but the resetting process and discovery process came at the expense of the resolution process where the characters come to an understanding (and in this series of books), really learn how to use their new knowledge to beat back the inner/outer darkness. While this still happened, I felt like it seemed a bit rushed and wasn’t as satisfying as in previous books. For me, a lot my investment in this series is the way that the main characters actually get to express their heroism and the way they get to be heroic. Even outside of the “Grim Dark” sub-genre, the fantasy genre, as a whole, has drifted away from idea of the protagonist (male or female) as “heroes.” To be edgy or hip or modern, or relevant, far too many published authors in the genre have moved to what I’m calling the Battlestar Galactica (remake, not the original) mode where they take the heroes, still keep them as heroes, but make them do and act in despicable ways in order to show their “conflicted nature.” This series doesn’t really do that–it shows that the people of the world have problems, some internal, but mostly external that they are struggling against. However, in the final third, they usually rise above their problems, internal or external, and become something greater. In this book, rather than the last third, it is more like the last tenth of the book–it is still there, but greatly diminished, so I didn’t really get the same sense of enjoyment at seeing the characters get to be as heroic as they were in other books of the series.

The Ugly

To be honest, I thought the decision-making of some of the characters was really questionable at points in the story. There are several characters who either do things, or don’t do things, that seem strange in this particular book in the series. Maybe I’m being hyper-critical, but there were several times when I was thinking to myself, why are acting this way or doing this. Or for another character, I was saying, “tell them already!” In the end, when the resolution actually came, all the things that the characters were not doing, they did, or things that they were doing them, they stopped, so it seemed like many of the “wrong-headed” decisions of some of the characters were there to enhance/draw out tension, but many of these decisions had to do with internal struggles rather than external ones, so it felt like a bit of a cheat. There’s one specific instance that involves the god Cultivation very late into the book that just completely baffles me. I can’t go into detail because of spoilers, but it is implied that she had foreseen the consequences of earlier actions in series that led up to this particular instance in the book. However, the decision that was made was so horrendous, so bad for the heroes and the world, I (personally) have trouble believing that one could foresee this particular thing coming to pass and not understanding the ramifications of it for the heroes, the world, and the Cosmere itself. I think I spent the next twenty to twenty-five pages after the event passed, shaking my head and wondering how on Roshar this decision could have ever been thought of.as a good one. I think this, more than anything else, made me stop and examine some of the flaws that I saw in the decision making processes of some of the characters and while it comes later in the novel, it was still enough to make start to wonder about why I wasn’t having quite as much fun reading this book as others in the series.

Overall Rating

Rating: 4 out of 5.

It probably sounds like I hated this book. Far from it! This is still my favorite series and the only one that I can depend on not to (at the moment) succumb to the numbing idea that’s pervading Speculative Fiction at the moment: except for superhero movies, there are no heroes anymore. That is ALL the rage in popular culture these days, and I find this series a refreshing breath of fresh air that sweeps that sentiment aside. It’s just that with the shortened time allowed for characters to be heroic by the fairly quick resolution and the incredibly wild decisions that some of the characters make at times, this is the first book in the series that I’m not giving an unqualified 5 stars too–and that makes me a little sad.

Maybe the next book will alleviate my concerns and give me a longer resolution where characters don’t make inexplicable decisions, but based on the final scene in this book (no spoilers), I’m not too hopeful. It was this final scene that truly illustrates why Cultivation’s decision was so bad and so uninformed, even as she said that she foresaw this eventuality that made me begin to question the decisions of earlier characters which had only been small little rumblings of discontent up until that point.

Again, I really liked this book! I just thought that it didn’t quite match the heights of the previous books in the series.

Sidney

Please consider supporting these fine small press publishers where my work has appeared:

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Mini-Movie Review: 9 (Nine)

Image Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9_(2009_animated_film)

So, I’m redoing the way that I do “mini-reviews.” I used to think of them as smaller reviews rather than what a “professional” reviewer might write for a review, so I started calling them mini-reviews. However, my reviews with sections (“Good,” “Bad” and “Ugly/Terrific” get up to approximately 800 – 1,000 words or more and begin to rival longer professional reviews. So, I’m going to save that format for longer, more involved movie reviews and keep the “mini” review moniker for something like this one–a shorter explanation of why I liked/disliked a particular movie.

9 (Nine) is an animated movie that I’ve had in my “watchlist” for a long time on Netflix. It left the service recently and I was able to catch it before it did. This movie was mediocre–ultimately, I liked it, but I thought that it had the potential to be a better movie.

What Worked & What Didn’t

So, overall I felt that the movie was enjoyable, as it gave me a fairly compelling narrative and setting. I’m partial to older animated classics like Mrs Frisby and the Rats of Nimh and Rikki, Tikki, Tavi and this movie gave off vibes in that general vein, especially Mrs. Frisby. The idea of a fairly “unique” setting and creations that worked as a part of the setting becoming characters (Mice on a farm/Sackling-like creations coming to life with definite personalities) appealed to me from a nostalgia purpose.

However, I think that it was a mistake not to investigate the “backstory” more. It is a central “mystery” in the story and plays into the ending (which is probably why it was left vague–deliberately so), but not knowing what’s happened or how the creatures came to be meant that I had to enjoy the personality of the characters and the narrative choices that were made in order to enjoy the story and to be honest, the characters weren’t very interesting. Well defined, yes, but interesting, no, not really.

Also, once discovered, the mystery wasn’t all that compelling–while I didn’t guess the ending, I felt that it was definitely geared at a child’s level rather than at an adult or for all ages. This felt like something I might put on to entertain a child, or that I might have liked as a child, but that it isn’t really as sophisticated as it thinks that it is.

I’m also not sure that I liked the death aspect of it–although maybe it is trying to teach children about the concept and theme of death. One character’s death happens due to the actions of the main character and the way it happens makes it hard to root for the main character after that–although we a clearly supposed to do so. The question was always in the back of my mind when he met others of the “group” as to what happens to them if he does the same thing/or makes the same poor decisions, even if the first time was a mistake?

Finally, I think that I simply might be the wrong audience for this — or the right audience at the wrong time in my life. I feel that if I was a child or teen, I probably would have given this at least 1 more star than I did. Normally, I like this type of fantastical work and generally find it engaging, but this time, to me, it simply felt like a typical children’s movie, that, while I enjoyed it, did nothing particularly special or innovative and so earns a very lukewarm recommendation from me.

Overall Rating

Rating: 3 out of 5.Sidney

Please consider supporting these fine small press publishers where my work has appeared:

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Caveat Emptor (Let the Buyer Beware)

Let the buyer beware. One of the most important concepts in a free market economy, and yet, consistently Gen Z and Millennials haven’t seemed to have learned this lesson anywhere as it keeps happening time and again, especially in the video game industry. Cyberpunk 2077 was the latest “scandal” in which a game didn’t deliver on its very high promises. And yet, still so many were taken in by the company and the game. How?

Cinematic Trailers Masquerading as “Gameplay Trailers”

First, we have to look at the idea of trailers, those small pieces of advertisements that purportedly give gamers an idea of what the game is going to be about. Cinematic Trailers are much like their movie counterparts: they show you characters, settings, and sometimes narrative situations to give you an impression of what the game is going for. These are loved by companies as they can suggest the game without having to show “actual” graphics, mechanics, and assets of a game still in development and whose look may change before the final release. Gamers hate them for exactly the same reason–there’s no way to know exactly what type of game they’re going to be getting, how it looks, performs, etc. Gameplay Trailers, on the other hand, show elements of gameplay, the graphical fidelity of the game, mechanics, and sometimes gives an idea of the story. Length, advanced mechanics like skills, any RPG-like mechanics are either minimized or not covered at all. The goal is to give you an impression of the minute-by-minute gameplay loop for the game. Gamers love this as it acts as “shorthand” for them so they can quickly sort the game by genre, play style, graphical fidelity, and a host of other categories and factors that may influence their potential buying decision. Again, companies hate this because it means potentially alienating customers before the game is finished. Companies have learned how to “cheat” the system: trailers that look like “Gameplay Trailers” showing HUDs, mechanics, graphics, etc., but are actually cinematic trailers in that the game that they are showing hasn’t actually been built yet and represents the target for the game. Anthem and Cyberpunk 2077 have been reported (by the investigative journalist Jason Schreier) to have developed in this way.

Anthem Trailer

Cyberpunk Trailer

Microsoft vs Sony (Round 6,523)

It is important to note that both Anthem and Cyberpunk 2077 both had co-marketing agreements with Microsoft and this is something that should not be ignored as each of these games didn’t live up to their trailers shown on Microsoft’s stage. However, as per usual, Microsoft never gets any blowback from these trailers that were later reportedly discovered to have been “targets” rather than representative trailers. Yet, let’s turn back the clock to 2005 when Sony was promoting their Playstation 3 and talked up the “infamous Killzone 2 trailer.” Sony, as per usual, caught “heck” from the gaming community and was derided (and still is in certain circumstances) for its overly ambitious trailer for what the game, and what the PS3, could be capable of doing in the game environments.

Killzone 2 trailer

Sony was so stung by this that they changed their approach to their E3 stage shows. The actually cut away from the game (much to the ire of players and those watching streams) to show that real people were actually playing the game. Games like God of War clearly show someone playing the game and Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End actually had a live “mishap” because Sony was keen to show that the game being shown was the game you would play.

God of War E3 Demo (Stage)

Uncharted 4 E3 Demo (Freeze) & Uncharted 4 E3 Demo (Full)

Microsoft has no such compunctions–they seem to only want to be #1 and seem to be willing to do anything to get there, including showing games without verifying whether or not those games actually represent what they are showing–and the gaming industry doesn’t seem to be interested in holding them as accountable as they are holding Sony accountable for its missteps/mistakes.

What You See Is What You Get

WYSIWYG is a computer abbreviation that basically is an acronym of “What you see is what you get.” This is what companies are purporting to show with gameplay trailers, but many aren’t actually operating in good faith as they are showing targets rather than what actually is. There is a game I’m planning on buying who is releasing a DEMO later this week (Outriders for those who are wondering). If the demo is good (and I’m expecting it to be), then they will have earned a purchase through WYSIWYG. They’ve shown what looks like representative gameplay since it was released, and they are giving me the opportunity to try it out for myself. This is the way ALL gaming companies should operate if they don’t want the backlash that Anthem and Cyberpunk 2020 generated. Let me see if the game that you’ve shown actually matches the game that I want and, if so, you’ve earned a sale. Mass Effect Andromeda showed me that Bioware/EA are more interested in the investors than me, so I began to practice the caveat emptor philosophy more diligently in the video game industry than I had in the past. Until more people embrace this same philosophy, and until they hold platform holders like Microsoft accountable when they “co-market” and hype up these deceptive trailers (and not go ga-ga over celebrity endorsements like Keanu Reeves on their stage), we’re going to continue to see such disappointing products and backlashes. Remember, the money the companies want is yours, not theirs, and they have no obligation to it. Caveat Emptor! Make the companies show you the actual games that you will be playing (demos) and if they choose not to, hold your purchase until reviews are released, regardless of the Preorder bonuses they shower you way.

Caveat Emptor! Let the buyer beware!

Sidney

Please consider supporting these fine small press publishers where my work has appeared:

Read Skin Deep for Free at Aurora WolfRead Childe Roland for Free at Electric SpecPurchase  HawkeMoon  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or eBookPurchase  Dragonhawk  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindlePurchase  WarLight  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindlePurchase  Ship of Shadows  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindlePurchase  Faerie Knight  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindleCurrently Working On (February 2021):Unhallowed (Weird Western Story)
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Project Seas = To Dance the Sea of Storms (Short-Story)

Image Source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/548454060847640099/

I apologize for last week. I keep telling myself that I’ll work on 2-3 blog posts over the weekend, but it just never seems to work out. Last Saturday, I went have my taxes done, and I wasn’t able to get the blog posts again for a second week, so I decided to just do shorter blog posts so that even if I can’t do it the blog daily, I can at least get 2-3 blog posts per week. Today I’m going to start that with a shorter post on managing to finish a new short story.

2 Few Days

So, after finding out that I’ve only had two (2) writing this year, I was very disappointed in myself as a writer. I’ve had many other things to do, but only working on a project for 2 days was something that I have to better with. I’m slowly working my way toward a possible schedule for my class in terms of grading, but I think I over-extended myself on the amount of school projects that I’ve taken on this semester. However, there’s no use complaining–I just need to try to balance my writing, school, and life as best I can in order to accomplish what I can.

So, long story short, I set up a 250 word session goal for Scrivener and worked toward the ending of the first draft of the project. I wrote 272 words in 2 days, but because I was already close to the end of the story, I managed to finish the draft in those two days.

It took me a total of 9 Writing Days to finish the story: 5 days in December, 2 in January, and 2 in February. It is approximately 2,300 words. I feel that it needs a little more, though.

To Dance the Sea of Storms

I’ve had a version of this title for most of the time that I’ve been working on it. I think I’ve said before, but in case I haven’t, most of my stories are generated from ideas that come to me first from titles. I generally think of the title first and then the plot, characters, and setting all come from the title. Rarely, it doesn’t work this way, but for this story, it did.

I will save a “deep-dive” on the plot and story and initial idea for the “Author’s Note” when I send the story off for the first time, but I’ll give a little information about it here. It is a fantasy story inspired by a line of dialogue in a fairly well known story by Stephen Crane called, “The Open Boat.” My story involves sailing and high seas adventure in fantasy world. Think of it as Master and Commander: Far Side of the World in a fantasy world.

So What’s Next?

I’m going to work on another project (planning it out and writing an outline). When I finish that one (hopefully, in a reasonable amount of time), I will come back to To Dance the Sea of Storms and work on the 2nd draft. In the interim, I’ll do a character sketch of the main character, Brynn and jot down notes for how the larger world works. I already have an idea for a new “beginning” scene that should show Brynn’s character to the reader without doing as much telling as I am in this first draft. Considering that this is the middle of February, I don’t think I’ll get back to working on the revision to this story for at least a month. However, as I’m comfortable with doing one new short story per semester, I think I’m still on pace to have the story ready for submission by late April/early May.

I enjoyed writing the story, but I just wish that I could have finished it in December or early January (by spending more time on it more consistently). I most definitely plan to do that during the revision phase.

Sidney

Please consider supporting these fine small press publishers where my work has appeared:

Read Skin Deep for Free at Aurora WolfRead Childe Roland for Free at Electric SpecPurchase  HawkeMoon  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or eBookPurchase  Dragonhawk  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindlePurchase  WarLight  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindlePurchase  Ship of Shadows  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindlePurchase  Faerie Knight  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindleCurrently Working On (February 2021):Unhallowed (Weird Western Story)
Out to MarketStarlight, Starbright (Science Fiction Story)
In for Revision & EditingThe Independent (Science Fiction Story)
Out to MarketTo Dance the Sea of Storms (Fantasy Story)
Prewrite: Completed, Plan & Outline: Completed, Write a first draft: Completed, Revision: Not Yet Started

January 2021 Writing Log (2 Writing Days)

Image Source: https://researchleap.com/useful-academic-writing-tips/

I’m re-purposing this blog post. This was in my “Drafts” folder here on WordPress and was an entry that was supposed to go up way back in . . . (I’m ashamed to admit this) . . . September 2020. Yep, that’s right, I started this draft to talk about some of my writing projects way back in September of last year, and well, school happened and I never got back to it. So, I’m scrapping the introduction that’s here and replacing it with the one you’re reading (don’t worry, you aren’t missing much)–just some generic garbage about how I’m going to do better and be a better writer in the coming semester (yeah, because that aged SO well). Anyway, I thought, rather than talk about what I want to accomplish, let’s actually talk about what I did accomplish. Let’s hold myself accountable, with the good, the bad, and yes, the ugly. And speaking of ugly, have a gander at the next section.

2 Writing Days in January

Yeah, I’m not proud of this one myself. I only managed two, yes count ’em, two writing days in January. Obviously, that’s not really true as I put together a syllabus for the course I’m teaching as well as the various assignments, I uploaded a ton of materials to D2L, the online learning platform for MTSU, I wrote a letter of recommendation for one of my students, and way too many emails to even count, many three solid paragraphs and more. I also need to update a couple of more documents in the near future as well as draft my conference paper for TPA (TN Philological Association) for an upcoming conference.

So, when I say only 2 writing days and I’m down on myself, it refers to creative writing (and it doesn’t even include the blog, although the entries haven’t been as plentiful as I would have liked). According to Scrivener, I wrote on Jan. 11 (134 words) and Jan. 30 (350 words) for a January 2021 total of approximately 500 words (484 words) for the month. I guess that it is good that it wasn’t 0 words, but I really feel like I can do better (one of the reasons to do this blog–both this post and the blog overall–is to do just that: do better).

Project Sea Stats

The project that I’m currently working is called Project Sea. I do an Author’s Note (my version of a “deep dive”) on it when I finished it and have sent it off to its first market. However, I can give some basic stats: in December 2020, I managed 5 writing days with a total of 1,243 words. When you add in the 484 words from January 2021, that means I’m currently up to approximately 1,700 words into the story. It feels like I’m wrapping the story up, and if I’d would have had more than 2 writing days in January, I probably would have finished the first draft already.

Why does this matter? My subconscious mind has already begun working on revisions for the story. I now have a new introductory scene that I would like to write to add in a stronger focus on characterization than what I have currently written. By not writing and finishing the first draft, I’m sabotaging my writing process. If I stop working on the ending, then when I get to the revision, I won’t know the specifics of what I need to describe. This happens quite often in my projects as I feel the revised scene is much stronger than what I have, but I’m making myself finish the first draft this time around so that hopefully, my subconscious will work its way through the rest of the story.

Semester by Semester, 250 words by 250 words

So, even though this is January, I’m also working from semester to semester. By the end of the semester, I want to have Project Seas finished and ready to start submitting. I want to start a new project (short story) for Summer 2021. Three (3) new short projects per year (1 a semester) seems like a workable goal, especially in addition to writing longer projects that can span more than 1 semester (and working on a dissertation as well).

All this to say, that I haven’t done myself any favors by only writing 2 days in January. I averaged 242 words for the month, which is the same 250 words per bulletin board post that I ask my students to do all of last semester and this semester as well. In single space, digital form, 250 words only equals about two paragraphs (full paragraphs, mind you) of screen real estate, so I feel like it is something that is both substantial, yet achievable. That’s what I’m working towards myself this month. Hitting as many 250 word writing days as possible. As I finish this post, it is Feb. 3rd, 2021 and I’ve not yet written anything for the month of February (creatively–I’ve actually finished two blog posts this month–maybe I should put these into Scrivener just to keep a running total of when I work on these things as well; something to consider).

Well, this blog post is beginning to run long–there’s not a word counter on the post editor itself, but once I post it, I can see how long this is, but I’m guessing it is at least 500 words and probably closer to 750-800, so I will wrap it up here. My takeaway: 250 words is ridiculously doable and I need to maximize the number of days that I hit the 250 word target. As February is the shortest month, you (and I) should know shortly if I can take advantage of the new knowledge that I’ve gained about my writing process.

Sidney

Please consider supporting these fine small press publishers where my work has appeared:

Read Skin Deep for Free at Aurora WolfRead Childe Roland for Free at Electric SpecPurchase  HawkeMoon  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or eBookPurchase  Dragonhawk  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindlePurchase  WarLight  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindlePurchase  Ship of Shadows  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindlePurchase  Faerie Knight  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindleCurrently Working On (February 2021):Unhallowed (Weird Western Story)
Out to MarketStarlight, Starbright (Science Fiction Story)
In for Revision & EditingThe Independent (Science Fiction Story)
In for Revision & EditingProject Seas (Fantasy Story)
Prewrite: Completed, Plan & Outline: Completed, Write a first draft: In Progress