Harry Connolly's Blog, page 187

America Speaks Out

The GOP has put up a site (for now) asking regular folks to suggest ideas for their agenda. Of course, everyone who contributed did so in a serious and respectful manner…

"I should have the right to name my children using numbers. If I want to name my child l33t, I should be able to name him that, darsh gone it. Who is the guberment to say that I can't name my children using numbers?"

"we should make english the official language of the US and stop spending tax dollars on translations for...

Day jobbing today

During yesterday's lunch break I had to hustle all over downtown picking up things I needed (toner cartridge! new bed sheets! large envelopes! tickets to see my friend's movie at SIFF!) and returned to the office a bit… misty.

All right, I was totally sweaty. Hey, I'm fat. It happens. (It used to happen before I was fat, too, but never mind).

So, self-conscious! Meeting with my boss in which I had to explain an error I made, while completely sweaty! A full afternoon spent fretting...

Quote of the day.

"The hype never matches up with reality," Mr. Norris said. "There's money to be made in e-books. There's money to be made in print books too. There's no reason why publishers shouldn't pursue both and just not let the hyperbole get out of control."

– Michael Norris, senior analyst at Simba Information, a publishing consultant firm

Amazon Encore and midlist writers

Recently, midlist mystery writer JA K*nr*th, announced proudly that he was going to publish the latest installment of his mystery series with Amazon Encore, the first "big name" (as he put it) author to switch to Amazon.com's inhouse publisher.

Of course, many writers have been self-publishing on Amazon.com's Kindle format, some with terrific success. K*nr*th himself feels his new contract is going to be a big deal, and that he's going to get a strong marketing push from Amazon.

Me, I'm not ...

Good news

Terry Rossio, who taught me so much about writing, made a new sale. Congratulations!

Randomness for 5/24

1) "I am merely giving you your problem" Emma Thompson's character in STRANGER THAN FICTION would have called this webcomic "fantastically depressing."

2) An interview with indie comics writer Shawn Granger.

3) Awesome Lovecraftian furniture.

4) Shit my kids ruined. aka "The strongest visual birth control on the market today."

5) "I'm 16. I got a book deal when I was 15. There are authors that were published at 13 and 14 and I always find myself thinking, God, must I fail at everything I do...

Because of yesterday's post…

Folks are dropping "creepy nice guy" links on me. Like this one.

It already made the rounds a couple years back, but… yeah. Another creep.

The dreaded "nice guy."

Today's writing session was cut short by a "nice guy."

As I've mentioned several times, I usually do my writing out of the apartment–fewer distractions and it helps to get my work finished if I have a set time I have to stop. There's a Starbucks close to my house that I used to visit all the time, but it became a pain in the ass. A lot of folks with serious issues began hanging out there. Sometimes they would carry on loud conversations in that small room. Sometimes they would do wound c...

As promised, pictures

Here are the pictures from the premiere of THE DEAD FEED last Thursday night. There are no videos. It didn't seem appropriate at the time.

So, if any other members of the cast were there aside from Kate (in blue), who played the protagonist's older sister Beth, I didn't see them.

A few more at the Flickr set.

Every film is created three times

The first time is when the writer writes the script.

The second time is when the cast and crew shoot the film.

The third time is when the editor assembles the final edit.

Each time the script is recreated, it's made from a narrow range of materials. The writer has a concept and some characters in mind, plus what they know can be done on film. The cast and crew have the locations and characters in the script. The editor has the footage and sound recording.

And that's why the movie I...