#WritingWednesday – Weekly Roundup 8
For the week of September 26 through October 2, 2011.
I write this as my train returning from Archon 35 pulls into the Springfield Illinois station and there is much to discuss over this past week of events. I am going to be writing these on Sunday and posting them on Wednesday to see if that helps me post on a more frequent basis, hence the reason for the dates I've started to include in at the top of these blog posts. I'll get to Archon in a little bit, but first the writing update -
With the trip in and out, the read through and notes creation for Slipspace has not been as productive this week as I might have liked. I did bring chapters with me and as of this writing I've gone through between five and seven chapters, though I've honestly lost count with everything going on. But I have come across the first major section of re-writes and as it turned out, I left the necessary research at home. That said, I am very much looking forward to tackling this challenge over the next few days as I read on and make sure I know what I need to make sure the job is done right.
The last of my first readers finished reading the draft of the third book and challenged me to write an epilogue. He'll argue that he requested it, did not challenge. But I took it as a bit of a challenge and spun one out during the train ride into St. Louis late last week. I'm very proud of it and can't wait to share it with all of you.
And that's about where the writing news stops. But there is more after the break.
In other news, the episode of The Shared Desk that I recorded with Tee Morris and Philippa Ballantine during my Washington DC visit a few weeks ago has gone live. You can find it here. In that, the fourth episode (FOUR, Pip!), we discuss the experience of writing in other people's universes. Specifically we discussed the collaborative process and how to interact with characters that are not necessarily your own in a world that is not your own. Then we go on and discussed the addictive video game crack that is Batman Arkham Asylum and Portal. The show runs a little long in their format, just under an hour. I highly recommend you head over and check it out. We had an absolute blast.
And finally, I attended Archon 35 in St. Louis this past weekend. To be honest I was a little disappointed in the con's programming, but the highlight certainly had to be sitting in on the recording of the upcoming 200th episode of The Backseat Producers and finally meeting Tony Mast in person. If I had to be honest with myself Archon was always intended as a side effect of the trip as a whole which, at it's origin, was to visit an old friend of mine from my high school years. Instead of flying or driving from Chicago to St. Louis (GO CUBS!), I chose to take the train. I haven't done this in a while but as I sit here, watching the scenery go by, my laptop plugged into the outlet and my phone serving as a mobile internet hotspot I find myself lamenting the general under use of our rail system. These days, even an upgraded seat on this train cost me less than the gas would have for my car, and certainly less than what it would have cost to fly. If you ever have the opportunity to travel and can make a train ride a part of that trip, I strongly recommend it.
In any event we are now just outside Lincoln Illinois and it's time for me to head into the cafe car and grab some grub. On the schedule for the next seven days will be to dive a little deeper in to the research I need to be doing for the Slipspace edits, work through more chapters, and get some work done on upcoming #cyborgfriday and #starshipsunday blog posts I have in mind.
Until next time!
