What Tam has written about being discomboooberated by a topsy-turvy vacation schedule goes double or triple for me and having money worries on top of it isn't helping any. I'm short-tempered and absent-minded right now.
Hope to be back to my usual cheerful self by and by. (And for sure by Sunday even if I have to get all sparkly on B-complex vitamins to do it).
Just gotta keep on ploddin' for now, I have cats to keep fed. You might find it odd, sad or whatever but in the very dark days when all of a sudden I was single, that was what kept me going. Oh, it's fun to have books and radios and a nifty workshop but that's all just toys. The kitties are countin' on me.
Quick survey: My comic-book yarns, I Work On A Starship:
Keep on posting them?
Drop them?
Spin them off on their own blog?
What do you think?
Keep on posting them! Definitely. I'll read them Here, There or anywhere!
ReplyDeleteGood lord, Robert, keep posting them!!
ReplyDeleteWV: Multi. As in many. Which is how many times my chihuahua has barfed today.
And that should be Roberta, of course. No way would I mistake you for a Robert!!
ReplyDeleteKeep on posting! And put into a book!.
ReplyDeleteHang in there. I plied Tam with bags of Pirate Booty to avert starvation. If all else fails, .45 acp and carbs.
Everyone is different, of course, but I find it easier to keep separate subjects separate. The more so when they are aimed at widely differing interest groups.
ReplyDeleteIf it were me the story would go on it's own blog - but perhaps it's fortunate that it's not me.
Stranger
I like them just fine right where they are.
ReplyDeleteKeep writing them. I'll read them wherever.
ReplyDeleteWV: wowili - what I say every time I see one
Please continue writing them, where and when you like, although more would be greatly appreciated.
ReplyDeleteWord verification: "champe"
I'd be happy to see more of them here, personally. :) It might be a duh-type observation, but they are relevant to my interests.
ReplyDeleteJim
Keep posting; when you have enough for a book, self-publish on Lulu.
ReplyDeleteLook forward to reading them here, but it's your blog and you're supplying the free ice cream.
ReplyDeleteNo kewl captcha for me, just gahemi...
Keep `em comin' and right here is just fine! And let us know when it comes out in print!
ReplyDeleteVitamin B is wonderful, but have you tried motherwort?
DON'T STOP! Are ya tryin' to give me the BIG one? I'd prefer it right here, but I'll read it wherever you put it. Just don't stop; the withdrawal would be horrible...
ReplyDeleteSeriously, I look forward to the postings of my Shooty Ladies: Brigid, Tam, Breda, and you. Love you all!
Another vote in favor - here or elsewhere, as long as you let us know where to find them!
ReplyDeleteThe only way I would accept you stopping is if your publisher were to say they wouldn't give you money if you keep giving the product away for free.
ReplyDeleteAs for whether you should separate them that is your choice.
A fine way to do would be the way NeptunusLex set up his Rhythm series
ReplyDeletehttp://www.neptunuslex.com/rhythms-the-compendium/
Keep posting. Post more often. Let the rest of the crap fall by the wayside if necesary.
ReplyDeletePLEASE keep posting them! I love those stories - I will read them wherever you post them, just let us know!
ReplyDeleteLove the Starship stuff, reminds me of when I worked on ships in a repair yard.
ReplyDeleteI think they are very nice reads. You need to do as you think best as such a task, though self imposed, could lead to burn out so I would rather see you post, but the story is good too.
ReplyDeleteBe happy.
keep em, one day you could knit them into a book.
ReplyDeleteIn stressful moments, I've found that the application of the hand of my choice to the nearest fuzzy cat tummy for five or ten minutes is surprisingly relaxing.
ReplyDelete"Drop them?"
You're kidding, right? (Otherwise: NOOOOOOO!!!)
And where they are is just fine.
Roberta,
ReplyDeleteYou're an excellent descriptive writer, with a good hand at turning verbal-into-visual imagery.
One thing I was thinking the other day (in the weay of constructive criticism, is that your stories don't advance.
I'd say, take a stab at longer fiction- novella at least, and try to get published for ca$h. Which is, after all, the sincerest form of flattery. Science fiction Writers of the Future, for example.
I also have some friends at Per Aspera Press who specialize in this sort of thing with new writers. I helped place Bill DeSmedt's book Singularity at Powell's (just did some legwork by being there in person, Karawynn and Jak did all the heavy lifting by creating a really great author intro package, slick book jacket etc.)
Most definitely keep posting them.
ReplyDeleteI love reading them but you need to do what you need to do. Don't worry about your fans.
ReplyDeleteMove to a /story page with a sidebar near the top of the main page showing latest update.
ReplyDeleteIt all depends on your reason for telling the stories in the first place. It's nice of you to ask your readers, but a project like this has to be on an "as personal circumstance allows" basis. Which I'm certain we all understand.
ReplyDeleteThat said, if you want to do more with this story arc than you already are (like develop it into a book say), then a seperate site would probably make things much less chaotic for you (note I did not say less work). If what you currently write satisfies you then continue as your other responsibilities and circumstance permit.
If you desperately need yet another time-sink to fill out your day, how about a members-only site/forum to more fully develop the alt universe you've begun to assemble? :)
Related query: Is your financial/other circumstance fairly short-term in nature or should IN regional readers be stocking up on solar panels and the like?
Wow!
ReplyDelete...I didn't anticipate the response!
I am leaning towards moving the stories to their own blog while posting the opening paragraph and a link here, which might solve (what I see as) the problem of dumping one to two thousand words into this blog and pushing more topical items out of easy sight.
Larry: I thought the present yarn was advancing? (I do have a sort of an outline or plot for it). Most of them are just vignettes and intended as that -- sort of a mood and/or a moment in a box, quickly sketched using available materials.
I have had writer's block in the past, very badly, and these stories are a workaround: all I do is just get the words on paper, however they come out, then fix grammar and spelling errors (when I find them), period. Most of the writing happens on my lunch breaks. I used to read during lunch and after I got an Eee, it struck me that I could output words about as quickly as I was inputting them.
I have no plans to sell any of this. Very few folks make a living writing. Every so often I send something in. Sometimes it comes back with helpful hints, free for the postage.
Do what you have to do lassie but keep them coming and we will keep reading and enjoying!
ReplyDeleteI don't think having pets be a psychological anchor is odd or sad at all- I know for damn sure that when I lived without them it was much easier for a funk to turn into a black hole. I'm better at taking care of them than myself, but I have to meet some minimum standard of taking care of myself to take care of them, so...
ReplyDeleteIf you stop posting starship stories, I will have unpleasant sentiments to express and will withhold at least the next four links to nifty things I think you would be interested in when I eventually stumble across them. Disrupting the free ice cream? Savage! Also, I like them just fine here, but if you'd prefer to post them elsewhere I'll happily wander over as they come out.
ReplyDeleteHang in there, and if there's anything LabRat or I can do to help (another batch of cocoa?) you know where to find us.
Oh, I love reading your starship stories. Please keep them coming!
ReplyDeleteI join the others in asking you to keep posting them - I greatly enjoy the series, no matter what venue you choose to use miss! Thanks.
ReplyDeleteMost of them are just vignettes and intended as that -- sort of a mood and/or a moment in a box, quickly sketched using available materials.
ReplyDeletePerzackly. If you have no intention of widening the audience, then they are perfect the way they are- a few moments of distraction.
If there's a more ambitious project in you, you have to move beyond describing an incident into telling a story. All stories are morality plays, and therefore require protagonists with conflicts which they have to sort out according to some sort of ethical/moral compass. Conscious antagonists are helpful, but not absolutely necessary- the moral dilemma can be a result of environmental factors, where the antagonist is either inanimate or a cardboard cutout of a character, and the drama is all internalized to the protagonist.
The interesting part is not that "something happened to somebody," but how they dealt with it, and personal growth or affirmation that occured through that.
So far your protagonist is describing things that happen to other people (the conflict in the latest one has a sub-plot hero in the security doodz who risk themselves for the common safety, with a little moral conflict in the taking on of that risk) or describing things she is involved in that don't really involve moral dilemma. There's no lesson in her experiences other than a subtle "some people are bitchy at work, and tech geeks have jobs to do in the face of it." Which, while it is a good and true message, ain't exactly high drama.
I have tried my hand at a bit of writing, but I have stumbled over this bit. I am pretty good at descriptive writing with vivid mental imagery, but stringing that into a story takes a bit more discipline and good ideas.
I like your voice in these vignettes. Reminds of of R.A.H. in Podkayne of Mars.
Feel free to completely disregard my advice, it's worth what you've paid for it so far...
Indeed. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteNaNoWriMo is coming up...
ReplyDeleteWhat Nathan said.
ReplyDeleteExcited Vulcan, too.