From Twitter 10-25-2010

( Tweets. Scintillating, innit. )

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The Iron Goddess of Mercy has my back

The next five days are going to be interesting.

I need to finish a short story draft sometime between now and Thursday so that it can percolate for 24 hours before I edit it and send it in for a 10/31 deadline.

Meanwhile, the first round of the NYC Midnight Short Screenplay Challenge is this weekend (10/29-10/31). I should take some time between now and Friday to look at some shooting scripts to get a better feel for what I’m about to run face-first into, and maybe review some of my favorite sources (like Save The Cat).

Oh, and if I’m smart, I will make some time between now and Monday to get the first four chapters or so of my NaNovel outlined so that I can be productive first thing on 11/1.

The good news is that I’ve been strategic in advance. I have some very helpful time off coming up for seasonal observances, and then some days in November because I’d like the extra time to write. All I have to do is get over the 10/31 hump. With the exception of school — did I mention I’ve gone back because I’m a hair’s breadth from my B.A. in English? — it’s all NaNo for November.

It’s funny, though, working full-time days, taking classes at night, and trying to be creative as well. I haven’t done this in four years, but it’s still familiar enough that everything just clicks into place in my head.

Serving three masters is apparently like riding a bicycle. Just, you know, it’s a bicycle careening down a steep hill into heavy traffic.

Luckily, one of my local caffeine sources is going to try and have some of my favorite oolong on hand for me to bring home on Friday.

~*~

I want to thank people for offering feedback on my entry about fail. I’ve identified some problems with it — some relatively egregious ones, like inadvertent concern trolling and more of a tone argument than I am at all comfortable with — and have spent the last few days really digging into what I genuinely think, and what I think I should do about that. I’m hoping to have a follow-up post sometime in the next week or so, which will also be free game for folks with brains who want to pick over it and help me refine it.

It takes a village, people. For freaking real.

~*~

- It is apparently book season for my friends right now! P. Sufenas Virius Lupus’ The Syncretisms of Antinous is out. This is interesting to me not just because my practice includes Antinous, but because it showcases some of the flexibility and diversity of practice that late Roman (and other) polytheism(s) allowed for, and could allow for within our present communities and practices.

- No really, it’s book season. Jim C. Hines has brought his out-of-print early novel, Goldfish Dreams, out of the Tupperware. It’s only available as an e-book, but Jim being Jim that means he’s going to make it up to us with AWESOME STATISTICS.

- Irony: members of the party that has co-opted “don’t tread on me” stomp on protester. Say it with me, kids: The first rule of political discourse is that we don’t attack people and then stomp on their heads.

- From the Department of WTF: Have a prescription for a drug with street value? Have a job that requires drug testing? Your Xanax (or Oxycodone, or Valium…) could get you fired.

- Fermilab is trying to test the holographic universe theory. I kind of love the philosophical implications here. (Note: I am not a theoretical physicist or a professor of philosophy. My opinions on the matter come with a complimentary packet of salt.)

- A truly frustrating essay about the wages of poverty, disability, and public assistance in America. How is it that we regard the ethic that says that those who have only a little must always be miserable — and that the faintest whiff of having something approximating pleasure (or, gods forfend, enough) is grounds for punishment — as virtue?

- Was reminded of this essay by Catherynne M. Valente today and thought, “You know, more people should read this. It’s interesting.”

- A useful Venn diagram. I can point to this any time I need to explain why I can never run for public office.

- The ACLU’s Blog of Rights comments on President Obama’s contribution to the It Gets Better project. I have terribly mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, I think it’s commendable that a sitting president has spoken out on the topic, and in support of LGBTQ youth. On the other hand, the Obama administration hasn’t been the fierce force of advocacy that was promised us, and I would feel better about this if efforts to repeal DADT weren’t being thwarted by the DOJ. As it stands, my inner cynic has been having a field day churning out variations on, “It gets better, except that you’re still not good enough to have a right to work, marry, or serve.” (That being said, McCain would have been a great deal worse; the lesser of two evils may still be evil, but it’s less evil.)

- Reason #27 I should not be allowed to read canning blogs: I see something like this and think, “I wonder if I can still get enough peaches to make enough syrup so I can make spicy jelly…

This post has been mirrored from Christian A. Young's Dimlight Archive. To see it in its original format, visit dimlightarchive.com