Satorialism

New posts up at The Gathering Storm!

2010-02-10T10:32:00.001-08:00

Come on over and check out my posts at thegatheringstormcraft.blogspot.com! :D

NaNoWriMo 2009

2009-10-10T22:01:00.000-07:00

And so it begins again . . .

If you haven't signed up yet (or you have no idea what I'm talking about), head over to www.nanowrimo.org for all the noveling goodness.

The month is all about shutting off the inner editor and critic, and getting the words down onto paper, or - sit down, shut up, and write!

Hope to see you around in November!

Today's Review: Luther Red

2008-01-10T21:42:00.000-08:00

As part of my New Year's Resolution (I figure it sticks better if you capitalize it) to write more, I'm debuting a new series called the Review. I'll be reviewing anything that I happen to feel like waxing philosophic about - anything from music and books, to annoying public speaking habits and least favorite government cliches (that one will make sense later). Today, a little belatedly, I'm reviewing a New Year's show I attended, and, more generally, the band that performed.

I'm not going to compare the band - made up of singer/guitarist Brian, guitarist Dustin, and drummer Kermit - to any other band. I refuse to do that. But here is a little bit of what being at a Luther Red show is like - imagine you got invited to a party thrown by the "cool kids." No, better yet, imagine you ARE one of the cool kids, and you are at a cool kids' party, and everyone is laughing and dancing and hugging and talking, and having one of those great times that you usually only see on a teen angst drama, only without any of the teen angst or cheesy dialogue or bad lighting. Seeing Luther Red live is like being at a summer barbeque with all your best friends (even if you've only just met most of the people at the bar, and it is January). That is the comfortable, unpretentious, inclusive vibe you get at a Luther Red show. The music is equally enjoyable whether you are sitting and tapping your foot, or grooving until exhaustion on the dance floor.

Next time these down-home (and did I mention? super sexy) guys are playing in your neighborhood bar, don't miss them. And be sure to ask them to get some more albums out there for our continued listening pleasure.

Halfway, and I'm not even close . . .

2007-11-15T20:08:00.000-08:00

Well, looks like I made a couple of mistakes. They are as follows:

1. Setting the bar way too low. If you tell yourself you need to write at least 10,000 words (when the real goal is 50,000), you will probably only write about 10,000 words. Even an over-achiever working toward 10,000 is only going to hit about 15K, max.

2. Thinking that a new apartment and new job would afford me a ton of luxury time in which I would wax poetic, pontificate, and write write write. BIG mistake.

3. Have cable tv/netflix/internet access for distraction. Plus cleaning that needs doing, unpacking that needs doing, and random unnecessary tasks that oh-so-really don't need doing. Next year I'm going to retire to a cave with only a typewriter and enough water and canned food (and, let's be honest, chocolate) until I get my 50,000 words.

Ah well. And maybe I should be writing my novel instead of blogging, too.

The end of day one, and not (quite) defeated

2007-11-01T22:20:00.000-07:00

Ok, so the first day of NaNoWriMo is drawing to a close (is that a too-trite phrase?). After just a tiny start at midnight, I had to head home for my much-much-needed beauty rest. I had to be in Sactown from 7:30 am (well, I made it at 8, anyway) until 11 am. I came home and wrote my novel, er, took a two hour nap. Then I got up and sat for a while. Then I wrote 490 words, and fell into a self-pitying stubborn funk and put the laptop away. After a snack, I laid back down, since you can't be too careful about keeping well-rested during NaNoWriMo. Or maybe I have it exactly wrong - and I shouldn't sleep so much . . . just when I was envisioning giving it all up on the FIRST DAY (!!!), I checked the website, and got some inspiration from the successes of my comrades. So, I started again, and the story started to flow, and voila! over a thousand words. Still below the needed quota, but a good first day nonetheless. Now I am waiting for the maintenance folks to call (less than a week in my new apartment and already the upstairs neighbors' shower is pouring through my bathroom ceiling). I'm probably done writing for the night, but in much better spirits than I was a few hours ago. Probably it was the second nap.

Live from NaNoWriMoKickOCoSho

2007-10-31T22:44:00.000-07:00

Ok, so to me, it is already late. That subject line means National Noveling Writing Month Kick Off at the Coffee Shop. Yeah, I'm sorry.

I'm here in lovely downtown (?) Dixon, at the actually quite cool Java California, getting ready for the witching hour (the ultimate witching hour, seeing as how it is All Hallow's Eve), at which we'll be able to commence our novels. 50,000 words in 30 days. One friend told me that he couldn't type 50,000 words in one month if he knew what he was writing and typed continuously all month. Another friend said that he wouldn't make it if he held down the "I" key all month. So, not exactly the best cheerleaders! But luckily I've joined the ranks of crazy people, most of who have attempted this multiple times, and some who have even succeeded.

Right now, we are just hanging out and sharing our favorite you tube videos. I feel very out of the loop on the world of gaming and graphic novels.

NaNoWriMo

2007-10-17T20:22:00.000-07:00

Ok. So there is this crazy group of people who get together - in reality and/or online - around the world (don't let the Na fool you) to write a novel in during the month of November. Or, technically, to write at least 50,000 words during the month. Pretty much from scratch. A pre-determined story line is fine, character and settings ideas also fine. But no pre-written prose. So. Pretty crazy. And stressful. And no little amount silly.

Which meant, of course, when I found out, I had to do it. If nothing else, it gives me a couple of weeks where I don't have to feel guilty about not writing, since I have to save my strength for the literary orgy that is NaNoWriMo (which, btw, stands for National Novel Writing Month and is pronounced Naa No Wry Mo').

Wish me luck. As this is my first attempt, I'll be really happy if I can break 10,000 words. That would be almost more writing than the last 8 months or so combined. That's the real reason I am doing this - I'm hoping a glut of writing will help me build some momentum, and keep writing - albeit at a more sane pace.

RIP Kurt Vonnegut

2007-04-12T12:53:00.000-07:00

It is so strange - I didn't think about Kurt Vonnegut as a man that much. Didn't think about him in any fashion, really, except as peripherally involved somehow in works such as Breakfast of Champions, Palm Sunday, and the Sirens of Titan. In some way, I think that is the sign of the best authors - you don't think of them of the "creators" of their work, because they've made their work that real for you, if only for the time that you've got your nose buried in their book. I didn't really think all that much about Vonnegut as a man except in, naturally, the autobiographical Palm Sunday. Despite the bits and pieces of Vonnegut that you knew were woven into so many of his characters, I never thought of Vonnegut as MORE real or tangible than any of them. Yet despite all this, his death seems starkly more real, if only for a short while, than anything in his books. Would he have wanted that? Likely not, since death (and mortality, and flaws) were starkly real in EVERY thing he created.

All the same, he will be missed. The well of his particular genius has just become, in some ways, finite. KV - rest in peace.