Working on the comic lists.

Spent all day redoing the comics subscription list.

It's a bit harder to do because I'm not really up to date on current titles.  When in doubt, I just included a title. Better too much information than too little.

Sometimes there is a license, such as Groo, or Rocketeer say, where nothing is currently coming out, but one might in a future year.  So good to know who wanted these.

Biggest title this time around was Secret Wars.

Biggest regular title was Batman.

Biggest group was Star Wars.

Considering that comic sales have been pretty good, it is sometimes surprising to see how sparse the shelf numbers are.  We have more subscribers than a couple of years ago, but nowhere near the old-time numbers.  Same for the comics.  Even in those long ago days when Bend was 1/4th the population it is now, we had bigger numbers.  Of course, comics were .75 and there were fewer of them.

Weird thing to see the X-Men looking so pathetic.  I've heard the Marvel is purposely neglecting these titles because they don't have rights to the movies.

That seems pretty short-sighted to me.

I remember when it was the Avengers who were neglected, and it was X-Men all the time.

DC, despite having Batman as the biggest regular title, doesn't seem to be doing as well.  They haven't quite managed to leverage their big guns -- Batman, yes, but not so much Superman, Flash, Green Lantern, and Wonder Woman.

I really wonder what a commitment to consistency would do for these guys.  Probably doesn't work, but I yearn for it.  They change titles so often I don't know how the customers keep up!

We're in for ALL NEW!!! universes in Marvel and DC again this summer.

For the 100th time.

Mowing the lawn with a weedeater.

Fair warning.  This blog entry is about as interesting in watching the lawn grow. 

Due to a comedy of errors, I finally got the lawnmower operational today.

Too late.

The grass was a foot high, maybe higher.  I mowed about 10 feet and realized it was hopeless.  So went out there with the weed eater and cut it down to size.

Which is a little bit like sweeping the sidewalk with a toothbrush.  I finally figured out the best way to do it was left to right, about 2 or 3 inches at a time.  About halfway through I figured out that if I just held the one handle, and balanced it by holding the other handle, I didn't have to lift and carry so much. 

I'm going to let the cuttings dry for a few hours, then rake them up, and then an hour before dark tonight I'll mow at the highest height allowed.  Then tomorrow, I'll mow at regular height.

And then, by God, I'll keep up.

I keep telling myself I'm saving 2000 bucks by not having the lawn mowing service I had last year.

It's normally a half hour job.  This turned it into a five hour job.  Heh.

Ragnarok Block Party.

A little online get together on Monday with five authors.

I come on at 5:45 on the West Coast, just to chat, show the book, answer some questions.  I'm boring, but the the other four authors are scintillating. 

There'll be some giveaways and a good time will be had by all.

https://www.facebook.com/events/626601564143078/629470910522810/

"Inspiration book."

I'm up to Chapter 8 of Gargoyle Dreams.  I've gotten to that point in the book where things are uncertain and changes are being made, so I've stopped posting the chapters online.  Sorry about that.  The chapters I posted are still valid, though one of them has been moved, but like I said, putting up more would probably just be misleading.  Not that any of you are suffering, I'm sure.

This is my "inspiration" book.

What I mean by that is -- I'm waiting for inspiration before I start writing.  Which normally I think would be dangerous, if not impossible.  But I've been on such a roll, and I've got so much written, that I can take a chance.

One way of dealing with it is to do a small amount per day.  Leaving some psychic energy for the next day.  So the chapters are about 1200 words, and that's all I try to do.  That is still a significant amount, though no where near how many words I can do when I really get rolling.

Another thing I'm doing is giving myself permission not to write at all if nothing comes to me.  That's happened on two writing days so far, though it was mostly because real life intruded in some way.  But I've got to let real life start to "intrude" here and there.

Another way of dealing with it is that I'm leaving it open-ended as to how long it will be. It may very well be a novella, in the 30K range, which is still worth putting online.

Yet another thing I'm doing is not artificially pumping up the action or drama.  This is kind of a tender book, in a way.  My Peter S. Beagle-ish book, and it will have as much action and drama as the story needs and no more.

I've given myself one stricture, which is actually helping me shape and form the book.  I'm going to tell the story from the POV of only two characters, in alternating chapters, in a single setting.  So far, that seems to be working.  No flashbacks, no extra character POV's, no new locations.  All those things are good tricks to freshen up a story, but I'm trying not to do them.

I've decided that if I'm going to be so prolific, I need to challenge myself each time, to try new things.  I'm liking writing a new story each time, instead of a continuation.  I think going forward, that's probably what I'll try to do more of.

I'll keep the series going that I think work, such as the Virginia Reed series and ... maybe ... the Lander series.  But as soon as I wrap up Tuskers, I'm going to try to go one-ups from then on.  (Of course, if any single book were to "take off" I'd be willing to rethink it...:)

Loose Ends.

The loose ends in my writing career are accumulating.  Unfinished books, books that are being edited by various folk, stories that are finished and just need to be put online, books that need to be rewritten, books that need to be re-edited, covers that need to be made, series that need to be completed, and so on and so forth.

So what do I do?  I start another first draft.

I've decided that is the proper emphasis. 

Writing, and writing what I write when I want to write it.

All the rest is just working.  At some point, I have faith, I'll get around to tying up all those loose ends.  But for now, if I have an inspiration, it seems to me that I need to respond that inspiration.

Fight the Entropy!

Everything's breaking down. Lawn mower went first. Turns out the batteries give out, especially if you don't use them.  I had a landscaping service last year, since I was in the throes of writing the year before that and let everything go to hell.

I thought it would be an enormous problem to replace the battery so was ready to go out and buy a gas powered one.  At the last moment, I finally figured out how to replace the battery, so ordered a new one.  Won't be here until late in the week and meanwhile my lawn is a jungle.

The computer at the store is collapsing everyday, so it's time to get a new one.  But I'm afraid that I'll need my Wifi connection password and try as I might I can't figure out how to do that.  So that has to be resolved.  I need Aaron, but he's got his new "Maker" enterprise going...so he's kinda busy.

Linda went kayaking a couple of years ago, and loved it so she wanted us to both get involved and I said yes so we bought a couple of kayaks and then didn't do anything last year because we got stumped by racks.  (Linda wanted a rack that she could do by herself, and I doubted there was such a thing that wasn't prohibitively expensive -- and besides, I didn't think it was safe for her to go alone.) Finally went to Rack and Roll here in Bend and it turned out to be fairly easy.

We went kayaking at Elk Lake on Sunday, and I have to admit it was pretty fun.  It was a beautiful day so we went about as far from our parking spot as possible and then suddenly a big storm rolled in.  By the time we got back, it was pouring rain and thunder and lightning.  Which made it kinda fun, actually.

I figure kayaking is the perfect duffer sport.  The only difficulty is getting the kayaks on top of Linda's SUV.  The kayaks aren't that heavy but they are awkward.  I just need to find the proper balance point and I think that will be easy.

Meanwhile, I've started another book, Gargoyle Dreams, which I really like.  It's a "Gothic love-story", kind of a Beauty and the Beast storyline and I'm very much enjoying it.  Not sure what the point of writing so much is -- but I do enjoy just doing it, so I guess that's the point.

I'm lazy and like writing first drafts.  I wish I was like Linda and some other writers I know who actually love revising.

Anyway, it just seems like most of my time is being used to just fight the entropy.  Trying to keep things from falling apart.  That's life, I guess.

The dead don't swim.

Yep, Game of Thrones, epic episode.

SPOILERS!

OK.  I liked Cersei having to lick water off the floor.  I loved the conversation between Tyrion and Daenerys.  (When this is all over can we have a spin-off show?  "Tyrion and Friends" something like that?)  I was charmed by Arya's (Cat-like) stroll through the wharf.

And then came the White Walkers.

This was incredibly satisfying and momentous.  I think the reason being that there has been a long slow buildup.

Now slow might not be the word you would use for GOT, but in the background of all the seasons, Winter is Coming.  This was a full manifestation of that saying. 

I've always felt that the very thing that makes Lord of the Rings such a hard read for some people, and the best book ever for other people is that it spends most of the book building to the epic climax.  The more we know the world, the more we understand the people, the bigger the payoff.

I think this is happening with GOT.  We care about these characters, but we're getting weary of all the back-stabbing politics. Enter pure evil, who doesn't give a damn about all that, and it's very bracing.  There is going to be one hell of a conclusion to this -- involving dragons, I assume, and dragon-riders (I vote for Tyrion, Daenerys and Jon Snow, though Arya would be good too.)

I can't wait.