Vacation Day 7&8

I have ascended the mountain and come down with rainbows in a handkerchief, lightning and a mobius strip chain of paper clips.

I'm able to write this at the moment because my flight has been grounded an extra hour due to a thunderstorm in Atlanta. A fact that those of you in Atlanta are already probably aware. I am stuck in Houston. Ironically if I hadn't been seeing family just earlier this week I would have been tempted to arrange some kind of rendezvous during my lay over.

So I will start in reverse chronological order for the past two days and reminisce on the primary reason I went on this trip, the writer's program. Long story short, I bombed. At least, that's the way it was from a purely objective point of view. But its a lot more complicated than that. We reviewed the first story first, a riff on the Cthulu Mythos with a dash of the Hangover (weird but delightful) and one of our number was not there. So I went second. I was told that the idea was genius (I agree, tis one of the best I've had) but my craft was abominable. I've been told this before, but never in quite the same way.

Now, this is where it gets interesting boys and girls, because if this had happened three or four years ago I would have been devastated. If it had happened a year ago, I would have handled it stoically but ended the session as quickly as possible. But instead, I swallowed the sword and asked for more. I did not come to this just for a chance of networking. Sure, it is night for lightning to strike. It is nice to have someone read your work and think it so brilliant that they're going to put you in touch with their agent.

But there was another opportunity here, and because of the growth I've had in the last year I was able to take it. I had two professional writers and an experienced amateur tell me in precise and specific terms exactly WHY my craft was crap and I was able to ask specific questions about how to fix it.

And I've had one of those eureka paper clip moments. As in, a Paper clip is not like the light bulb. Its an idea that someone somewhere thought up if you could travel in time before the paper clip you could make one, patent it and sell it for a lot of money. I have always thought I wasn't a natural writer because I didn't have the passion of some that did, that I have always had to take a mechanistic method to my writing. And to be sure there is a component to that.

This might seem dumb, but I've never really thought about the nature of the writing as I write, I've just told the story. Honestly that's because that's how I read. I care about the story, what's happening, to whom and how. The other details are nice, but largely incidental. But MOST people do not read like that. They care about the craft of the writing in the story just as much as the story itself.

If that were the end of the story that would either be a time to give up or start from scratch, learning an entirely new skill. But wait...what if I had another skill that I could apply here...you know one that involved taking words and making them sing?

Like say...Poetry? Now simply 'poetifying' my writing of prose is a bit more complicated than it sounds. But its a start and it means that I have the artistic chops already for it. That's important, and as far as I'm half way there, and with my skill and practice in telling a good story at this point as far as I'm concerned that puts me 75% of the way there. As one of the professional authors put it, craft can be taught and learned. I just need to slow down and properly explain my ideas.

That I can do. So there is, at the last, a clear path to what I want. It will be a hell of a lot of work but I believe I can develop in a few years a high level professional talent such that I can earn a living doing this, and with that maybe the lever I've always been looking for at world class talent. Because really that's what I want...give me a lever large enough and I can move the world.

But that's another story...

Regardless, I have a direction, and I have a greater drive than I have ever had before. At this point in my life I have the perfect mix of passion for my craft and the maturity to detach myself from it and sacrifice what I must to make it great.

Two other interesting notes: They said it would make a great script or notes for a graphic novel....ie (I need to do more graphic novel scripts and script scripts) and another suggested that Unfood would make a good horror story. I think I have finally found my Boroughs moment....my Tarzan/John Carter of Mars is in the darkened lands of blood and darkness....but I also think that the whimsical side of myself demands that I try the other side as well. "Routine" science fiction and fantasy are not my strength and stock. We shall see.

So the other major objective on this trip was networking and well, to put it bluntly, my dating skills. Specifically, I need to learn how to approach, court and ask out women who are total strangers, since I don't have a ready pool from the single's ward any more and the world is my potential pool. Though I do have some thoughts on that for when I move to another city...communities are helpful and help us survive. LARPing and the indie film community are two activities (among others) that I will be actively engaging in when I move to my new host city.

Still, I did alright with networking. Basically I made about 5 really good contacts. I have not heard back from any of them and suspect I might not, but bearing in mind even talking to a stranger about this kind of thing before would have been largely beyond me or I wouldn't have followed up on it I mark that as progress. I have more to learn on this but I aim to keep practicing it and refining it.

I talked to probably 4-5 women for flirting/etc purposes. The fact that I'm able to even do that at all now also marks tremendous progress. The books I've read break the process up into 'phases' and I've got the first phase down..ish, but I'm still terrible at connecting. I think part of it is how alien a perspective I come from on a lot of things....initial contact is fine but I think they still sense nervousness or something. I'm calm myself but maybe its just lingering body language etc from before.

Practice makes perfect and I aim to keep hammering away.

So lets see...I did not engage in any gambling. Didn't see the point. I feel my metaphysical karma has better uses. And in a lot of ways I did indeed see it pay off in spades. I felt the true objectives I had on this trip were met and magnified a lot.

The Hugo Awards....seem really cool but the person who I was rooting for did not win. I've enjoyed these kinds of things in the past because I like to see how people who have worked so hard for something get recognition but seeing the other side of someone who I felt should have won not winning...well that soured the whole thing a little for me. Still, I liked World Con and the odds are pretty damn likely I'll be going to the one in Chicago next year. Though we'll have to see. I'm also seriously considering Burning Man and the Louvre is a life goal which trumps everything. That, plus a move puts an awful lot into one year. Then again, I have been able to do a lot in this year and...life is short. Live it while you can.

Saw a fascinating panel on Vampires, Zombies and Werewolves and (especially combined with the horror comment from the writing segment) I've decided to add a dash of magic to the Steam Punk/Alternate History Western I was looking to start writing next year. I'm going to wait on the Fantasy and the....I don't know what to call it until my 'craft' is more polished so I can focus on the stories I seem to be strongest at before revisiting the story element for entirely different lenses and genres.

Oh, did I mention I got to see George R.R. Martin commenting on one of the episodes of Game of Thrones whilst it was playing? It was rather cool to hear him compare the book to the show and I must say for the most part he seems quite pleased. Which I think is a good thing.

Sentinel Chronicles: TSC 3 premiered last night. It was awesome seeing it there. It had a lot of it that looked really good on the big screen and Jay was able to do a lot with what he had given the chaotic elements he had to work with. Some of the script I wrote shone through and some of the scenes that I did and some that I did not do were quite awesome. I'm glad I did it but I'm also glad I can take it with a grain of salt because the hand print of some others...wow. Let's just say that while Jay's work on this was obviously well done (and it was because quite frankly the music, timing, editing, fx and pacing were all fantastic) not all performances were created equal. I know who I would or wouldn't choose for another project if I was working on it, but I'll have to talk with Jay about that later. Obviously he doesn't share my opinion on everything and it is after all totally his project. :) And it was fun to do which is also something in and of itself. I'm still proud to have my name associated with it.

There was a panel on Dr. Who that...was a bit eye opening for me. I like the new series but they are right that Moffat has strengths that Davis did not have but conversely Davis had strengths that Moffat does not. More importantly there are some problems with the River Song story line that might break the series...a lot of good will was built up to now but if there is not enough pay off in the next series we might be looking at the end of the new Dr. Who....hopefully it won't come to that.

All for now.