NEW! Course Change

NEW! Course Change

One-Shot, You Pick The Price! Vignette

History has taught us one document, one grouping of words can show you so much about what followed its creation.

NEW! Course Change

NaNoWriMo 2012

     The past three years I have taken part in and finished NaNoWriMo and it's been some of the most exciting, fun, and productive times of my writing life. I think the more you write, the more your brain can get clouded with thoughts of what a story should be; so I think its really good to just freely exercise that writing muscles from time to time without watering the process down. To me doing NaNoWriMo is like running. All the machines and routines are great but sometimes you still need a good run for your life to get your heart up and survival skills ready to strike. It also cleans out the brains caches so to speak.

     My writing area war room or war corner is more accurate. The rest of the room, well, you don't want to see that. Nothing to see but diplomas, dirty underwear, and cat tunnels.

     With all the normal writing I do every month adding NaNoWriMo to that will mean I will have to get all the way away from things like TV and the internet which I usually have playing in the background to keep the voices at bay. With NaNoWriMo I let them out.

     There is no TV in this room and I will be writing on my really really old laptop which can't connect to the internet even if I wanted it to.

     P.S.- all of my November releases will new editions of previously released projects so they will just have to be reformatted and uploaded.

     Maps, my cool handmade raven coaster, and some of the research books which are always on my desk. Since this is NaNoWriMo I'm not going in with much of a idea of what I'm going to write about so I don't need specific research books so the everyday ones I keep will do.

     If I need something specific OFF TO THE LIBRARY!

More of my everyday research materials. These are also things I can mindlessly flip through when frustrated with something I'm working on. A lot of cheap bin books from B&N are in there. You know the kind- A Million Ways To Say Fuck and the like.

     There are some blank note cards and also some with many notes on things I wish to take on in this story. Story elements I've been weak with writing in the past, words I use too much, themes I want to explore, and notes from previous NaNoWriMo years.

     A little inspiration spot. Two gifts from friends. One is a metal pen holder with a nice quote about writing and the second is a encased band aid with a note from a friend who I no longer talk to. And also a piece of art by the very cool artist Brenda Kirk. If you want to buy something by her she has a store here.

     So if you have never attempted NaNoWriMo give it a try. Check your local area for meeting spots. They happen a lot at libraries and bookstores with cafes or just cafes. Find writing buddies if you think that will help. I go solo on mine and don't do the meet ups but it's good to still join a local group on the website. Sometimes it helps when just needing to talk to another writer.

     And finally, remember finishing isn't everything, it's diving in that matters.

NaNoWriMo 2012

Max Brooks at FIT

     There was a event scheduled at one of the local colleges, not far from we live that was said to be a speaking event with the writer Max Brooks from The Zombie Survival Guide fame. Mar really liked his book and we thought cool but for a week or more no one could get answers from the student event organizers about if you had to pay, was he going to sign books, or anything until the day of the event when they said it was going to be free but first come seating to students. Then they said it was free to students but $20 dollars to everyone else. Then it was free to all and they couldn't understand why all this same day confusion was causing issues with people.
     Only a school with this much entitlement and this much money would go back and worth on money issues like this like it doesn't mean anything. I know many people who wanted to come but didn't want to drive a long way not knowing firmly if they could get in. The official website of the student organization running the event, on the college website, hadn't been updated in months.
     Come on. If you don't know anything about putting on an event study the press releases and materials and procedures others have used in putting on their event to learn how to do things yourself. Hey, sorta what you are there for.
     You know, in a college.
     Being a self-publisher I have to do a lot of things writers normally don't do like creating covers and publicity and the like, but the one way I can tell you how no one will take you serious, its not NOT making mistakes, mistakes are understanding when you are not a trained professional in something, it's acting like they don't matter.
     We decided to go since it wasn't that far from where we live and when we got there we got more confusion and people acting like not having answers wasn't that big a deal. I ranted about this last night during the event on my Twitter if you want to check it out but it went short of like this "Do students get in first? "Doesn't matter, it's not going to be full up." "Will he be signing?" "Probably" "Will there be a limitations on what he will sign?" ".....vacant look..."
     The event wasn't advertised much even though they were bragging about all the places they put ads. Hell the night before a local theater was sold out with probably double the sale wanting to get in to a showing of the season premiere of the Walking Dead but nothing was said there as far as I know.
     We wouldn't have even known about it if our local comic book store hadn't reposted something about it on Facebook {these people should study our local comic shop, they know how to do events.}
     That being said none of use were surprised when in a community that loves zombies- we have zombie walks, zombie proms, and all sorts of zombie fun this event wasn't even close to half full, in a small venue, and the people we talked to when we got there weren't expecting it to be?
     We actually overheard some of them talking about how much it cost to get him and laughing. Goes back to that entitlement word I used. And we deal with these people all the time living near the college campus.
     I've helped run events, I really hope these people don't go into this sort of things as a career because as I said on my Twitter, when your student event looks clearly to be a student event you failed.

     But lets get to Max Brooks. He was very funny throughout. Very entertaining. I'm really glade we got to see him and he handled  the trolls that were only there to get get noticed or for credit with a blade sharp tongue. I had heard before that he was cool to hear speak but this was way better than I was thinking going in.

See, not many people at all. A shame.

Couldn't get good stage pics. They had the lights turned up too high for a already well lighted venue.

Mar and her sister Trill got copies of The Zombie Survival Guide signed and photos with him. I wish this event wasn't such a clusterfuck or I would have picked up a copy of the G.I. Joe book he wrote and gotten that signed also.

*If you like the blood splatter effect on those photos I learned how to do it watching this You Tube video. Might be of good use for people doing Halloween stuff this month.

Max Brooks at FIT

NEW! Voices And Bullets

New! Voices And Bullets.
Original Sin #4 A Vignette about a young man standing up to speak in a political atmosphere of confusion and hate. Using your voice isn't about changing the world as much as it's about changing yourself.

 And if you would rather just read online you can read it on the Original Sin blog.  Comment there or here. Share, Like, Tweet. You know the drill.

NEW! Voices And Bullets

     
     Vote for this photo by a friend of mine to be featured on Instacann.as home page next week. Also check out the rest of her gallery.

Missiles, Museums, and Did You Know Bruce Willis Was in Apollo 13?

     Wednesday we spent exploring the history of space exploration. We visited the Space & Missile History Museum, went on a free tour of Cape Canaveral Air Force Station which included a tour of the Cape Canaveral Lighthouse, and stopped at the Titusville Space Museum.
     Couple of tips. One, if you want to go on the free tour, call and make your appointment, (the email available bounces back).
     Two, the Space & Missile History Museum gift shop is good but the one you will visit on the tour is the best one. I say save your money for that shop.
     And Three, these pictures don't do justice to how cool all of this was. I took like 600 pics on the day because there was so much awesome. If you're local you HAVE to check these places out and if you get down here or love space history you need to take the time to stop by.

Does Tony Stark have his hands in everything?

The Space & Missile History Center is worth it alone even if you don't go on the tour. The displays would be very appealing to young kids.

Wasn't this in the opening of a show with a certain bellybutton-less lady?

The tour also gives you insights to the area before modern times showed up.

There is so much information on this trip. I wish you could do the tour without a guide still. I want to go back because you just didn't have time to read all the interesting facts or see everything.

One of the many great displays you will get to see.

Mar took this picture which I didn't actually see. That's why a photo buddy is a good idea.

Now that should get your imagination going.

I was surprised and very happy to see so much information on early women who trained to go into space.

Another good suprise is how it wasn't just American space travel as this displayed showed.

Monkeynauts and Astrochimps. ASTROCHIMPS!!!

What the chimps traveled in.

They have a good area for I Dream Of Jeanie information. 

I loved that the gift shop on the tour had a patch for every pin and a pin for every patch in case you only buy one and not the other. I collect patches. I picked up one for the Mercury Women and one for the Cape Canaveral Airforce Station which also featured the lighthouse.

Speaking of the lighthouse. This was one of the coolest lighthouses we have visited because it was the first that contained rooms on each floor as you went up.

They made a gazebo out of an old lighthouse top.

Another cool feature of this lighthouse was a midway outside exit and entrance.

Mercury time capsule

You get to tour the launch area and memorial of Apollo 1.

The Titusville Space Museum Walk Of Fame was way more than what we were expecting. It contains a gift shop that's ok but the museum itself is one of the best I've seen on space travel. I won't comment on all of the following photos but believe me I could have posted all the photos I took and still not done it justice.

If you want to see old technology then you would love both museums.

One thing I liked are these Russian cosmonaut posters and Russian space program information.

Not that's a cool photo image.

Neil Fucking Armstrong.

More Neil A. Fucking Armstrong.

Overall this trip has to rank high as one of  my favorite trips we have went on locally.

     A story within the trip was two couples that were doing the tour together. One old couple and one younger couple. They were really a pain in the ass. They were constantly holding up the tour, last on the bus, and keep talking through everything the tour guide said.

     When we got to the museum and the lighthouse guide was telling us about how the lighthouse was pre-fab metal built in NY and they moved the lighthouse here.  This guy was ranting about how that was impossible. Mar being a world class smart ass said, "Yea, the next thing you know they'll try to tell us they transported the parts of a statue from France to New York City."

     Later when talking Apollo missions this exchange happen, "When we get home we should watch Apollo 13 about the accident." "Yea, Bruce Willis is great in that." "No, I don't think it was Bruce Willis." "It was Jim Carey." "Yea, Jim Carey."

     At the end of the tour we all got comment cards to fill out and the pain in the ass couples were ranting about putting how Obama hates the space program and cuts everything on their cards. Dumb fuck people everywhere you go.

Mar has been busy today also.

Missiles, Museums, and Did You Know Bruce Willis Was in Apollo 13?

Tin Universe #2- Flight Of The Coming Storm 2.0

Tin Universe #2

FLIGHT OF THE COMING STORM 2.0 

What are the small everyday events for a hero that are very big? A solo tale about the hero Pulpy.

Backup Story- THE DAWGS OF WAR

Following on from events seen in Stereo 2.0 comes this story of what happen to The Dawgs Of War after Death waved his hands to set their destiny in motion. 

Tin Universe #2- Flight Of The Coming Storm 2.0