Wedding, the ruling class, and a request for crime

Time for a quick breakfast (cinnamon twist and an Americano), and then I fly off to Oakland to stand near while Heather Shaw and Tim Pratt get themselves officially hitched. I'll be wearing a suit and shoes with proper laces. I even bought a comb. But Heather and Tim are two of my all-time favorite people on this planet or any other, and not only are they worth a comb and shoes with proper laces, but I shall be honored to be present at such a momentous occasion.

I'm reading Paul Park's PRINCESS OF ROUMANIA, and I also packed the latest issue of National Geographic in case I finish the book on the plane. And there's always Sky Mall. Future archeologists will find dusty, flaking copies of Sky Mall and conclude that we all had terrible back problems and were ruled by our pets.

I've got stacks and stacks of YA books to read for the Norton Award, but I think I'm in the mood for a good crime novel. I've heard good things about Dennis Lehane. Maybe I'll pick up something by him at the airport. Anybody have any recs for good, intelligent, neatly written crime fiction? Keeping in mind that, by the time I land, I may be in the mood for something completely different? I do, however, have a yen to write a big fantasy story, the essence of which is a murder mystery/crime thingamahoober, and reading some quality crime fiction might be a good way to gear up for actually writing it.

Okay, better finish my coffee drink and aim my car at Sky Harbor's beautiful East Economy Lot. Have a good weekend, everybody.

Babies!

Dear old friends Amy and Brian have babies now! Two of 'em! Twins, I'm saying! Amy was in the hospital for over six weeks because, like, the doctors didn't want her jiggled around, you know, medical stuff, very gushy, but now the twins are out in the world with the rest of us, and welcome to Earth, kids. It's nice to have you here, and we wish we'd cleaned the place up more before you arrived, but we're confident that it'll be a better planet for your presence. For now, though, you just focus your efforts on eating and pooping and maybe sleeping and acquiring knowledge and experience and mass at an alarming rate. Enjoy being babies. It's a very good thing to be.

Donating books to Katrina victims, redux

An appeal from frequent Bookslut contributor Colleen Mondor to donate books to Katrina evacuees sheltered at Southern University:

I am working with a group in Baton Rouge who are helping children sheltered with their families at Southern University. We have put together a couple of wish lists of books and games that the folks at Parkview Baptist Church will happily deliver to the SU kids and other area shelter kids, all of whom would love to have a diversion right now. We are also trying to contact book and comic book reviewers in particular to let them know that any children, young adult or all ages titles they have lying around would certainly be welcome down in Baton Rouge.

I think part of the problem with other efforts might be logistics, and since they are accepting and distributing the boxes right there at Parkview, we seem to be doing quite well on that front.

Mailing Address for Donations:

Josh Causey
Parkview Baptist Church
11795 Jefferson Highway
Baton Rouge, LA 70816

They've compiled a really nice list of books, too, including Holes, The Westing Game, and Whales on Stilts!.

And let's hope nobody has to organize anything like this for Rita victims, yeah?

Planning

A few days ago I interviewed with a staffing consultant for a job that I don't really want and probably wouldn't accept if offered. I wasn't really planning to start interviewing for jobs, but they saw my resume online, and I figured I should go in for an interview just for practice if nothing else. It went pretty well, I think. It's been many years since I've gone after a job without an "in," a friend or co-worker in the organization who's willing to talk me up to the people doing the hiring. So, I haven't had to rely on my just my qualifications and personality in a long time. I think I made a pretty good impression, and they indicated my resume is a good match for the position, so it was a little bit of a confidence booster.

The experience got me thinking, though. I'm not sure I really want most the jobs I'm qualified for. I think it might be time to retool my skills and knowledge. The last time I felt this way I went to grad school and prepared for the kinds of jobs I'm currently qualified for. It's an expensive and time-consuming thing to do, but I'm not sorry I did it, and I'm starting to consider going after another degree.

The staffing consultant showed up a little late for the interview, and while waiting I had time to take a stab at a 5-year plan:

Plan A: Write full time
Plan B: Work part time, write part time
Plan C: Work full time, write part time
Plan D: Work full time, quit writing
Plan E: Get a really big backpack and live in a library
Plan F: Die sometime during the next five years, rendering my plans largely irrelevant, except for those involving zombiehood.

Yes, I got carried away.

I don't think I'd ever actually implement Plan D.

No real point to this entry. Just sort of thinking out loud.

Ten Things I Believe. This Morning, Anyway.

Feel free to add your own.

1. The proliferation of giant squid is one positive consequence of global warming.


2. The highest form of learning is play.


3. In art, fun and important are not mutually exclusive concepts.


4. The purpose of a ring tone is to let you know someone's calling you. Nobody in line at the coffee joint cares what your favorite song/TV catch phrase/humorous blippy-blappy noise is.


5. It's a good idea to tolerate others' faults more than your own.


6. When in public, behaving as though you're part of a community is not optional. In other words, please move your damn shopping cart out of my way.


7. Noise is a form of physical contact.


8. Living without regret is a nice idea, but it's possible that those who live without regret aren't paying enough attention to the pain and chaos they've left in their wake.


9. Charm in public architecture is undervalued.


10. Charging money for signals that go through my body is immoral. Wifi should be free.

Rock of aged cheese

I am very, very slowly going through the process of ripping my CDs into iTunes. Today's offering was Def Leppard's Pyromania. Oh my god, so freaking cheesy, but I do so love this album. It is big. It is epic. It has high-pitched vocals with many overdubs. It has the guitars. And the cavernous drums from the era when the drummer had both his arms.

I'm going to a Nine Inch Nails concert tomorrow. I'm sure I will enjoy it. But I kinda wish I were going to Def Leppard instead. I mean the 1984 version of Def Leppard. Not the Hysteria version of Def Leppard. Nor this year's version of Def Leppard that toured minor league baseball parks with Brian Adams. That one, not so enthusiastic about.

Fear of noodling

Have you seen oneword? It's an online writing exercise thing. You see one word at the top of the page, and you have sixty seconds to write about it. You can post the results if you want, but you don't have to. Kind of a neat warm-up exercise, maybe. I'm going to give it a try every day this week (except for Wednesday, when I'm taking my dad in for cataract surgery and will likely be too busy with with the airport and the hospital and driving and all, but you never know). I'm probably not going to post my words unless I come up with something that I really, really like.

I've never been much into writing exercises, except for the one where you stare at the blinking cursor for an hour while your coffee gets cold and then you're suddenly struck by inspiration and the hasp on your locked imagination magically comes loose and you're pretty much ready to bang out a whole short story or maybe a 900-page trilogy right there in the coffee joint, only maybe you should pack up and head over to the office before all the covered parking is gone, so that's what you do instead of writing the short story or the 900-page trilogy.

I've done that one a lot.

But for the most part, the only throw-away writing I do is accidental -- stuff I throw away because it sucks. It's rare that I type without the mindset that I'm creating work for public consumption, at least a few drafts down the line. Even when I've decided I'm just going to, say, quickly bang out some flash pieces for the heck of it, I end up trying to craft them into stories that people are going to read and that hold up as more than just small exercises.

It's kind of weird. Visual artists makes sketches and studies that aren't intended to be anything more than eye-mind-hand exercises. And musicians pick up their instruments and noodle and jam all the time. Me, if I do stuff like that I feel guilty, like I'm goofing off instead of working. Is that a strange way to approach a lifelong creative enterprise?

How to give books to Katrina evacuees

From Janni Lee Simner:

The Houston chapter of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) is collecting children's/YA books for the Katrina evacuees in their city, and will see to it that the books they gather get to the refugees in their city. (Including those in the Astrodome, which has a playroom.)

Anyone who wants to help can send books to:

SCBWI-Houston
P.O. Box 19487
Houston, TX 77224

What a pleasurable way to lend a little comfort.

UPDATE: Apparently the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators Houston chapter has been overwhelmed with books and no longer wants books shipped to them. Here's a list of other places accepting book-related donations.

You don't start living till you realize

So, I'm trying out contact lenses for occasional use, such as martial arts class when I don't want the slightest tap on the side of my head to skew my glasses and make the world all skewy and non-fightable, and I figured, since I've got these contacts in my eyes, I should swing by Target and get a pair of cheap sunglasses, because usually when I want to wear sunglasses I have to rely on my nice but polite little clip-ons, but what I really want to be wearing is a cool pair of cheap sunglasses that will imbue me with an aura of rock and roll godhood. Which I have TOTALLY achieved with my new cheap sunglasses from Target.

I mean, totally.

Got home and figured, seeing as how I've got this aura of rock and roll godhood about me, I should listen to some KISS.

Many, many great KISS songs. Even some of the post make-up material.

Brush with fame: Me and my buddy Todd head over to the newsstand on Pico and Robertson, and there's a black Bentley with smoked out windows in the parking lot. Turn the corner, and standing there with a magazine is an 8-foot tall, leather-clad Gene Simmons. Ugly pud. Venal. Kinda gross. But a rock god, no denying. And not a minor god, either. We're talking a Thor or Zeus. A veritable god of thunder.

Anyway, "God Gave Rock 'n' Roll To You" is the stuff for whatever ails you. Seriously. Don't believe me? Give it a listen. I mean, I know life sometimes can get tough. And I know life sometimes can be a drag. But people, we have been given a gift. We have been given a road. And that road's name is ... rock and roll.

Give it a listen. I'm not even kidding.

(I wrote a story that expresses my appreciation of KISS, by the way. It's called "Demon, Star, Alien, Cat" and you can read it in the fine zine Say ... Was That a Kiss?. Some reviewers didn't get that it was about KISS, but, yeah, totally.)

Recommendation from a diabetic

I'm just thinking: I always keep a sufficient supply of insulin in the fridge, at least a month's worth. Now, I'm carrying that much on my person. Not a loaded syringe good for one dosage, but an entire bottle, along with a bag of ten syringes. And not in my car, but on my actual person. I've got a little messenger bag for my phone and Moleskine and a pen and my iPod and change for the parking meter or whatever, and I often carry a single insulin dosage, but it's not enough. You can lose your home, and you can lose your car, and if that's where you kept your insulin, you can find yourself quite and very screwed.

The same probably holds true for any necessary medication.

I should probably start carrying around some beer, too.

So, just one diabetic's thinking, readjusted by this week's events.