Notions and nattering

Today, as my Day Job, I would like to be standing before a tower of Marshalls, a low-strung Fender strat on my thigh, my flowing locks blown back by the appreciative roar of 20,000 Gregheads.

Only my locks don't flow.

Also, me and spandex? Bad idea.

***

I overheard First Person Shooter at my coffee joint saying that he played bass in an 80's hair band.

I haven't felt comfortable probing him for details.

***

I think my favorite character in my current novel is turning out to be an Alaskan malamute. I feel I truly understand his motivations.

***

Via the most wise Charles Coleman Finlay, some words of wisdom from Kelly Link. Her main argument, if I'm understanding her correctly, is for writers to have the courage to write the stories that only they can write, and write them in the way that only they can write them, and to aim for something higher, or at least different, than the competence = publishable mindset. I've never felt competent enough to imitate the stories I used to read in Asimov's and F&SF and such. So, honestly, the idea of trying to be conventional, trying to sand off your own weird edges, trying to hit all the bullet points of some imaginary PowerPoint slide entitled Features of Publishable Short Fiction, is all very strange to me. And, simply, where's the fun in that? Where's the joy? Where's the passion?

Incidentally, I did try to imitate Kelly once, and I was quite pleased with the resulting failure. But, of course, judged as an effort to model my story after one of Kelly's, it really was a failure.

***

And look at the clock. Time to go to the Day Job. I bet there won't be a single Greghead in the joint.