Other things

Is this fun or what?

I received a copy of the British magazine where my article on short story writing was published. Yay! It's kind of interesting to get something like that in the mail. They did a wonderful job of it! This is a reprint from Vision -- they found the article and sought me out for publishing it.

Oh, and the one thing I forgot to mention the other day was that I am also writing a chapter for "Fantasy Writing: The Business End of Things." I'm going to be doing the chapter on projects. I wonder how they thought of me for such a thing. (Laughs)

Over the years I've talked to many people at FM about how people learn to do things in different ways, and especially how this applies to writers. Sometimes even different genres require new approaches. Last night a group of us were discussing putting stories together. Some people are interested in the where and why of a story while others start out with the who part. Like everything else in writing, if the work is done well the reader isn't going to care how you got there.

Sometimes showing what you do and how you created your story can help others. However, sometimes what's new and exciting to you either is so esoteric that the others can't get it (I tried explaining 'phase outlines for a long time before the article I wrote) or is so common that many of the writers have already tried it and either work that way already or moved on. I've run across both ways at one time or another with all the articles I've written. Some things help and others don't, and you rarely know which you have until you try it.

There are many writers who are anxious to learn new things -- as long as you aren't rude or condescending toward them. Even a new writer can tell when he's being insulted for 'not getting it.' Not all people are able to offer help to others, even if they are good writers. It's a mind set difference. I've known many people who just don't have the patience to work with others and are not good at explaining their writing process no matter how hard they try.

I don't have all the answers. I hope that I never really do, because I love trying new things and new ways to work and seeing if they meld into my own style. I also enjoy talking to other writers about how they work -- as long as they're polite.

In other news....

Russ leaves on a business trip tomorrow afternoon. Because I am still having trouble with my leg, I'm going to find a non-house related project to take my interest for a few days. I think it's going to involved (shudder) trying to scan and catalogue thousands of pictures from my pre-digital days. Come to think of it, I might as well do the digital cataloguing, too. Part of this to help with three unrelated projects -- some web site work I want to do, pictures for worldbuilding with a new novel I'm going to write set in the Rocky Mountains, and some pictures for Russ's job.

I'm not sure I'll actually do it. Or start it. It would mean pulling out huge big plastic crates of pictures, and I might not be up to that. On the other hand... I probably couldn't even get the notebooks full of slides scanned in during that short of time, so I may not have to worry about the rest.

I need either a pre-made catalogue program or to work something up with Access. If I do Access, chances are I wouldn't even have that much done before Russ is back on Sunday. And no, I don't HAVE to have it done that soon, I'm just trying to give myself a goal to get a lot done on the project.

You know, there might be an Access template I can already use, either with the program or online. I'll have to check that out....