Q & A Time: Volume 1

Okay, the much anticipated Q&A session is going down right now. Sadly, I only have a few questions that need answering, so my witty repartee (as witty as repartee can be through a blog) will be limited.

Back under Personal Hamster Huey, Hap asked:

"P.S. If I don't have a website, openID, or Google/Blogger ID, what should I be doing?"

Uh...I'm at a loss. But, I think you can use your yahoo id (should you have one). Or, you could just break down and get a blogger id. However, as a man who still doesn't own a cell phone, I can appreciate your desire to buck the trend and not join the masses with google/blogger/openID accounts.

Back under the Competition post, Noel asked and stated:

"Speaking of writing, how goes the editing process for you? I find that editing takes more out of me than writing itself does."

Ugh, editing sucks. Hard. I think it wouldn't be so bad if this wasn't about the seventh read-through that I've done in the story's various manifestations. I'm getting to the point where I'm a little more desensitized toward the characters' outcomes. And even though there are characters that I really like whom I know bite it in the not-too-distant future, I find myself uncaring for their plight. So, in the little bits that I've edited in the past few weeks, I've actually been redoing large swathes of story, just to shake things up a bit. I mentioned thinking about redoing the very beginning, and that's one, but I've also changed a couple of interactions between characters early on, with an eye toward really fucking things up between them later on. Remember, my credo is, if something bad can happen, then it should. And it will.

To that end, I've actually abandoned the editing process recently, and I've started with the writing again. Fortunately for me, I'm getting switched to a new department which means no more late-evening video conferences with our Japanese partners; to this end, my lovely wife, the comely and oh-so-buxom Boudicca, has graciously allowed me "night's off", where I just go and hang out somewhere, sipping coffee, flipping through books, and jotting down ideas in my notebook and writing large pieces of text in a spiral-bound. It's been cathartic, not to mention productive.

Under DUI-ke, mevans asked:

"Duke has football now? Who knew? :-)

Sadly, Notre Dame, as it was one of three wins they managed to slop up last year. And at that, the outcome was in doubt until right around halftime.

And finally, Lisa of Lisa-tastrophies fame, had this to say and ask under the St. Kevin's Day post:

"I love these posts. They are so informative and too fun to read. How's the book coming?"

Well...huh. How to put this. I still haven't been rejected by the agent. However, I just checked their website the other day, to see if there were any updates or anything. They had a few book tours/fairs they had to do, so they were pretty busy during April (and I feel very lucky to have been asked to submit some material during that period). It's been...just about a month--maybe five weeks--since I sent my material in. So, at the very least, it wasn't stamped as a rejection and sent back.

That being said, there was an update on the website. Turns out, the guy to whom I sent my material, is leaving the company. What this means for me, I haven't a clue. I still haven't been rejected, but I'm thinking about giving them a call to see what the status of my stuff is. They have hired on a new agent, so I assume my stuff got handed over to him. But, that's all I know right now. I figured I'd give them six weeks and then maybe give them a call (I think I remember them saying it could be six to eight weeks once the original material has been sent in).

Otherwise, I'm now writing more than editing. As I mentioned above, editing is a lot more...blah...right now. Writing is fun, mostly because one of the first scenes I've been working on has been a battle, and frankly, those are fun to write because it involves less tedious dialogue and political machinations.

Well, that concludes this Q & A session. Hopefully, I didn't leave anyone off. If so, feel free to kick my ass in the comments. Also, I'll have less of a fluff post up later this weekend. Until then...skadoosh.