Progress!

So I had lunch with Floyd today. I discussed the arc of the book with him. I don't think I've really laid the whole thing out for anyone, except possibly Sandy. He thought that it indeed made sense, and that it sounded like a worthy project.

Interestingly, in discussing it with Floyd, I was able to dredge up that stuff I was using to fuel the writing. I quickly bottled it for later use when I returned home. It took a little while to get back into it. My fledgling book is now just long enough that when I have to "get back into it," it takes me a while to figure out where I left off. This is, no doubt, why all my author friends have told me, you have to write. Every day. Don't stop. Even if you're not writing on your Current Project, write something. A scene. Some dialog. Just write. Seems like good advice. Just trying to regulate the Rx with the creativity and not get anyone hurt in the process.

And, a good sign. I once again found that when I arrived at the end (or rather the middle, but the process is complex, so for all intents and purposes, I had hit The End), I was entirely frustrated that the rest of the story hadn't played out.

This means I am writing a book I like. I think this is a good thing. I am after all, writing the book for myself. But also, since I do read so much, I think this means I will have some broader appeal than myself. Maybe it will work commercially.

It is heartening that Floyd had such positive things to say. My earlier question about Lovecraft and Poe were graciously answered by him: "Why, those are two of my favorite authors!" And he continued to mention the Inferno, and the Shakespearean tragedies. I guess I should have seen that one coming.

I am also stunned at just how much research a work like this requires. One doesn't just dream this shit up. That's maybe 30% (no doubt to be revised down in the future) of the writing process. To quote MJD, "you can't just make shit up and expect the [reader] to understand it!" So I had to figure out the exact distance between Barbados and Kwajalein, and how many time zones that crossed. I did an enormous amount of digging trying to find where the HARP range was in Barbados and all I can find are what looks like the remains of it. Nobody directly mentions where the range was, but it goes to reason it was at the northern end of the island so as not to be firing over the populous. And, luck has it that my "ruins" are there on the northern point.

This doesn't count materials science. I've had to learn all kinds of fascinating things to make plausible plot devices. Metal matrix composites for example (glee! I can use them for all sorts of stuff!).

It's amazing what you can accomplish when you don't have a "day job." I wish I could afford to do this for another few months. It would be very sad if I stopped writing when I go back to work.

Ah. Lastly, pleased to see the Shuttle get to space safely.

D20_1197.NEF

D20_1197.NEF,
originally uploaded by avriette.

The aforementioned meatmarket, deserted. One man attempted to save his meat from the brutal thunderstorm, and failed when a flying umbrella knocked him and a cohort over. Glee. However, five minutes later, the rain has let up, and the meat have returned to their market. Sort of.

Puddles

So it would seem that instead of using my new tripod to photograph fireworks from the roof this evening, I may well use it to take some good lightning photos. We have a severe thunderstorm alert for the next couple hours, complete with nickel sized hail. Note, I did grin in schadenfreude watching the poor bikini clad meatmarket on the patio run for cover, leaving the barbecues with not-yet-cooked food which will surely be ruined. Hee.

Hotness

Due to a "wardrobe malfunction" Sandy took my mobile with her to work, and left me phoneless. When I arrived at her office, she was gone, so I got to wait an hour in the heat for her to return. Within fifteen minutes, I had a job interview (the sort of first-call feel-em-out interview) that I took in the STI. Well, you can imagine an STI with a catback is loud enough from the outside, let alone the inside (think, exhaust noise coupled with road noise). So I got to pull over and take the call in my black, hot, car, in the 95°F heat. Joy.

The not-so-hot. Infected Mushroom, and indeed the club they played in, Bang! at Shampoo in Philadelphia (we had previously seen The Crystal Method there) sucked. It's really too bad. We drove 2.5 hours each way to see them. When we got there, we found that it was mostly teenagers. It seemed that everyone was smoking, but as somebody who occasionally indulges in tobacco, I can't complain. My wife can. Even the poor STI smelled of smoke after our return trip (we're already at almost 1,000 miles!). The other problem with the club (in addition to too much smoke, too hot, and too many children) was the security. Previously, at The Crystal Method's event, Ken Jordan had to reign in this security goon who wouldn't let people who had paid $25 a head come closer than 6' from the stage. It's not as if we were all wielding pitchforks and carrying nooses. We wanted to see the damn artists. So, the club sucked. But that's not all. It turns out that Infected Mushroom just doesn't put on a good live show. It is possible, I suppose, that they put on a better live show elsewhere, and that the club didn't provide them what they needed to do well (TCM had played a DJ set at Shampoo, we had only seen them live at 9:30 in dc). However, they used a single Clavia Nord Lead 2 and a windows laptop (some dell thing) running what was obviously Ableton Live. The vocals (and damn near everything else) were canned. You'd hear the vocals start, and then the guy would move over to the mike and start "singing." (see: Cities of the Future) The rest of the time, he was just doing that techno "fist in the air roughly synchronous with the beat" thing. The other guy would occasionally tap a few keys on the Clavia, or twiddle Ableton. Suck. We drove hundreds of miles (on a brand new car!) to see them, paid $35 a head, and it sucked. Really too bad. I wanted them to be great. I'd like my $200 back.