Month: September 2011

  • Short fiction I read in September 2011

    30 Sep 2011 » 2 min read about 2011, Reading & Books, short fiction

    While there are still a few hours left in September, I doubt I’ll get any more short fiction read this month, especially since the Yankees open the division playoffs tonight at 8:30. You know where I’ll be. But since I wrote a while back about at least trying to read a piece of short fiction…

  • New story: “If By Reason of Strength…”

    30 Sep 2011 » 1 min read about story sales, Writing & Publishing

    I am delighted to announce that a new story of mine, “If By Reason of Strength…” has been published by 40kbooks. The folks over at 40kbooks publish e-book version of novelettes and novellas and they do a wonderful job creating the e-book and making it presentable. They’ve published folks like Paul Di Filippo, Kristine Kathryn…

  • What I do at my day job

    29 Sep 2011 » 4 min read about Personal & Family

    I’ve worked at my day job now for nearly 17 years. (Indeed, less than three weeks and I’ll have been there for exactly 17 years.) I started at this company 3 months after graduating from the University of California, Riverside back in 1994. I work for a public policy “think tank” and that means there…

  • Busy workday

    28 Sep 2011 » 1 min read about Personal & Family

    Had a horrific night last night trying to get the Little Man to sleep in his own bed. It involved carrying him back into his room 61 times. My nerves are completely frayed. Couple that with the fact that I have a busy work day today and I may not be popping up much on…

  • Cars and trucks and things that go to the bathroom

    27 Sep 2011 » 3 min read about Personal & Family

    My oh my was last night a doozy. The Little Man has entered a phase where he no longer wants to sleep in his own bed. I’ll put him to bed and say goodnight and he will have a full on tantrum. Last night I just went downstairs. We have a gate at the top…

  • NaNoWriMo 2011

    27 Sep 2011 » 1 min read about Writing & Publishing

    I’ve have participated in NaNoWriMo for the last several years. Indeed, I have “won” in the sense that for the last two years, I’ve written at least 50,000 words in 30 days. This year, however, I won’t be participating in the traditional way. I am not a novelist. I understand that is where the money…

  • The new schedule

    26 Sep 2011 » 3 min read about Personal & Family

    Beginning today I’m working off a new schedule. Over the last few weeks, I’ve tried figuring out the best way to integrate everything I do into a schedule that will not wear me down within the first week or two. I need a schedule that allows me plenty of time with the family, as well…

  • A quiet Sunday

    25 Sep 2011 » 1 min read about Personal & Family

    I’m mostly avoiding the Internets today, although I will have a post later on this afternoon or this evening discussing some upcoming changes to my schedule that will hopefully help to accomplish some time-management improvement in all areas of my life. Meanwhile, I feel like I need a lazy day. I’m sitting around with the…

  • Saturday humor: what comment spammers are saying about my blog

    24 Sep 2011 » 2 min read about Blog & Site Meta

    I get irritated when I browse the comment spam that Akismet deftly snags on my blog. I think to myself, come on, do you really think we’re that stupid? To excise the frustration, I thought I’d pretend to take these comments at face value and publish a few of them as if they were reviews…

  • Writers’ icebergs

    23 Sep 2011 » 7 min read about Writing & Publishing

    I started trying to write science fiction for publication in January 1993 and I like to think of my entire body of work as an iceberg. There is a small part that sticks above the surface. This fraction of my work that has seen the light of day is the stuff that has been published.…

  • Division titles and inconsolable infants

    22 Sep 2011 » 3 min read about Personal & Family, Sports

    When I picked up the Little Man from school yesterday, we went through the usual preliminaries (“What did you do at school today?” “Play toys! Outside!”) and then asked him a very important question: Do you want to watch the Yankee game with Daddy tonight? So at 7pm, we headed upstairs to watch the Yanks.…

  • A few thoughts on the “new” Facebook

    22 Sep 2011 » 2 min read about social networking

    I figured I’d give the latest changes to Facebook a day of use before I commented on them. When I saw the changes early yesterday, they didn’t seem so bad. My biggest problem was trying to understand how they worked. I’m a fairly tech-savvy guy and I don’t think it took me too long. I…