I look at these upgrades as major transition periods and good times to do other times of cleaning and organizing.  With my upgrade to Windows 7, I am embarking on a social experiment at work: the paperless office.

The paperless office has been talked about for decades and like Bigfoot and Nessie, is mostly myth. I have yet to see anyone who works fluidly in an entirely paperless realm.  Part of the reason, of course, is that everyone else in the world still uses paper.  But there are other difficulties most of which, it seems to me, are centered around finding the right set of tools to replace paper.

In my work environment, therefore, I had to ask myself: for what purposes do I use paper?

As it turns out, these days, it’s not many.  I still use paper to jot down notes or make rough sketches or diagrams.  I still tend to print out resumes or manuals so that I can read them off-screen.  And in meetings, I use paper for my note-taking.  But beyond these tasks, there is nothing in my job requiring the use of paper.  The question becomes, can I replace paper with some other tool in order to perform these tasks?  And I think the answer is yes.

There are plenty of tools for scribbling down notes and making rough diagrams.  Windows 7 appears to have a pretty good “Stickies” applet.  Windows 7 does not have a good sketching program for rough diagrams.  (For finalized diagrams I use Visio.)  However, Google Docs has done a pretty good job with their Drawing application and I think that would work for me.

When I print out resumes and other documentation, it is really not so much to avoid reading it on-screen as it is to mark it up with annotations.  (Having used a Kindle for well over a year now, I am quite comfortable reading on-screen.)  But the technology has been there for a while to do these markups.  Most of these documents are either in Word format for PDF files, both of which can be annotated and those annotations can be saved (and searched!) with the document.

In meetings, I tend to jot down notes on paper and have gone through a variety of systems of note-taking over the years.  But again, this is really unnecessary.  I can use SlickEdit on my Windows 7 machine to capture any and all notes, so long as I make the effort to bring my laptop to meetings with me.  I get the added bonus of making my notes searchable, and with a few simple perl scripts, I can pull extracts for various projects, subjects, dates, etc.

So I’m going to give it a try and see how it goes.  And if it works out well here in the office, maybe I will try it at home as well.  I have already cleaned my work office out of all the paper it was possible to get rid of.  It will be interesting to see how practical this exercise really is.

I wasn’t planning on starting the “Homecoming” story this month.   I did out out of desperation.  I was working on another story, one which I have been wanting to write for a long time now.  I’d written the opening scene to the story and I really liked it, and while I know how the story will go, nothing good was coming after that opening scene.  In part this is because I am in the process of learning which scenes are important to a story and I think I was being overly cautious in what scenes I included.  This is not my modus operandi.  Normally, in a first draft, I write everything I can possibly think of and then cut later.  In any event, I got bogged down with this in August and was not writing.  In fact, not counting what I did yesterday, I had only 3 days in the entire month when I did any real writing.  Compare that to 18 days in July.  I moved to the “Homecoming” story because I was excited about it and felt more ready to write that one than the other.  Hopefully, writing this story will free up my mind to unravel what was wrong with the other one and I can come back to it next month with a fresh approach.

Then, too, having a fun science fiction universe to play in makes it easy to turn to that universe to write something new when all else fails.

At the present moment, on this last day of August 2010, I have 3 stories “out”.  The first two are science fiction stories, one at one of the Big Three, the other at one of the new online magazines to pop up this year.  The third is a straight mystery–my first–that is currently out to one of the mystery magazines: the first time a story of mine has been submitted to a non-science fiction market.  Through August I have had 18 story submissions and 15 rejections.

I’m hoping to pick up the pace a bit through the rest of the year.  I’ve written 5 stories so far this year.  My goal was 20 stories and 100 submissions.  That was probably optimistic and I will be able to better revise those goals for next year.  But in the last 4 months of the year, I hope to get out another 5 new stories, and add another 15 or so submissions.  And I’m considering taking a 3rd crack at NaNoWriMo this year, too.

I’m looking forward to all of the blog posts and twitter updates from World Con.  And there are still some good science fiction novels that I am eagerly awaiting before year’s end (in particular, Connie Willis’ All Clear).

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and the State wherein they reside.

There are those who feel that this encourages illegal immigrants.  Maybe it does, but so what?  What ever happened to “give us your poor, your tired, your huddled masses longing to be free…”?  I suppose Republicans look upon the words engraved on the Statue of Liberty as naive; these are the same people who view the second amendment as unalterable.  It seems to me that the nation was founded on the principle of acceptance, of a better life.  It’s why we are all here in the first place.  Excepting Native Americans, no one here can claim they were not a beneficiary of the open immigration policies of the United States.

And now we are trying to make it even harder to give other people the same opportunities.  This is one of those things that makes me sad, and ashamed to call myself an American.  What a hypocritical nation we have become!  Arizona leads the pack with its “papers, please” approach to illegal immigration.  I wonder what it is that people are so afraid of?

1. Illegal immigrants take away jobs from honest Americans?  Show me a truly honest American (that is, an able-bodied citizen not attempting to be a career welfare recipient, or a professional litigant) and I’ll show you someone who has no fear of losing a job to an illegal immigrant.
2. Illegal immigrants cost the state an enormous amount of money?  We call ourselves a “Christian” nation, but I don’t see it.  Where is the notion of charity?  Amnesty?  There are certain core decencies that you simply can’t cast aside because they cost too much.  We are obligated to pay it forward.
3. Illegal immigrants encourage crime and poverty?  This is true of anything illegal or taboo.  Drugs would not be as exotic if they were legalized.  Children wouldn’t be as fascinated at the notion of sex if it wasn’t a mystery.  If we made it easier to be a legal citizen, much of the crime and poverty associated with it would go away over time.

I think we need to look this ugly side of ourselves in the face and at least lost the hypocrisy.  We are the “haves” of the world, and we don’t want to give up any of what we “have” to the “have-nots”.  That is what people are really afraid of.  If only these same people had the courage to admit this–at least then they couldn’t be called hypocrites.  Then they’d only be honest bigots.

The famous “panic” of A.D. 33 illustrates the development and complex interdependency of banks and commerce in the Empire.  Augustus had coined and spent money lavishly, on the theory that its increased circulation, low interest rates, and rising prices would stimulate business.  They did; but as the process could not go on forever, a reaction set in as early as 10 B.C., when this flush minting ceased.  Tiberius rebounded to the opposite theory–that the most economical economy is the best.  He severely limited the governmental expenditures, sharply restricted new issues of currency, and hoarded 2,700,000,000 sesterces in the Treasury.  The resulting dearth of circulating medium was made worse by the train of money eastward in exchange for luxuries.  Prices fell, interest rates rose, creditors foreclosed on debtors, debtors sued usurers, and moneylending almost ceased. The Senate tried to check the export of capital by requiring a high percentage of every senator’s fortune to be invested in Italian land; senators thereupon called in loans and foreclosed mortgages to raise cash and the crisis rose.  When the senator Publius Spinther notified the bank of Balbus and Ollius that he must withdraw 30,000,000 sesterces to comply… the firm announced its bankruptcy.  At the same time the failure of an Alexandrian firm… and the collapse of the great dyeing concern of Malchus at Tyre, led to rumors that the Roman banking house of Maximus and Vibo would be broken by their extensive loans to these firms.  When its depositors began a “run” on this bank it shut its doors, and later on that day, a larger bank… also suspended payment…. One after another the banks of Rome closed.  Money could be borrowed only at rates far above the legal limit.

Sound familiar?

Clearness is the first essential, then brevity, beauty, and vigor.  Correct repeatedly and stoically.  Erasure is as important as writing.  Prune what is turgid, elevate what is commonplace, arrange what is disorderly, introduce rhythm where the language is harsh, modify where it is too absolute… The best method of correction is to put aside for a time what we have written, so that when we come to it again it may have an aspect of novelty, as of being another man’s work; in this way we may preserve ourselves from regarding our writings with the affection that we lavish upon a newborn child.

When you think about it, not much has changed in nearly 2,000 years.

1. Stories are rejected not authors.  This is another way of saying that rejections are not personal.  Editors act as gatekeepers for their respective markets, and are trying to get the very best possible stories they can.  Rejecting a story is not a reflection on the writer, merely a reflection on the editorial taste for that particular story.
2. Editors know what they are doing. After mentioning a rejection, I often get comments to the effect of “what does s/he know, anyway?”  Editors know what they are looking for and they won’t accept anything less than the best.  I wouldn’t want a story of mine accepted unless an editor thought it was worthwhile.  While I understand an appreciate the sentiment behind my friends’ comments, another point is that the editor usually has an advantage over the friend in that the editor has read the story; my friends usually haven’t and are going on faith that the story is worthy.
3. Editors have different tastes.  A story rejected by one editor can and will be picked up by another.  The stories that I have sold each collected their share of rejections before finally being accepted somewhere.  Editorial tastes vary.  This goes for established pros as well.  In my conversations with other writers, I’ve found that, to this day, they have stories rejected at one major market, only to be accepted at another.   It is for this reason that I always have the next market in mind and when a story comes back, I try to get it out to the next market that same day.
4. I try to learn from every rejection.  When I was starting out 15 years ago, I inherited my views of editorship from those authors that I admired.  I soon learned that a seasoned author can take a different view of editors than someone starting out.  Now, I look at rejection as a way to learn.  I am at the stage where, more often than not, I get some kind of editorial comment back on the story.  I might not always agree with the comment but I can always learn from it.

Sometimes, though, it can be frustrating receiving a slew of rejection slips.  Sometimes, it can seem as if no progress is being made.  But this is just frustration talking.  I look at the stories I am sending out now and find that they are much better than the stories I sent out last year.  And the stories I was sending out last year are better than the ones sent out the year before.  I can see the improvements and the key is to take the rejections, learn from them, continue to write, continue to improve and soon enough the tide will turn, fewer rejections will come in because better stories are going out.

The first is Elizabeth Hull’s tribute to Frederik Pohl, Gateways. with stories and essays by just about every major writer in the genre.  The second is the long-awaited authorized biography of Robert A. Heinlein: In Dialog With His Century, Volume I, which comes out in hardcover and Kindle editions on August 17.

I’m also waiting for Connie Willis’ All Clear, the sequel to her excellent time travel, World War II novel Blackout, which I enjoyed so much earlier in the year.  The book comes out on October 19, which is just in time to get it before meeting her in person at Capclave a week or so later.

What are you reading this summer?

For me, this is the daydream in which I sell a science fiction story.  These daydreams still occur despite my having already sold a couple of stories.  Whenever I have a story out in the wild, whether that story is buried somewhere in a slush pile, or sitting on the desk of an editor I happen to know, I am apt to fall into a reverie, imaging the thrill and excitement of how it would feel to receive an acceptance.

These daydreams have a way of becoming steadily more grandiose in their nature.  They evolve from making a sale to the excitement of seeing the story appear in print half a year or more down the road.  And when the story appears in print, they turn to the possibility of critical acclaim, of opening up a copy of LOCUS or some other magazine or blog and seeing a positive review of the story by someone with clout within the industry.  From there, the dream continues on unabated to the receipt of fan mail; of being at a well-attended convention and having a stranger wander up to me with a copy of the magazine in hand, asking me to sign it for them, as I have asked so many of my favorite authors to do for me.

Daydreams like these have no bounds.  As I continue on my mental journey, I imagine receiving word that my story has garnered a Nebula recommendation; then another, and another, and three more.  Before I know it my story appears first on the preliminary Nebula ballot, then the final Nebula ballot.  There on that final ballot in the same category as mine, are names like Haldeman and Sawyer and Steele and Burstein.  Good-natured phone calls and emails are exchanged between the nominees and I think to myself at last that the honor is merely appearing on the same list as these stalwarts of our profession.

But my daydreams do not allow me to stop there, no, they take on an uncharacteristic element of delusional grandeur.  Having made the final ballot (I imagine) it only makes sense to make an appearance at the Nebula Awards banquet, if only to hear my name read from the list of finalists.  And so there I am, decked out in the suit I last wore on my honeymoon, sitting at a table with people who, for me, have been heroes of mine since childhood.  They are talking to me as if I am one of them.  The talk only occasionally touches on the business of writing.  Mostly it’s about travel or sports or the kids back at home, mundane things, but thrilling nonetheless because of who I am speaking with.

Then comes the awards and watching in awe as this person wins and that person wins, and in the category of Best Short Story (yes, I know this award is usually given first, but this is my daydream, remember?) the nominees are read off and the presenter then opens the envelope and intones, “And the Nebula goes to–” and I hear the title of my story being read outloud, “–by Jamie Todd Rubin,” and there is a look of utter, unbelievable surprise on my face and the people at my table, these demigods of mine, are laughing, and clapping and urging me up to the podium.”

And I get up there, shaking in my imagination as much as I shake in real-life from the thrill of the dream itself, hands placed nervously on the podium, eyes scanning the haze of the audience, all a blur, and my thoughts repeating again and again, remember this moment, it will never get any better than this moment.  And though my imagined self hasn’t prepared a speech, I take a nervous breath and holding up my Nebula, say to these people all of whom I love dearly, “This is the power of science fiction.  I won this not because of any particular skill on my part, but because of what I was taught by Isaac.  And Lester.  And Barry.  And Cyril.  And Rob.  And Robert.  And Michael.  And Joe.  And Alfie.  And Fred and Arthur and Judith and Jack and Harlan and Ray.  I stand here tonight on the shoulders of giants.  They all contributed to this story in their own way and without them it would be nothing.”  I am in tears and there is not a dry eye in the room as the audience rises to their feet in a thundering applause that takes my breath away.

I don’t know if there are other writer’s who have daydreams like these, but it is these daydreams that keep me going.  And I’ll take these daydreams over winning the lottery any day.

This is my first science fiction film.  I have a hard time with science fiction.  I have a little aversion to it, because it’s hard to emotionally invest in worlds that are too detached from what we know.

I can only assume that DiCaprio was referring to science fiction films, and not written science fiction.  I, too, find difficulty emotionally investing in much of the science fiction films that are out there, but I simply can’t see how this is possible for written science fiction.  It begs the question:  what, if any, science fiction has DiCaprio read that he has found it difficult to invest in?

Well-written science fiction is all about getting the reading to emotionally invest in what is happening in the story; suspension of disbelief requires this.  This can be a difficult challenge for writers (and why so many writers say that the most difficult kind of writing they do is science fiction).  The fact that they can do it successfully again and again is a testament to the skills of the writer.  It doesn’t matter that the worlds we sometimes visit are detached from what we know–we still fall in love with those world, come to feel a familiar bond with them (think Dune or Foundation, for instance).  And yet the implication that all science fiction is about worlds too detached from what we know belies an ignorance of the genre.

Think of Robert Silverberg’s brilliant novel Dying Inside, which takes place in New York City in the 1970s.   Think of Joe Haldeman’s The Forever War, the setting of which might be unfamiliar, but the theme of which–the purpose of war–is something that touches us every day.  Ray Bradbury writes stories about familiar and unfamiliar worlds, but in each of them we recognize ourselves, our gifts and our follies carried with us.  These stories shine a different kind of light on the human condition, allow us to examine ourselves in ways hidden from a classical narrative.  Every world we visit in science fiction, not matter how unfamiliar, is a world we know.

Sometimes, clarity gets lost in the storytelling.  In the same interview, DiCaprio says of the script:

It’s a very well-written, comprehensive script.  It’s completely original.  But you really had to have [directory] Chris [Nolan] in person to articulate some of the things swirling around in his head.

If the director of the film had to explain the concepts that underlie the story to its lead actor, what does that say for the rest of us?  Sometimes, lack of clarity in writing can make it difficult to emotionally attach to something, be it familiar or unknown.

Scott Edelman reads Sturgeon's "It's Nothing Really"

The first panel I attended was on the “Scientific Mystery” at noon.  Panelists included Allen Steele,Jack McDevitt, Don D’Ammassa, and David Swanger and they talked about the challenges (and examples) of stories that are scientific mysteries. Good discussion.

The Scientific Mystery panel

At 1pm (in the same room) I attended a panel on “Order–and Chapters–of Magnitude”.  Included on the panel was Robert Killheffer, David Swanger, Ellen Asher, Paul Di Filippo, and Charles Stross.  Just before the panel started, Paul graciously signed my premier copy of Science Fiction Age in which his great alternate history, “Anne” appears.  This panel talked about fiction in which large magnitudes of time (sometimes trillions of year) pass and how a human perspective can be brought to such stories. Lots of stories were mentioned but I was surprised no one brought up Asimov’s “The Last Question” until David Swanger finally did just before the end of the panel.

Orders--and chapters--of magnitude panel

From 2-3 pm I had a break before heading into the 3 pm panel on “Influence as Contagion” with Allen Steele, Howard Waldrip, Jack M. Haringa, James Morrow, Resa Nelson, and Mary Robinette Kowal.  This was a particularly fascinating discussion on how writers are influence by other writers, movies, whatever.

Influence as Contagion panel

When the panel wrapped up, I jumped at a change to have Resa Nelson sign my premier issues of Science Fiction Age.  Her story, “The Dragonslayer’s Sword” appeared in that issue and while I am not usually a big fan of fantasy, I really liked that story.

Next was perhaps the highlight of my day.  I headed to the hotel bar with Allen Steele and we sat there for an hour talking shop. Allen is an absolutely terrific guy who gave me excellent practical advice on writing and the field.  He was also encouraging, telling me that I was going about things the right way.  It was just the kind of encouragement a novice writer like myself needs from time-to-time and Allen was very gracious for spending time with me.

I spent some time wandering about the huckster room, browsing longingly at books.  Mary Robinette Kowal was signing books and I asked her to sign my copy of DESCENDED FROM DARKNESS in which my story, “Hindsight, In Neon” appears and her story, “Scenting the Dark” appears.  I thought it would be cool to have a copy of the book signed by all of the other authors.  After that, I realized it was well after 6 pm.  I had signed up for a Kaffeeklatsch with Jack McDevitt and figured I should grab some food before that.

I went to the hotel bar/restaurant and while sitting there, ran into K. A. Laity.  I’d never met her before but she is a writer, panelist at Readercon, and also a friend and colleague of my good friend Ryane.  It was Ryane who told me to look out for her. She sat down with me and we chatted briefly while I rushed through my dinner.  I had to run pretty quickly but it was very nice to get to meet here.

The Kaffeeklatsch with Jack McDevitt was a lot of fun.  For those who don’t know what these are, about 6 or 7 people sign up in advance to sit around with a favorite author and shoot the shit.  Jack and I first met at RavenCon and we had chatted earlier in the day in the huckster room.  But now was a chance to sit with him and talk about his books, his writing, the education system (he used to be a teacher) and it was a lot of fun.

The last panel I attended was one entitled, “Why aren’t I repeating myself, again?” with Patrick O’Leary, Scott Edelman, Jennifer Pelland, David Anthony Durham, Michael Swanwick, and Paul Park.  Swanwick amused the audience during the introductions by saying who he was and then saying, “And I guess since Gene Wolfe isnt’ here, I guess that makes me the best writer at Readercon.”  The panel focused on writers who’s styles vary from one project to the next and the challenges that imposes on them.  When the panel wrapped up, I asked Jennifer Pelland to sign my copy of DESCENDED FROM DARKNESS.

Why aren't I repeating myself, again panel

The evening concluded with the Cordwainer Smith Rediscovery Award.  Barry Malzberg presented the award in an amusing speech.  The recipient of the award this year was Mark Clifton, who collaborated on the first Hugo-winning novel, They’d Rather Be Right.

At this point, I was absolutely exhausted and didn’t stick around for the party that followed.  But I had an absolutely wonderful time on the first full day of Readercon and am looking forward to another fun-filled day today.