Tag Archives: creativity

Friday Link Pack 8/28/2015

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Screenshot 2015-08-26 21.22.41

Welcome, visitors from the blog of K. M. Alexander. I’m humbled and honored to post today following K. M.’s tradition of the Friday Link Pack.

To the three regular readers of my blog, you need only know two things:

  1. K. M.’s blog and the novels in his Bell Forging Cycle are fantastic.
  2. I probably won’t be writing regular Link Pack posts because K. M. already does such a great job of it. Enjoy it today!

So without further hullabaloo, I give you first I Write Sci-Fi Friday Link Pack!

Writing Links

Things You Might Not Know About Orwell’s Animal Farm
I was still in elementary school the first time I read Animal Farm. Here are a few things you might not know about it. For example #2 – T.S. Eliot rejected it.

The 2015 Hugo Awards
In case you missed all the drama at WorldCon, this is a full replay of the ceremony. It was a strange, sad year as there were many excellent nominations who probably deserved to win but ended up without a rocket because of the way they were nominated. Check out Dan Wells‘ view on the fallout. It mirrors my own.

The Answers You’re Looking For Are Not On The Internet
Lauren Sapala has a great article I read where she talks about why the writer culture on the Internet is broken. Just a little. She suggests we unplug and read more books. I’ve been doing more of this lately myself, and there is merit in the idea!

Soundtracks For Books Using Booktrack
As I write, I often think about the music that would put me in the mood to write the kind of stories I want to tell. Then I’ll make playlists on Spotify or SoundCloud to get me going when I am struggling for inspiration. A. C. Starrling takes the idea of soundtracks for books one step further in her detailed article over at The Creative Penn.

Random Links

Get And Stay Healthy
As a writer and a programmer, health is a constant concern. I spend way too many hours sitting at a desk every week. Reading through Darya Rose’s bio gave me some new ideas and the community on Summer Tomato is incredible.

A Female Doctor? Yes Please!
Hayley Atwell of Captain America and, of course, the EXCELLENT Marvel’s Agent Carter fame wants to be the next Doctor Who. This needs to happen, world. Make it happen.

If You’ve Ever Wondered Why Wikipedia Is Not Recognized As A Primary Resource
I’m sure this is news to precisely no one, but contentious topics (particularly in the realm of science) tend to change a lot on Wikipedia. Check your sources folks!

Beautiful Bookcases
If you’ve ever seen my office or living room, you would know that I’m a fan of books. My home is covered in them. Walls are filling up with shelves, and shelves are filling up with books. These are some interesting and unique ideas for storing those beautiful dead trees.

GIFs of the Week

I’m a fan of GIFs, so you get TWO this week. The first is my impression of myself posting a Link Pack that K. M.’s readers will read. He does the hard work of creating great content and cultivating followers, and then you all come here and read my post. So thank you all and thanks to K. M.!

iFinishFirst

The second is Tom Cruise (yes it is, look it up if you don’t believe me). This guy is one of the biggest movie stars in the world and yet he isn’t afraid to make a fool of himself. I admire that.

cruisinWithCruise

Coming Soon To A Blog Near You

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Howdy, readers! Yes, you two over there and my wife. If you wandered here by accident check this out.

I thought I’d give you all a brief look at what’s coming up here at the iWriteSciFi blog.

This post will be the last meta post for at least a few weeks. I promise!

previews

The Schedule

Here is the planned schedule. I expect the three of you to hold me to this. I’ll publish something (anything really) here on the blog on Tuesdays and Fridays. That doesn’t mean I won’t ever post on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday or Saturday. That would be silly. The Tuesday/Friday schedule just means that I want to stick to that minimum regularity.

Wow that PREVIEWS graphic is getting irritating.

Lets…

just…

fix…

that…

shall…

we?

Ahhhh. Much better. Now, where was I?

Right. I will publish on Tuesday and Friday at a minimum. I’m hoping to achieve a cadence that I can get a feel for and stick to.

The Topics

I bet you are wondering what topics to expect. So far I’ve managed to post about music once and meta-blog twice. Not a great track record for a writer’s blog is it? Now is probably a good time to announce a new category: the serial story. I’ve begun work on a serial story, and I plan to publish it in its entirety right here on my blog.

Serial Story

Are you not familiar with a serial story? No problem there. Wikipedia can help us out with a definition of Serial Literature. The TL;DR for that article is this: I’ll write 500-1000 words of a story and publish it on the blog. Then I’ll write another 500-1000 words of the story and publish it on the blog at a point in the future from the original post. I’ll continue like this until the arc of the story has been told.

Wondering what that first story will be? You won’t have to wait long because I’ve already written the first installment, and I’ll be publishing it here this coming Friday. I’ll give you a preview. That’s what this post is all about right?

The story is about a man in his twenties struggling to come to grips with the loss of his wife and child and seeking the person he holds responsible for their deaths. I won’t spoil it for you, but I already know how the story ends although I’m not sure how many installments it will take to get there. My first guess is somewhere between five and eight.

Music To Write By

I’ve already written one of these. A very special post about my friend Lance Clark. If you didn’t read the post, you should check it out!

TIL (Today I Learned)

As I go through the process of writing a novel and writing this blog, I’m going to learn. Because, let’s face it, I’m a total noob. When I learn something that I think is cool, I will write about it because I’m a WRITER. Deal with it.

Randomisms

Randomisms will probably be the category that could be aptly labeled: “William Did A Dumb Thing; Let’s Laugh At Him”.

I imagine it will be a well-used topic.

Meta

This post is Exhibit B. I give you, Exhibit A. Yeah, yeah… there won’t be another Meta post for a while, but I won’t make promises I can’t keep about the future.

That’s It For Now

So. There you have it. I hope you’ll join me again on Friday for my first Serial Story installment. One more minor hint: all is not as it seems for this man and his struggle.

That’s Sci-Fi Writin’ Music

One of the coolest things about doing creative work is when you find out that your buddies are chasing after their dreams as well. A few months back, I met up with my friend Lance Clark and some other comrades for a friendly night of games. Of course, by friendly I mean we went at each others throats in as polite a way possible.

Ok, maybe it wasn’t ALL polite.

theStigTableFlip

As Lance was taking me to task an embarrassingly dominant fashion, I asked what he’d been up to lately. It had already come up that I am writing a science fiction novel and my friend, somewhat sheepishly, told me of his experimentation with producing electronic music. The undertaking was, technically, news to me. Lance and I had been sharing music by various electronic artists with each other for years. I knew he was musically talented, so this was less surprising than it could have been.

My immediate question to the would-be composer was, “When do I get to hear it?”

“Well…” he replied, holding me in suspense, “soon, but not yet.”

His response did a fantastic job of heightening my anticipation. I’m fairly confident that when his email arrived several weeks later, I could not have been disappointed in the result. Music made and recorded by the hands and brain of a good friend of mine could not fail. Imagine my joy when I discovered that loved the music, and it was inspiring to listen to while writing bits of The Galaxy and All Her Charms!

Since the original track, Lance has released an additional four on Soundcloud. For you, this means they are free to listen to with your ear-holes.

Be sure to like and comment the work if you are so inclined. I know he will appreciate the feedback.