Hunting the Muse: A Creative Writing Blog.

Writing Efficiency: Making a List.

noreply@blogger.com (Brady Frost) — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 19:01:00 +0000

I've made my list and I've checked it twice. The holidays are approaching and I'm buckling down my resolve to keep writing. This week I intend to write another article for Triond.com, work on my short stories, find a place to query / submit "The Boy in the Window", write 2 independent blog posts (this is #1!), and start reading a book called "The First Five Pages" by Noah Lukeman.

So, while you shouldn't expect me to be hopping down your chimney with gifts galore, we can expect that I should get at least some writing done this week. And just so we're all on the same page, waiting until the weekend for this is out since I'll be working on my basement, just as I did this last weekend.

I'm looking forward to having the basement finished, though it probably won't happen until after the new year. Once everything is finished, I'll be moving my home office downstairs and the wife has already given me the okay to set up my own little haven for writing and whatnot. I don't expect that I will always be afforded the opportunity to work from home, which comes with its own caveat of responsibility, so having a dedicated office / den will secure my writing space well after I find myself returning to the regular workforce.

I think my manager would be a bit upset to read that. I'm not actively looking for a new job, I just realize that sometimes business decisions have to be made that don't always suit all parties involved. This post is only in reference to my writing, not my work during normal business hours. (That's my disclaimer and I'm sticking to it!)

The truth is that I'm very serious about my future and writing. I don't see myself ever losing the desire to write and I'm never really happy when I'm not writing in some form or another. This summer provided its share of... distractions. I would be a fool to try to convince anyone that I wasn't disheartened in the least to find that "The Boy in the Window" didn't receive even an honorable mention, though I realized that Fantasy / Sci-Fi didn't really suit the type of story it is. But I've got a copy of the 2009 Writer's Market on my desk, fresh from the library. So we'll see if we can't get another rejection letter or two before we find it a home. Of course, that will take some time between notices and responses. I'll keep you updated though, if you'd like.

I'm only looking to sell first publication rights to my short stories. I have a little something in mind for them in the months to come and I don't like the idea of having no control over something I've created. Sure, it's just a short story. But it's my short story. If I want to give it away for free, or put it into a collection of stories for a later reprint, or post it on a bulletin board on the moon, well... I want to have the option to do so. Is that so bad?

Anyway, what do you have planned for the week?

Creative Writing Prompt:

Ancestor - Free AudioBook Podcast by Scott Sigler

noreply@blogger.com (Brady Frost) — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 03:59:00 +0000

The first time I'd ever heard of Scott Sigler, I was reading my October edition of The Writer Magazine. He had published an article about how he had given away his first couple of books at the dawn of Podcasting, after failing to secure a publisher. The outcome was phenomenal, he soon amassed a fairly large following and drew the attention of a publishing company. He continues to give away his novels via podcasts and sells the hard copies to his loyal fans and anyone else who might stumble across them.

An interesting idea, I thought. This could be an option for me as well, but once I start writing novels, well, I'm not sure I would want to take the time to sit and read each one into a microphone and then spend hours editing for quality... it might be fun to try, but I'm not sure I could stick to it and still write at the capacity I'd like. I decided to file away the idea as a viable option further down the road.

Then an interesting thing happened. I bought my iPod the night before leaving for New Jersey for work. I had a few chapters of Brisingr to listen to but I knew that wouldn't last me through the trip. I didn't have time to find and purchase another audiobook, so I opened up iTunes and searched for audiobook in the free section. I found Ancestor. My expectations weren't high. First of all, it was a free audiobook. I had forgotten about Scott's article by this time and the first impression I got was that this was most likely an audiobook by someone trying to break into the business. Now, I've read some really crappy bestsellers in my time, so I'm not trying to say that getting published automatically makes you good. And on the flip side of that, I'm not saying that authors who have yet to be published aren't worth looking into. I suppose an accurate representation of my inclination was that I figured I would be listening to an audiobook by a "green" (read: inexperienced) author; one who has yet to be tried and tested and perhaps lacks the mettle it takes to create a good read. If I still sound like a pompous ass, I don't mean to.

What I found instead, was a very interesting novel. The podcast is labeled as Explicit for violence, language and some sexual content. If the following bothers you: "Fuck a duck, duck fucker!" then this probably isn't something you would enjoy listening to. I didn't have a problem with it at all, and I found the entire audiobook very pleasing. Hell, I spent six years in the military. I can deal with foul language. The only thing that bothered me was the excessive science at certain parts of the story, and even then it was only a minor irritation. I only say that because it was a pretty good book and science in a novel can start to take away from the movement of the storyline if overused. Though, I appreciated the understanding of the process after-the-fact.

Ancestor is a book about genetic experiments and corporate greed. The characters are very easy to identify with as Scott uses different voice inflections for each speaking part. Magnus was very easy to picture with the aid of his slower and deeper tone. ("Thank you, thank you.") I highly recommend this to anyone. Please stop by Scott's site or look him up on iTunes.

Here is a link to this book on Scotts web page.

Creative Writing Prompt:

Eragon's Waking Dreams (Brisingr)

noreply@blogger.com (Brady Frost) — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 02:35:00 +0000

While on site in New Jersey I finished up the audiobook of Brisingr. This was supposed to be the last in the trilogy, but was extended to the second to last in the cycle. The author, Christopher Paolini, had been unable to resolve the plot within this book and so extended it one more novel.

In truth, Brisingr felt a lot like the seventh book in the Harry Potter series. Perhaps that was because I was still expecting to see a resolution to the trilogy until about halfway through when I scratched my head and asked aloud, "So... when do we see Galbatorix? Are we going to get to the end of the book only to find out he had a mysterious heart attack?" That's when I got down to business and found out what had happened after a few minutes of "google research".

I won't give any spoilers but I will say this: if I heard the phrase 'waking dreams' one more time I swear... someone was going to get hurt. For all the flourish that Paolini's vocabulary seems to have, he still repeats many phrases throughout the book. It's deceptive at first. But then you realize that even though he's using some of the more rare words of the english language, he still abuses them as if they were any of the common words that average writers often abuse. Another descriptive phrase I seem to recall being used a few times was 'bone-crunching ground', but there were several.

Don't get me wrong, he's a decent story teller, but his plot resolutions and twists often come about a bit too easily. I had hoped this would get better as the books moved forward, but success is hardly ever a good teacher.

It's a common thing, I hear, for writers and aspiring writers to critique harshly the work of other published authors. There is a fine line between critiquing harshly for the sake of ego and learning from another's mistakes. Each book I read, or listen to as the case may be, I try to take away things that I both liked and what I think could have been improved. In this, I learn valuable insight that I hope I can apply to my own writing. Whenever critiquing someone else's work, always try to keep an open mind. Don't forget to see the forest for the trees. A book isn't always the sum of its many flaws. Sometimes the power of the story is compelling enough to allow the reader to ignre the prbelms in odrer to gte to the haert of the story, to its essence. (Yeah, I did that on purpose.)

In truth, it's easy to be a crusty ol' bastard and poke fun at others from the outside, yet they are out there, published. Somehow, though we may refuse to believe any sane editor or publisher would ever have had a hand in it, someone deemed their work worthy to send to the masses. Perhaps that means there is hope. If someone else was able to sell shoddy work, it could just be a matter of time before some publisher sees the value in your own labor of love. Afterall, you'd never make the same mistakes as they did, right?

My advice? Keep on keepin on. And beware those horrid waking dreams.

Creative Writing Prompt:

Welcome to the iPod Nation

noreply@blogger.com (Brady Frost) — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 22:02:00 +0000

I mentioned in my last post that I was listening to my new iPod at the Newark International Airport. I have long been one to scoff at the idea of what I've called an 'iPod Nation'. To this I always referred to the mentality of needing to buy the latest and greatest gadgets, often without the proper means to do so, i.e. on credit. Of course, I am not bagging on Apple and their products, so any fanboi's out there can kindly put down their clubs and pepperspray. Just understand that when I coined the term the hottest thing on the market was the iPod and you could always tell who had one by the signature white colored earbud speakers.

Well, it's finally been long enough that we have all sorts of other, newer i-gadgets to play with. The first i-Phone and the second upgraded release are the first that spring to mind. The iPod is old news, it's yesterday's turkey. Almost everyone has a cell phone and those not savvy enough to have an iPhone are texting nearly one hundred messages per minute on cells that transform to expose full qwerty keyboards. It's enough to boggle the mind!

So, yeah, I finally got one. Well, not one, I got two. One for me and one for my wife. The good old iPod Classic, complete with 120GB hard drive space. In the immortal words of Salt 'n Peppa, "Ooo baby baby!" (or something like that...)

So what's the difference between me going out and buying two expensive mp3 players and the people I used to poke fun at? Well, for one, I still poke fun at those people... They are still buying every new gadget when it comes out, as long as they can fit it into their over-extended credit card "budget" (good luck with those minimum payments, Sparky!)... Another difference is that I've waited years to get an iPod (x2) that I appreciate and will take good care of. Why will I take good care of it? Well... in truth, I did put it on my American Express card, but not two days later the money was transferred and sent to pay off the balance. I'm not paying one red penny of interest on those bad boys. In fact, I'll be getting a little back at the end of the year for my cash back bonus that's part of the card agreement. When you back something with cold, hard cash, you're that much more likely to appreciate the effort it took to get it. Sure, there might be a few people out there with thousands in credit card debt and student loans that take immaculate care of every item they purchase... but technically, that stuff isn't theirs until it's paid off. Good looking out for someone else's stuff in the event that your creditors want what's theirs.

All that said, and the finacial responsibility bush fully beaten, I've got to say how truly impressed I am with a few of the features the iPod Classic brings to the table. I don't have any movies formated to play on the screen, but I did download some video podcasts for free from iTunes. I also downloaded a serial podcast novel which seems rather decent. So far I've listened to the first chapter and it has surpassed the quality of my expectations. I'll get a few more chapters in before I recommend it to anyone, though.

I did finish the last part of Brisingr (audio cd ripped to mp3 files) on the iPod while I was on my onsite in New Jersey. It was nice not dealing with the bulkyness of a cd player and heaven knows their 'anti-skip' functions don't always work out very well...

All in all, I am pleased to be a part of the 'iPod Nation', though I'm sure I will have to coin a new term for those gadget go-getters and credit afficionados to whom I used to refer.

Hero of Newark International Airport Honored!

noreply@blogger.com (Brady Frost) — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 21:45:00 +0000

Okay, not really. But it turns out that soon after I wrote the last post, I shutdown my laptop, packed it away and went meandering through the terminal. Not maybe fifteen minutes had gone by when out of the corner of my eye I saw a man sitting in a bench drop his wallet. It sort of cartwheeled under his seat.

What a strange coincidence! He didn't even seem to notice either... I was right there behind him so I just reached over and tapped him gently on his shoulder. He turned slightly and glared at me, I pointed downward under his chair. He leaned over, saw the wallet, picked it up, and placed it in his pocket. He totally ignored my existence!

Now, to be fair, I did have the earbud speakers from my new Ipod in my ears, but in that circumstance it would seem fair to give a nod, shake a hand, or somehow recognize that a perfect stranger didn't kick the wallet to the side, bend down in a fake shoe-tying session, and then retrieve the wallet for their own.

It got me thinking as I walked away, continuing my meanderings. The way the wallet dropped seemed almost intentional. There's no way I could be certain though. And let's admit, this is an international airport in New Jersey, practically a subburb of New York. I really don't think it's all that far fetched that this second guy could have been a pickpocket. People are heading to many various locations from this one terminal. They either just spent hours on a plane and are making their way out of the terminal, or they just went through security and took everything out of their pockets to avoid setting off the metal detector.

I suppose a thief dumping a wallet after draining the cash would be a bit irritated if someone saw him do it. Especially if that person was a young looking punk like myself. I mean, I'm twenty-eight, not exactly a spring chicken, yet I constantly get mistaken for being a high school student.

So, I guess the moral of the story is, watch your wallet in the 40-47 section of Terminal B at the Newark International Airport. Even if the guy really did just absentmindedly drop his wallet and had some other excuse for being an ass, better safe than sorry.

A Post From Newark International Airport, NJ

noreply@blogger.com (Brady Frost) — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 05:17:00 +0000

I found a man’s wallet today. I was looking for a power outlet in the B-Terminal of the Newark Airport in New Jersey. I found the wallet instead. It was on the floor under one of the chairs. An old man had been sitting in that general area and was making his way to the gate with his woman companion. I imagine she was his wife.

I picked up the wallet and popped open the two metal buttons holding it closed, hoping to confirm the identity of the owner. It was not the old man’s. I scanned the faces of the crowd, looking to match the face on the ID. No luck. I walked to the closest gate and nodded at the attendant behind the counter. She looked at me with something close to contempt and said in a very agitated tone, “Sir, you are going to have to get in line.”

I looked at the row of people all standing at the counter, probably stand-by ticket holders about to find out that all seats were booked. I smiled at them and waved my hand over the counter in front of me in a manner that I hoped dismissed the idea that I was cutting in line and replied, “Oh, no, no. I’m not, no. I just found this wallet over there.” Then I pointed in the direction I had come from.

The people in line for the gate and those at the counter suddenly responded with comments such as:

“Wow, that was so nice of you!”
“Oh goodness, how nice!”
and even “That sounds like someone should get an upgrade on their ticket!!!”

The woman behind the counter rolled her eyes, I smiled at the people around me and silently walked over to a bench and sat, resigned to the fate of a having a laptop without an outlet to charge from.

A few minutes later I resolved that I wouldn’t give up so easily and resumed my search. I was rewarded with a quiet corner and an outlet to charge my laptop and from there my iPod. Not too long after that I saw a girl wandering around, laptop in hand, looking earnestly for something along the walls and at the base of the columns circling the peculiar circular terminal structure. I waved my hand in her general direction and pointed at my outlet, one terminal open. She didn’t notice. I hope her search went well.

So, why am I in New Jersey, sitting in the airport?

I just finished an on-site for a large school here in Newark. It was a success, beautiful even. It was the kind of migration where you finish up and everything works much better than it had in the first place. It was an upgrade really, not a full migration. In the process though, I discovered there were a few things that hadn’t been set up right in the beginning by whoever performed the initial implementation. I corrected them and we moved on.

The people at the school were great, amazing to work with. So, even though I was in California last week and then New Jersey this week, it wasn’t as bad as it could have been.

I know I’ve been gone a long time, crazy really. Some of it has been my fault, some has been work. I’ve been saving the world one server and one wallet at a time.

Catching Up on Summer Memories

noreply@blogger.com (Brady Frost) — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 18:12:00 +0000

As some of you probably noticed, I haven't been around much lately. As busy as I was this summer with work, I really tried to get out as much as I could with my wife and kids. It didn't always work out and we definitely had to miss out on a few things due to my schedule, but we tried to make the best of it.

I figure I'll spend the next few posts showing you all some of the fun things we did get to do. Perhaps they will provide a bit of inspiration for one of your stories or poems, or perhaps you might find an interest in a new hobby or activity. Who knows.

Today I would like to tell you about the "You-Pick-It" farm. This was definitely an extraordinary excursion. It took us about fifteen minutes or so to drive to the farm where all produce was purchased by box increments. The boxes were like orange boxes I always see at the store around the holidays.

We discovered that buying tomatoes this way was incredibly cheaper than buying from the store. Another good thing about it was that we could pick our tomatoes right off the vine, and there were acres of tomato plants to choose from. On the same note, we did end up going a bit later in the season than was optimal. There were a lot of good tomatoes, but a lot more that were stepped on and some that were rotting. I reread that and the first thing that comes to mind is how it must have smelled, so let me ease your troubled mind by saying that even though some were rotting, it did not smell like a compost bin. You did, however, have to carefully examine a tomato before just automatically reaching your hand out to grab it. A few thumbs into the squishy, decaying flesh of rotten reds will teach you that lesson with a quickness.

Another thing they had at the farm was peppers. Lots and lots of peppers. We picked ancho, chayanne, and jalapeno peppers. The Bells were a bit past due, unfortunately.

So what did we do with all of the produce we picked? Well, for starters, we made quite a bit of spaghetti sauce. And when that got old and we were starting to get a bit tired of the whole process, we just stewed the tomatoes for use later. I also made a batch of jalapeno jelly, much to my wife's dismay. (I lit the stove on fire... yeah, remind me to post about that one later.) I also dehydrated a large portion of the peppers and ground up probably about half to use for various spices, including my very own chili powder! (Okay, so I took a recipe and modified it.)

All in all, we had a lot of fun and filled up our food stores with an abundance of summer flavor. We also learned a lot about what worked and what didn't work in our own garden. For one, I planted way too many cucumbers! The kids do enjoy the pickles their mom made for them though, and all the cucumbers we didn't use went into the compost.

Dream Quest One Contest

noreply@blogger.com (Brady Frost) — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 18:58:00 +0000

Attention all,

I have been asked to post an announcement of the Dream Quest One writing contest. As a forewarning, this is a pay to enter contest and I cannot be responsible for the validity of the contest, its rules, or judges. Enter at your own discretion. HuntingtheMuse.com does not endorse, but merely passes on the information for any interested parties.

The Dream Quest One Poetry & Writing Contest is open and welcomes anyone who loves arranging words into the beautiful art of poetry or to write a short story that is worth telling everyone! And to all who have the ability to dream. Write a poem or short story for a chance to win cash prizes. All works must be original. http://www.dreamquestone.com

Guidelines:

Write a poem, thirty lines or fewer on any subject, style, or form, typed or neatly hand printed.

And/or write a short story, five pages maximum length, on any subject or theme, creative writing fiction or non-fiction (including essay compositions, diary, journal entries and screenwriting). Also, must be typed or neatly hand printed.

Multiple poetry and short story entries are accepted.

Deadline: December 31, 2008

All winners will be announced on January 31, 2009

Prizes:

Writing Contest First Prize is $500. Second Prize: $250. Third Prize: $100.

Poetry Contest First Prize is $250. Second Prize: $125. Third Prize: $50.

Entry fees:

Writing Contest entry fee: $10 per short story.

Poetry Contest entry fee: $5 per poem.

To send entries: Include title(s) with your story (ies) or poem(s), along with your name, address, phone#, email, brief biographical info. (Tell us a little about yourself), on the coversheet. Add a self-addressed stamped envelope for entry confirmation. Fees payable to: DREAMQUESTONE.COM

Mail to:

Dream Quest One

Poetry & Writing Contest

P.O. Box 3141

Chicago, IL 60654

Visit http://www.dreamquestone.com for further details, to print out an entry form or to enter online.

No one who achieves success does so without acknowledging the help of others. The wise and confident acknowledge this help with gratitude. “And remember in whatever you do, it’s okay to dream, for dreams do come true.” –Dream Quest One

Heroes Season 3

noreply@blogger.com (Brady Frost) — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 22:14:00 +0000

After last year's writer's strike we find ourselves with a new chapter of Heroes, and hope that we'll get to see a full season this time around. The Premier last week threw out some major plot twists, but is it all just hype to renew interest in a show that left many fans disappointed? That's a very interesting question.

For those of you who missed out on the episodes, feel free to head over to NBC.com to watch any shows you may have missed. This review may contain spoilers.

Changes, changes. The world is full of twists and turns, but apparently not as many as Heroes. I realize they need to reinvigorate and renew interest in the series after the shambles that was last season, but some of these plot twists are a bit much.

Dr. Suresh is showing all the signs of turning into a real super-villain. Will his experiment to give himself superpowers backfire him and leave him tainted and angry at the world? From the preview of next week's episode, it looks as if Future Peter is going to be quick to notice that almost EVERYONE has a power. I find this twist very interesting, but the execution doesn't seem quite right. How did going back in time change things so that this happened when it wouldn't have in the first place? So far there has been no interaction with Suresh, or lack thereof, that would seem to indicate that there was a clear crossroads in time.

Niki Sanders is dead, or is she? Yep, she's dead. But have no fear... Ali Larter is here! Wait, what? It would be one thing to resurrect Niki, we never actually saw her die. But to have the actress who played her now playing another character, who might be a genetically engineered twin... well, it's a bit much, isn't it? We'll have to see how this plays out. So far, everything seems to be pointing to people getting powers who never had them, and people with them playing with others or taking on traits of other heroes.

Examples:

Hiro is now acting completely foolish and Ando is being sensible. Is this a surprise? Not really, I guess. Apparently Hiro can stop time but he can't take the time to have a simple conversation. You would have thought he'd have learned his lesson from last season when he tried to kill Adam and instead of explaining the situation to Peter while the rest of the world was frozen, he didn't explain and got his butt kicked. Seriously, Hiro used to be my favorite character.

Claire has lost the ability to feel pain. Now she's out for revenge. We've seen clips of her in the future, still trying to be a bad mamma-jamma and failing. So much for "Save the cheerleader, save the world..." Stop trying so hard, eh?

Mrs. Petrelli says, "Sylar" *breathe in* *breathe out* "I am your mother."
Uh, are you kidding me? Seriously, it's about time to 'throw momma from the train' - it's not that I don't like the woman playing the character, or even the character herself. It's just that Mrs. Petrelli is the biggest writer's crutch for this show. If ever there is a super cheesy plot twist, she's generally afoot. Stop it or kill her off, I say.

Speaking of Sylar, he's working for the company now. With HRG himself, no less. Oh don't worry, Claire's adoptive dad doesn't intend to let him get away with what he's done to his little angel... What does that mean? Nothing for a long time to come. People love Sylar, but they also love HRG. "Sylar gone good" is just another gimmick to keep him in the game.

Parkman is in Africa. He's met another Hero who can paint the future, wait... scratch that, can paint HIS future. Uhh, okay. Not only that though, at the end of the last episode, guess who took up the finger paints? I'm not sure why I don't like Parkman as a character, maybe it's because he's always so... I don't know.

Nathan Petrelli isn't dead. And the man who shot him wasn't working with his mother as last season would have us believe. Nope, it was none other than Future Peter. Because apparently showing up a few minutes before the news conference to say, "Hey bro, don't tell the world you've got powers because bad stuff happens" was out of the question? But that's not all. Nathan is seeing Linderman. Did I mention that he's the only one seeing him? What's with the apparition? Is Nathan losing his mind or are we dealing with something else entirely? Only time will tell.

I really do like this show. There are a few things that bother me from time to time. I hate unnatural character progression for the sake of hype, but I'll deal with it for now. At least the show didn't go off the air after last year's early end. Unless it starts getting that sloppy, my family and I will tune in every Monday.

Posting from Colorado

noreply@blogger.com (Brady Frost) — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 17:45:00 +0000

Oh yes, how good it feels to be back. How have the rest of you been doing? It’s been so long since I’ve gotten a good post in. I haven’t just been hibernating, though. I’ve been out having minor adventures with the wife and kids here and there and I’ve been taking some pictures to prove it. I’m looking forward to sharing these experiences with you as well. It’s been nice to get out of the house and rest a bit to recharge the batteries after such a turbulent summer.

This week finds me in the quiet town of Fleming, Colorado where I’ve been sent to personally update the software on a server. Normally this process is all done remotely and this is actually the first time I’ve ever had to travel outside of training for this position. It’s been interesting though. The flight to Denver was a short one aboard a prop job (jet with propellers) next to a scruffy guy with motorcycle helmet with a personality to match the scruffy whiskers that composed his 5 o’ clock shadow. From there it wasn’t exactly a hop, skip, and a jump to the rental car lot. Instead, it was an escalator, a train, and a bus ride, but I eventually made it.

Determined to avoid paying the 6 bucks to drive on the toll road, I set up my laptop and GPS receiver and pulled out of the lot. I then drove a few circles around the exits I needed to take as I bounced from one freeway to the next on my loopty-loop journey that eventually headed eastward. With Denver soon in my rear-view mirror I breathed a sigh of relief, at last it felt as if the real journey had begun. Two hours and several bug casualties on the windshield later I left Interstate 76 at the Sterling exit, relieved that the Comfort Inn was so close.

The locals are very friendly and easy to work with and I’m happy to report that the trip has been uneventful thus far. I will, of course, be post-dating this entry to my blog, as I don’t really want to let the world know that I’m not home right now. I hope to present some videos and pictures I’ve taken once I get back into the swing of things.

Brady Frost is not dead yet!

noreply@blogger.com (Brady Frost) — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 16:58:00 +0000

Hey folks! I'm still around! Many of you who have been following this blog over the past little while know that this summer was a rough one for me as far as work goes and my sleep tank has been running on fumes for quite some time. Don't worry! I've got some posts coming up this week, you haven't heard the last from me!

For those of you who read "The Boy in the Window", I found out last week that it did not win any awards in the Writers of the Future short story contest. I still think it is a short story that I can be proud of, I'm just not sure it fit into the Science Fiction / Fantasy classification as well as the judges may have wanted. That said, I will be looking to find it a home in print.

Writing Short Stories

noreply@blogger.com (Brady Frost) — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 21:00:00 +0000

Sometimes I find myself questioning why I bother writing short stories when I see myself as more of an aspiring novel writer. The answer to that question is a simple one: I'm afraid.

I'm not scared of the time required to write a novel. I'm not scared of the words or even of my sustainable commitment level. Mostly I'm afraid that I just don't have the experience to pull it all together at the quality level I've come to expect from my writing. To gain that experience I've set upon the task of writing short stories that are more than just tales of going from one place to another and dealing with difficulties along the way. I have tried to write stories that say something without preaching, that show the subtle lessons of life that are there for the taking.

I've always been a fan of, and infatuated with, the idea of symbolism. Even as a child, upon first learning the word, I thought it was interesting that you might say one thing but reveal much more somehow. Of course, my first attempts at symbolism were quite unsophisticated. I am actually quite pleased with my ability to write stories that mean something more than what they are at face value. In that, I would suppose I've gotten better at symbolism over the years. But there are many other lessons to learn.

I used to have a very large fear of dialogue. How much was too little? When did you have too much? How much of the story could be told through conversations and how much must remain in the realm of narration? How many different ways did "he said" have to be used to provide the necessary variety? I'm proud to say that these questions no longer stop me from writing where I once was mortified. By writing shorter stories I can experiment and hone in on what works and what doesn't.

I've also learned a great deal about pacing and story conclusion through writing short stories. I know there is still much more to learn, and I also realize that this is all just a precursor to the even greater lessons associated with novel writing, but I am happy with my progress so far. For now I have decided to enter a few writing contests and I will likely start pressing for publication in literary markets in the coming months. I can only hope that with these efforts will come additional credentials to add to my resume and that these credentials may help me sell my first novel.

I suppose the only unfortunate side effect of how much I think about writing is how much I analyze the writing of the books I read. This habit of critical reading, however, has increased my ability to find a lot of the problems I may otherwise miss within my own writing. How is that bad on any level? Well, for one it can be difficult to appreciate a story for what it is rather than for the writing itself, but I suppose if it makes me a better writer I'll just have to take it. And as long as there are people who enjoy my short stories, I'll continue to try to share them.

Creative Writing Prompt:

Adventures With Triond and Hubpages

noreply@blogger.com (Brady Frost) — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 16:44:00 +0000

After writing my blog post, Gaining Perspective, last week, I was browsing around Digg.com and found a submission about writing for Triond.com. I'd never heard of Triond before and decided to check it out for myself. An interesting premise, Triond allows you to submit articles for their various associated websites. What do you get in return? Revenue sharing from the ad clicks generated from your articles. Obviously, this isn't the most efficient way of making money on the web, but I decided to give it a try.

My first article, Can You Win a Writing Contest? was accepted and published in the wee hours of Sunday morning. As of this post I have made 41 cents and the page has received 417 views (not necessarily unique). This article took me about an hour to write up and edit before we headed out to the amusement park for the rest of the day. I felt pretty good about submitting the article and it was just the trick to get my spirits up for a long day in the heat.

From there I started poking around at other online publishing options. I've never really been one to cling to the idea of writing articles. Back when I spent a semester writing for the school newspaper in high school, my articles were more of the editorial and opinion nature. If nothing else, I was a gimmick. After years of stewing on that and later having an article printed in the Hilltop Times that could have used a bit of final editing and polish, well, I guess I lost the taste for article writing altogether.

So why start now? I'm not sure how to answer that question. It was all sort of on a whim, you know? After poking around a bit I noticed that some of the Triond users also had accounts with HubPages.com. I hopped on over to take a look and ended up signing up there as well. I've even added a widget to my blog here that will list my hub activity. A hub is basically a standalone page that can be linked with other hubs or left on its own. I figured I would give it a shot and created my first hub, How To Give Writing Feedback.

On one hand, writing these articles satisfied my desire to write when I just didn't feel like I was in the frame of mind that I needed to be in for working on my Science Fiction short story. On the other, even if I never really make much money from these submissions, I've succeeded in expanding my web presence and I've added a few writing notches to my belt. In-so-far as expectations are in order, I don't see a problem spending my time writing articles; as long as it scratches the writing itch and doesn't detract from the writing I really want to do. Using this as an escape from completing my short story isn't acceptable. I still have the goal of completing my first draft by the end of August.

Another bonus to writing these articles for Triond and Hubpages is that I don't have to worry about specific content and whether it is in line with where my blog is currently headed. A review about a green-living magazine or tips on working from home may not fit well on a creative writing blog, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't take the time to write something that I find an interest in. These sites allow me to post my non-related articles without having to go through the hassle of creating and maintaining separate blogs.

For any who might be interested, two additional articles were published on Triond this morning:

Mother Earth News: A Review.
Five Tips for Working From Home.

Creative Writing Prompt:

Gaining Perspective

noreply@blogger.com (Brady Frost) — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 19:54:00 +0000

A very short man with a large belly walks into a Fun House. He stands in front of a distorted mirror and sees that his reflection is tall and slender. A man from a neighboring village, who is quite thin, stands beside him. His reflection is short and rather plump. Both men leave the Fun House. The short man returns home, boasting to his wife that he was the best looking man in the magic house, where panes of special glass showed your true reflection. The skinny man returns home in shame. Over the next few months he works out, determined to force his true image to become better. The short man attends parties, telling all his friends how handsome he is and recounts the story at every opportunity. Every other habit remains the same, he’s the best looking man in the magic house; there is no need to change. He gives anyone who will listen advice on how to improve their own true reflection.

Three months go by and the Fun House has again returned to their corner of the world. Both men make the journey, followed by several of their peers who seek to find their measure in the reflection of the magic glass. One by one they pour into the Fun House and stand in front of the mirror. As chance would have it, the two original men find themselves standing side-by-side once again as the others file in around them. Shouts of laughter ring out and both men leave. The fat man is angry, his face is purple and beads of sweat roll down his brow. The magic glass has made a fool of him; it refused to show his true reflection. The skinny man, who has put on muscle and tone and now looks more like chiseled stone, scratches his head and asks the ticket vendor, “Sir, when I came before my reflection was short and fat. I worked hard and built muscle. Now my reflection is tall and skinny. What must I do to look normal?”

The ticket vendor laughs aloud and claps the man on the shoulder. “Smoke and mirrors, my boy, smoke and mirrors.”

(This is an anecdote of my own creation for this particular post. If you would like to use it for your own purposes, please attribute it to me, Brady Frost, and mention its origin, www.huntingthemuse.com)

What is perspective? Is it just a particular point of view, or can it be distilled down to the pane through which we view things? I suppose that would depend on the connotation.

I received a good lesson on perspective last night at my Speculative Fiction writing group. Let me be honest, it was a meeting that I almost skipped out on, and I’m so happy I didn’t. Why did I almost miss out on this invaluable lesson? I can say this primarily because I know I’m not alone; I almost didn’t go because I hadn’t had time to finish my Science Fiction short story. I felt embarrassed. I felt like I wasn’t much of a writer. I still had work to do and it just didn’t seem like there was enough time to get to where I could take an hour break, on top of that I only had two pages (double spaced). Honestly, I thought I still had another week before our meeting.

In the end I bucked up and put down another three pages and figured it was better than nothing. I was late out the door, but work was taken care of and I made excellent time on the way to the library. I showed up at five minutes after six o’clock with four copies of my work in progress in hand, not bad at all.

The format of this meeting was much more relaxed. Instead of reviewing an article or a snippet out of a writing book, we spent our time reviewing each others writing right there at the table. I preferred this a lot more than taking each piece home and fighting for time to sit down and give good reviews. I had missed the last meeting, as work simply would not let me go, and a new member who was attending his second meeting had brought his teenage daughter. The other new member hadn’t showed up. Interestingly enough, that provided four reviewers – one for each copy that I had brought.

The first story I read was from Steven Cherecwich. (Haha, google your name now Steven!) It was very short, a sort of flash fiction piece. I got caught on setting for a brief moment, then there was a bit of descriptive confusion, but the conclusion of the piece caught me completely off-guard. It was disgusting and yet pleasantly surprising.

The next story came from Angela Perry. (Did your personal SEO rating just go up?) Right off the bat my mind ignored the mention of a gold recliner and I found myself sitting in a Native American wigwam. When I read mention of a dilapidated trailer a few paragraphs in, I was immediately transported from ages ago into the present, complete with Indian reservations and sad memories of an age lost. It was the perfect transition in my mind to prepare me for the story to come. The theme revolved around a Native American girl who was about to turn 21, who was struggling with discovering her identity. Like many young people from this culture, she was internally at war with the traditions she had grown up with and the way of the industrial world around her. The journey through college had left her view of the old traditions tainted. The character dynamic between the main character and her boyfriend was spot on and made for a very romantic, yet not cheesy, baseline that truly carried the story for me. The ending was pulled off in a manner that completely worked for me. If done without the tact, style, and detail it could have been a cliché nightmare. I was impressed with how it was pulled together.

The third, and final, story I read was from the teenage girl. I’m sorry. I didn’t quite catch her name. This story was written primarily by her friend on notebook paper, but was transcribed by this girl who was providing editing and revision assistance. It was also a work in progress. The quality of the writing was what one might expect from a High School level. There was a bit of awkwardness in the wavering tone of the first person narration. Repeat words were distracting, and the peppering of adjectives revealed a writer who is not quite comfortable with the power of her descriptions. Her secondary characters seemed to lack intelligence while the main character had it in barrels, though no explanation was given as to why the “normal” people were dumber than dirt and didn’t ask questions that you or I might, given we found ourselves in the same situation.

This is where the lesson in perspective really hit me. Any time you put something out there, you leave yourself open to be judged. Most people long for the praise and adoration of anyone who reads what they have written. Some hope for critical comments so that they can improve on their writing. But in the end, you really have no idea why some people respond the way they do. It is easy to mistake jealousy for an experienced and helpful hand, but more often than not I would guess the mistake is the other way around. It’s hard to receive criticism, even if you were expecting it. On the other hand, it’s also easy to imperialize your own experience. You can usually tell when people have done this to a high degree. Symptoms are mentioning their own published work and credentials, going on about “the craft”, and a general holier-than-thou tone throughout their message.

I was pleasantly surprised to realize that critiquing that story was an easy opportunity to fall prey to a perspective shift, yet I did so with care and tact. I thought about the context of the writing and took it for what it was, not what I might expect it to be. It was truly an enjoyable drive home as I realized what had taken place that evening and what I had learned.

Creative Writing Prompt:

A Dream Remembered

noreply@blogger.com (Brady Frost) — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 15:26:00 +0000

I posted a lengthy comment over at David King's blog this morning and figured I would take a moment and post it here on my blog as well. If you haven't visited David's blog, Pics and Poems, I highly encourage you to take a few minutes to do so.

Many years ago, perhaps before I married my wife, I had a very memorable dream that I was at a park. Of course, as in many dreams, the park was a bit different than it was in real life but I understood in my subconscious that it was one and the same. Much as the case in reality, the park had a long walking path and at the end there was a bridge over the river the path had followed, from there reality and dream diverged from one another. Instead of the baseball diamond being to the right of the bridge, it was located on the other side. To get to it I climbed through a gap in the chainlink fence that appeared to have been made by bolt cutters. That is where the dream started getting interesting, and it had nothing to do with baseball...

I had long forgotten the dream in the years that followed, perhaps ten or more but it's hard to place a date on it. It's like grasping at a dream that you want to hang on to as you begin to wake up and regain a foothold in the conscious realm.

Last night we went to that park for the first time in a very long time, probably since as late as 2001. We threw down a blanket and ate dinner, the children ran off to play on the jungle gym, and soon enough I was left to fend for myself, my wife had taken the kids to feed the ducks while I had a bit of quiet time. The memory of the dream remained buried.

Time trickled away and I looked up from my Mother Earth News magazine and glanced at my watch. I slowly gathered the trash and threw it away in the bin and then packed up. I dropped our stuff off at the van and set out on the path to find my wife and kids.

At nearly the halfway point of the expansive trail I caught sight of them and jumped the fence to hide in the bushes, hoping some rogue goose wouldn't decide to creep up on me instead. As my two oldest came into view between the gaps in the foliage, I jumped out! "Yaaaarrrrghhhhhhh!!!!" I roared.

My oldest, Becca, cowered in fright, Gryphon jumped in alarm.

Having had my fun, I turned them around and we headed back the way they came, to the end of the trail. We wound our way to the end of the line and I was surprised to find the fountain that had always splashed and gurgled in my youth was dry. Something in the back of my mind began to itch.

A bit further up the trail was the familiar bridge that had escaped my memory. I passed it without second thought and the itch became stronger. Following the sidewalk instead, we veered right.

"You can't go that way, Dad." Becca told me. I shook it off and rounded the bend. There in front of me, cutting across the sidewalk that had been forever unobstructed was a chain link fence.

At that moment I felt akin to reaching the pinnacle of a roller coaster ride, in that speck of time that feels slower than reality. And then with a whoosh it all came flooding back. Like a father jumping out at his children from the bushes, it was alarming, but there was nothing to be afraid of...

I couldn't help but wonder if the fence ran around to the other side of the bridge as well... and if it did, had someone cut an opening with bolt cutters? A stray thought crept into the back of my mind. If there was a fence and there was no hole, was I supposed to cut it?

I left the thought unanswered, turned around, and sped down the hill, pushing the stroller and yelling, "Vroooooooom!" as we passed the bridge again.

The rest of my thoughts on the matter were drowned out by September's giggles as the stroller bounced on the tiny cracks in the sidewalk.

So, what happened on the other side of the chain link fence in the dream so many years ago? I can't say. It's not like I was sworn to secrecy or anything... It just wouldn't feel right to tell. I hope you enjoyed the journey, the end is up to you.

Creative Writing Prompt:

Picking Blackberries

noreply@blogger.com (Brady Frost) — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 21:29:00 +0000

Alas, the weekend has come and gone. While I was unable to enjoy every single hour without interruption from work, I did begrudgingly begin my shift this morning with a feeling of satisfaction for the time I had with my family and my writing.

Saturday began with a trip to the Davis County Fair. You must understand, of course, that this fair always has been, and I suspect may be for quite some time, the bastard-child of fairs everywhere. It's almost a complete joke and this year was no exception. The kids did enjoy their time at the petting zoo, though, so it wasn't a complete waste.

After we made our hasty retreat from the grounds, we headed to Barnes & Noble to kill some time. The sun was out in force and it was far too hot for the adventure we had in store.

While in Barnes & Noble, I bought my wife a knitting book she's had her eye on and I picked up a magazine on Renewable Energy; it had some pretty decent articles for home use of Solar and Wind generated power. I found it quite an enjoyable read and decided to hold onto a copy of my own. I also swung by the Starbucks, conveniently located next to the periodicals, and purchased a Mint Mocha Chip. The gal put extra whipped cream on it, much to my delight. (Thank you!) It felt good to cool off with a nice cold drink.

From there we stopped by a grocery store about 15 miles away and picked up a 1 gallon pitcher, then headed up the road a bit to our super-secret (no-so-secret) blackberry picking spot. It didn't take long to fill that container all the way full, the berries were large and delicious! It was easy to tell that we hadn't been the first pickers to the spot, as most of the easy pickings were long gone. That left us to brave the thorns and brambles in search of the berries that had been just outside convenient grasp to earlier visitors. Even so, we had a great time!

After our berry fun we drove up the canyon and ate at a quaint riverside restaurant called "The Oaks." Dusk was fast approaching though, so we missed out on visits by hummingbirds, but the evening was still quite enjoyable. The sound of the water splashing and gurgling as it made its own epic journey was quite relaxing and really quenched the creative thirst.

Sunday night I took my laptop outside to the swing in my "writer's nook" and worked on a crazy little project I dreamed up over the weekend. (Henceforth referred to as "Project Daisy" ... yeah, yeah, I know...) It was a decent start, but the project has a low priority and I resolved to finish my SF short story by the end of the month, even if I have to do so by force. I will continue to work on Daisy though. Over time I plan to string bits and pieces of the storyline together. I won't really go into detail, just let me say that if I ever do seek publication for it... you better believe it will have a pen name! Haha!

So that was my weekend. How was yours?

Keeping a Writing Journal

noreply@blogger.com (Brady Frost) — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 21:16:00 +0000

I've admitted recently, several times if memory serves me correctly, that I haven't been writing much lately. But fortunately for me, the muse has not yet stopped a knocking. For those moments of random creativity, I am thankful to have my little writing book handy to jot down my latest idea.

Here is my Journal. I picked it up at Walmart for about five bucks.

When I get an idea I open it up and jot it down. The journal is small enough to fit in my pocket or I can toss it in my backpack or camera bag.

With a small pocket in the back I can tuck little treasures into. These two leaves were interestingly aromatic. Now I can pull them out and take in their scent or shape for descriptive assistance if need be.

All in all, I've really enjoyed having it around. I've collected several good ideas for when I finally get more time to write. I've also started setting up my writing nook in the backyard to give me a safe haven to escape to.

Writing Powered by iTunes

noreply@blogger.com (Brady Frost) — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 20:41:00 +0000

In my previous post, How Does Music Influence Your Writing?' I talked about how I like to use music to help me focus on the task at hand.

Lately I've found iTunes Radio to be a very useful tool to help me get through the day. I haven't been doing much writing, to be perfectly honest, what with the long days I've been working and all. In fact, I worked 21 hours yesterday and while today promised to carry a lighter load, I'm now probably looking at maybe 17 or 18 hours if this server I'm working on continues to have connection issues. That's just the way it goes sometimes, there's just no helping it. But the international radio stations have helped get me through the long hours and I'm currently writing this post to the sounds of "LiveIreland" in the folk category.

Music just has that quality, much like stories, of being able to take us to another place or time. We can escape our momentary troubles and work through the things that have got to be done.

Listening to different kinds of music can open a new portal, so choose a station and close your eyes for a minute. Imagine walking down that busy parkway, or running your hands across the tops of the wild flowers in that secluded meadow. Let the music fill the sails of your craft as you skim over deep waters towards the distant cliffs and outcroppings where you'll spend the cool hours of the evening with anchor set and a cold brew to keep you company. Or perhaps you'll find yourself in a crowded underground facility with sweaty, hot bodies wriggling and writhing to a jungle trance beat. Maybe you'll look around at the blank expressions and feel like a stranger within your own mind. Will you lose yourself to their drug-induced pilgrimage, or will you remain the wallflower, watching their world drift slowly by through a complex swell of intertwined songs and remixes?

Creative Writing Prompt:

Repeat Words: The Spawn of Satan.

noreply@blogger.com (Brady Frost) — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 03:08:00 +0000

Personally, I can't stand them. But even so, from time to time I find myself slipping into the darkness that awaits when I write when I'm exceedingly tired or somewhat less focused. During these moments of weakness they sneak into my writing like thieves, the bouncer is asleep at his post, the uninvited guests are helping themselves to the champagne. Who are these miscreants? These manglers of hospitality? Repeat words, the most unholy of unholies, the most evil of evils. Well, at least in my mind.

The cure? One might think it would require the use of a dictionary or thesaurus, always kept at the ready, perhaps even behind a glass pane with a little hammer that says, "Use me in case of Emergency" in bold red lettering. For me the struggle lies primarily in unnecessary adverbs. At first glance I don't always catch them all. My brain, like most, is lazy in nature. It's perfectly happy if someone smiles dryly two or three times in a conversation. I find it better to get my writing off the screen, double spaced, and then I go over it with a pen and circle mistakes and write notes between the lines where I intend to make changes.

It may seem a little off, sometimes repeat words have their usage; to stress a point, perhaps? I suppose it just bothers me seeing the same word used over and over again in a short period of time when I'm reading a book. I get the unnatural desire to pull out a pen and circle the words and then draw lines connecting all the circles together, somehow gathering up the clones and taking them back to the factory where they were created in some rogue scientific experiment.

It just seems to me, and believe me when I say I'm no authority, that over usage of a word equates to tired writing. If you can remove excess usage without losing meaning then, to me, it's the reasonable thing to do.

I bring this up mostly because I'm currently reading a best seller that is just so distracting in word usage that I wonder who could possibly have edited the thing. The writing is mostly good, the story has gotten much better once I broke past the first 75 pages or so, but the way it comes together is bothersome at best. I'm not usually one to get caught up on the minor details but I've already run into two instances where the sentences appear to have been half written and then changed partially without being caught by proofreading. An example (not directly out of the text) *Then he then they walked out of the building* (indicating one group of people). This, combined with the repeat words, is very distracting for me. I think it might be partly because I'm thinking to myself the whole time that I must be more careful in my own writing. While it sold enough books to become a best seller, someone out there just like me cringes when they read over the same page I did and they think to themselves, "What was the point of all that?"

Writing Exercise:

Why Do We Write?

noreply@blogger.com (Brady Frost) — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 04:42:00 +0000

This blog post was originally featured back in February. From time to time, I find myself asking the same question. Why do I want to write stories so badly?
___________________________________________________

The first story I ever wrote was called something like "The Lion and the Turtle." I was in first grade and my mom helped me put it together in a nice plastic document protector. I remember seeing it hung outside the classroom on the bulletin board and feeling an overwhelming sense of pride.

The next memory of writing that I have was in fifth or sixth grade when a few friends and I started writing a story together. By then I could walk from the library, all the way down the hall, and to my desk while still reading the book I had checked out. It was during this time that I got my first look at the writer's ego. As senior elementary students, all boys at that, the topic of our story was none other than the secret adventures we shared with our super secret supernatural powers. As the story went on it seemed as if each of us had to compete to be the toughest superhero. In no time at all the steam fizzled out and we gave up the venture, the competition for having the best super powers sapped our desire to write the story.

In Junior High I started writing poetry and attempted a few short stories. More than anything I loved to draw. I wasn't really ever very good at it by normal standards but it was my passion. There is a sad story behind why I stopped drawing but we'll save that for another topic.

Once I reached High School my writing really took hold and I wrote very passionately. I took Creative Writing classes every semester I could and was even allowed to join the High School paper for the second semester without having participated in the first semester. It wasn't that I was an exceptional writer by any means, I was just passionate. In all actuality my articles in the school newspaper were a joke, a mockery of the hard work and dedication that the rest of the students had put into the process. I had no beats, I wasn't assigned specific events to cover. I was nothing more than a funny/quirky editorialist. Though I must admit, I am still quite proud of my article on the adverse effects of smelly lotion on teenage females, even if it wasn't factually based.

It was in High School that I first suffered my major disappointments with writing. Every year I would submit what I felt was my best work to the school literary magazine and each year I was told by the presiding faculty member that while they had felt my entry was very well written, the student members of the magazine staff had felt it was too dark. This was probably true of a lot of my writing during that time. My parents were getting a divorce and I, like most High School students, felt utterly alone. Part of me wants to say that I never got into the literary magazine but another part of my memory wants to believe that I finally made it during my senior year.

Another huge devastation for me was all the attention I got in my creative writing classes. People would ask me for suggestions on plot or ask me to read over their stories and give them my honest opinion. It almost felt like being some kind of quasi-celebrity. It turns out that at this particular time of my life I just wasn't ready for that kind of attention. I stopped writing for me and started writing for everyone else. As soon as I wrote something I would rush to show it to someone, devouring their praises in my greed. I honestly believe this was a turning point in my writing development, I stopped trying to expand my writing ability because I began to feel like I already knew so much. There comes a time when consistent rejection and consistent praise start to intersect in a young writer's mind. One day it became impossible to separate the two emotions and the first real form of writer's block set in.

All of this boils down to the question of why writers write in the first place when it can be so hard on them emotionally. Well? What drives you to write? For me, in recent years, it has been a very underlying feeling somewhere deep inside of me. I've mentioned before that I have an overwhelming desire to create. Writing allows me to do just that. Even if I never show a single person what I've written, there is a certain form of release that comes from writing.

In all honesty, it could be months before I start to see regular visitors to this blog. Why even bother? It's simple really, I don't have much of a choice. It's a decision ingrained into who I am, and if by writing this blog today I can help another writer later down the road then it was all worth it!

If you happen to come across this post please take time to share your comments on why you write. I would love to hear from you.

Writing Exercise:

Today we'll do something a little different. Write about the first thing that comes to your mind after reading the following word:

Disintegration

CoffeeShop Confessional

noreply@blogger.com (Brady Frost) — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 04:15:00 +0000

On the 24th of July, I forced myself out of the office and spent about an hour at Barnes & Noble. While I was there I stopped by the Starbucks and got myself a nice cold mint mocha chip frappuccino and set to work. I had a stack of napkins at my disposal and before long I had three confessionals completed. I liked two of the three, but since it had been a while since my last confession, I decided to keep all of them and set about tucking them into books that corresponded with each theme.

This isn't something I normally do. I would usually find a quaint little spot out in the open, and yet somewhat conspicuous, and that would be it. For some reason that just didn't feel right that evening.

This was the one I didn't like. The wording seemed off, the doodle wasn't that great, and it isn't really a confessional. It's like opening a fortune cookie that says, "Steam rises from a hot turd in the coolness of the morning." First of all, WTF!? And second, WTF!? And third, how is that a fortune!? Anyway, this "confessional" got placed into a book about performance guitar, or something along those lines.

The next confessonal was a little better. It was actually a confessional. And I must say, I think I did rather well on the doodle of my office. I mean, it's no Picaso, but then again, I don't plan on cutting off my own ear anytime soon. If you can't pay the price of brilliance, you're destined for mediocrety, and your ears will love you all the more. Anyway, I can't remember where this one ended up. I might have actually left it on the table under the plastic advertisement thingy, but I really can't say for sure.

And finally, my last confessional ended up in the green books area. I'm so into the whole idea of renewable energy and moving away from fossil fuels. I love the futuristic idea of electric cars and solar panel parking stations at grocery stores and malls and other large parking facilities. The idea of pulling up to a parking stall and plugging your car into a metered electrical outlet and paying for a quick charge while you shop sounds awesome. Instead of asking if I would like a large for 25 cents more, I want someone to ask me if I'd like clean, renewable energy.

Silence is the Death of Blogs

noreply@blogger.com (Brady Frost) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 16:29:00 +0000

So, it's been a week since my last post, and it wasn't much of a post either. What does that mean? Well, if I've learned anything in my time blogging, it's that silence can kill a blog. Once the decay sets in it takes a lot more energy to regain the ground you've lost than simply posting regularly.

I guess that proves that I can't claim ignorance. The real truth of the matter is that I've been working so much that the blog really does have to take a back burner to everything else. There are few things that I can really make time for. And I suppose I've opted to take strolls out the the garden with my wife in the cool of the evening instead of being cramped in my office, where I spend the rest of my day. When I tell you that I've been working a lot, I really do mean that I've been working A LOT. So far this week I worked 17.5 hours on Monday and 16.5 yesterday. I'm scheduled to work all the way until next Friday. Yes, through the weekend and all next week.

This isn't one of those "I'll be gone for a while" posts. I guess it's part rant, part explanation. But more than that, it's a post to break the silence. I don't really see myself as a successful blogger at this point, but it's been a fun adventure so far. I don't much like the idea of just giving it up. Not yet, anyway. I've met so many interesting people and seen some very interesting blogs.

More than anything, thanks for stopping by. I'll try to post a little more often, even if I feel a bit burnt out and tired.

Creative Writing Prompt:

Keith Thompson - Off the Grid

noreply@blogger.com (Brady Frost) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 23:23:00 +0000

Check out this YouTube video of Keith Thompson and his journey to off the grid living. This man is an inspiration, and apparently he used the power of the sun to keep his beer cold.

Finding Time to Write

noreply@blogger.com (Brady Frost) — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 05:46:00 +0000

The title of this post is somewhat of a mantra I'm trying to convince myself I need to hold on to. It's been hard though. My job has me keeping the long and hard hours and my mind is near exhaustion most days. I spend my work hours troubleshooting complex problems and ensuring my migrations stay on track, despite the overwhelming tendency for some servers to be nothing more than the spawn of Satan himself. When I'm feeling drained after days like these, I may want to write, but at the same time I don't. I find more solace in stealing away for a breath of fresh air, pulling weeds in the garden, or mowing a section of lawn. I can never spare the time to mow the entire stretch of green before I have to head back in to check on my work. But it's those mundane tasks that take my mind off of everything else so I can finally have a little bit of quiet in my brain.

I usually try to drag my wife outside with me. I love spending time with her and when you have a fifteen and a half hour work day behind a closed office door, that isn't much of an option. Sometimes she protests, she's got a schedule of her own, you see. But I generally get the best of her. Some days the shift is 16 hours or 17, and some days you get lucky and can get by with 12 hours instead. But you never really know, and these days the 12 hour shift is a rare gem.

I still need to have my Science Fiction story done by the end of the month. That means first draft written and polished to at least 2nd draft before the next Speculative Fiction Writing Group meeting. Meanwhile, I have my spare moments dreaming about solar panels and wiring up the shed to be totally off-the-grid. I've also got my mind set to build another strawberry patch so I can transplant some of our current stock. The Mrs. makes some delicious strawberry jam and it would be nice to have enough produced by our garden to make a batch or two without having to buy a flat from the store. It may take a few years, but it's very interesting to see how strawberry plants spread. They send out little runners that take root and spring out again and again. It isn't uncommon to see one runner with three or four new rooting strawberry plants attached. Over the winter those vine-like runners die off and crumble away, leaving a few brand new, fully sufficient strawberry plants that will each repeat the process through the course of the summer.

I do need to take pictures of my garden. I would love to share them with you. Of course, we've got a long way to go, but we've made vast improvements over our horrid results last year. Our tomato plants are thriving, with green tomatoes promising a delicious reward for our efforts. The carrots are coming along just fine, the radishes too. We've got onions and peppers, though some bug seems to like the taste of their leaves. The corn is doing much better than last year, though it isn't as tall or as far along as the commercial fields in the area, though I assume that has a lot to do with the fertilizer they use. We've got squash, cantelope, casaba melon, and a few different varieties of watermelon. Not to mention peas, cucumbers, and some tomatillos for salsa.

Outside the garden we've got two peach trees, a nectarine, a pear, four apples, two grapes, and the two hazelnut bushes I got from the Arbor Day Foundation. Yeah, yeah, I'm a nut. Speaking of... wouldn't it be neat if I could add an almond tree to the mix? ;)

So yeah, it's all about finding time to write, which is something I need to do quite badly. I finished my last story in March, it's now inching closer and closer to August. I'm sure the pressure I'm putting on myself isn't really helping much, so I'll try to ease up without slacking off. Any encouraging words would definitely be more than welcome.

Thanks for stopping by! I'll try to add a picture for the writing prompt tomorrow. I've been shutting down my computer at night to save electricity. Maybe after I get this story written I'll start hunting those phantom loads.

Creative Writing Prompt:

Bear Lake #2

noreply@blogger.com (Brady Frost) — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 21:47:00 +0000

Ah yes, the weekend at Bear Lake, Utah for my wife's family reunion, part two. I actually intended on posting this second part yesterday, but my computer was confounded with some oddity where it thought the arrow key was stuck. I'm sure it was a driver issue somewhere because it persisted even after unplugging the keyboard and mouse. I have since performed a reload and I'm back up and running, for the most part.

(As fate would have it, as soon as I type that my left arrow key goes haywire. After rebooting I did some snooping around on google and it appears to be an issue with my mouse SetPoint software from Logitech and Firefox. What a pain...)

Anyway, back to Bear Lake!

The first night there we were treated to some spaghetti and salad. This was made by my wife's parents. But that's not all, they topped it off with homemade rootbeer! It was delicious! And you have to admit, it looks cool too...

(click pictures in this post for expanded view)

After dinner we all make sure we've got a good spray of misquito repellant and get ready for the camp fire.

Everyone sits in camp chairs around the flame and stories are shared. A lot of them gravitate back to Bear Lake from years before. It's always interesting to sit back and enjoy the fire and the conversations.

Once the wood has burned down to a nice layer of coals, the marshmellows are brought out. Some toast them and eat them plain, some prefer to make smores. This year my wife brought up toasted coconut flavored marshmellows, they were quite a treat.

On the second day, our wee one had her very first birthday. As is tradition in our family, ever since our first wee one, she got her very own smash cake. Since we were camping, it was technically a smash cobbler (with raspberry filling!). She loved it!

To keep track of our two older children, we equipped them with walkie talkies. This allowed them to venture a little further than in previous years, but we always had an idea of where they were. In fact, they loved them so much, they would talk to us on them constantly. Hey, parents need attention too!

All in all, I had a great time. The headache was a bit of a downer, but it was a nice break. My wife did a wonderful job of setting up the tent and preparing our meal while I watched the kids. It was a nice reprieve from my 14-16 hour days of work for the last month or so. She appreciated a bit of a break from the kids as well so it worked out to be a really nice trade-off, even if it did raise a few eyebrows from her extended family.

*Read more Family Fun posts Here.*