Don't Miss This!

Jeff VanderMeer is offering copies of Leena Krohn's World Fantasy-nominated book Tainaron, as well as signed copies of Jeff's own collection Secret Life, just out in trade paperback. Check it out here.

I haven't read Jeff's collection yet, but I bought a copy at World Fantasy. I think I can safely say, having read his latest novel Shriek (as well as Veniss Underground), that these stories will not disappoint.

I'm buying two copies of Tainaron to give to friends. If you've got friends who know you read speculative/fantastic fiction but don't think they'd like it, this book would be a great gift. (And by all means, get a copy for yourself.) The writing is poetic, gorgeous, stunning, strangely beautiful. Anyone who appreciates good writing will enjoy it. Trust me on this.

Everything Old is New Again...Sort Of...

After last year's release of Let It Be Naked, Capitol Records will release The Beatles Love in a couple of weeks. The difference between the two releases? Let It Be Naked was not manipulated; rather the official release was, with Phil Spector's orchestral and choir overdubs, among other things that sent Paul McCartney into orbit. With Love, long-time Beatles producer George Martin (along with his son Giles) has augmented and linked several Beatles songs together with additional instrumentation, newly-discovered vocal tracks, etc.

Do we really need this? Probably not. Does Capitol really want to juice more money out of Beatles fans? Definitely. Capitol understands that there aren't any more hidden Beatles tunes to be discovered; we're finished, done. We can't even throw something together as the (then) surviving Beatles did a few years ago with "Real Love" and "Free as a Bird," featuring pre-existing vocals by John Lennon. That was sort of cool, but those tunes are hardly standouts in the Beatles canon.

I actually heard the Love version of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" a few days ago. The orchestration is okay; it's not offensive, it's somewhat interesting, but if I want to hear the song, I'll just put The White Album into the player.

Musicians argue all the time over performance practices, especially in classical music. What did Mozart really mean when he wrote a forte? Did Tchaikovsky really want five fortes in the Finale from Symphony No. 4? You can find musicians who'll just about come to blows over whether to perform pre-modern music on contemporary or original instruments.

So is the release of Love really such a big deal? I guess it is for Capitol. I don't plan to buy it, but if it's playing, I'll give it a listen. Or maybe I'll just dust off that old Rubber Soul LP instead.

Hold Your Breath for 13 Weeks

Six weeks into Season Three, the fine folks at ABC have decided that Lost will take a 13-week hiatus, returning on Feb. 7 to begin sixteen more episodes. During those thirteen weeks, ABC will air a new show (or maybe mini-series would be more apt) called Day Break, which actually doesn't look bad.

Of course that means we'll have to wait and speculate for thirteen weeks. 91 days. 2184 hours. 131,040 minutes. But who's counting? Maybe that will give me time to get caught up on Battlestar Galactica Seasons One and Two.






More on the WFC awards later.
Today's short story: "A Temple of the Holy Ghost" - Flannery O'Connor

World Fantasy Report

Reality still hasn't quite settled in yet (Let's hope it never fully does), but since I have been home for well over 36 hours, I'm probably coherent enough (Well, maybe not) to give a brief report on WFC.

As John mentioned on his blog, WFC is much more than panels, book signings and the dealer room. I attended only a few panels, the best of which was Saturday morning's Horror, Dark Fantasy and Other Fiction that Go Bump in the Night.

Any panel with Stephen Jones and Ann VanderMeer is worth your time and this one was no exception. Jones mentioned that horror will endure because it keeps reinventing itself with the times and culture. VanderMeer said that two of the basic aspects of horror, sex and death, are universal, motivating us more than anything else. Everyone understands that, although they may not want to face it. Nancy Holder seemed to agree, stating that horror is an emotional mood, not a genre.

I'm glad the panelists brought up this topic: People often ask "Why do we need horror in the world we live in now?" The more visceral the real horrors of life, the more we need escape. Jones said that horror should be confrontational, not just violent; it should stick with you.

It was a great panel. It could have gone on for two hours and I wouldn't have budged.

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I only attended two readings: Jeffrey Ford and Holly Phillips. Ford read a story in manuscript (but which will appear in the upcoming anthology Inferno) which was vintage Ford: weird, funny, disturbing, quirky, wonderful. I believe it was called "The Bedroom Window." Correction from John: "The Bedroom Light"

The only story I'd read by Holly Phillips before last week was her WFC-nominated story "The Other Grace," which I enjoyed very much, but the unpublished story she read on Saturday was absolutely gorgeous. I'll be reading her entire collection very soon.

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As John mentioned, World Fantasy is about the people you meet and the friendships you develop. It's always great to see my Clarion friends (we had six show up this year) and instructors, as well as meeting new folks. The more I write, the more I realize that the friends you make along the way constitute the best part of writing.

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And now, the part everyone wants to know about....

FREE books from the book bag/exchange table:

The Lost District - Joel Lane
Mockingbird - Sean Stewart
The Nymphos of Rocky Flats - Mario Acevedo
Best Short Novels 2006 - Jonathan Strahan, ed.
A Princess of Roumania - Paul Park
The Mount - Carol Emshwiller
Last Week's Apocalypse - Douglas Lain

Purchased:

Best New Fantasy - Sean Wallace, ed.
Forbidden Cargo - Rebecca K. Rowe
In the Palace of Repose - Holly Phillips
Howard Who? - Howard Waldrop
Skinny Dipping in the Lake of the Dead - Alan DeNiro
Catalyst - Nina Kiriki Hoffman
Secret Life - Jeff VanderMeer

Books I should have bought while I had the chance:

The Keyhole Opera - Bruce Holland Rogers
20th Century Ghosts - Joe Hill

Tomorrow: Thoughts on the WFC Award Winners

Post-Halloween Thoughts, WFC Preparations and Other Stuff Guaranteed to Waste Your Valuable Internet Time

You'd think the World Fantasy Convention powers-that-be would have enough wisdom to prevent these two clowns from attending, but they have foolishly allowed us free (well, not exactly free) access to the con starting tomorrow. (This photo of John and me was taken at the recent Capclave by Andy Duncan. Thanks, Andy!)

Halloween was fairly uneventful. Since our greyhound Bullet normally sends young children running for the safety of their parents' waiting cars on Halloween, we've found the best thing to do is set out a bowl of candy, refilling it every hour or so while watching a movie or two with the hound. Cindy had her running group last night, so I got to choose the movies. (Bullet lost his voting privileges when he sided with Cindy to watch Memoirs of a Geisha several months back.)

I made a couple of discoveries which weren't too surprising:

1 - The TV show Night Gallery is nowhere near as good as I thought it was as a kid. Disc One is all I've seen in 30 years, but if it's any indication, the show suffers from overacting, gimmicks and weak adaptations of good stories. C.M. Kornbluth's short story "The Little Black Bag" is a wonderful tale in print that should have been a home-run, especially with Burgess Meredith starring in the NG episode. Although it's probably the best of the lot, the frame around the episode is very clumsily done. Fritz Leiber's "The Dead Man" would have been a good episode, but runs too long and explains far too much to the audience (plus the device that makes the whole thing work isn't executed well at all). "The Nature of the Enemy" is downright embarrassing, but at least it's short.

From what I've read, Rod Serling isn't really to blame. The producers wanted more "weird monster" stories, rather than the imaginative thought-provoking tales that made The Twilight Zone such a hit. As a result, they got the monsters-and-gimmicks they were looking for.

I'll probably keep watching, though. I remember several episodes that I'd like to see again, in particular ones starring John Carradine as a creepy old man trying to scare a couple of kids and Richard Thomas as a starving man offered corpses to eat.

2 - John Carpenter's The Thing, however, still holds up well after nearly 25 years. (Has it been that long?) Although it hasn't happened lately, Carpenter used to make some pretty good stuff. Every time I see The Thing I ask myself if I really like the ending or not. Last night I liked it.

Well, it's almost time for WFC, which means the ol' blog will be silent for a few days. If you're attending, I hope to see you there. If not, I'll be back early next week with a full report.

Things To Do on Halloween

The possibilities are endless. If you live in the Baltimore/DC area, you couldn't go wrong by visiting Poe's grave at Fayette and Green streets in Baltimore. Check out Andy Duncan's comments here.

If you are inclined to stay at home handing out goodies to the neighborhood kiddos, my good friend Kelly Shaw has some great movie suggestions for you here.

At some point, Bullet and I will probably watch either the original 1963 version of The Haunting or the 1982 remake of The Thing, both great (and as different from each other as they can be) horror flicks.

Of course, I'm very tempted to start the new Conrad Williams novel The Unblemished, which arrived just a few days ago. Ah, so many choices.

Whatever you do, everybody have a happy, safe Halloween. (Two more days to WFC!)

Cindy Conquers the Marine Corps 10K

I'm very proud of Cindy for completing the Marine Corps 10K Run yesterday (which is connected with the Marine Corps Marathon) in downtown DC. The way she's going, I wouldn't be surprised if runs the whole marathon soon. I expect she'll be ready for a half-marathon very soon. (I told her I'll stick with the half-miler.)



The Clydesdales were even there at the end of the race, giving out free beer. (Well, the Clydesdales were more or less supervising.) Free beer? What a race! Sign me up!



These guys weren't doing much. Looks like Skippy was guarding all the good stuff.




Cindy after crossing the finish line - a job well done! Of course they had other free stuff - bagels, sports drinks, egg beaters...but after the beer, who really cares? Anyway, I'm very proud of her. It doesn't seem that long ago that she and I were huffing and puffing at the track at Lamar High School in Arlington, TX. (The only difference is I'm still huffing and puffing.)

Speaking of huffing and puffing, I saw a woman preparing herself for the 10K by puffing a last minute cigarette. That's what I call training. And sacrifice. And some other things.

Just a few more days until WFC...

Resting Places

Did you know that the most common non-religious name for a cemetery in this country is Evergreen? It's true - there's at least 101 of 'em. I found this out by doing a little research for my current graveyard story, which should be ready to go out in a few days. (I did not choose the name "Evergreen" for my story, however.)

Speaking of this story, I'm breaking one of the rules I've heard for years, that diary or journal stories generally don't work well in fiction. I tend to agree. I remember telling a good friend of mine a couple of years ago that I didn't think her novel in diary/journal form would work.

So why am I doing it with this short story? (And it is pretty short; should end up no longer than 5000 words.) Maybe because it's the best way for me to discover who my narrator really is and becomes through this weekly journal. I might decide to take the journal element out once I've read the completed first draft, but for now it's working. We shall see.

A revised version of "You Can Say Anything You Want" got rejected yesterday, sent to someone else today. That makes only six stories out there in the pipeline, which is fewer than I'd like. I'm hoping to have at least two more stories out there before Thanksgiving. If I can just get Fred to punch the clock a little more often, I think it'll happen. Maybe he's been hanging out at Evergreen...

Countdown to WFC

One week from now (or less, if I just can't stand it) I'll be packing for World Fantasy in Austin, TX, where I'll eat/drink too much, sleep too little, and purchase far too many books. But hey, this is World Fantasy, right?

It'll also be good to be back in Austin. Cindy and I lived there in 1996-97 while I was teaching at Bailey Middle School and Murchison Middle School. But if anyone asks me how to get anywhere, they'll be out of luck. I don't even think I could find our apartment after being gone for ten years. But Austin is definitely one of the nation's coolest cities, regardless of whether you're lost or not.

There are a few places I'd like to revisit. Although it's several miles from Austin, The Salt Lick can't be beat for great barbecue. Maybe some of us can get a group together and drive on down.

Book People, The Largest Bookstore in Texas (and what else matters?) is a must-stop. Unfortunately, I'll miss the Howard Waldrop/Ellen Kushner/Kelly Link book signing due to my flight time, but they'll all be at the con anyway.

In the meantime, I'd better make some money...

Capclave Report

My good friend John and I decided to run over to Capclave for a Saturday-only sampling. The only other con I'd been to previously was World Fantasy (twice), so I certainly wasn't expecting Capclave to match WFC in size or quality, but it was quite good.

John and I went to the dealer room first (of course) where we literally bumped into Andy Duncan and his wife Sydney. It's always great fun to see Andy and it was a real pleasure to meet Sydney. (And it's also nice having them in Maryland.)

Most of the panels we attended were pretty good. I always enjoy the wit and wisdom of David Hartwell, who had a lot to say about why we have dividing lines in genre and how they came about in the first place. And I enjoyed the panel on the TV show Lost, where I discovered that compared to some fans, I am only a casual observer of the series.

Which brings me to the best panels:

The Future of Small Press Magazines consisted of four panelists: Neil Clarke (Clarkesworld), Ed Schubert (InterGalactic Medicine Show), Lawrence Watt-Evans (Helix) and Sean Wallace (Fantasy Magazine).

Each publication is different in their format, their payment and their philosophy. While Clarkesworld pays 10 cents a word, they only publish two stories a month, one by an established writer and one by a relative newcomer. (The stories appear online and in chapbook format. Online is free, chapbook is not.) Fantasy pays 2 cents a word, but includes a healthy twelve stories an issue. Wallace says that he feels it's more important to include more 4,000K (or fewer) stories than one or two stories of novellete or novella length, that most readers seem to want to read shorter fiction. (I tend to agree with him.) Helix is not an open submission publication, but they do tend to publish stories by established authors that's been turned down by other mags because they're too controversial.

There's a lot more to say about this panel and Endings: Slingshots and Other Varieties of Wrapping Up, but if I'm going to get to the gym before it closes, I've gotta go now. More later (pending interest). All in all, a good con I plan to attend again next year.

Keep It Short?

I'm wondering how my writing would change if I read only short stories for awhile, say three or four months. Don't get me wrong, I love novels, but when I'm in the middle of reading one, I tend to get caught up in the entire world presented in it, including all its complexities and structure. Then when I sit down to work on one of my stories, I get a little overwhelmed with the possibilities of ideas, structure, character, etc. I know and understand that you don't have the room in a short story to explore an entire world, but I'm wondering if a tighter focus in my reading would provide some boundaries in my writing, which right now tends to roam all over the place.

Speaking of writing, another 500 words on my "dead people" story. Really it's more of a graveyard story than a dead people story. It took me awhile to explore what's going on in the narrator's head and after some false starts, the story has shown me where it needs to go. Now it's flowing pretty well.

Not much going on this weekend, but my good friend John and I will be attending Capclave next weekend, which will be a nice warm-up for World Fantasy next month.

How 'Bout Them Cowboys?

As you may recall, back in April of this year, T.O. signed a three-year, $25 million contract with my former favorite team of 30+ years, the Dallas Cowboys. At that time, I made a statement that I refused to cheer, root, pull for or even give a nod in the general direction of the team as long as Jerry Jones keeps T.O. around. In fact, I've cheered for every team that plays against the 'Boys. (Let me tell ya, it's tough cheering for the Redskins.) It's my hope that:

1 - The Cowboys will lose as many games as possible, and miserably.

2 - Jerry Jones will decide T.O. isn't worth $25 million and will trade him/pay him out and cut his losses (which should be many) at the first opportunity.

It's also my hope that Parcells/Jones/etc. will find a quarterback that's under the age of 30 that can lead this team to some type of future...that is after T.O. has gone and I can cheer for the Cowboys once again.

So has T.O. been the non-factor on the field/distraction off the field I thought he'd be?

You betcha.

Owens had three catches on Sunday for 45 yards. Plus at least one dropped pass that I saw (I only watched a few minutes) which caused the Philadelphia fans to erupt in laughter, finger pointing, knee-slapping and other forms of jubilation.

Plus (according to the articles I read this morning) T.O. behaved in his usual immature fashion, spouting off, yelling and screaming, pouting, etc. on the sidelines.

But I guess that's what Jerry Jones wanted. Let's see...a 38-24 loss to the Eagles, three catches, 45 yards, zero touchdowns, multiple tantrums....how's that $25 mil. contract workin' for you, Jerry?

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On the positive side, 500 words this morning on a brand new short story that has nothing to do with T.O., football or money. Just lots of dead people.

Stepping into the 21st Century

Well, I'm finally making the plunge. Everyone in the known universe has made fun of me (and rightly so) for years, so this weekend I'm buying a cell phone family plan.

Cindy's had a cell phone for years. I bought her one when we lived in Austin in 1996. She commuted to UNT in Denton, TX and I wanted her to have a little added security. (Denton's a dangerous place, ya know.) It was one of those big clunky Motorola phones that looked and felt like a gray brick. Then she got a prepaid phone that she's been using for a couple of years. But now we're getting the real thing. I told her as long as I can get "Like a Rolling Stone" as my ringtone, I'll be happy.

Not to get ahead of ourselves, but we're wondering how many people have disconnected their land lines and use cell phones for all their calls. What do you think?

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Sent out a new story today called "Thicket" which clocked in at exactly 5,000 words.

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Everybody have a good Columbus Day Weekend. Go discover something.

Some Thoughts on Lost - Seasons One and Two (plus a few minor spoilers)

Awhile back, Cindy and I spent several weeks watching Lost Season One via Netflix. We enjoyed it enough to rent Season Two as soon as it was available, watching the entire season in a matter of days.

In a way, Season One is like a prologue for Season Two. Sure, a lot happens in Season One: the crash, of course, and all the weird things going on, but most of Season One shows us who these characters are (and were) thorough backstory.

Without giving anything away, the stakes are raised big-time in Season Two. This season is (for the most part) fast-paced, exciting, intriguing and addictive. But there are a few factors that bring cause for concern:

Sometimes the character flashbacks seem to work against themselves. Much of the backstory provides essential information on why the characters act (or should act) the way they do. But that's part of the problem. We see what these characters are about, then back on the island, their behavior is sometimes inconsistent with what we've learned about them in the flashback. Sure, their whole lives have been turned around since the crash, but people will certainly still carry around their baggage. For instance (again, without giving too much away for those who haven't seen the show), we learn that there's something in Kate's past that makes a man like Sawyer not only a big turn-off, but downright odious. Yet she sure spends a lot of time with him. You can see other inconsistencies with other characters as well.

Certain characters appear in deus ex machina fashion, only to disappear after serving their purpose to get the main characters where they need to go for that particular plot point.

I have some other minor issues, but my main concern is that the writers/producers of the show will never be able to tie all the loose ends together. There's an awful lot to be explained at the end of Season Two and I just have to hope that Lost is not jerking our chains at the end of the season just to say "Gotcha!"

We shall see. Season Three begins in two days.

Which brings up another point that bothers me.

When Season Three does start in two days, it's only going to run for six weeks, followed by a thirteen-week break, after which the season will conclude. Talk about jerking your chain....

But again, I'm willing to go along.

For now....

Random Thoughts

First, if you have any interest whatsoever in speculative fiction, you should read James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon. An excellent, informative, entertaining and long overdue biography. Highly recommended.

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Second, if Flannery O'Connor were alive today, I'd camp out on her front porch, sidestepping the peacocks, telling her how wonderful she is each time she opened the door. I've been chipping away at several of her stories from The Complete Stories. O'Connor read lots of Joyce, Kafka and Faulkner and that conglomeration of influences shows up in many of her stories. Many of the stories are humorous, disturbing, horrific, strange, violent, absurd and nihilistic - often all in the same story. She had the uncanny ability to capture small-town Southerners and yet bring out universal concepts, moral judgments and the possibility of redemption from them, and the supernatural, all without stooping to preachiness.

O'Connor was a Roman Catholic, but denominations are never clear from her stories, at least not to me. What amazes me is that so few Christians have read (or have even heard of) O'Connor. These are amazing stories. Start with her most famous, "A Good Man is Hard to Find," which is itself very easy to find: it's been anthologized just about everywhere.

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On the writing front, 600 words tonight on an almost-finished short story.

Now Playing = The Complete Columbia Stanley Brothers

Getting Unstuck or The Battle of the Jeffs

Some excellent comments from the last post. Thanks to all.

It is tough to leave a story alone for awhile. I tend to want to struggle through the muck, waving knives and swords at anything that moves (or doesn't move), getting in the way of my story. But following Ford's advice, I went back to a story that had fizzled out awhile back. I focused on why one of the characters acts the way he does and several pieces of the puzzle fell into place, not all at once, but little by little, like a trail of clues leading me forward. The story is working and I'm excited about it. Like VanderMeer mentioned, I have a general idea of what's going to happen (or might happen), but I'll be open for any self-discoveries I or my characters might find along the way.

This from Sarah Monette. Advice, help and suggestions you can get from others, for which I'm thankful. But you've gotta do the work. Good stuff, Sarah.

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Watched another Blast from the Past on DVD last night, Let's Scare Jessica to Death from 1971. It's a good example of some of the 70's low-budget horror films that often work better than the stuff being made today.

Everybody have a great weekend -

Sort of starts off real slow and then it fizzles out altogether*

The last two stories I've worked on (for the past month) have done exactly that. With both stories, I've started off with a good idea, run with it, then bogged down trying to find the finish line. I can tell that I'm manipulating the endings, something Jeff Ford warned us against at Clarion. I can even point to specific sentences and tell you "That's where it's happening, right there." But I can't seem to "unmanipulate" it.

I suppose that these stories will take care of themselves in time. Probably the thing to do is leave them alone for awhile and let Fred take over. It's frustrating, but everybody goes through it. (I hope they do.)

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I've found that sometimes such fizzling out comes after reading a lot of really great stuff, then trying to write too soon afterwards. It's sort of like watching Roger Federer play tennis then picking up a raquet and hitting the courts. Anyway, lately I've been reading some short stories by Flannery O'Connor, one of my favorite writers.

There's much to admire in O'Connor's work. I certainly appreciate all the Southern touches, but I marvel at how she weaves a spiritual element into each story. The South is filled with spiritually, and not all of it good. O'Connor knows how to bring this out without beating the reader over the head with it. She also knows the importance of word choices. So many of her sentences could have been written with slight differences, but sacrificing much. Hers is a true world of wonder with enough strangeness to satisfy spec fic readers (even non-Southern ones).

My reading has been all over the place lately. In addition to O'Connor, I've been reading:

Scott Westerfeld
Jeff VanderMeer
Anton Chekhov
Dante
Jasper Fforde
Hans Christian Andersen

No wonder I can't write anything....


* from Neil Young's introduction to "Don't Let It Bring You Down" from the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young live album 4-Way Street.

"Can you do this? Without CGI?"

Beam Me Up?

It was more like "Beat me up" if you wanted to own the three seasons of the original Star Trek series on DVD just a few weeks ago. The price of each individual season has lately dropped from over $100 to $45 at Costco. Hmmmm...usually means there's a "new" edition coming out soon....

And there is. CBS/Paramount will begin broadcasting digitally enhanced versions of the original series, beginning on September 16, so the DVDs won't be far behind. (But at what price?)

From startrek.com:

The most noticeable change will be redoing many of the special effects, created with 1960s technology, with 21st century computer-generated imagery (CGI). Upgrades include:

Space ship exteriors – The Enterprise, as well as other starships, will be replaced with state of the art CGI-created ships. The new computer-generated Enterprise is based on the exact measurements of the original model, which now rests in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.
Show opening – The Enterprise and planets seen in the main title sequence will be redone, giving them depth and dimension for the first time.
Galaxy shots – All the graphics of the galaxy, so frequently seen through the viewscreen on the Enterprise's bridge, will be redone.
Exteriors – The battle scenes, planets and ships from other cultures (notably the Romulan Bird of Prey and Klingon Battle Cruisers) will be updated.
Background scenes – Some of the iconic, yet flat, matte paintings used as backdrops for the strange, new worlds explored by the Enterprise crew will get a CGI face-lift, adding atmosphere and lighting.
The refurbished episodes also feature higher quality sound for the famous opening theme. The original score by Emmy Award-winning composer Alexander Courage, has been re-recorded in state-of-the-art digital stereo audio with an orchestra and a female singer belting out the famous vocals. A digitally remastered version of William Shatner's classic original recording of the 38-word "Space, the final frontier..." monologue continues to open each episode.

The remastered episodes have been converted from the original film into a High-Definition format, which gives viewers a clearer, crisper, more vibrant picture than before, even when viewed in standard definition. Once stations upgrade and start broadcasting HD signals, the episodes will be all ready for viewers to enjoy in HD.

Just for fun, here's a look at the new enhanced Enterprise.

I don't know how I feel about this. Sure, I realize that the show (especially the unenhanced edition) is major cheese, but I grew up on the show and have fond memories of it. Like many of us from my era, this was our first introduction to sf. And even though I haven't watched any of the newer Trek incarnations in the past 20 years or read a Trek novel in 30 years, I still love watching the old shows. (Some of them, anyway.) I like watching the old cardboard sets, the cheap fx, the universal rock-planet that appears in each episode.

Sure, it would be nice to see a cleaner picture, a better soundtrack, and fx with less of a cheese factor. But what can you do about Shatner's bad acting?

Still, I think of those old episodes as an old friend. He stumbles around a bit and embarrasses you sometimes, but he's still hanging in there.

"He's dead, Jim."

Yeah, well....yeah...

Going There

This from Sarah Monette's blog. Competition is something that's part of life; there's no getting around it. It's in how we view it -- and ourselves in it -- that counts. As a teacher, I always tried to instill in my students the idea that you're primarily competing against yourself, trying to go deeper, to explore what you're capable of, which ususally involves moving outside your comfort zone.

When I look back at my stories that show the most promise, nearly all of them involve a journey for me, the writer, to a place that is both challenging and uncomfortable. When I strip away all the safety barriers and protective coverings, I find some pretty incredible stuff waiting to be discovered.

That happened this morning for about an hour with a story that had just stalled for the past several days. It took me to a place that's both scary and challenging, but I stood there in the middle of it and learned a lot about the story and myself. The story is certainly not finished, but the truth (and the power) of it is rising to the surface.

It's a lot easier to compare yourself to other writers, though. But what good comes from it? As Sarah rightly says, there's always a writer that wins a bigger prize or whose book stays on the bestseller lists longer than yours. Those things are ultimately out of our control. But you can control how you challenge yourself by getting out of your comfort zone and making some discoveries that might not feel so good for awhile. But your writing will be stonger.

It's true. Give it a try.