Yes, still alive. I will attempt to get back to posting here more often. But today I wanted to alert you to this Query Holiday. Firebrand Literarry Agency between December 15 and January 15 will be accepting first chapters instead of query letters. Just follow the directions on their website. They also want only completed manuscripts. And they promise to read every one. So, if your looking for an opportunity, this might be it. I plan on submitting myself.

We all have those well worn phrases that drives us crazy. Here’s a list of twenty from the bbc.

20 of your most hated cliches

Cliches are one of those things that it’s easy to fall into for many of us. They are well worn and comfortable and that is just why they are so dangerous and should fall to the editors pen.

I think it’s appropriate that Nanowrimo starts at the witching hour right after Halloween is technically over. I’ve been somewhat avoiding thinking about mine because if I think about it I’m going to want to write it, but I think I have an idea of how I want to start it. So, you can probably expect random ramblings about steamships and inter-dimensional travel, if I blabber here about my novel.

Hey, it’s Nanowrimo, anything goes. To all you playing, the best of luck, to any of you that aren’t, well, why aren’t you? it’s only a bit less then two-thousands words a day!

Just a few days from Nanowrimo. I’m starting to get excited, though I still don’t have much of an idea of my plot besides mad scientists and cliches and vague steampunk ideas. For some reason I’ve decided to write something that’s vaguely steampunk, though I’ve got no real idea what that means. Also I took a dare from a friend to include a male ballet dancer, so that’s Victor Beauchamp, my male MC’s, day job. There will be some romance, and probably some scifi, and I’m afraid it’s just going to turn into a colossal mess, but hey, it’s nanowrimo, so who cares.

Also I got an eeePC, so I can write on the go:

That’s my eeePC (running eeexubuntu) on top of my compaq presario for a size comparison. I broke the hinges on my laptop, so it’s no longer really portable. I also got a portable DVD player case for it (it’s the same size), so I can really take it on the go.

I have resources up there in the links, don’t forget. And if anyone knows of any other resources or links, feel free to leave a comment. Let’s get ready to rumble!

Over there I’m reliantfc3

Okay, so I missed Monday. Monday is my crazy busy school day, so I’m not sure if I’ll be able to post on Monday’s or not. The other questions: Did I write?

Well, sort of. I got a couple paragraphs anyway. I grabbed the next First Line challenge and started. The blank page is intimidating! But at least I started something. Now to finish it. Of course Nanowrimo is just around the corner, so I better find the habit again, one way or another. I’m still not totally sure what I’m going to do for that.

On a slightly random topic, this Saturday, the 27th is free museum day, brought to you by the Smithsonian. So, if you want to check out something you might not normally (or just want to not pay admission), check out the website:
http://microsite.smithsonianmag.com/museumday/

This is pretty much totally where I am right now with this blog:

It’s been WAAAAAY too long since I updated anything. No real good reason, other then maybe I’m not writing as much. I mean yes, I’ve started school, but truthfully that shouldn’t be getting in my way. Maybe I should to look at “War of Art” again. Or maybe I should quit putting it off and just do what I’ve already committed myself to do. Resistance is only as strong as I let it be.

Today, this morning, I’ll write something. Doesn’t matter if it’s a lousy chapter or a pathetic excuse for a short story. My Muse needs the exercise. I will be back here on Monday telling how it went.

Wil Wheaton wrote an excellent post yesterday on the writing process. Well not just on the writing process, but about how he finds inspiration and assurance from other writing blogs. I’m surprised he doesn’t mention Neil Gaiman’s blog on his list, but that’s one I also make sure I read.

WWdN: In Exile: i thought i was the only one.

Was cleaning up my hard drive a bit the other day, which mostly just means getting rid of stuff I’m not using. Dropbox was helpful as I put my writing on there (with a backup of course) so I can get to it from anywhere. And as is usually the case I started poking around the scraps of old material.

I recently let a friend of mine read the first three chapters of a story I started, well originally probably around 2003 or 2004. It was my story for the novel writing class I took, so I have a pretty solid first three chapters. But, that’s the problem. I only have a first three chapters. I’ve never been able to get the characters to go ahead and get started on chapter four.

I suppose this is better then the story scraps I have where it’s only a few sentences or a paragraph, but still, this story has potential, if I just were to sit down and work at it. After all, I’ve already proven to myself that I can dust off an older story, push it through and finish it.

I think part of my hesitation with this one is that I’ve been doing the ‘two people on a road trip’ thing a few times now. I definitely think I’ll be doing something different for Nano this year.

Bit of a lazy post, but at lesat I’m posting something. My friend Sonja posted yesterday about a service called Dropbox. Check out her review and if anyone is interested I’ve got eight invites, so, drop me an email, first come first serve.

Basically it’s a service that pretty darn seamlessly shares files between computers with a minimum of hastle. And it’s free. Just drop the file in and it’s, err, magically availble at all the computers you have dropbox loaded on. Pretty darn neat.