Blog

Where to start?

So this. But then the excuse was made by the Republicans, “climate changes all the time! Hur Hur.” Then they ran off to count their fracking bribes contributions.

I first bumped shoulders with James Stark in a dark alley called Aloha From Hell. Richard Kadrey’s third book in the Sandman Slim series. I faithfully followed the series through the next three books. Watching Stark adapt to life outside of Hell has been a roller coaster ride through Los Angeles.

But what was Stark like when he first came home? Reading the first book never quite made it to the top of my to-do list. Until last week. Cracking the spine on a fresh ebook, I dug into Sandman Slim (2009).

I really like how he’s gone with the movie poster look. I’m totally expecting Hollywood to screw up (i.e. tone down) Stark. If there aren’t movies in the pipe already, I’ll be surprised.

Now, that old chestnut: Do you have any advice for young writers?

BALLARD

A lifetime’s experience urges me to utter a warning cry: do anything else, take someone’s golden retriever for a walk, run away with a saxophone player. Perhaps what’s wrong with being a writer is that one can’t even say “good luck”—luck plays no part in the writing of a novel. No happy accidents as with the paint pot or chisel. I don’t think you can say anything, really. I’ve always wanted to juggle and ride a unicycle, but I daresay if I ever asked the advice of an acrobat he would say, “All you do is get on and start pedaling …” §

Amazon just said to Hollywood, “oh, your precious movies, we can undercut you there too.” The usual way of doing films & TV has needed disrupting for decades now. Amazon might be the one that succeeds.

The next iteration of “just do it ”

It was the one thing I owned with the most inertia attached. A 2001 Ford Ranger, with alloy wheels and dent in the bed. I haven’t been driving it as I prefer my motorcycle.

The insurance was coming due tomorrow. I needed to either renew the insurance or tell the state it was parked. This gave me a deadline to decide.

It’s been shambling along for a while now. I bought it with 101,000 miles and drove it for another 40,000 more in four years. I’ve had good luck with it. I fixed a few things, but no major repairs. Until lately. It seemed things were really starting to fall apart.

My first response was “focus.”

If I am fully engaged in a task, a bomb could go off and I won’t notice. I think this is a universal concept. Books have been written about The Zone or getting into Flow. The fastest way for me to realize that I’ve been in a state of focus is the surprise when I’m knocked out of it. When something as simple as a soft word or electronic beep jolts me out of the chair, that was focus.

My main writing tool is Ulysses III. Simply put, it’s where my text is. In a way, it’s like an office. When I open the app I write.

Most importantly, Ulysses is a writing environment. All writing is done on “sheets,” which are managed by the app. The sheets (documents) are kept in a library, organized with a database. This means all files are kept out of sight and don’t clutter up the documents folder.1