While attending Foolscap I've been spending some time in the bar working on my novel, including the following scene:

Through the large window beside our table we could watch the Earth slowly wheel by three times a minute. It’s the view the ‘Top of the World’ restaurant is known for, but it makes me nauseous if I watch it too long. Alice seemed to ( Read more... )

The following is a scene I wrote today as part of a complete rewrite of chapter two:

I left Bailey’s office when he started yelling at Raj. I don’t think he even noticed me going out the door. From Bailey’s office it is two floors up to the office cube I share with Larry Wells. Larry wasn’t there, no surprise, so I called him on the phone and told ( Read more... )

On Craigslist today there was a help-wanted ad titled 'Apple Site News Writer':

Looking for self-motivated writers for a large Apple News site ( Read more... )

Tonight: we lift glasses in memory of Charles N. Brown at the Pike Place Brewpub around 7:00. If you are in Seattle or can make it into the city, be there!

I've been thinking about branding and how it applies to the creative worker. For example, suppose you have a website that becomes famous; is that website now a 'brand' for you? Or for the website itself? And which is better?

Think about the authors and artists you know that have websites. For example, John Scalzi has a well-known blog called ( Read more... )

Over at Crooked Timber they're having an online seminar on Charlie Stross and his work. Lots of interesting reading for the politically aware SF fan!

In the post about 'Halting State' I was moved to comment about the literary value of the novel, resulting in the following (slightly edited here) extemporaneous review of the book:
I’m of the opinion ( Read more... )

Go read this article on Space.com:

The Astra 5A commercial telecommunications satellite suffered an apparently sudden "technical anomaly" that has put an end to its in-orbit service life, and the spacecraft will be moved immediately into a graveyard orbit . . . SES has transferred much of the Astra 5A traffic to an Astra spacecraft at 23.5 degrees ( Read more... )

All the writer types I know do some kind of gossipy updatery when they go out to commit words so I felt I should do the same.

( Click here for the neepery. Feel free to ignore instead. )

Well, my last minute idea for a Writer's Retreat flew like a lead balloon. No surprise. But it does mean that I must retreat from, ahem, my idea for a retreat ( Read more... )

I'm seriously thinking of renting a nice cabin near Sekiu Sunday through Wednesday next week to do some writing. I can afford the full cost, but it would help if two or three others wanted to come along and contribute a little (I'm thinking $50 a night.) The problem is short notice and bad timing (right before the 4th ( Read more... )