Jackpot!?

So, when I heard this back in August, I was all Oh YES I have just the thing for them! Then I realized I had better ask some of my writer friends to take a beta read. Being incredible friends, several said yes. Three actually read all the way through.  Two said, “It’s not horrible. We want more.” The third gave some excellent suggestions about language. The fourth, who brings to bear a background in film and comics, came through with excellent suggestions for sharpening up chapters that had suffered from insufficient re-write. Mind you, he was the person who suggested I read McKee’s Story: Substance, Structure, Style and The Principles of Screenwriting.

If you write fiction, you really need to read McKee. Working through that totally engrossing tome on the art of storytelling was better than getting religion. Learning how to turn conflict into story:  priceless.

Time being short, my friend and I had a two-hour video conference via Skype. Oh. My. God.  I took copious notes.  This was going to be Re-write City for big chunks o’ plot. Good news:  the story’s original and has good bones. Bad news: still some flab.

Writer’s Shock

Now, before he’s been able to get through the whole thing, he’s moving. He’s unplugged. And I have to tighten up a long book, write a riveting synopsis and find the most exciting chapter in the next five days.

My principal figment says:

Didn’t I do it right the first time? Call my union rep!

My own reaction:

Writer’s Shock

*bites nails*

I got the axe, but it wasn’t nearly this pretty nor so romantic.

I got laid off on 9/11…2012. I knew exactly what my boss was doing when she peered around the edge of my cube and said, “Come to conference room H, please.”  I wasn’t disappointed. The H.R. guy was as nice as he could be. I’m not sure I breathed the entire twenty minutes he spoke. Somehow, I managed to walk on my own two feet out of there without fainting. While I was trying to pack my desk, I kept having to stop. My boss and I sniffled, and clung together. Miraculously, I packed up three tote bags worth of my professional life. Then the office vomited me out into the gorgeous Beaux Arts station I had worked in for six years. I wandered down to the Metro and sat numbly on the subway as it hurtled from Union Station in Washington, D.C., toward Rockville.

These days, Amtrak is under fire from Capitol Hill in a big way. My position in Government Affairs didn’t call me to be one of the suited worthies who go up in front of Jihad-ing congressmen, ties blazing. No, it just afforded a truly terrifying view of the ongoing battles from the sidelines. With the budget numbers steadily shrinking, the company is tearing at its management staff like a trophy wife’s liposuction procedure. The idea is to improve many of their corporate processes through this grim reorganization. I wish them the best. I don’t see how they could do it differently.

I’m afraid for them. I’m less afraid for myself.  Been here before with other companies, twice,  so I got out the “RIF VICTIM” body bag and dusted it off. Then I put it back on the shelf and smiled. Being 56 and an experienced techno-geek doesn’t help me much, except that I’m possibly less traumatized than my younger self was. But I do know that the best way to get over being pitched out on your ass is to get up and charge back into the fray.

So, this is me, catapulting my squishy courage into the breach.  In addition to job hunting, I’m polishing my skills with courses on e-Classes.org.

Starting Over

I’ve blogged before. We wrote an official blog for one of my two sites at Amtrak, history.amtrak.com. I also used to write news blurbs for my baby, greatamericanstations.com.  I couldn’t say my personal blog has been any great shakes.  I love finding oddities and weird facts, but that’s a pretty thin diet for a good blog.

What I want to do now is create a fiction blog. It’s going to be authored by one of my figments, and will narrate within an urban fantasy world I have created.  I have already written several of the novel-length stories, the first of which is going to get submitted to publishers in October, if my nerve holds out.  I see this as a way to put the world of Palmers Rest, North Carolina and the Master of Sorrows out there as an ongoing teaser. Since it’s urban fantasy, they will be anecdotes set in the present day with the addition of fantastic and science fiction elements. The longer stories also refer to the blog that this figment writes.

The fiction blog ties in with the galleries of illustration I keep on my website, cooltuna.com, as well as posts I make on Renderosity.com. I have made up very short stories to go with illustrations from this universe for several years.  Yes, I have been thinking ahead.  I even have a few followers on Renderosity who might enjoy this expansion into a blog.

(Be warned, not everything on the Renderosity or Cool Tuna sites is safe for work. There are nudes, of the art-school sort in my galleries.)

If you are interested in an artist-colony approach to learning and doing, you might like 3d-noir. LT_Roberts, Xaa, and I moderate. (We’re not restrictive about language or nudity, but we do have to be careful about pornographic images, since ICDsoft, which hosts all this, has that in their hosting agreement and I am the one who’ll be punished for any serious bloopers in that regard .)

Check it out. http://3d-noir.cooltuna.com.

If you want in, do the “application” thing and email me. I have a day job and not enough time to deal with spammers, so this is how we handle that, by making sure only real people we know are in there.

Without further ado:

Totally brilliant composition.

http://designcollector.net/anka-zhuravleva

And Union Hardware in Bethesda actually did Starry Night into a mural–using knobs they sell.

http://www.styleture.com/2011/11/09/starry-night-mural/

And in the new homes division:

Hobitat. What will these crazy Welsh do next? http://smeshki.com/interesting/375-kschata-na-hobitite-v-uels-15-snimki.html

Need something to go with that Hobitat? This isn’t it. This is all flash on his site, but the classic sculpture, paintings and drawings from this artist is truly dope. He’s so talented it’s totally depressing.

http://www.richardmacdonald.com/

But I do like this:

Sort of goes with the floating tea party.

And to finish up, incredibly sarcastic e-cards: http://www.someecards.com/

<3

Cocktails with Gloom

“This is not the cleavage you were looking for,” is what he told the guy at the bar who was staring at him. And this was not a pickup joint, anyhow, nor a place to meet clients; this was his favorite neighborhood dive, or close enough. So Gloom took his third? Fourth? Hypnotini back to his table–maybe a bit unsteadily–and sat again at the booth he had to himself.

Shan, the waitress came by to tell him that he didn’t have to get his own drinks.

“But I’m trying to save your poor feet. Now I think you have to sit and talk to me.”

She sighed, but sat. Gloom usually got his way, and he seemed pleased that she sat, giving her a charming smile.

“Now,” he said, gesturing with both hands–somehow not spilling his drink before slurping up half in one go. “What’s on your mind?”

Shan blinked at him, being as he’d asked her to sit, not vice versa. “Just checking up on you. You know, you’re in by yourself tonight.”

“Indeed I am,” he said conspiratorialy. “Brothers have their differences sometimes, you know? If Hesperos knew I was out here getting shit-faced by myself, he’d have kittens.” He straightened up at that, taken by the notion. “You know, I’d like to see that. I’ve always wanted a pet.”

“Why haven’t you had one?”

“Keep scaring them,” he said, and arily waved the arm that was encased nearly to his armpit in the cyber-prosthetic. Little staticky balls of essence-lightning rolled off his fingertips, and Shan looked like she suddenly understood why he couldn’t keep a cat: it was making her hair stand up.

Now, one didn’t usually ever ask Gloom his business, but she felt bold, since he was forthcoming–and she’d been serving the brothers for years in this joint. So, she asked, nodding at his arm, “That conduct or generate it?”

“Conduct. I get my own.”

“Oh…” And that meant that even though he looked Gaiain, he certainly wasn’t. “Um, then you’re not Gaian. Rakshasa?”

He leaned so close she could smell the liquor on his breath mingling with the scent of his soap–and a faintly musky odor–not because he hadn’t washed, however. It was faintly minky, but it told the story. “We,” he confided, “Are half-Chidimbari.”

Shan made herself smile. Well, mystery solved as to why they brothers got their way in the cafe, and why they were so secretive. Chidimbari-hani (male Oni of the Chidimbari nation) were considered weapons-grade biologicals. And Gloom, here, he was a sorcerer, too. Oh yes, there was suddenly a lot that made sense, now.

And he cocked his head, beautiful eyes nailing hers, soft, rough voice very quiet. “You’re a friend, Shan. But if you breathe a word of that, I’ll eat your heart raw.”

She just nodded. He was cute when he was trashed…but he was still Gloom, and ever so dangerous.

Production notes: Surreality’s Equinox character with shaders adjusted to use Poser Pro2012′s SSS nodes; Coflek-gnorg’s RazorRider diner; cocktail glass from Powerage Hype bar, but with other shaders; Cyberpunk M4 cyberarm and pants; Nagase for M4 with a PD-Gothic texture applied. Postwork done in Photoshop for hair, a bit of touch-up, and some light f/x work.

Cheers!

Yes, it was horrifying. Mostly because the outdoor furniture seems to have gotten totally drunk off its ass and got laid. Well, I suppose that IS one way of coping.

No, really. We had a little bit of a blow (*cough*) and the rain was gentle. We got off easy.

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

On June 15, we were introduced to the latest “Let’s Pull Amtrak Apart, Pulverize All the Pieces In a Blender, Dump It Out, and Get People Who Have No Idea What They’re Doing or Talking About Attempt to Mold Something Back Together” bill.

http://www.railwayage.com/breaking-news/mica-shuster-eye-passenger-rail-competition-3234.html

Even Jesus Thinks You're Doing It Wrong.

Chopping up Amtrak and selling its bloody parts to the highest bidder? Epicly bad idea.  Over time, I’ve learned that handing over the reins for a public good to a private firm gets us, the taxpayers, exactly nowhere but more broke and now? Stranded without a ride. The cost doesn’t go down. Efficiency doesn’t go up. Please, how many businesses fail within their first years? Nearly all of them.

Hand your well-being to the accountants, and you will end up suffering with nicely balanced books. This is such a sucky idea, Congressman Mica, it’s just unbelievable.

Think Fannie Mae.

This guy said way better than I can: The public pays a price for privatization. Read it, dude.

I particularly like the Pawlenty-style notion of replacing all of Congress with 4chan.

But back to human beauty. IF you are a Poser user, you have the ability to morph faces on your human figures, whichever ones you use. Want to make something ugly or good looking intentionally? We have the lowdown, thanks to Jim Farris (again).

The Golden Deckagon

You can see more about Dr. Marquardt’s research on his web site.