Tag Archives: Writing

In the Beginning of November…

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A new month begins and a new twist to life. This is the first day at a new office in downtown Toronto. Not that I’ve changed positions, I’m still working as a mobile developer for Web Impact. For my coworkers, this is nothing new since they all worked at the Toronto office before moving out to Mississauga. Unfortunately the Mississauga location did not provide what we needed and so we are moving back for now.

This morning everything is a little different. Figuring out new schedules, new routes and a new location. Should be fun. Other than that I’ll still get to enjoy working on mobile coding, with all its unique challenges.

One challenge I worked on this past while is writing. Not a lot of progress on the novel. But I did manage to submit two short stories for publishing. One to the Fall issue of the Alexandrian, which should come out soon. And one to 365 Tomorrows, which will hopefully get accepted too.

Other than that I still have load of catching up on work. I still feel a bit behind. Anyways, this next stop is mine. Catch you later.

Drowsy Perspective

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It seems that coffee has failed to awaken my drowsy brain.  So apologies to my readers if this blog comes out lopsided.  I’ve come to a number of realizations after a long evening conversation with a very good friend of mine.  Hence the need for copious amounts of coffee.  And the ever present drowsiness.  Also this post may come off as a jumbled stream of consciousness.  My neurons aren’t synapsing in sync today…

Recently, I’ve posted quite a lot in the form of micro-blogs or ‘dents as all the crazy identi.ca kids call them.  This is a fun but honestly distracting diversion.  So I’m going to give identi.ca a rest for a bit.  Same goes with daily blogging in any form.   I will post things of interests and tidbits on this blog once in a while.  And once in a while, when inspiration hits me I post an actual blog entry.  But I won’t rack my brains to post a daily update.  This is not because nothing interesting goes on in my life.  Rather much of what goes on must remain in the  privacy that is afford only to close friends and clients.  Also many things only make sense in a context, that must be experienced rather than described.  Finally, my interest currently lies with my projects and my writing.  And I want to concentrate on those things first and foremost.  I’ll still take up the challenge offered by Ryan, one of my former classmates.  I’ll post a new status update on Facebook for each day of 2010.  It’ll be mostly cryptic passages, but there will be one per day.

Another realization is that how futile it is to emulate things and joys of old.  There somethings that can be moved forward with time.  Some things just don’t.  It seems that long philosophical wanderings, while fun and enjoyable are not something I’ll be able to keep.  I’ll do it on occasion.  But honestly, I realize that as asinine as this sounds: I know what I already need to know about many of the big things.  And many times I find myself trying to change things that are beyond my means.  Or at least arguing the case for said change.  Most of the important questions can be boiled down to a simple individual questions.  And those questions are relatively easy to answer with a combination of faith, logic and experience.  Everything else is honestly just “frosting”.  And that frosting just detracts from the important stuff many times.  (I’ve started rambling haven’t I?)

Another realization is that there are many important changes I want to happen in my life.  And these will take time and effort.  And concentration.  So I’m putting aside all the little distractions and trying to concentrate on the important things.  It is a bit scary when it feels like many of your friends seem more like adults than yourself.  I know that everyone feels this from time to time.  I have no qualms saying that I’m not a special unique butterfly with experiences unshared by anyone else.  Still it is an unnerving thought that one is not living up to one’s full potential.  And that your close friends are.  It is time to catch up.

In conclusion, so I can finish this…  (If you ever wondered what the wandering mind of an author looks like first thing in the morning.  )  I’m taking a hiatus on my distractions.  I’m sorry that I can’t manage to post daily updates.  I’ll try to see what I can do.  But honestly, in the bigger scheme of things, my daily blog ponderings and activities are not all that important.  And I need to concentrate on the important things.  Once things fall into place, I’ll probably return to something more regular.

Time for the third cup of coffee.

Writer’s Block – Echoes in the Endless Returns & Totally Unknown Writers Festival

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Last week I mentioned that I restarted writing of my novel.  Well actually I’ve restarted the writing of TWO novels.  Yes, I’m writing TWO novels in tandem.  And while it sounds like  a bad idea, this can work since I can switch between the novels depending on the mood I’m in.  If I’m in the mood for something epic, I’ll continue with A Collection of Shards.  If I’m in the mood for something more quiet and personal, I’ll work on Echoes in the Endless.  In either case, I’m planning to work on both simultaneously.  Also I can not give an estimate of when I will finish writing these books.  My previous estimates and personal due dates came and went, and the book writing did not progress.

Echoes in the Endless will look similar to the earlier variants that I started working on.  However instead of the majestic huge starships of space operas, I’ve taken a liking to the gritty grim spacecraft of today.  I also enjoyed hard science fiction, that involved reality based stories.  Yes authors go into great lengths to explain things and it does make stories less “plastic epic”.  However these constraints lead to more provocative unconventional stories, and I plan on writing those and not another clone of “Battlestar Galactica” or “Star Trek”.  A warning to all readers, neither of these books are meant to be happy.  I’m a realist not an optimist so I tend not include pink tinted glasses with my stories.

Finally, I’ve been initially invited to contribute to the next Totally Unknown Writers Festival.  Everything is still in the conception stage, however with any luck I’ll read something at next year’s show.

And for kicks, I read the flash science fiction 365 Tomorrows a lot.  Here is an awesome piece: EULA by Cesium Artichoke

Update – A Week in Review

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This has been quite a busy week in hindsight.  I managed to build up my portfolio and work on my professional image.  I managed to restart my coding and writing projects.  And I’ve finished up on my correspondences.  I look back and I’m quite proud of my achievements.  I just wish I could move such mountains on a regular basis.

Quick Update

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Hmm… unfortunately it seems I can no longer achieve much when pulling an all-nighter, as I did in university.  In fact, I feel I maybe less productive due to the sleepiness that comes with sleep deprivation.  (Talk about pointing out the obvious.)  Anyways this week, I’m trying to catch up on work at home, while learning about Spring MVC at work and trying to push forward my projects.  So far, the effort hasn’t really produced much in terms of progress on my projects.  But I’ll see if I slide them during the day.  Anyways, I’ll keep the post for today short and sweet.  I have a lot of writing to do, and I need to plan and execute a technical demo for a prospective client.  Hopefully today, I can push at least a few things forward.

Before I Lay Down My Pen and My Head

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Things are going fairly smoothly for the trip.  Not yet at the point at where I can say I’m packed and ready.  And there remains a good chunk of work to do.  However plans are proceeding forward.

While I look forward to my trip, lately I’ve felt like my self-esteem has taken quite a beating.  I don’t know if this signals a slow but steady burnout.  Or rather realization and acceptance of my current position and circumstances in life.  I’m a bit disappointed.  I still feel I’m far from where I want to be in the near future.  And reality seems to close more doors than open them.  If some potential opportunity opens, it feels more like a tease than an opportunity.  Realistically, I feel I’ve exhausted all the straightforward options without compromising or risking my future on some future high-risk scheme.  This realization is quite unnerving.  I’m not sure what else I can do, aside from doing what I already am.  I’ve never enjoyed the prospect of casting the dice and hoping for the best.  This is fine in a game.  In life not so much, since for action there are far reaching consequences.  In life, a sane logical strategy needs to be in place.  Still I can’t see how I can achieve my end-goals, circumstances being as they are.  I find solace in my writing, and little else.

I’m still going to blog on highly irregular basis, definitely until after my trip.  Or most likely after I finish writing the rough draft of the novel.  My novel feels like the only meaningful contribution I can make at the moment.  Everything else depends on external factors, beyond my control.

A Return to Normality

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Today marks the first day of getting back to my old schedule and routine.  The transition turned out smoother than I imagined.  Hopefully, no new quirk will appear and I get back to working on all my overdue tasks.  As things stand:

  • Writing the first part of the first chapter in the novel.  Had tweak it a bit to avoid a plot hole.
  • Working out the plan of attack to restart justCheckers development.  I’m woefully unfamiliar with bzr and Eclipse integration is not working well.
  • Some initial plans for the new justCheckers website theme.  Again, new to Drupal theming.
  • My consulting work is back to a regular, sane pace and my own expectations have fell into place.
  • My expectations and goals in general are more aligned with reality and my own position in it.
  • Small urgent tasks keep on stomping on my larger plans, which is a bit trying.  Hopefully this will all settle down soon.

I’ll continue blogging in short irregular bursts, until my projects start moving forward under their own momentum.

Of Journals and Juggling

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I’ve found myself recently writing considerable amounts in my diary.  I’ve had many a thought, that I felt compelled to write down.  But such thoughts were fairly private in nature, so I will discuss or hint about them here.  One of thought that I would like to share, is my temporary withdrawl from daily blogging.  I’m trying to concentrate on writing my novel, A Collection of Shards.  And I’m concentrating on reviving the comatose justCheckers project.  Post daily updates to my blog just add more overhead to my day.  And I’ve so precious little time and so many tasks to complete…  So I’m going to take a break, and update this blog when I feel like it.

The Day After

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Today marks the first day of my 26th year of existence.  So far I feel quite pleased.  I have some progress in my various goals.  I go out more often.  I talk to more people.  I have found a few girls who have taken some sort of an interest in me.  Life goes on without missing a beat.  In my mind, my writing is shaping up nicely.  Programming is left to the side, for now.  But I plan on working on that fairly soon.  Getting a license and a car is within my reach.  For once I can see myself living an ordinary independent adult life.  For various reasons I’m doing anything crazy like moving out.  Or spending vast amounts of money, or doing silly things in general.  My time management, project management and organizational skills are far better than they were a year ago.  And most importantly, I still see a glimmer of hope of my eeking out a prosperous existence on this rock.  My situation is not the simplest or the easiest, butI still I have room for maneuvering.  All in all, the day after and the coming days looking promising.

Echo: Quantity Not Quality

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I’ll attempt at stealing Marika’s traffic again.  And because my response is long enough to become a blog post:

Yes, Marika that is true.  Writing is an art.

Unfortunately, in a difficult economy you need to be a generalist.  I can write well too.  I can code really well.  But instead of concentrating on coding, I get to do a weird mix of planning, sending off communications, coding, writing documentation, system administration, et cetera.  It is not fun.  And while I am capable of doing all these tasks… I’d rather concentrate on what I really excel at.  But…

There are programmers that can outcode, outthink and outclass me in experience. The older experienced ones especially.  So I can’t compete on their level.  Also I rather have “a” job than “no” job.  And for most tasks in business, “good enough” bets “genuis”.  For coding a website you don’t need a Linus Torvald.  Nor do you need an Ernest Hemmingway for writing dry business articles about mergers and acquistions.  You don’t need a van Gogh, Monet or Da Vinci to paint walls.

Why is this?  Because “genius” is very, very expensive.  “Good enough” means a business can keep afloat, which is what business usually do.  And those profit margins for those fat cat capitalists?  They are razor thin in most cases.

Reality is if you are truly great, you get that awesome great dream fulfilling job.  Everyone else is on the scale of mediocre in terms of jobs.  The best way for that dream job is to be so great in a particular valuable niche, that it is either you or nobody else (for that price of course).  That is how the market goes.  So why quantity over quality?  I dunno.  Maybe because markets tend toward producing commodities for the unwashed masses.  The idea is to come up with a way to use resources to produce goods and services at nominal cost approaching zero.  That is a good thing for everyone.