When you blush....

Eek!

Hi guys!  I've not been around much, but given it all started here, I thought I'd end an era by posting about Glass Block and it's publication.
As many of you know, Glass Block was my first Nanowrimo, and was written in 2003.  Rewritten, redrafted, edited, rewritten again, the book has basically evolved from a straight prison story to something that's a bit different, a lot stranger and a lot stronger, in my opinion.
Darkness is in trouble - crime is outstripping the ability to police it, and while some policemen are embracing the issues, but many are falling under the sway of corruption. Each technological jump creates more issues while the regulations fall further and further behind.
Elliot Peters has been sent to a jail to consult on what the press are dubbing 'Big Brother with Blood' - an event where some of the worst criminals in Darkness are allowed to kill one another for the viewing public's pleasure. With prison overcrowding, and the City running out of funding, the new Mayor turned to UCPS (United Coalition Prison Services) to provide income the policing of the city, and they teamed up with a TV channel...
The rest is going to be history.

You can grab it at Glass Block on Amazon.

Print is coming soon!

Just checking if it's worth putting this place on my updates list for news etc?

It occurs to me that not everyone on here has my facebook, or even sees everything I post.
So, I thought I'd show this off because it's just too cool not to plaster everywhere.

As my friends only post just outlined, I'm not reading LJ right now.  I probably won't be back for a long time - I've got a lot of life stuff on that needs my attention - such as my new business,  my kids, my degree, and my books.  And yeah, they prioritize over friends right now.  I'm not one for general sweeping statements, because I have to clause them to death most of the time - and they're passive aggressive nonsense, but I'm prioritizing even my books over friends right now because if I don't, no one will - and friendship - proper friendships that is - can handle it when they're still a priority, but not *the* priority in the world.
I've given so much over the years to people, and I generally don't get it back - and I've given gladly, so that's not a problem, but my giving well is empty, and there's only so often I can listen to someone whine about how I'm leading my life - why I'm not married - how offended they are at something I've done (usually without including them) and some of the other nonsense that's headed my way in the last six months or so.

Newsflash - I've been on massively, stupidly serious medication for six months, and I'm at the point now where I can see things a lot clearer.  That clarity tells me that the people that care for me are where I need them to be and the people that barely know me are too.  And that in the last six months I've grown up more than anyone will *ever* realize - and it's brought me to the realization that I need time off.  So, as with the last post, I'm not *here* any more - not on LJ, and taking a step back in the next few weeks from Facebook, and Twitter. 

I'm tired of being 'always on' and feel the burden of that constant spotlight.  I don't know about anyone else, but I can't be fresh, insightful and honest, with a razor sharp wit - I can't write the love child of CSI and Law and Order - without being isolated for a bit.  I'm regrouping, I'm reading and I'm writing.  I'll be back to my old, unburned out self, probably in nine months, post graduation.  I may be back sooner.
Till then, keep the light on, and if it's important, for god sake, email me.

You know, I post here a lot, and then, most of the time, I don’t come back and read what I’ve posted.

Recently, I asked my VA to stop working with me – paid her notice and let her go.  And then…forgot to lock her off of my blogs.  So I came back last week to find ads for her company splashed throughout my blogs.

So I wanted to apologize, let you know that we’re NOT advertising a company here that doesn’t deserve the time of day now, and that I’ll be back to normal soon.  For the moment I’ve simply removed about a month worth of posts till I can check them and make sure they’re clean.

Originally published at Insanity is contagious, Mk x. You can comment here or there.

Something that will be happening on a more regular basis here, and not on my other blogs, is something called 'the status report'.  In it, I'll talk writing, where I am right now, what's going on, what trends Im personally noticing, if I've come accross anything of interest.  It *was* going to be a newsletter, but I figured that doing that would put me in what could be considered an untenable position if I put too much on my plate. 
It'll also have it's own actual site, simply because getting an agent, or working through a contract is a newsworthy thing in my opinion.  And hopefully, when I'm done and have my own books out there, I can pass it on to someone else, who can use it to narrate thier story as a writer, and where they are going.

So, another new project, brought on by the fact that I'm getting (I hope) a London agent in the near future.

I’ve always thought the most effective adverts are the ones that get you talking – I remember starting at Uni and seeing a ‘New York Deli’ mayonnaise one that caused offence, but was still hilarious.  And then the ‘Brains’ from the Thunderbirds dancing one for Drench, which was a bottled water, and caused a lot of conversation between our friends.

But there’s a difference between conversation and annoyance.

Tune Out, Turn Off

There’s two adverts right now that really annoy me – the Windows 7 advert, and the ‘And it’s from Glade you know’ adverts.
They’re both obnoxious, pandering and patronizing – which makes it even worse that I’m even giving them attention.

Windows 7  - I’m a PC and Windows 7 was *never* my idea

The ‘I’m a PC and Windows 7 was my idea’ adverts are probably remotely true in that people have bitched and whined about Vista since before it was released.  So if you consider the BILLIONS of bug feedbacks ‘thier’ idea, then sure, they created Windows 7.  The truth of the matter is that Windows 7 was designed around feedback that we all made – alongside some things that Windows 7 may or may not have asked people about.

I’m actually unsure whether the people that say they’ve suggested the features really did – but it feels so fake and so contrived that I doubt it.  And though I’m now a Windows 7 user (because I felt that it was an improvement on Vista, mainly on the strength of the beta tested product) those adverts are almost enough to make me switch, permanently, to a Mac. (that and the ’switch’ advert is another funny one – done right).  You’ll see how close they are to the ‘Im a windows 7 adverts.

And it’s from Glade, you know

Oh my god, another advert that I hate because there’s some stupid idea that every stay at home mother does the things that the inane woman does.  As a SAHM, I can say, flat out, that I don’t care how the house smells when people show up – clean is better than overpowering sweet candles, unless I’m really in the mood for them.   As for the ‘it’s that clever’ – clearly, Glade aren’t.
A cleaning product or home comfort product shouldn’t focus on patronising anyone – we know it smells good, we know it is worth it if we need that ‘comfort’ – but why not sell the comfort rather than the concept that it’s that clever.  That phrase doesn’t say ’simplicity, it says ‘you can’t remember when you set it off last, and we need to build in a function that fires it off unless you press the button on the front.  Personally, the only Glade device I have is facing the wall so it doesn’t go off every time we wander past, and I press the button when I want it.

Why this is Important

You might think that the fact that advert annoy me isn’t important – but in both cases, I’m part of their ‘target’ demographic, at least on the surface.  My problem with Windows 7 is that they are dumbing down operating systems, and yet expecting people to manage increasingly complex and powerful systems with them – and the two don’t meld well.  The fact that I’m tech support to my parents tells me that Windows 7 hasn’t helped.  As for Glade – I’ll only ever buy it when it’s on offer because my house smells clean enough with the polish and all of the sprays that we use to clean glass, and the floor and everything else.  And none of my friends are so shallow that they care about whether the house smells of Gardenia and Wildflower.

Originally published at Insanity is contagious, Mk x. You can comment here or there.

Last night, in the ‘writechat’ (http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23writechat) we were talking about a lot of different things – creativity and inspiration (which I’m going to post about tomorrow), productivity and more.

One of the comments I made was that my day runs on a split shift – that I take the kids to school, do around an hour of chores (more or less), have a half out workout on the wii-fit+/ea sports active, and then between 10:30 and 12, Write.  I stop for half an hour, then write again till 3.  I pick up the kids, and spend time with them and my finacee, and then, at 8:30, when they go to bed, I go up to my office (on the same floor) and then work for another couple of hours three days a week.  I either edit, reearch, or write up a novel in 30 days plan.  But I thought I’d outline exactly what I do and would love to hear from other people too.

( Read the rest of this entry »Collapse )

Originally published at Insanity is contagious, Mk x. You can comment here or there.

I’ve been blogging since somewhere late in 2002.  I’ve been through Ujournal, onto Livejournal (which I still use to this day), and then here, but I’ve always felt like I was chattering into the void.

Others refer to it as looking into the void – ‘if you look into the abyss, the abyss looks back’ (paraphrased, Friedrich Nietzsche) and eventually it’ll look back.  I’ve always wondered if blogging is a bit like that.  You talk and talk and talk, and eventually, people talk back.

So I thought I’d say thank you to the ‘people’ talking back. Your comments are always welcome, and though sometimes it seems like I’m chattering into the void, and not saying anything to anyone at all, I’m always thinking of my regular commenters and looking for their opinions, and fresh voices to give me new insight.

Thank you.

Originally published at Insanity is contagious, Mk x. You can comment here or there.