Where have I been?
If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you have some clue about how I've been filling my days without filling these screens with funny little characters that string together to form funny little words that mean something to us. If you don't follow me on either of those forms of social media, the briefest synopsis I can offer you is this: Work called. I answered. I'm going to spare you the details of most of it. Let it suffice to say that the responsibilities of my day job temporarily far exceeded my time allotment for it. It spilled over into everything else. Those responsibilities grew like kudzu in the southern heat and I had to grab a machete and spend some time hacking it down. Okay, so a machete and a flamethrower. My writing related activities have been almost non-existent for the past week. My sleeping related activities even suffered drastic cuts. I can't help it. I need my job and the money it provides us to almost-but-not-quite meet basic necessities every month. But I'm back in the writer's saddle again.
One of the activities that forced me to unplug from the matrix for a bit was a camping trip. Yes, the outdoor kind. With tents. And fire. Ooooh, pretty colors. Wait, what? Sorry. So, I went camping. In a tent. On the beach. On the hottest day of the year so far in coastal North Carolina. Believe me, it was definitely not by choice. It was a work thing. It was organized as a stress release by and for my colleagues and I. It wasn't bad. Compared to taking a knife in the eyeball. It was hot. There were lots of small biting insects that seemed to know how to squeeze through the netting on my tent. There were a lot of people drinking tremendous quantities of alcoholic beverages (THIS is phenomenal with juice). Did I mention that it was hot?
The whole trip did remind me that my wife and I used to go camping. When we were younger, we'd load the tent into our van and drive to the mountains of North or South Carolina and spend a night or three. Now, we've been thinking that we should do that again. Except, our giant two room plus screened porch extremely expensive cabin tent is mysteriously missing its poles. And an air conditioning unit. Seriously, I can't figure out what happened to those poles. I had to borrow a tent for the trip.
When I returned to the real world and plugged back into the matrix, I was reminded by a friend on Twitter that I had missed the release of some phone that came out last week.
For those of you who are regular readers, if any of you are left, you remember that I wrote some flash fiction for a couple of contests over the last few weeks. I've decided that I'm going to be posting more fiction in the near future. I am going to have to decide first what is the most appropriate venue for said fiction, but I will be sharing more of my writing with you as soon as I figure it out.
Here are my three options:
- Continue posting fiction here. This allows it to be seen by a larger number of people who visit here, but tends to crowd out the other content (news about that will be later in this post).
- Start a fiction blog. This option allows me to get a clean start for a blog, but will require setup and design work, as well as the marketing work to get people to go there and read. I'm not sure I have the time for that effort.
- Start an online fiction magazine/community/blog beast. This is my favorite option. If I could find a few other aspiring writers who want to share writing duties on a fiction blog/online magazine, it would be a great opportunity (I think) to get short fiction out on the web for people to read and critique. It might also give some other new writers a chance to get some exposure and confidence. I wouldn't mind designing a wordpress (NOT Blogger) site to host this. I just don't have the money for the hosting or domain name right now. The basic premise would be that a group of writers, myself included, would each retain administrative access to the site and each of us would post one piece of short fiction (typically 1,000 words or less - but if it runs long, hey it would be our site, damn it!) each week (serial works are also acceptable). We would also invite others to post their original works to the blog (as guest writers), showcasing original talent. I'm not attached to setting up/maintaining this, so if someone else has a burning desire to do that, it's fine, but I'd be more than happy to do it, allowing others to just be responsible for their writing.
Please give me feedback on the above ideas. If you are interested in #3, please let me know!
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I also have a proposal to throw out into the void of cyberspace regarding this wonderful place I call Geekcentricity. I think that the wide variety of interests and pursuits that are geekcentric offer an excellent opportunity to cover more aspects of geekdom than I can possibly cover alone with my interests and limited time (remember, I'm in the "Learn My Craft" phase of my very own Operation: Awesome, so I need to have time to write other projects - my game, The Broken Veil, has suffered a horrible lack of attention of late).
With this in mind, I am initiating my own contest. More like an open call. Here's the deal: If you have an interest in some geekcentric topic (video games - console/pc/mmo/whatever, board games, ccg's, pen & paper rpg's, photography, technology - phone/computer/whatever, geek-related pop culture, whatever - the possibilities are staggering) and a desire to share your knowledge/passion/expertise with the wider world, then I have an opportunity for you! Here's what I need:
- Comment on this post and tell me that you would like to write for Geekcentricity (it is totally voluntary for you, just like it is for me - I have no money to pay anyone).
- In your comment, include the type(s) of topic(s) you are interested in writing about.
That's all! I will contact you and we will decide on a topic and when the post will be finished and ready for posting. I will retain editorial control (but will let you know in advance about any major revisions) and will set up access for you to post your content here as a guest blogger. If it works out and you enjoy it, then we can talk about continuing the process, but writing a single post in no way obligates you to any long term commitments. The way I see it, if you're interested in geeky stuff and enjoy writing, this gives you the opportunity to share that with others without having the responsibility of coming up with daily content or dealing with the setup, marketing or maintenance of your own blog. It also helps Geekcentricity gain more content and the perspective of fresh minds and voices. Have a video game that you loved/hated? Have an rpg you want to pimp? Got a book you want to tell people about? Cool iPhone app whose features you want to share? Awesome new video card coming out that you think would be perfect for gaming? Want to share the joys and trials of raising a little geek in today's world? All of those things and more would be perfect! What do you think? Is anyone interested?
Okay, there are some things I need your feedback on peeps! Help me out here. Drop me some comments. I'm waiting with bated breath. Or at least a trickle of drool on my lip.
