Newsletter August 2008
Hello again,
Wow, August snuck up on me. Life with a new baby is still a tad overwhelming, but we are all getting into our grooves again. She is sleeping through the night for the most part. During the day though, you can never predict how long she'll nap or entertain herself. Sometimes she'll sleep for hours. Other times, the fussies take over, and we are just along for the ride. But it is all worth it, even if I can't think while she is crying. The smiley times more than make up for it.
Work continues on the Sci Fi novel. I went through an existential crisis regarding writing the story 1st person point of view or third person point of view. 3rd allows you do a more complex plot and show the action from lots of angles. 1st lets you get in the protagonist's mind and really see the world through someone else's eyes. While in the middle of the crises, I picked up a new Barry Eisler story at the Salt Lake City airport. Most was in 1st pov, but every now and then, there was a 3rd pov chapter so we could see what the side characters and bad guys were doing. Reading them both together really made it clear that I prefer 1st. 3rd is all about the plot, 1st is all about the character.
But enough sweeping generalizations. I continued writing the story in 1st pov, and I'm making sure to let you read his thoughts.
In other writing news, Morrigan Books (the press that is doing the Voices anthology) is starting up a web magazine. It may go print at some point too. I'll keep you posted. The exciting part is that the first two issues are by invitation only, and I've been invited to submit some short stories! The first one will be a horror/suspense/dark science fiction. That's me, horror and children's books.
In case you need a good book, check out Three Days to Never by Tim Powers. Or really anything by him. I love haw he takes historical science and technology and give a supernatural reason for the research. This time, it is Einstein and quantum mechanics.
And now, after a long day of repairing robots, I going to bed. I need to rest up so I can have a daddy-daughter night when I return home tomorrow.
Take care and read lots,
--Todd