The more I think about this, the more curious it seems. From the comments in the previous post (for people reading this on LJ):

Paul said: I heard some psychologist once say that dreams are so crazy because it’s our brain trying to make sense of a random series of thoughts and images. Trying to make a cohesive story out of them for the written word must be both fun and a lot of work.

Eric said:I’ve had a lot of dreams that I wanted to turn into stories too (because I thought they would make good stories). The problem is I remember the dreams right when I wake up in the middle of the night to piss or whatever and then when I go back to bed I forget the dreams.

I tried to rectify this by jotting down the basic plotline and concept quickly, but the next morning I only understand half of what I wrote. Though, the couple of jotted down notes I do understand, I still think would make pretty good stories now that I’m semi-conscious and able to think with the right part of my brain.

So do you ever have problems remembering your dreams to turn into stories?

I said: I think my post was misleading. I actually don’t wake up remembering a complete dream that I think would make a good story. I generally wake up having no recollection of any dreams and start my usual routine. A lot of story ideas hit me in the shower or while I’m making the bed, about 30 minutes after I’m up.

I’ll have a very vague idea or image in my head and I usually figure it was part of a dream. Then in like 10-15 seconds I’ve got the whole story in my head–beginning, middle, end and usually the main cast of characters.

I used to think that my imagination would just formulate the story that fast. Now I suspect that my imagination has been kicking it around for six or seven hours while I sleep. That singular image sparks my brain to reveal the whole shebang to my conscious mind.

Consider Jay Lake’s comments on where he gets his story ideas.

Brains. Consciousness. Unconsciousness. Subconsciousness. Weird things.

The cat’s circadian rhythms need some adjusting. Currently, his sleep cycle dictates that he wake up in the wee hours. Whether his circadian rhythm prompts him to wilfully disturb the dog, I can’t say. What I can say is that the ensuing shenanigans have woken me up most nights for the last couple weeks. It doesn’t take me very long to get back to sleep and I don’t remember much, but after last night’s episode, I realized something—after I wake up and as I doze back off to sleep, I’m thinking about my stories.

This isn’t a conscious decision. It’s not like I’m saying, “I’m awake, so I might as well think about what I’m writing.” They’re just right there, in the front of my brain.

I’ve mentioned before that a disproportionate amount of my story ideas come from dreams. I’ve also said that new stories form very, very quickly in my head—usually in about 10-15 seconds. I have a story kernel and before I know it, I’ve got a few characters, a basic situation, and skeleton plot formed. Fleshing it out and working out the logistics take a lot longer (and then there’s the whole pesky “writing” part) but I rarely start writing without knowing the story’s basic course. I never thought about it much, it’s just how stories tend to come to me.

Now I’m wondering how much of this is being done subconsciously while I sleep.

Current Mood - Friday! |
Currently Listening To - Screeching Weasel - “Kill the Musicians”

If you frequent my blog, you already know that I’m giddy with anticipation regarding the World Cup in June. It pains me that the world’s game has enjoyed more popularity as a spectator sport in America, and some people have told me it’s because they just don’t understand the subtleties of the game.

So I’ve taken it upon myself to educate the public in order to demystify the game somewhat. I’ll probably cover the basic rules of soccer later, but today I’d like to briefly discuss soccer sign-language.

In the World Cup, it’s common for the two competing teams and the refereeing crew to not speak the language—for example, when Saudi Arabia plays the Ukraine and referee is from Mexico, they’re not even working from the same alphabet. As a way to deal with the need for communication, an informal sign language has developed. No matter where you go in the world, rotating your hands like you’re doing the hand-jive means you want a substitution. I’m aiming to explain some of the other common hand signals you may see during the run of play, so you can better understand what’s going on and enjoy the game more. So, without further adieu:

	Name: "I Got the Ball" Action:Hands side by side, palms down. Bring down in an arcing fashion to meet again, palms up, as though describing the shape of a ball. Necessarily a two-handed gesture. Meaning: This gesture is popular worldwide, used most frequently by defenders. The simple translation is "I got the ball," and the gesture is almost always employed immediately following a tackle that separated an opposition player from his kneecaps. This gesture is almost always unintentionally ironic, for if the player had truly gotten the ball, why would the opposition player be crying in agony? Yellow and red cards often follow "I Got the Ball."
	Name: "You’ve Got To Be #$%@ Kidding " Action: Pinch index finger and thumb. Snap wrist vigorously. Can be performed single-handed or with both hands simultaneously, but only if wrists snaps are done in unison. Meaning: Most common in Italy, this gesture also enjoys wide use in Spain, Greece, Turkey, and parts of South America but rare in the rest of Europe, North America, Asia, and Africa. This gesture frequently follows what the player believes to be an egregious call, such as an offsides, or when the referee makes no call, especially in the case of a forward flopping in the box trying to win a penalty. "You’ve Got To Be #$%@ Kidding Me, Ref," is a much abbreviated translation, as this gesture is usually accompanied by a verbal tirade that can last up to thirty seconds
	Name: "Open Your #$%@ Eyes!" or "What #$%@ Game Are You Watching?" Action: Using the index finger of either hand, gently pull on the cheek below the eye. This is never a two-handed gesture. Meaning: While seen worldwide, this gesture is again favored by Mediterranean and Latin American countries. It occasionally means "Did you see that?" in the case of an off-the-ball incident, it is most commonly seen immediately following an offsides call, especially when replays show the striker to be a full ten yards offsides without a defender anywhere near him. By performing this gesture, the striker hopes to instill the referee with a sense of doubt of his own abilities and therefore perhaps gain an advantage later in the game when he will invariably stray offsides again, thereby ruining his team’s chances of scoring and needing a quick scapegoat.
	Name: "No No No No No" Action: Wiggle the index finger to and fro; extremely rare for this to be done with both hands but depends on the intensity of the player’s emotion. Meaning: This gesture enjoys global use and in a variety of scenarios. It’s the favored reaction after a player carrying a yellow card commits a second horrific tackle and sees the referee reaching for the red card. Strikers like to use it immediately before or after "Open Your #$%@ Eyes!" Defenders staunchly believe it can dispel penalty claims, and often use it after breaking a striker’s legs, as if to say, "No no no no no, stop diving and play the game."
	Name:"That Was Good" or "Do That Again" Action: Extend thumb, raise slightly. Meaning: While the "thumbs up" signal is popular throughout the world, what makes it unique to football is the fact that it always occurs immediately after a piece of brilliant play by one player followed by a screw-up of major proportions by another. Example: Player A hits a forty-yard ,pinpoint pass to Player B who suddenly has plenty of time and space to charge towards goal before his poor touch sees the ball harmlessly roll out of bounds. Player B turns to Player A and gives him "That Was Good" signal, presumably because there’s no sign language for "Sorry, I Totally F— ed That Up."
	Name:"I’ve Been Hit" Action: Collapse, roll theatrically, burst into flame Meaning: Okay, technically this is more than sign language but since diving is a rampant part of the game, you should at least know what to expect. A “dive” is when a player exaggerates the amount of contact and falls to the ground in order to get a call. Sometimes it’s to try and get the other player thrown out of the game, sometimes it’s to win a penalty. Remember this one rule: the harshness of the foul is indirectly proportional to the amount of theatrics that come after it. When guys really get mowed down they hit the turf like a sack of potatoes and lie there like they’re dead. When a stiff breeze knocks a guy over, he rolls on the ground and howls in agony. So be fully prepared for the Argentinian players to spontaneously combust.

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So that concludes this week’s lesson. Next week I’ll start my weekly look at World Cup groups, one group per week, until the tournament kicks off in June. I’ll start with Group F, which is Brazil, Croatia, Australia, and Japan and give the low-down on what to expect from these teams and who I think will emerge from the group. I’ve written such forecasts for four of the last five World Cups, so don’t worry: I’m semi-professional at this.

Seriously though, if you plan to watch even a little of the World Cup–and you really, really should–you might find it interesting, and I’m a hell of a lot funnier than most World Cup overviews. Or least I’ll make myself laugh, and that’s all I’m usually going for anyway.

When I first decided to make a go of writing fiction, no one I knew ever really had a go of it. A high school teacher of mine seemed to be publishing all the time, so I contacted him to get the scoop on his career. Turns out he published just 11 things to various markets. Nothing to be ashamed of to be sure, but not really a career. I head another high school friend had taken to being a bartender and writing. When I got in touch with her, it was more like 90% bartending as a break from corporate b.s. and 10% writing for neighborhood newspapers.

I had no idea what I was doing, no game plan. I had a chance meeting with Jim Frenkel (having no idea how big JF is in the biz) here in Madison and he recommended Clarion. So I looked into and went. Met a lot of people. They’re listed over in the right-hand menu (of my website if you’re reading this in LJ.)

Since coming home from Clarion, I went to WisCon and World Fantasy in 2005 and met lots of people. Everyone, without exception, has been very nice. As a general rule, I don’t like humans; so I’ve been surprised how easy it has been for me to meet people I actually like. I started this blog and have gradually added more people to the list of blogs I check out daily.

Most of them have published more than I have. Some of them have published less than I have. The vast majority of them frequently have something interesting to say about writing and/or publishing. Some of it I consider good advice, some I disagree with.

Most importantly, it’s just fun to be part of the conversation.

I’ve said this before, but lost submissions have got to be the most aggravating part of this whole writing gig. My last two lengthy response times ended up being lost manuscripts so, naturally, I’m assuming anything that’s out longer than thirty to forty minutes has been lost.

I’ve got a couple outliers right now that are beyond “normal” response times but not out long enough to query about. For some reason, I’ve got a gut feeling that they’re both lost.

I spent a couple hours working on “Castleneff” last night, changed a lot, and felt satisfied until I realized it was only 800 words I’d taken the hammer and tongs to. What I originally wrote wasn’t that bad, just too mushy—as in “lacking in definition,” not “overly romantic.” I constantly stopped and asked myself, “What are you really trying to accomplish here? What’s important?”

This is why it’s easy to think of a cool story and much harder to write one. I had a long conversation with someone at WisCon about her as-of-yet-unwritten novel and all the cool stuff that was going to happen in it. The novel concept actually did sound cool, but there’s that small matter of writing it…and finding out the words don’t always want to obey and the story isn’t as clear cut as you thought.

Anyway, I’m eager to finish this sucker and see where it’s falling down. I can tell I’m getting dangerously close to it and losing all perspective, but on the other hand there’s no point in putting a flawed story in front of people so they can point out all the rough points you know are there but were too lazy to smooth over.

Enough blather now.

Current Mood - Good |
Currently Listening To - Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros - “Streetcore”

I finished editing the first third of “Castleneff” last night. Twice.

I’ve got a flash drive that I carry around so I can have my catalog of writing with me, and then I sync it with my computer at home and have a couple backups. I was having problems when I moved files, though, because the computer/flash both thought a file that had been moved (to a folder where I put old versions, for example) was missing, so then they both restore it and I have old versions in my active folders. I don’t want this, so one needs to override the other. Naturally, I chose the flash drive since that’s updated more frequently. So I was working away on my story and actually pleased with what I had (that’s happening more often lately, btw) and merrily clicked the button to sync the computer and flash drive.

And of course the flash drive (old copy) copied over the computer (new copy.) So I had just wasted a couple hours and it was all my fault because the backup did exactly what I told it to do.

Luckily, it took half the time to do it twice (after the curse-storm.) If I had to guess, I would say the original edited copy and the new original copy are about 90% the same, if not more. I remembered the vast majority of the changes I made, although those clever turns of phrase don’t seem so clever the second time around, especially when you’re still pissed at your own stupidity.

I’ve been putting off editing this story because I remember being a little too pleased with myself when I’d finished it, which probably means it’s awful. After going through the first third, I have to say I don’t think it’s half-bad. This next third probably needs some cutting and I’m not sure that the story comes together on paper the way it does in my head, but that’s what my first readers will tell me, right?

So overall, I’m pretty pleased with what I have at this point and I realized I don’t need to fear it. It’s just me I’m dealing with, really.

Spurs came back to beat West Brom last night, 2-1, to re-establish that cushion for fourth place and a spot in the Champions League. (more…)

If I talked smack to my yard, that’s what I’d be telling it.

Yesterday was spring epitomized. Sunshine. Bird twittering. People pretending it was warmer than in actually was. Amy had some downtime so we decided to knock out the pre-season yard work.

Fifty Bags of Mulch (only 20 shown here)
The walkway before…	…and the walkway after.
The back forty (with Athena and Heiner providing cameos)

It’s a lot of work, but I guess it’s worth it.

Current Mood - Tired, Exhausted, and At Work |
Currently Listening To - The Ramones - “End of the Century”

I watched most of the Liverpool–Everton derby this morning. The first half was awful but it was good to see P. Neville score an own goal, because he’s a ponce. Stevie G. got sent off in the first twenty minutes so Liverpool played the majority of the game a man down yet still managed to win. The best part of the game? After Liverpool went up 2-0 early in the second half, the entire stadium starts belting out in a single voice “We’ve only got ten men!” Gave me the chills.

Football. Chances are, you don’t know what you’re missing.

Current Mood - Good |
Currently Listening To - Wilco - “A.M.”

…you should brace yourself for more footie-related posts over the next two months. The European leagues and cups draw to a close in May and that’s always exciting. But there’s the small matter of there being a World Cup this summer, you see, and that only happens every four years. And it’s going to be a doozy.

You also need to understand that my passion for this borders on a chemical imbalance. I’ve played the game since I was four. I started following professional footie as a teen in the late 80’s, well before the convenience of the Internet and you really had to scrounge for information. I have fond memories and amusing anecdotes from the last five World Cups, perhaps my favorite being the summer of ‘94 when I was in college and able to put life on hold for a month. I’ve spent the majority of professional life working in soccer administration. I’ve seen the US Men’s National team play more times than I can remember. I Was There when the US beat Brazil, for Christ’s sake. I talk a lot of smack, but don’t doubt my street cred on this particular issue. I’m more into footie than all the others sports combined and it’s been that way for coming on 20 years. Which makes me feel really old, consequently.

Anyway, I’m planning on doing a little World Cup primer, so watch this space if you’re interested. If you’re not, check back mid-July. I should have it out of my system by then.

So I watched my DVR’d edition of US vs. Germany, where the huns won 4-1. For those of you not in the loop on international footie, Germany lost to Italy by the same score last month and the nation was up in arms. They’re hosting the World Cup in 2 months and 6 days and if you host a tournament, you’re supposed to win it.

US coach Bruce Arena admits he shouldn’t have played this game without his ‘A’ team and he’s right, although the “mauling” wasn’t as bad as I feared, and the Germans would do well not to get too excited about the result. There’s no way to put a positive spin on a trouncing but the team, as whole, didn’t look awful. Don’t get me wrong, they didn’t look good but they were far from full strength. Far. The real problem was the Conrad/Berhalter pairing in central defense.
(more…)

The United States Nat’l Team got waxed by Germany 4-1 yesterday. According to FIFA, that’s the #5 team on the planet getting done over by #22. So this is an upset, right? And it should give hope to the US’ World Cup opponents, Italy (#11) and Ghana (#50) that they might be able to upset the Czech Republic (#2) and the US come cup time.

Or maybe the FIFA World Ranking (or should I say the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Rankings) are really just a marketing tool to ruffle the Europeans’ collective feathers and make the also-ran countries feel better about themselves.

Nah…

Planning for our Portugal trip in May is coming along nicely. We’ve got just a shade under two weeks and we’ll see most of the country. We start in Lisbon and leave immediately for Porto, then work our way through the mountainous northern region and the Douro River Valley, then wind our way back down around to the Algarve Coast, then back up to Lisbon. Or at least that’s the plan. Watch this space. Can’t wait to go and I’m badly in need of a break. Wanderlust, the Chinese call it. Part of me still wishes it was Spain we were going to, but hey, it’s all Iberian.

Current Mood - Not So Bad |
Currently Listening To - Billy Bragg & Wilco - “Mermaid Avenue Vol. II”