Flash Fiction! "A Lifetime Ago"

By Michael Seese

I had not planned on posting today. But yesterday, super-agent Janet Reid offered up another of her contests. Write a 100-word short story, using the words

ratline
asylum
lodger
swords
bond

With the kids home, I didn't think I'd have much time t write. (But then again, it is only 100 words.)

I went to bed last night, contemplating...nothing.

I woke up this morning...nothing.

I thought I would have to sit this one out. But then an idea...

And a little more...

And more....

And finally, "A Lifetime Ago."


The bonds we forged over a lifetime of summers...

Playing pirate with swords forged from Christmas wrapping paper rolls.

Seeking asylum from our sisters in your treehouse (accessible only by a really cool, real rope ratline fashioned by your dad).

Finding a family of possums, lodgers under my front porch.

Games of stickball in the street.

Discovering what the girls in our class would look like in a few years, courtesy of my big brother’s Playboy collection.

All of that came unraveling in one horrible second when you yelled, “Police! Put up your hands, Bobby!”

And I drew first.

(Two hours before the deadline, WHILE cooking breakfast!)

And, please, everyone have a safe and happy New Year's Eve.

Not Binary

By Michael Seese

As I've mentioned in previous posts, sometimes the poetry muse just drops in out of the blue and stays for a while. But sometimes, I've got to lure her out of hiding. The latter was the case this past week. 

A month or so back, I read about a poetry anthology, "Unbecoming: An Anthology of Posthuman Poetry." The description:

In the twenty-first century poetry interfaces with animal-machine. The “human” is not a given concept, but rather is one that is made in an ongoing technological and anthropological process. We hope to publish an anthology of poetry that participates in technological, biological, representational, sexual, political and theoretical post-humanisms. We’re looking for poetry that engages with or is written by animals, beasts, monsters, creatures, aliens, cyborgs, etc. How do bodies that are misunderstood, misfitting, ugly, failures, etc., challenge western, enlightenment figurations of the “self” and “human”? What are the poetics of rhetorical bodies that exceed definition?

I liked the idea. Usually, once I put something comparably easy (easy when compared to a novel) into the back of my mind, it sort of builds upon itself and works its way to the surface. So I contemplated. And waited...

And waited...

And waited...

Finally, I came up with a nugget. But it took a while to nurture it. Finally, though, the pieces fell into place. So I present:

Not Binary

A weed
whose need
to breed
sowed seeds
of greed,
misdeed.
Such van
ity!

And we
served thee,
digi
tally.
Obe
diently?
Hardly.
Indeed,

this weed
a(pple)
trophied.
It needs
to feed.
It bleeds.
Our strat
egy?

Simply,
dele
the fleas.
ESC key.
Stop the
insan
ity.
Full speed:

debride,
impede,
catas
trophied.
It pleads,
then cedes.
The i
rony:

Human
ity...
sadly,
regret
tably,
not bi
nary.

Like we.


The challenge was two-fold. Probably the most obvious was coming up with two-syllable rhyming lines. But finding enough words that rhyme with "EED" was really tough.

Feel free to share your thoughts on "Not Binary." It's due January 1, so I could make some changes.

Castle: "Secret Santa"

By Michael Seese

Only three weeks late. But just in time for the holidays...

Ho ho ho! The folks behind Castle decided to give us a bit of holiday cheer with the episode "Secret Santa." If you can get past the dead Santa at the beginning, that is.

This was a "standard" Castle: seemingly implausible murder (victim falls from the sky, with no commercial flights having passed over; a chip of red paint in his possession), multiple suspects (David Dunne, Tim Cabot, Michael Case), and then a quick resolution.

I thought they nicely mixed the murder mystery with the holiday good cheer: Castle's family surprising him by canceling their Christmas Even plans; Beckett's surprising Castle by switching shifts; Esposito surprising Ryan with his support; Esposito surprising the Cabots with the heirloom clock; and the overall redemption of Edmund Smith.

Santa lines dominated.

Beckett: "I hate to break it to you, Castle, but there is no Santa Claus."
Castle: "Well, not any more."

Captain Gates: "Lord I hate the holidays." (As my wife noted, that scene let Gates be uncharacteristically open about her personal life.)
Castle: "Yet another quality she has in common with the Grinch."

Ryan: "What does this mean for the future?"
Esposito: "It means one less guy dressed up as Santa."

Castle: "...and then launched into space?"
Beckett: "And how is that less plausible than your sleigh?"
Castle: "I think you mean less clausible." (His smirk probably was my favorite "look.")

A few other noteworthy points:

- I liked the scene where Espo went to visit Lanie, and that she was receptive to getting together in the future...just not Christmas Eve.
- Much like the rock-and-roll-tinged theme at the first commercial break of "Swan Song," "Secret Santa" had jingle-bell-like song, with a candy cane replacing the pen.
- The arrest of Dunne was great. He fought Esposito with a giant candy cane, and then fled to the tune of "Run, Run Rudolph."

"And to all, a good night..." I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.

If you still remember the episode, feel free to share your thoughts. Otherwise, until January 7...

The Aftermath!

 













I wish I had thought to snap a "before." But you all probably know what a Christmas tree with intact presents looks like.

Merry Christmas to all...

Random Thoughts...

By Michael Seese

The other day my wife successfully used Coca Cola to remove the burn marks from the bottom of a pan. If it can remove scorched on carbon, imagine what it does to your stomach.

Not that I want to hear "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer" anymore. But why is every song remotely connected to winter a Christmas song? "Walking In A Winter Wonderland," "Sleigh Ride," and even "Jingle Bells" have nothing to do with Christmas. In fact, looking out the window right now, I can see snow. So those songs are timely. But they've been banished from the airwaves until Thanksgiving, or maybe Halloween.

Why is a 4 x 8 sheet of plywood...well...4 feet by 8 feet, but a 2 x 4 is 1.5 inches by 3.5 inches?

I just noticed that a box of Pop Tarts on our shelf is nearing its expiration date. I didn't know Pop Tarts had an expiration date. (At least those not named Britney.) In fact, I thought that cockroaches and Pop Tarts would be the only things to survive a nuclear war. (I would have said Twinkies, but...)

Let me state up front that I think DWI (driving while intexticated) is idiotic. But...many municipalities have banned talking on a cell phone while driving. So why haven't they banned talking to someone in the car?

This anecdote represents a new level of politically correct idiocy. I've been ranting about this one all over the place. A Utah high school can't name its team the "Cougars" (the choice of the students, by popular vote) because of that word's connection to middle-aged women. I guess horny old women are now a protected legal entity.

 

Funny Foto 37

By Michael Seese

I saw this box on a colleague's desk the other day, and just had to snap a photo.

 












And, no, I was not tempted to steal it!

I Hate Editing

By Michael Seese

I really do. Not because I operate under some misguided notion that my words are so perfect that they can't be improved upon. Quite the contrary, I'm so picky and fastidious that I usually write three steps forward, two steps back. As a result, by the time I've finished the darn thing and really have to go back to the beginning and re-read and revise, I've read some of the earlier passages dozens of times.

But, as I mentioned yesterday, that's what I need to do since Fiona recommended some pretty big changes. And you know what...

They're done!

To provide specifics on what Fiona had suggested, she said:

Chapter two and three felt like a disconnect from chapter one.  Perhaps it's because you go from an immediate scene in chapter one into a flashback scene in chapter two and three (which is technically what is happening, because if I'm not wrong you are going back in time here).  I'm actually wondering if it would be better to start with the action scene and continue on from there chronologically.  I know there is  a lot of information and  back story you want to work in from chapter two and three, but I'm thinking it might need to be sprinkled through your story like good seasoning instead.   

I managed to trim about 1,800 words, and moved chapter 4 to chapter 2. There is still about 4 pages of flashback between them; but that's a lot better than 20.

Let's see what she thinks.

(Naturally, I graciously allowed her extra time for the holidays.)

I Have A New BAFF

(That stands for Best Author Friend Forever)

By Michael Seese
 
I hope my previous cliffhanger wasn't too cruel. So...

About two weeks ago, I blogged about a wonderful opportunity created by author Brenda Drake called "Pitch Wars."

She had come up with the idea to pair agented writers and publishing industry interns with aspiring writers. On her site were photos and links to the blogs of 31 mentors. We (the aspiring folks) were allowed to choose three, and send them a query plus five pages. They all chose one to work with.

So I sent off three copies of Nightmares.

Late last week, I received an email from Brenda. The body of the message was a cut-and-paste from an email from Fiona McLaren who, to be completely honest, was my first choice. It began

WOW

OK, to paraphrase Renée Zellweger from Jerry Macguire, "You had me at wow."

Now, if you'll recall a post from this summer (of course you don't; here's a link if you want to look it up) I decided to rearrange Nightmares to put the action sequence first, whereas previously the novel started with a dream... a lame dream, to use my wife's word. (And she was right, by the way.) Of course, even though I buried the dream a little farther on, it was still lame. So one night I revised the dream into this exercise in stream of conscience. In short, I made it sound like a dream.

That prompted me to put the dream back at the beginning. And that is the version I submitted for the Pitch Wars.

Fiona went on to say

In the end, I thought in the scope of this competition, this would be too tough a piece for me to work on with you.

Bummer! But...

There is a wonderfully surreal element to your writing style and there is definitely plenty of originality in your sample pages. Your unusual and quirky style appeals to me a lot. I would like to extend the invitation of working with you outside of pitch wars on this.  If you're interested, you can email me.

Um, yes!

This just keeps getting better and better. So I wrote back to her, thanked her about a billion times, and explained that I had two versions I could send. She replied and said to send both. So I did.

About a day later, she got back to me.

ACTION based query ALL THE WAY.  Seriously, dude.  WOW.  Why didn't you send me THAT version? You have such vivid action and fantastic characterization.  And you set the tone of what type of book you have.

Did I already say it keeps getting better and better? Then it keeps getting better and better and better.

She did offer up a suggestion which will require a bit of work. When I moved the action sequence to the beginning, I took advantage of a small lull in the plot line to put in the backstory which originally had been at the beginning. Fiona said that much backstory in that place killed the momentum, and suggested I pare it down and sprinkle it throughout.

So that's what I'm doing right now.

And that's why Dragons & Dungeons may have to wait.

Keep your fingers crossed, friends.

A Change In Plans

By Michael Seese

For the past few weeks, I'd been kicking around an idea for my first post of 2013. I have planned to announce new personal initiative for the new year. If you're outside of the author community, you might not have heard of NaNoWriMo. Actually, even of you're in the author community, you might not have heard of it.

NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. As the name would suggest, it's an open challenge to write a 50,000-word novel in one month, specifically, November. The idea is not to make it perfect; it's to get it done.

If you do the math -- 50,000 divided by 30 days hath November -- that comes out to 1,666 words per day, each day. Given the constraints of my life -- you know, the job thing and the family thing -- I really don't think I can manage that. But over two months...

So I planned to launch my own NaNoWri2Mo, if you will.

I'd been kicking around an idea for a YA fantasy novel called Dragons & Dungeons. It's about four high school senior girls -- self-described geeks -- who get sucked into a medieval Celtic world while playing the aforementioned (noun-swapped) game. Here is the opening:

(Bear in mind, there will be Dungeons & Dragons-esque dialogue interspersed. But, 1. I haven't researched any yet, and 2. The moves they make will tie into what happens in the medieval Celtic world.)


    “Ladies, as another Friday night dawns to Saturday, another meeting of the She-man Boys Hater Club comes to order.”
    "For the record, I don't hate boys."
    "And shouldn't it be 'She-girl?' Can we be She-men?"
    "It's a joke. A play on words."
    "Whatever. I still don't hate boys."
    "Neither do I. But it sounds better than the 'Losers Who Can't Get A Date Club,' doesn't it?"
    “I’ll be so glad we're out of high school.”
    “Yeah, college is going to be different.”
    “You think? Roll.”
    “Oh yeah.”
    “How so?”
    The bell of the clock of the Federated Church tolled, the first of 12 peals to follow.”
    “Well, first of all, the boys will be men. No more stupid pranks. No more name calling. No more Callie the Collie.”
    “Or Mason Jars.”
    “Mason Jars?”
    “Well, they’re not exactly jugs,” she said, holding her chest.
    “Oh, you two have so much room to complain. Louise! Do you have any idea what it’s like to carry a name like ‘Louise’ around?”
    “At least you have a girl’s name. ‘Edwina?’ What kind of name is that?”
    “Yeah, you’re right. It is pretty onerous. But ‘Eddy,’ sounds really cool. It fits you,” said Mason.
    "And besides,” said Lou, “you're a babe. You’ve got that blonde hair, and that funky short cut."
    “And I’d kill for those lips.”
    "Can I help it if my Mom’s a beautician, and likes to practice? Though I have to admit I enjoy looking like this, rather than a 'Plain Jane' and never..." She let her voice tail off, rather than continuing to insult her best friends. "Sorry guys, I—"
    "It's OK, Eddy,” said Callie. “Lou’s right. You are a babe."
    "Yeah. Hanging with you is good for our image," added Mason.
    “And there is no place I’d rather be on a Friday night, than with the four of you.”
    “Bull sh— I mean, liar,” said Callie.
    “College will be great.”
    “It will. But wouldn’t it be awesome if we could live this life. Just for one day?” ...



I say I was going to do that. But something else has come up which may require my attention...

To be continued. (Ooh! A cliffhanger! Just like the original Batman TV show.)

Funny, No CUTE Foto #36

By Michael Seese

Today when I walked out of the office I saw this.

Aw!

Had I not been in a rush to get home, I would have waited around to see who the lucky girl (or guy) was.

Trivia aside: One of my favorite bands, Lush, has a song about this car, the Fiat 500. 

I Love My Brain...Still!

By Michael Seese

A while back, I posted an entry detailing how I had hopped on the treadmill the previous night, and had a nice writing session "in my head." 

I started thinking about the next scene in the book I'm working on. The words kept coming. And coming. And coming... By the time I had finished, it was pretty late. I thought I would be able to keep it all in my head until tonight. And I was right. I just completed a 1,500-word brain dump. Not a bad job of caching, if I do say so myself.

I did it again. 

I'm working on a short story for a compilation I came across called "The Day The Star Fell." Here is the description from the Indigo Mosaic Publishing website.

Stories do not necessarily need to be about a literal star falling, but there must be a falling star worked into the theme somewhere along the line. This can be an apocalypse story or a story which links in with new age trends. You could have a fallen movie star, soccer star or other public person. Your star can be a stellar body, a metaphorical star, a Christmas star, or any permutation of the theme. Your story can be fantasy, science fiction, urban or whatever else you wish it to be. The only hard and fast rule is, it must be related to a star falling in some way.  

I already had the beginning and ending. Since I love sharing, here is the beginning.

    Marcelona sat on the ledge of her penthouse. The roar of the wind made it difficult to hear anything, such as the pleading cries of her fans on the streets below, or the frantic beating on her door.
    How high up am I? she wondered. She honestly did not know. Brian had handled the purchase for her, just like every other detail of her life. He might have told her, at some point, perhaps as she was signing the lease. But she couldn’t recall. She rarely ventured outside—per Brian's counsel—to avoid subjecting herself to the paparazzi’s voyeuristic, prying eyes. So it may have been 40 floors, or 60 floors. She would find out soon enough. Not exactly how many floors. Just more or less “how high.”

But I wanted to work on the back story: why she was so miserable. So I fired up the treadmill, and began thinking. The next day, I sat down and cranked out 1,000 words in an hour.

I could live with doing that every time I walk.

Stay tuned for more updates. 

Feel free to share your thoughts on this brief snippet. And to my writer friends, the deadline is 1/30/2013. So sharpen your pencils! 
 

Neat Photo

By Michael Seese

The other day, as I picked up the kids from daycare, I saw this.

Cool car, I thought. I wonder what it is. I looked at the back, saw this, and thought, Even cooler.

 

















For the record, according to autoblog.com, it goes 0 to 60-mph between 4.4 and 4.6 seconds, and costs $80,000.

As Kermit the Frog said, "It's not that easy being green."

But if any of you are looking for a Christmas gift for me...
 

The New Phone Book Is Here!

By Michael Seese

 

This is a pretty accurate depiction of how I feel. 

A while back, I gloated...um...casually mentioned that I won author / editor  Chuck Sambuchino's inaugural WD’S TUNESDAY contest. If you want to try your hand, he has another contest open until December 19. I'm not allowed to win; nonetheless, I gave it one pass and scored 9 out of 12.

In addition to allowing me to now mention in my agent queries that I won -- adding, "it proves nothing about my writing ability; it just says that I ROCK!" -- I earned an interview in Chuck's blog.

Here it is.

So, as Mr. Martin said, "I'm somebody now! Millions of people look at this every day! This is the kind of spontaneous publicity...your name in print...that MAKES PEOPLE." 

So the emails from agents should just start pouring in.

They will...won't they?

Please?

 

.