I’ve been quiet for a while since I moved out of the Dream Cafe and into my own place in Houston. A lot of my life is in transition right now, and sadly I haven’t done much writing lately. It’s been an adjustment to living on my own again, but I’m enjoying it. What I’m really loving is living in a big city again. A lot of my Austin friends lump on Houston, but I’m thriving here so far. It’s a very neighborhood oriented place, with areas of awesomeness and freaky funkyness, areas of urban decay, and soulless corporate emptiness. A few weeks ago I watched Metropolis (1927) with a live band performing the soundtrack in a park hiding in the shadows of skyscrapers in the heart of downtown, then road home through a warehouse-laden industrial wasteland. I’m finding the good places to ride my bike and learning my way around.

There have been some ups and downs as I adjust to a new city, a new social circle with new people in it, and unwinding from the stress and mental weirdness of 2008, but overall I’m happier than I’ve been in a long time. The lack of writing has been eating at me, however. I haven’t established good writing habits again, and I can feel my muse suffering from not being expressed enough. It’s a weird feeling, a voice whispering at the back of my brain but unable to find the way to express itself lately. I’m working on fixing this, and have written a poem recently and been thinking on some fiction. I’m hopeful I can keep myself accountable by posting here again, and also renew my involvement in my languishing online writing community.

Recent activities: I’ve been expressing myself online a lot via my twitter feed. I’ve been watching the Wire and Buffy for the first time and thinking on serial storytelling. I’m doing freelance webgeekery for my mom’s company. I had a wonderful Flipside and I sure am craving Decompression.

As a result of my Houston explorations, I’m doing some thinking on dive bars, stoner havens, and other liminal spaces. Share your experience with these urban treasues in the comments to my post on Words Words Words.

Originally published at approximately 8,000 words. You can comment here or there.

Now to try and continue my recollections of the con… More general impressions: I enjoyed the dealer’s room. It had a decent variety of stuff for a small con dealer’s room, and I wished I wasn’t so darn broke. On another random note, ConDFW seems to attract an interesting range of ages; it doesn’t feel as dominated by old-fuddy duddy SF fans who have no desire to converse with young whippersnappers like me, an experience I’ve had at some few cons, nor did there seem to be as sharp a divide between young and old. The presence of so many steampunk fans (more on them later) seem to help bring in a somewhat younger set as well. On the other hand, as I said in my last part, I didn’t get to socialize or network as much as usual so it is possible that these surface impressions were a little shallow.

On to the panels I attended, and the notes I took.

On Friday, I arrived in time for the Lights, Camera, Internet? panel, which by its title I assumed was a panel about alternate media. It was, in a way — specifically, in this case, about the topic of adapting works from one medium to another. It was an interesting panel, though I didn’t write much about it. It was interesting to hear the fan complaints about the Dresden Files tv show, which sounds as if it was turned typically Hollywood, compared to the comic books which have much more direct author oversight. The panelists shared some humorous or perhaps horrifying anecdotes of how ill-treated authors are on movie sets, further reaffirming my belief that if I ever am lucky enough to sell the rights to something I write, I will most likely take a nice fat check and walk away.

J. M. McDermott pointed out that many people believe a work of art belongs only in one medium, the one in which it was first born. Of course, he went on to point out that this is crap, and there are many examples out there of successful adaptations. I first met Joe McDermott at a room party at this past ArmadilloCon (an otherwise largely forgettable con for me) and found him to be an entertaining addition to any panel he was on. I enjoyed chatting with him again at ConDFW Saturday night. The most interesting point in the conversation that I remember was Joe talking about how both books and video games were, in his opinion, uniquely suited to the horror genre because of the intensely personal way they can involve us in the story — he compared the audience in a movie theatre yelling ‘don’t go in the basement’ to the player in a video game who feels as if they must, themselves, open the sinister basement door in order to proceed. I suppose this attitude is suiting, since immediately after the con he completed his move to Georgia to work as a writer on a Super Secret Video Game Project. I hope I run into him again, and also that I can find time to read his novel, Last Dragon.

On Saturday I attended the Trends in Fantasy panel. Honestly I was fairly disappointed with the tone of this panel. First off, there was a ‘trends in urban fantasy panel’ later on that same day, and I would have much preferred if the moderator had kept the bitching about how all fantasy is urban fantasy to that panel. Bitching felt like the tone of the panel and audience in general: urban fantasy is everywhere, it’s all vampires and werewolves, sense of wonder is dead (oh no, not again?), epic simplistic battles between good and evil are dead (somehow this was a bad thing), etc. At least the panel ended on an up note, with the panelists encouraging the audience to investigate modern young adult fantasy, and to return to what attracted them to the genre in the first place to rekindle their interest. Is there really this much bitterness amongst modern fantasy fans or did most of the attendees at this panel just need to broaden their reading?

This is already getting surprisingly long, so it looks like my ConDFW notes will be in at least three parts.

Originally published at approximately 8,000 words. You can comment here or there.

I had a great time at ConDFW. It was an extremely enjoyable convention, though circumstances kept me from circulating and networking as much as I’d like. I thought the new hotel was a great location for the Con — I particularly liked being able to stand on one of the upper floors and gaze down over the central courtyard and the rest of the hotel; being able to pick out all the room parties at a glance as I did so was a wonderful side benefit.

I was on two panels at this convention, and I can’t say as much as I’d like about what went on during them. I think I might take to bringing my laptop or a notepad to panels I am on as well as panels I simply attend, so I can start jotting down interesting things my fellow panelists said. During the first panel I was on, ‘ePublishing: Dealing with the Internet’, I noticed panelist Michael Finn during just that with his iTouch as I shared some of the details of the 21st-century storytelling research. Everyone on the panel was good, with Priscilla Spencer acting as an excellent moderator and Teresa Patterson making an excellent voice of caution amongst the rest of us starry-eyed enthusiasts, without ever reducing herself to being a luddite.

The other panel I was part of was Erotica vs. Pornogaphy, and it turned out to be one of the most entertaining panels I have attended since Fourth Street Fantasy Convention last year. It probably helped that Steve, one of the masterminds behind 4th Street, was a very active member of the audience — essentially an adjunct panelist as Amanda Rush mentioned in her blog entry on the con.* The panel opened with a steamy reading by our moderator, which delightfully set the tone for the raunchy and laughter-filled conversation that followed. Being the umpteenth iteration of this panel, the actual topic of ‘porn vs. erotica’ was discarded in favor of a wide-ranging discussion of sex and writing. Although often silly, there was often a lot of thought-provoking commentary. My admission that I hoped my more erotic works would be found by underage readers and show them the breadth of sexual possibilities, as my early explorations of erotica had done, launched us into an interesting discussion of the educational potential of the erotic. While many of us on the panel agreed this potential was strong, Steve added a worthy cautionary note: that authors should think of their stories, and the erotic first. If one became too concerned with depicting a ‘realistic’ or ‘healthy’ sexuality, one might very well lose sight of the fact that stories are fantasies and fantasies can depart from reality. When asked for book recommendations I got to namedrop M.  Christian, Polly Frost, and Cecilia Tan, who are basically my go-to authors for that kind of thing these days. And, along the way I also confessed to giggling inappropriately when kinky things are being done to me, shared my desire to see the cast of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman in an ‘Endless Orgy,’ and emphasized that sex in sf can involve speculation about sex itself, as well as sex for the sake of character development, plot, or titillation.

It’s been a ridiculously long day (yes, I am ending my day at 7 am, so what?) so I am going to break this into two parts. In part two, I will share my notes from the panels I attended as a spectator and whatver else I feel like sharing from the con.

*I saw her pink haired head around the con; I never got to meet her, but found her entries via twitter search. It was fun to follow the twittering from the con, though there was not as much as I expected.

Originally published at approximately 8,000 words. You can comment here or there.

I’ve heard back from ConDFW and it appears I will be on two panels, both of them on Saturday. The first panel is at 12pm, on ePublishing: Dealing with the Internet. At 9pm, I will be attending Pornography vs. Erotica, which should be juicy. I’m looking forward to a lot of the other panels as well — let me know if you’re reading this and planning to attend.

Originally published at approximately 8,000 words. You can comment here or there.

It looks like I will be attending ConDFW this year as a panelist. I am not sure which panels I will be on yet, but I will post as soon as I know.

Been feeling brain drained lately. Lots of stories lurking in my head, but little energy to put pen to paper. I am hopeful this will change soon. Attending OwlCon last weekend was helpful, I think — roleplaying, even the silly kind, is good for sparking my creative self. I admit, however, I find myself thinking about GameMastering as much as I think about writing, but I hope I can channel the energy from one desire into the other…

Originally published at approximately 8,000 words. You can comment here or there.

Tonight I wrote my first introduction for a book. It’s for an upcoming rerelease of one of my favorite short story collections by a favorite author of mine. I was really honored to be asked to do this, although it’s also a little surreal that he thought an introduction by me was worth having in his book. After rereading the book, it was easy. I got some good help from a few readers and sent it off. I’ll update this site when I know more details about when the book will be out.

I have been working hard on the Continuous Coast project. My story I published earlier this month for the project has been read about 300 times, which isn’t bad for a silly little bed time story on a project no one’s heard of yet. I’ve been trying to line up more bands for Lufton Runner, with some exciting success. I’m trying to find time to build the project’s web presence. I’m helping critique other project members’ work. I’m playing fictals in interactive chats. If I’m not getting as many words on the page, I am trying to be gentle on myself as I am balancing all the above with a number of real life changes and upheavals and Things To Be Done ™ of varying importance.

I need to put some time in on my own words, and even just my own stories for CC, soon.

I did, however, write a poem recently.

Originally published at approximately 8,000 words. You can comment here or there.

I found a mummified gecko in my window. I think it’s a sign that I’m living a good life that I knew immediately who would receive such a gift as a sign of love and affection.

Originally published at approximately 8,000 words. You can comment here or there.

During most of 2008, I was engaged in the creation of a new world. Along with my co-creators Reesa Brown and Steven Brust, we began the Continuous Coast project, a Creative Commons-licensed, open-content shared world. Although the project is still in the final phases of its beta or prologue phase, there has been regular content for the last few months on Voices from Port Outreach and the Mediators twitter feed.

In honor of the new year, we just published our first short stories from the world. You can read my contribution, a Zayzan bedtime story called “Pol’s Tale,” and the stories by Reesa and Steve on our Continuous Coast preview.

Happy New Year to everyone! I had a delightful one celebrating the first urban ‘burn’ — the Resolution Clock burn at First Night Austin. It was glorious to watch such a beautiful effigy burn in the heart of my favorite city, surrounded by loved ones and heartfamily. We also listened to Arc Attack and then spent the night chilling and partying at Neal & Summer’s house.

2008 was a difficult year.  I am looking forward to 2009 as a year for beginnings, and for change.

Originally published at approximately 8,000 words. You can comment here or there.

Today I penned my first blurb for a book, at the request of M. Christian. It should appear on an upcoming book of his science fiction and horror. While I was of course very flattered to be asked, it is also a little bit surreal — a bit like being recognized from my blogging on Words Words Words, which has also happened a few times now at conventions.

I’ve been hard at work lately on the Continuous Coast project. I’m learning drupal in order to build more of the web environment that our fans are using to inteact with the denizens of Mother. It’s slow going and a bit frustrating, but fortunately I have the consulting help of Nathan Eliot of t9productions. With the help of one of our project crew, I also penned a 2,500 word introduction to the world to help bring new contributors up to speed on the world and the philosophy behind the project. I think it will help bring new writers and artists on board.

A lot of my life feels transitional right now. Things are changing. I don’t always know where they are going, and sometimes that’s been stressful. I’m also suffering a bit from the cold — our house is drafty, and cold weather makes me slow and sore. I’m glad we broke out the space heater today.

Originally published at approximately 8,000 words. You can comment here or there.

Today, Reesa, Steve and I spent nearly all of our productive hours creating a map of a city on another world. It was a fairly grueling 12+ hour process, even with breaks to take in an episode of Dexter and eat. The first draft results are impressive, and preliminary photos have been shared with our collaborators. This is a huge step toward the creation of a major goodie for our fans as well as countless other future creations in the Continuous Coast Project. Along the way we mostly decimated three medium pizzas and a lot of snacks.

In honor of the completion of 12 hours of labor, I baked some brownies. I actually used the tollhouse cookie recipe in the pan cookie variation, except I used slightly less chocolate chips (1 and a half cups) and added a generous 3 tablespoons of Dutch Cocoa powder (from the Spice House in Old Town Chicago), as well as a tablespoon of oil to compensate for the cocoa powder. As you can see from the photo, we were happy with the results — of the brownies, but especially of the map!

Since the cocoa bean was first cultivated on Mother, I guess I’ll call them Elms Gate Brownies.

Originally published at approximately 8,000 words. You can comment here or there.

My poem “Dessert” has been published by the erotic webzine, Oysters and Chocolate. You can read it here.

I’ve spent the week in Chicago, where my mom lives. We celebrated a nice thanksgiving yesterday, which I wrote about a little on Words Words Words. We’ve also been shopping for spices and specialty cooking oils. Tonight we’re attending Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind.  I’m also looking forward to meeting with several collaborators from Continuous Labs on Saturday. With Amul, I’ll be attending Repo: The Genetic Opera Saturday night. Chicago is fun, but cold.

Originally published at approximately 8,000 words. You can comment here or there.

In the latest part of our artist business models series, I discuss the question of whether to outsource or roll-your-own. We’re regularly adding new entries to the series so watch this space, read Words Words Words, or join the mailing list on Continuous Labs to hear about the latest.

The last few days have been ones of intense immersion in the ongoing creative project. I’ve been working on it in one form or another almost continuously, whether it’s working with artists, recruiting webtalent, or developing websites. We’ve had some exciting developments recently: although I think few of our readers have noticed, we just launched our first significant story arc; one of our artists gave me an early draft tonight of their depiction of one of the world’s major features; and it looks like I might not have to build the project’s entire web presence on my own, after all.

There’s a lot of other stuff on my mind, not all of it happy, but I’m glad to be creating, to have housemates to create with, and to have a working hot tub to soak in.

Originally published at approximately 8,000 words. You can comment here or there.

Inversion Effect played last night at the Luf. It sounds like it was a fantastic show and I really wish I hadn’t missed it. I ended up staying home for Halloween, working on the brain-eating never-ending project of awesome, and chasing demons around inside my own head instead of out in the world.

Speaking of the project, we placed an open call for web geeks to aid Continuous Labs on the Continuous Coast project.

Finally, you should check out Part 12 of the Artist Business Models series on Words Words Words.

Originally published at approximately 8,000 words. You can comment here or there.

My dear friends Tea Kerr and Thoricatha are part of an upcoming gallery show: “Sacred & Profane” which runs from October 31st through mid-December at Celtic Dragon Gallery, 1503A Chartres, Houston, Texas. Both Tea and Thoricatha are involved in the Continuous Coast project.

Tea’s charcoal art (which she draws under then name Cat Khemia) will be on display, along with her sculptures which she creates with collaborator Joshua Meadows (some of which can be seen here). Thoricatha’s art can be seen on his home page. If you are going to be in the Houston area, be sure to check it out!

Originally published at approximately 8,000 words. You can comment here or there.

In our latest entry in the Artist Business Models series, Reesa writes about the True Fans model. The series continues every day on Words Words Words.

Theo Drumsthemoon has recruited my friend Mr. Fang’s band, Inversion Effect, to appear on Halloween at Lufton Runner. Voluptuary Amul Kumar did a great job on the concert poster. I wish I could make it, but I don’t see how I could get to Port Outreach before tickets run out. I’ll be looking forward to the Internet coverage of the show, however, and to talking to Fang at the next Burn event about his recent travel experiences.

In fact, it looks like we’re without plans for Halloween. Is there anything cool happening closer to home — i.e. in Bryan/College Station, Austin, or possibly Houston that we might like to attend? If it’s the kind of thing you aren’t publically advertising, feel free to email me as well: vulpine at pobox dot com.

Originally published at approximately 8,000 words. You can comment here or there.

Today we have two more entries in our artist business model series: Part 9 offers even more detail on dividing donations, including several methods for deciding which contributors to your collaborative project should share the loot. In Part 10, I discuss the concept of whuffie and ways to get your non-paying fans to grow your project. Read the series on Words Words Words.

It’s been a long, tiring day. I’m filling in at the shop still because we have a critical shortage of trained front workers at the moment, and I’m the best option to fill in. I enjoy helping Reesa out, and it is actually a pretty fun place to work but I have so much I need to do that hasn’t gotten done yet. Not only that, but the whole family, myself included, is fighting off some kind of convention/travel crud which Reesa & Steve brought back from their trip and kindly shared with me.

We have a new way of interacting with Continuous Coast which we want to make live in the next day or so — we’d hoped to launch today but I haven’t even begun to implement it because of working at the shop. In any case, I’ll make progress tonight and you should look for clues to pop up soon.

Originally published at approximately 8,000 words. You can comment here or there.

Today in the Artist Business Model series on Words Words Words, we delve deeper into the topic of accepting donations and how you should divide up the money you receive. It’s a topic which seems simple on the surface but gets more complex the more contributors your project has. Read about Dividing Donations.

I spent most of today working at Poking You. It was busy enough to keep me from accomplishing much but it was good to help out and the customers were very friendly tonight. We’re negotiating a tricky issue or two in our project, and I’m happy to see that some of the initial difficult feelings seem to be shifting into a positive and mature discussion of the issue. I have a lot more to say, in fact, in our private forums, but I think I need to pass out. Reesa & Steve are sick, whereas I am fighting off the crud they brought back from their travels — so far, but only barely.

Originally published at approximately 8,000 words. You can comment here or there.

The latest entry in the artist business models series is now available. With the introductory material out of the way, we are now discussing specific revenue streams for artistic projects, beginning with donations as a form of fan patronage. Read about it on Words Words Words.

Originally published at approximately 8,000 words. You can comment here or there.

The latest entry in the artist business models series is now available. In this entry we discuss a little bit about how we organized the business model for the Continuous Coast project and how that relates to the organization of the business model series. Read about it on Words Words Words.

Originally published at approximately 8,000 words. You can comment here or there.

I’ve been putting a lot of hours into the big “secret” project lately, and it’s been interesting — I’m wearing a lot of hats right now, and I am not sure which of them count as ‘writing.’ I’m a (hopefully not the sole) webdesigner on various project sites, including a fair amount of hacking at WordPress; I’m going to have to teach myself WordPress Template tags to properly design the “tourist bureau” website. I’m working as a people wrangler, trying to gently nudge all the (so far) unpaid contributors to our project in the direction of contributing. I’m networking with musicians, artists, writers, and other new potential contributors. I’m creating blog posts and twitter tweets by people that don’t exist, and planning for future story arcs using both these media plus more conventional ones.

In the past my personal definition of writing would slip a little depending on my activity levels. Of course it’s all writing, but if I’m writing personal blog entries every single day and never working on my fiction it doesn’t really further my writing career. On the other hand, if I’ve been really blocked for weeks and I manage to cough up a personal entry in the midst of a writing drought then I am sure to pat myself on the back for doing good writing.

With this project, it’s all new and experimental for me, and for all of us involved. It all has to count because we’re not sure which bit of writing will grab that key fan, which improvisational twitter writing will spawn the next story arc, or which viral marketing will suddenly spread like wildfire. With that said, I need to make time for my non-project writing soon, including that overdue reread of Honeycutt Tales and a bunch of other smaller personal writing projects.

Originally published at approximately 8,000 words. You can comment here or there.