Wednesday writing wire - scenic edition

What I'm reading

I'm still not done with A Peace to End All Peace, although I did get a lot of reading done last week when I was on vacation. (It's 576 pages long, and very detailed.) For lighter (well... sort of. The story is actually pretty dark.) reading, I picked up The Redbreast (#3 in the Harry Hole series by Jo Nesbo).

Am I the only person who reads multiple books at once? I usually tend to have one e-book in progress (which I can read during down-time at work), and one tree book in progress (which I'll read at home).

What I'm writing

I received another short story rejection (on the post-apocalyptic, last-man-on-Earth story), so I went through another round of editing on the story and then sent it out again. I also received some editorial feedback on my talking cat story, so now I need to read through and revise that. (Hahaha, that reminds me--I recently visited an online mag's "Submissions: What we're looking for" page and they went out of their way to specify No Talking Cats. My talking cat would call them out for their blatant speciesism. See, people, this is what I'm like.)

I also finished the first "detention" scene in The Free City. I'm pleased with it, but now I need to make a plan as to what horrible things happen to my main character in detention, and in what order. *rubs paws together deviously*

What else I've been doing

The hubs and I vacationed last week in northern Wisconsin near the town of Minocqua. We rented a little cabin by a lake, at a place that's been a resort for almost 100 years. It was quiet & peaceful & super beautiful. The place had no TV and no wifi, but yes fireplace, which was just what we were after. We read books, cooked food, went hiking, and put together a puzzle. 

My vacation cabin

What's inspiring me right now

The memory of our vacation spot is still fresh in my mind. It was just so awesome up there--and one of the best things was that we didn't have to pay much attention to what time it was. We got up when we got up, ate breakfast, did stuff all day, and started winding down after it got dark. It made me realize how temporally regimented my normal life is, and how I've got all my routines down to the minute (getting up, getting to the gym, getting to work, eating lunch, driving home, getting ready for the next day). It felt great to leave all that behind, and I want to do it more often.

Blue Lake

Wednesday writing wire - large teapot edition

Spotted at an antique store: a strange old toy typewriter 

What I'm reading

I'm currently reading A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East by David Fromkin. If it seems that the Middle East is constantly in turmoil, the roots of this can be found in how Britain, France, Russia and the United States carved up the fallen Ottoman Empire by drawing their own new borders on the map and creating new countries (Israel, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon) at the end of World War I. From a 2014 viewpoint, the arrogance of the imperialist mindset is mind-blowing; at the time, this way of thinking was central to how the victors of WWI viewed the world--and the conflicts we see today are in a large part the result of this mindset imposed upon a region of the world that they understood nowhere near as well as they believed they did. The book covers the period of 1914-1922. I'm only about 1/4 through; so far it's a fascinating read, and I'm sure I'll have a lot more to say when I'm done.

While D and I were on vacation, we listened to the audio book version of The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr. This book is also fascinating--and frightening. Carr builds a compelling case for the idea that the internet hasn't just changed the way people communicate, it has changed the actual structure and function of our brains. Backed by scientific evidence, he shows that the brain isn't static or fixed once we reach adulthood (as was once thought), but is constantly adjusting and rewiring itself in response to the kinds of stimulation and the cognitive demands placed upon it (a phenomenon called "neuroplasticity"). He traces the development of different communication technologies--from oral traditions through the first writing, to printing presses, radio and TV, typewriters and the Internet, and shows that each technology was more than just a delivery method for information: the method of delivery changed the nature of the message itself. The upshot is that our  use of the Internet overloads our brains with information. And what modern humans are experiencing--the constant distraction and inability to concentrate--these are all the results of how our brains try to deal with information overload. Ultimately what's being compromised is our ability to learn, to remember and retain, to think deeply and creatively, and to use our brains to their fullest capacity. Carr doesn't pretend that he's not just as much of a distracted Internet junkie as the rest of us, nor does he indulge in the pointless argument that "technology is evil" & we should "go back"--what he does is point out that we should at least think about how the Internet with all its benefits, also imposes a heavy cost. This book is one of several things that have spurred me to question how much of that cost I'm willing to pay, and to significantly reduce the amount of time I spend experiencing life via a computer screen. 

What I'm writing

I'm continuing to plug away at The Free City. I've reached the part where my #1 main character is about to run away with her girlfriend, but instead they are arrested. My main character is going to end up spending months in a lovely place known as "Reeducation". 

I also got a rejection on my short story "The Collapsing Hills". Pooh nuggets! Well, at least I'm submitting stuff. Next step: brush up TCH and send it out somewhere else.

Me with the World's Largest Teapot in Chester WV. It was once a hot dog stand.

D at Twistee Treat, somewhere in Ohio

What else I've been doing

My husband and I went on a vacation/road trip recently, following the old Lincoln Highway (America's first coast-to-coast highway which opened in 1913) through Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. We had a fun time traveling on smaller roads, including a few stretches still paved with brick, passing through little towns that time forgot, and stopping whenever the hell we felt like it, at antique shops, old-fashioned diners, and the occasional very large teapot. Sometimes these stops were very few and far between, and there were long stretches of farmland, or long stretches of suburban strip mall blight. We spent a fair amount of time complaining about how everything has turned into Denny's and WalMart. But we also found treasures such as the Lincoln Motor Court and the Steel Trolley Diner. 

The Lincoln Motor Court (in operation since 1944) in Mann's Choice PA

What's inspiring me right now

I've been continuing to correspond with a number of friends via the good old fashioned post office. Receiving real letters in the mail is awesome! I'm also planning to participate in "31 postcards in 31 days" (you send one postcard per day during the month of October). 

The Steel Trolley Diner in Lisbon OH

Wednesday writing wire - "funner" edition

What I'm reading

I've finished Move Your DNA and am close to finishing The Female Man. I'm going on vacation next week and haven't decided which books are coming with me yet.

What I'm writing

I'm slowly but surely plugging away at The Free City. I've run out of decent draft material to work from, and have entered what I'm calling "complete crap territory"--which means total rewrites of scenes, or even total refribulation of story events. So it's going slower than it was--but I'm still moving forward. I'm more than halfway through what used to be "Book 1". Soon I'm going to throw Main Character #1 at Main Character #2. #1 will then ruin #2's life, and things will only get funner from there. ("Funner"! Hahaha...)

What else I've been doing

DRILLING FOR BLASTING played two shows last week. We counted 'em up and we've played ten shows in 2014 so far. Not bad!

Also, the cats think they've found a better use for my snare drum case.

What's inspiring me right now

The hubs and I are going to the Music Box Theatre tonight to catch two Japanese films noir: Drunken Angel (the first collaboration between director Akira Kurosawa and actor Toshiro Mifune) and Stray Dog (the second, I think). I'm stoked!