General

How have I started off 2015? By applying to graduate school.

Despite my earlier reticence, I’m moving forward with seeking a suitable Masters program, one with an emphasis on practical computer programming. Mostly this means not applying for a vanilla Computer Science curriculum, given that two years of theory won’t help my job prospects after graduation. I’ve been programming professionally for years now, and I want a program that complements my existing skills, not one that ignores them.

2014 is nearly gone. Good riddance.

I wonder if this year was good for anybody at all, apart from a certain status quo in the halls of power. For me, it wasn’t so great on either a personal level or a national level. I’ve been dragging myself through the weeds most of this year, getting out of some toxic relationships and trying to find my muse again.

Oh, writer’s block? “Blocked” doesn’t begin to cover it. More like “buried under the debris of that tunnel you saw the light at the end of.” That’s another story.

(I attended Viable Paradise in 2012. Here’s some advice to this year’s writers, to be read after you finish.)

George R. R. Martin once divided writers into two camps: architects, those who obsessively plan everything in detail, and gardeners, those who plant seeds in nourishing soil and hope for the best.

Since I began using computers in the early nineties, I’ve gone through five different word processors: DeskMate, AppleWorks, NeoOffice, OpenOffice, and LibreOffice. I’ve shuffled through as many computers and operating systems, from DOS to Mac OS X. I know – very well – the pain of incompatible file formats, starting in college when my professors sent me commented Word documents that AppleWorks couldn’t read.

I’m taking some time off from Facebook.

As an American, one shouldn’t need reminding of the civil liberties that we enjoy. Ostensibly, we as citizens read the Constitution in school, either in Civics or U.S. Government, and each amendment in the Bill of Rights is picked clean apart.

Well, no, it turns out that some people, such as one Roy Moore, still need reminding after all.

Something really pissed me off this morning. I was reading a Cracked article about some hard truths of the so-called Men’s Rights Advocates (or MRAs). One of the affiliated forums on Reddit (called subreddits) is r/TheRedPill, which advocates some hard-line misogyny.

I’ve just waded into a long, waist-deep stream of revisions to my YA novel, The Red Flood. After some lackluster feedback from agents and a thorough critique by my friend Alison, I decided to pull it and bring it back to the workbench.

The Red Flood is about two young women, on the run from a paramilitary group, trying to survive on a hostile planet. Things become more complicated when they discover the group that caused the environmental catastrophe on their world – and a way to save what’s left.

My arm continues to heal from the fall I took in late February, but I’ve recovered enough to type normally again. Most normal activities are possible now, except for carrying heavy objects or scratching my back.

I’m revising a short story I wrote a year and a half ago, a horror tale that’s deeply personal. I’ve taken long between drafts than I have any other story, taken longer to get the emotional distance needed. I’m splitting time between this and my Daily WTF articles, short pieces that don’t overtax my arm or wrist.