McDaniel University.

Many of you know of my two rather sad attempts to get a college degree, and how I self-destructed and gave the finger to two wonderful state schools who were perfectly willing to have me (IU and UCLA). Well, I've been itching for an education again, but I've decided to go about things differently this time. I sat down and mapped out a degree based off of an actual school's course offerings, and I'm going to buy the books and study on my own. Won't help my resume, but it will certainly help my self esteem, and other schooling options just aren't practical for me time and money-wise.

A hint to anyone looking to educate yourself: go to the local college used bookstore if you have one, and ask for the SECOND-most recent edition of the text. Once the new $100 edition of an algebra book comes out, for example, the old edition - often virtually identical - will sell for about $5. This was a very pleasant surprise to me. For things like math that really don't change, this is a no-brainer.

Gag Order lifted.

Some of you may remember my post about Clarion? Or my mysterious "I will not blog about it" post from a couple of weeks ago?

I've been officially permitted to make the announcement now - I, along with 17 other writers ranging from age 20 to 52, published to unpublished, will be attending Clarion this summer to learn the finer points of crafting fantasy and science fiction.

Now that the squeeing is over with, back to work on my screenplay. No rest for the wicked.

Writer's Remorse.

It seemed like a really good idea at the time, this screenplay. But for the past two weeks I've found myself utterly unable to work up even the faintest amount of enthusiasm for its premise. That's not a good sign. If I can't get excited about it, how am I supposed to get an agent or producer excited about it? This is the same thing that happened when I tried to write the same screenplay for last year's Nicholl Fellowship, and it's why I ended up not entering. I realized I hated the story too close to the deadline to start another.

Why I decided to drag the thing out and work on it again, I've no idea. Maybe just because I'd already done some work on it, and I didn't have any new ideas.

But I know people have finished writing projects they hated before... how do they do it? Do they ever turn out well? Am I ever going to find a way to "love the one I'm with"?

The Art of Paraphrasing.

Actual quote, re: The Sci Fi channel's name change:

"The name Sci Fi has been associated with geeks and dysfunctional, antisocial boys in their basements with video games and stuff like that[...]" - Tim Brooks, TV historian who helped launch the Sci Fi channel.

My version:

"We hate the 14 people who regularly tune into our network, so we're going to try to lure the other 6 billion by insulting them."

I will not blog about it...

I will not blog about it... I will not blog about it... I will not blog about it... I will not blog about it... I will not blog about it... I will not blog about it... I will not blog about it... I will not blog about it... I will not blog about it... I will not blog about it... I will not blog about it... I will not blog about it... I will not blog about it... I will not blog about it... I will not blog about it... I will not blog about it... I will not blog about it... I will not blog about it... I will not blog about it... I will not blog about it... I will not blog about it... I will not blog about it... I will not blog about it... I will not blog about it... I will not blog about it... I will not blog about it... I will not blog about it... I will not blog about it...

Not sure how I'm going to last two more weeks when I've barely managed to last two days...

Writing Schedule, 2009.

March/April: Work on romantic comedy screenplay for Nicholl competition.
May/June/July: Finish fantasy novel.
August/September/October: Work on horror screenplay while shopping novel around.
November/December: Write kickass fantasy short story while shopping 2 screenplays around.