Paddy's Wanderings

Junk Drawer - March Edition

Did I do anything cool this pass month? Yeah, a few things were rather fun and it was a pretty decent month, for February. Winter months are just a drag, and the jan-feb time is about the worse for me. I don't write as much as I want to, and I don't get out like I should. For that matter, grapes are worth their weight in gold and I miss the fresh, home-grown, fruit and veggie season. To put it bluntly, if the ice isn't in a glass of very old scotch, then I just don't want to be near it.

I did read a bunch, which is plus. I have been devouring short stories and poems at a blistering pace. Mostly I have been doing that for research, see what is fresh and new out there, but I do it because I enjoy it as well. Did not write a whole bunch of poetry, that time was consumed by a short story and the..Project, but that is fine. The short story marathon was to get a grip on the newer stuff, see how my stuff compares and to see where I can send my stuff. So far, I figure my stories are not fitting well with what is currently being published, not sure if that is good or bad. Either I am as fresh as a spring breeze or as stale as week old bread, either way, I am writing 'em.

I have been following the debate on space exploration as usual. Maybe I am just blinded by the thrill of discovery and adventure of space travel, but I just have never understood why anyone would not want to explore space with enthusiasm. I hear all the same old, tired arguments, but really, when it comes right down to it, the money the U.S. government spends on space related stuff is pitiful. You want to stimulate jobs and technology and education? Spend more money on space travel, or let the private sector do it and free up the law to allow, nay, encourage private enterprise.

The Olympics were cool as always. We watched a bunch of that and we may have gotten the tyke hooked on it. He was mad when it was over, so was I. I have been digging Caprica and trying to play catch up on the sci-fi stuff on the box. I gotta watch something other then movies and television for kids, it may drive me crazy. Although.. anytime the tyke wants to catch Phineas and Ferb, I am right there ~ go fig.

And of course, we got to do a big game day with the Heroes. That was a blast and a half. I really need to get out and game with my fellow gamers and not just do online stuff. The in-person social interaction is great and we always have a good time. Kids running amok, dice scattering across the table and the buffet table filled with graze-ables is always a bunch o' fun.

So onward and upward and tallyho and all that jazz. I have a feeling this month should be chock full of good stuff. More gaming, more scribbling and by golly more sunshine, or at least warmer temps. Come on back, the blog-o-matic should be working over-time this month, lots of sheeple stuff and the like to get posted up. And maybe, just maybe, we'll have some fun along the way.

Happy Wanderings!

Junk Drawer - Feb Edition

Hello fellow wanderers. Here is an update of all, or at least some of the news coming from my corner of the world. Not much happening in the depths of January, except it is cold, icy, and probably the most non fun month of the year. But most folks know that, I am just chiming in with my ha'penny's worth.

I sent out a bunch of poetry to several magazines this month. I got a couple of acceptances, many more rejections and it is all good. As the issues appear, I'll post up a link. There are some fine mags, filled with some pretty good stuff out there, you should surf on over and give em a whirl. I'll pass it on when issues go live. Even after all of these years, I still love small press poetry and making the rounds, reading, submitting, and on occasion, puttin' stuff out there. Its cool.

Still slogging my way through short stories, like always. As time and inclination dictates, I scribble some out, even on occasion, finish one. My current favorite flavor is a cyber punk noir that is just plain fun. I think when this beast is done, It is gonna make the rounds, see if I can get it out there. It is kinda different and a whole lot fun to tinker on it. But it is a matter of time.

I'll update on the novel again shortly. Let me just say, it eats up most of my free time I have for writing, so that is where that goes. And of course, I am digging the whole blog thing, which is again, a time eater. Speaking of which, I loved doing the Circling Superior Sheeple Story, and have several more in several stages. So I will post up them up as they are finished off. I do love rambling on about the adventures of Sheeple Migrations.

I have been staying in, avoiding the cold, so I did not wander off to do much. I really need to get the old camera out and go take some pics of gray days. And that is that. I just keep doing my thing, building more and more stuff in my writing passion, trying out other stuff, and just doing. I do have to work on the closet of doom, get some semblance of order to the mounds of stuff in there that is my writing. That has been an ongoing year long project so far and what has spurred so much writing. But I have literally days and days of work ahead just to make a dent. Good news is, I have not added to the chaos and all I have done in the past year is neat and organized, yay for finally doing that on a daily basis.

And that was the month that was. Kinda boring I guess, but spring is on the way and there will be time to go adventuring. I am off to novel land, trying to get the poor characters farther down the road. Happy Wanderings this month!

Junk Drawer - January Edition

Lets see what kind of assorted and sundry stuff I have collected in a month of wandering, shall we? December is always a busy month around these parts, and a lot of fun as well. Hmm, what is in the drawer, whatcha been doin?

We got the holiday decorations up, the wee tyke helped us here and of course he helped the Sheeple gram decorate her abode. He also made some ornaments and wall decorations. I came home one night and he was covered in glitter, he was painting stars.

Better 1/2 made a metric buttload of rock candy and cookies. i even shared some with my fellow workers. Speaking of food, we had a cool pot luck at work, who doesn't like a potluck? and better 1/2  proved her culinary skills again. Grammy Sheeple made her famous waffles for Christmas Day so all in all, it was food month.

We had a good Christmas, tyke got a bunch of games and proceeded to beat dear old dad at Candy Land, repeatedly. The little shaver has the knack. After carefully explaining the colors and that is how you move the pieces, he goes right out and gets the ice cream cone. I never was much good at Candy Land and although we have been playing with chess pieces, he hasn't got that one down yet. Mostly the 'guys' rough each other up and tip each other over. Someday he'll get it and beat me at that too I am sure.

Better 1/2 got us Rock Band Beatles, sneaky mom that she is, and we have played that and it was a lot of fun. We ushered in the new year playing rock band and eating grammy made snacks. The eldest sheeple kiddo turned twenty one that night and we had a good party. I guess it was a party month.

In the realm of writing I have been accruing page upon page of novel story, worked on the short stories, finished a sestina and a few other poems. Been working on the sheeple stories too, as you can tell from the seven part story I just posted. it has been a good month there as well. I got a couple of poetry rejections, but hey thats cool. Oh, I also won a short story contest, which was cool, and I got a nice surprise, winning a contest for blogging about the Kindle Rush Experiment.

It was a good month and a good year. I think we are going to do some big stuff this year, in writing, and on the family front. Should be fun!

Happy Wanderings!

December Junk Drawer

Well it has been six weeks since I emptied out the junk drawer, so here goes. There is a lot of random stuff in here besides novel stuff, so lets take a look and see what I can foist onto the blog..

Okay then. We did not do the big Halloween thingy go out and scare the neighbor hood. The wee tyke, the child formerly known as the toddler, was running a pretty good fever the day before and into trick or treat day, so we stayed home, he was feelin pretty icky. So we shared some candy and kinda just played quietly and watched for the great pumpkin.

I did go to the NanoWriMo kick off party and met some good folks. During the month they hosted a bunch of write-ins and other events but I just could not get away. It seems every year they do a ton of stuff and that is way cool, maybe next year I can sneak off a few times. I did make the 50k word count goal and had a ton of fun with the forums and other NaNo related stuff. I'll be doing it again for sure, it was cool.

November is Birthday Month. We start off with better 1/2, four days later me, then the toddler now turned tyke. Its funny. If you ask the wee guy how old he is, he says four! Ask him how old is dad? four four! Then ask him how old mom is (no I didn't teach it to him) he says four four four four four. He is such a little comedian, cause after he says that he gives you that sly look and half smile. Well two out of three ain't bad.

The month was pretty much all about novel writing, so that is all I did. I did send a few poems out and so far, I have collected some more rejection letters. Hey that's cool by me, no big deal, we'll keep plugging away on that front. I have every confidence I'll find the right home for the right poem. It was also cool in the poetry corner with a guest poem, go read it, it is good. Oh I did pretty well with a short story, more on that later..

Hey we had a good thanksgiving, hope everyone else did as well. Sheeple Gram made some good food, as always, and we stuffed ourselves. The tyke ate so much he zonked out on the couch with his little guy snore in full swing, that was too funny. I have a lot to be thankful for and not just one day a year.

Other then that, it has been kinda quiet, a day trip or two for apples, a little 40k action and that was about it for wandering. I have been reading a lot of blogs and published online material. I have also been reading a bunch of short stories and just some casual throne room type of reading. I did watch some of the new V Series, gotta love V eh? That was fun and I so want more.

And that is that. We got the tree up and we are preparing for the holiday, so that is good. No, I have done very little shopping so far, I am kinda one of those poor unfortunate souls who wait until the last minute. December should be a good month, lots of fun stuff to do, including but not limited to, novel writing, some mini pushing and dodging slippery roads. Stick around, should be some fun stuff in ye olde blog as I go a wandering.

Happy Wanderings!

October Junk Drawer

This is the place where, in my infinite wisdom, I just pile all kinds of stuff I think I should save or comment on, or whatever. The junk drawer is bulging with lots of tidbits and half consumed stuff. It has been a whirlwind month for some strange reason.

On the book front, I read Deception Point by Dan Brown and thought it was okay, not great but worth reading. I am just finishing Mars Crossing by Geoffrey Landis. I am always crazy for a anything Mars related and this is a good piece of fiction. I have not been reading at the torrid pace I am accustomed to because I have been spending free time elsewhere.

Other then doing some fun stuff for the blog and hanging with the Fam, I have not done a whole bunch of cool wandering this month. I have been prepping for the..Project. I have not done anything with short stories and just tinkered with some poetry. What I have been doing is digging out the notes and assorted stuff in anticipation of National Novel Writing Month.

I have toyed with the idea of NaNoWriMo for a couple of years but just never committed to doing it until this year. I have several half finished, half baked, tons of notes/outlines for several different novels, stuff I have worked on over the years. I was scanning the website and thought, hey do it this time. So I thought about it and decided I should pick one of the many projects started but never finished. The next day I picked the story idea and signed up. Now I have told everyone I am doing it, so now to avoid looking like a slacker, I have to shut up and just do it.

The past three weeks I have delved the mine of story holding and have been digging up and preparing for November, when the fireworks truly begins. I guess I really meant it when I said it was time to stop being a dilettante, and get to the business of not only writing, but submitting and doing the big projects I have always wanted to do. You know what? This has been a ton of fun for me so I have achieved success. I think I have finally turned that corner and there is no going back, just go Paddy go!

November in the blog is going to be a wee bit different. I plan on doing a daily update on word progress with a little blurb on what is going on in the story and how the whole project is doing. And that folks is going to be about it for the month. If I have planned it correctly, I will do a wee blog post and write like mad, work and sleep, and play with the family and that is going to be about all the time I am going to have in any given day. With that being said, I am off to do more prep work and tinker with some stuff over the next week.

Happy Wanderings!

September Junk Drawer

Let me take a look at the drawer for the month, it seems kind of bare and uninteresting. I guess it has been an uneventful month in the realm of wandering so far, been kind of quiet. With the crazy work schedule and everything, I have been writing in the middle of the night and not posting much.

I did read The Martians by Kim Stanley Robinson and really enjoyed the short stories. I will admit I read the Mars series three times and can never seem to get enough of Mars. The one story that was excellent was about climbing Olympus Mons and made me say man, I wish I had wrote that story. It was something I had thought would be cool when I read the original series and I got to read it. It was a good book and well worth the read.

I am reading Angels & Demons by Dan Brown right now, and like all of his books, I am totally enthralled. I can't put my finger on it, but his novels just do it for me. I read Digital Fortress back when all the hoopla was going on about The Da Vinci Code. I had no idea it was the same author until later, strange but true, and I did not read Da Vinci Code until this past summer. Behind the times like always.

I have been reading some very entertaining blogs lately. I think it is kind of neat that some of my friends are blogging and doing some good stuff. I do know a lot of creative people who do some pretty cool stuff, not rich and famous mind you, but good stuff none the less. And of course I follow some writers blogs and other such more notable stuff. But it is all good and informative and most of all entertaining.

That is about it for September in the drawer. I am working away on stories and poems, doing the work thing and just cruising along in general, following the wandering road.

August Junk Drawer

Oh I have wandered here, there, almost everywhere this month. It almost feels like October it has been so cool, not complaining mind you! But, it still smells like August, if you get my meaning. Today is a junk day for the blog. In other words, the junk drawer is open.

I just finished Just after Sunset by Stephen King, a collection of short stories. I liked most of the stories, some were...eh. A good read and well worth the price of a book. I also just finished Da Vinci Code and enjoyed the book even more then the movie. Seen the movie twice, avoided the circus when the book was originally published, but after seeing it in the pile at the Library Book Sale, I had to read it. I am currently reading a Sci-Fi book on the first exploration of Mars, pretty cool if you ask me.

I have been watching plenty of anime lately and Jackie Chan movies. How can you not be awestruck by Jackie Chan? I started reading his blog and checking out his website. I have been a fan of Hong Kong cinema since a wee lad and a fan of Jackie's since I first discovered his films in the early nineties.

On the music front, I have been listening to XM Radio at work a lot. I like the jazz channels and listen to the Watercolors jazz channel often, it is...calming. I also like to listen to the two seventies channels, depending on my mood. I like the AM singles radio but when I am feeling goofy I love to listen to Disco. Yep, and you thought disco was dead, not so my friend.

I have been spending internet time devouring blogs. I admit it, I have become addicted to reading blogs, all kinds of blogs. It is like channel surfing, I hit about a dozen on a daily round and catch a little bit of everything. Some friends of mine blog and they got some good stuff I don't miss if I can help it.

Other then that, I have been taking pics with the toddler which is a blast. I have been chasing words across the screen in various story projects, even a poem or two. It has not been a big creative month for me, just kinda been eh. But, it is the calm before the storm. Autumn is a coming and that is my time to get really crazy with the creative side. Going into this year I am already bubbling pretty good, so I for see a few sleepless nights tip tapping away.

And that's it in the junk drawer, we don't want to go too deep into that abyss.

Happy Wanderings!