Month: August 2010

Heading back to the real world

~ Scott W. Baker ~ 3 Comments

I feel a little like Dorothy climbing in the balloon to go back to Kansas. The Writers of the Future workshop was amazing! Pro authors, people wanting my autograph, people buying my book, a free hotel, writers to talk to about writing, food, events, a massive awards show,- Hollywood Blvd…and tomorrow I have to wake up and teach. Not sure how I’m going to do that.

I prolonged my unreality just a little longer by upgrading my first flight to first class. In the end it only cost $50 extra, so I’d say it’s worth it. DirecTV, a couple free drinks (a something-and-Coke), a hot towel, good service…and tomorrow I have to wake up and teach. (Notice a pattern?)

I think a bigger piece of me has become a writer than when I left. I can’t wait to share some stories and revelations, but I’m typing all this on my Android phone.

My sardine-class fligh leaves in an hour. That will start the real world coming back to me. More posts soon.

Oh, and all you WotF 26 attendees lurking out there, say hi. I miss you all already.

Off to WotF

~ Scott W. Baker ~ 3 Comments

Tomorrow is travel day.  I have to leave for the airport around 6AM.  Blech.  Assuming I can sleep at all, that is.  Bags are packed, though I’m not sure what I’m forgetting.  I have clothes, shoes, laptop, notepad, pens, toiletries, Firefly videos (can’t find disc 3).  I think I’ll bring my iPod for the flight, maybe a book or two. Against my better judgment, I’ve left the StarCraft 2 disc in the computer for the trip.  I’ll only use it if tempted by someone with a similar lack of self control.

I’ve decided against bringing books to get signed by authors in attendance.  I don’t have many titles from those authors, honestly, and I don’t want to offend anyone by getting author A to sign a book while not having a book for author B to sign (despite maybe being a bigger author or more involved in WotF).  It was suggested (though by no means promised) that this year’s winners might get a copy of the 25th Anniversary coffee table book which would serve as the perfect autograph book.  If we don’t get one as a gift (no one owes it to me, but it would be a lovely gesture, wouldn’t it?), I may well purchase one for that purpose.

So what else could I need?  Snacks?  I’ll probably bring a few.  Reference books?  Honestly, I can’t imagine what I’d need to look up that I couldn’t Google.  Most advice I might need would take too long to find for it to be truly worth the effort.  What else?  I don’t see a massive Nerf war in the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel going over well, so I’ll leave my arsenal at home.  Itinerary is in my computer bag.  I guess I could bring a bunch of beverages for the room (checked luggage, not carry-on), but I don’t want the charge for an extra-heavy bag.  Meh…I guess I’m ready enough.

I’ll post tomorrow, once I’m settled.  It may be bedtime by then.  I’ll try to keep a general commentary going about stuff.

If you want to watch the live stream of the awards ceremony, you can find a link to it at the WotF homepage.  It’s Saturday night, not sure what time.  I think I’m supposed to have some sort of Halle Berry style speech prepared.  Maybe I should work on that since I don’t ad lib well.  If you don’t want to watch it all, I’m sure it’ll hit WotF’s YouTube channel so you can skip around looking for me in my very large tux.

Time now for a little more family time before bedtime and bon voyage.  Got to get my fix while I can.

I’m on Kindle

~ Scott W. Baker ~ 2 Comments

Mere days before I flit off to LA to live a week like I’m something special, I realize I am special.  I’m in a book on Kindle! Yeah, yeah, lots of people are, even people who aren’t in a real book…stop trying to burst my bubble.  I’m on the biggest electronic reader in the world.

For the bargain price of five bucks ($5.00), you can read “Leech Run” and all the other stories in Zero Gravity.  Big savings over the paperback price of $15.29.  There’s something spacial about having a story in tangible print on paper that I can keep on a shelf and point to.  There’s also something special about having my story distributed through cutting edge technology.

I suspect I may end up on the Kindle again when Writers of the Future XXV! comes out. Ooh, I just checked and found something cooler!!

How pretty is that?  It’s available for pre-order through Amazon. People are pre-ordering me!  *giggles like maniacal school child*  They aren’t advertising it for Kindle yet, but I bet it will happen after the first surge of paperbacks sell…but wait.  Previous years’ anthologies aren’t available on Kindle.  Huh.  I’ll ask about it next week to see why.  But a print book is still great.  They did an audio book of volume 24 that was excellent; I’d love to see that happen this year.

I guess I should go to sleep now.  I have that real job thing in the morning.

For those interested, I’ll try to throw up a note here every day or so while I’m in LA.  Nothing long winded until I get back.  Now go buy me on Amazon!

Called Out

~ Scott W. Baker ~ Leave a comment

It’s nice to get an update on a story that is heading to an editor’s desk.  I got one today that wasn’t quite from a slush reader.  It was the most personalized status update I have ever received, stating that this individual had visited this humble blog and poked around.  Awesome!  However, the publication in question was not on my list of markets at the right of your screen.  Etiquette fail.  (This has since been remedied.)  Thanks to this individual for pointing this out.

As a rule, the list only contained markets I had submitted to multiple times or had sold to.  That way if someone asked about a specific market on the list, I could offer some intelligent commentary from a writer’s perspective.  It hadn’t occurred to me that editors and their ilk might be exploring my blog and find themselves missing.  I get caught in that trap a lot; I am not a social creature and seldom consider the repercussions of things, particularly omissions.  I fail to introduce my wife to acquaintances in the grocery store.  I don’t send thank you notes.  I forget to call people on their birthdays.

Little things make a difference.  It’s time for me to grow up and realize that.  I am a professional writer now, anticipating professional treatment from editors.  I owe them the same.  I should be adding markets to my list before I submit to them.  I should be familiar enough with them to answer a fellow writer’s questions before I ever send them a manuscript.  I should also be removing markets that I would not submit to again and would not recommend, whether they sent me a check once or not.

I felt special when I learned this individual had visited my blog.  I could have made him feel special by showing his market on my list.  I dropped the ball, missed an opportunity to impress.  Bad writer.

None of this will affect the judgment of my story, I’m sure.  The message even bore the winking emoticon to assure me it wasn’t an angry email.  In the end, my story will sell itself or it won’t.  Still, this changes my perspective a little.

Creepy Toys

~ Scott W. Baker ~ Leave a comment

I once wrote a story inspired by a toy (technically a night light) that I bought for my daughter.  It’s a good story that hasn’t found a home yet, but it will.  Anyway, I like the idea of toys inspiring stories, especially if that inspiration leads in an unusual direction. So when it became necessary that I provide a story seed for the Codex Halloween short story contest, I decided to scour the internet for some odd/creepy/bizarre toy images.  There are quite a few out there.  Some of my favorites that had (IMO) the most story potential have been reproduced here.  Some are more subtle than others.

If you’re here for my Codex story seed, feel free to use whichever inspires you most.

Facebanks. Do you want to put my money in there?
More or less creepy without eyes? (Click this one to see it moving!)
Can a toy look too much like you?
Madballs are a classic from my childhood. Still odd.
Every kid needs an undead pet, right?
Seen these? They are "Corner Dolls" or "Time-Out Dolls". Life-sized, facing the corner.
More Corner Dolls. They're fairly common, it seems.

Another truckload

~ Scott W. Baker ~ 4 Comments

Rejections don’t seem to come one at a time.  Three arrived this week: Abyss & Apex, IGMS, and ASIM (rejecting GB, TWHDotGMP, and TOL respectively).  ASIM had TOL on hold for a while.  One editor’s comments seemed to suggest he (or she) was excited to put the story in the magazine.  Alas, this did not happen.

So I have three stories to send out.  TOL has been rejected by a bunch of zines now, though a lot of them were prior to a major rewrite that seemed to be the excited editor’s favorite part, that being the use of multiple P.O.V.s during the story.  For instance, Asimov’s rejected TOL back in ’03.  For those keeping score, that’s around the time my flash piece “In or Out” appeared in NFG magazine as a 69er entry for no money (and no prize, but two good reviews), so the rejection predates my second sale.  Maybe they’ll be interested in the rewrite.  I know you’re not supposed to do that, but the story has changed so much.  We’ll see.

Abyss & Apex sent a complementary form letter saying I was close but they just didn’t like it enough.  I guess that’s a step above the flat rejection the story got from WotF (late speculative element).

And then there’s TWHDotGMP.  The little story that could…er, can.  At least I hope it can.  Humor is so subjective, it’ll be a tough sell, but I believe in it.  F&SF is the obvious next step.  I should have sent it by now.  I still get the jitters when sending a story I love to a market I love.  I’ll get it in the mail Monday (too busy with a soccer coaching clinic this weekend).

The future is cool

~ Scott W. Baker ~ 1 Comment

I have just joined the future as a smartphone user. This is my first phone-post. I think I’m in love.

I didn’t go for the iPhone, largely because I’m a Verizon subscriber. I also didn’t get the Droid for financial reasons. I’m typing on my LG Ally. It is basically Droid lite. Same operating system, same look, just a little smaller and lighter; camera has fewer megapixels, a bit less memory, that kind of thing. I think it will be my new best friend.

Apps are so much fun. They may get old eventually, but not yet. I’ll post my list of faves sometime soon.

Okay, typing on this tiny keyboard is getting tedious.  More later.

Good News and Bad News

~ Scott W. Baker ~ 2 Comments

The Good News: I just (and I mean just) finished the final mission in the StarCraft II campaign.

The Bad News: Most of the game’s popularity is based on multiplayer, which I haven’t touched yet.  And I only beat it on the Normal difficulty.  I still have to face it on Hard and maybe a little Brutal level…but I’m not that hardcore.

I’ll do a proper review of the game at a less ungodly hour.  Maybe I can give the game a rest for a couple days and do some writing for a change before school starts.

While playing, my subconscious and later conscious were struck with story ideas.  I’ve wanted to do a sequel to “Poison Inside the Walls”; that idea has arrived.  So to has a postapocalyptic novel idea.  You heard right, a novel.  Like my YA novel is making any progress, why would I think I could do a gritty, adult book?  Ah well.  Like most writers, I have more ideas than I can possibly create.  Of course, I have to get writing again or I can’t create anything.