Category: Personal

Life Update

~ Scott W. Baker ~ 1 Comment

It’s been quite a while since I posted anything here.  I didn’t even do a ChattaCon report.  I meant to, but life has been…complicated.  I’ve been able to do no blogging and next to no writing since then.  I’m sure the whole experience will make me a better writer in the future by filling the emotion tanks with fodder, but wow it’s tough to fill them.

I filed for divorce last month.  It will be almost summer before it’s legally finalized, but that’s just semantics.  I am closing on a house for me and my daughter (split time between parents) and that has taken a lot of my focus.  It’s a sad and hopeful and exciting and scary time for me.

In other news, OmniCon is this weekend in Cookeville.  I didn’t see any advertisements for it until about 3 weeks ago, so I’m expecting a very small affair.  Could be fun, though.  It was last year.

That’s all for now, though I do need to post soon about my recent Doctor Who obsession.  I was quite late to the party and I’m only in season 3, but wow is it fun.  But later…

Angry Birds Experiment

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It’s been a while since I’ve had a real post here.  Let’s just say I’ve been…distracted.  I’d love to say it’s going to get better, but that may take a while.

I did want to go ahead and document the issue I’ve been having with some angry birds.  Not the iPad variety, the poop-on-my-truck variety.  I don’t know why my truck offends them so.  A little research suggests it’s their own reflection(s) in the glass.  Regardless of the cause, they’re been attacking my ride like well-fibered fiends.  It must stop.

After a fair bit of research and some genuine Southern advice, I have spent a grand total of three dollars on toy snakes to drape over the hood, roof, and the wall I ark beside.  The idea is that bluebirds are afraid of snakes and will thus leave my truck alone.  It’s night 1 of this experiment; I will report on the success/failure of this venture in later posts.

If the snake gambit fails, there are plans to try a fake owl and/or shiny eyeball balloons to deter the featered pests.  If all else fails, I’ll borrow a cat.

Before you leave, be sure you’ve retweeted my April 5th tweet regarding the release of Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader: Flush Fiction.  Retweeting enters you to win a free copy of the book!  Not a Tweeter? Just copy the message on your website/blog/Facebook/whatever with a link back to my Flush Fiction giveaway post and I’ll enter you anyway!  Only retweets/entries posted by 11:59 PM (central daylight time) on April 20th will be considered for the free book!

Scott Who?

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I’m starting to get a fair number of hits on this page through links from Con pages, so I bet people are trying to figure out who I am.  I probably need to update my “About Me” page, but here’s the not-so-skinny on who I am.

I write science fiction and fantasy under the name Scott W. Baker, but no one ever seems to include my W.  Not sure why that is.  There are other Scott Bakers (and of course Scott Bakker) out there writing and I don’t want to be them.  But don’t call me W; I don’t want to be George Bush either.

My claim to not-quite-fame is my story “Poison Inside the Walls” which placed in the 26th annual, international Writers of the Future contest and was published in the related anthology.  Since then, my fiction has appeared in Escape Pod, Daily Science Fiction, and other fun places.

What do I write about?  I’m all over the place, really.  Civilizations in space, space pirates, zombies (not in space…yet), time travel, aliens, paranormal events, military sci-fi, distopias, near future, farcical comedy, serious moral dilemmas…  Yeah, I cover the spectrum.  You can get a better taste by looking at my bibliography.

No, I have no published novels at present.  No, there are no novels immediately forthcoming.  Yes, I do have novels in the works, but who doesn’t?  When I get a novel finished, blog readers will be the first to know.

When not writing, I teach high school math.  I have a beautiful wife and a brilliant daughter (adjectives interchangeable).  I have a dachshund, a mutt, and the same cat in two different sizes.  I wear Hawaiian shirts — especially at cons.

So that’s me.  If you need to know more, don’t be afraid to ask.  And I’ll see you at the cons!

Some days you’re the shoe…

~ Scott W. Baker ~ 1 Comment

…some days you’re what gets scraped off.  Today has been absolutely craptastic.  Really the last 24 hours or so.  Little stuff, to be sure, but none of it uplifting.  I got a visit from the micromanagement fairy at work and got to spend twenty minutes changing grades…to the same thing they started out as.  (Let’s just say that putting restrictions on how math teachers average grades is like me telling the New England Patriots to only throw slant routs.)  Then came the twin form rejections from Digital Science Fiction and Asimov’s.  Then there’s personal stuff that’s none of your business, but it’s unhappy, too.

I’m ready for silver linings.  Better yet, acceptances!

Until then, I await June with the end of school and the coming of ConCarolinas.

Time to Reset

~ Scott W. Baker ~ 1 Comment

If you visit me here more than once in a blue moon, you may have noticed that the top of the right column of this blog hasn’t changed in a long time.  That progress bar hasn’t budged in forever.  And I am a slow reader, but how long can a single book take to read?  I need to update things here.  It may be done by the time you read this.

Part of my reluctance to update is that the novel really is still only 24% complete  and I am still a mere half way through reading Old Man’s War.  I’ve set both aside.  OMW is very good; my interest simply wandered.  As for the YA novel I was working on, it was less good.  I had the milieu mapped out and the plotline woven like a cat’s cradle, but the characters were pitifully flat.  I didn’t know them at all.  I didn’t care about them.  If I didn’t care, why would anyone else?  So that project is shelved, awaiting some interesting characters to populate its redraft.

I am pleased to report that another novel has taken center stage.  It’s a project I previously shelved in favor of the YA project.  It has the opposite problems from the YA.  This one, I know the characters deeply, know their desires, their dreams, their fears.  The world, on the other hand, is the stage dressing from Our Town.  At least it has been.  I’ve revisited the first chapter and suddenly it’s reading (to me) like the first chapter of a novel.  I still may be moving the story too fast.

As for reading, I’m pretty all over the place.  I’m listening to Den Koontz’s Intensity from Audible.com.  Wow.  It’s my first Koontz experience and it’s…well, intense.  I’m also reading Steven Savile’s Silver (I’ll take a S and a V, Pat), a book that can sit on a shelf next to Dan Brown’s DaVinci Code the way Schwarzenegger sits next to Devito.  I am determined to finish this before I start A Clash of Kings, the second in GRRM’s Song of Ice and Fire series.

Anyway, I plan to update the right side of the blog tomorrow.  I’ll probably toss some links into this post then, too, but I’ve found myself woefully tired all the sudden.  Good night.

And I was just getting used to writing “2010”…

~ Scott W. Baker ~ 5 Comments

It’s that time of year again…time for goal setting, promise making, and resolution vowing.  I have a few reso’s myself this time.  I think I usually do.  I don’t recall last year’s.  I suspect that means I didn’t keep them.  Anyway, here’s the list for 2011.

  1. Lose a pound a week. Sounds small enough until you do the math and see it leads to dropping 52 pounds.  And while my aim is to average a pound a week (don’t want to void a resolution by gaining a pound in late February or something), if I drop five in a week, I’ll still aim for one more the next.  I have plenty to lose.  Trust me, 52 pounds will still leave me well above my not-so-perfect target weight.  Like Kevin Spacey in “American Beauty”, I just want to look good naked…or have enough of a view to know how I look naked.  (There are supposedly feet down there, too.  Too much?  Let’s move on.)  The diet (Weight Watchers) starts Monday.
  2. Write 100 words every day. Paltry?  Yes.  Profound?  Definitely.  I’m installing a triple-count penalty for missed days; if I miss a day, I write 300 the next day — not just 200 — to compensate.  No building up ahead of time either.  If I write 2000 tomorrow, the next day I still need my 100.  I just need to get writing every day.  (I confess, I didn’t do it yesterday, so it’s 300 today…but I’ve not yet made it to bed to separate the days, so let’s move on.)
  3. Read a novel and two shorts each month. I’m a slow reader.  Now that I have my Kindle, though, I’ll be able to keep my stuff at my fingertips and make progress.  No reading = no writing…or at least poor writing.
  4. Exercise twice a week. I leave the definition of “exercise” vague because I’m not expecting miracles.  Beginner’s yoga, a walk, the elliptical, strenuous ping-pong…anything better than the walk-to-the-fridge routine I’ve been on.
  5. Get organized. I’m a scattered individual.  “Chaos Out of Chaos” is pretty descriptive of me.  I need to clean out my car, my classroom, all my closets, and redo my computer files…and that’s just January.  I need to start filing instead of piling and get papers graded in less than a week.

Five resolutions.  That’s a lot for a guy that has never followed through with one before.  I guess it’s like planting a lot of seeds hoping one or two might grow.

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.

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.

This can’t be good for productivity

~ Scott W. Baker ~ 2 Comments

For those in the nerd world (or anywhere in South Korea), you know that today is the release of StarCrack II.  Oops, I think I meant StarCraft II.  It is 25% loaded on my laptop already.  27%.    28…  For those that live under rocks (or in the real world, which is worse), StarCraft is an excellent real time strategy game; you know, the kind where you build troops and manage resources.  I am loading the sequel, one that is 12 years after the original and a reported $100 million in development.  Yes, this comes from Blizzard, the same people that put out World of Warcraft.  I expect this game to be equally addictive.  I know the original was.

So when will I write?  *whimper*  I don’t know.  I will be addicted to the computer for a while.  Bad writer, no video games!  Well, maybe I can set up a StarCraft reward system.  An hour of play for every 1000 words?  Should be steeper than that, but I’m weak.

Still only 30%.  I guess I can do some writing while it loads.

Ahhh, indoors is nice

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I am back from camping!  Hooray.  I got less writing than usual done, but I spent a lot of time prewriting.  My novel was stalled and I was unhappy with the depth (or lack thereof) of my characters, so I dropped a few bucks on a novel writing ebook.  I’ll discuss the specifics in another post once I finish with it.  It helped me explore my characters and find new life.  I think I added one chapter, rewrote a bunch, and convinced myself I need to do some massive deletions (from chapters that come later than the one I added–it was a squeeze in).  All in all I call it a productive writing escape.

I also picked up two books from a discount shop.  The one on screenwriting seems to focus more on basic story construction and less on the technique of actually writing for the screen, so I’m bummed about that purchase.  The other book is a re-re-reprinting of a second edition of a military strategy book.  Big score there.  I got through the chapter on the Greeks and was gasping for air by the pace it covered, which is exactly the type of overview I really wanted.  It may be a little light on detail, but I can google the details if I need to delve deeper into something specific.  All in all, four bucks well spent (between the two).

I’m very tired and want to go back to cleansing my DVR.  More soon.  Ah, internet.  How I missed thee.