Busy, Busy

Posted on November 14, 2006    Posted by      105 Comments

Athena’s home sick, I’m writing a short story and a book proposal, and I have to prepare for a library appearance this evening. No time to play today. Here, though: have an open thread. Topic to get you started:

Have anything you want to accomplish by the end of 2006?

Do tell.

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105 Comments on “Busy, Busy”

  3. Win the Writer’s of the Future Contest (yes, submitted the story back in September). And I second Dean’s motion on at lest the first draft, or halfway through.

  4. Win the Writer’s of the Future Contest (yes, submitted the story back in September). And I second Dean’s motion on at lest the first draft, or halfway through.

  12. I also plan to invent and market the perfect litter box. My cats seem to purposely scoop out the litter and distribute it around the room.

  13. I also plan to invent and market the perfect litter box. My cats seem to purposely scoop out the litter and distribute it around the room.

  14. This is the list of a recent grad with a crap job:

    1) Get a girlfriend.

    2) Get my resume in order to send to various government intelligence organziations and other places that I’ll actually enjoy the work.

    3) See Florida Gators win SEC championship, go on to play for mythical National Championship.

  15. I’m planning on learning another magic trick for my annual appearnance as “Drosselmeir” in the Nutcracker.

  16. I’m planning on learning another magic trick for my annual appearnance as “Drosselmeir” in the Nutcracker.

  17. Convince my Grandpa to pay for a trip out to Arizona so I can see the National Championship. Well, if Michigan wins on Saturday. : )
    Matt, The Gators will be destroyed by Arkansas in the SEC Title Game. If you can barely beat Scare-olina, how can you seriously expect to beat Arkansas? And, even if they do win the SEC, can you really claim they’re better than USC, Notre Dame, or, better yet, the LOSER of Michigan/Ohio State?
    Hey, Scalzi, you’re from Ohio. Who’s your pick in the game of the century this Saturday?

  18. J, I’m from California. I just live in Ohio. As for the big game, I’ll be in Pennsylvania when it happens, which should give you an indication of how much concern I have for it.

  19. J, I’m from California. I just live in Ohio. As for the big game, I’ll be in Pennsylvania when it happens, which should give you an indication of how much concern I have for it.

  26. See a live concert, which I finally did this past Friday November 10th, when I saw Los Straitjackets at a local concert venue. It was on my list of things to do for 2005 but never got done.

  30. Bike in Fruita & St George with buddies

    Get ahold of TAD

    Take the train 1/2 way across the continent (got tickets for the empire builder!)

  31. Cavort among stromatolites, meet some Aborigines, and eat a kangaroo steak. (I’m heading to Perth, Australia for three weeks on November 29).

  32. Tape bacon to Dean after he tapes bacon to Ron’s cat.

    Otherwise, not much. My ever-lasting resolution is to get myself into something resembling a routine that allows me to be more productive. So far so good, but I have to see how long it lasts and see if I can incorporate extra stuff into the routine.

  33. Pass all my remaining architectural licensing exams.

    (It may not happen until next year, but it’s a goal for 2006.)

  34. Pass all my remaining architectural licensing exams.

    (It may not happen until next year, but it’s a goal for 2006.)

  36. 1.) Make out with a hot chick

    2.) Get a better-paying job with health benefits

    3.) Tape bacon on John’s cat

    4.) Make out with another hot chick

    5.) Make the gym-first-thing-in-the-morning a regular habit again

    6.) Did I mention the hot chick thing?

  37. Fry up hairy bacon and feed it to Ron and Dean.

    Finish TAD.

    Start whining because TLC isn’t out yet.

  38. Fry up hairy bacon and feed it to Ron and Dean.

    Finish TAD.

    Start whining because TLC isn’t out yet.

  45. Unless all you people on the production side of books, I’m firmly on the consumption side. I did the fifty book challenge (read 50 previously unread books during 2006), and passed the fifty mark in September. I’m aiming for a hundred books, but it’s a bit tight. I’m only on 80 now.

    I also aim to complete this year without taping bacon to anything.

  46. Unless all you people on the production side of books, I’m firmly on the consumption side. I did the fifty book challenge (read 50 previously unread books during 2006), and passed the fifty mark in September. I’m aiming for a hundred books, but it’s a bit tight. I’m only on 80 now.

    I also aim to complete this year without taping bacon to anything.

  48. 1. Get a good start on a novel
    2. Finish a short story
    3. Beat the record for highest grade on an essay for my Language Arts teacher.
    4. Eat Ron’s cat, bacon and all.
    5. Stop adding to overdone jokes, such as Ron’s cat.
    6. Pass Latin
    7. Buy all of your books! Hehe.
    8. Start either a creative writing or a shakespeare club at my school.
    9. Win the Reflections contest (http://www.pta.org/reflections). My poem and short um. notstory are going to state.
    10. Write something good enough to show people.

    By the way, Mr. Scalzi or John or whatever I should call you… Do you like poems?

    Or anyone for that matter? Because I would love some feedback on mine.

  49. Finish cleaning my coat off from all the grease and tape goo.

    Screw with the new computer so it also goes kaput as revenge for the bacon/tape incident.

  50. Finish cleaning my coat off from all the grease and tape goo.

    Screw with the new computer so it also goes kaput as revenge for the bacon/tape incident.

  51. I intend to tape David after he tape bacons to Dean after he tapes bacon to Ron’s cat. But I intend to use duct tape.

    I want to finish my NaNo novel, survive my kids being sick without getting sick again, and submit a story for publication.

    John, do you have any plans?

  52. I intend to tape David after he tape bacons to Dean after he tapes bacon to Ron’s cat. But I intend to use duct tape.

    I want to finish my NaNo novel, survive my kids being sick without getting sick again, and submit a story for publication.

    John, do you have any plans?

  53. John does like poems. He just doesn’t like grading other peoples for them (unless they are full of comdey gold that can be held up for ridicule…no wait- that’s me).

    Join a writting group. Here’s one: http://www.haggardandhalloo.com

    It is a great place for wrters who suck to come together and suck as a group…this coming from a cat, who of course has superior taste.

  54. My goal for the rest of 2006 is to figure out what to submit for my Viable Paradise application. Doing that will also mean working out what my current priorities are, writing-wise. I would like to sell a story, but it’s not really something I have control over.

    Rachel: Depending on what sort of thing you like writing, there are a number of excellent online workshops. In the SF field, I’ve heard good things about the Online Writing Workshop, Critters, and Hatrack River. Zoetrope and Baen also have workshop-type areas. I’m not sure where to look for poetry specifically, but I remember critting a few poems for people back when I spent time over on Hatrack.

    Just remember that not every workshop is right for every writer, and don’t be afraid to try others to see if you can find a better fit.

  55. Stuff I did:
    Finish undergrad classes for retooling
    Get into Grad School
    Move to Grad School
    Kick Ass first semester of Grad School
    Finish having Relationship Angst and settle into having wonderful relationship (la)
    Make new friends that are *not* in Grad School, so I have something to do when I’m not at school.

    Stuff I still need to do:
    Figure out my own personal research interest (this may get deferred another year)
    Draft a proposal for my master’s thesis.
    Survive first holiday season with boyfriend’s family.

  56. Stuff I did:
    Finish undergrad classes for retooling
    Get into Grad School
    Move to Grad School
    Kick Ass first semester of Grad School
    Finish having Relationship Angst and settle into having wonderful relationship (la)
    Make new friends that are *not* in Grad School, so I have something to do when I’m not at school.

    Stuff I still need to do:
    Figure out my own personal research interest (this may get deferred another year)
    Draft a proposal for my master’s thesis.
    Survive first holiday season with boyfriend’s family.

  58. 1) close and move into my first home
    2) get new home computer
    3) recover from my non-functioning home laptop some stories i started to write and start writing again
    4) adopt yet another cat
    5) keep my day job
    6) try to figure out why i am spending Christmas with my in-laws when i have just moved into my first home

  59. 1) close and move into my first home
    2) get new home computer
    3) recover from my non-functioning home laptop some stories i started to write and start writing again
    4) adopt yet another cat
    5) keep my day job
    6) try to figure out why i am spending Christmas with my in-laws when i have just moved into my first home

  60. After completing first draft of novel, write Pulitzer prize winning expository piece on the mysterious rise in emergency room incidents involving tape, cats, and pork products.

  64. Create compositions for my solo electric bass project (effects + bass + loops = weird goodness).

    Oh cmon, don’t laugh at me! Really, I’m serious!

  65. Create a huge cat out of bacon and lard and fly it off a cliff using an enormous kite, right above a major city, so it rains down meat upon them for hours. Then I’s gonna learn French. Then I’ll watch football. Then I’ll make another cat–out of cat meat!

    Jeff

  68. As much as I hate to comment and mess up the beautifuly perfect 42 comments, I knew someone would, so it might as well be me.

    Rob- I suggust you use finale notepad if you want to compose. It’s the best free composition software EVER! (http://www.codamusic.com/)

  69. Rob Thornton – that sounds like my eldest’s project – only he has two basses and a decidedly foxy singer. He keeps on trying to persuade youngest son to join him in London and be his drummer. He can’t find a drummer, in London! (well, a drummer with a kit, anyway)

    Me, I’ve 47k words more to write on this novel.

    Get another agent for another novel (my last agent sucked)

    Get at least one short story accepted.

    Keep my job. Oh, already did that. Goody.

    Spend less time on the net listening to Idgy Vaughn and more with my wife.

    Bacon has nothing to do with cats over here.

  70. Finish the screenplay I am on, and then start the one I am gathering info and background materials for.

    I would also like to make it to the beach. Yes,it may be cold out, but still would be nice.

    I also hope to survive this production I am on without throwing someone out a window. And, it would be nice to at least get to say hi to David Fincher.

  73. Glad to be of service.

    Oh, I forgot to mention I wanted to write a full wind symphony piece. I’ve got some Ideas. I’m just lacking in the music theory area.

    I also want to develop my own writing voice. Mine is currently very feeble, shakey and inconsistant.

    I might also want to work on spelling.

    I also want a writing mentor of some sort, but I’m lost as to where I’m going to pick one up. Who wants to deal with another bad teenage writer?

  75. What I’d like to accomplish before the end of 2006:
    1) Invent a new fad. What? Everybody needs a hobby outside of reading (and as I’ve no cats, I can’t do the taping bacon to dealie).
    2) Read 200 books. Don’t think I’ll make it this year, but I’m giving it the ‘ole college try.

  76. Rachel,

    When you compose your wind symphony, please include a movement for Lars-win-Getag and Dirk Moeller.

    I’ll listen from the back row.

  77. JLWright: 23 years active. Sounds like you’ve had a real job. Real-er than anything I’ve had. Thank you for your service.
    Rachel: You already write better than at least 80% of the adults I know. Keep doing what you’re doing.
    I’m off to work on my goals — 1) convincing all the peoples of the earth it’s finally okay to scrape the f*ing Kerry/Edwards and W ’04 stickers off their cars, and 2) saving teh kangaroos from being eaten by Buck. Wish me luck.

  78. JLWright: 23 years active. Sounds like you’ve had a real job. Real-er than anything I’ve had. Thank you for your service.
    Rachel: You already write better than at least 80% of the adults I know. Keep doing what you’re doing.
    I’m off to work on my goals — 1) convincing all the peoples of the earth it’s finally okay to scrape the f*ing Kerry/Edwards and W ’04 stickers off their cars, and 2) saving teh kangaroos from being eaten by Buck. Wish me luck.

  81. Finish another 15 books, to make it to 125 for the year. (somewhere near 5500 lifetime).

    Figure out a way to stop my cat from taping bacon to my head while I sleep. Where the hell does she get ideas like that?

    Meet John Scalzi in Philadelphia. This will be the first PhilCon I’ve been to in nearly 20 years. Took the convergence of you and Charlie Stross to get me there.

  82. Finish the books that I’m currently reading.

    Finish the currently-unfinished entries on “A Chocoholic UnAnonymous” (see URL above).

    Add a few more entries to aforementioned LiveJournal.

  83. 1) Learn Ruby on Rails
    2) Use said Rails to build An Awesome Website
    3) Use said Awesome Website for world domination
    4) Learn how to cure my own bacon so my cat-taping habit can pay for itself

  89. I detect a theme. I’ll run with it and say that I want to finish my book, which should actually happen if I stay on schedule and don’t let that wicked firewater steal my soul before the end of the year.

    I’d love to say I want to finish it for a sense of achievement and well-being, and not because I get the rest of my advance when I hand it in. But no one would believe me, and that would make me cry.

  90. Nathan- I most certainly will. And it will have really really good horn parts, because horn is the most glorious instrument on the planet. Obviously.

    By the way, your IMDB site makes mine look pathetic. Of course, I act, which makes us different. But still… I only have one credit on there. (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2048294/)

    Jeff Hentosz- Thanks! Although, as far as I know, you’ve never read any of my writing, except my random outbursts on these here comments. But thank you anyways.

    Oh, and if you succeed in the sticker task, you will forever be my hero. Especially with the Bush stickers.

    Adam Rakunas- My website will PWN your website. (Note: I will destroy anyone who pronounces the P in pwn. It’s bad enough to verbalize chatspeak, but if you’re going to do it, do it right. It’s just ‘own’. As for anyone who actually says ‘Jay Kay’ and ‘el oh el!’, please, please, please go strangle yourself with your computer cord. Thank you.)

  91. Jlwright, I’ll third or fourth that motion thanking you for your service. Wow, you stayed in there long enough to get the lovely parting gifts, congrats.

    Jeff Hentosz, I’ll go in with Rachel and say if you could at least get all the “W for Women” stickers, that would make my little part of the world nicer.

    And Matt Ruff, if you’ve crushed your enemies, how can you drive them before you? Wouldn’t you have to scrape them up first? And remember, it’s pillage THEN burn.

  92. Jlwright, I’ll third or fourth that motion thanking you for your service. Wow, you stayed in there long enough to get the lovely parting gifts, congrats.

    Jeff Hentosz, I’ll go in with Rachel and say if you could at least get all the “W for Women” stickers, that would make my little part of the world nicer.

    And Matt Ruff, if you’ve crushed your enemies, how can you drive them before you? Wouldn’t you have to scrape them up first? And remember, it’s pillage THEN burn.

  93. IT used to be rape, pillage and then burn but as we have evolved as a species, things have kind of settled down….

    For example, when I joined the service in 78, we drank beer and chased and sometimes succeeded in catching a consenting member of the opposite sex.
    Buy the time I retired in 2001, everyone was drinking coolaid and we had progressed to dont ask, dont tell.

  94. IT used to be rape, pillage and then burn but as we have evolved as a species, things have kind of settled down….

    For example, when I joined the service in 78, we drank beer and chased and sometimes succeeded in catching a consenting member of the opposite sex.
    Buy the time I retired in 2001, everyone was drinking coolaid and we had progressed to dont ask, dont tell.

  95. You may have heard this idea before, but I thought I put it out there anyway.

    Have you ever thought of pitching “Old Man’s War” to Bungi or Microsoft as an idea for a video game?
    I personally think if Bungi took the job it would out do Halo.

    -Cameron

  96. Gee, use Cameron’s idea to the right people and you can get someone to give you a PS3. And an HD TV. Because then you’ll have to get a gig reviewing Blu Ray movies… (grin)

    It’s all good in the long run.

    Dr. Phil

  97. Gee, use Cameron’s idea to the right people and you can get someone to give you a PS3. And an HD TV. Because then you’ll have to get a gig reviewing Blu Ray movies… (grin)

    It’s all good in the long run.

    Dr. Phil

  98. I have nothing that I wish to accomplish by the end of the year; I have low expectations, which guarantees a happy life–little chance for disappointment if you don’t shoot for ANY goals.

    Right?

    It’s a plan. It works for the slovenly amongst us.

  99. Hmm, apparently I should have been working on writing a book all this time. Anyhoo,

    (1) Get another job. Time is running out, as Spousal Unit Prime has determined that we need to settle down and make the best of our situation after the New Year.

    (2) Tape bacon to la gringa while she makes out with a hot cat.

    (3) Devise a website that totally 0wnz0rz Rachel’s website.

    (4) Oh, and bring about world peace, yada yada yada.

  100. Hmm, apparently I should have been working on writing a book all this time. Anyhoo,

    (1) Get another job. Time is running out, as Spousal Unit Prime has determined that we need to settle down and make the best of our situation after the New Year.

    (2) Tape bacon to la gringa while she makes out with a hot cat.

    (3) Devise a website that totally 0wnz0rz Rachel’s website.

    (4) Oh, and bring about world peace, yada yada yada.

  101. I thought that the correct way to pronounce “pwn” was just like “own”, but with extra emphasis, preferably in a sentence also using the word “teh” and possibly some variation on the tubes of the Internets joke. And then if the person you’re talking to stares blankly, you have to add “with a ‘p'”, and probably explain the “teh” joke, too.
    I’m getting used to having to explain the jokes that I make in the course of conversation with potential fellow nerds/geeks–but the frisson I get when the person really does get it is worth it. (Guess how I found out that four out of seven of the people in my math class are hoopy froods? Yep, a joke about the Answer being forty-two. Which is now a running joke–or related group of jokes–that every once in a while the math teacher figures out, like my mom did when a teacher made a forty-two joke at the induction ceremony for my high school math club and half of the people laughed and she turned to me and said, “It’s one of those Hitchhiker’s things, isn’t it?”)
    I don’t set deadlines on my plans. I have enough deadlines set by other people (I like *them*, I like the whooshing sound they make as they go by); I don’t need to add any more. So there. ;-)

  102. I thought that the correct way to pronounce “pwn” was just like “own”, but with extra emphasis, preferably in a sentence also using the word “teh” and possibly some variation on the tubes of the Internets joke. And then if the person you’re talking to stares blankly, you have to add “with a ‘p'”, and probably explain the “teh” joke, too.
    I’m getting used to having to explain the jokes that I make in the course of conversation with potential fellow nerds/geeks–but the frisson I get when the person really does get it is worth it. (Guess how I found out that four out of seven of the people in my math class are hoopy froods? Yep, a joke about the Answer being forty-two. Which is now a running joke–or related group of jokes–that every once in a while the math teacher figures out, like my mom did when a teacher made a forty-two joke at the induction ceremony for my high school math club and half of the people laughed and she turned to me and said, “It’s one of those Hitchhiker’s things, isn’t it?”)
    I don’t set deadlines on my plans. I have enough deadlines set by other people (I like *them*, I like the whooshing sound they make as they go by); I don’t need to add any more. So there. ;-)

  103. 1. Finish at least ONE BOOK I’ve started this year. It’s getting sad, this full shelf of 14+ books just sitting there, mocking me.

    2. Build more fires. I like my fireplace a LOT.

    3. Write more. I have lots of cool paper, some cool pens and pencils but am not adding 1+1, per se

  104. 1. Finish at least ONE BOOK I’ve started this year. It’s getting sad, this full shelf of 14+ books just sitting there, mocking me.

    2. Build more fires. I like my fireplace a LOT.

    3. Write more. I have lots of cool paper, some cool pens and pencils but am not adding 1+1, per se

WHATEVER


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Athena Scalzi, contributor – AMS
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