Voting and Open Cultures

I voted yesterday. It's sad how a good chunk of the U.S. population throws away their rights. Back in my day...

Well, people didn't give much of a shit back when I voted in my first election either. It was the Ohio primaries of 1984 if anyone was wondering. But my parents, grandparents, and the older aunts and uncles truly believed in their civic duty. Especially, the great uncles who fought in World War II.

What has changed over the last forty years is the incredible rage and hatred I see in my fellow citizens. Everyone's worried that someone is taking something away from them, or they don't like sharing the costs of things that affect everyone.

Some of the reviews I've received for my books are eye-opening and cruel. Readers especially hated Aisha and Rey from the 888-555-HERO series for not being white or not being manly enough. Yet, Summer from the Seasons of Magick series has been put on recommendation lists for readers who are into non-white interracial romance lists. Even funnier, I don't think some readers have realized the majority of characters in the Justice series are Native American.

That doesn't stop these flash mobs from going after other creators. Ubisoft's head of the Assassins Creed franchise has lost patience with the racist outrage of the latest version of of the game. Color me baffled by this "woke" bullshit being spouted. The Assassins Creed team has used historical figures in the past in its game. Yasuke has hit a nerve with the Neo-Nazi movement in the U.S. though because he was a real person, a former slave who became a samurai in the 16th century.

Japanese culture has celebrated him for years. I backed a Kickstarter for a book and comic to bring his story to life. There's an animated series about him on Netflix. Yasuke is not completely unknown.

So what do the complaints about Assassins Creed come down to? Racism, pure and simple. Black and brown stories are being told, and the Neo-nazis just don't like it.

As the Ubisoft executive said, open cultures are the ones that survive. If we closed the U.S. borders over the years, there's so many awesome things we wouldn't be able to experience. Mainly food. I can't imagine my birthdays without lasagna.

But to the assholes, all I say is "Tough noogies, people." The world is changing, whether the bigots want it or not, And like the original Nazis, the racists will become a footnote in history.

Oh, and if you didn't vote yesterday, I don't want to hear you bitching!

If I'm Quiet. . .

I ran into a little problem with my (relatively) new computer. When DH was shopping for my holiday present, he bought a laptop with a 512G hard drive. It should have been plenty of room. I don't store or stream videos on my work machine.

However, I started back into practicing cover design. I also downloaded a cheap copy of Corel Drawing for this purpose. Plus, I do keep my music on my work laptop because I use it for white noise or creating a mood while drafting.

The next thing I knew, I ran out of space. Literally. I rolled backup folders and files to portable drives. I rolled off used editorial art and photos. I double-checked that I hadn't copied a handful of movies from my old laptop to the new one. So as of right now, I've got 13.9G.

I can already tell you it's not enough to last through the rest of the year.

With DH's guidance, I open up my laptop to check if I had room for a second solid state drive. No extra slot.

*sigh*

So, I broke down and ordered a 2T SSD. Now, I need to do some surgery on my baby this weekend and move everything from the old drive to the new drive. It'll be just like last year when I shifted everything from my old laptop to the current one.

If everything goes right, I'll post on Wednesday. If it doesn't...

Well, I'll still post. I've already updated the battery and bought a mouse for the old laptop. The touchpad no longer works and needs to be replaced. However, it was cheaper to purchase the new mouse. But the point is that I've got a functional backup is anything goes wrong.

If I'm successful with this project, Baby Blue is next on the list for a harddrive upgrade!

Wish me luck!

Music I've Been Listening to Lately

Alicia Keys is so fucking talented!

NaNoWriMo, Sort of

 

I've put off this post because I wasn't sure for the longest time how to handle it.

A former writer friend, who has since passed away, introduced me to National Novel Writing Month nearly twenty years ago. Initially, the program helped steer writers in WRITING A COMPLETE WORK in 30 days. The work is not expected to be perfect, but the writer was expected to do their best. The idea was helping writers to get past their biggest hurdle, which was simply finishing a story.

Over the years, things were changed, like introducing alternate goals such as completing an ongoing wip. Programs for teachers to use for their creative writing students were added. Camp NaNo's were introduced in July and then April. Originally, there were useful prizes, like discounts to print books through Ingram Spark.

Now...

The so-called rules were were adjusted to the point as to become meaningless. Some accused NaNo of marginalizing people by having rules. However, rules are often needed to develop discipline. And that need for discipline was booted to the moon.

Encouraging kids to write was an awesome development. Until pedos used the program to target and groom the underage writers. And when the kids tried to report their experiences, they were blown off by their municipal liaison.

Like many other social sites, the online discourse has turn mean and in some cases, violent. This is not a political space. You're problems with real life shouldn't impinge on a people attempting to learn art techniques. Art itself is open to interpretation, but techniques are not. A writer needs to learn the rules in order to effectively break them.

Don't get me started on the NaNo board's stand and the subsequent backlash concerning artificial intelligence.

And the co-called prizes are now discounts for software that doesn't actually help new writers write the freakin' book from companies that are looking to use a new writer's dreams and desperation to rip them off.

So, what do I do this November?

Well, I've started the first draft of a new book. I'll use NaNo to keep track and hopefully hit the requisite 50K goal. But I won't promote it, like I have in previous years.

And next year...

I will wait a see if NaNo's parent organization improves. If not, then this will be my last encounter on NaNo.

My Favorite Movie Songs

Yeah, I know it's not Saturday, but I post this classic every year around this time for a reason.

I Need A Time Machine

The reason there was no post yesterday was because the day got away me. After yoga and a few necessary phone calls, I settled down to work on the current wip, i.e. A Cup of Conflict. Last week, I had to re-read the nineteen chapters written so far in order to remember where I was going with the plot. I smoothed out a lot of transitions between scenes, added some details to paint the picture in readers' heads, and clarified some conversations.

But yesterday. . .

The Muse cut loose on the next steps in the puzzle Anthea must solve to protect Jing's soon-to-be-crowned emperor. Next thing I knew, the sun had set. And my back and fingers ached.

No matter how much effort I put into my posture and the typing positions for my hands, Subconscious literally wants to climb into the laptop screen and live the adventure.

So I went in my art room and worked on a Tarot card bags while I watched Ghosts, the US version of the series. It's one of the rare cases where I like the American version better than the UK version of a series. It may have something to do with the heroine who sees and speaks with the ghost is a blond reporter named Samantha. LOL

I missed the last few episodes of the second season because of my father-in-law's death. And about the time the third season debuted, my mom passed. Then, I became consumed with re-releasing the first three books of the Millersburg Magick Mysteries. Now that the fourth season began two weeks ago, I went back and started over from the pilot. I finished last night's bag as the second season cliffhanger ended. (I am so glad they finally solved Alberta's murder!)

It was seven p.m. when I finished that little project. Time for dinner and a little TV with DH before I went back to work on the novel. Took a break for the last quarter of the Steelers game and Stephen Colbert after which SH and the Grandppuppy went to bed. I wanted to finish a scene and...

Next thing I knew, it was two-thirty in the morning. I love it when a story takes over my brain!

My Favorite Movie Songs

Speaking of Flashes. . .

Busy, Busy, Busy

On Monday, DH and I took the day off to deal with some long over due yard work. We have a green waste pile behind our garden shed. Two years ago, we hired someone to load it up and dispose of it.

In the past two years, we've accumulated another large pile. But now, we have GK's pickup and a new facility in town that accepts green waste. So we loaded up the bed of the pickup. We also cut down a dying evergreen bush and started to weed the two small flower beds in the front yard.

However, the green disposal facility was closed on Monday. Not a big deal. DH took the pickup down the the facility yesterday.

On Monday, he had two soccer tournament starting in the early afternoon. Another reason for taking the day off.

I, on the other hand, still had work to get done. I finished the first draft of Death Goddess Walking on Sunday. I'm also updating the publishing info and back matter on all my books since Angry Sheep Publishing LLC is official. I also need to transfer the copyright ownership to the LLC.

Since my formatter is doing all these updates, I've pulled out my lists of found typos to update those books as well. That's the lovely thing about indie publishing. I can fix any boo-boos that have slipped past me and my editors.

After DH left for Monday's soccer game, I decided to finish reviewing Amish, Vamps & Thieves as a palette cleanser before jumping back into A Cup of Conflict. Except I was jerked awake when I dropped my tablet on top of my laptop.

*facepalm*

I've only ever fell asleep while reading one other time in my life. Frankly, I recommend any U.S. Civil Procedure textbook to cure your insomnia.

Luckily, neither device broke. I set them both aside, reclined on my couch, and went back to sleep. Apparently I expended more energy that I thought during our yard work.

Anyway, I slept for a few hours, reviewed some more of AVT, and started supper so it'd be ready when DH got home.

I guess I'm getting old. I never used to be able to take naps at all.

My Favorite Movie Songs

Irene Cara made a splash with belting out movie themes.

More Authors Guild Shenanigans

First, ALLi (Alliance of  Independent Authors) embraced AI (Artificial Intelligence) and sold out its members. [Note: In the interest of transparency, I am a member of Alli.]

Now AG (Authors Guild) claims the only way to protect its members is by selling out their members to Big Tech by licensing the works of its members to these companies.

Big Tech is already scraping the internet, aka stealing artistic works. Instead of fighting them, why are organization,s that are supposed to by representing our interests, stabbing us in the back?

It all comes down to money. ALLi and AG are probably planning to skim the money supposedly pain to them on our behalf. Last week, Lilith Saintcrow had a rundown of her communications with AG over the matter.

The out-and-out lying of AG wasn't surprising. It has become the norm in our society, which is frightening in and of itself. When I was visiting my cousin in WV last week, the subject of Springfield, Ohio, came up more than once. *facepalm*

I have never wished to join AG after its anti-indie stance when I first started publishing in 2011. But how long will I remain a member of  ALLI? Long enough to use the free codes to update my paperbacks on Ingram, which I'm in the process of doing.

By update, I mean fixing the typos that escaped editors while my formatter is updating the back matter. (I've got 83 books out right now, under two names, and there will be two more published before the end of the year. I'm currently working on the Bloodlines series and the Bloodlines shorts. After that, I'll buckle down on the Justice series for its upcoming 10th anniversary.

I kind of wish that Writers Guild of America accepted writers of other calibers besides screenwriters because they are the only ones in the U.S. who seem to give a shit about writer's rights.