Over the past week — and more intensely since Saturday — I’ve been working on an outline for a novel. It’s… interesting stuff. To be honest, I know that it’s not working. To be slightly more specific, it’s not working the way I want it to. The story is developing in interesting directions, but theContinue reading “On Writing and Emotional Movement”
Author Archives: Allyn
On Another Free Coldplay Song
I came into work this morning, to find in my e-mail inbox the Coldplay newsletter. There’s a new free song to download, “Death Will Never Conquer.” It’s an odd song. Piano based. Sounds like a ragtime-like riff on a Southern spiritual. It also sounds unfinished. It’s amiable. But, hey, it’s free!
On Search Engine Stupidity
When I was younger, back in high school no less, I read Hans Moravec. Mind Children, an amazing book. Verner Vinge, the Singularity. I’m there. The technological trends are there. Teilhard de Chardin, the noosphere. Got it. Human knowledge will become so massive, technology will be able to create minds better than ours, the nextContinue reading “On Search Engine Stupidity”
On Outline Writing
I spent the weekend working on a novel outline. It’s not quite finished. Right now it’s at 2,500 words. I think it’s going to finish up about a thousand words from now. I’ve just blown up something very big. There are other things to blow up, too. Not quite as big. The story is aboutContinue reading “On Outline Writing”
On Robbie Greenberger and Farpoint
On Thursday, Robbie Greenberger passed away. The son of longtime DC Comics editor Bob Greenberger, Robbie had been battling leukemia since January. Thursday, Robbie’s battle came to an end. He was twenty. I wrote, Friday morning, a tribute to Robbie, and I never posted it. Looking at tributes better written than mine, more personal thanContinue reading “On Robbie Greenberger and Farpoint”
On Conversations with my Grandmother
Sometimes, conversations with my grandmother are amusing. Sometimes, the conversations are frustrating. Today, the conversations have been the frustrating ones. It began this morning over coffee. “I’m going home today,” she said. “Home?” I said. “You are home.” “I know that,” she hissed. “I’m going home.” I changed the subject quickly. It seemed prudent. IContinue reading “On Conversations with my Grandmother”
On the End of the Week
The week is over. The week is done. May it never come back. *sigh* I’ll explain more tomorrow, when I have more energy. Right now, I’m bushed. I’ll put in the Young Dubliners. I’ll crack open a Sam Adams and propose a silent toast to absent friends. The week is over.
On Copy Machine Follies
On the sixth floor there is a copy machine. The sixth floor is built around a central elevator quad. If you step off the elevator, my cubicle is on the eastern side of the building. The copy machine is on the western side of the building. Think of the sixth floor as being like aContinue reading “On Copy Machine Follies”
On Massive Storms
A summer storm, sudden its oncoming, furious in its energy, moved in. Rain lashes against the windows of the office. I look out my cubicle, and rivulets of rain flows down the tinted blue glass. It’s dismal. But somehow, it’s also fascinating to watch. I love the rain.
On the View From the Sixth Floor
My cubicle is on the building’s sixth floor. The building is glass. Blue glass. Windows run from floor to ceiling. At a guess, I’m sixty-five, maybe seventy feet off the ground. Could be a little higher; the ground floor isn’t quite level with the ground. Birds fly by. Clouds look amazing from up here. IContinue reading “On the View From the Sixth Floor”