Morgan Spurlock's Supersize Me was on MSNBC last night. The wife and I watched it a couple of weeks back on a Friday. I've still missed just the beginning. I'm still eating out from time to time, but I've kept my resolution about no McDonalds for all of 2007.
I just made a retro post about something I submitted to the IMDB and amazingly it was on the same day as my post about the Edwin J Hill Social Club Bash at Studio 35. I didn't see that coming.
I suppose I should see about using labels for my posts.
I spoke with Ken a few weeks back on a trip to Chillicothe. He told me about Face of the Screaming Werewolf ([Wikipedia] [Amazon]) that he had published recently through Xlibris - part of Randolm House.
Today I got an email from him (sent yesterday). There's a write about him in the Arlington Heights Post. He's having a book-signing on Saturday. Here's the link. Don't know how long it will be up there.
I worked on the story in the moring and did word counts periodically as I went along. The limit was 1,000 words minus the title and my contact info at the end. The last count I remember was around 670. With the deadline getting closer, I focused on just writing and when I finally was happy with the story, I was shocked to see I had 1,374 words and I would need to cut more than one-quarter of what I had.
Ultimately, I got it down to exactly 1,000 words and send it off. I was 5 minutes late and I knew it would not be accepted, but I wanted to complete it. Angela, from Writer's Weekly did send me a confirmation noting the time and letting me know it was a disqualified entry. After reading all of the tales in the rules about how people try and fool her, wrote back an honest reply: I knew it was late and I was editing like a mad-man to get down to the limit. I enjoyed it and I would definitely enter the next contest. I hope that she was surprised a bit by an email that was out of the usual.
As for my story, I've not worked on it all week - work has been too busy. I did send my submission to Darren to review and told him of my goals:
But when can I work on it? And book discussion is coming up again soon. Can I get it done?
"If he has the time, doctor. If he has the time." - Mr. Spock
(written 4/27/2007; back-dated 4/22/07)After speaking with Darren last week, lamenting my desire to write, I entered the Writer's Weekly Spring '07 24-Hour Short Story Contest, at his suggestion. Darren entered it back in Fall of '05 and posted his entry to his blog. We talked about the winning story in the Winter '06 contest. I thought it was too much like the Warner Bros. cartoons that parody Of Mice and Men.
The morning of the contest, The daughter went over to a friend's house while I went to an optometrist visit. I may get glasses for all the time wear - possibly no-line bi-focals. I'm glad I didn't have the OD dilate my eyes as it would take 6 hours to recover and I was driving alone. Plus I was going to write later in the day. I headed home to check my email and was going to pick up the daughter by 4:30 PM.
I didn't get the story stub in email, so I went out the site and found it. Here's the stub:
She could hear the buoy bell ringing in the distance but it was too dark to see anything beyond the receding foamy water. She shivered as the wind picked up, knowing a late-season Nor'easter would hit in the next few hours, and knowing this was her last chance. She raised her arm and threw the glass bottle into the darkness...
Today is the release date. And I've still not bought it. Target's got it on their website for $20, but I don't think they will match their prices in the store. I'm still watching the VCDs of it, but I want it for the better picture and the commentary. Can't wait until season 3. When the heck is "winter".
(It looks like you can set any date on the post time. Finally, I can post back before 1990.)
(written 4/27/2007; back-dated to 4/17/2007)
April 12, 1961 - Vostok I
Fourty-six years ago today, Yuri Gagarin became the first person to orbit the Earth. Six years Nearly seven years later, on March 27, 1968, Gagarin and his flight instructor, Seregin, died in a crash of their MiG-15.
(Photo from Russian Institute of Radionavigation and Time http://www.rirt.ru/ )
April 12, 1981 - STS-1
Twenty-six years ago today, John Young and Robert Crippen launched on the first shuttle flight aboard the shuttle Columbia. Nearly twenty-two years years later, on February 1, 2003, Columbia and her crew of seven would be lost during the retry of STS-107, her 28th mission and the 113th shuttle flight overall.
(Photo from NASA)
Got an email from Dennis, my friend at book discussion:From: Dennis (snip)
To: Michael (snip)
Subject: Kurt Vonnegut
Date: Thu, 12 Apr 2007 07:42:01 -0700 (PDT)
Kurt Vonnegut died yesterday. So it goes.
And my reply to him:From : Michael (snip)
Sent : Thursday, April 12, 2007 11:06 AM
To : Dennis (snip)
Subject : RE: Kurt Vonnegut
"Everything was Beautiful and Nothing Hurts" - the tombstone from (I believe) Slaughterhouse Five.
(I'd not heard of this until I saw your email and I knew what happened just from the subject. Damn.)
- Mike
(written 7/31/2007; back-dated to 4/12/2007)
