The Ides of Smarch

I often forget, as I live my life through a constant stream of updates to Facebook and Twitter, that I have a blog. And it’s really a platform that I shouldn’t ignore. So often I get the itch for a long-winded diatribe on a particular topic, but end up simply regurgitating contracted thoughts in 140 characters via an easily consumable media instead. My life via tiny little Facebook and Twitter updates has caused the reflection of my experiences to become really nothing more than comically shortened amorphisms of what those experiences truly were. The question is: can I delight in that? Well, certainly. But I doubt anyone else can.

So, here I am.

Today marks the beginning of March, which feels utterly impossible. Both January and February felt as though they each lasted no more than a week, and I desperately hope that this does not continue, as I have no desire to experience 2011 in just a scant twelve weeks’ time. An entire year in the space of three months? That just wouldn’t be fair.

Part of the reason for the speedy pass through the beginning of this year has to be due to just how much we have had to endure in this short time. And I’m not talking about the weather. I’m talking about my family. February especially was a hard month for us. I spent two weeks in Brazil on a business trip managing a software implementation in one of our factories. During this time, I developed a rather unpleasant intestinal bug that kept me from feeling my best. I thought I had it pretty bad, that is until my wife sent me a text message in the middle of the night near the end of my trip informing me that she had taken our young son Alex to the hospital. He was sick with the stomach flu and was dehydrated and unresponsive.

I returned from my trip on Friday, where my brother picked me up at the airport and took me straight over to the hospital to be with my boy. It was a difficult couple of days, but he was doing better over the weekend, and finally released on Sunday. The past couple of days, he’s been back to his old self, which is a frustration in and of itself for completely different reasons, but at least he can smile again, and that is truly a blessing.

In the meantime, between the travel and family concerns, I haven’t spent a decent minute on my ongoing creative project challenge for 2011. Which, I’ll admit, is a trivial thing when compared to everything else that has happened recently. However, now that things have begun to return to some semblance of normalcy, I’m determined to produce something for this week, and then we’ll see about going back and filling in some of the blank weeks with extra projects. I’m absolutely of the mind that by the time 2012 begins, I will have fifty-two completed creative projects, and I will not allow myself to succumb to laziness or ineptitude and have my challenge go unfulfilled.

I will succeed at this.

And so the great ancient thirteenth month of Smarch rears its hoary head and opens its gaping maw, issuing forth monstrous, wracking gusts of dismay and horror to torment our poor heroes. But we continue onward, pulling our cloaks about us, steadfastly marching towards the next seemingly insurmountable obstacle, the next ordeal, the next painful trial.

And as we struggle forth, we look the unspeakable horrors of this earth in their dead, black eyes and we say “You cannot harm us, for we are Paynes, and we invented agony.”

Sorry, went off the rails a bit there, didn’t I? In any case, we’ll be fine. Here’s hoping the rest of 2011 passes a bit more slowly than the first sixth of the year already has.

My 2011 New Year’s “Opportunities”

My general thoughts on new year’s resolutions pretty closely echo those of fellow Iowan Romelle Slaughter II (sidenote: I really want to meet Romelle someday. He seems like a really interesting person /sidenote). I hate new year’s resolutions. I really do. For a long time I would create some resolutions, and then either lose interest or just flat out fail to follow through on a vast majority of them. It was always pathetic, and I would just get more and more discouraged with every year.

Then, sometime in the middle of this year, my wife put together a little project for her and the kids. Everybody had to think of some things they really wanted to learn or do, and they would put those things on a list, and then work really hard at accomplishing/learning/completing those things. Caleb starting learning about our founding fathers, Alex starting learning to write, and Harlyn started learning how not to chew on anything she found on the floor.

The best part about this: it wasn’t “I resolve to change something about myself” and it wasn’t “I want to improve the image that people have of me”. It was just “I want to LEARN or DO something, and I want it to mean something to me”.

They weren’t resolutions. They were simply opportunities. Opportunities to create, to grow, to learn, and to expand.

Now, I know what you’re thinking. You could chalk it up to simple semantics and say that really, that’s the same thing as resolutions. And, I’ll admit, it’s pretty close. But for me, it’s all about the perspective. New year’s resolutions to me seem to be things that people create because they want to manufacture an image. They want to change. They want to be different. They don’t like what they are, and they want to try and make themselves into something new.

I can respect that. I’ve felt that way in the past. But I’m going to perfectly honest with you and let you in on a little secret here: I kinda like me. I don’t want to change. I want to create, I want to grow, I want to learn, and I want to expand. But I’m not changing.

The opportunities, to me, is all about personal growth. It’s all about increasing your capacity for being what you already are, not changing yourself into something you’re not.

And the thing that really makes resolutions so incredibly hard to follow through on is that nobody does it. And when push comes to shove, that becomes the crutch. “Oh, it’s okay that I didn’t lose those 20 pounds because nobody ever accomplishes their new year’s resolutions. So it’s fine!” And your failure of a resolution then becomes a membership card into a substantial group of human beings who form one giant support group where it’s okay to fail, because we’ve all been there.

Right? Right.

So, no resolutions for me. These are my new year’s opportunities.

Read at least five recent novels.
Did I mention my fantastic wife got me a Nook for Christmas? Well, she did. I’ve always encouraged others to be excellent readers, and I believe in recent years I’ve fallen rather far behind in my own reading habits. Oh, sure, this year I managed to pick up “The City and the City” by China Mieville, and also “The Windup Girl” by Paolo Bacigalupi, but I’m fairly certain that that’s ALL I read in 2010. But now I’ve already loaded a small handful of novels onto the gleaming surface of my Nook. I’ve started reading Neal Stephenson’s “Snow Crash“, which, I’m ashamed to admit I hadn’t read as of yet. I’ll then be moving on to “Bitter Seeds” by Ian Tregillis and then to “Sleepless” by Charlie Huston. I want to keep up with current trends in the scifi and fantasy world, and I think the Nook is going to help greatly in my accomplishing that.

Learn to cook at least three new dishes.
I make awesome french toast (courtesy of my father). And I can make just about any standard-fare breakfast food. I can also manage to cook up a pound of hamburger without fatally wounding anyone nearby, so that’s a plus. But I just don’t have the culinary chops my wife has, and — great, now I’m thinking about pork chops.

Pork chops.

Where was I?

Oh, yeah. My wife is a phenomenal cook, and I want to attempt to have at least .05% of her talent in the kitchen. To that end, I will be forcing her at plastic knife-point to teach me a few of her recipes, and maybe one or two of my mother’s, because, well, I’m a bit sentimental that way.

Complete at least one creative project every week.
Last year’s substantial Ficly 365 project taught me something very important. And that is, there are simply not enough hours in the day. It also taught me that, with work, family, and other commitments, I just can’t dedicate even a small portion of every day to writing. So, one of my opportunities for next year will be to complete one creative project every single week. It may have something to do with my comic, or writing, or even music. I’ve considered taking up painting, and we’ll see where that takes me. But every week, something new and potentially interesting will be coming out of my head. For those keeping track, that means by this time next year, I’ll be working on project number fifty-two.

So, there they are. My new year’s opportunities. (sidenote: please note that each opportunity says “at least” within it. I’m perfectly fine with going over the allotted number, but not so much with the being under /sidenote)

Now, here’s the clincher. Here’s the thing that sets opportunities apart from resolutions.

I want to do these things. I really, really want to.

Not because they will change how people perceive me, and I so look forward to shoving the New Me™ in their faces. No. I want to do these things because they will combine to make me even more incredibly awesome than I already am.

And that’s what I look forward to. Being. More. Awesome.

“Semantics”, indeed.

Holiday Letter (Blog Post) 2010

I’m too lazy and last-minute to do this the “traditional” way, where I sit and write out a long and heartfelt letter outlining all the things me and my family have done this past year. My thinking is that the people who don’t care about my life wouldn’t even bother to read it, and those few that do care already know everything that’s happened. So, here’s a blog post, instead. It takes less commitment, so everyone feels equally disappointed in the results. It’s a win/win!

I’ll go from youngest to oldest, which is the order of relative power within the family hierarchy.

Harlyn has been an amazing little bundle of awesome. She’s growing at an exponential rate, and I’m concerned that by the time she’s two, she’ll be communicating at a level much higher than I am capable of myself. Those who know me should not be surprised at this.

Her favorite activities include running after her brothers, climbing on things she should not be capable of climbing upon, watching Backyardigans, using words that sound ridiculously like real, actual words, and attaching herself to her mother’s chest. I would make a joke about that, but this blog post is already going to be awkward enough as it is.

Alex is a phenomenon in and of himself. He is emotional, demanding, and curious, and perhaps just a bit too much of all of those things. But he is also loving, smart, and adventurous, and he might almost be too much of those, as well.

Like any younger brother, the most important things to Alex are any thing that is incredibly important to Caleb. Also, like any younger brother, there are a great many topics upon which he and his older brother do not see eye to eye. It’s enigmatic, I understand, but then, you need to know Alex in order to comprehend that. We’re still trying desperately to puzzle the boy out. Thankfully, it’s an entertaining sort of effort, and we can at least take solace in the fact that he seems to enjoy frustrating us, and in the end, that’s absolutely something to smile about.

His favorite activities include forcing us to play board games with him and being absurdly good at any video game set before him.

Caleb continues his steady march forward into his own future. He’s at that unique moment in his life where he is desperately clamoring towards adulthood, but still firmly cemented within his own childhood. Like his siblings, he is built mainly of love and curiosity, but his thirst for understanding is nearly insatiable, which is both a blessing and a curse.

This year, we’ve directed his energy and passion towards the Boy Scouts, and he seems to be taking to it well. He’s been splitting his school time between homeschooling and public schooling, and it’s an experiment that is likely to end soon due to its plethora of difficulties, for him and for his various teachers.

His favorite activities include reading, drawing cartoon characters, and reminding his mother how many years remain until he is able to perform various adult-like tasks, such as getting his driver’s license and going away to college.

Amanda is a rock. Figuratively, of course, but no less with the rock-like qualities. She has soldiered through an unbearably difficult sort of year with grace and strength, and she should be commended and awarded all manner of medals and certificates. She has continued to manage this family well, and within limitations that would turn lesser women to dust.

Lately she has begun to fiercely cling to movements that she believes in, and I admire her passion. Whether it’s midwifery, breastfeeding, natural living, or homeschooling, Amanda has been advocating for simplicity in life, and compassion and respect for others. They are lessons that I want to see passed onto our children, and I fully embrace and encourage her renewed spirit of life and love.

Lastly, I am still me. Some days I’m playing the part of the wearisome artiste, struggling to find a voice and a vehicle for his creative spirit. Other days, I’m just some dude trying to make a living while playing video games and occasionally entertaining others. I’ve temporarily pushed off my dreams of writing in exchange for a sudden desire for webcomickry. I’ve started a quaint and poorly-drawn comic called The 29th State. Avert your eyes, for it is not pretty. But it is an outlet for creativity, and that’s something I just need. Heaven help me, I’m also going to attempt to take up painting at some point in the next year. We’ll see how that goes. I’m guessing not well.

In the meantime, I’m also playing ridiculous amounts of Minecraft. Like, scary amounts. So many amounts, it ceases to amuse.

So, in a nutshell, that’s who and where we all are at the moment. We’re taking each day as it comes, and praying for the strength to continue. Our family is happy and loving, together and strong, and in these uncertain times, that is something substantial. And in this holiday season, we’re doing well, and hoping that you are, too.

Merry Christmas.

Writing as a passion (as opposed to a chore)

So, a month ago, Juice magazine held a fiction-writing contest for their first ever fiction issue. Though I detest word limits, especially those as minimal as 1,000 words, I entered the contest with a small espionage tale. It wasn’t my best work by far, and well out of my scifi/fantasy comfort zone. But I was curious what I could do with the constraints, and it sounded like an interesting challenge. Well, the results came in a week ago, and it’s official: I was not an instant winner. Though, I will admit: the winning entry was significant in both style and content. I’m not a fan of second-person narratives, but this piece was well structured and consistent with its prose. I haven’t read any of the other entries, but between this author’s piece and my own, his definitely deserved the recognition.

I’ve posted my entry on my site here. Feel free to read it.

Now, I’m not counting this as a loss. Rather, I’m using it as a motivational catalyst to further my own writing. Along with my good friends Epictetus and John Scalzi.

Yesterday, when I came home from work, I happened to notice that my wife had quietly changed the motivational quote that she writes and displays on our refrigerator. The new quote read:

“If you would be a reader, read; if a writer, write” – Epictetus

Such elegance in so few words. The simplicity of the phrase was what really struck me, because it really and truly is just that simple. We often try to find a magical formula for writing, one that makes us successful with as little effort applied as humanly possible. But it doesn’t work that way, and the truth is far more black-and-white than that.

And here’s a pertinent snippet of a blog post from just last month by a favorite author of mine:

But if you want to be a writer, than be a writer, for god’s sake. It’s not that hard, and it doesn’t require that much effort on a day to day basis. Find the time or make the time. Sit down, shut up and put your words together. Work at it and keep working at it. And if you need inspiration, think of yourself on your deathbed saying “well, at least I watched a lot of TV.” If saying such a thing as your life ebbs away fills you with existential horror, well, then. I think you know what to do.

Well said, John. It really is that simple. You see, I’m desperately trying to squeeze in writing time when I can manage it, but between a full-time job, spending time with the family, playing video games, and keeping up with my Hulu queue, I just can’t seem to find the time.

Yes, I’m fully aware of how pathetic those last two sound.

And that’s the thing of it, right there. If I truly want to write, I have to want to write. It has to be important. More important than catching up on shows on Hulu or playing video games. It has to be the thing I want to do more than I want to engage in any number of other activities. It has to be a passion. And this is true for any and all creative endeavors, not just writing.

As a result, I’m going to work to re-tune my habits. I’ve got a handful of short stories in process, as well as the template for a novel that I’m wanting to write.  Success is not going to come from leaving these ideas rattling noisily within my head while I watch the latest episode of Glee or play the most recent Metroid game. Success will only come when I sit down and write and get this stuff out.

I’ll be back when I have something to show for my efforts.

(It’s probably important to note that I do this at least once a year, if not more often. And by “this” I of course mean “freak out about how little time I spend writing and convince myself that THIS IS GOING TO CHANGE and then, twelve months later, when my methods or habits have not been altered in the slightest, this process gets repeated, ad infinitum”. So, I’ll see you in April 2011 for a blog post that is nearly identical to the one you see here.)

A Ficly book? It has happened!

Via Kevin Lawver’s wonderful Tumblr, I came across this yesterday.

What is it? Nothing more than a collection of somewhere in the neighborhood of 35 stories written on Ficly.com. I’ve talked about Ficly a lot in the past. It’s a fantastic site, not just because you can create and share short pieces of fiction there, but also because of the excellent community of writers that has sprung up around the site. They are creative, gracious, clever, and kind, and I really wish I had more time to spend there these days.

The book itself appears to be a $3 PDF ebook, with all of the proceeds benefiting the site proper, presumably through things like server and hosting costs, bandwidth, Ferrari’s, and office supplies. You know, the usual. I know Kevin and his expensive tastes for the finer things in life. And I don’t know Jason Garber at all, but he strikes me as the sort of person who could use a new Rolex every couple of months.

Now, I’m going to completely look past the fact that this compilation doesn’t include any of the 59 amazing stories I’ve written for Ficly. No, I’m bigger than that. Instead, I’m going to focus on what I think is a truly tremendous —

Okay, seriously? Not even one of my stories made it in? I thought Rivalry was pretty good. That Which God Did Not Create? Cannelliare perhaps? No?

It’s because I gave on the Ficly 365 project, isn’t it? I’m sure that’s it. That has to be it. Look, I’m disappointed in myself, too. Truly I am. But I suppose it’s understandable why I was left out.

No, no, it’s fine. Really. It’s fine. Don’t worry about it. I mean, there’s literally thousands of stories on Ficly, and some pretty talented people writing them. And the selection of stories and authors contained within this book appear to be of absolutely exceptional quality. There’s no reason to complain.

Or, you know, harbor hurt feelings.

Or hold any sort of grudge.

For being left out.

Overlooked.

Denied.

….

Okay, enough. That joke can only go on so long. Seriously, buy a copy of the book and support the phenomenal Ficly site and it’s wonderful community of creators, please! I implore you.

Do it before I decide to start writing Ficly stories again, and all of them feature YOU in not very pleasant situations. I can do it people. We have the technology.

It will someday be a playhouse

My wife got it in her head a couple of weeks back to do some major backyard landscaping renovations. The centerpiece of the work would include converting our old shed into a proper playhouse for the kids.

I loved the idea. I mean, who wouldn’t? We’re not using the shed for anything more than storing some old junk. And it wouldn’t take much work; just clean out the crap, tear down some boards, put up new ones, cut some overgrowth outside, new door, etc. Not a whole lot! It’ll be easy.

Okay, I never actually fooled myself into thinking it would be easy, but I didn’t think it would be a terribly complicated effort. And honestly, it isn’t. But it’s so far been a fairly interesting experience, as I will share with you now.

I started clearing out the shed by removing loose boards and bits of wood and junk that had been stored in the rafters by previous owners of the property. Then I cleared out our miscellaneous yardwork materials and began the work of removing interior walls. Fairly simple.

Every time I was finished working in the shed, I would blow my nose, and this dark crud would come out. It was kind of weird, and I suppose I should have paid more attention to it, but I figured it was just loose detritus floating around getting caught in my nose. Disgusting, sure, but not truly harmful. I started wearing a dust mask as I worked, and that took care of that particular problem.

That’s when I discovered — much to my surprise — that our little shed was at one time a coal shed. Apparently, they would haul in bushels of coal, store it in the shed, and come out for bucketfuls whenever required for their indoor heating needs.

I needed no more proof that the shed once stored coal than when I eventually saw it spilling out from behind the planks I was prying off the walls.

Mystery of the dark crud in my nose explained! I’ve probably already developed pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.

The other interesting aspect of working on the shed has been the bees. Bumblebees, to be exact. They’ve been greeting me and watching me work so often that I figure they’re either really interested in the construction process in preparation for building their own playhouses for their tiny bee babies, or they have a massive hive underneath the shed that we have unwittingly disturbed. I’ve killed quite a few of the pests, but every time I work in one particular portion of the shed, I can hear the faint buzzing underneath, and I know they must be organizing a protest of my thoughtless and selfish actions against the innocent bumblebee community.

We’re calling an exterminator.

Now, I’m sure these sound like particularly whiny complaints, but I’m actually smiling as I write about this. I still love the idea of the playhouse, and I look forward to telling the kids (and the grandkids) the story of The Building of the Playhouse™ many, many times in the future. And once everything is said and done, I definitely look forward to the kids having a fun place in the backyard within which they can have pirate adventures and tea parties. Side by side, if they so desire, though I don’t know how keen pirates are on drinking tea. I know it sounds cliche, and people who don’t have kids really can’t understand the concept, but thinking about those kids smiling and playing in something we’ve built ourselves really does make all the pain and effort worth it.

I just hope I can get it done before winter.

Social Disconnection

You never really understand just how dependent (read: addicted) you are to something until you are forced to be cut off from said “thing” for an extended period of time.

Case in point: for the past two weeks, my workplace has blocked social sites such as Facebook and Twitter. This has likely been done in an effort to increase productivity, not amongst the regular workforce, but rather for the ~50 college-age interns we have working for us this summer in various functional capacities around the company. I say this because the same thing occurred last year at roughly this time, and the block was removed once all the kids went back to school. But honestly, for all I know, this is now a permanent change, and the fall will see nothing lifted but a slight drain on the network as the interns vacate the premises in an orderly fashion. I don’t work in that part of IT, so I really can’t say one way or another.

Sure, I have access to those sites on my phone, but it’s slow and cumbersome to use a phone to surf the web. So I don’t do that very often, and when I do, it’s only for a couple of minutes. More importantly, it’s been interesting to see how my addiction to social networking sites has affected me now that everything has been blocked.

Twitter has simply disappeared from my radar completely. I don’t check it, I don’t post to it, and even when I have unblocked access to the internet at home, I don’t bother to even load up the site. It has just vanished from my periphery, and I can’t say that I miss it all that much. There was a lot of interesting things to read there from a myriad of interesting sources, but what would at first be intended as a quick perusal would easily culminate in 20-30 minutes lost to the wastelands of time.

Facebook has been a tougher beast. I still post status updates periodically, through text messages. But what I miss most are the status updates of my close friends and family. My favorite feature of Facebook is the ability to quickly and easily share photos and articles with friends, and I find myself spending quite a bit of time when I get home from work just catching up on what I missed during the day.

And playing Scrabble. My family and I have been hooked on that lately. I take that as my guilty pleasure. Which graphically demonstrates just how lame my life is that I consider a word game a guilty pleasure.

But what I really miss more than anything is the feeling of connection to the outside world. I find myself at work sometimes wandering into other people’s offices at random moments throughout the day just to chat and connect with fellow human beings. When I was able to freely converse on social sites, I felt like there was a world outside the walls of my office. Now, I feel a nagging need to get some face-time with various people in order to remind myself that my existence is not confined to a desk, a chair, and computer screen. I honestly don’t know if this is a good or bad turn of events; I suppose that would be a question one would have to ask the co-workers that I’m harassing daily.

Overall, I think the blockage is a good thing. Productivity is up, mainly because I don’t feel constantly distracted by something happening in my web browser. I feel like my connection to the outside world has suffered slightly, but I can make up for that by forming more meaningful human connections in my daily life.

So, yeah. Is it fall yet?

Time

Man, where has the time gone? In the period since my last blog post back in February, I have experienced the following (not necessarily in this order):

  • We learned recently that my father has been diagnosed with cancer. I suppose this probably warrants more than just a bullet point on a list, but I’m trying to put things into perspective.  He’s been diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, which we’re told is highly-treatable, and oftentimes, very curable. We’re hoping for the best. Which is why this is merely a bullet point. I don’t give it any further significance, because the cancer is neither significant enough to warrant more introspection, nor is it worthy of the additional attention. Sure, dad deserves more. But the cancer doesn’t. I mean, c’mon – it’s cancer. It’s lame and annoying and it just needs to go away. For what it’s worth, dad starts chemo next week.
  • My daughter has started walking. Walking. Seriously. I am simultaneously excited and horrified at the prospect of having another toddler shuffling awkwardly through the house, but seriously. She was just born. This is not right.
  • I started training for — and subsequently stopped training for — a 5K. My brother and his wife are planning on running our hometown 4th of July 5K.  When they first mentioned it, some of us thought it would be great if we all started training and ran the 5K together as a family.  We would get fit and healthy, and do it as a tribute to our parents. Awesome idea! I started jogging three times a week, and for a while, it was great. But for the past three weeks, I have done literally nothing. A major sinus infection has tackled me, along with various weather-related and work-related issues that have kept me off the pavement for far too long. I feel like all of the momentum is gone, and I don’t know if I can climb back up to peak runnability in less than a month. I may try again, but for now, I’m staying within the leagues of the walking.
  • I stopped posting Ficly stories. It just got to be overwhelming, and it was consuming too much of my life. I figured if I’m going to be forcing myself to write on a daily basis, shouldn’t I be working on something I could eventually sell?  Which leads me to the next item…
  • God help me, I’m trying my hand at a novel again. I’ve got a great concept that I love, and it’s taken me several weeks of hammering to build out the outer shell of the story, but I believe I’m there, and I’m really going to try and crank this one out.
  • I got new glasses! Okay, so far less life-changing, but still fairly awesome nonetheless. Aren’t I just adorable? I mean, look at me. Look at me!

So, yeah, that’s the recap. I love this blog and would like to keep posting new things and keep it updated, but it’s just so much easier to toss something up on my Tumblr or on Facebook and I’ve been finding myself doing that more and more often than straight up blogging. Maybe I’ll eventually just switch Nerdflood over to a Tumblr site and keep that my ongoing tool of choice and pray that my workplace doesn’t block it. I’m not quite sure what I should do.

So, for the time being, I’ll just do nothing. That is so much easier.

My gratuitous Ficly wish list

Now that I’ve published fifty Ficly stories, I’m a self-described, federally-licensed Ficly Veteran™ and as such, demand more, newer, and better features out of the online micro-publishing platform. After all, what else am I paying my $29.95 monthly subscription rate for, if not exceptional service?

So I’ve assembled an official List of Things™ (rendered on equally-official Ficly Mayoral Candidate™ letterhead) that could really use some improvement on Ficly.

Before I get started, I must profess that I absolutely realize that Ficly is created, managed, and maintained by only a ragtag outfit of rebel monkeys who do it purely as a fun and interesting side-project/diversion/portfolio-fodder. I don’t expect them to cater to my will–or, indeed,  even acknowledge that I wrote anything of the sort at all. However, as the newly-christened Ficly Gubernatorial Clabberwonky™ I fully expect all of my requested changes and updates to be implemented within a week. That should definitely suffice.

Things that are broken
These being things that were implemented (or at least partially implemented) but in one way or another do not completely function the way they were intended or designed.

Inspirations – In the old Ficlets site, we had built-in inspirations. Some were images pulled from Flickr which we could use as “starting blocks” for stories. Others were “starting lines” and “ending lines” that we could use to launch ideas. There’s a button for inspirations on Ficly, but it gives you an error message saying that they monkeys are working on it, and there’s a fairly flimsy promise attached to that statement. We’d love to have this implemented.

It should be somewhat telling that this is the only item on the “broken” list.

Things that could be greatly improved
These being things that essentially work as designed, but could really use a tweak (or seven) to get the most functionality out of the features.

Profiles – Profiles currently house links to an author’s stories, a bio, a website link, and a friends listing.. There’s some numbers for how many challenges, comments, and stories the author has created. But what would be extraordinarily helpful would be some links to the comments and challenges authors have participated within.

Browsing tags – There’s the ability to see some tags on the browse page, but we don’t know if those are recent tags, popular tags, active tags, etc. It would be nice to have an alphabetical listing of all tags for easier browsing.

Better browsing in general – What we need is a better organization system for stories to be able to find content more efficiently. Maybe the ability to add categories or genres? Like a standard science fiction tag or romance or mystery. That could be helpful.

Notes – From working with them, notes appear to have been a last-second afterthought. There is very little functionality to them. I have notes in my Sent folder, but I have no idea who I sent them to. Every incoming note is new, even if it is part of an ongoing conversation. There’s no attachment to an earlier note, or connection to its history. Notes are substantial for authors coordinating series cohesion and organizing group efforts. This could use a bit of a redesign.

Things that would be awesome
These being things that do not currently exist on the site, but, as stated, would be awesome.

Challenge entry – Right now in order to enter a challenge, you have to create a new story. What if you already wrote something that would be a perfect addition to a challenge? The ability to add an existing story to a new challenge would be something nice to implement.

The “mid-ficly” – This is something that I wanted to see implemented on Ficlets, and I’m still championing the concept on Ficly. A “mid-ficly” story is one that can be both a sequel to one story, as well as a prequel to another. You could create it as a sequel, and then pull up a list of existing stories to attach it as a prequel to something else. Or vice versa. It would probably be a difficult piece of functionality to design, but I don’t care. That’s not my job, just do it.

Auto-post to social networks – Sure, you can connect your author RSS feed through TwitterFeed and have it post to your Twitter and/or Facebook, but I would rather have it done intrinsically through Ficly with some kind of inherent shortened URL (fic.ly/13452, perhaps – I don’t even know if .ly is a real domain namespace. Once again, not my job.).

Okay, that’s all for now. I’ll probably be back with more outrageous gripes and complaints after I’ve written 100 stories.

All right, all right. Maybe I’ll give the monkeys two weeks.

So saith His Royal Highness, the Fifty-first Ficly Over-father of Fortitude™. Amen.

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I’m boycotting Amazon

Well, it appears as though the dust has finally settled on the Amazon/MacMillan fight this past weekend. I’m not even going to begin to attempt to summarize what happened. You can follow the Google search link I embedded into that first sentence, or check out some blog posts below from some authors whose opinions I greatly respect.

If I’ve learned anything from this inane battle it’s that Amazon has a ridiculous monopoly over an absurd amount of content, and I’m no longer going to contribute to the continuance of their control. I’m boycotting Amazon. Entirely.

Now, I understand that I’m a fairly insignificant drop in an insanely large bucket of water, and that what few purchases I made every year won’t go missing from Amazon’s books when it comes time to report financials. But I’m taking a stand. Amazon has proven that they are the Wal-Mart of online ventures (another place I refuse to shop), and this was their first real attempt at flexing their muscles in a space where they sought to exude some power over something they really had no business controlling. I can guarantee that this will not be the last time they try something like this. But it definitely will be the last time they get to wield any sort of power while holding onto money that I willingly gave them.

And as much as I absolutely adore John Scalzi’s fairly heated summary of the events, he is incorrect about at least one point. This incredibly stupid dust-up does not make me want an iPad. That thing is a ridiculous waste of good electronics. When I finally decide to enter the 21st century and pick up an unnecessarily expensive digital reading device, I’ll likely go with the Barnes & Noble Nook.

Read more here: Tobias Buckell, Jay Lake, Teresa Nielsen Hayden, Charlie Stross

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