unpublished writers

Staying Up Late to Watch Bad Films


Despite vowing we would get more sleep this weekend, Rob and I were up until 1 AM watching the dvd, Running with Scissors. Did you know it was actually nominated for a Golden Globe? I can’t imagine why. It was a hodge-podge of quirky characters in what amounted to a montage of scenes that almost, but never quite, tells a whole story.

Note to self – the only reason to stay up late is love making. And on a further note, it is really the only truly good reason to get up early as well.

Being a geek, I was driven to google Augusten Burroughs to ascertain whether the novel he wrote was as crappy as the movie made from it. I discovered a blog, a Wikipedia page, and this YouTube video. All of which has convinced me that I need to finally work his novel into my reading rotation. I have a copy. My BFF gave it to me for my birthday two years ago, but I was never moved to read it. My own life was drama enough then. I didn’t care to know about someone else’s true life woe.

You might wonder why I bother to research and report on the author of a memoir that was a predictably shit movie, but I find writers quite interesting. I love to know about what brought them “to the show” so to speak. Where did their book come from? How do they feel about the process and what is that for them?

One of the entries in Burroughs’ blog discusses his response to being asked about fame. In his reply he notes that the death of his best friend and former partner has tempered it in a way I can relate to. It simply is not that big of a deal in the light of everything else. Much of his perception changed and he didn’t care as he once did. Funny how widowed crop up in my life sometimes.

Anyway, tomorrow be sure to drop by to read a short (very short) piece of fiction I wrote in answer to a writing prompt on the blog of one of my husband’s semi-regular readers. It’s not bad but I am going to beef it up and change a few things before trying to find a magazine to send it off to.

Memoirs are the Monday Meme


The plan is to write the memoir as my NanoWriMo project this November. In anticipation, I have been researching memoirs and writing prompts/tools to help me come up with an outline.

This site was established to provide people a place to write and store online.

I am also using the August edition of Oprah as a guide.

So with a tentative outline idea, I am wondering something, what do you want to know about a person when reading their memoir? Do you look for the whole life’s journey? Just the highlights? The trauma? The accomplishments? A mishmash?

And what are some of the stand-out’s in the genre, in your opinion? Comment or link back, please.

The Brave New World Belongs to Google


Skynet is the fictional computer that gains self-awareness and consciousness and results in the horrific slaughter and subjugation of man in the Terminator movies. The idea that computers can be taught to think as we do is the basis for AI or artificial intelligence. It’s a holy grail thing despite its implications.

Recently I read a short story by George Dyson that poses the question – what if the great search engine Google was a potential Skynet? The story is here. And it is a slogging read at times because it is heavy on tech and backstory but it is worth skimming for the parts that are easy for a lay person to understand. 

The last couple of paragraphs especially make it worth the while.

Interesting theory though about dreaming before thinking.

And if you still aren’t sure that Google (or Apple for that matter) are steadily liberating more data from us than our own governments. Read this.