Update for Thursday, February 9, 2012

 
"I couldn’t wait for success, so I went ahead without it." –- Jonathan Winters

As does anyone who makes it up as they go along.  But success can be defined in many ways, and in The Update, it's reaching a landmark.  In The Helper, a post from Jane Friedman about what your blog should be and what your book shouldn't be and vice versa.  And after a couple of announcements, The Wind-Up reminds us that, as far as death and taxes are concerned, being afflicted by the former might not prevent prosecution for the latter.

The Update

Let's see...oh, yeah...OSV (the short project) is at the end of its revision cycle!  Okay, it's only just over 9000 words and should really have been done this time last year, but, hey, a landmark is a landmark.  I'm pleased with it and it's going through some readings now (if you'd like to participate by reading and commenting, please contact me through my profile.  No pay except gratitude, but there'll be lots of that, and, of course, readings in kind...).  I hope to have it out soon, but I'm tying this in with some other things that will require a little steeper learning curve than I'm comfortable with, but I'm expecting it to go out sometime in the third quarter as part of some other changes. 

On the longer front, MGC is still fighting its way through the new Chapter Seven, but it's a good fight.  My schedule will be a little messed up next week because of personal committments, but the work will still get done.

The Helper

Check out the short post from Jane Friedman at her blog.  She gives some very good advice and conditions under which it's okay to turn your blog into a book.  It all boils down to knowing what you have written and whether it can jump to paper or has to stay as little piles of electrons. 

No danger here.  I can barely get the electrons in the right piles much less on paper.

Announcement #1

The SteamPunk Magazine is back and it looks like they've been saving up material.  Find it, download it, and read it here.

Announcement #2

This blog's sister blog, Knews Not News, is about to be given the Last Rites because of time support and popularity issues.  Head over to the blog to check out some of the previous posts and give your thumbs up or down by February 15th. 

The Wind-Up

My first reaction when I read the sad and peculiar tale of Sergei Magnitsky was "Wait, what?"  A man dies in police custody, but is tried post-mortem for income tax evasion, to cover up and possibly exonerate not just the officials responsible for his death but also the officials responsible for the real tax evasion, whose involvement the dead man originally reported to the police who killed him.  I know, right?

Thanks for reading.  Talk to you next week!