Thoughts on test week and rejection letters and several interesting links.

So, another test week done and gone. Managed to survive this one, and fairly well, much to my surprise. I'm chalking this semester's improved grades up to a return to basics, if you will, in which I remember and consistently apply the knowledge that I am first and foremost a reader, a lover of words, and attempt to do as much of my studying as possible in that fashion.

Apparently it's working. Here's hoping it continues to do so.

And with last Monday's block exam done and gone, it's adios Cardio/Respiratory/Renal systems and on to the Hematology/Lymphatic and Reproductive systems, the latter of which I greet with some trepidation as I'm not particularly looking forward to going through the Repro system while my wife navigates the tumultuous and hormone-fueled funfest that is the THIRD TRIMESTER (I know, I can't believe she's that far along either.).

Why the trepidation, you ask? Well, the second year of medical school involves a lot of time (and by a lot, I mean pretty much ALL) spent focusing on all of the things that can go wrong with the human body. By nature, I tend to be the kind of guy who worries about things to be begin with, turning them over and over in my mind until I'm ready to implode and go all black hole beneath the accumulated weight of anxiety. And to be honest, combining that with the already present concerns of pregnancy just doesn't seem like the most fun to me.

Yet my mantra for the year is to try and be a more positive human being, so I'm going to do my damndest and NOT worry.

I'll let you know how that goes.

Let's see...what else is going on. Managed two submissions to some short fiction markets in the last week or two. One rejection came back yesterday, which isn't really surprising as while I think the story is off to a good start, I can't shake the conviction that something is missing, some key element to pull it all together. I think it's a plot problem as I'm fairly happy with the setting, character, and style, but I haven't managed to sort it out just yet. I'm going to let it percolate in my ol' noggin for a few days and see if I get anywhere with it before tossing it out into the ether again.

Although that brings up an interesting point: the dilemma of whether or not I should focus on continuing efforts to publish short fiction or if I should move on and attempt to write something of novel length. As far as money and career opportunities are concerned, novels are definitely the way to go as short fiction just can't really cut it in either of those two categories any more, particularly not in spec fic.

But I'll be honest-I have this nagging concern that my inability to get any of my short fiction published in the past three plus years means that my writing isn't quite up to snuff yet, and I worry about pouring all of the time and effort into producing a longer work if I'm not really ready for it yet. I mean, it's not like there's really a surplus of time in my life right now.

On the other hand, writing is like every other skill; you only improve by doing. And I do have an idea for a multi-book series, most likely a trilogy, that contains a setting, characters, and conflict that have been rattling around my brain for over a year now and are starting to clamor loudly to get out. I've spent my whole life reading epic fantasy and series sci/fi, and perhaps that has hardwired my brain to be best suited for longer works.

So I think I'm going to try and do that. Be warned: you should expect numerous frustrated posts concerning my attempts to get this thing done. I'll try to do so fairly regularly so any of you who might take delight in that sort of authorly schadenfreude can eat your heart out. Or, you know, offer the occasional bit of reassurance.

It'll be an interesting journey. Right now, I have two other projects that I'm working on (a musical and a TV show idea, if you really must know), both of which I'm really excited about as they involve collaborations with two of my favorite people. As each of those taps into a different part of my creative mind, I think that working on a fantastic (both in genre and, hopefully, quality) novel will help round that out nicely, particularly as the analytic portion of my brain is subsumed by the juggernaut that is school.

And there you have it. That's what's going on in my neck of the woods. Now I"ll leave you with a few interesting links that I've stumbled across this morning (descriptions of said links are below the links themselves):

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22751415

In which you learn why Finnish babies sleep in cardboard boxes. Trust me, it's fascinating.

http://designtaxi.com/news/361484/Ad-Shows-The-World-s-Popular-Opinions-Of-Women-Using-Search-Engine/

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Our children deserve so much better than the world as it stands right now. This ad uses a search engine to show the world's opinions of women, and many of them are just as depressing as you  might imagine. But the images and brief commentary offer a perfect counterpoint and commentary, I think.

http://www.freesfonline.de/index.html

This is a site I came across this morning that collects links to various authors' speculative fiction online and organizes it according to said authors so that you can select find your favorite sf author and have quick access to places where their work has been published online. There's nothing pirated as the links take you to online magazines and what not where the works have been published.  (I'm not sure this summary actually explains it all that well, so head over there on your own and browse to see what I mean.)

http://kenliu.name/binary/liu_the_man_who_ended_history.pdf

And here's a link to "The Man Who Ended History", a novella by the depressingly fantastic Ken Liu. If you haven't read anything by him, you really should, which is why I'm recommending you start with this, my favorite work of his. It won a number of awards several years ago, and deservedly so.

http://www.fantasy-magazine.com/new/new-fiction/choose-your-own-adventure/

While I'm giving links to some of my favorite short fiction, I'll go ahead and toss a link up to Kat Howard's "Choose Your Own Adventure." This appeared in Fantasy Magazine a few years ago and is, I think, wonderful. Kat is, like Ken Liu, a terrifically talented young writer on the sf scene and has quickly become someone whose work I read automatically whenever it comes out. If you're interested in learning more about either of these writers, here's the links to their websites:

Ken's: http://kenliu.name/

Kat's: strangeink.blogspot.com 

Ok. That's it for today, I think. Catch you all on the flip side.

"As Others Dance"

Shall we dream, you and I?

Let us have the audacity, let us be filled with temerity.

Let us dream together as others dance,

let us tangle our vibrant needs like legs in bed sheets.

Let us yearn as one for the hazy promise of possibility

while others content themselves with lust and love that are merely

ordinary.

Let us wander through the night

like tourists through the streets of Rome,

like a comet tracing a trail through the vacuum,

like two forgotten orphans searching for a home.

Let us wrestle with cliches and doubts

like heroes with lions: you and I,

back to back against the world,

grinning madly at the wonder of it all.

If we do nothing else for as long as we breath,

let us do this, so fiercely that

the electric symphony in our minds

will echo and linger

long after we cease to be.

Shall we dream?

Something to Remember

“I've written about 2,000 short stories; I've only published 300 and I feel I'm still learning. Any man who keeps working is not a failure. He may not be a great writer, but if he applies the old fashioned virtues of hard, constant labor, he'll eventually make some kind of career for himself as a writer."

Ray Bradbury, 1967 interview

Warning! Here lies a (sort of) rant. Read at your own peril.

Ok, this has nothing to do with writing, medical school, or my family.

In general, I don't particularly care which side of a debate you come down on, as long as you do so in a logical, compassionate, and honest fashion. PLEASE people, think for yourself. And if you're going to perpetuate the maelstorm by constantly sharing statements and images that others have made, put a little bit of time into doing the research and seeing whether or not the statements are true.

For example:

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2013/oct/01/jeb-hensarling/gop-rep-jeb-hensarling-assails-sweetheart-deal-law/

This article does a better job than most of detailing exactly how Congress is not only NOT exempt from the new Affordable Care Act exchanges, but MUST in many cases, including ALL Senators and Representatives, lose their current employer-provided plan and select a plan from the new insurance exchanges.

Because this treats members of Congress and certain staff members differently than just about EVERY OTHER AMERICAN, who can keep their employer-provided or privately purchased plan if they wish, there has been a "fix" created that allows the Federal government (when it starts running again) to provide said affected members of Congress with a subsidy that is equal to the amount that the Federal government was previously providing under the Federal plan.

This isn't a special, under the table subsidy that Congress has given themselves, a free ride as it were. This is employer-subsidized healthcare as it functions pretty much everywhere in the States, an attempt to right a mistake made when the ACA was drafted.

But PLEASE, don't take my word for it-read this article by the always excellent Politifact, which has consistently received recognition for reporting on claims and assertions by politicians and the media in a non-partisan, facts-based fashion.

Seriously, if you're going to spend all of your time bitching about how a majority-elected Senate and President choose to support a law legally brought into effect (and thus far upheld by the highest court in the land), kindly do so intelligently-there are plenty of worthwhile issues to contend with, and it can certainly be done in a respectful fashion.

I think, however, it would better behoove a number of you all to spend your time working diligently towards supporting future candidates for your chosen parties who can better reflect your ideologies. 

Just a thought.

But can't stand to step away from complaining and digging? Here you go, folks. Here are some actual things the President has said lately to take issue with. Here's some recent things he's said that have contained substantial spins and/or truth bends, as seems to be the norm in every single capital city in America:

http://www.factcheck.org/tag/president-obama/

I'd suggest you could also take issue with his stalled stance on Gitmo, meandering on the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, oversight of the NSA surveillance program on his watch, and propensity of using big words in speeches.
Go to town.

Beginnings...again

So, I'm restarting this blog, and doing so in a fashion that will not only include the occasional piece of poetry but also thoughts on life (mine, mostly, although I do not promise to avoid pontificating), medical school, and, most particularly, my journey as a writer of speculative fiction (here's a nice link to Robert Rogoff's definition of speculative fiction if you're new to the term).

I say most particularly for the last one because if you know me (and at this point, I assume that anybody reading this does, almost certainly, actually know me), you know that this has been my end goal for a while now. It's not really surprising; books have always been my home, and spec fic books in particular.

And I happen to believe that you should aim towards a life spent in the place that makes you more comfortable. And as writing is the thing that I can be utterly absorbed into, for hours and hours on end (seriously, I'm not exaggerating here-ask the Wife. Apparently, it's utterly infuriating.), well, there you have it.

(Huh. I didn't expect the pontificating to rear its head quite so quickly. I should probably get that checked out...)

Now, I'm also in medical school doing my damnedest to keep afloat long enough for some bearded fellow in a funny hat and dress (looking at the faculty list for my school, there appear to be even odds it will be one of the bearded ones) to drape a long piece of cloth around me (while hopefully then not progressing towards hanging me with it in response to my propensity for bad jokes) and declare me a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine. (Aren't familiar with Osteopathic Medicine in the States? Once more, with feeling this time: Helpful Link.)

So at this point, you  might be asking yourself (well, me, most likely), how are these two plans going to work together and play nice and keep shop and bear to be under the same roof, etc., all while you're married to The Wife (so fantastic she deserves the term all to herself, in my opinion) and raising the three most incredible munchkins on the planet (I assume the third is going to be fantastic as the first two most certainly are)?

Well, I tend to buy into the belief that my medical training will infuse my writing and make me a better, more realistic spec fic author. I also hope that constantly engaging in a process that depends so heavily upon one's ability to empathize will help me somewhat in avoiding the burnout that is decimating the medical profession (I'm not doing your work for you on this one; seriously, just google "doctor" and "burnout" and you'll have all the info you need.) by routinely working the muscle that keeps compassion alive.

And, perhaps most importantly for me and mine, writing really is what keeps me going. It's the best anti-depressant I've ever come across, and thus helps me remain somewhat of a happy, healthy, functioning human being. So it's not really so much a matter of how am I going to keep writing with everything else going on, but instead a question of, can I really afford not to?

So, there you have it: come by periodically to see how I'm doing, what I'm doing, how the writing is going, and, hopefully soon, where you might find said writing being published. And as we get things rolling, feel free to tell all of your friends!

And strangers. You're welcome to tell them, too.

Now, speaking of school, I'm off to learn a few things about reading chest x-rays, which I am shocked to learn are somewhat of a big deal.

Catch you on the flip side.

Is there sunlight in the room

in which you hide?

You know I wish warmth for you,

and peace, at least these

I pray one day you'll find.

And that you'll forgive me

for the way I lied;

you were right, it was always

a need for acceptance

I sought to leave behind.

And as these layers of ice

seek to bury my mind,

I will hold to hope

that wherever you are,

there is sunlight in the room

in which you hide.

Joshua Potter © 2013

All rights reserved.