Yesterday I spent my afternoon planning for 2012 and listened to the SOPA hearings. Right now, it looks like SOPA will pass, regardless of the evidence to the contrary. It bothers me that the narrative “if you’re against SOPA, you’re against IP/copyright protection” has been twisted to make everyone who doesn’t agree with SOPA a pirate who needs to be criminally prosecuted.

Anyway, before I turn that into a rant… (See Fizzgig above.)

Today’s thoughtful post comes from author L.A. Gilman who talks about the crash after writing a novel. I really liked her article and found it was relevant even when you’re working on big projects. Basically, Gilman addresses burnout and what to do about it.

Funny, but I didn’t even realize I had hit burnout until I read this article. Yeah, that was pretty sobering. Well, acknowledging you have a problem is the first step to resolving it. It seems that’s what I’ve been trying to do, but I need to kick it up a notch. So, here’s what I’m doing to get back in my groove.

1 ) Hold self accountable to self by logging word count and exercise minutes from the previous day.
2 ) Get back to using a timer. When I used one, I was highly productive!
3 ) Get back to daily to-do lists
4 ) Recognize accomplishments!
5 ) Clean on a schedule, too, and realize it will never be as clean as I want it to be.
6 ) Balance work and play by scheduling free nights!
7 ) Outlines, outlines, outlines.
8 ) Holidays decrease productivity by a factor of egg nog and Christmas cookies. Oy.
9 ) Schedule PR time like I would anything else.
10 ) I’m human. Things are going to happen that will screw up my plans for world domination. The trick is to get back on the horse and not mope about what I haven’t done.

Mood: Sneezy!
Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: Three
Work-Out Minutes Logged Yesterday: Short walk
Word Count Logged Yesterday (not including day job): FAH!
In My Ears: Don’t Hold Your Breath Remix by Nicole Scherzinger
Game Last Played: Fauxcabulary
Movie Last Viewed: Conan
Book Last Read: Last Call by Tim Powers
Latest Artistic Project: Byzantium chainmail bracelet with pink/iris green/black rings
Upcoming Release: Strange, Dead Love for Vampire: the Requiem

SOPA is a controversial act that would prevent users from visiting a website accused of piracy. There are many reasons why I’m against this act, but there are three things I find dangerous. First? This is the type of law that can be abused for reasons other than piracy. Second? This will not stop piracy. And third? When combined with other net neutrality laws, where emphasis is placed on higher-trafficked sites as opposed to lower ones, citing SOPA could affect less-trafficked sites especially if and when a mistake is made. Mistakes on site take downs? Yes, they do happen and they can be widespread.

This video is from a researcher who talks about why SOPA is a bad idea. The bill goes to the House floor shortly. The full text, minus whatever revisions are being proposed, is available here. Ironically, it’s described as a way “to promote prosperity, creativity, entrepreneurship, and innovation by combating the theft of U.S. property, and for other purposes.”

If you agree that this is a terrible idea, then I encourage you to read up on SOPA and call or write your representatives today. I did.

Mood: Patriotic
Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: Three.
Work-Out Minutes Logged Yesterday: Short walk
Word Count Logged Yesterday (not including day job): 1,000. Fair, but definitely not enough for me.
In My Ears: Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett audiobook
Game Last Played: Word on the Street
Movie Last Viewed: Horrible Bosses
Book Last Read: Last Call by Tim Powers
Latest Artistic Project: Byzantium chainmail bracelet with pink/iris green/black rings
Upcoming Release: Strange, Dead Love for Vampire: the Requiem

Yep, I need help figuring out what phone to get. Before I get to that? A link appetizer!

• Surprise Gift from Warehouse 23 – If you like Munchkin or Zombie Dice from Steve Jackson Games, I strongly encourage you to consider placing an order from December 13th through the 17th. We’re randomly giving away five pre-release copies of four different games months ahead of schedule. If you’re one of the lucky ones, you’ll get the games even before distributors and retailers will.
• The Ten Happiest Jobs – Apparently writers are happy but broke. Same with artists. So we get job satisfaction but we struggle to make a living. See: the reasons why we’re often miserable. Oy. (HT Greg Stolze)
• Introductory E-Mail Doesn’t Have To LOL – In my latest installment of Adventure to Dice Castle, I talk about e-mails to game publishers. I had fun with this one!
• Holiday Gift Guide: a Very Cthulhu Christmas – Tor.com continues their annual Cthulhu Gift Guide series. I wonder how many people recognize octopi are short for “Cthulhu?”
• Nerds and Male Privilege – Yes, it’s 2011 but we’re still dealing with issues of sexism. No, I’m not a whiner because this behavior is precisely why women are afraid to embrace their geek side. Yes, it’s frustrating, even for a professional in the industry, but it has gotten better over the past ten years. The internet has helped highlight that men are not the only geeks out there. (HT Charles Tan)

On With The Phone

So, if you’ve been following me on Twitter, you probably know I’ve been lamenting nay agonizing over which phone to get. I’ve since narrowed it down to a micro-tablet phone in the form of a Droid or an iPhone. I have an iPod Nano (LOVE!) but the rest of my equipment is all PC-based. I’ve tried out the Blackberry and I don’t like it. Prefer the touch screen and will probably get a stylus for it, too.

I’d say I’d have moderate-to-heavy usage. Here’s what I need a new phone for:

• To work when I’m traveling
• Texting
• Internet and Google Docs
• Photos
• E-mail
• App testing
• Sync my iTunes account
• eCommerce testing
• GPS
• Angry Birds
• Twitter
• Actual telephone calls

Thoughts? Comments? Suggestions?

Mood: Calm yet twitchy.
Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: Well, it started out good. Then quickly devolved into three pots of coffee and the stars-know-what-else.
Work-Out Minutes Logged Yesterday: Short walk
Word Count Logged Yesterday (not including day job): 500 and no home for [redacted]. Sucks. I feel a weekend writing marathon coming on…
In My Ears: Kingdom Hearts opening refrain
Game Last Played: Word on the Street
Movie Last Viewed: Harry Potter on Blu-Ray
Book Last Read: Last Call by Tim Powers
Latest Artistic Project: Byzantium chainmail bracelet with pink/iris green/black rings
Upcoming Release: Strange, Dead Love for Vampire: the Requiem

Many of us joke about having first world problems. Hell, I’ve whined about not hitting my goals or getting hit by other people’s angst or the Curse of Well, Actually! So today, my message to you can be summed up by the video below. This blew me away.

Mood: Yeah, I’m tearing up.
Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: Two. Damn proud!
Work-Out Minutes Logged Yesterday: Half an hour walk
Word Count Logged Yesterday (not including day job): Mostly outlines, but managed to knock out a 1,000.
In My Ears: This video. *sobs*
Game Last Played: Word on the Street
Movie Last Viewed: Harry Potter on Blu-Ray
Book Last Read: Dark Faith anthology
Latest Artistic Project: Byzantium chainmail bracelet with pink/iris green/black rings
Upcoming Release: Strange, Dead Love for Vampire: the Requiem

Today’s post is brought to you by the letter “F” for frustration. As in: technological frustration. Updated the site and now my feeds aren’t working so I spent over an hour going through a range of tests to see why. Still can’t figure it out. This, however, does not change the fact that I need to write today for personal and for work-related efforts. While tuning everyone out is proving to be difficult, especially when there’s political angst and publishing angst and personal angst and… Well? A whole lotta angst. Try as I might, I do make an attempt to be quite rational about these sorts of things, but occasionally I get bogged down in b.s. Hence my post yesterday.

Ah well, it’s all watery words under the comma splice. Ordered a new office chair today and was appalled that these things now come with ratings depending upon how many hours you sit. If you’re a “Professional,” you sit 8+ hours a day. This frightens me, especially since I fall into this category. How does one balance working out with writing? Haven’t figured that out yet, but I have an appointment tomorrow and did some research on a few classes. ‘Course, between you and me, it’s also a case where I need to figure out how to juggle writing and working out with this pesky thing called laundry and house cleaning.

Yes, my office is a disaster zone. I received more additions to my growing collection of Domo-kun and my desk is so full of end-of-the-year organization I have no place to put them. I keep telling myself: “Hey, you don’t get paid to clean.” Which is true, but getting my proverbial paper act together does pay off in the long run. Figuring out the logistics of writing is one thing; determining what makes a viable writing career is another. Administrivia is just one piece of that and, unfortunately, a necessary evil.

This, along with diving into [redacted] and [redacted] is how I’ll spend my holiday break. But first? Hours to go before I sleep and more holiday parties to attend.

Mood: Pretty mellow
Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: Two-ish.
Work-Out Minutes Logged Yesterday: Some stairs.
Word Count Logged Yesterday (not including day job): 500. (Boo!)
In My Ears: Tron Legacy Soundtrack
Game Last Played: Word on the Street
Movie Last Viewed: Harry Potter on Blu-Ray
Book Last Read: Dark Faith anthology
Latest Artistic Project: Byzantium chainmail bracelet with pink/iris green/black rings
Upcoming Release: Strange, Dead Love for Vampire: the Requiem