DADT

I'm gonna get this down real quick while I'm still steamed. Then I think I'll have a drink.

The vote on the defense bill today (which would have allowed the repeal of DADT once the review was finished) was a complete setup from start to finish. There was never a chance in hell that it would pass the filibuster. None. Zero. Zip.

Aside from DADT, the bill also included the DREAM act (which is a new path to naturalization for immigrants) and language that would have allowed military doctors to perform abortions on oversea bases. That's every social hot-button issue that's guaranteed to generate Republican opposition, in One. Bill.

I have to assume that Harry Reid is not a stupid man, but he still brought this doomed bill to a vote on the Senate floor. Which means one of two things: Harry Reid has completely lost his mind, or this was a cunning plan to generate Democratic outrage in advance of the 2010 election.

Think about it. The Democrats gain nothing by failing to pass legislation that their base would love in advance of an election. But if they spin this as another example of Republican obstruction (which it demonstrably is), they gain a boost of rage-based adrenaline in their entire base. And what do angry voters do? They vote. And there is nothing the Democrats need more than more voters that are pissed off at the GOP.

Keep an eye on how the media and the Democrats spin this, and see how it plays out in the election. That will tell you a lot about what Harry Reid was thinking today.

Oh, and I'm all in favor of DADT going away for good. For the record.

Back in the Saddle

Sometimes there is nothing more motivational than having a target to aim for - in this case the possibility of another submissions window for Black Library opening soon. That may not actually happen, and I certainly haven't been promised any preferential treatment, but... well, just look at my word count for today:

1433 / 1000 words. 143% done!

Broke the daily bar! Thank you very much Christian Dunn. With any luck (and, most likely, some assistance from the Eldar codex) I'll be able to keep up this pace, or close to it.

Dan Abnett once said that less than 10,000 words in a week was too slow for him to bear. Stephen King swears by 2,000 words a day, every day. I consider these goals to aspire to, when I'm not blinded by fits of jealousy. And if I'm ever going to reach them, now's as good a time as any.

* * *

When I haven't been writing I've been grilling steaks (poorly, sad to say), battling mold outbreaks, playing StarCraft II, and learning jQuery for my day job. It's one of the JavaScript libraries that people use to do stuff like this:

This will disappear if you click on it.

Which is pretty cool, as web page toys go. I intend to get better fairly quickly, and if I come up with anything cool to use with the blog, you'll be the first to know.

It's not coming back until you reload the page. I'm sorry, but you should have thought of that before you clicked.

Urk

115 / 1000 words. 12% done!

The red is for FAIL. Good night.

The Dangers of Waiting on a Submission

It's four weeks now since I've submitted my novel package, and my nerves are seriously starting to jangle. This is not solely because of the manuscript. Work has cranked up from "sleepy" to "very busy", and all of my weekends lately have been booked solid. Aside from blog posts, social networking and a few paragraphs here and there, I haven't written a damn thing worth mentioning since August.

Is the manuscript to blame for that? Partially. I'm always hesitant to start working on a new project while I'm waiting to hear back about an old one, especially one that I would likely be called on to revise if (fingers crossed!) the editors show any interest. It's going to be that much harder to get back into the "grim darkness" mindset if, for example, I'm writing a silly fantasy story about cows called "Knights of the Udder Side".

But that's a crappy excuse and I know it. I am not going to improve if I do not write. I am not going to get published if I do not write. And it is going to be much harder to get back into writing mode from a full stop than it is if I keep writing something, even if it is the stinking cow story. (It's not going to be the cow story. Well, probably not.)

I have another full weekend starting tomorrow, but today I'm not at work and I don't have any obligations after lunchtime, so I'm going to write. I may not write anything good, but I am going to break 1,000 words today come hell or high water. I'll update later tonight with my success; or lack thereof...

And I've just realized that I have no guarantee that my submission even made it through the publisher's spam filter. Lesson learned: Always send a brief, harmless little confirmation email along with a submission, noting that you did send something in, and would the publisher please reply if they didn't get it? Much too late now for me to send anything without being a nuisance, but maybe in another month?

That's enough of that. Ignore that terrible fear-snake writhing in your guts, Dave! Now is the time to write!

Games Day 2010

So I had a great time attending Games Day in Baltimore this year. Thanks to all the staffers from Games Workshop and Black Library who worked so hard to put this frankly insane event together. Lots of shouting, crazy costumes, and people running around dragging tape measures and screaming "CANNONBALL!!". (If you play Warhammer you'll get the reference.)

Some highlights from the event, with quality cell phone camera illustrations:

The crowd standing in line to register for the event. Point of clarification: You have to buy your ticket, then you have to register, then you can go inside. The guy in front of me didn't find this out until he'd already made it through this line once. Learn from his mistakes!

The best costume I saw all day. Actually there were a lot of high-quality costumes this year, and I'm very hopeful that Games Workshop will post up equally high-quality photographs in a few weeks.

An Eldar helmet and pistol at life-size scale (or close to it). I'm consistently amazed by the amount of effort the Games Workshop guys put into this stuff. I also freely admit that I would have walked off with this case if I thought I could get away with it.

Some of the models behind the big event! I don't know who Matthieu Fontaine is, but he's a hell of a painter/sculptor.

A Titan-scale Ultramarine, brought in to promote the upcoming Ultramarines movie. I'm trying to keep my expectations low for this, but they've got Terence Stamp doing voice work. How can you not expect awesomeness?

As promotional items go, nothing beats a free hat. This came courtesy of Relic Entertainment, the minds behind all of the recent Warhammer/Warhammer 40,000 video games. If anything's ever going to get me back into MMORPGs, Dark Millennium is it.

A shot of Dan Abnett during the second Black Library seminar. Mr. Abnett read an extract from his upcoming book Prospero Burns (you will want to buy that), answered a bunch of questions from the audience (did you like Eisenhorn? Ravenor? Then you can start hoping for more to come), and generally charmed the hell out of everybody.

The first seminar (which I failed to photograph properly) was four authors for one, with Gav Thorpe, C.L. Werner, Mike Lee, and Nathan Long all reading excerpts from their upcoming novels. They also took audience questions, and I actually got autographs from Mr. Thorpe and Mr. Werner (both of whom I heartily apologize to if I came off as an ass).

Last but not least, the loot! Games Days are a great way to grab some books (and miniatures) that aren't out in stores or on Amazon just yet. I was a little disappointed that I couldn't get my hands on The First Heretic (I looked at the previews for the UK Games Day by mistake), but I think I've got enough here to get me maybe halfway through the wait.

If I don't burn through the whole pile in a week. Which let's be honest, I might do.