Read Alana's new story, “The Valley,” at The Edge of Propinquity!

Internet Brain Changes

08/19/2008 06:51 PM

Here I am, back from MythCon (for which I only had to drive 45 minutes) and still in the midst of busy times, as I have a deadline this week and another one next week. I keep expecting things to get back to normal one of these days, where I have a regular schedule and a feeling of continuity from one thing to the next. Then I wonder if that's a mythical state of consciousness that didn't really ever exist anyway. A girl can dream, right?

I definitely plan to talk a bit about MythCon, but an article I just read in Atlantic Monthly has demanded my primary attention. It came back in at the library today and the cover of the magazine, which read "Is Google Making You Stoopid," got my attention. The article itself, by Nicholas Carr, isn't about Google in particular (though it does get some dominant mention), but the internet in general. Carr argues that the internet is making it difficult for people to focus on longer texts, that he and many others have experienced how hard it is to read a long piece of print. He cites examples of neuro-science that show how the brian is malleable and its processes reflect the way it receives information. But what I find interesting is this, as it applies to me. When I am on the computer, with the internet as an active possibility and the myriad of tasks present on my desktop that I could be doing other than the one I'm working on, I absolutely find myself distracted and unable to focus. This was the main reason why I unplugged my laptop, disabled the wireless connection, and worked from the living room couch a good chunk of the time when I was writing my novels. (I recall this being true of writing my thesis in college, as well--I had to turn off the internet to get my writing done.) I work well on a laptop that serves solely as a word processor. Because I often require internet as a way to get information for what I'm writing, having the ability to turn that back on is useful--but once I'm focused on the writing, it has to go away, or I'm distracted.

By contrast, when I'm reading a novel, distractions remain annoying interruptions, irritations, and aggravations. Even things I normally enjoy--phone calls, getting together with friends, going out for ice cream, going to the beach--irk me instead of being met with enthusiasm. So here is what I suspect is the flaw in Carr's theory: the internet may well change the way we think, and, if unchecked by other forms of reading, it may well affect our ability to read print. But if it remains balanced by other forms of reading (prose, poetry, novels, nonfiction tomes, comics), then it has *less* opportunity to impact how we think. A novel is still a novel, and reading them is still one of my greatest joys and favorite past times (otherwise, why in the world would I want to create them?). And the type of reading that they require of me--that difference between internet reading and prose reading--is one of the reasons I so seldom read fiction online. If there's a story I want to read, I often print it out and sit somewhere where I won't be distracted by pop ups or links. (I know. Bad for the environment. I do reuse paper, if that's a consolation. And I recycle. I'll make a bigger effort next time to buy post-consumer recycled paper, now that I've got my own conscience irritated with me).

What do you think? Has online reading affected how you read print? Am I alone in my reading habits? And what about reading e-books on a portable device--like your iPhone, which has an e-book reader app downloaded by one of four or five users?

True Dungeon in the news

08/14/2008 12:44 PM

Just a quick note: Lydia Laurenson, fellow RPG contributor whom I've mentioned here on the blog before (and who invited me to work with her one year on True Dungeon) was quoted in a Wired article about True Dungeon. I also recently discovered that Lydia is among the contributors to Ransom: The Anthology, which (as I may have mentioned a time or two) is debuting at GenCon. Lydia will definitely be at GenCon this year (and I believe will be working True Dungeon again), so if you see her, definitely say hello (and have her sign a copy of the anthology for you).

What I've Been Up To:

08/14/2008 12:25 AM

Highlights roughly in order:

Spent quality time with my parents

Helped set marks for a sail boat race

Took a cruise of the Thimble Islands

Helped pick monster zucchini on one of the Thimbles

Ate blueberry coffee cake and Dad's Blueberry Pie (TM) with real Michigan blueberries

Went sailing on a gusty day without capsizing

Went to a restaurant with the same name as my father.

Judged the SpaceWesterns.com senryu contest entries--winners are now available online! (Some of my favorites did not make the cut.)

Celebrated a wedding anniversary

Visited with old friends

Had dinner and watched movies with new(ish) friends

Stayed out 'til almost 1 a.m. with said friends, which is remarkable for its infrequency

Went to see the superhero exhibit at the Met in New York

Debated the virtues of Stark Tech vs. Wayne Tech.

Had hot chocolate with dragonladyflame

Wrote several "e-mails" and "interludes" from the perspective of my vampire alter-ego for the Dogs in the Vineyard game I mentioned awhile ago

Started learning about grant writing

Ordered and received skzbrust's new Vlad Taltos novel (which my husband promptly devoured), nalini_singh's most recent Psy-Changeling novel (because waiting for it to become available through the library was driving me nuts), and blue_succubus's Storm Born, the first in her new series.

Typed portions of a new short story I wrote mostly on scrap paper.

Neglected to turn anything in to Arielle for my first "hold me accountable for fiction" deadline.

Got paid for freelance work.

Went to the dentist.

Spent all day at the beach with a large group of fifth to eighth graders and had an absolute ball.

Went to B&N to replace Storm Born, as my copy arrived with water damage from the copious amount of rain we've been having.

Went back to the beach to have a grill out with my Dogs in the Vineyard group.

Discovered that spending time from 10 a.m. through, effectively, 7 p.m. at the beach leads to sunburn on the face.

Had my poor vampire almost die. Again. She made it. Also again.

Found the aloe in the med kit still packed from Greece and Turkey.

I think there's actually more (not that this isn't enough), but I'm a bit exhausted right now (probably due to the sun as much as the time), so I'm going to turn in. Tomorrow is another day with family (I hope!), Friday is a D&D game after work, and Saturday and Sunday I'll be at Mythcon in New Britain, CT (just up the road). If you're also going to be there, send a holler!

I'll try to be back on a somewhat regular blogging schedule next week.

Family Visiting

08/04/2008 11:13 PM

Just wanted to drop in and post that I have company from out of town--my parents are visiting! We're having a delightful time, but it leaves me very little time to blog. I'll catch up next week!

Glee!

07/30/2008 12:10 PM

Just a quick note to share the product description for Serenity Adventures, up over at Paizo's web store. The previous versions I've seen haven't listed any of the writers, but here, I'm listed as a contributor! Whee!

Workshop Partners

07/30/2008 10:11 AM

Quick link: writer Dan Copulsky is looking for small contributions to his novel: short biographies in the voices of sixth grade students. You can learn more about it from his recent entry.

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I have been quite verbose in a couple of recent comments on other people's blogs about editors, writing partners, and workshopping pieces. This started when sartorias posted about writing groups and continued in yesterday's post from jimhines about when a story is good enough to submit. Both of these posts come down to a similar thing for me: I'm not a good solitary writer. I need feedback. I'd love for my feedback to be from other writers, where we switch off pieces weekly over coffee and actually do a full on creative-writing-workshop, "in-the-box" style feedback session. (Basically, what I'd really love to do is recreate my college creative writing courses in real-time, but like that Avenue Q song says, you can't actually go back to college. At least, in my case, not without taking the GREs.)

Notably, I haven't found local writers for whom this is also the ideal scenario (or, if I have, they haven't expressed sharing this desire--not that I'm particularly vocal about it, myself). So my coffee shop dream being a bit on hold, I decided that if I'm going to get serious about this fiction writing thing and stop putting off projects until right up to the deadline (and then realizing I don't have the time to make a piece as good as I want), I ought to develop some sort of actual system and engage someone in providing feedback--which also provides me with accountability. So I called up first reader Arielle (who I've mentioned here from time to time) and asked if she was ready to take our reader/writer relationship to the next level. She very generously said yes, as long as it didn't interfere with her work at the publishing house that serves as her real job. (It is not a fiction publisher, so there are no conflicts of interest, just for the record.) So we've set up a schedule where I'll be sending her something--whatever I'm working on, finished or drafty--every two weeks. I also made a deal with my sister that I'm going to check in with her about her goals if she'll check in with me about mine, and that extra accountability should help out.

Because, really, having two partial scenes done in the WIP is not where I want to be. And having three or four short stories just sort of half-existing isn't any fun either. So here's hoping that giving me that little extra push (thanks ladies!) is exactly what I need to get motivated.