Although I’ve been trying to abolish the various distractions to the writing of my novella, there are some things that can’t be avoided. Like starting another short story that refuses to be ignored.

"Buffalo Money"

3,361 / 4,000 (84.0%)

If you can’t tell from the title, the new story is a Western, inspired mostly by my work on Deadstock, the novella I’ll be submitting to the Way Out West anthology.

The good news about this particular distraction is that I’m writing it incredibly fast. I expect to have it done within the next day or two… and then I’ll go back to work on Deadstock… and then back to work on Heroine.

• Currently reading: "A Summer of Ping-Pong," by Andrew Pyper

Kat and I are on our way up north to spend the night in a cabin we rented. This is something we planned to do to celebrate my moving to the ‘borough (finally!)… and getting a new job… and the magazine coming out… and my two recent acceptances… and, well, all the good stuff that’s been going on this past month or so.

I’ve got both my cameras with me, so I’ll be taking some nature pics while I’m up there. If I get anything good, I’ll be sure to post them when we get back.

Until then, here’s an update on the work I’ve done on my new Western novella.

Deadstock

2,711 / 10,000 (27.0%)

Have a good weekend, folks. I reckon I will.

• Currently reading: The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown

The season finale of Lost aired last night, and I felt it was quite satisfying — as satisfying as a show can be that trades in mysteries and cliffhangers, anyway. Plenty was revealed and there were just the right amount of loose ends left dangling. What happened to Locke, Eko, and Desmond? Are they dead? Not likely. Where are the Others taking Jack, Kate, and Sawyer? Fire Island? Even less likely.

Here’s my full rundown:

The hype — The producers were true to their word. They revealed what they said they would reveal: what caused the plane to crash and what happens if you don’t push the button. Who would have thought one would end up answering the other.

The Others — We also got a few more details on this shadowy group who, it can now be agreed, are most certainly not hillbillies. I liked Kate pointing out that Mr. Friendly’s beard is fake, prompting him to take it off and later to be chastised by "Henry Gale," who, although it was never stated explicitly, acted like the group’s leader. (The debate is still on as to whether or not he is their leader, since he spoke to Locke about him as if he was another person — "He’s a good man, a brilliant man, but not a forgiving man." Personally, I think it would be extremely clever if a) the Others sent their own leader to infiltrate the Losties and b) "Gale" referred to himself in the third person with Locke and Co. never being aware that they had the Others’ leader in their custody the whole time.) I also like Mr. Friendly having his name — Tom — accidentally revealed by Ms. Klugh, who in turn is called by her own name, "Bea." Of course, the most ardent theorist will no doubt say that this was only an act and Tom and Bea are merely different aliases. I prefer to think that this was a genuine reveal, since Tom seemed genuinely put out that Bea mentioned his real name. Time will tell, I think. We’re supposed to find out a lot more about the Others in season three.

The island — So, what else do we know about the island? Well, Desmond sailed west for two and a half weeks and he should have made it to Fiji. Instead he ended up back at the island. That seems to go along with my prediction from yesterday that the island just won’t let them leave. It seems to draw people in and keep them. (I liked Desmond’s line in which he compares getting stuck on the island to being trapped inside a "bloody snowglobe." Perhaps a veiled reference to the series finale of St. Elsewhere, in which the entire show turns out to have been nothing more than the imaginings of an autistic boy with a snowglobe?) And what was with the remains of the statue that Sayid and Co. came upon? What was it Sayid said, "I don’t know what I find more disconcerting, the fact that the rest of the statue is missing, or that it has four toes?" Weeeird.

The button — Okay, so the button actually does need to be pressed — who knew? Dr. Candle’s shtick about The Swan being an electromagnetic station was also true. According to Kelvin, that particular area of the island causes a build-up of electromagnetic energy and pressing the button every 108 minutes helps to discharge the built-up magnetism. I was a little confused as to what the "System Termination" (the box under the floor with the key) is supposed to do. When Desmond turns the key, it seems to result in some sort of electromagnetic flash or pulse that envelops the entire island. Even the Others seemed a bit surprised by it. This also confuses me. If the Others knew about the button, and knew that it actually needed to be pressed or else, why didn’t they leave one of their own people in the hatch to make sure it got done? Why did Mr. Friendly chastise Jack and Co. for "opening doors that shouldn’t have been opened"? Why did "Henry Gale" tell Locke that pressing the button does nothing? Might that not prompt Locke to stop pressing the button, which would seem to be a bad thing? Well, it looks like the Losties won’t be pressing the button anymore, but it sure left a helluva lot of questions behind.

The bird — While Jack and Co. are tromping through the jungle, an enormous bird swoops down and, according to Hurley, says his name. I’ve only watched the episode once, so I can’t vouch for that, but I did recognize the bird. It looked like the same one seen in last year’s season finale, just before the Losties bumped into the monster. Polar bears? Horses? Sharks with DHARMA symbols on their tails? Is the bird another test animal? Bah… who knows.

Kelvin — We found out that Kelvin is actually Kelvin Inman, the CIA spook who had an encounter with Sayid during the Gulf War and helped him on his way to becoming the talented torturer we all know and love. When we first see him, Kelvin comes out the jungle in a yellow environmental hazard suit, which he wears every time he leaves the hatch. It turns out to be a big shuck, though. After noticing a cut in the suit, Desmond follows Kelvin on one of his many excursions and discovers Kelvin has been secretly fixing up his crashed boat and planned to leave the island without him. Kelvin offers to take Desmond with him, but Desmond has button fever now and doesn’t feel he can leave. They fight and Kelvin is accidentally killed. There goes your Scrabble partner, Desmond. Two particularly interesting pieces of information revealed by Kelvin: First, his partner in the hatch was a man named Raczinski or Radinsky. It was this man who drew the blast-door map (courtesy of homemade black-light paint and a photographic memory) that Kelvin adds to, and who later killed himself after he went button-crazy. Secondly, Kelvin makes reference to the fact that he works for the DHARMA Initiative. What is less clear is whether or not he was being serious, in that he was hired by them and came to work in The Swan willingly, or if he was being flip and meant that he had been unwillingly drafted into service because he, too, came to the island accidentally. I liked that he was aware of the Others (he called them the "Hostiles"), and didn’t seem to think much of them, either. No mention of the polar bears or the monster, though…

The dock — Toward the end of the episode, the Losties are walked down a long dock by the Others. A sign says "Pala Ferry" — the same ferry referenced in the orientation film for The Pearl. So, are the Others going to take Jack, Kate, and Sawyer on a ferry-ride, or were they just out there to give Michael the boat? I guess we’ll have to wait for season three on that one.

Michael and Walt — So it looks like Michael quite literally got away with murder — two of them, in fact. And the Others are either truly men (and women) of their word, or else they really meant it when they said that Walt was a little more than they could handle. I assume they abducted him for the very reason that he is psychic, and yet it seems now that he was too much for the likes of the Others. Very strange. And according to "Henry Gale," Michael will be able to leave the island if he travels along a specific compass point. Is that why Desmond and the Losties on the raft couldn’t leave the island? Is there only one very specific direction that must be taken in order to leave? "Henry Gale" told Michael that he wouldn’t be able to come back. Did he mean that literally or figuratively? Does the trap of the island work both ways? Those on the island can’t leave and those outside the island can’t ever find it (an electromagnetic cloaking effect, perhaps)? It would certainly go some way toward supporting "Henry’s" obscure comment that not even God can see this island. Creepy.

The ending — So what was with the scene at the end? Two Portuguese-speaking men playing chess at some sort of arctic listening post? Waiting to detect an electromagnetic anomaly which prompts them to call Desmond’s old honey, Penelope Widmore (the picture of her and Desmond on the nightstand suggests she’s still waiting for him), and tell them that they’ve "found it." I guess if you do have enough money you really can find anyone. The question, of course, is what is "it"? The island? The electromagnetic anomaly is almost assuredly connected to the lightshow that occurred after Desmond activated the "System Termination." Has Penelope been looking for the island, knowing that’s where Desmond ended up? If so, how did she know where to look? I suspect the Widmores have some sort of connection to the island and maybe even the Others themselves. I wouldn’t be surprised if Mr. Friendly or "Henry Gale" turns out to be part of the Widmore clan. And I’m sure we’ll see more of Penelope and Charles Widmore in Season 3. (This was also the first scene ever that showed present-day events taking place off the island, putting to rest the many theories suggesting that civilization has been destroyed and the Losties and the Others are the last people on the entire planet.)

Season 3 — Here’s what I’ve been able to dig up on the next season. First, we’re supposed to see a lot more of the Others, including where they live and why they dress like hillbillies. It hasn’t been confirmed yet, but many sources are reporting that both Desmond and "Henry Gale" will be returning next season as regulars. Michael and Walt will not be part of the regular cast, but may return in a guest-star capacity. (I find it hard to believe the writers are going to drop that subplot entirely.) Two new female cast members will be introduced. Jack will get a flashback episode explaining how he got his tattoos and their significance. And although Libby is dead, she will be popping up now and again next season in some of the characters’ flashbacks.

So that’s my overlong synopsis of the Lost finale. I was a little disappointed that the monster didn’t show up, but hey, maybe we’ll see the smoky fella in season three. My theory: the monster is actually Pigpen from the old Peanuts comics. This will be revealed in an upcoming episode called "We’re Not the Only People on this Island, Charlie Brown."

• Currently reading: The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown

Received my 50th rejection today without fanfare. A form letter from Storyteller with a scribbled note that said it took too long to get to the action. Okie-dokie. Duly noted.

Of course, the pain of this barbarous missive was somewhat alleviated by the digital camera I bought last night. It took a bit of convincing (and I stress only "a bit"), not because I’m a technophobe or even anti-digital/pro-film, but rather because I just didn’t think the quality of digital would ever be as good as that of film. Maybe it simply took this long to find a camera that truly impressed me, but more likely it was finding the exact digital equivalent of the SLR I’m currently using — namely, the Canon Rebel Digital XT.

I won’t bore you with all the technical deets except to say that it’s a very fine camera at a fairly reasonable price (reasonable for a digital SLR, anyway).

The main reason I bought it is because Kathryn has been bringing home the digital camera she uses at Trent, and it’s virtually the same model as the one I bought, albeit a slightly older version. I had been playing with it last week — I used it to take the photos of the house that I posted on the website a few days ago — and was amazed at both the quality of the pictures but also the ease with which one could a) get them developed and b) download them onto the computer. Good-bye scanner, in other words.

This ends up saving me a lot of time, I only develop the pictures I want (and I can e-mail them to the camera store instead of dropping off the film and waiting for it to be processed), and I can get them onto the site much faster.

Of course, I still stand by my original pledge, made many moons ago, that I wouldn’t turn this place into the cute and cuddly writer’s corner. I’m Ian, a struggling writer, here’s my Lost fan site, here’s my cat, Thor, isn’t he such a cutesy-wootsy?

Yarg.

Note: How’s about it, folks? Want my predictions for tonight’s season finale of Lost? Hmm … I haven’t thought about it much, actually. This is one show I don’t really follow on the Web, so as to avoid spoilers. But here are my thoughts …

The boat that showed up at the end of last week’s episode? I think it’s a sure bet that Desmond is on it — and not just because I saw him in the preview for tonight’s episode. We know Desmond crashed on the island in the middle of a solo cruise around the world. I think that during his 108-minute breaks between pushing the button for the last three years, he’s been going out to the beach and working on the boat. It would be tedious, to be sure, but I think that’s where he was running to after he found his replacements in the Losties. So why is he back? Maybe the island won’t let them leave. After the Others destroyed the raft in last year’s season finale (was it that long ago?), the current brought Michael and Sawyer back to the island on the scraps they were clinging to. And when Locke told Desmond that four of their people had left on a raft, Desmond seemed a bit incredulous, as I recall. ("A raft?" he said with what I took to be a cynical smile.) Of course, if that’s true, then it doesn’t explain why he bothered to try to leave the island on his sailboat, but hey … Maybe he did make it back to the mainland and the economy sucked or his apartment had been given away or he found out Bush is still president, and he decided to come back.

I think John is going to do something to the button, and maybe the entire hatch. He seemed pretty ticked off after watching the orientation film for The Pearl (the one that suggested that the procedures in the other hatches are nothing more than psychological experiments), and I didn’t like the look on his face after he cut off his splint and went stalking off into the jungle. There’s still dynamite from the Black Rock lying around, isn’t there…? I don’t think Mr. Eko’s going to like that, seeing as how he’s found a new calling in the hatch, and I suspect Mr. Locke might have another headbutt or two in his near future.

I think Jack and his regulators are going to go along with Michael to the far side of the island … maybe have an encounter with the monster on the way? We’ve only seen it once this entire season and I think it’s due for another cameo appearance. I think Sayid will trail along behind Jack and Co., much like Kate did in "The Hunting Party." Except Sayid being an ex-soldier, I don’t think he will get caught as easily as Kate did. I think The Others are going to pull a double-cross (big surprise there), but I think the Losties are going to have a trick or two up their sleeve, if only because the build-up to this episode is not that they’re walking into a trap but that they’re walking into a trap and they know it! (I’m particularly looking forward to some sort of encounter between Sawyer and Mr. Friendly a.k.a. Zeke.)

I do know that tonight’s episode will feature Desmond’s flashbacks, and I’m very curious to learn more about his past, how he got onto the island, and how he met the mysterious Kelvin who brought him to the hatch and convinced him to start pressing the button (and maybe finding out which one of them painted the hatch mural and drew the blast-door map).

Oh, after seeing orientation film for The Pearl, as well as the hidden camera in that hatch (watching the watchers, as it were), I’m convinced that Dr. Marvin Candle/Dr. Mark Wickman, Karen and Gerald DeGroot, and Alvar Hanso are all actors. I don’t think there is a DHARMA Initiative or a Hanso Foundation. I think it’s all mythology to make the orientation films more believable to the human lab rats. But I could be wrong …

I’ll be back tomorrow with my thoughts on the episode. (Yeah, I know this is a writing site, but damn, the writing on the show is really freakin’ good.)

Until then … namaste.

• Currently reading: The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown

So I finally got some writing done this weekend. Shocking, I know. Even I’m surprised. Can you believe it’s been almost a month since I did any significant work on one of my stories? I sure can’t.

But all that’s behind me now. I plan to have a very productive summer in my new office. I’ve kicked things off in a serious way, I think, with the publication of the magazine with my first professional sale, and then right away the acceptance of two stories in one month.

I worked on a few projects this weekend. I tend to focus on only one at a time, but after such a long hiatus I felt like I had to spend some time with each one, getting reacquainted with the characters and the sometimes terrible situations I’ve put them in. It’s the least I could do.

Heroine

29,399 / 50,000 (59.0%)

Yes, it’s been a long time since I posted an update on Heroine, but you’ll be glad to know that I’ve written another six thousand words or so, and the story is rapidly nearing completion. I still really like this story, and I’m taking that as a good sign at this point. It’s a dark, claustrophobic story with a goodish amount of action and plenty of creepy thrills.

"The Converted"

2,294 / 6,000 (38.0%)

This is my first mystery story – that is, the first one that contains no supernatural of sf elements. I’m having a lot of fun with it, even though it’s just a story about a guy who enlists a friend’s help to find his missing sister. At least that’s how it looks on the surface. Underneath there’s secret societies (of a sort), brainwashing (again, of a sort), and a showdown with a psychopath (…). It’s told from the first-person, which is not something I often do. You need to have a) the right kind of story and b) the right kind of protagonist to tell a story in first-person. Some people will say that any story can be told from the point of view of one character, but it’s really much more complicated than that … as I’m now learning.

"The Luminous Veil"

4,452 / 5,000 (89.0%)

One of my Toronto stories, this is also a lead-in to the novel I will be writing once I finished Heroine. And, like most good lead-in/tie-in stories, you don’t have to read it to enjoy the novel, and vice versa. The story is about a young girl trying to come to terms with her powerful prophetic dreams. I don’t want to say any more for fear of ruining the story … and the novel.

Deadstock

544 / 10,000 (5.0%)

This is a new story I’ve been working on, and only for a couple of days (as the word meter clearly shows). After "Winter Hammock" was accepted by Revelation, I was showing Kat the magazine on their website and how slick it looks (it really is, and if you haven’t checked it out yet, you should take a look). While I was cruising their website, I happened upon a submission call for a new anthology to be published by Fourth Horseman Press called Way Out West. The theme is Western stories with a twist. Think: The Good, the Bad, and the Undead or maybe Die, Tumbleweed, Die! Anyway, I have an idea and I think it’s going to be a goodie. No tumbleweeds, though.

• Currently reading: The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown

Here they are (finally!), pics of our new digs:

So that’s our new place. As you can see, it’s an extremely well-decorated house with a lot of space. We’re certainly making the most of it!

Y’all come visit real soon, now.

• Currently reading: The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown

What a day.

It started off by by driving to work and stopping at a convenience story in town to pick up a few copies of The Daily Post, which featured an editorial by yours truly. If you’d like to read it, it’s available online. I’ll try to scan it and put it up so you can see how snazzy it looks.

Anyway, I finally got my new computer at work today, and she’s a beaut. They set me up with a very nice flat-screen monitor which has helped me decide what to spend my tax return on. Yep, I’m headed out this weekend to get a new toy.

So the day was going pretty well. I had my first editorial in the town paper (with my picture!), I got my computer (finally!), and then I come home to find out that Revelation has accepted "Winter Hammock!"

Here’s an excerpt from the acceptance letter:

"Winter Hammock" presents what at first seems to be a traditional post-apocalyptic narrative, but it contains enough surrealistic touches, character, and outright weirdness to remain original and entertaining.

I’m excited because I really dig this story and Revelation is a very slick magazine. I’m proud to have a story in it. Oh, and it’s coming out in September! No long wait on this one, folks. In addition, Fourth Horseman Press (publishers of Revelation) collect all of the previous year’s stories and publish them as a paperback.

So it looks like "Winter Hammock" will end up getting published twice!

• Currently reading: Lunar Park, by Bret Easton Ellis

The only problem with forwarding my mail is that the rejection demons still know where to find me. Of course, if I did manage to throw them off my trail, I’d never find out what happens to the stories I send out. That is the burden of being a struggling writer.

Received two rejections this morning. Andromeda Spaceways rejected "Clean," though they had some nice things to say:

Nice concept … I like this in terms of characterisation, and the writing was definitely a cut above, but the plotting and the world-building rely on a kind of external X-Files/Lovecraft zeitgeist. That’s fine, as long as you’re playing with those things, but this doesn’t give us much more than an unexplained event and the cleanup crew.

And the anthology Paging Mr. Hitchcock rejected "The Last of the B’s." It had been sitting there for about seven months, and in typical Hitchcockian fashion, the suspense had been killing me. But they also gave me some positive feedback:

Although we enjoyed your submission, unfortunately we’re going to have to pass on this one. I liked what you did with the B Movie references, but the ending didn’t really work for me. Purely a subjective reason, I know, but we’re being ruthless with this antho.

Sorry to disappoint; I do wish you luck in placing the tale elsewhere. It’s a good one, just not quite right for us.

As you can see, the replies were actually pretty positive – as positive as they could be and still remain rejections, of course. The writer of the latter even admits that his problem with the story is completely subjective and that he enjoyed it overall. Ultimately that’s what it comes down to: one person’s opinion. I’ve never received a rejection that says, Your stuff is crap, maybe you should go to law school. Rejections aside, I take that as a good sign.

On a positive note, this was the first place I had sent "The Last of the B’s," so the world remains my oyster. Next it’s off to Fantasy & Science Fiction, while "Clean" will be sauntering off to Cemetery Dance. And the world keep turning, tra-la-la.

I’m not really down about the rejections; it’s just that I got them first thing in the morning, before I even had my first cup of coffee. As I’ve already mentioned, rejections tend to travel in packs – one to knock you down and another to hoof you a good one in the nuts while you’re lying on the ground. I can’t really complain when the magazine with my first professional sale just came out. Not to mention the fact that we just moved into a fantastic house in a town I love, and I just started what is without a doubt the best job I’ve ever had, complete with my own office and a fantastic boss.

I really can’t ask for anything more. And on the contrary, I think it is actually easier to deal with rejection under the aforementioned circumstances. I really think the quality and the quantity of my writing is going to increase over the next few months.

Having said that, you can expect an honest to goodness writing update within the next few days. Featuring thrills, chills, and a manic telemarketer named Barney! Ooh, scary stuff, kids.

Update: When I got home from work, guess what was waiting for me? Yep, another rejection. That’s three in one day, which only confirms my theory that these things travel in threes. Sometimes it really sucks to be right.

• Currently reading: Lunar Park, by Bret Easton Ellis