I’ve worked with computers pretty much all of my life. I never went to school for it, I’m completely self-taught, and I take a certain pride in the fact that I’ve got a decent, well-paying job doing something that I don’t hate.

For the last fifteen years or so I’ve worked in the field of web design. I have my own website, a couple of them actually, so I spend a large chunk of my life in front of a computer. I do freelance web-design from time to time, and I also design sites for friends, family, and even some fellow writers.

As much as I love it, and as much as I feel I’m good at it, there are times when I wish I worked in a field that had nothing at all to do with computers. There is a level of complexity with computers that can be so mind-numbingly boring that occasionally I long to do something completely different, like work in a diner or photograph landscapes or chop wood. I don’t think I could make the money I make now doing any of these things, and I couldn’t leave a job with the security I have right now, but I do think about it.

Web design is a nice skill to have, don’t get me wrong. I sometimes refer to it jokingly as a trade for the new millennium. One day it’ll be right up there with plumbing and electrical. Maybe. If people still need/want websites in the future. But there are times when I wish I did something that has nothing at all to do with servers and DNS and HTML and PHP and graphic design and cascading style sheets. I think I’m just feeling a little web-fried. After fifteen years I suppose I’m allowed to be.

This is all probably due to the sheer abundance of web stuff in my life right now. The job, the blog, the photography, the movie reviews, the web comic. I think if I was writing for a living it would be different, because I’d automatically be able to cut out about eight hours of web stuff every day. But that won’t be happening in the near future, so for now I suppose I have to suck it up and make like a Flintstones character, shrug my shoulders and simply say, “It’s a living.”

Not much to report since I’m still deep in the novel-writin’, and talking about the process really isn’t that interesting.

To tide you over, I’ll direct you to the new “Blackwood,” new photoblog, my review of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and finally, to Simon Strantzas’s website where he has posted a PDF of the chapbook we passed out at this year’s Readercon. The chap, which is called Tundra, features a story from Simon, Richard, and yours truly. I hope you dig it.

• Currently reading: The Pistol Poets, by Victor Gischler

Readercon 20 was, in short, the best convention I’ve ever been to. This was due entirely to the people, as I didn’t go to much of the programming. I went to exactly one panel, more for the panelists than the topic being discussed, and while I enjoyed it, the real fun of the con came from meeting people around the hotel, in the dealer’s room, the bar, etc.

I posted some pics on Facebook, then realized that some people won’t be able to see them so I’ve reposted them below.

I don’t want to mention everyone I met, because I know I’ll end up forgetting someone, but I do want to give one particular shout-out to Tom English of Dead Letter Press who managed to throw together a signing for Bound for Evil. This was my very first signing, a big deal for any writer, to the point where I even made Simon Strantzas take a picture of me scribbling my very first autograph. I wish my wife could have been there with me, but Simon took a great picture and I’m thankful to him for that.

I really feel like I accomplished everything I set out to do at this con. I met everyone I wanted to meet, as well as some others I wasn’t expecting, which was an added bonus, and I was able to talk up “Temporary Monsters” a bit without feeling like I was selling Amway. I always feel weird “networking,” like I’m befriending people with an ulterior motive or something, but I didn’t get that feeling at all at Readercon. Everyone was talking about their work and everyone else’s work. It was the perfect combination of business and pleasure, friendly and informative.

Simon, Richard and I had a great drive down to the States and back, talking and dishing and arguing with the talking GPS, and we managed to make it back to Canada without strangling each other. I think that’s a good sign. We may be due for another convention in the future. Plans are in the works.

Some other Readercon reports:

Simon Strantzas

Paul Tremblay – Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday

Caitlin R. Kiernan – Part 1 and Part 2

Orrin Grey

Jennifer Pelland

Lev Grossman from Time Magazine

and the 2008 Shirley Jackson Award winners.

It’s hard to believe, but Readercon is only a few days away. I will be getting up at the buttcrack of dawn on Friday to drive to Toronto, where I will meet up with Simon Strantzas, pack our stuff in his car, and then head off to pick up Richard Gavin. Then we make for the border and do our best not to get strip-searched. My wife is very worried about me at the U.S. border. I have promised not to tell the officials that I am a horror writer, or in general be a smart ass. I think this is a wise choice. I’m all for adventures on our trip south, but I don’t think I want to spend my time detained without council.

I am not a panel person, but there is one on short horror fiction that should be amusing if not informative, so I will be there for that one. Other than that I plan to wander around socializing, putting faces to names and internet handles. I’m hoping to meet up with Liz Hand, Adrienne Jones, Paul Tremblay, Laird Barron, Kurt Dinan, and a slew of others.

I will be participating in one event of a sort, an ad hoc signing of Bound for Evil that I believe is happening because of an unexpected coincidence that the editor, Tom English, and some of the contributors, myself, Simon Strantzas, and Orrin Grey, all happen to be attending the con. Lucky us, and lucky you if you happen to own a copy of the book and want it signed.

So if you’re in the Massachusetts area, come on out and say hello. It’s going to be a blast.

• Currently reading: Afraid, by Jack Kilborn

Kat and I are off to Kingston tomorrow for a romantic weekend. What’s the big draw for Kingston? The Tragically Hip, Queens University, and prisons.

We’re sure to have a good time.

Until then, a little blooper from my last movie review.

Yeah, I’m funny.

First of all, Happy Canada Day to all my fellow Canucks. I will be celebrating with the wife in the only way I know how: beer-battered fish and chips at the Ward Street Grill in Bridgenorth. I like that name for a town, Bridgenorth. It’s very Canadian-sounding. You know, because all we have up here in the north country are trees and bridges and moose and beaver and roaming camera crews filming beer commercials and “Hinterland Who’s Who” documentary segments. And the air is filled with the sound of The Tragically Hip, Anne Murray, 54-40, Blue Rodeo, and Rush. The smell of that air is donuts, beer, bacon, and maple syrup. You call it Canada. I call it… well, Canada, but I also call it home.

Speaking of trees, I will take this moment to tell you about today’s launch of a very unusual project I’ve been considering for a long time. Those of you who know me, or at least this website, will recall that I’m something of an artist, and that I have, in my time, published a few comic strips. The reason I’m not currently producing one is that I don’t have the time. Simple as that. I still write down the ideas, with the hope that one day, if I ever write full time, this would free up a few hours in which I could pursue some of these side projects.

Anyway, since I don’t have time to write and draw a comic strip, I’ve decided to try something a little different. Among my favourite comic strips over the years, I’ve always enjoyed the concept of the “constrained format” strip, which may be best known in David Lynch’s The Angriest Dog in the World. These are comics that use the same artwork for each strip, changing only the text. It’s perhaps not the most exciting type of strip, and it’s not for everyone, but right now it’s the only kind of comic I can produce on a regular basis. I also like the challenge of the format. I think it requires a bit more creativity than the other comics I’ve produced in the past.

The comic strip is called “Blackwood.” What’s it about? Well, that’s the hard part. The artsy answer would be: “Blackwood” is an existential constrained-format comic strip about trees. The not-so-artsy answer is that it’s a record of voices heard talking in a haunted forest called Blackwood. As I said, it’s not going to be for everyone. This isn’t Calvin & Hobbes or The Far Side. It’s dark, it’s weird, it’s experimental. And I would be remiss not to mention two Canadian strips that have inspired me, both kind of experimental in their own constrained, or at least semi-constrained, formats. Peter Darbyshire’s Shrapnel and Ryan North’s Dinosaur Comics.

“Blackwood” will be updated weekly, sometimes bi-weekly, depending on my writing schedule.

Also, I’ve posted my video review of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, which I think marks my first negative review, and BIFF BAM POP! has my review of Johnny Gruesome, by Gregory Lamberson, which is the polar opposite of Transformers in that it is quite excellent and I recommend it to everyone.

Okay, that’s it, folks. Read, watch, and be merry. I’m off to eat, drink, and be Canadian.

See you on the flip-flop.

• Currently reading: The Wheelman, by Duane Swierczynski