Reading, writing and the search for the perfect cup of coffee.

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You know, this is exactly how I think the iPhone would be like if it did get on a late night talk show.

Thanks to Jeph Jacques at Questionable Content for the great guest strip.

Wow, I can’t believe the day came, but I finally finished my 1st draft of my thesis novel on Sunday evening. It came out to 91,768 words with a marathon 5,437 word dash on the last day. You have no idea how relieved I am about it. By no means am I finished (I still have re-writes to do) but those are a lot easier to do when you have a completed draft in your hands.

For the past two day’s I’ve been holding off on beginning re-writes until I head back from my mentor Gary Braunbeck, but tomorrow I will start writing again with an eye at correcting some of the too formal dialogue and perhaps even writing a short story to change gears a bit.

Either way, it’s great to be done with the first major milestone!

I’m taking a break from writing my novel today to make a confession.

I love coffee.

While I’m sure it doesn’t come as a surprise to you, I just felt I had to say it aloud. Coffee’s the one hot beverage I pursue with a fervor reserved for such things as politics, religion, crusades and reality TV. So imagine my great shame when I could not brew a pot of decent coffee to save my life.

Yes, I love coffee and yet how to produce a perfect cup via a home brewer eludes me.

But there is hope for me. Before my ancestors turned their backs on me in dishonor, I found coffee nirvana in the confines of a ridiculously expensive apartment complex leasing office: The Keurig Brewing System.

It was amazing. The coffee came in small salad dressing-like plastic cups with a foil top. All you had to do was to put the cup in the brewer, close the holder, hit a button for the amount of water you want to use, and throw the spent cup away. Presto! Instant perfect cup of coffee.

The best part is, unlike the limited selection, and sometimes lower quality, that comes with those other systems out there, the Keurig is made by a company that only sells the system, not coffee (well, not until they were acquired by Green Mountain Coffee, but I digress). With that in mind they have offerings from some of the best boutique brewers out there including Diedrich Coffee, Coffee People, Caribou Coffee, Green Mountain Coffee, and the list goes on. Oh and did I forget to mention a great selection of teas, too? (No Darjeeling, unfortunately)

“What about blends they don’t carry?” Ah, well they have that covered. You can get a My K-Cup which lets you put your own coffee in there and then brew it. Best of all there are lines inside the metal basket to ensure you get a consistent cup every time you brew.

Coffee perfection a cup at a time!

So now I can grind my own blends (combining single-origin coffees after running them through a burr grinder) and enjoy them whenever I want. I even made a Colombian/Guatemalan blend for my own wedding as a favor. A nice way to represent our own respective nationalities.

I know there are other single serve coffee systems out there. What sort of experiences have you had with them? I’m curious to hear some more perspectives, especially when it comes to other systems out there.

Well, it’s Wednesday and I’d thought I’d post on my progress since I aim to finish the novel this week.

I’m just shy the 85,000 mark and right now I’m approaching the “big action scene”. In some ways I’m elated to be almost there, but in others I just want to finish the damn thing already. Some of the mornings I feel like my mind is full of molasses and my fingers are made of cement. I just want to finish and then take a big, long, nap.

But, I know that my work is just beginning since I need to start revisions as soon as I’m done and then have everything finished by September 30th in time for the readers.

Sometimes I wish I could scream.

Does anyone have any tips on how to fight these weird “end of novel” emotions?

I was able to get through about 2,300 words during the weekend. By far my most productive weekend, but still shy of where I wanted to be. There had been hope that I could finish the manuscript before the final hours of Sunday, but I found “Weekenditis” had taken hold.

What is Weekenditis? To keep it short, it’s a condition which affects me during the weekend and prevents me from getting any actual writing work done. Oh sure I get other things done, but my writing comes to a complete halt. It’s a rich combination of laziness and procrastination with a small bit of avoidance thrown in for spice.

In the coming days, I’ll talk a little bit more about Weekenditis and how to combat it, but for now let’s continue with the update on my progress.

I’ll be setting a new goal to finish the novel by the end of the week on Sunday. I’m confident I’ll have it wrapped up before then, but I want to put a self-imposed deadline to push me to finish it.

And after that it’ll be time to take a harrowing spin through Revision Land.

Beware the Red Pen! Beeeewwwwaaaaarrrrrrreeeeee!!!

Another Friday’s here and once more we head on over to talk about more caffeine-related subjects. This time, I’d like to focus on something that is just as important as getting that perfect cup of coffee: the coffee table.

I bet you’re wondering why the big deal about a table? Well, this isn’t just any ol’ table. We’re talking about a piece of furniture in your home designed with the express purpose of holding your coffee cup or mug at the optimum level for consumption. They even put coffee in the name to tell you just what it was meant for.

Now most of you are probably thinking: “So what? It’s just a short long table.” Wrong! There are so many different designs out there to celebrate this centerpiece of our living space. Like this one:

Now that is a coffee table all your friends will be talking about.

Thanks to the guys at Single Serve Coffee on finding this gem.

When I woke up today I happened upon something that saddened me.

I’ve read many a story in Science-Fiction and Fantasy where a sensitive social subject could be explored without fear of the usual backlash from those parties involved. So it disheartens me to read a rejection letter with comments of someone who is blinded by their own hatred of a particular group. However, another thing came to light as I had gone through the comments on these blog entries. I kept finding the same recurring theme from minority writers and readers that SF/F is racist and bigoted.

Huh?

I agree with the sentiments that William Sanders had overstepped the boundaries of professionalism and good taste, but then these commenters on several of these blogs lump all of SF/F together as racist and a “white man’s club” because of their own experiences? Isn’t that just as bad as what William Sanders had done by writing those racist words himself? Generalizing an entire community and industry by the actions of a few?

I’m a minority writer myself (Hispanic) and I’ve had nothing but great interactions with the SF/F community and industry at large. I’ve found support everywhere I turned and even in my rejections I had found more to strengthen me in my pursuit of being a better writer. Where is all this hatred coming from that I haven’t run into it?

Maybe I’m just lucky I haven’t encountered it. Or perhaps more likely is the SF/F community and industry are a lot more supportive of the growing voice of minority writers and those few commenters had run into the wrong people. I’d like to think that SF/F will prove me right in this regard, and so far it has.

I can now say that the end is nigh. No, not the end of the world (at least I hope not) but the end of my novel. So far I’m in the last 5,000 words or so of it and I can feel the threads are coming to a close and then I can start the process of re-writing.

I do apologize for the lack of content update, but it’s been a harrowing week or so. Who could have thought possible to first catch something at Residency and then get either some minor food poisoning or stomach flu from a July 4th family gathering? It makes me the lucky winner this month and my prize is an economy sized bottle of Pepto.

Toward the end of this week, when I aim to finish the novel, I’ll be going back to my daily posting regime and post some more information on what happened at Residency and what I learned while there. I also have some great updates as far as social networking is concerned and how writers can use it to their maximum effectiveness.

Content’s been a little light this week, mostly due to the my trying to finish both my thesis novel and getting over what I’d picked up at Residency (no, not writing tips). But I would be remiss if I didn’t give you another caffeine-flavored post on Friday since even though I enjoy working, I have to get up from the keyboard to make my blessed brew.

But sometimes the chain of a writer is heavy indeed and when my muse is sitting on my back forcing me to stay I have to ask my beautiful wife to make some coffee for me. What happens you ask if she doesn’t know how I like my coffee, or maybe that I might want some other hot, tasty beverage? I have an answer for that also, behold the glory of the Drink Selector Mug

With this marvelous device I can wordlessly transmit to others exactly what sort of beverage I wish and how it should be prepared to my exacting specifications. It is the ultimate in silent caffeinated-writer communication! And at a paltry $24.00 the price is right, also.

Now, if I could only get my wife to get into the office to see the cup, that’s another issue.

Thanks to Single Serve Coffee for finding this great office accessory.

I just came back from Residency at Seton Hill University today. It was nice to have an uneventful flight after the interesting week I had.

First off, I apologize for the lack of updates while I was there. About a couple of days in, I began to feel under the weather, which culminated in a visit to the urgent care on Saturday morning. It took only a couple of seconds for the test to come back positive for strep throat, but thankfully I was prescribed some meds and now I’m feeling better. My main problem now is my wife insists on asking me who I was kissing to catch it.

The Residency was enjoyable as ever, and meeting all of my friends always gives me a rush. Being surrounded by so many writers can in inspire in ways you can’t expect. Since there were a lot of things that happened, I’ll spread out some of the more significant events and lessons I learned through some of my blog entries over this week.

Lastly, while I was sitting in bed for most of Saturday there was one thing that kept popping into my mind: Was there any way I could do some work during the time? I found I lacked the energy to leave the room for the most part, but I’m curious if any of you have some tips and tricks for keeping productive while being dogged by the bug d’jour? Feel free to post some of your ideas in the comments.