Dispatches from Obscurity

Once upon a time

Mark Ladouceur — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 21:57:56 +0000

Once upon a time I called myself a writer. That was 2 years ago now. I wrote a bunch of short stories, two of which were published; the rest of them were not. I wrote one first draft of a novel based on Star Trek. I wrote a second novel in a world of my own invention. And rewrote, and rewrote, and rewrote.
My inability to wrap up my second novel to my satisfaction and my waning enthusiasm for short stories, combined with the demands of my family life and my so called career led me to put aside writing.
I figured I should concentrate on what paid the bills; my job. And on my family.
Now I find I need a creative outlet, which my job doesn’t provide. It’s time to get back on the horse and see if I still know how to ride.

Reading death. I mean dearth of reading.

Mark Ladouceur — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 16:09:02 +0000

Wow, what happened to my reading habit? I can blame Twitter, Facebook and video games. I just haven’t set aside much time to sit down and read. I’ve even fallen off with the list I use to track what I’m reading. Time to get back on that.

Close, but no cigar

Mark Ladouceur — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 18:11:35 +0000

Just by happenstance (vanity search) I found out that my novella, “Failure of Flesh” made the 1st Quarter Honorable Mention list for the Writers of the Future Contest.

Link to the press release

So that’s nice, but looks like it won’t see publication there. On to the next market then.

Books read since November

Mark Ladouceur — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 02:48:32 +0000

Astro City, by Kurt Busiek

Maus, by Art Spiegelman

Under the Dome, by Stephen King

Lost Symbol, The, by Dan Brown

Fray, by Joss Whedon

Goblin War, by Jim C. Hines

Black Hole, by Charles Burns

Blankets, by Craig Thompson

The Afghan Campaign, by Steven Pressfield

Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell

The Shining, by Stephen King

Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman

So, the writing

Mark Ladouceur — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 02:02:32 +0000

Writing this past few months has been terrible. I could blame my job, for which I spent 2009 managing a team of writers and carrying twice the number of duties; or I could say I had to spend more time with my family because of our infant daughter (now a toddler). In the end though, I just hit a lack of motivation.

I spent much of the year thinking what I should write. I’ve grown tired of the never-ending novel; who wouldn’t? And short stories aren’t really doing anything for me.

I think then that it’s time to try something new.

Books read since July

Mark Ladouceur — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:55:48 +0000

Surprising for me, but I’ve managed to finish only a handful of books since my earlier July post on reading.

Watching Baseball Smarter, by Zack Hample
Timeline, by Michael Chricton
Designated Targets, by John Birmingham
Final Impact, by John Birmingham

Something tells me there must be more than these, but if so, I haven’t logged them, and apparently haven’t been impressed enough to remember them.

Laziness rules

Mark Ladouceur — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 02:21:54 +0000

What’s this? Oh, yes, right, I have a blog and I’ve been ignoring it in a huge way. I’ve also been doing very little writing since early August. No excuse other than pure laziness. I am working on a comeback.

Spelling counts

Mark Ladouceur — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 19:30:56 +0000

I found an interesting (to me) article on the effect bad spelling and grammar can have on a blog.

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/errors_by_bloggers_kill_credib.php

Reading so far this year

Mark Ladouceur — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 19:25:06 +0000

This list is far shorter than I would like it to be. Part of that is starting and putting aside more books than usual. I have a second daughter at home now and reading time has been shaved down even further as a result. If it doesn’t grab me fast, I’m on to the next one. So what have I enjoyed enough to finish?

Goblin Hero, by Jim C. Hines
The Yiddish Policeman’s Union, by Michael Chabon
The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman
After Sunset, by Stephen King
Splitters, Squeezes, and Steals: The Inside Story of Baseball’s Greatest Techniques, Strategies, and Plays, by Derek Gentile

There were a few other books in the span of months that I started and abandoned for various reasons, but really, my reading accomplishments so far are pretty feeble.

Star Trekked

Mark Ladouceur — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 19:16:14 +0000

I’ve put my money towards the Star Trek sequel (seeing it 5 times), because it was probably the most fun I’ve had at a movie in years. I had planned to review the movie initially, but there are billions of bytes already taken up with those. Instead I just wanted to say what it meant to me.

As a long time trek fan, this movie, was pretty much everything I’d hoped it would be: fun, exciting, funny and moving. It also cleared what I feared would be the biggest hurdle; that it wouldn’t respect its source material. I was quite happy how they treated the characters, how they respected the spirit of the original, and how they forged a new path (boldly going) without nullifying everything that’s come before.

I can’t wait to see what they do next.