More wars, or fewer? The same number, but less violent? Niven preferred to consider the music of the stars in the form of questions like these. What would it be like if everyone could hear it? Tonight’s symphony of rumbles and whistles seemed appropriate to battle.
This was no Roger Whittaker whistling. It was low and undulating, like the wind that passes between two closely spaced houses ricocheting off the faded vinyl siding, syncopated by protruding electrical meters, abandoned garden tools, and a wheelbarrow full of soil bound for a garden that will forever go wanting. The North Star large but dull, a tarnished steel sonata, sat idle while neighboring constellations ignited in high operatic style. The last throes of a desperate movement capitulating to a soft plum dawn, the musicians in need of rosin and an intermission.

Perched on his rock, he zipped up the the high collar of his sweater, protecting his neck and  the humble beginnings of a beard from the night. He twisted off the thermos lid and poured the remaining half cup of tea into the lid, savouring the warmth on his hands. Soon, it would be too cold to come listen like this. The rock, wide and flat and accommodating as it was no longer received enough sun during the day to radiate comfort in the wee hours. In a matter of weeks, if not days, clouds and snowfall will quiet the stars, and Niven and his kind will endure the white silence.

Every rock, hill, island, and each city roof top yields a different arrangement of the score as ancient frequencies Doppler past. In the long shadows of winter, they will complete their transcriptions. In basements, in libraries, and out of the way coffee shops, they’ll meet to compare the longitudinal pitch shifts and latitudes of rhythmic variation. Ink stained hands will dance in proclamation of genius, piety, doom, and the sanctity of night.  The papers annotated, filed and eventually archived so other generations may know the subjective and second hand beauty of the stars.

The last notes fade into the ripening morning light and the stars take a bow. As near as Niven could tell, the performance suggested war is destined to exist in one form or another for all eternity. He finished his tea, shook the straggling drops out of the lid-slash-cup, and threaded it back onto the thermos.

Like the others, he will wait patiently for spring, sleepless blankets pulled high and windows shuttered against the snowy glare.  The rock will be there in May. The stars, too. He will have a new season of questions, a warmer sweater, and a bigger thermos.

When I started 3S stories on Nov 17,2008, my goal was to tweet  a short-short-short story five days a week for a year. With the exception of a couple weeks holidays, I pulled it off. I learned a lot about editing, about impact, and more importantly, about the social value of Twitter.

I wanted to keep 3S_stories a pure fiction venue. But the social  nature of Twitter wouldn’t allow it. I found myself getting LOL replies, and laudatory DMs, and retweets that increased my followers by ten or 15 people a week. I replied with thank yous, responded in kind by retweeting my faves. Before I knew it, I was part of a community; sharing jokes, having conversations, doling out support and advice and receiving the same in return. I don’t have the most followers but the ones I have, I like.

Which brings me to my Twitter meme/goal/conspiracy for 2010: The Hashtag.

The hashtag functions as a sort of collective bookmark on Twitter. It’s that addendum to a tweet marked with an ‘#’.  They allow  tweets on a theme or topic to be archived and easily searched. You can see examples under Trending Topics on the right hand side of your Twitter page.

Here’s some example I contributed to the Dec 31st #BadDoctorWhoSynopsis:

Dr Who is the guy Buckaroo Bonzai wants to be when he grows up. #BadDrWhoSynopsis
Dr Who is like ‘Are You Being Served?’ with less double entendre and more spaceships. #BadDrWhoSynopsis
Dr Who: Come Mister Timelord, tally me bananas/Dalek come, and me wanna go home. #BadDrWhoSynopsis
Dr Who is like my life, only with better acting, good scripts, cute co-stars and a bigger budget. #BadDrWhoSynopsis

Other examples from  November:
3S_stories@JodiMacArthur Captain Ahab’s Seafood Palace? Christine’s Drive-In ? Fried and Freshly Juiced? The Crepes of Plath? #literaryrestaurants
JodiMacArthur@3S_stories: That’s ridiculous. How about. Lord Of The Fries?
Chris Farley was my Sensei, David Spade my sparring partner. #iamabadninja
Uniform accidentally bleached, I am limited to missions in the Arctic.#iamabadninja
Fleeing pursuer I forward roll over parked car, get hit by passing city bus.#iamabadninja
Get the idea?

Hash tags provide context. They leverage the social aspect of Twitter and invite participation, which is a direction I want to go with 3S_stories.

Will you join me in creating random acts of creativity?  All that’s required is that you be brief, be relevant, and interesting. You can do that, can’t you?

No obligatory year in review post this year. Nope. Not gonna do it.
It’s been a good year, but a busy year. I had a lot of things I’d made notes to share that wound up  missed, ignored, left for dead, or flat-out forgotten. Here are a few of them.

Prom King and Queen of My Twitter Stream

One of the people I started following on Twitter was JC Hutchins. This was for a couple of reasons. First, he’s funny.  Second,  the way he uses twitter as marketing and promo tool is genius. He includes judicious doses of humour, humility, pride, and a certain non-annoying business savvy that I wish more people (including me) had.

Mighty Mur, of the I Should Be Writing podcast was another early find. An artful purveyor of promotion, her balance of personal anecdote and  information is served up in a very human and humane style. In particular, I’ve grown fond of her use of hashtags. So much so, in fact, it has inspired a new creative direction for 3S_stories in 2010 (more info next post).

Nov 17 – My First Year of Online Socializing

Yup, one year. Prior to November 2008, I used the web pretty much like my own personal library. Lots of information, and very little interaction. My work schedule changed and I found myself on a compressed shift, working my 40 hours from 6am to 7:30pm on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

Well, this had some impact on the ol’ social life. Who’s at work when I’m off? Everybody, that’s who. Who’s hitting the town when I’m putting my PJs on? Everybody.  I started with the Six Sentences community on Ning, hooked up with the 13 Stitches crowd, and started tweeting my Short-short-short stories under the 3S_stories moniker. Twitter became my fave hang, and #fridayflash became my writing vice.

My online experience became more satisfying as it became more specific. Slowly, I got to the point  where I was following and being followed by interesting, benevolent, intelligent, funny people. Yay, internet!

Conspiracy Theory #13 a-1: The Google Quest for World Domination.

OK, maybe I’m exaggerating a little bit, but not much.
If you jump to the most interesting, least provable conclusion, all circumspect and hearsay evidence points to Google upsetting the existing Telco infrastructure and business models in the coming years. The purchase of Gizmo5 & rolling it into Google Voice, patents for sea-going data centres, white space lobbying, and the emergence of Google Wave all point to traditional phone lines & services becoming redundant. In the 21st century, all businesses are data businesses, whether they understand it or not. Google does.

Technorati Tags: google, Social Network, Writing

On a cold, lazy  Sunday afternoon, I decided to publish an eBook using Smashwords.

In the days following, my Google reader was spewing forth post after post after post on the subject of ebooks, e-readers, the perils of self publishing, the possibilities of self publishing, the perils of traditional publishing, and the significance of the pickle (those of you finding that last bit to be an artless and confusing non sequitur rather than a clever-but-dated cultural reference are advised to pick up an Arlo Guthrie album or two).

The proliferation of differing opinions points to a world of opportunity. I don’t think anyone knows, or can predict what happens next in this fledgling market. Well, perhaps one certainty: People with these shiny new devices will be looking for something to read on them. The challenge will be in connecting with these consumer.

I’m still taking it all in.  I’ll likely publish another e-book, and when I do, I’ll use everything I learned from this little experiment.
One thing I feel certain about is that the quest for us writer types will be getting noticed. How will we become the easiest to find needle in the haystack?
Had I not uploaded my files and clicked the big ol’ PUBLISH button on Sunday, I probably wouldn’t have, given what I read on Monday and Tuesday. Was the internet watching, waiting for me to publish so as to righteously confuse, confound, and frighten me with it’s news and opinions on the matter? Maybe. I’m almost paranoid enough to buy that line. The truth is, I don’t know or care.

I did what I did for the following reasons:

I  Believe in Technology.  More specifically, I believe in participating in, messing about with, and coming to terms with new technology. Whether we like it or loathe it, we need to be familiar enough with technology  to articulate our preferences.  Innovation is not going to stop. In the years to come, we will be inundated with change, often much faster than we would like.

I wanted to take responsibility for my own work. I’m not afraid of rejection, but I don’t go looking for it, either.
It could be months of not knowing, not being able to re-submit. Why let an editor in some far-flung locale decide if people will or won’t like my story? Tools exist to take them out of the equation, and go directly to the readers in the form of websites, twitter, blog posts, and self published  eBooks.  The feedback loop is shorter, more responsive, and more varied. Is that better than being vetted and edited by traditional means? Don’t know, don’t care.

I like to learn. Yeah, that makes me sound like a big geek. But you know what? I AM a big geek.
One of the most important things I’ve figured out as an adult (and I use that term loosely), is that if you stop learning, you’re fucked. The less you know and understand, the greater the opportunity for others to take advantage of your naivete, and sell you a time share, an Amway franchise, or three cheeseburgers for a dollar. If you want a degree, you need to go to University. If you want to learn, all you need is a library card and some bandwidth. Get your hands dirty. Take chances. Remember what works and what doesn’t.

It looked like it might be fun: This goes back to being a geek, I suppose. I come from a long line of tinkerers. Where my father and grandfathers had wood lathes, band saws, and a never ending assortment of chisels, I have SQL databases, Java IDEs, and an irresponsible and under-used cavalcade of Google APIs. Making stuff, and making stuff up is fun. My workshop is digital, and sawdust free. Music, comic strips, short stories - it’s all fun and games to me.

If you want to publish an eBook, I say go for it. Just have a clear idea of why you’re doing it, and what you hope to get out of it.

Technorati Tags: eBook, e-reader, DIY

What I love most about the internet is that it makes it easy to do things that you didn’t even know you wanted to do.

For example, I just published an ebook.

Oh, did I mention I also made a promo film for it? Enjoy the short film, then head over to my  publications page to find out how to get a copy for free.

Yup, free. I like you guys so much that I’m giving it away until December 21, 2009.