Jeff Macfee

Well everyone else does it (said with whine…)

* Revise The Final Tasting
* Revise Faster
* Finish 1st draft of Nine Tenths
* At long last go back to the bazillionth draft of Moneymaker.

Really it’s the last one I’m dying to do. After not touching Moneymaker for almost a year I’m ready to start fixing it. I think I’ve absorbed what I wanted from VP, in relation to this story. Rejected some bits too. Got a strong enough vision to maybe make it worth something, send out a few queries. Still–going to make myself finish all the other work first.

A third iPhone? Really?

I am a bit of a Mac tool, and I’ve completely eradicated Windows from my house. I’m still proud of that, and I miss it not at all. I’ve had markedly fewer crashes on my last two Mac laptops than any PC that preceded them.

But.

But my iPhone, which I love to use, goes belly-up entirely too often. I owned a 3G less than a month before it tanked. I took it to the unfortunately named Genius Bar and it was kindly replaced, so I thought little of it. But now, four months later, I’ve had to replace it again, and this time not for free. I’m not playing handball with the thing–for crying out loud my last pre-iPhone phone went through the wash and still worked. What gives?

I’m not defecting, not yet. When it works, the iPhone apps and flexibility and near-perfect user interface are still for me. But I’m watching the market (yes, this means you Android). Might be I’ll have to give up one kind of snobbery and replace it with another. Steve Jobs may not have a death grip on me after all.

Man, it’s nearly been a year.

Nearly a year since VPXII. Now a whole new crop of aspiring writers are getting all excited about going to VPXII…I. I am now an oldster. Those guys from the last class–won’t they shut up already? How quickly it all happened.

I wish I had stories of novels published and accolades won. I don’t, not yet. I’m not on the verge of selling (or even completing) my latest novel, and my short stories are quite likely stuck in a rut.

Still.

VP taught me a lot, even if I never publish word one. And I met people I’d have never otherwise met, and I keep in touch with a great many of them. Bittersweet though it may be, it’s still a great memory, and something I can look forward to thinking about at least once a year, as a whole new class gets ready to share in the fun.

Best of luck next month, all of you VPXIII’ers.

* The dogs are howling something fierce. Not my dogs, as I have a cat. Good god–what if the cat is howling?
* My family dynamic may be changing. Read into that what you will. Some of you know what I’m talking about (Internets, I’m looking at you).
* I achieved my 35th story rejection since I’ve been tracking such things. Picked up two acceptances along the way, although nothing paying. Only one story is currently about and about, which is unusual for me. What does it mean? It means my spreadsheet can count to 37 (35, not counting the acceptances).
* If I was to say “not counting the mezzanine”, would anyone get it?
* Should I apply to Clarion next year? I’m thinking I have no business applying, as the realities of acceptance are unavoidable. Six weeks, away from wife and child? I don’t think I’ve banked enough husband points for that. Besides, maybe I’m beyond teaching.
* What type of glass do you use for $6 wine? Plastic? One of those hats with cups built into the side? I’d hate to be gauche.

In the interest of random blog content, here’s a few books I’ve finished reading in the last month:

The bloody, and the crazy. Really–why not?