As usual, I've been very busy and haven't updated this journal as much as I would've liked. Between job-hunting, working on my first sales letter for the copywriting course, and looking into cable Internet, I've had precious little time left over. I did manage to finish reading Alfred Bester's The Stars My Destination at last, and I'll talk about that along with Steven Pressfield's The War of Art in a moment.

We saw an ad on TV early last week for cable Internet via our cable company, and the price wasn't much more than we pay through dial-up now! I found out the details and then found an even better deal through Best Buy for a free cable modem (Motorola SB5100) after rebates with sign-up through them. With our cable company, there's also a discount if you have digital cable with a digital pak (ie extra channels). Since we only had Classic cable (digital with some extra channels over Basic), we had to pick a digital pak (we chose the movie channels - 21 in total!) to get the discount. It made sense, since we still end up saving each month with the discount. Now we're just waiting for the cable company to call us to setup service and arrange for a tech to come out with some cables and installation CDs. I'm not going to miss dial-up, that's for sure!

I spent a lot of time seeing what was on offer on the new movie channels and ended up watching Something Wicked This Way Comes and The Last Temptation of Christ. The former is based on the book by Ray Bradbury and it was an entertaining yarn, although perhaps a bit dated. Despite reading tonnes of Bradbury's stuff, I still haven't gotten around to reading this one. The Last Temptation of Christ was billed as 'controversial', and it was (probably moreso than Mel Gibson's latest effort) - the depiction of Jesus was quite different from the almost flawless image typically presented. Controversy alone is not enough to sustain interest in a movie, and I found my attention wandering at times. I felt like it could've done with some trimming, and I just couldn't picture Willem Dafoe as Jesus. Maybe if I hadn't seen Spiderman, I might've been able to take him more seriously :)

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My Amazon order containing Steven Pressfield's The War of Art arrived in late February, and I devoured it in less than two hours. I first found out about it through some entries on Rob's journal here on Journalscape.

It's not a "how to write" book at all, but more of a motivational book for creative types. The first third talks about the concept of 'Resistance' and basically how it is human nature to procrastinate or sabotage your own efforts at anything related to art or self-improvement. Pressfield covers a bunch of different types of Resistance and suggests how to go about overcoming them. The second bit is all about having a professional mindset and not the amateur "I only write when inspired" attitude. He goes into a fair bit of detail there. I found the third section was best interpreted metaphorically rather than literally, when Pressfield starts talking about angels and Muses. The War of Art is one of the better motivational books out there, and a nice addition to any writer's (or artist's) library.

For ages now I've been meaning to get around to Alfred Bester's SF classic, The Stars My Destination. I finished reading it last night and I was very impressed. Despite the protagonist (Gully Foyle) being a vile and vengeful character, I was compelled to continue reading just to see what sticky situation he'd get himself into next! Bester introduces a strange and colourful future in which people 'jaunte' thousands of miles with a single thought. It is obvious that Bester has thought through this concept in great detail, and much of the action and plot elements derive from it. Bester deftly weaves colourful technology, larger-than-life characters, and witty banter with a clever plot. Despite being written in 1956, the story holds up well against contemporary SF and its classic status is much deserved. Quite frankly this is a must-read for anyone even remotely interested in SF!

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I was excited by the 'significant' findings made by the Mars Opportunity rover that NASA was to announce on Tuesday, and I eagerly tuned in to watch the afternoon press conference. On the Asimov's forum, I made a guess that it'd be about some geological evidence of water in Mars' past. I thought it unlikely they'd come across any life, however. As expected, that was pretty much what they announced, although the conclusion that Mars was once 'soaking wet' was a surprise. Now I'm just waiting for them to announce the discovery of Martian lifeforms, or the past existence thereof...

2004 Stats:

Stories written:	1
Total submissions:	4
Total acceptances:	0
Total rejections:	3
Waiting for response:	3
Books read:	4
Fiction Mags/Chapbooks read:	6

What I'm Reading:
More Tomorrow and Other Stories by Michael Marshall Smith
The Well-Fed Writer by Peter Bowerman
The Ultimate Sales Letter by Dan S. Kennedy
Locus, February 2004
Fantasy and Science Fiction, September 2003