"Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."

– Winston Churchill

Aaaaannnd....that's it! This is the last post I will be making on this blog. It's early Monday morning, so technically, our last class is tonight; this blog has served its purpose.

To my fellow classmates, best of luck on your final projects, presentations, and so on. I'll be seeing you!

To anyone who wants more from me, remember that you can go to rogermarket.com to read my regular blog and drafts of my stories and essays, but also to access my hypertext narrative (the final project for this class). I will definitely continue to make updates to the website. I do have a personal Facebook account, and I'll accept you if I know you. For everyone else, because of this class, I now also have a public page that markets me as a writer/artist, so feel free to Like it (updates and changes are forthcoming). I also have a special Facebook page for my hypertext narrative; join that page in order to receive updates about the hypertext story and/or to provide feedback on it. I need all the help I can get to make it better.

Now, I bid adieu to Blogger.com for the time being.

"What is not started today is never finished tomorrow."

– Larry Elder

The semester's almost over. I'm putting the finishing touches on my paper for Electronic Publishing, and then I'll just have to print out my final poster designs, and mount them, for Typography. Yay! It's been an interesting semester, heavy on the publishing part of the M.F.A. degree, but I'll be glad to have some time off.

As evidenced by my previous posts, I've got lots of shows, movies, and books to watch/read during that time off, but I'm also going to be working, so that list may not be feasible. I've started a new job, so for the first time since August 2009, I'll be working full time (though it's commission-based). I'm also still working part time for O.T.S. at U.B., although I'll actually be working from home for a couple of weeks, updating the student lab assistant manual, and after that's done, I won't be working much for O.T.S. until February. Then there's the U.B. Post; I still plan on doing layout for the Post, in order to gain work experience in my field.

With all of this work going on, my career goal for 2010 is to make enough money that I'll actually end up having to pay taxes for my 2011 return. You see, I've never worked enough to have to pay; I've always gotten everything back on my tax return because I've never earned more than $7,000 in a year, which is below the limit for paying taxes. Although I'll end up losing part of my income to taxes if/when I meet this goal, at least I'll be making a living wage (and then some)! I just wish I could have found a full time job in my field; that's the next step.

"Approximately 5.9 million U.S. adults own an eReader."

– Paul Biba, TeleRead.com

I read an article the other day about e-readers. Apparently, ownership of electronic reading devices has soared from 2.1 million people (in the March to October period of 2009) to 5.9 million people (in the same period of 2010), an increase of about 180% in a year's time. Previously, male users outnumbered female users 56% to 44%, but now, the numbers have almost evened out, with men at 49% and women now in the lead at 51%, mirroring the world population. These numbers do not include tablet computers (i.e., iPads, netbooks, laptops, etc.), only dedicated e-readers.

And then tonight, I found out that one of my friends got a Kindle in October and likes it a lot.

Argh!

I know it's inevitable: soon enough, I'm going to be part of these statistics. But right now, I'm still resisting.

"So, that notion of hypertext seemed to me immediately obvious because footnotes were already the ideas wriggling, struggling to get free, like a cat trying to get out of your arms."

– Ted Nelson

This evening, I decided to take Jenny up on her offer: instead of going to class to work, I worked from home. I write better when I'm not surrounded by other people who are working on their own things (and all different types of projects), talking, making computer noises, etc. Nothing against anyone in particular, I just work better in silence, or at least when I can control the noise around me (e.g., playing classical music).

That said, I didn't actually get started until about 9:00 p.m because I couldn't get motivated, but I did ultimately manage to finish the last two sections of my hypertext narrative. So, the first draft of the entire story is now live at www.rogermarket.com; just go there, and then click on Hypertext to get started. In making this narrative, I've come to realize one fatal flaw in using the frames method on my website: I can't link directly to the narrative, or any page other than the main page, for that matter. Oh well. Moving on...

I realize there are still a lot of problems with the story, but I wanted to get a basic framework. I hope it isn't unbearable. Anyway, I have set up a Facebook page for everyone (not just classmates but everyone) to interact with the story. Tell me what's wrong with it, what's right with it, if there's a broken link or typo, and so on.

I hope to mold this, over time, into a well-written, successful, meaningful hypertext narrative. But to do that, I'll need feedback along the way. When I make changes, I'll update the Facebook page so everyone knows. I'll also be sure to update the datestamp (if that's not a word, I'm making it one; there's such a thing as a timestamp, so why not a datestamp?) on the main page of the narrative every time I make changes. Right now, the latest update is 29 November 2010.

Now, I just have to write the 2- 3-page paper, and I'll be done with my work for this class!

“Oh, yes, veddy good price, ah tink. Don’t fuhget da teep.”

– Cabbie, in draft one of my hypertext narrative (which will be live soon at rogermarket.com)

It's been painful forcing myself to work on my hypertext narrative today (I had taken a break for a week or two before starting on the second major version), but I'm excited about what is coming out of it. I wasn't sure if I could pull it off, but I think I've got a story with multiple layers that reveal themselves as the reader makes his or her decisions. One reading might have more revelations than others, more insight into the two main characters – Miriam and Cooper (and if you noticed that name coincidence, yes, it's purposeful). No reading will be definitive, however, so I will certainly invite the reader to go through the story multiple times if he or she wants to know a little more about the characters.

I'd also like to write a screenplay version of the story, which would then be one of the choices the reader has to make (prose or screenplay), but that will most likely come after this class. Because, yes, I do want to continue to work on this story afterwards. As this is only a first draft, I think it will need a lot of work, and as each week, month, and year goes by, I'll probably want to make some changes. Maybe one day, I will call it complete, but that day is far from soon. For now, it's just an Electronic Publishing assignment; one day, though, I hope it will officially be considered one of the stories in my body of work.

P.S. I have started a Facebook page (called Roger William Market's Hypertext Narrative) to act as a supplement to my hypertext narrative – for any pictures/videos I may or may not decide to use, as well as reader feedback, questions, etc. It's already live, so you can Like it now if you want to, and the narrative will be up soon as well.

"Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task."

– William James

My mom and sister came to visit me on Thursday.

It was a good but long weekend. My sister had never been to Baltimore before, so we did the tourist thing all day, showed her Baltimore in all its glory and lack thereof. We took the MARC train to D.C. on Friday and did more touristy stuff, and then had a get together that night at my place. Saturday, we went shopping, and then to a drive-in movie at Bengie's, the largest theater screen in America. During this trip, they met some of my friends in the Baltimore/D.C. area. It was a good trip.

But now it's time to get back to the real world. I have a ton of homework to do, some of it before classes this week, some of it in the next couple of weeks. I have errands I need to run, and I have a bunch of shows I need to get caught up on. I have a lot to do in just a few weeks; it's stressful.

One of those stressful items on my to do list is to finish my hypertext story for this class. I've got one version (with two endings) written down, but I still have yet to write the other version. It's every bit as much work as I thought it would be, and more so. Is anyone else struggling to finish their assignments on time? Do you have any suggestions for how to block out the world and get shit done? After a work-free weekend, the last thing I want to do is homework.

But, unfortunately, it's the first thing I need to do. This should be fun...

"But people that are worried about unborn babies are the same ones that vote against kindergarten programs in Indiana or school lunch funds out of the federal government."

– Birch Bayh (yeah, an unfortunate name...)

I started doing some work on my hypertext narrative the other day, and when I went back to it today, I got excited. This is such a fun story to write! I love the way the characters interact; I don't usually write characters like this. Furthermore, I've never really written anything about Indiana, on a conscious level anyway, so it's refreshing to get to "go" back home while I work.

Anyway, here's a sneak peak of my hypertext narrative, sans the choices you'd get online, one of which is whether the main characters are traveling from their hometown of Baltimore to an event in Rockville, Indiana – like in this version – or from their hometown in Indiana to an event in Baltimore.

For now, I'm calling this story

Lost Things

The cab ride from the Indianapolis airport to Rockville had been long and, at $122.50, obscenely expensive. Miriam, Paula, and Cooper stepped out of the taxi alone, sleep-deprived, and darn near penniless. On this trip, they were doing nothing, it seemed, but grieving for lost things. Now, Cooper was paying the fare, and then they would be off to meet the family members they’d only ever heard about in passing.

Miriam was fair skinned, with ultra-short red hair and a temperament to match. On top, she wore a thrifty but chic maternity shirt, which perfectly matched her “previously loved” designer jeans. Both ensured that she was constantly aware of the life growing inside her, and as she thought about it for the thirty-seventh time that day, she subconsciously rested her hand on the small of her back.

“Damn.” Cooper said, as he slammed the door shut and watched the cab drive away. “Our boy grew up in this hood?” Breaking his gaze on the lone yellow car, which was headed back to Indianapolis, he observed the quaint little town square with the same amount of interest that a dog might show a fly in a country basement on a cold winter's day – which is to say hardly any at all. For a moment, Miriam thought she could actually hear his heartbeat slow to a crawl. He pushed his longish black hair out of his eyes before continuing: “What a dump. I guess I see why he went and offed –”

“Dump?” Miriam said, stepping closer, the better to face him off. “You ever left the city, Cooper? Ever? Baldamore’s a fuckin’ sty compared to this.” With her free hand, she pointed at the courthouse and smiled. “Just look how pretty. No graffiti, no grime spots, no nothin’. It’s fuckin’ beautiful here. Paradise, almost.”

“Yeah, but I see where he’s coming from, hon,” Paula interjected. Then she waved her hands vigorously in front of her to indicate something large and meaty. Paula was black, and Miriam had always found that that, when black people waved their hands, she had to listen and – usually – agree. “I mean….Baldamore’s a city at least. There’s nothing here; we’re in a ghost town for cripe’s sake. Beautiful or not, it’s just plain creepy.” As Paula finished, she put her arms back down at her sides and picked at the seams of her bluejeans, like she always did when she was nervous about something. It was a tell and was very helpful for avoiding arguments, which is why Miriam had never mentioned it to her. Besides, it was cute.

“Yeah, maybe.” Miriam spun around, slowly, taking everything in, her top teeth softly, affectionately biting her bottom lip. As if stifling a giddy burst of emotion. From where she stood on the town square, she saw the courthouse in the middle, of course, a small mom-n-pop variety store called G & M, a local bank branch, a couple of antique stores, a church, an old theater, a privately-owned grocery, and several other places she couldn’t figure out. “Creepy, but I like it. It’s different.”

“Whatever,” Cooper said. “Let’s just do this and get the fuck –”

“Don’t say fuck!” Paula shouted.

“– outta here. Why she can say fuck and I can’t?”

“We have an understanding: no drama, no controlling, no alpha-female baloney. It’s all in the contract.” She punched Cooper’s shoulder and winked. “Besides, she does what she wants, and that’s what I love about her. You, on the other hand…you’s just a straight-up thug!”

Cooper glared at her through squinted eyelids. “Let’s just do this, okay?” He looked around, chose a direction, and walked.

Miriam put her arm around Paula. “See, baby? We got this.” She kissed Paula on the cheek, and they too started walking.

"If it weren't for received ideas, the publishing industry wouldn't have any ideas at all."

– Donald E. Westlake

Remember when I wrote about Smashwords, the e-book publishing company? Well, I read today that Smashwords has surpassed a billion published words – nine weeks ahead of schedule. In about October of last year (2009), the company had published 150 million words. It then set a crazy goal to reach one billion by the end of 2010.

On October 21, 2010, the company reached that goal.

And it succeeded because of people like this. Because more and more frustrated authors or would-be authors are turning to modern technology. Because people are realizing that, with more people than ever on the planet, there is more competition and just aren't enough book deals to go around.

That said, I think they hit the nail on the head: not just anyone can and should publish electronically. One absolutely must be a good writer, because most of the time, the star editing treatment is no where to be found in these electronic publishing companies. That's one of their downfalls.

Even so, it's encouraging to see people getting (e-)published.

"If you must leave your woman alone, be sure to tie her down..."

– from "Chandler's Shop" by The O'Danny Girls

Looking through my footage from Renn Fest yesterday, I've decided that, since the joust was the most exciting part, I'm going to be using it quite a bit in my mini movie. I'd like to feature small clips from some of the other Renn Fest shows, as well as a few that take place outside Renn Fest.

For instance, today, I shot some footage at the harbor. I got a few people walking by (at different angles), some ships coming in, and even a few seconds of the pirate ship that floats around the harbor. I'm thinking this video is going to be some kind of journey through time, since I've got Rennaissance events, pirate ships, modern ships, etc., and since many people (myself included) at Renn Fest were dressed in "normal," modern clothing, there is a bridge between time periods. An anachronism, of course, but still, there is a bridge. I'm not sure what to do with that just yet.

In any case, before today, I was a little worried that I wasn't going to have anything to work with on Monday, but now, with the additional footage I shot, I think I'll be okay. I still don't know if it will be useful for my final project or not, though, because I still need to come up with my story for the hypertext narrative.

More to come on all of this in the next few weeks! Stay tuned.

"I hope they make a video game of me. At least I wouldn't have any cellulite then."

– Scarlett Johansson

I'm going to Ren Fest in Annapolis tomorrow, so I'm probably going to be shooting some video there. I thought that would be a fun venue for a video/photo shoot. Beyond that, though, I'm still not entirely sure what I want to do. I'll probably record some other footage near my apartment, but right now, I need a way to combine the two.

Perhaps Renn Fest can serve as a flashback and the other footage can be the present. It's difficult to know what to record for Monday's class when we're not being graded on it and I'm not 100% sure what I'm doing for my final project. Because why not use this "free" time to make a video I can use? It seems this video project is meant to prepare us for the final, just like the other projects before it have done. I still need to start writing my content for the final project before I really know what kind of video I want to make, because, like I said, whatever video I work on during Monday's class will probably end up in my final project, in some form – probably with a few other videos.

I'll post an update soon, probably after Renn Fest.

"With the advent of ebook self-publishing and the democratization of distribution ... the power of publishing is shifting away from publishers and into the hands of authors and readers where it belongs."

– Mark Coker interview

Yesterday, I found this interview with Mark Coker, Founder and CEO of the electronic publishing company Smashwords. In it, he describes the changing nature of the publishing industry, highlighting his role and understandably praising his own brand of electronic self-publishing. This is marketing 101 after all: you do an interview to raise awareness for your product/service, so why not "talk it up"?

Anyway, I love technology. Outside of books and real-life people, my computer and TV are my best friends. However, I'm apprehensive about this shift toward electronic reading. I already do a lot of my news reading online because of all the blogs and Twitter accounts that I follow. So will I want to sit on my futon this winter, next to a roaring fireplace, and cuddle up with a good...LCD-type screen? An iPad, for instance?

Hell no!

But while I love the tactile sensation of having a book in my hands, turning its pages, flipping quickly to a favorite passage, etc., I cannot deny the convenience that electronic publishing affords the reader (we'll leave the writer out of the equation for now). The simple fact of the matter is that I'm running out of space for books. When I moved to Baltimore in August 2009, I brought with me a small, 3-shelf bookcase and well over 300 books; I quickly bought two 5-shelf bookcases to accomodate the books, as well as my collection of DVDs. Then in late August 2010, I moved from Bolton Hill to Downtown, where my room is actually a little smaller anyway, so it wasn't too distressing that one of my large shelves collapsed before I even tried to move it. I'm down to a 3-shelfer and a 5-shelfer. As such, many of my books are now stored and, yes, inventoried in boxes in the downstairs closet. I hate that; my books want to be out of the closet, with me, but alas, they aren't.

With an e-reader, I still wouldn't be able to display my books – they'd still be in the invisible "closet" of my e-reader's storage mechanism – but at least I would have room for them. I guess that's the tradeoff. I can have more books with an e-reader, I can have them almost instantly, and I can have them cheaper in most instances. But they aren't books. They're texts, yes, but they aren't books, per se.

So why, as a writer, would/should I consider using a service like Smashwords? For one thing, Smashwords itself is free. They only take a 15% bite out of the writer's royalties, when he/she makes money, which is a far cry from the 50-75% that most traditional publishers take. From an economical standpoint, the advantage is clear: if you (self-)publish electronically with Smashwords, you stand to make a lot more money for your work. There's also the fact that you don't have to wade through a sea of rejection letters from publishers, because you, my friend, are self-publishing. For "free." That's unheard of, isn't it? We're talking about guaranteed publication, here, with 85% royalties and coverage on most of the e-book stores out there (even Apple's iBookstore and Barnes & Noble's e-book store are included; I don't think Amazon is one of them, though – not yet, anyway).

That sounds like a sweet deal, and I'll probably seriously consider it for book-length works because at least I can get my name and my writing out there. But at the end of this M.F.A. program, when I publish my book of short stories, I still want to see my awesome book cover design on a tangible, traditional book in a brick-and-mortar store. And I want the prestige that comes with having my book hand-picked for publication.

Is that so much to ask?

"The sky is falling, and Gauls everywhere go mad from options."

– "Asterix and the Battle of Algiers" by Pranav Behari

In my search for an online literary journal, I stumbled upon an excellent one called fail better. Right off the bat, I noticed the lack of capitals in the title, which annoys me, as a grammar (and consistency) enthusiast, but the contents of the journal almost make up for the missteps of the title. Almost. I'll probably never be completely comfortable with breaking the rules of language, but I suppose there are reasons out there for doing it, and I have done my fair share of rule breaking, as much as it pains me each time. But if you figure out why there are no capitals in the title of this journal, let me know, because I haven't figured that one out just yet.

Moving on, there is a wonderful interview with Aimee Bender in the latest issue, and if you've had Steve Matanle for class at U.B., you'll probably recognize some of his values in it, namely the idea of writing spontaneously—of "improvising," as Steve puts it, of not obsessing about the story for weeks on end. Just write it! Indeed, just last semester, I had Steve for Fiction (not to mention Experimental Forms), and we read a story by Bender called "The Girl in the Flammable Skirt." It was one of the most memorable stories from the class, I think, and so when I saw that there was an interview with the author, I was eager to read it.

And now I want to buy Bender's latest book, The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, about a girl who has the uncanny ability to feel the emotions of the people who prepare her food (her mother's lemon cake always brings sadness). While the title of the novel is just plain awesomesauce, the story's description is captivating in a way that most mainstream fiction cannot touch, promising a novel reading experience that only Bender could provide (you see what I did there, with "novel"?). While some call her a fabulist, Publishers Weekly calls her a "spelunker of the human soul." Thus, I contend that Aimee Bender is either a fabulous fabulist or an expert spelunker because, from what I remember of "The Girl in the Flammable Skirt," and from reading about her latest novel, I'm instantly intrigued by her ability to capture the essence of being human in such a nontraditional story form. Magical realism is a tough sell, but Bender is a successful marketer.

Now I just have to decide if it's worth the space on my bookshelf to buy a new book, which is especially difficult because this one seems so promising, or if I should buy it on Kindle or some other e-book reader if/when I get one someday. But that's a whole other issue, for a different day.

Finally, one of the stories in the latest issue of fail better is called "Asterix and the Battle of Algiers," and, as a former student of French, this title grabbed me right away. I have yet to read the whole story, but I plan to do so; with an opening line as great as the one I used for the title of this blog post, how could I not finish it?