As further proof that it is out now, I submit the following:

So despite the preorder button on Amazon, copies should be arriving at your favorite bookstores pretty darn soon.

Get your copy today!

Further Fenway Fiction: More Short Stories from Red Sox Nation

As mentioned on Sane this week, I’m working on a Seth Mnookin-style bookplate signing, for both Fenway Fiction and Further, so you can have your very own signed copy of the book without the hassle of meeting me. Or your own pair of underpants signed by me. Or whatever you want to stick the bookplate on, really. I’m not going to be a stickler. I’d appreciate it if people bought the book (one of them, anyway), but I’m not fussy. I’m sure I’ve still got signed copies of the Southbridge News from the 1990 Bay State Games coverage I could give away to people, too, if they just want signatures.

The story in this collection you’ll want to keep an eye on is “The Curious Case of Doctor Belly and Mister Itcher,” which, due to word count limits, is nearly the extent of the story (just kidding – it’s profound, deeply moving, and features Dave Wallace, former pitching coach of the Sox, as a kleptomaniac… or at least the outtakes did… and Dave, we kid, of course).

I’m sure your local independent bookstore will also stock this, so feel free to stop by there and pick up a copy.

Found this very funny site via Nathan Bransford, who usually has something interesting to say:
101 Reasons to Stop Writing: Reason #13: You Are Not Dan Brown

A sampler:

In case you’re still not sure, here are a few other indicators that you’re not Dan Brown:

Your computer is not made of solid gold, according to specifications on a long-lost page from Leonardo’s Codex Arundel.
There’s no voicemail from James Patterson offering to ghostwrite your next novel.
You are not under permanent surveillance by the NSA, CIA and the Vatican, even if that pizza guy looks shifty and Catholic.
The paper you’re using is not made from recycled hundred dollar bills.
The CEO of your publishing company doesn’t drop by every Friday to see how the next book’s coming along, and to ask if there are any odd jobs around the mansion that need doing while he’s there.

I guess this is supposed to make me feel better that I’ve done f**k all work on Lemon Wrestler (or even Sane, this week’s issue is a classic, “Oh damn, we’re in the middle of trying to ship something at work and I’m screwed and, oh yeah, I need to turn out Sane this evening… sh*t.”) in the recent past.

Here’s hoping Thursday we return to our regularly scheduled programming. All I’m going to say is all this crap better pay off in the end. Work crap, not writing crap.

At any rate, go check out 101 Reasons to Stop Writing… it may be a good kick in the pants.

MetaxuCafé Litblog Network:

I can’t imagine listening to songs with lyrics (at least in a language I understand) while I’m writing, but I imagine that sometimes a certain tune or whatever will set the scene or tone for what you’re writing.

I’ve been listening largely to classical in the new writer’s room L gave me for Christmas, had forgotten to consider jazz, but it mostly has to be without words. Maybe I’ll give the jazz a shot tonight. For programming I’ll listen to anything, but writing it really needs to be just wordless. That said, I’ve definitely been inspired by some songs to write short stories or more after hearing some music or while just henpecking the keyboard while listening to music (“Destiny Calling” (pdf link), title ripped from the James song of the same name, “A Parable” inspired by “Pale Green Stars” by Everclear (go figure), and, of course, the Spice Girls song at the beginning of the first draft of God Coffee, I Miss You, perpetually in an unfinished state now). With the first two, at least, it was the melody, more than the words, that drove me… captured that certain feeling… I still think of “Destiny Calling” as a Brooklyn story – three storeys up after having finished Timequake (Kurt Vonnegut) in the old apartment on Atlantic Avenue, and “A Parable” as a London/Chelsea story, again, three storeys up in a mansions block, looking out at the Royal Albert bridge at night a few days after September 11th, 2001.

So there you have it.

Paperback Writer: The Last Samurai Agent
“My master says that the perfect manuscript is a rare thing,” Natsu translated. “He says that you could spend your life looking for one, and it would not be a wasted life.”

Very funny little encounter with a ninja agent. I need to get one of those…

Paragraph: Turn Your Mac into a Smith-Corona

This is a nice little write-up by the folks over at Paragraph NY about Writer.app.