Matt Q. McGovern's Blog and other things.

Quiddity Scribblings, Musings, or just what I’m up to lately.

  • update ova heah

    Some updates since the last I posted in here…

    Mike Carey (of Felix Castor series) is now one of my favorite authors; I’m caught up with the series and now have to wait impatiently for the next one to come out.

    I got a Kindle Fire, making me an e-reader reader.  It took a little while to get an e-book that I knew would give me the page-turning experience I needed to get into the device.

    I love the fact that it’s also a tablet running android since my phone is also android.  So, NOW, I can read books on my phone, kindle, and my pc if I wanted to.  And they all remember what page I was on.

    Curling up with a good book was taken to a new level with the Kindle Fire because of several reasons.  One, it has it’s own backlight – meaning you won’t have to turn any lights on when reading.  This is important because when you’re falling asleep and you get up to turn off the lights so you can have a nap, you end up not because now you’re awake.  With the Kindle, you just fall asleep, the book turns itself off and when you get up again you start reading again.  I did that for several hours one wintry day.

    On the downside, I almost ran out of battery while at the laundromat, which would have sucked because I would have been stuck without a book to read for twenty minutes.  A felony at the laundromat.  I have to make sure I bring the power cable for certain occasions like that.

    Been eating better this year which was one of my new year’s resolutions.  All isn’t perfect but I’ve been getting my nutrition through food, so that’s good.  I haven’t done as much running as I wanted to, but I have done some each week. 

    I’ve been toying with the idea of fasting one day a week, followed by a juice fast the next day.  I figured Mondays were a good day to start with the fast.  Fail.  I had a headache and finally ate a bowl of soup around 1:30 today.  Then I needed a mountain dew to give me some caffeine because the headache didn’t go away.  Finally, I needed some doritos because it’s comfort food and technically I didn’t do so bad…see how easy the rationale breaks down?

    We’ll see how the week goes.  More on this topic later.

    I’ve been reading a John Le Carre novel because I really felt I needed to read one of his since I love the spy genres.  Having a real hard time with his style of writing in A Perfect Spy.  I just got the movie on NetFlix, thinking that watching that might help me with the novel because I’m just not into it and I don’t like putting a book down.

    And lastly, I’m watching early seasons of NCIS, CSI NY, & Law & Order –
    Criminal Intent.  I already watched the whole of Criminal Minds up to a few episodes ago.  I’m thinking a lot of how a paranormal element would do with any of these shows.

    Much more on that topic later.

  • reading and writing

    In the past couple of weeks, I read the first two books of the Dresden Files, by Jim Butcher, and the latest book of Kim Harrison’s Hollows Series, Pale Demon.

    As with all of Kim Harrison’s books (I know, I know, that’s not her real name, but that’s the first name I knew so I’ll stay with it), I finished it by saying the word ‘Perfection!’ out loud.  The Hollows Series is, in my opinion, the best.  She brings the magic and wonder one might feel while reading the Harry Potter series, and puts it into today’s world, in an adult format.  There’s more that I can say here, but I won’t as it would spoil things for those still reading it.

    Suffice to say that the story and those characters *affect* me on a personal level.

    I was also getting into the Dresden Files in a similar way, where I wanted to defend the protagonist myself, and getting pissed off when things didn’t work out well for him.  Only the best books bring this out in me, but it’s also a hint that I might be getting too burned out on it and have to jump to another author, series, etc.

    Oh, and I registered for the Philadelphia Writer’s Conference in June. I guess I’m making a statement, in a way. I have a lot to do between now and then.  It’s times like this that I wish my fulltime job was only twenty hours a week.  Or I only needed three hours of sleep per night.

  • Using Live Writer…

    I’ve always been a real fan of software that connects to the internet for things, rather than using a web page to do it. I like to use my web browser for doing exactly that, browsing the web. For stuff like email, I like to use software dedicated to that task.

    Now I’m blogging to my wordpress site without a browser. It’s called Live Writer, and I had to upgrade my computer’s OS several times, light some candles, and chant some quaint colloquialisms along the way.

    This is my first post with it, so we’ll see how it goes.

    Oh, to answer my last post, I was wondering what my characters were eating. I think that’s the sort of topic that will probably be a regular feature in my blog, but for now, I think there’s got to be at least one character that is crazy about balancing veggie with non-veggie.

    Like, one of my characters will have something ridiculously bad for you, but only have half the sandwich. Then order another half of sandwich with veggies on it. Other chars. would probably raise an eyebrow from time to time, wondering how crazy this character is…gotta be one of my female chars, I’m thinking, because none of my male chars would care so much.

    My protagonist is definitely wondering if her Aunt is going to buy the industrial strength KitchenAid mixer this weekend. Probably because I myself am going to get one. Winking smile

  • dining with characters in the books I read

    I’ve been recently told that I would meet my soulmate in Gail Carriger’s book, Soulless.

    After getting into it, I have to say it’s correct. Alexia Tarabotti, an independently-minded, rebellious spinster with a love of knowledge, good food, and walking off said good food. I don’t care if she doesn’t have a soul.

    Interestingly, the last book I read was C.J.Henderson’s Brooklyn Knight, featuring Piers Knight, another protagonist with a fine appreciation of cuisine.

    I’m easily seeing the two of them together, though part of me is a little miffed that I was pitting Alexia and me together at the start of this post.

    Not that it matters, regardless of the fact that I’m much more capable of actually cooking some of that good food myself, Piers’ more than working knowledge of magic, my being more more tactful in company, Piers’ better standing in society as far as pairing with Alexia…

    The guy that appears to be the one for Alexia eats people like me and Piers for breakfast. Literally.

    Anyway. It makes me wonder about the characters in my book, and what meals they’re cooking up or eating now.

  • getting it going

    [me] I’m officially tired of the snow! No more!

    [Mother Nature] (smiles) 3 more storms, sweetie. 😉

    [me] (pauses a moment) Yes, ma’am.

    (showing extreme maturity and wisdom–you never mess with Mother Nature)

    In other news, I just finished two C.J. Henderson books and loved ’em both…Brooklyn Knight and The Things That Are Not There. I had taken a break from Lovecraftian tales (is Cthulhian a word? It is now.) and am happy to get back with it.

    Will begin reading Soulless by Gail Carriger next. I’m told that the protagonist of that story is my ideal soulmate. We shall see, I’m still in love with Ivy from Kim Harrison’s Hollows series.

    Other than that, I’m behind in most things, I think. I think I’m still starting the new year. HA.

  • coming back out of hibernation

    Slowly but surely.

    I love the chase, even that love/hate feeling that goes with it. Software development being the safer but more expensive alternative to solving a crime for a sleuth or finding your next meal for a vampire in a very watchful city.

    How close am I? I and the other devoted sleuths, developers, or crazy creatures of some paranormal nature, all with our own craziness and zany zeal for the hunt.

    Not like we have a choice, but you wouldn’t know that at this point. It’s an obsession now. And once you pass that point, the doctor half becomes the patient, the predator the victim, the hunter is hunted.

  • Mythologizing Software Development

    Work I did today: going through old, old programming code and try to enhance it for the present, fighting the original intent with the (then) limits to the language and environment, etc.

    It translates into something better in my head.  A character with an archeology and religious writings background would be given the task of rewriting some old scrolls for whatever reason…say…saving the world from zombies or something.  I’ll play that character for this session.

    Hmm…witchcraft, voodoo, and demonology would probably have to be added to the skill set, methinks.

    Anyway, they would be rewriting the scrolls for some spells or something…for a shaman to perform…to save the village (or the outbreak would take over the world).

    I can imagine the challenges now (in my software developer’s insanity-riddled mind)…

    [Shamans and witch doctors] “Everytime we perform the rites, it starts to rain!  It never rains here during this season.  It’s supposed to be a dry spell!”

    [me] “Are you sure it’s not just a freak of nature?  I mean sometimes it rains out of season, right?

    [Shamans and witch doctors]  “NO!  It’s the rites that are wrong.”

    [me] “Uh huh.  How old are these rites?”

    [Shamans and witch doctors] “That’s just it!  They are too old.  They were never meant to have to handle the demons of today.”

    [me] “Umm.  Okay.  So how about I write up another rite that will make it sunny and…”

    [Shamans and witch doctors] “We already did that!  The last guy we brought in did that and the demons just had a parade.”

    [me] “Huh.”

    [Shamans and witch doctors] “And you don’t want to know what happened to that last guy we brought in.]

    [me]  “Hey now, no need to go there.  I’ll rewrite the rite.”

    And so, it’s been about three days since I’ve started.  I can only imagine what the shamans must think while they’re testing my changes.  Do frogs fall out of the sky?

    At any rate, it makes my day seem more alive.   Now we know why I write fantasy.   Speaking of fantasy, I have to be Yo Yo Matt and play my cello now.

  • what I’m reading

    I just finished Kim Harrison’s sixth book of The Hallows, and while I’m caught up with the series (the seventh comes out in two weeks), I might go into withdrawal since I’d been reading them one after another recently.  I like the series so much I’m actually having a hard time going back to my own writing right after with pretending I’m having an out-of-body experience.

    In other news, I worked on several important scenes from future books in the current series, but I still don’t actually know the number of books in the series.  The scenes are entirely based on a couple songs, and anytime I’ve revisited the scenes in recent months, I had to listen to those songs.  It never happens like that with current writing, only future scenes.  A number of authors have said that they are inspired by music, as opposed to just having music play while you write.  I wish they’d elaborate on how, I love hearing stuff like that.

    A question on my mind is whether YA dark fantasy or Middle-Grade dark fantasy (and splitting my manuscript into two) is the best way to go.  I wish I knew which one has better appeal among readers, and which audience is having more fun with the read.

  • first posting of this blog

    What to write in such a first posting of my blog (okay, not my first blog….but a new beginning, let’s say.  My other blogs will become more private)…

    First day back to work after having a week off…sort of like a mental detox.  It was good to get back which I’d hate to dwell on, but fact is, I eat better around the workmates.  Nutritionally I’m more consistent.

    The magazine article class is tonight and I’ll be going right from work.  Train stations ought to be more frequent, and all of them should have portkeys installed.  I wouldn’t mind paying for something like that.  Transportation costs are high enough, right?

    My search to find something to aid posting to several blogs with only one actual action (like email or something)  is next.

    I know I could write something to accomplish that, but I need to see if it’s already out there…I’d be surprised if it isn’t, even if none of my friends use anything like it.

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