This is by no means a new problem. In fact, it’s a problem a lot of teenagers are going to have bite them in the ass in the next five to ten years.

As I attempt to improve within my given occupation I’m working toward placing myself in a career. This particular career is, at high levels, a very public one. Lots of discussion and lots of writing at a professional level. There is an interest in making yourself known as a professional.

I, however, enjoy being transparent about who I am. I’m not really interested in winning over people that may find my sense of humour a bit too over the top or my language to colourful. Outside of work and professional endeavours I’d rather be exactly who I am, damn the consequences.

(That was three Canadian U’s in one paragraph. An American proof reader somewhere is silently dying on the inside, just a little.)

I’m not entirely sure I can do both. Websites are, by their nature, open and indexed and accessible. Even if places I write down my nonsense disappear there’s always Google cache and the Way Back Machine over at archive.org. There is nothing to stop a potential employer from e-stalking the shit out of me.

More to the point, I expect it.

I needed to log into my Facebook account. I’m loathe to even have it, but there was a contact there that I needed. Log in, get the info, log out.

Make Facebook your home page!

It helpfully suggested after I logged out.

I quickly typed this in to twitter.

“Save Facebook as your homepage”… How about I would rather chew syphilis tainted razor blades encrusted in dog shit.

And that’s where I left it. It’s still sitting in the text field, without being submitted. A third of the people following me on twitter are friends. A third are just random folks that follow random folks. A third are in the same professional field.

So what’s the right choice?

david shute - 12.04.12 @ 21:40 - permalink

I realize that I’m likely coming back to an audience of zero. In all honesty, I’ve never even been sure that there was any audience for this site to begin with. (Hi, Mom!) And that’s okay. It’s always been more about documenting things than sharing them with other people. I’d be quite happy if there was an audience for this, but I’m equally content with this being just a place to put down thoughts.

It’s a good thing for me to have. I’ve been writing journals for a very long time now. The biggest problem has always been that I’m not very good at it. Consistency is a huge issue. I have a good number of notebooks kicking around that have a half dozen written entries in them before they were abandoned or repurposed. I’ve also got a couple of plain text files that were created with the best of intentions that are left unloved in some directory I’ve forgotten exists on my computer.

I’m back to writing and that’s the largest reason I’m back to this. I’m going to do things a little bit differently now that I’m back to it again. I’m not going to fall back on old habits where I set project goals and schedules and pack my little life to the gills.

That’s pointless and self defeating for me.

I’m going to start blocking out time where I can say that I will work a specific type of material and, if I’m feeling up to it, I will do just that. If I’ve got time set aside for music and I want to practice an instrument or record something I will. If not, I’ll do something else. That’s the plan. Plan for it, but be flexible.

More importantly, as much as as I’ve been going just fine working nearly exclusively on professional life related things I know that won’t hold. If I continue on the schedule I’ve been on, with the dedication level I’ve been giving, I’m going to burn out. I will get bitter. I will get bored. I don’t want that. Knowing that it will come I can combat it in advance and fix it before it sets in.

I don’t have much of a plan as to what is on the immediate horizon. I have a lot of things I want to do. Rather than committing to any specific thing I’m simply going to do and to be. If something comes out the other end that I’m interesting in sharing then I will happily share it. Otherwise, I’m just going to keep working away and see where it leads.

It beats the alternative of doing nothing. For it being nothing I sure have done a lot of it.

david shute - 11.04.12 @ 21:53 - permalink

Sometime around my last post I started a new job. It’s been quite good. I didn’t realize at my last job how very little software testing I was doing in a software test specialist position. If I had to categorize it I would say that it was more software checking than software testing. My new job has been interesting, engrossing, and educational. As much as there things about my old position I enjoyed, this new position has fired a passion to be great at my job.

To that end I’ve been reading like mad about software testing and some other, related fields. I’ve rejoined the local software quality professional association, gone to meetings, and taken some courses. There’s an upcoming software quality conference that I didn’t want to miss due to not being able to expense it. Instead I volunteered to ensure I’d be able to go.

The flip side to this has been that a huge amount of my focus has been tied up in this endeavour. Between work, family, and studying to be better at my job I’ve been left with little free time except when I can read during lunch and before bed. I’m aiming to change that.

Last month I took a course on black box software testing through the Association for Software Testing. Fantastic course that many have aptly described as ‘drinking from a fire hose’ in terms of the amount of content to absorb within the tight deadlines. It took up an extraordinary amount of time I simply didn’t have. Now that it’s done I’m starting to realize that, overall, I have a bit more time than I thought.

I plan to continue working toward being exceptional at my chosen career. That doesn’t have to come at the expense of writing, music, film, and all the other things in my life that I am passionate* about. Devotion and passion can co-exist, even if they aren’t for the same thing. I’m aiming to ensure that’s the case.

sub* Passion makes no assertions about my ability to adequately perform at any of these activities. /sub

david shute - 10.04.12 @ 22:29 - permalink

I feel like I’m trapped at the moment. A few months back I found a heavy drive to start writing and to move out of my screenplay comfort zone. In that spirit I’ve started several different projects, most of which are in various states of completed drafts. So, while I’ve completely a lot lately, I still don’t have anything to really show for it as I’m going through the process of editing and redrafting in one form or another on every single project.

More frustrating is that I stumbled on a very awesome script idea while I was working on these smaller projects. Six years ago I would have tanked everything I was working on to go chase it. Grown up, responsible me has put it on the back burner to bubble for awhile so I can clean up the projects I have on the go.

All of this means I’m not spending any time doing any “new” writing. It also means that I’m still a distance away from having anything I’m happy releasing. I don’t know when I’m going to be able to start something fresh. It feels like a very long way away and I’m itching to dig into a new project.

david shute - 13.09.11 @ 22:21 - permalink

Realized that I haven’t really updated much as of late. I had intended to do a NYC Midnight Micro Fiction follow up but didn’t actually get around to it. I don’t remember exactly why. Anyway, I made it all the way to the finals. Quick recap. The first round I had to use ‘break’ in my stories. These are my three submitted stories.

The invading aliens can instantly vaporize city a block. How to protect your family after the break.

16 covered trucks coming, their lights off. Break quarantine. We need to get the fuck out of here.

(323) did an eight ball with the point break dude. gonna seduce him in the hot tub. thinking of you.

The last two in that group were selected for the voting for my group to move on. I didn’t actually get voted through. I was saved by the judges. They moved me along based on my final story.

The final round required ‘oxygen’. I didn’t really like the word. It didn’t flow for me. These were my three submissions.

Decedent was testing a homemade jetpack made from a parachute harness, an oxygen tank, and a flare.

So, apparently, they expect me to use oxygen in this competition. Like I’m their trained monkey.

I don’t care if there isn’t any oxygen out there. You can’t tell me where I can go. That’s racist.

I didn’t think any of these were going to get me through to the final voting round. Although I really liked the first and third, I didn’t think either of them were strong enough. The third did actually make it through. I knew, just based off the first round, that I didn’t have enough support to win by vote. I had to hope for the judges to pull me through again.

It was a vain hope.

Still, I’m quite impressed that I was in the finals of a competition I wasn’t expecting to move past the initial slush state.

david shute - 13.09.11 @ 21:35 - permalink

I made it into the finals for the NYC Midnight Microfiction contest. I’m one of 100 writers vying for the top two spots. I didn’t get here because of votes. I made it as one of two judges picks from my group. I made it on my texts from last night style entry. Here it is again.

(323) did an eight ball with the point break dude. gonna seduce him in the hot tub. thinking of you.

I’m happy this is the one that I moved forward on. It’s my favourite of the seven that I came up with for the word break. The finals is a little less giving of a word: oxygen. Following the #nycmidnight hashtag on Twitter, apparently I’m not the only one that has been struggling with it.

I’ve come up with eleven potential entries. It’s a harsh and limiting word to work with. That said, I have three that I really like. I’ll post all of them here after the midnight submission deadline.

I believe that one is straight up solid. It offers context, history, conflict, hints at a larger story, and manages to kick in a little bit of humour. If think any potential I have of winning is off this entry.

My other two are not quite as clear cut. One is self referential and breaks the traditional narrative (as traditional as one can be in 100 characters). In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if some took it as breaking an unspoken, unenforceable rule and seen as cheating. The other is ripe for misinterpretation. That leaves me with an option. I can be safe by submitting two entries I’m not as keen on, or I can be fearless.

I think it took me writing this out to decide. I’m choosing fearless.

david shute - 18.08.11 @ 22:06 - permalink

Voting on the NYC Midnight Flash Fiction Micro Challenges is currently underway. I made the first round cuts and here are some basic, and probably wholly incorrect, numbers.

800 writers (I’m sure this is an approximation) took part. Each writer could submit up to the three pieces. 25 stories from each of the 20 groups was selected past the first round. The top five per group via open voting will move to the next round.

800 writers x 3 stories = 2400 potential submissions

25 selected x 20 groups = 500 first round selections

5 voted x 20 groups = 100 potential finalists

Of these 100 finalist a new challenge will come down and the winners will be chosen from these new stories.

1 jury selected winner

1 open vote selected winner

E-panhandling is not something I’m particularly good at. I’m curious to see if I’ll make it past this next round of cuts. My rambling internet mumblings aside, you can vote for me here:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/G5Y5ZFH

My two stories, and you can vote for both, are as follows.

(323) did an eight ball with the point break dude. gonna seduce him in the hot tub. thinking of you. // by David Shute

16 covered trucks coming, their lights off. Break quarantine. We need to get the fuck out of here. // by David Shute

If you vote for me, thank you. If you don’t? Good call.

david shute - 17.08.11 @ 11:58 - permalink

The results haven’t been announced yet but the NYC Midnight flash fiction micro challenge first round results should be coming out some time today.

The challenge is 100 character fiction with a predetermined word that must be used. My group’s word was break. I wrote seven entries, you’re only allow three, so here are my four rejects.

No food. No water. No light. No sleep. No clothes. No dignity. Chained to a wall. It will not break.

My father is in love with another woman; the same woman my mother loves. This will break my family.

You don’t want people to know? Break up with me and I will shout it from the fucking rooftops.

It doesn’t work that way. You can choose which weapon I use or which bone I break, but not both.

And my three entries.

The invading aliens can instantly vaporize city a block. How to protect your family after the break.

(323) did an eight ball with the point break dude. gonna seduce him in the hot tub. thinking of you.

16 covered trucks coming, their lights off. Break quarantine. We need to get the fuck out of here.

I’m partial to the txts from last night style entry but I’m a simple lad.

From each group, there are 20, 25 stories will be selected by judges and put up to vote. Five stories from each group’s 25 will win the author entry into the finals where the process will continue.

Should I make top 25 in my group I expect I’ll be panhandling for voting support some time today.

david shute - 15.08.11 @ 12:13 - permalink

I’ve been on quite the writing path recently. Not this past week, as I’m just starting to wrap my head around the unexpected left my life has taken, but the month prior. In the past month I’ve completed at least a first draft on four different fiction projects. Granted, these are small projects, nothing greater than ten thousand words, but still complete projects. Along with that I’ve been collecting notes and ideas for other projects along the way.

It’s the productivity, more than the projects themselves, that I’m interested in. Despite my deep love of screenwriting it would seem that prose is a much more charitable mistress for me. That’s not to say that I’m shunning screenplays, I have an idea that I’m developing right now, but it seems useful to consider it a side endeavour at this time.

Of the worse I’ve completed recently none are ready for consumption just yet. Far from it. I’ve already got some pieces I’m looking toward putting into another flash fiction compilation and longer pieces that will stand on their own. In either case there is considerable work left to be performed.

Now that the initial shock and frustration is gone I find myself with quite a bit of free time on my hands, searching for employment aside. It may be a couple weeks. It may be longer. I plan to exploit it as much as I can in the meantime.

david shute - 29.07.11 @ 20:05 - permalink

In last three months or so I’ve written, proofed, and critiqued a lot of material. I also haven’t touched my resumes in the last three years or so. It amused me to open up my most recent resume, for a job I knew I wasn’t qualified for in video editing but had to shoot for anyway, and immediately catch two issues I missed. Not just that I found two errors but that I spotted them right away.

I had some plans lined up for some editing, grammar, and technical writing courses which have necessarily been delayed a bit. I am happy that I am, at the very least, starting to pick up some of these issues automatically. That I missed them while diligently searching three years and picked them out in passing now is reassuring.

david shute - 26.07.11 @ 16:55 - permalink