Saturday, October 30, 2004

Another Bright Idea Down the Drain

As you know, I will be cranking out a novel during the month of November, which I planned to post as I went along on a newly created blog. Well, after reading a few discussion threads about this very subject, I learned that posting a work (especially fiction) on the web is a big turn-off to publishers, who want to be the first person to present your work to the world. Because that's the best way for them to make a buck on it. So, if I really want to try to get this thing published, and if I'm arrogant enough to think it'll be good enough, I shouldn't blog it as I go along. Well, poop.

So I won't be doing that, which is a big disappointment. I think what I'll end up doing is sending excerpts to Pauly to publish in his literary 'zine, and keep the rest for the day when some publisher with the proper amount of taste gets down on its collective knees and begs for my book.

Ugh, depressed. My Nittany Lions got killed by a lousy Ohio State team. No hockey. Car's in the shop so I have no wheels to go out and drown my sorrows (though the repair bill is a pittance compared to what I feared). I'll be by my lonesome tonight as the wife goes out to dinner with her mom. I think I may crack open a bottle of a nice red, as I have no beer in the house, which is an odd state of affairs. A cabernet sauvignon? I have several very nice ones. I polished off the last of a good, but not great, Pinot Noir yesterday. Had Kraft macaroni and cheese and Pinor Noir--how haute can you get?

Tonight would be a PERFECT night to fire up that Party Poker and play me some Hold-Em. Alas, alas. Actually, I've been on a sick run of luck lately, but it has nothing to do with the green felt. I play in a volleyball league Monday nights, and afterwards my team (and several others) retire to a local sports bar to watch the game and soothe our sore muscles with $1 Rolling Rock Drafts. We each got a card at the start of the season, and every week you show up they punch it and as the year goes on you win prizes. First it was a T-shirt, then plastic glasses, then glass pint glasses...I think this week we get a free appetizer card.

They also have a raffle for a $50 gift certificate. Everyone gets a ticket, and at the half they announce the winning number. Well, the first week we went everyone gave me their ticket for some reason, and when the winning ticket was announced, I was holding it. Well, that's nice. Free drinks and wings for everyone!

Few weeks go by, I'm watching the Red Sox beat the Yankees in game 5, everyone again hands me their tickets, the number is called...and we've won again. Sweet. Then last week, watching Iggy's Bungles crush the Broncos, the number is called, I look down at my ticket (everyone held onto theirs this time), and I've WON. I head for the front of the bar, grinning like an idiot, to collect my prize, and a guy I know on another team yells, "You fucking won AGAIN?!" There are like 100 people or more holding tickets on any given night, and I've won three out of six nights. That's a lot of Rolling Rock.

Wish I had something more exciting to write about, folks. Boy, I could go for a few hands of poker tonight. Ah well, instead I think I'll have a nice long ride on my exercise bike. One benefit of playing less poker is that I've lost like 15 pounds the last two months. Well, eating better has helped, and playing volleyball two nights a week, but less time sitting before the computer helps. I've shrunk down from Jerome Bettis to Ben Roethlisberger, now I'm hoping to get Hines Ward-sized.

Oh, here's something I can write about tomorrow--my Steelers beating the Patriots. I'll be at the game, the wife staying home to pass out candy. Mark (who I joined on the journey to the NFL Draft) got tickets and it's my turn to bask in his beneficence. Probably no tailgaiting, as Dr. Mark is on call and he has to deal with these tedious sick people all morning. I hate it when other people's petting illnesses and injuries interfere with MY fun.

OK, that's all. If I plan on writing 50K in 30 days I have to crank 1700 a day, and this little tidbit has been about 800. I'll be able to do this standing on my head.

posted by Gene @ 5:45 PM   |