friday pint

Every Friday I transfer posts here from the Virtual Pint Archives.

In praise of process (June 2003) — A little rant about my belief that how we do things together is just as important as the result we get. And a not-quite rant about communication and inclusion.

Reunion (June 2003) — Memories — and music — of high school.

A sad and lonely pig (June 2003) — A grammar school horror story.

Happy Friday and a good weekend to you.

Friday pint

Every Friday I transfer posts here from the Virtual Pint archives.

Lindsey’s mom (April 2003) — Because sometimes the most human thing you can do is buy vaseline for a hurt snake.

The men of Solitaire (April 2003) — Are the men in the book weak? Mileage varies… Plus, wars stories of Life In Television.

I believe in stories (May 2003) — More on Bonnie Main, the power of story, and my impending high school reunion.

Have a lovely day.

Friday pint

Every Friday I transfer posts here from the Virtual Pint archives.

A couple of tall drinks and one half-pint today. Clearly I was in a thoughtful mood in March 2003…

The will to be (March 2003) — Alone or together, with ourselves.

I wish we could feel differently about difference (March 2003) — Let’s be different together for a fucking change.

What about some short stories? (March 2003) — Sometimes you just have to wait a little while…

Enjoy your Friday.

Friday pint

Every Friday I transfer posts here from the Virtual Pint archives.

It’s shaping up to be a typical autumn Friday in Seattle — a little rain, a little sun, a few clouds, some gray sky. Here, then, a sampling of posts about a little bit of everything.

ASL and JME (February 2003) — Movies, seizures, crisis and common sense.

Revenge and love in Solitaire (February 2003) — This one’s about… well, you know.

Access and connection (March 2003) — Raising your hand is easier in virtual space.

Enjoy your weekend, whatever the weather.

Friday pint

Every Friday I transfer posts here from the Virtual Pint archives.

A little of this, a little of that… a smorgasbord of pints.

Numbers game (February 2003) — The sell-through numbers game of publishing.

Don’t blame genre (February 2003) — It’s all about style, baby!

More about the pub (February 2003) — The place where we all feel included and safe. That’s one of the most human stories, so powerful… Hey, anyone here ever read Callahan’s Crosstime Saloon?

Cheers!

Friday pint

Every Friday I transfer posts here from the Virtual Pint archives.

A beautiful hanging-onto-summer day in Seattle. Enjoy these little flashes of the past.

Space for story (November 2002) — A meandering post about cover art, facilitation, and story coming alive inside the reader and the writer.

Talkin’ about love (January 2003) — Love in books and in life.

Crocodiles (January 2003) — The crocodile in Solitaire. Fear, it’s all about fear…

Enjoy.

Friday pint

Every Friday I transfer posts here from the Virtual Pint archives.

The usual servings today, and something special — another novel excerpt. Enjoy

When story goes wrong (October 2002) — Steel Breeze in Solitaire, or why sometimes people just fuck story up.

Early thoughts about translations (November 2002) — Beginning to understand that language is worldview, and worldview changes how we experience story. It’s the early seeds of this discussion.

Accidental (November 2002) — More on Steel Breeze and the role of accident in life. This post refers in a sideways manner to Hollow, the other novel I was working on at the time, and that I talked about recently. It seems unbearably coy to dance around it, so here you go.

Cheers.

Friday pint

Every Friday I transfer posts here from the Virtual Pint Archives.

Three pints today — 60 ounces of posty goodness. These three ended up being loosely related, all touching on reading somehow. Nothing particularly deep and meaningful. Just enjoyable (for me) little conversations with people who took the time to write in with questions or comments.

Readers matter most (August 2002) — Although it would be nice if the writer wouldn’t keep them waiting forever for a response…

Living the story (September 2002) — Author websites and book categories. And the first time I ever talked about how story is real for me.

What’s the writer reading? (September 2002) — Here’s the first mention of beginning work on the (at the time) mainstream novel Drown.

If you’d like to start a conversation anytime, use the Want to talk? link on the sidebar.

Cheers.

Friday pint

Every Friday I transfer posts here from the Virtual Pint archives.

Here’s today’s pair of pints.

Companies are people (June 2002) — The depiction of corporate life in Solitaire, and the seeds of Humans At Work.

Negative conflict (June 2002) — In which we manage to get both conflict management and Naja Salerno Sonnenberg into the conversation.

Enjoy.

Friday pint

Nicola has recently instituted Friday audio over at Ask Nicola. She has an extensive audio archive, and every Friday she puts up a new file (I originally wrote that as throws up a new file, but hmm, that just didn’t look right, grin). I think this is a Most Sensible Idea, this little note of regularity in the ongoing rambling melody of blogging, and I am stealing it.

But not audio. Nope, just words words words. My previous website included the Virtual Pint section, which was my blog of sorts before I got all grownup with WordPress. Here’s how I described it:

One of my favorite things in life is to eat, drink and talk with interesting people. Share stories. Give and receive. Connecting in this way is one of the best things I know, an ongoing joy.

I’m looking for ways to make connections with people who read my work. The best start, of course, is through the work itself. A website is a good support to that, but it’s all pretty much a one-way conversation — a bit like shopping, where I put something on the shelf, and later you come along and pick it up, look at it, put it back or maybe drop it in your basket. That’s connection at a distance: it’s not bad, but it’s not everything. I’d like more.

Does this mean I want to become personally acquainted with everyone who reads my work? Well, no. That’s too close a connection for me. Please don’t call me up for a long intimate chat just because we’ve shared a virtual beer or two. I’m not inviting you into my life, but I am inviting you into some parts of my head that you can’t enter just by reading the fiction. I have always wanted the kind of access to my favorite artists that allows connection without imposition, a shared recognition of mutual experience, an understanding that doesn’t involve everyone having to cuddle up together. We’re all human: we all have things to communicate. So that’s what I’m hoping we’ll do here.

I imagine Virtual Pint as an endless evening in a comfortable pub, with a fire just close enough to keep us warm and a table big enough for everyone. It’s our chance to tell stories, ask and answer questions, rant, muse, laugh. Let’s connect. If you’re interested, come on in.

Virtual Pint was driven completely by readers — people sent in questions or comments about anything, and I responded.

I’ve been working to transfer the Virtual Pint entries to this new incarnation of the site. I’ve posted a few groups of VPs in loose thematic groups, but there’s still a huge backlog. So now there will be a system. I’m going to begin at the beginning and work forward. Every Friday, I’ll post one or two Virtual Pint entries. Since they are backdated, I’ll do a brief announcement/teaser and then link to the backdated post(s).

VP goes back to 2002, and there are a lot of conversations, ideas, thoughts, feelings, perspective… I want that continuity, and I hope that some of you may enjoy these snapshots of where I was as a writer and person.

If you find yourself enjoying the Pints — well, the name has changed, but the theory still applies. You’re welcome to start a conversation anytime about pretty much anything.

And here we go with the first two Virtual Pints evah! Cheers.