Back on January 20th (was it that long ago? Wow) I had a feature article run over at Lansing Capital Gains about being single in Lansing (Single in the City).

The funny thing here is that when I turned the story in, perhaps early Fall, I was single–but, by the time it ran, I had a new girlfriend. I kind of had a gut feeling that would happen, which was why I agreed to write the story (and make fun of myself quite a bit).

I enjoyed writing this story a lot because I was allowed to go first person and showcase some of my humor a bit more–although my editor did cut my favorite joke, which was about me wearing my Chewie Is My Co-Pilot t-shirt while trying to pick up geeky girls.

Or something.

The shirt was designed by R Stevens, creator of one of my favorite webcomics, Diesel Sweeties.

I did manage to wear my Threadless, A Simple Plan shirt for the photo shoot however.

I kind of regret not wearing my Chewie shirt, but since the photos were being taken at Pinball Pete’s Arcade in East Lansing, the Space Invader referencing shirt won out (another option I considered was my Yooper Steez shirt, designed by all-around-awesome Lansing dude, Justin “Bugsy” Sailor).

I caught some (friendly) flack from those who knew I had a new girlfriend, yet was writing about being single.  The girlfriend in question was fine with it, as I told her about the story way before it ran.

But the story isn’t so much about my being single, but more how I went about meeting people, expanding my circle of friends and places to go on dates around Lansing.

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Speaking of Lansing Capital Gains, I was brought on to be a weekly contributor recently.  Starting on February 17th, I’ll be writing four development stories a week.  These are very, very short–only 200 words at the most–so it equals out to less than a feature article (1,000 words) a week.

There will be a bit of a learning curve for me, as I have to find leads and such, but I’m getting a lot of help from my editor and fellow contributors.

I consider myself the furthest thing from a journalist, but I am very happy to have this opportunity to see if I can handle the rigors of a regular writing gig. So far, so good.

And if you live in Lansing and have any leads for me, drop me a line.

Back in November, I had a day off from work, so I decided to swing by Lansing’s Potter Park Zoo.

I’m a fan of this zoo and I usually go at least a few times a year. I love going in the late fall not only because it is free, but because a lot of the animals are more active due to the colder weather (I usually throw a couple bucks in the donation box even when it is free, and I’ve adopted animals in the past).

I went into the “cat house,” where the lions and tigers are kept–and I happened to be there around feeding time (I saw a few of the smaller animals being fed).  I approached the lion exhibit and saw one of the lions (a lioness, I’m pretty sure) pacing back and forth.

She knew it was feeding time and she began roaring.

I gotta say, having only a few inches of glass (OK, maybe more) separating me from a hungry, roaring lion was quite the experience.

It made me think a bit too, just how we kind of take this stuff for granted.  Here is an amazing animal that I would never see in Michigan under normal circumstances, mere inches from me.  I watched the lion continue its pacing and its roaring, and took it all in–what an amazing creature.  Nature is awesome and scary.

And as it tends to do, my imagination began to drift to thoughts of this animal chasing after prey in the wild.  Then I thought of it (or any lion really) chasing after me and how helpless I would be.

I know a lot of people don’t take the time to savor the sights of  animals at a zoo, I’ll watch people stop for a second and then move on to the next exhibit.  I try to be good about stopping to study the animal and watch it for a little while. I like watching how the larger animals move–it is great research for writing and other creative outlets.

I certainly recommend spending time at a zoo if you ever write about animals, made up or real.  Sure, you can find a zillion and a half videos of animals on YouTube, but some times you need to see an animal eye to eye.

Potter Park Zoo is a great resource and I’m glad it is here in Lansing.

My latest feature article for Capital Gains is now online, I interview someone who moved to the Lansing area from China.  I have two more stories in the hopper, I’ll post when those get put online.  I also have two new assignments–one of which deals with being single in Lansing.  Should be interesting.

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I had the pleasure of being a guest at the science fiction and fantasy fan convention, ConClave once again this weekend.  I had a great time like always,  running into  Jim C. Hines, who was there promoting his latest release, Mermaid’s Madness, and the always entertaining M. Keaton.

It is fun to reconnect with writer friends and to make new ones at these conventions.  I was a part of nine events, including the Writer’s Workshop (I read and critiqued stories), panel discussions (ranging from zombies to werewolves to comic books) and I was even a contestant in a Last Man Standing Sci-Fi/Fantasy Trivia Contest–and I came in 2nd place.

My prize for coming in second is that my name will be used for the name of the president of the CDC in an upcoming zombie novel (The Ravening) by Stewart Sternberg. Stewart said that there will be a quote at the start of a chapter, which will be attributed to said CDC president, so something along these lines perhaps, to give you an idea:

“I see no reason to panic. As long as none of them bite you, you’ll be just fine.  Oh, and wash your hands.  Seriously, people.”

- Daniel Hogan, President of the CDC.

I’m excited to see what Stewart comes up with–he’s threatening to make it something that will cause an angry mob to show up at my door. Hey, I can use the publicity.  The novel will be available in stores and obviously I’ll do a post once that happens.  The grand prize winner will be made into a character that gets ripped apart by zombies.  Lucky.  Amusingly, I lost my shot at first place by not knowing the name of Barbara’s brother in the original Night of the Living Dead (Johnny).

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Speaking of Mr. Sternberg, we were on a panel about werewolves at ConClave, which I recorded for this week’s podcast.  Check it out. I’m glad I recorded it, because between late nights at work this week and getting ready for the con, I didn’t have the next episode of the Magic of Eyri finished. Hooray for filler. Give the panel a listen, it is a fun time. Jon David, Rick Moore, Charles Zaglanis and William Jones join us as well.

Yes, the latest free episode of the Magic of Eyri podcast is now online. I had some fun creating now vocal effects for some of the new characters.  I tell ya, I could spend hours coming up with those things–and I usually do.

GarageBand makes it pretty easy to create and tweak your own effects.  It reminds of a time when a friend told me about a digital effect pedal he got for his guitar, he said getting the pedal set his learning guitar back by a year due to spending all of his time playing with the pedal’s effects.

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Friday night was the Ignite Lansing event here in town.  It was an amazing sight, but sadly I was stuck at work and wasn’t able to watch any of the presentations.  I had a break and was able to swing by for a little bit as things got started.  Seeing lots of creative people in one spot was great.

The event was held at what used to be the Temple Club–an old church that was turned into a music venue.  It was a great place to see a show: I saw Electric Six there twice and both were fantastic shows. However, the Club did not survive and Lansing lost of its unique (and honestly, best) music venues.  Currently it is being turned into office space, and while I’m glad the building is going to be used again, it isn’t the same.

The word on the street is that Ignite Lansing 3.0 will take place in March.  I’m considering signing up to do a presentation on podcasts.  You suggest a topic and people vote on the topics they want to see–if you win, you have to give a presentation on that topic in five minutes, using twenty slides.  Lots of pressure, but I think I could do it.

Love it or hate it, Red Dawn (a remake of the Swayze-tastic film from ‘84) filmed a scene or two in my old home town last week. 

From Wikipedia:

“…the opening football scene for the new film; which did not appear in the original film, was shot at the former Detroit Notre Dame High School in Harper Woods, Michigan.”

I know the original film doesn’t exactly have broad appeal, however, I enjoy it for its over-the-top-Cold-War-paranoia aspect. It is an excellent Cold War media time capsule and as such, I don’t think it should have been remake (but I am thankful that the filming of it brought money not only to Michigan but my home town).  I don’t see the new version having the impact the original did when released in the early 1980s.

Anyway, my li’l sis shot a few set photos and I put them online if you are interested in checking them out.

That’s right y’all, you can listen to the audio from the panel on Fantasy Writing I was a part of on September 1.

http://magicofeyri.com/2009/09/fantasy-writing-panel-podcast/

The panel featured Jim C. Hines (Goblin Quest series, Stepsister Scheme, Mermaid’s Madness), Phil Kline (Curse of the Kitsune) and myself.  It runs about 49 minutes and is worth a listen–especially when Jim starts talking about his werewolf-muppet story.

The audio quality is not on par with my normal episodes, as I just set up a recorder on the table and let it go, but I did what I could in GarageBand to make it a little better (tried to cut out some of the long pauses too).