Month: May 2023

Day 40: Well, Isn’t This Ironic

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’ve gotten into something of a groove when it comes to the first stage of writing this Beta Draft. I HOPE that I can wrap up a “private” Second Draft within a week or so, which would give me a solid month to really work hard on editing and rewriting things as necessary before I began to Beta Reader process.

I fucking hate this test.

That’s the hope at least.

Once I turn the Second Draft over to Beta Readers, I’m going to begin not only think seriously about how I’m going to go about the querying process, but also think seriously about what novel I’m going to start working on next. I thought I had a really solid scifi novel concept to work on, only to discover that there’s a very popular series that uses the exact same concept.

As such, I think I may say fuck it and start to work on the second book in this projected six novel project. I need something to keep my writing momentum going, regardless.

I would also note that even though I FUCKING HATE the Bechdel Test — this novel actually passes it! I just have so many female characters in this novel that I’ve managed to come up with a conversation — or two — where two women are talking about something other than a man.

I’m sure I’ll fucking get canceled for some other fuck reason — probably for the simple fact that I’m a smelly boy frequently writing from a female POV — but whatever the fuck woke people. It’s always the most frustrating to me when people come at me from the cultural Left. I’m on your side! Maybe if you didn’t have your head up your ass with such a strict orthodoxy, we wouldn’t be facing the prospect of living in a fucking fascist state.

Ugh.

A (Drunk) Hot Take On Alexa Chung

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’m drunk. In fact, I’m so drunk that I’m going to troll the FBI field agent in DC that apparently monitors this blog for any mention of Alexa Chung. Ha! Anyway, it’s interesting to me that Ms. Chung has kind of vanished into the aether.

She was an It Girl for a little while there….and now….what?

It definitely seems as thought there is a very brief shelf life to being an It Girl. Emma Chamberlain is now the fashion world’s It Girl. She’s just 21 and so she probably has a solid three or four years of “It Girl” status on her before someone younger and cuter replaces her.

I have to admit that Chamberlain’s style at last year’s Met Gala was iconic. I wasn’t so thrilled with this year’s though.

Anyway. Back to Ms. Chung.

She’s getting old enough that she faces a fork in the road — either pop out a few kids or grow into being “cool aunt” that lets you smoke weed at family gatherings.

Like I said, I’m drunk. Ignore me.

There Was Something To Be Said For The Era When Playboy Had Cultural Relevance

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

One of the subtle differences between my dissipated youth and the modern era where I’m an old fart is how prudish society has become. This has happened at the same time that online porn has made sexxy pictures far more easier to access than ever before.

In short, the modern world is awash in porn.

It seems as though the social function that, say, Playboy, once served is now being filling by either OnlyFans or high end magazines like Treats! I’m extremely interested in subscribing to Treats! but for the fact that if anyone in my family were to discover any copies they would think I was some sort of freak.

Treats! has exceptional beauties in it and I really love their models, but, lulz, my life just isn’t at a place where I can have any hard copies floating around.

Anyway.

It definitely seems as though as part of Britney Spears’ continued descent into madness that maybe she should…start an OnlyFans? If Playboy was still a thing, she would have already posed nude for them. But I think for some deep psychological reasons that she would be well served by starting an OnlyFans. I think she would feel it was cathartic.

Or something.

She’s got some real issues.

Jesus Christ, I’m Drunk

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Well, here we are. I’m an aspiring novelist, hoping to one day convince a literary agent to take me on as a client and I’m talking about how fucking drunk I am at the moment.

But you know, I’m not changing who I am.

Come what may and all that.

I’m in one of those drunk moods where if I was, say, in New York City or Seoul I would probably wake up tomorrow morning with a new lady friend. I can be quite colorful and charismatic when I’m drunk. I tend to want to talk about very deep, thought provoking things when I get wasted.

Anyway. I need to grow up, I suppose. I’m 50 now. I can’t keep living my life ike I’m in my 20s. People already think I’m weird, no reason to give them any more evidence that they are, in fact, right.

Day 39: All Novels Are Abandoned, Not Finished

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Everything continues to move forward. I hope to wrap up a “private” second draft in a few weeks. That will give me plenty of time to take a deep breath and edit and rewrite the draft before beginning the Beta Reader process.

It Definitely Seems As Though Biden Is About To Be Impeached

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Welp, it definitely seems we’re lurching towards MAGA Republicans impeaching Biden in the very, very near future. In fact, if they did impeach Biden quick enough, they could very well impeach him TWICE within the next few months.

Once for the bullshit they’ve just come up with and another time for him using the 14th Amendment to avoid a debt default. Or maybe all of the bullshit Republicans have stirred up the last few days is simply prepping the way for an impeachment of Biden for SOMETHING, ANYTHING, so they don’t have to talk about all the criming that Trump continues to do on a nearly daily basis.

The only surprise in all of this is it’s taken MAGA Republicans this long to get around to impeaching Biden. It was inevitable that this was going to happen. Republicans are so devoid of any meaningful policies — that are popular, at least — that an impeachment or two is the political equivalent of crack. They get a quick, cheap way to juice the base and if they impeach Biden enough times, take away a talking point from the libs they so want to “own.”

The clock is ticking, regardless. It’s just a matter of time at this point. It will be interesting to see how long it takes the process to unfold going forward.

Day 38: Full Speed Ahead

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Not much to report other than things continue to go well. I hope to have significant slack in the chronology so I can do a hard core edit (and re-write as necessary) of the second draft before I begin the beta reader process.

Jason Calacanis Is Way Too Sanguine About The Future Of Work In The Post-AI World

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I generally like Jason Calacanis and his array of tech-themed podcasts. I blanched when the All-In podcast had kook Robert Kennedy Jr. on, but I’m willing to forgive such a dumb mistake.

Anyway, the point of this post is to address how Calacanis’ seems to have a rainbows and unicorns take on AI and the future of work. As the on-going Writers’ Strike indicates — AI isn’t going to make people more productive, it’s simply going to transform the economy to the point that a lot of people simply won’t have a job anymore.

Now, I’m a strong believer in the notion that technology generally generates more jobs than it destroys. But the reason why I fear the AI revolution may be different is it’s all happening so fast that this process won’t have time to happen.

As such, I keep hearing Calacanis talk about how it’s going to make people more productive, and yet, he doesn’t seem willing to admit that lulz, if that productivity happens overnight that the capitalist imperative would be to simply restructure businesses so they have less workers.

And the way I could see this happening very, very rapidly is in the context of, say, a debt default by the Federal government leading to a Second Great Recession which, in turn, would cause a lot of businesses to look for ways to get rid of workers. All these people lose their jobs virtually overnight as a part of some sort of Petite Singularity…and those jobs just never come back. But we wouldn’t realize what was happening until the recession was over.

Anyway. I’m wrong all the time and maybe I’m just being hysterical. That is known to happen.

2024 Is Shaping Up To Be A Massive Clusterfuck

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’m growing more and more alarmed at what might happen in late 2024, early 2025. Here are the reasons why I fear 2024 could be the most historic presidential election since 1860.

Biden’s Age
Remember, there is a pretty wide amount of time where if anything, God forbid, happens to Biden, the entire election process will be thrown into chaos. From the moment the ballets are printed to Certification Day, if Biden abruptly shuffles off this mortal coil…we’re fucked. The system simply isn’t designed for the abrupt departure of the head of the ticket. Add to this that Harris hasn’t really impressed me as a Veep and…oh boy. Any student of history will tell you that often bad things happen in quick success during a crisis.

Trump’s Radical Agenda
Ding-Dong has made it very, very clear that any second term on his part will be based on revenge. In fact, his second term agenda is so radical that America will be at a crossroads. Either we have a civil war or we turn into a MAGA-themed autocracy. Given that the onus would be on Blues to decide if we have a civil war or not, I tend to believe we’re just going to turn into an autocracy. Blues just don’t have it in them, collectively, to leave the Union. What’s more likely to happen is a lot – A LOT — of smug Twitter liberals are going to flee the country en masse. Trump will transition us into an autocracy and whomever he picks as his veep will be our new Caesar Augustus.

Trump’s Criminal Problems
The thing about Trump is it possible that by the time the 2024 election rolls around, he will be under indictment for a number of Big Boy Crimes and yet he could still win the election. That’s the kind of shit that puts a lot of extra pressure on the system that is already at a breaking point.

Economic Unknowns
Two major issues could throw everything in the air. In the near term, we have to worry about a debt default that could crash the global economy in a rather abrupt manner. Meanwhile, at some point between now and early 2025, we have to worry about the possibility of some sort of Petite Singularity happening that would cause the economy to shed millions of jobs in a rather abrupt manner.

Day 37: Midpoint

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It is possible that things may move a lot faster now that I’ve reached the midpoint because the quality of the writing in the first draft of this novel improves a great deal in the second half.

I have changed things so much between the first and second drafts that it’s also possible that I’m going to have to do a lot of re-writing, which will slow me down.

Anyway, at the moment, at least, I’m pleased with where I am.