ChristopherKeelty.com » Personal

A brief visit back to the grindstone

Chris — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 13:00:18 +0000

I had a terrific little Christmas with my family, as we do pretty much every year. We tend to overdo Christmas, considering all of the “kids” are now around 30. The five of us gather around the tree and open about a hundred thousand presents that we’ve bought one another. For the last three years, my Dad has developed his very own “Deal or No Deal” home game (my Dad really likes TV – a lot) where the grand prize is $2,500. I didn’t win the grand prize (none of us did) but I did win a pretty tidy little sum that takes the sting out of holiday spending. I also got a lot of very thoughtful gifts, one of them quite dangerous: a Playstation 3.

The danger, of course, is that I will spend the next 2-12 months doing little but shooting virtual men in the head. This could have disastrous consequences on my writing career, my day job, my weight, and my cardiovascular health. Video games are one addiction I have been prone to in the past – most of my memories of 2006 were made in Azeroth, a world to which I don’t think I can ever risk going back. So this gift will require a bit of self-control.

The next couple of weeks are going to be super-busy, video games or no video games. I’m headed to NYC for New Year’s Eve, not to stand around Times Square and pee in a Big Gulp cup with the tourists, but to run a 4-mile race at midnight in Central Park, with Liz and her sister. A little less than a week after that, we’re headed to Orlando for a Disney vacation with a few friends. Oh, and for more running. I’m running the Disney Half Marathon, and Liz is running that PLUS the full marathon the next morning. It’s hard to imagine how we are going to be capable of walking around theme parks after that, but we’ll get by.

So the priority for the next few days is to get as much work done on the new novel (still untitled, despite my best efforts to come up with something) and to lose some of the holiday weight I’ve been putting on at an alarming pace. Some running and some healthy eating (rather than the all-chocolate-and-baked-goods diet I’ve been on since late November) should do the trick. After running a 1:50 in the Philadelphia Half Marathon, I’d hate to be the tub of guts guy dropping out of the Disney Half because his boobies hurt.

The most profound words ever captured in song?

Chris — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 07:44:47 +0000

“No one in the world ever gets what they want, and that is beautiful
Everybody dies frustrated and sad, and that is beautiful.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAmFTmCs3IY

Philly Half Marathon Tomorrow!

Chris — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 16:00:41 +0000

That’s what I’ll be running tomorrow, starting at the unreasonably early hour of 7 AM. I’m hoping to be finished around 8:45, but more likely it will be around 9.

I’m heading to the expo later today.

image via.

Navajo Proverb

Chris — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 04:12:18 +0000

I learned this saying just recently, and it’s my new favorite.

I got to use it at dinner tonight, when someone asked why Republicans still insist that de-funding government is good for economic recovery.

It was wonderful.

It includes my work, and it actually exists.

Chris — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 15:30:27 +0000

My glamorous apartment wall and perfectly coifed hair and I are here to remind you that Collective Fallout’s Futuristic Edition (July 2011) is available, and that it features my short story Toll Road, as well as art and fiction from a bunch of other really talented people. I got my first shipment of copies today, and I can attest that they do in fact exist. They feature words printed on paper. By reading those words as you advance the pages, you can experience short fiction in the comfort of your very own home, city bus, or prison bunk.

Of course, if you prefer a bunch of ones and zeroes which may be translated by the device of your choice into readable text, the good folks at Collective Fallout have a product to suit your needs, and at the affordable price of only ninety nine cents, a mere 16% of the price of an ink-and-paper edition!

These are the people who were kind enough to give me my first commercial publication, and so you should support them. I make no profit whatsoever from your purchase, but then don’t we all profit from the availability of quality speculative fiction with an LGBT interest?

The holidays are right around the corner, and nothing shows your love like the story of a man compelled to walk the post-apocalyptic remains of the Pennsylvania Turnpike to atone for his guilt over his dead lover.

Click here. Order today.