The web space of writer D. A. Campisi, seasoned with a heavy dose of fiction and fantasy. As it should be.
Hey everyone. This coming Tuesday, my newest short story is being released. If you have a Kindle or the Kindle App, please preorder it here on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07XVN23X6
If you do not have a Kindle or the app, I will keep you posted as soon as print copies are available.
I hope you all enjoy the story.
I wrote this out in a lengthy Twitter thread the other night. I liked it, so I’m reposting it here… in more detail.
About twenty years ago, I decided I wanted to be a writer. I wanted to craft fun, new, relatable characters. I wanted to weave whole new worlds steeped in adventure, fantasy, & new technologies. But mostly, I simply wanted to tell stories that I hoped others would enjoy.
Well, I guess it is a bit more complicated than that… let me tell you my writer story.
My short story, Only The Poor Die Young, will be published in Third Flatiron’s upcoming anthology. Infinite Lives: Short Tales of Longevity will be published on October 15th, and you can preorder it for Kindle right now on Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07XVN23X6
Print copies will follow shortly after.
Also, you can get all of Third Flatiron’s quarterly anthologies for as little as $12/year with a subscription on Patreon:
I hope you all enjoy the story!
– DAC
I’m happy to announce that my short story, Only the Poor Die Young, will be published in Third Flatiron’s upcoming anthology, Longevity.
I will provide more details as I have them, but look for the anthology to release this fall.
You can check out Third Flatiron here:
http://www.thirdflatiron.com
https://m.facebook.com/thirdflatiron/
As always, thank you for all the support.
Hey everyone,
Thanks for your patience! I’m sure you saw the pictures from the previous post, so I don’t have to tell you that Hawai’i was absolutely amazing and I can’t wait to go back there someday.
But that said, it is time to get back on track. This vacation has gone on long enough and I have a health journey to continue on.
Some news on that though. I have made a separate blog for my daily tracking, progress, and lifestyle changes. (Check it out here: https://wordsbythepound.home.blog/). This blog you are currently on will go back to being more about my creative outlets (writing, drawing, etc.), opinions, news and announcements, entertainment, and personal growth.
So if you are just interested in the health stuff, hop on over to the new site using the above link, and be sure to follow and subscribe there. If you want insight into my writing or anything else that pops into my brain that is not health-related, you are in the right place.
Let’s do this thing!
So… if you have never been to Maui before, I cannot recommend it enough. It was absolutely beautiful and we had the most amazing time. Hands down, best vacation ever.
But don’t just take my word for it. Check out these pictures.
So much fun.
Anyway, on Monday it will be nose back to the grindstone, tracking food and getting this health journey cart righted.
See you then.
– DAC
“I have goals.” That’s an easy thing to say, right? After all, who doesn’t have some sort of goal in their life?
“I want to run a marathon.”
“I want to lose 20 pounds.”
“I want to learn to speak French.”
Everyone has goals. It’s that finish line way off in the distance that you want to reach before the sweepers show up and tell you the race is over.
Having goals is one thing. It’s something else altogether to act on, work toward, and accomplish those goals. It takes a lot for forethought, practice, motivation, dedication, and accountability to reach these goals with a satisfactory conclusion. And suffice it to say, the lofter the goal, the more time you will need to spend on working toward it.
I have goals… but I haven’t been pushing myself toward them. At least, not as much as I should be. Every year around this same time, I hop on this blog and spout some words about how this year is gonna be the year. This time I will fight for my dreams and make them a reality.
It works for a while. I crank out some blogs on topics I find interesting, start going to the gym, make an effort to better myself, practice a craft, etc.
Then I stop. Not all at once. It’s a gradual thing. I don’t even entirely realize I’m doing it most times. I get busy and put something off until the next day, saying “I’ll start fresh on Monday,” or some other equally hopeful phrase. Then Monday comes and… well, I guess calling it a vicious circle would be an understatement.
I understand this post is sounding a bit cynical, but please bear with me for a minute, as that is not my intention.
You see, recently, a visit to my doctor gave me quite a wake-up call in regards to my health. Nothing dire, but troubling and a bit scary. I’m not going to go into details, but let’s just say I’m going to need to make some major changes to my lifestyle going forward, else the consequences will be a lot worse than just troubling and scary. I’m going to need to change not only how/what I eat and my activity level, but also my mindset of how I go about making changes, setting goals, and sticking to them.
And there was a time in the not so far past where I would refuse to quit, despite the doubts my brain would throw at me.
EVIL DOUBT BRAIN: “You won’t be able to do that half-marathon on your first try!”
ME: “Wanna bet?”
EVIL DOUBT BRAIN: “You can’t write 50,000 words of a novel in 30 days!”
ME: “Oh yeah? Watch me do it 5 years in a row.”
You get the idea. I need to look at this new set of challenges in a similar way. I need to kick my doubts to the curb and push through with the changes that need to happen.
Over the next few months, I’m going to use this space to provide updates on the progress with health as I reach for these new goals. On top of that, I’m going to use this overall change of mindset to really push myself forward creatively. I’m going to force myself to level-up, for lack of a better phrase. There is going to be more writing, more blogging, and more reporting on how the submissions and query process is going. Maybe I’ll even start drawing again when I can’t find the right words that I want to say.
Basically, my body has told me that I can’t “start fresh on Monday” anymore… and I don’t think that’s a bad thing.
This is a rallying cry to embrace change, not a penance to fear. I’m being challenged, and honestly, I like rising to a challenge.
I’m going to stick this post at the top of the blog as a reminder. Any big milestones, updates, or changes I will link to below.
If anyone needs tips on how to survive the coming zombie apocalypse…
https://www.sideshowtoy.com/geek/the-sideshow-field-guide-spooktacular-edition-how-to-survive-your-first-few-days-in-the-zombie-apocalypse/
Heading to SDCC this week? Need help getting prepared? Check out this handy Survival Guide I wrote for the Sideshow Collectibles blog!
https://www.sideshowtoy.com/blog/sideshows-san-diego-comic-con-2018-survival-guide/
Oh boy, something (somewhat) controversial yet completely trivial.
So, I watched the new auction scene that has been inserted into Walt Disney World’s The Pirates of the Caribbean ride. This new scene has been the subject of a lot of attention recently because the original scene that it replaced was arguably the most iconic and memorable section of the ride. It was funny, had memorable characters, and a bunch of infinitely quotable lines of dialogue. It just had one small, teeny, tiny, itsy, bitsy problem.
It depicted a sex slave/wench auction… at a family friendly Disney park… in 2018. That’s… really not okay. At all. At. All.
If you need a refresher, or have never been on the ride, here is the original scene:
And here is the new scene:
This scene change is also coming to the Disneyland version of the ride late this month (April 2018).
Now, I can see what the Disney Imagineer’s tried to do here. They made the Redhead more than just an object to be bought, which is fantastic, and I applaud them for giving her some agency and driving the scene with her words rather than with her sex appeal.
But honestly, the rest of the scene is not very good. Yes, it’s better than an auction of crying Audio-Animatronic women waiting to be sold to drunken pirates, but the overall writing/dialogue for the new scene is in itself is just… well… dull. It’s not clever. It’s not funny. It’s not quotable. I love a good pun as much as anyone, but “Quit your cluckin'”? Really?
Keep in mind this is coming from someone who agrees that the scene did need to be changed & updated with the times. But if you are going to replace such an iconic/oft-quoted moment in the ride, however problematic it may be, the replacement also has to be quotable and memorable. There has to be some extra effort put in to meet expectations. This just doesn’t do that. I don’t think anyone experiencing the ride for the first time will give this new scene a second thought as they exit toward the gift shop, and that really feels like a missed opportunity.
What do you think? Are you happy with the new scene and the dialogue? Leave a comment and let me know!
– DAC
Words by the Pound 