Scott’s Scribblings

Usually when I dream I realize I’m dreaming. A dream I woke up from this morning was unusually realistic and also odd in that during the duration I never realized I was dreaming. In my dream I was interviewing for a job at a video game company.

Many years ago I was a computer game programmer. I spent four years in the industry before leaving in a manner not entirely voluntary. In the years since I made a couple half-hearted attempts to return. I interviewed with a Chicago based company a couple years ago and part of me was relieved when I didn’t get the job. (My professional pride was assuaged by their statement that while they thought I could do the job, I didn’t get it because I had no experience with the Xbox and they needed someone to hit the ground running.) While I miss some the technical challenges game programming offers, I don’t miss the long hours. Or at least, I don’t miss not getting paid for the extra hours.

I dreamed an entire interview (or so it seemed) before the recruiter at the nameless company reviewed what they liked and disliked about my answers. The only detail that remains in memory is they felt one answer made me sound like I was only in it for the money. (huh?) In the end I didn’t get the job and I dreamed I was enormously pissed-off as I left the building. Then I awoke.

At first I was annoyed, probably residual emotion from the dream. Then I wondered how I’d have reacted had I gotten the job in the dream. Would I be annoyed that I didn’t really get back into the games industry or relieved it was only a dream? It took me a while to answer that question.

I didn’t start writing until I’d left the industry. I had written in high school but stopped early in college and had completely forgotten about it by the time I entered the game industry. It wasn’t until I left the industry and suddenly had a lot of extra time that I remembered writing. It would not be possible, for me at least, to write seriously while maintaining a game programming career. My creativity would be used up solving technical problems. While I have some personal programming projects in the works that are games, the urge and passion isn’t there to make a career of it. I’m actually relieved by that.

I finished a story last night.  Granted it’s only 300 words but it’s the first story I’ve finished in quite a long time so I’m feeling very pleased.  It was written for Escape Pod’s flash fiction contest. 

If you like flash you might consider voting for the best stories.  It’s for this reason that I’m not revealing the title.  It wouldn’t be fair to the other entrants if all three of my readers rushed out to vote for my story.  As long as Greg doesn’t submit any story grenades, I think I have a decent shot of doing well.

But when I step away from the Great Lakes, people can still understand what I’m saying.

Greg wants to know what it’s like where you work today.  It’s friggin’ cold in Chicago. 

Here’s a list of the 100 best opening lines as chosen by the editors of American Book Review.  I’m not sure if they’re in any particular order.  The C.S. Lewis is probably my favorite in the list.  My all-time favorite line was penned by James Sallis in the short story The Genre Kid: Sammy Levison was fourteen when he discovered that he could shit little Jesuses.