Do you Steampunk? Steampunking in the 21st Century...

So there I was, doing some research for my latest novel, looking up some info on the 1940's and some other things I want to include in the novel when I stumbled upon this blog: Hawkins Strongbox. Now, this is some fun and intriguing work and it has me excited thinking of all the fantastic possibilities for authorship in this technological age. I've seen and heard of ideas like this before, but Mr. Pepper (a Disney writer) has put a crazy amount of time and effort into this blog, not just the writing, but the artistic side as well. The blog is fascinating and the potential is endless. And it is an example of "steampunk" writing.

Having never heard of the term "steampunk" until today, I am surprised to find myself already a fan of the genre. I've long been a science fiction fan, loving the futuristic works of Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov, and the like. I've also liked The Leauge of Extraordinary Gentlemen which is based on the comic book series by Alan Moore who also created the anti-hero V of V for Vendetta fame Apparently those movies are somewhat Steampunk. Similarly, I've always been intrigued by the movie starring Will Smith and Kevin Kline which is based upon a television series of the same name - Wild Wild West. Apparently, this is Western Steampunk. And, of course, I have long read H.G. Wells and Jules Verne, which apparently a lot of steampunk artists base their stuff on. Do you find yourself scratching your head and saying, "Huh?" out loud to yourself? 'Cause I certainly did earlier today.

So, I did a little research and found out that steampunk actually has a long and fascinating history. What I find equally as fascinating is the apparently large cult following of all things steampunk and how little I previously knew of this interesting genre and its audience. A quick search on Amazon.com for steampunk turned up everything from books to apparel to props and more.

My momma always told me, "You learn something new every day." Today I learned more than one thing. I learned about a new genre, I learned something about what the future of writing might be and how it could involve the internet and I learned that steampunk is a word...okay a made up word...but, hey, Shakespeare made up a whole bunch of words that we don't call made up any more!

Interruption Anyone?

As a fellow blogger and fellow mommy writer, Gina Conroy’s blog title is quite appropriate. Portrait of a Writer…Interrupted is a fantastic blog that I am coming to look forward to reading on a regular basis as I embark on my new writing adventures. Boy, did I feel the Interrupted part today. I had just finished cranking out about three pages of work on my new short story when I realized that in my writing zeal I had failed to notice the extreme quiet that had settled over the house. Uh-oh… Quiet is never good with a two and half year old around. Upon entering the bedroom where I had last seen Nicole happily drinking milk out of a sippy cup and watching her Country Elmo DVD, I now found her sitting in the middle of my bed covered in “Daddy’s cream.” My husband has issues with dry legs, so he keeps some extra-thick heavy duty skin cream on the nightstand. For the third time in a few months, she had it from her head to her toes and today it was all over the bedding, including on the mattress and the bed skirt, all over the floor on his side of the bed, and a little bit on his Bible, his copy of a Bible-study workbook and the portable DVD player.

AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!! I was just really getting into the story. Now, I got to take time out for discipline, a bath, stripping the bed, laundry, carpet scrubbing and taking a shower after all was said and done. Sitting back down at the computer, after having put the offender to bed for a nap scrubbed clean of all white stickiness, I thought immediately of Gina’s blog and how apropos it was. I also thought of what a great blog today’s incident would make. And the story is still sitting there in the other Word window – waiting for me to pick right back up where I left off when I was interrupted!

(The picture is a few months old, being from the first of these ‘cream’ incidents. The creamy temptation has now been removed from that bedroom altogether. :-) )