D. Lee Jackson

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Got A Nibble! #SFFpit

Posted on 2015-12-11 Written by D. Lee Jackson

I did not know it until it was almost too late, but Thursday (2015-12-10) was a #SFFpit day. See my previous entries on #PitMad for details. The one on Thursday was restricted to Science Fiction and Fantasy genres. And, believe it or not, I got a “like” on one of my Twitter pitches! Here it is:

The fundamental forces that govern the universe are at stake. Can 22yo Travis keep their control out of mercenary hands? #SFFPit #SF #NA

The #SF and #NA hashtags stand for Science Fiction and New Adult. I’m not sure I got the second one right. In any case, someone from what appears to be a publishing house in Ireland gave this a favorite! While I’m thankful for it (in case they’re reading), I’m not sure if I’m going to submit to them. They seem to be geared toward Kindle publishing, and my goal is to get a physical publisher to take on my work.

We’ll see what happens. In the meantime, this means progress!

Filed Under: words

Slight Design Change

Posted on 2015-12-09 Written by D. Lee Jackson

I’ve switched the background image to something with a darker shade of blue and a bit of texture. If you like it or hate it, let me know by dropping me a note at the contact page. Thanks!

Filed Under: website

Sleep On It

Posted on 2015-12-08 Written by D. Lee Jackson

One thing I’ve found whenever I run into a problem with something that requires thought—be it programming, music, or writing—is that sleep helps. Seriously. It’s old advice, but it works. I started putting it to use back in the early 90s.

Example: back when I first read the advice, I was doing some C programming for the IRS (for those outside the United States, think national tax collecting agency). I was working in a rather odd environment, since programming wasn’t my primary job description—I was a tax accountant and only had time to program when I finished my daily accounting tasks.

Anyway, I was writing a program that checked whether or not a PC had been backed up in a certain number of days every time the system booted. There were a couple of problems: first, it had to work with versions of MS-DOS from 3.2 through 5. Second, it had to support both the built-in DOS backup program and third-party backup programs for tape drives. Finally, it had to check all of the hard drives in the system and differentiate local from network drives.

That last part was the tough part. There was no function in Microsoft C that would let me do this. I had to come up with a bit of assembler code that would access the system at the hardware level. I worked on this one afternoon to the point of pulling my hair out. I continued to think about the problem after I got home.

Then I ran across the advice. I don’t remember if I read it or heard it on the news. Either way, I put it to the test. I went to bed and fell asleep, still thinking about the problem.

The next morning I had my answer, right as I woke up. When I tried it that afternoon, It solved the problem perfectly.

Since then, I’ve applied this when I can. I obviously wasn’t able to run home and go to sleep in the middle of a work day (okay, I can now, but only because I’m on disability retirement and am at home all day anyway), but whenever I had the chance to sleep on a problem, I would. In almost every instance, I’d have my solution when I woke up.

Give it a try. The next time someone tells you to “sleep on it,” do just that, whether it be for writing or whatever. You might be surprised by how well it works.

Filed Under: music, programming, words

#PitMad Results

Posted on 2015-12-05 Written by D. Lee Jackson

Well, I entered two tweets into the craziness that is #PitMad yesterday. No bites from agents or editors.

Oh well, as my wife would say. This was the first time I’d ever pitched my novel to professionals, and it wasn’t a whole-hearted effort. There were also a lot of other science fiction pitches.

Next #PitMad is March 17th of 2016. Unless a miracle happens, I’ll probably be there. Wish me luck!

Filed Under: words

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Hello, and welcome! My name is Lee Jackson, and I'm the composer of "Grabbag," the theme to the video game Duke Nukem 3D, plus music for Rise of the Triad and Shadow Warrior (the original). I've got four albums out, with tracks on Spotify, Apple Music, Bandcamp, and SoundCloud! Read More…

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