The Outspoken Omphaloskeptic

the podcast has gone live

MDS — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 14:44:23 +0000

So . . . it took much longer than I’d planned (though not as long as I expected) but the first inaugural episode of Contingencies, my short fiction podcast, is now up. I don’t think there are too many people who still visit this site, but just in case a few of you still subscribe to the RSS feed and have ben wondering what’s going on go ahead and visit my www.maxstites.com to find out.

I think I’m done here. . .

Soon Come

MDS — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 16:04:25 +0000

So, a while back I announced I was putting this blog in stasis to concentrate on a podcast project I had in mind. It’s not ready yet, but the new site is under construction and recording is under way. I will post again when it all goes live and there is content to listened to and downloaded. For now, all you need to know is that it will be found here.

PS – Though it has never happened before, for some reason every time I’ve attempted to type the names “Max Stites” today all of my software has insisted on autocorrecting them to read “mastitis” That’s just not funny. Or is it?

Swallowing My Tail

MDS — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 12:15:58 +0000

When I started this blog in October 2009 I had no real plan. I had a title, an urge to cast my thoughts adrift on the waves of aether that compose the internet. At the back of my mind there was also some half-formed notion that, perhaps, The Omphaloskeptic would teach me enough about blogging, force me to write enough that, eventually, I’d find a more specific way of expressing myself in some other forum. I think that time has finally come.

Those of you who have continued to visit regularly will know that over recent weeks and months my stream of posts has run dry. That’s not because I’m not writing though; if anything I’m writing more. This just isn’t the proper space for what I’ve been working on. I don’t have the energy or the inclination to write for this blog so, for the foreseeable future I’m going to put it in the same box where Schrodinger stuffed his poor cat. Only time and the opening of the box will determine whether or not this thing is dead. Thanks to all of you who have visited and commented. I hope you’ll eventually follow me to what I’ll be doing instead.

So what is going to take this blog’s place? Well, sometime in the coming months I’ll be going live with a new site and a feed for a podcast that will involve me reading pieces of my original short fiction. At the moment I’ve got enough material to last for a good while, but I don’t have the know-how to produce a professional podcast. I’m working on that and, I hope, I’ll be able to start the ball rolling within the next two to three months. Please be patient; I suspect I’m facing a steeper learning curve that I anticipate and I will start to make my recordings available once I’ve got all my ducks in a row. For now I need to do things like design a site, register a domain name, find a host, choose a microphone, learn how to add the theme being written for me to the episodes etc. . .

I expect that the the next time I speak from this pulpit it will be to provide some more concrete details and dates and to check on how dead this cat really is . . .

Happy navel gazing everyone!

Friday Haiku for 13/5/11

MDS — Fri, 13 May 2011 15:19:31 +0000

the first nine signets
singing
spring’s swan song

Friday Haiku For 29/04/11

MDS — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 02:03:24 +0000

old results matter
but
I still don’t care

Friday Haiku for 22/04/11 (late)

MDS — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 19:25:01 +0000

I forgot
because
of the sun

Friday Haiku for 15/4/11

MDS — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 08:59:08 +0000

damp dandelion kisses
start my day

Friday Haiku for 8/4/11

MDS — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 10:43:29 +0000

song
of dusty joy
putting hills in my legs

Friday Haiku for April Fools’ Day 2011

MDS — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 11:13:56 +0000

my dog

pissing on traffic cones

beastly politics

Friday Haiku for 25/3/11

MDS — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 11:51:46 +0000

sunshine scribbles

daffodils

and peach blossom