I’m back from holiday and slowly slipping back into the work mode that allows me to handle all my many projects *and* my life, but I’m not quite fully adjusted yet, so blogging will likely still be a little irregular until the weekend.
In the mean time, I thought I would share a few of my current holiday-inspired obsessions…
- The music of Kirsty MacColl, especially “Us Amazonians” (my new theme song) and “In These Shoes.” Extraordinarily fun.
- Really trashy, otherwise mediocre, romance novels. Don’t take this as a slam against romance novels — many of them are very well-written, I’m just not looking at the well-written ones. I’m looking for ones I can snark over in Smart Bitch fashion. I’m sending a bunch of fun escapist reading to my sister in Iraq and I promised to write new snarky back covers for all of them. I have also been unable to resist adding a couple of ROFLMAO post-its with arrows and exclamation points inside a few of the books. I might have a new hobby.
- The last scene of “The Stolen Earth”, penultimate episode of this season’s Doctor Who. My cry of “noooooooooo!” was heard … well, at least as far as the other end of the phone line since I immediately hopped on the phone for geeky commiseration.
See ya!
My best friend recently sold most of her stuff, packed her car full of treasures and a couple of adorable grey kitties, and set out on the long drive from Atlanta, GA to her new home in Seattle, WA. Since that’s an awful long drive to do by oneself — especially in mid-summer when you can’t leave the kitties in the car by themselves even for a few minutes without risking one of their nine lives — I went with her. I will extol the loveliness of our adventures and post some pictures soon — but I’m saving it for a later post, because when I got back, there was a bit of chaos waiting.
Bring it on!
I’ll take a bunch of small crises over one big one any day of the week. At least they allow me to keep my sense of humor! Recent small crises include (but are not limited to):
- second degree steam burns
- other people’s drama
- kitty eye infection
- pulled ligament
- lost emails
- visits to various medical professionals
- busted power cord for computer
- deadline!
- allergic reaction to pain meds
On the plus side, all small crises have been resolved with decent-to-awesome outcomes, and I am about to head up the mountains for a few days of rest and relaxation which will include gardening, a lovely visit, and lots of naps.
Regularly scheduled blogging resumes next week!
image source: alterednate
Back at home, back at work, and tonight I’ll even be back at Krav after a two-week hiatus. Yeah, tonight’s gonna hurt. I will moan and groan my way into a proper blog entry detailing my adventures tomorrow, but in the mean time here’s some random ridiculousness for you.
Substitute urge to sing the Mighty Mouse theme song for urge to try running up the down escalator, and this graph is eerily accurate.
Cause it is waaaay past Saturday, and we’re midway through Montana…
Via TV Scoop, the first episode in a YouTube vid series following the “comeback” of an 80’s British boy band called the Toyboize.
Continuing the funny, I show this recut Shining trailer when I teach editing.
And just for kicks, here are some real movies I’m looking forward to…
What looks like a killer documentary on Trumbo:
And, back again with the funny, Hamlet 2:
I’m in the midst of a cross-country road trip to Seattle, but will be back soon with pictures and adventures. In the mean time, enjoy the much delayed Saturday Matinee to follow!
Via the Smart Bitches, Harry Potter puppets. I’m still giggling.
Via TV Scoop, the mid-season trailer for Doctor Who. Rose is back!
Via Feministing, Jay Smooth on “the one gay rapper.” I LIKE this guy.
After taking the blogged advice of the Angry Black Woman, I am now obsessed with The Life and Times of Sinister Cat.
Sometimes a writing day goes really well. I wake up and sit down at the computer and before I know it I’ve written 3,000 words.
Today was not one of those days. I got up extra early because the door repair person was supposed to come at 9am and I thought I’d better clean up before he got here, seeing as how he was going to be removing my smashed front door as well as a door to my bedroom and all my neighbors were going to be able to see into my apartment.
I cleaned. Then I waited.
And waited.
Since I had some time, I sat down and worked on the current scene in Alpha Flyer. Ally has to decide whether or not she’s going to follow the plan laid out for her by others or strike out on her own initiative. This is a decision she makes again and again throughout the book. Do what she’s told, or do something else.
She’s not a particularly nice person. She’s selfish and a little bit mean. She’s also loyal to a fault, and more sensible than she used to be.
Five years ago, she would have made one choice. I know that and she knows it. As I was writing the scene, though, I realized I wasn’t exactly sure what choice she’d make now. And neither was she. Had she grown as much as I’d thought she had? Maybe. Maybe not. It was a delicious writerly moment when I realized that she could do something completely unexpected, and that if she did, I would have all sorts of complications to deal with as a result. My fingers hovered over the keyboard, poised…
And then the phone rang, and I found out that the repair man had arrived a while ago, but wasn’t going to be able to start on my door until noon. So if I was going to run errands today at all (and I really needed to), I had to leave right away in order to be back in time.
Put Ally on pause. Run errands.
By the time I got back, the repair man was ready to start on the doors. And the job took four hours. Four hours. I tried to write, but the banging and the constant chit chat made it impossible. The scene was coming out flat and dead. All the delicious possibility was draining away.
So I stopped. I visited with my neighbor and another friend, said goodbye to the repair man, went to krav maga. I let the frustration drain away so the inspiration could come back.
Today may not have been a good on-paper day, but it did help me to realize that I was leading Ally a little too closely instead of letting her be herself and just seeing where that takes her. The trouble with writing such a plot-heavy story — a new experience for me — is that I have to balance the overall structure of the book with the twists and surprises (even to me) that are driven entirely by character. I have an idea who a character is when I start, of course, but they can, and obviously do, surprise me. In the past I’ve just followed where they led. With this story, though, there’s just too many of them who have to come together at a certain point in time. I haven’t been quite sure how much latitude I can give them in getting there.
More than I have been giving them. I can tell you that much.
Ironically, I actually got a lot of work done today. Invisi-work — it pops up often in writing. It’s the 40 hours of thinking about things that happens in my head for every one to five pages of written words. Did I say often? I meant all the time.
It’s worth it though, because tomorrow I get to abracadabra that invisi-work into new story. And that new story will be so much better than it would have been otherwise. There are New Complications. There are Questions and Answers That Lead to More Questions.
Who is Ally Flyer?
I’m delighted to say that I’m beginning to find out.
—-
Image source: The Trial on Flickr
Behold my brother Christian’s editing project for this semester (he’s in art school for videography), starring himself, himself, himself, and, oh yeah, himself. Every time I watch it I crack up.
He’s planning to put together a more polished version for his reel. If he posts it on YouTube, I’ll let you know.
