Babysteps back into writing

Prior to the midglet's arrival, I spent hours of "free time" working on writing fiction. Mostly fantasy, with solid writing and weak plotting. Rereading some of it now, I still stand by individual scenes and characters, but the overall story-arcs give me pain.

Groan-worthy pain. Who-was-I-trying-to-fool pain.

Fortunately, I have a sense of humor about my own limitations, so after the pain comes laughter and head-shaking.

But in any case, after my "free time" became kid time, I convinced myself that I was a much better editor than I was a storyteller, so I might as well accept that the writer gig was never going to work out for me anyway, so I wasn't missing anything by just giving it up.

But lately?  Lately I'm feeling the twitch to write again.  I have new ideas in slightly different genres and I find myself playing around with character and plot in ways that I haven't in years.

So... I'm doing some research on a few topics - New England history and mythology mostly - and we'll see how it all meshes together over the next few months.

Happy New Year

Yeah, so I'm running about 2 weeks behind on everything. We just mailed out the last of the Christmas presents this morning. And yes, that's more than two weeks behind, but what can I say? We're blaming it all on Zoe this year. And probably for the next couple years as well.

She's cute enough to deflect irritation.

Still haven't gotten back into the writing groove - probably has something to do with my complete lack of free time. I have more free time while at work than I do when home - writing this from work now, as a matter of fact.

I did get a bit of knitting done in the last month - 3 kid-sized hats - two for my sitter's daughters and one for Aunt Lily (who is now 2 years old - yay for 2nd wife syndrome). I do have intentions of knitting another hat for Zoe, and maybe a couple more pairs of pants, since she's just about outgrown the three I did in November. My little hobbit is getting long - definitely gets that from her father's side of the family.

Okay - dull post, I know. I'm just trying to get in the habit of posting at all. I'll work on being interesting later. Ha.

She lives!

Apparently pregnancy completely deletes my creative writing inclinations and abilities. Zoe Jeanne was born October 9, 2009... and is currently sleeping in her bassinet at my side.

Other than work-related reports and a few posts on Ravelry.com, I haven't written a thing since April. This will also be the first year I'm not even starting NaNo, though I am on maternity leave until December. Still, Zoe is not so much for leaving me chunks of time to write, and I'm already sleep-deprived because of the whole night feeding thing.

Anyway, just checking in to note that I am alive and kicking. I think I might try to revive the blog a bit more, if only to get back in the habit of writing regularly. Somehow Facebook updates don't fill quite the same niche. ;-)

Oops

I lost track of the date.

So.

All's well with my dad - his doctor and therapy crew keep yelling at him to slow down and not puch himself so hard. He's still got some weakness in his right hand and he says his signature might never be the same, but other than that, he seems to be doing pretty well. Driving my mother batty, in any case, so that seems about back to normal.

I survived February with friends visiting, a conference in Nashua, four twelve-hour work days in a row, and throwing my back out so badly the pain is still lingering even now -- two weeks later.

Anyway, I don't really have time right now to write the post I wanted to write, so I'll just tell you what I intend for the rest of the month. I've lived in a few interesting places, worked a range of different jobs - many with a constantly rotating cast of characters. So my plan for March (and possibly beyond) is to memorialize some of the more colorful or influential individuals who have crossed my path over the last 14 years.

61 months and counting

So.

Drive-by posting ahead:

Been doing this blog for much longer than I ever anticipated.

Still have lots to say.

Some might even be interesting.

Putting a lot of my creative energy into work these days.

Still no Internet at home.

But many good intentions and things to write about.

Might pick up again sometime soon.

Probably going to be quiet until we ransom our souls to the satellite internet providers though.

Sigh.

.....

Yes, I know it's just a comic strip

I read For Better or For Worse most days. Recently, at Christmas, one character rushed back into the house to save his just finished manuscript. So, obviously, the earliest he could have sent it out would have been a few days after Christmas.

Last week he gets a full book contract in the mail. RIGHT. He sends a manuscript, unsolicited, to a publisher, over the holidays... and they get back to him with a full contract in a matter of weeks? On what planet? Things can't work that differently in Canada. I won't get into the point that the book is supposed to be coming out in the fall...

Yes, I know it's a comic strip. Yes, I know that the creator is trying to tie up all storylines by the fall. Yes, I know that people should not be relying on comics for accurate representation or information.

But it still bugs me.

Things that are wrong with me

No, I'm not asking for suggestions, thanks.

I already have a few specifics in mind.

One, my hand! Owie! All the knitting has left my right hand and arm sore. Either an inflamed muscle or tendon or something, I'm thinking. The pain goes right from the base of my ring and pinky fingers to the underside of my elbow. Massage only makes it worse, but frozen cranberries (we're out of peas) feel really really good. In any case, I'm forcing myself to take a knitting hiatus until the pain stops. (Or mostly stops... whatever.)

Second, Farscape. People whose opinions I respect say this is a great show. We've just finished the 4th episode and are still waiting for the greatness to appear. Does the beginning just suck? Does it get better? Should I keep watching, or is this all there is?

Here's what underwhelms me:

It's a neat concept and the visual delivery is excellent.

But the writing! Ack! I mean, I've had beatings that were more subtle. If I want to be smacked around by moralizing lessons delivered with the finesse of a falling piano, I would go to church. Jay and I were both sitting there, rolling our eyes, yelling "We GET IT ALREADY" at the TV. Not a good sign. I don't know whether it's the writing, or the editing that's so poor, but we agreed that the episodes could be trimmed by about 20% without losing any meaning.

And LORD, I can tell the creators were muppeteers, because anything involving the muppet characters is extremely well done. Anything involving live actors clunks. Not that there aren't good lines, but they get lost in the dragging pace of delivery. It's as if they decided, if expressing an idea once is good, then expressing it four times would be even better.

So.

Any fans out there have opinions on whether the series resolves these problems as it progresses, or should we give up now and move on?

50,104

That's it. I am so not doing this again next year. Four is enough.

Still alive

That's about all I can say for now.

Holidays were good - more on those later.

Behind on NaNo (~34K done) but still pretty confident of finishing.

Mind turned to mush by huge wave of grading. Hate grading. Need new job.

Check In

26K and counting on NaNo... but now I'm getting really behind on critiques.

We have a houseguest this weekend, an old college buddy of Jay's. Usually our little place feels cozy, but plenty big enough. Add a third person... really start to feel the lack of doors. The only doors in our place that don't lead outside are the ones on the bathroom and the closet.

I enjoy having company. It's always nice to talk to different people, especially ones as charming and well-educated as our current guest. But it's a rare person who can fit into an already small space without making it seem tiny. Kind of like my mother's idea of high praise - "I didn't really notice him much."

Oh crap... does that mean I'm turning into my mother? Ha ha. There are many things I think are awesome about my mom, don't get me wrong. But you know that saying about "if you can't be a good example, at least you can serve as a horrible warning"? It applies.

Agh! Must. Write. More. Words. Back to NaNo.

damn that grading thing

Losing valuable writing time to grading today... granted, this is theoretically why I get a paycheck from the college, but still. (And I "wasted" several hours knitting this week, too.)

I'm at 17000 words and counting. Don't have the exact count with me at the moment. Going pretty well - at least I'm not letting myself get massively behind this year. I learned my lesson writing 25K in three days at the end of the month in 2005. Not fun.

Writing at this speed reminds me of painting in my high school art class. First I block out the basic shape of a scene using dialogue (the underpainting), then I add character thought and movements and maybe a little detail here and there, and finish it with a gloss coat of description.

Back to the blank, white page...

Meep

That's what I say to Jay when I have nothing to really say. Kind of a substitute for "hello", I suppose. Though, come to think of it, I think that's what I set my email notification to back in college...

Anyway.

First meeting of the student women's group was interesting. A small turn out, but lots of good ideas. Our second meeting is Thursday, so hopefully we'll keep chugging along.

NaNo count is up to 8825 and I'm still working on it this afternoon. Day 6 should be at 10002 words to be on track, and I think I should be able to get there without too much effort. (Famous last words)

Back to work!

NaNoing

4371 words done.

45629 words to go.

Might be even quieter around here than it has been. (Is that possible? you ask.)

This will be my 4th year participating. Hoping that it's also my fourth time winning. Last year was a nailbiting finish and I loathed every minute of it. Hopefully, with a return to a familiar genre and cast of characters, this year won't suck quite as bad.

Oops, you lost me

As usual, I've been doing a bit of reading lately. Not all of it good. But that's the problem with trying new authors, I suppose.

Just before we left on vacation, I picked up a book that I thought was by an author I'd read before. (Lisa Gardner - who I really enjoyed) Browsing the shelves in the mystery section, I noted only the "suspense" on the spine and missed the "romantic" part. But in truth, the suspense was pretty low and the romance was the worst kind. This Lisa just about killed me with the melodrama. The heroine ran through every emotion known to man in the first ten pages, sometimes hitting two or three in one paragraph. Gah. When the hero "arched a cynical eyebrow" on page 37, I knew it was only going to get worse. And it did.

I don't mind romantic suspense. I read it by choice fairly frequently. Some people do it well (Holly Lisle comes to mind) with plots that make sense rather than relying on soap opera plot devices, and characters who act like reasonable people instead of moronic stereotypes (the shy, nervous, emotional woman - the self-centered vamp - the trust-impaired man).

I recently read a book by Elizabeth Lowell that I would class as romantic suspense, though the cover just claimed "fiction". I enjoyed her book, as the characters were interesting and entertaining, despite their drift towards stereotype. I mean, wtf does "dangerously male", "extremely male", "so deliciously male" mean? Gag. Puh-lease. Either you got the bits or you don't, generally speaking. (Romantic suspence doesn't usually include transgendered men and women, so I'm not including that in this rant, 'kay?) Pretty much, I figure, if the author describes the characters as male and female, it means they're going to be using their tender bits in an interlocking fashion. And that's another rant entirely.

Moving away from the romantic suspense rant... my current read came from the horror shelf in my local bookstore (which doesn't mean much, as they're a bit confused about genre there). So far, so good, except for one thing that just booted me COMPLETELY out of the story. Lemme 'splain.

Book published in 2002. Main character 26 years old. No mention of special circumstances, so assume college graduation at age 22. Character comments about traveling in Europe post-graduation. I put that travel sometime between 1994-1998, with variance based on possible publication delay. Character makes a comment to this effect: "backpacking through Europe after graduation, and even with picnicking on cheese and bread for lunch, Italy was almost supernaturally expensive." To which I have to say "In what alternate universe?" When I traveled in Europe (8 trips between 1993-1998) Italy was about the only place I COULD afford. Cheap hotels ran between $25-$50/night, with the hostels being slightly cheaper. With a little bit of searching, you could find a four-course meal for $10-15. The open markets allowed for haggling, and some of my nicest and least expensive souvenirs came from Italy. So when this author claims that Italy was super pricy, my bullshit meter snaps on. Because the plot is so interesting and the characters likeable and, more importantly, believable, I'll definitely keep reading, but my suspension of disbelief has taken a hit. This is not a good thing.

Anyone else have this problem, or have any other pet peeves in books you've read? Or am I the only one here who's so picky?