A capella, Star Wars, and John Williams - How Can You Go Wrong?

The answer: You SO can't. This is so right that it's wrong, and so wrong that it's right. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go watch it about 15 more times.

Thanks to Eden, whose awesome radar is much more sophisticated than mine.

Catching Up

Haven't read GalleyCat in a while, so I found a few gems over there today.

Book Cover Mashup over at bookninja--hysterical.
Go ahead, judge a book by its cover--or at least, guess its Amazon ranking based on its cover.

Found yesterday:

This is old, but it's new to me--and gave me a laugh. How to Write a Book. My favorite step:

14. If you’ve worked hard three days in a row, take a hard-earned day off. And it looks like snow tomorrow, so you might as well take the whole weekend. But a day off from writing is not a day off from complaining!

Also a few months old, and maybe I posted it before, but I just found it in my email archives. It's funny enough to merit the risk of a double-post: Writing a Novel, a Love Story.

There. Take a break and enjoy yourself.

When the Voices Won't Stop

Listening to: Chronic Future, "Shellshocked"

There. After a week of polishing and shining and finding typos, and sweating over this manuscript, it's off to the editor who requested it at the conference.

I made many changes, not any huge ones but several that fixed some minor problems people brought to my attention,* and quite a few that make me feel like this thing is as good as it's gonna get anytime soon.

All these changes required me to dive back into the book, and into my protagonist's head, with full force. I was concerned, at first, that I would find this difficult. HA! I'm so funny. Because I had the opposite problem. Once I got started, I couldn't get her voice out of my head. All week, she's been talking and talking, giving me bits of dialog and narration that weren't there before. Verbose little brat, my protagonist.

Every time I was in the car or the shower, there she was. I woke up this morning to her voice, as she gave me a few last bits to put into the manuscript before I sent it out. She just wouldn't shut up.

So now I have her voice in my head, and I figure I may as well use it. I think I'll get back to work on book two this weekend, since none of the projects I've tried to start in the past few months have really panned out. I've always been against starting a sequel when you don't know if the first one even has a chance--it seems like such a waste of time to me. But this book changed all that, because I really want to write more of this character's story.

And if nothing else, it'll distract me from the waiting game that has begun, yet again. Distractions--I need them.


*Thanks Tia!

Stress and Chaos

Listening to: Muse, "Starlight"

One thing I've never been good at is pushing my stress aside to write. This is kind of odd, I know--a lot of writers write to forget about the stress (even when the writing itself is stressful). But when the stress is personal--i.e., family or friend related--the writing part of my brain tends to shut down so it can focus on all the stressful stuff.

Right now, I'm going through a tiny rough patch, the details of which are not important. Actually, it's not my rough patch, but it's a tough time for someone very close to me, and I'm dealing with a lot of the fallout. When this person called this morning with more problems, problems that I know she needs to share with someone and I'm the best candidate right now, I thought, "Well, there goes that 500 words I was going to get in this morning." Because I expected to spend the morning worrying, and my afternoon is already full up.

But no. I won't let that happen.

I'm going to write, dammit. I got 2000 words in Wednesday night, so I'm definitely on a roll. I'm going to throw myself into the writing, at least for the next two hours, and worry about all the other stuff later.

I think I'm getting better at this--the "write no matter what" thing. I guess we'll find out, eh?*

How about you, fellow writers? If you're a writer (or any kind of artist), do you shut down when everything around you is chaotic...or does that make you write more? Feed my curiosity!


*ETA: Planned on writing 500 words this morning. Got almost 1000. Yes, I'm definitely getting better at this. Now I'm going to go brood, then do some chores.

Various and Sundry

Several wildly divergent and incredibly trivial matters to bring to your attention. One or more may cause significant cognitive dissonance, as that seems to be the name of the game all over the intertubewebs today. Don't say you weren't warned.

1. Cats singing Christmas carols.

2. This ought to wake you up (originally found on Whatever)

.

3. Which leads us here...

4. And finally, I love my area TV news. Because they come up with priceless gems like this:

"The attorney for convicted killer Levon Chisley is asking Centre County Court to declare him indignant so court costs and fees related to his appeal would be covered by the court."



How about you? Found anything interesting today?

Distractions

I found this site, and now I just can't stop.

$2925.00The Cadaver Calculator - Find out how much your body is worth.

Much better than most other quiz sites. "Would you survive the zombie apocolypse?" is next on my list.

A Fun Way to Spend an Hour (No, Not *That*)

Listening to: Dispatch, "Riddle"

Let me point ya'll to this (Note: it may take a few moments to load, the site seems pretty bogged down). It's a vocabulary quiz that donates 10 grains of rice to a hungry person for every correct answer. Seems pretty legit to me, and it's a good way to unwind.

Seriously, I stretched my vocab muscle and donated 300 grains of rice last night. This is sheer brilliance.

Going Home

Just for the weekend, for a wedding. Today, I have laundry to do, a haircut to finally get (maybe), a suitcase to pack...and a massively bad cold. I'm off in the clouds right now, thanks to the cold meds.

I can't complete a train of thought to save my life. Be back Monday.

Quick Check-in

Just checking in to direct you here. Found it on Boing Boing, and if you need a quick Monday pick-me-up...well, here ya go. They're better than coffee.

More later.

Thursday Time Waster

I so made a mistake choosing English Lit as a major in college. Obviously, I was destined to be a great artist. Such a tragic waste of talent, that.

Behold, my masterpiece. I shall call it Qwerty.

Early Morning Calls

I love my friends, I really do. Even when they call me at 1:15 a.m., leave a long, rambling message in which it is discovered that they called me for song lyrics, and neglect to wish me a happy birthday while they're at it....

*Grits teeth* I do love my friends, I do love my friends, I do love my friends....

Dropping In

Listening to: Bayside, "Montauk"

Just a quick post today.

First of all, my birthday is coming, and The Husband asked me today how tall I am. I am officially dying of curiosity. What is he up to that he requires my height? This is mystifying me.

Secondly, it's a beautiful freaking day out.

Third, the movie was pure, 100% awesome. I wasn't nearly as bad as I thought I would, and Jackson's friends did a great job. Can't wait to get my hands on the DVD, with deleted scenes and bloopers and everything!

And lastly...WTF is The Husband up to? Grrr.

Okay, back to work.

-Kristin

Randomnia Miscellanea...uh...Ergo Sum?

Now I'm just making crap up (see title).

I'm thinking about starting a new feature on this blog, one that will be rolled out next week. I haven't yet decided if it will occur on Mondays or Fridays. I'll make that all-important decision this weekend, and on Monday I'll introduce the new feature.

Speaking of this weekend, the blog will be dark until Monday, as we are trekking up to the in-laws' tonight and won't be back until Sunday. Our reasons for this trip are twofold:

1. My m-i-l's 50th birthday is on Tuesday, so we're celebrating it this weekend.

2. The Husband's friend is unveiling the third installment in his film trilogy (at least I think it's a trilogy) Saturday night. The Husband and I filmed our parts in the movie over Thanksgiving weekend. He plays a CIA operative or something, and I play his wife who is actually a secret agent from...somewhere else, I don't know...who married him to get at the secrets, but who used to be involved with the protagonist.

Now, about this. Filming it was definitely fun. I got to shoot at John Parker (the titular character, sort of a James Bond type with angst) in my m-i-l's kitchen, then scream the F-word when John Parker thrust my husband in front of him and I shot him (husband) instead. With my m-i-l in the next room.* We had an awesome time doing the whole thing, and a part of me can't wait to see the finished project.

But.

In the scenes after I shoot my husband, I chase John Parker downstairs. Now, this whole time, I'm in my freaking bathrobe, having just gotten out of the shower (in the movie, not in real life). I find him downstairs and confront him, and he recognizes me (I'd had some plastic surgery and such--again, in the movie, not in real life). JP gets the upper hand and, to try to save my own hide, I have to...um...er...try to seduce him.

I had to say the words, "You wouldn't want to let all this go to waste, would you?" as I untied and opened my bathrobe (calm down, I had stuff on underneath, and they only filmed from the neck up).

Do you think I'm looking forward to seeing this on screen? On a big screen, no less, as we're going to another friend's house to watch it on his projector screen?

The answer would be, resoundingly, NO. I have been dreading this for months. It's going to be very uncomfortable for me, especially with other people around. To them, it will be entertainment. To me--sheer humiliation, I suspect.

*Sigh*. The things I will go through for my friends.

And in the last interesting bit of miscellanea, my birthday is less than one week away. Now, having an early April birthday and living in the mid-Atlantic states has always been interesting. I've had sunshine, snow, hail, and rain--mostly rain--on my birthday. The weather has been so promising lately, though, that I was stupid and got my hopes up. Here are the projected temperatures and conditions for each day between now and my birthday, according to weather.com:

Today: Mostly Sunny, 67.
Sat.: Partly Cloudy, 63.
Sun.: T-showers, 58.
Mon.: Mostly Sunny, 65.
Tues.: Partly Cloudy, 66.
Wed....uh-oh...: Showers, 46.

Thursday, the big day: Rain/Snow Showers, 37.

To that, a resounding, WTF?!!

The Husband informed me that, as with all things, Canada is to blame. There will evidently be a cold front advancing on us, which will arrive just in time for my birthday.

To that, I say, DAMN YOU, CANADA! What did I ever do to you, huh? Tell me. I really want to know. I've visited you on a couple occasions, and I was always nice. I didn't take advantage of your whole lower drinking age thing. Why would you do something like this to me?

Damn you, Canada. Damn you to hell.**

Have a good weekend, everybody.

-K.



*I let her know ahead of time that I had to drop the F-bomb--because, let's face it, that's not a word you want to scream with your mother-in-law in the next room--and she was cool with it.

**I mean no ill-will toward Canadians themselves. It's only their geographic region's weather patterns that infuriate me.

The Nerdiness is Strong With This One....

Oh. My. Gah--

May 25. Post Office. Star Wars Stamps.

Is it nerdy that I've already put this in my cell phone calendar?





Nah....

The Insomnia Returns...

Listening to: Less than Jake, "Mostly Memories"

Well, I guess I won't be taking Ambien anymore. My doc only prescribed it last month, after a long bout of insomnia left me frazzled and on the verge of a nervous breakdown. I thought it was a freakin' godsend, and I really loved that I could fall asleep without laying awake for five hours. Yeah...that was nice.

It got me into a nice sleep schedule after about a week, and I started falling asleep quickly without even taking it. Good stuff! I took it again Monday night after laying awake for an hour, fretting over family stuff.

Then I read that it carries a risk of, of all damn things, sleep-driving. Now, I wouldn't be terribly concerned if I didn't have a history of sleepwalking. I probably haven't done it (that I'm aware of) since I was about thirteen. One of my favorite sleepwalking stories involves my mom, drawn by the sound of running water in the bathroom at some ungodly hour of the night, discovering me just about to climb into a very hot shower. In my pajamas. Asleep.

I used to worry that I would sleepwalk my way into traffic or something, but I never imagined that sleep-driving was a worry. That and, according to the article, sleep-sex, sleep-food-preparation-and-consumption, and sleep-dialing*. Imagine those phone calls....

I can certainly live without sleep drugs, although I'm sure my time spent laying awake in bed, elbowing The Husband in the ribs to stop his snoring, will once again increase.

Yeah, I'll take that over hittin' the highway in my sleep, any day.



*My freshman year of college, I had a conversation with a friend, on the phone, while asleep. I had fallen asleep watching Liar, Liar, and I proceeded to tell her that I was--I'm not joking, here--a lawyer who couldn't tell lies. In that case, however, she called me and I answered the phone in my sleep. I have no memory of the conversation, but she called me the next day and told me all about it--she'd spent the intervening time worrying that I'd developed some grievous mental illness that caused hallucinations.

Cat-wax-a-licious

Listening to: Fallout Boy, "Bang the Doldrums"

Just found this awesome Firefox plug-in. Download it, restart Firefox to install, and create an account. Then all you have to do is click the "Stumble!" button it creates in your browser, and you're on your way to Catwaxing Heaven! I'm on there as "kbax" if you want to Friend me.

Speaking of catwaxing, if Shakespeare hops onto this table one more time, I swear I really AM going to vacuum him.

Serendipity

I read this a while back, but stumbled upon it again this morning. It's funny 'cause it's true.

I'm currently about a week away from the onset of Writer's Remorse. Also, as you can see from the previous post, I'm very much in danger of Subconscious-Packing. I'll be reading those writing books after I get to Writer's Remorse.

Others that crack me up because they're so damn right:

The Ninja (my ninjas are fire and water, and I'm really hoping I can get away from this time...)
The Cliff of Justice (damn moral quandaries)
Cockroach Eggs
The Overhead Projector
The Darkroom
Phantonym
Naglet

I'm sure I have some of the other bad ones in my work, but, you know, the problem with a lot of these is that it's hard to admit they're there. Like many other bits of writing advice/humor, you nod and smile and say, "Yes, yes...but not in my book."

Of course not, dear. Of course not.

-Kristin

let's unwrite these pages and replace them with our own words

*Sigh*.

That was a nice long break. I had Christmas with my family, helped out at my sister's, had New Year's with my husband and some close, wonderful friends, went to my sister's to help out again, and saw the in-laws.

Got crapometered. Miss Snark's comments, while short and to the point, will help out a great deal with my query letters.

Finished editing the last book, started the new book. I'm loving every second of it, for now.

Used some gift cards to go crazy on Amazon...got Uglies, On Writing, Magic or Madness, The Elements of Style, 78/14 Reasons, and Brother Odd. I was a good girl, and started with Elements of Style last night, in spite of all temptation to read any of the others. I know you can't believe I didn't already have a copy--doesn't every writer? Well, I did...but I lost it before I could finish it. So now I'm plowing through, determined to soak up every bit of knowledge that I can. It's kind of exhausting...there's a lot packed into that little book.

Used other gift cards to go shopping on Sunday. I got the most fabulous pair of high-heeled, brown leather, knee-high lace-up boots for $31.99...so with my gift card, I paid $11.99. Not bad, says I. Not bad at all! Can't wait to wear them with a cute skirt, although they'll work fine with jeans, too.

And now, it's snowing. I'm not a big fan of snow, having grown up very near PA's snow belt, but I feel sort of...relieved. It's been a really weird winter, and the warm weather, while nice, has thrown me off a bit. It felt so right to look outside this morning and see a thin layer of snow covering my car and the driveway.

Oh! And I'm trying to quit smoking again. This is Day Three, and thus far, I haven't killed anyone yet! Yaaaaay me! I even went without the patch from dinner until bedtime last night. It actually might stick this time, I think. I'm kind of excited about reaching each next milestone, and being able to say, "A week without a smoke..." "Two weeks..." "A month...". I can see myself as a non-smoker. That, my friends, is a first. I like it.

Now, off to the salt mines...er, the wonderful next book that I'm really enjoying, even if I'm kind of stuck in Chapter Two, unable to find a smooth way to slip in all this information that I need to get in there. Or something.

Bye!

-Kristin

Random Linkage Fun

Wanna get in the holiday spirit? Wanna walk around your house singing like a cat all night?

Here ya go. (Note: If you haven't already, you have to download the Rhapsody player to listen, but it's free and there's no registration.)

I find this place really interesting. My nation is approaching its one-day anniversary. It's kind of a slow process, and a bit complicated, but definitely eye-opening and fun. I'm looking forward to building Kristinia into a superpower that strikes fear and/or respect into the hearts of its enemies.

I love stuff like this. There's nothing better than old pictures of places you know...makes you think about how things have changed in the past fifty or sixty years, and how much they will change in the future.

That's all for now.

-Kristin

To get you in the Christmas spirit...or, alternatively, get you groovin'.

This is just too much damn fun. I enjoyed it so much, I had to watch it twice. Amazing what some people come up with.