Friday, November 16, 2012

I am thinking about Nancy Kerrigan (sorta)


        I am thinking about Nancy Kerrigan
    

            “RT @NECN: Mass. judge orders Mark Kerrigan to return to jail for 6 months for violating probation http://ow.ly/fmBGC”
    
    
        
            Check-in to
        
     Nancy Kerrigan on GetGlue.com




It looks like her brother is causing more trouble for the Kerrigan family



“RT @NECN: Mass. judge orders Mark Kerrigan to return to jail for 6 months for violating probation http://ow.ly/fmBGC”

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

From the @elizabethforma headquarters

#masen #mapol From the @elizabethforma headquarters:We need you to do three things before you go to bed tonight:    Plan a time to vote. Polls will be open on Tuesday from 7:00 AM to 8:00 PM. To look up your polling location, or to request a a ride to the polls, visit our voter information center:http://elizabethwarren.com/vote    Remind your friends to vote. Even if you think your friends are going to vote on Tuesday, send them a quick reminder. This is going to be an extremely close election, and we can’t take anything for granted. Use this simple page to send your friends an email reminder:http://elizabethwarren.com/votereminder    Volunteer on Tuesday. We still need volunteers to help make sure our supporters get to the polls on Tuesday. Please find your closest field office anytime after 7:00 AM and stop in to volunteer - even just a couple of hours can make the difference.http://elizabethwarren.com/fieldoffices
#masen #mapol From the @elizabethforma headquarters:

We need you to do three things before you go to bed tonight:

    Plan a time to vote. Polls will be open on Tuesday from 7:00 AM to 8:00 PM. To look up your polling location, or to request a a ride to the polls, visit our voter information center:

http://elizabethwarren.com/vote

    Remind your friends to vote. Even if you think your friends are going to vote on Tuesday, send them a quick reminder. This is going to be an extremely close election, and we can’t take anything for granted. Use this simple page to send your friends an email reminder:

http://elizabethwarren.com/votereminder

    Volunteer on Tuesday. We still need volunteers to help make sure our supporters get to the polls on Tuesday. Please find your closest field office anytime after 7:00 AM and stop in to volunteer - even just a couple of hours can make the difference.

http://elizabethwarren.com/fieldoffices

Monday, November 5, 2012

NaNoWriMo/NaBloPoMo – Day 4 and other things


So I am informed by Ye Trusty ole NaNoWriMo Word Count stats cruncher that:

Your Average Per Day
778
 
Words Written Today
1,020
 
Target Word Count
50,000
 
Target Average Words Per Day
1,667
 
Total Words Written
3,114
 
Words Remaining
46,886
 
Current Day
4
 
Days Remaining
27
 
At This Rate You Will Finish On
January 3, 2013
 
So I have upped my word count slightly but I need to pick up the pace to at least hit 50,000 words within this year.



An interesting development is that while watching this:
  , (which is about these guys  ),
I found a key to unlocking the soul of the story I want to tell.  The music from Unknown Pleasures and Closer albums really inspired me.



I came across more writing tips online:
infographic -- click the text links in the post for text versions of the visual material
About the Author: Brian Clark is founder of Copyblogger and CEO of Copyblogger Media.


AND

Go Into the Story’s contribution of …
“Get the damn thing done!”:
http://gointothestory.blcklst.com/2012/10/get-the-damn-thing-done.html


Lastly, I was tooling around on GetGlue.com (I should say old GetGlue (o.getglue.com), because no one likes the new GetGlue.com website and found this:
I am thinking about Jack Klugman

And so I shared the excerpts from his book, “Tony and Me” on GetGlue that spoke to me:
“I tell young actors all the time: learn your craft and the rest will take care of itself.”

and

“I don’t like to preach, but I’m going to now because I feel this is too important not to say.  If you’re like I was, or you’re someone who likes to hold a grudge, or you’ve never really let someone know what they mean to your because you’re afraid, ask yourself this question: what are you really protecting?

If you look, you’ll see it: nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Just phantoms from old wounds that never healed. Give them up and join the people in your life who love you.  Risk it all. For me, it was the best gamble I ever made.”

Saturday, November 3, 2012

National Novel Writing Month: A Meme

"The scariest moment is always just before you start". —- Stephen King



The questions/meme are a reblog from clarisaxx.tumblr.com, but the answers are all my own...


Working Title [of NaNoWrimo work for the current season]:
Novel 1: The Tale of Snow White and Rose Red
Novel 2: The Angry Gondals stuff
Novel 3: And the Rest (including Sibs of Doom and Gollumidas stuff)

Genre:
All over the map, but I'm guessing fantastical epic stuff

Projected Word Count:
It would be great if I could get one of them to 50k.  My modest expectation is that all combined will be at least hit 50k.



AT THE START DO YOU:

Start typing?
Sure. The deadline is 11:59pm each night to review, word count and repeat.

Have an outline?
Yes for the first two, not so much for the third.

Scene-by-scene?
Kinda.

Know how it starts?
Yep.

Know how it ends? (Does it have an ending?)
Novel 1: Yes
Novel 2: Sorta
Novel 3: No, bloody clue-I'll go where the story takes me.

Have your climax in order?
Possibly.

Have your main characters yet?
Yes.

Plan to draw on your experiences?
Maybe. There are very few life experiences that are unique so I'm sure if it didn't happen to me, it happened to someone.



IS YOUR WORK GOING TO BE:

Funny?
I usually infuse some kind of funny in anything fictional that I write. Your Mileage May Vary as to how funny it is.

Serious?
Oh yeah.  I do 'Serious' pretty well.

Sad?
Oh yeah.  There will be tragedy.  It wouldn't be me if there wasn't some kind of tragedy.

Semi-Autobiographical?
Not really, although Your Mileage May Vary there too in reading some incidents.

Based on another story?
Novel 2: Yes. It's my reimagining of the Angria and Gondal tales.



HOW MUCH HAVE YOU PLANNED?
HAVE YOU USED:


A paper journal?
Yep.  A lot of material was/is documented in those pretty journals that Barnes and Noble and the now defunct Borders used to sell. My herculean task has been to digitized all of it.

A computer? 
Some.

Index cards? 
Yep, in ways that would make the teachers that I frustrated because I wouldn't use them and complete term papers go "What The?".

Bulleted lists? 
Sometimes on the index cards.

Plot Charts?
On the larger index cards-leftover practice from storyboarding for film.

Character Charts?
Yes and no.  I like to keep names + traits + appearances listed, which makes things easier to keep track of, but I know them in my head and so I'll rarely update them.



ODDS AND ENDS:

Favorite writing resource?
Book:
On Writing by Stephen King
The Elements of Style by Strunk and White
The prefaces of the short stories written by Marion Zimmer Bradley in her Sword and Sorceress anthologies
How to Become a Famous Writer Before your Dead by Ariel Gore

Online:
The Marion Zimmer Bradley Literary Works Trust (http://www.mzbworks.com/)
Forward Motion for Writers (http://www.fmwriters.com/zoomfm/index.php/home)
Vision (http://visionforwriters.com/visionjoom/)
The tweets from @lawnrocket (twitter.com/lawnrocket)
NaNo for the New and the Insane A guide to surviving NaNoWriMo(SM) By Lazette Gifford (http://lazette.net/freestuf/NaNoBook.pdf)


A line you would like to use:
"Cleaving through the night sky" - I came up with it but I don't know where I'll use it yet.

A scene you would like to include:
Possibly the one where one character sleeps with the other but was leading him on to find out what side of the fight he was on and he doesn't see it coming because she pretty much doesn't seem to be cutthroat.

A concept you would like to explore:
Novel 1: The compromises we make
Novel 2: Personal Evolution
Novel 3: Oh the places that we go

A cliché you would like to avoid:
While I'd like to avoid as many as possible (tvtropes.org holla!), I don't think it's possible to avoid even one.  You basically find a way to make them less hackneyed.

A character you would like to use:
I can't really think of one that's not my own.



FORWARD THINKING:

Do you expect to be able to complete it?
I'd like to, but realistically I may not.  It doesn't mean I can't try.

Do you intend to complete it? 
I'll do my level best.

Would you ever try to publish it?
I'd like to try publishing one of the three.  That would be kinda cool.

What do you expect to get out this month of frantic writing? 
Some really ripping yarns that I would like to read on my own and to share with others.

Friday, November 2, 2012

I am thinking about Day of the Dead (Spanish: Día de los Muertos)

I am thinking about Day of the Dead</p><br /><br /> <p>Day of the Dead (Spanish: Día de los Muertos) is a Mexican holiday celebrated throughout Mexico and around the world in many cultures. The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died. It is particularly celebrated in Mexico, where it attains the quality of a National Holiday. The celebration takes place on November 1–2, in connection with the Catholic holidays of All Saints’ Day (November 1) and All Souls’ Day (November 2). Traditions connected with the holiday include building private altars honoring the deceased using sugar skulls, marigolds, and the favorite foods and beverages of the departed and visiting graves with these as gifts. Scholars trace the origins of the modern Mexican holiday to indigenous observances dating back hundreds of years and to an Aztec festival dedicated to a goddess called Mictecacihuatl.</p><br /><br /> <p> Check-in to  Day of the Dead on GetGlue.com
Day of the Dead (Spanish: Día de los Muertos) is a Mexican holiday celebrated throughout Mexico and around the world in many cultures. The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died. It is particularly celebrated in Mexico, where it attains the quality of a National Holiday.
The celebration takes place on November 1–2, in connection with the Catholic holidays of All Saints’ Day (November 1) and All Souls’ Day (November 2). Traditions connected with the holiday include building private altars honoring the deceased using sugar skulls, marigolds, and the favorite foods and beverages of the departed and visiting graves with these as gifts. Scholars trace the origins of the modern Mexican holiday to indigenous observances dating back hundreds of years and to an Aztec festival dedicated to a goddess called Mictecacihuatl.

Review: The Tale of the Dark Crystal

The Tale of the Dark Crystal by Donna Bass My rating: 4 of 5 stars View all my reviews