Writing Advice (not from me)

Recently I read an old Laurell K. Hamilton interview in Writer’s Digest. 

 I’ve read a lot of suggestions from published authors for new or fledgling authors, which I often find to be redundant and not helpful. Contrary to my expectations, I really enjoyed what Laurell had to say:

“Writers write. Put your butt in the chair and write on a regular basis…I start off by writing why I can’t write. Type every reason you can’t write. Complain, bitch, whatever. Half a page to a page in, the muse says, ‘Well, if you’re going to be writing anyways, you can do better than this.’ Also, if you don’t protect your time no one will. I wrote my first book two pages a day, five days a week.”*

Now I may be interpreting this wrong, but it sounds to me like Laurell has just as much trouble (some days) sitting down and writing as I do. I’m always wondering why I have the desire to write (story ideas show up at my doorstep almost daily) but little drive to sit down and do the dirty work. I figured something was wrong with me, like I was born wired wrong or something. I mean, why would anyone think of so many stories but feel like they are pulling teeth when it comes time to put those stories onto paper? Luckily, hearing a published and famous author also struggles to sit down and write makes me feel a little better about my own constant feet-dragging.  

Sometimes when it’s hard to sit down and write I think maybe this isn’t what I should be doing, but Laurell’s comment reaffirms that even published authors struggle with motivation and I can take comfort in knowing that writing is still something I should be doing even if it’s hard for me to sit down and do it. While I’m still not going to be the person that can demand a set schedule for daily writing, at least not any time soon, I’ll make a better effort.

*Quote Source: Schneider, Maria. “Genre Bender.” Writer’s Digest Apr. 2008: 49. Print.

Movies

Recently, I went and saw the new Batman movie (I know, by now who hasn't? I was just lazy about getting this post up). Apparently Bruce Wayne has been in seclusion for like 8 years at the beginning of the film. After he returns to action, one question is left unanswered: what happened to his farmville account?

More tragic than this was one of the films featured in the trailers before the Batman movie, Taken 2.

The first Taken movie (movie poster below)  features a dad character (played by Qui-Gon Jinn) who doesn't want his daughter to go to Europe because he doesn't feel like she'll be safe. The mom and the kid decide it's okay for the kid to go and shortly after showing up in Europe the kid is snatched and Qui-Gon has to venture over to Europe with his rage and his guns and get his daughter back. This film could be summed up in the famous phrase "I told you so." I know what you're thinking, isn't the actual phrase: "I don't know who you are but if you don't let my daughter go I will find you and kill you"? Actually, that's a snippet of the longer statement actually said in the movie that goes something like "I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don't have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter go now, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you." But that's a mouthful and my original phrase really sums up the entire film from before the kid is taken to the end when he's got a smug "I told you so" look on his face while cleaning his guns and acting like he doesn't have jedi powers.  

The sequel (movie poster pictured below) seems to follow a pretty similar premise except this time the mom gets taken and the kid tries to hold her own as bad guys are coming after her.

I can't really see why this film is coming out as the first one didn't really warrant a sequel. I did find this video from Captain Hippo which was much more realistic than either of the Taken films and a great laugh to boot.

My Clone Is More Popular Than I Am

When I was in high school I had the thought: “What if I could clone myself and be my own best friend?” Sure I had friends, but I felt like having myself as my closest friend would be awesome – and not in one of those after-school-special you have to love yourself before you can love someone else ways. Like having the opportunity to enjoy the same movies as someone else, laugh at the same jokes, consistently have the reinforcement that I was awesome not weird/awkward/strange etc.

Thinking on it now, it’s probably true that me and my clone, initially, would have had some great times. But then our conversations would be pretty limited because we’d always be thinking the same thing. So it might get boring and redundant and then 24 hours later things would start to change, because once the clone had experiences differing from those I experienced, they would begin to be shaped and molded by the world around them and no longer be identical to me. With my luck, our timelines would look something like this:

Okay, so I think street urchin is an age sensitive phrase, or possibly even a terribly outdated one. Also this reflects my downer world view but as a side note: at least this timeline is more realistic than Michael Crichton's Timeline. Aw Snap! Crichton burns aside, it’s hard enough comparing your life to strangers and friends and family; imagine if you had a clone and they lived your life better than you (I’m sure this is already the premise of several films).  It would be like a continual kick in the teeth.

I guess the real question from all of this is why was I thinking of being my own friend in high school? I guess, like every kid who has ever been through adolescence, I felt out of place. Deep down I craved someone who was closer to my own experience, someone who understood and someone I always felt comfortable around. Then again, maybe I thought this scenario up just because I wanted to tell my friends and get a laugh out of them because when I can get other people to laugh I care less about fitting in. 

Gabby & Chewie Comic Strip #6

The Spiders Know Where I Live

Celebrating the 4th of July

During our 4th of July celebrations yesterday we checked out some antique stores in the town of Braselton, GA. Obviously we all know how much I love old books, and I was lucky enough to find two old books that I was excited about. Coincidentally, both books are semi-patriotic. 

I was very excited to find an 1894 copy of a Washington Irving book that contained many of his short stories. 

I know what you're thinking, how is Irving patriotic? Well first off, he's an American author and what's more American than reading American literature? Secondly, he's known for the great patriotic piece Rip Van Winkle, which is included in the book.

Forgetting your high school lit classes? Well, Rip Van Winkle is about a guy who "sleeps" through the Revolutionary War (also known as a draft dodger) and then returns to his quiet town, spots a picture that looks like King George, claims allegiance to the king, is mobbed and wipes egg off his face when he's told that that depiction is not the king but the president George Washington. Anyone could have made that mistake when the new leader looks so much like the old leader...oh well. Everything works out in the end as Rip finds that his nagging wife has passed since he left town and now he can live out his days being lazy and having his daughter financially support him. Okay, fine. I see a lot of spoofing patriotism in it but I digress. My second find was much more patriotic.

The Perfect Tribute was one book in a collection of stories on the life of Abraham Lincoln. Zing! Try to find a lack of patriotism with this one!

One thing that sold me on this book was the picture printed in the front of the book. I don't find a lot of old books with pictures in them so when I do find stuff like that it grabs my eye.

The text is pretty much about Lincoln arriving at Gettysburg and giving his famous Gettysburg address and then hanging out with some dying soldiers. (Like the one in the picture to whom he is giving solace.) The address itself is relatively short and can be seen printed in the following pages.

For those of you who do not care to read from the photos, this is what the address says:

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Lincoln's speech, although terribly short, reminds us to, frankly, remember. The celebrations on the 4th are the same every year. Some of these traditions were established in the hope of remembering the history, the sacrifices and the potential we all have because of what we fought for. I wonder how many people take time of the 4th to reflect on these things or how many people are just glad to get a day off from work. 

Memories and Eyelashes.

One day in fifth grade, my teacher was explaining to us the function of eyelashes. She explained that eye lashes were meant to keep things out of our eyes. I raised my hand and asked if eyelashes were meant to keep things out of our eyes, why didn't they keep eyelashes out of our eyes. She said she didn't know the answer to my question.

I wonder what happened to that inquisitive and too-clever-for-her-own-good girl.

I also wonder why I even remember that moment while so much of my childhood is a blur.