The charming Nicole Ducleroir was kind enough to give me the Blogger Buddie Award. (Thank you, again. It's very sweet.) If you've never been, you should run over and check her blog out.
I'm not sure how this award usually works, so I'm going to follow Nicole by stating five real things about my life.
1) When I'm on the computer, I put on movies I've already seen to play behind whatever I'm doing. I'm into background noise. I blame the schools I went to as a kid. Those places were never silent. (In the background right now -- War Inc.)
2) I'm keeping track of all the books I read this year for my goal of 50 books this year. I spend so much time reading articles or excerpted chapters that I don't feel like I read real books anymore. (The last book on the list -- Gang Leader for a Day.)
3) Right next to my feet is a post office box containing my To Read books. Currently, it's filling me with guilt, because I'm not getting through it as quickly as I would have hoped. (Thickest book in the box: The Crimson Petal and the White which I picked up from my hometown Used Book and Record Exchange.)
4) The other thing guilting me at the moment is my white-on board above my desk, which bears, at the moment, a completely inaccurate schedule, among other things. I swear I'm going to update that thing when I finish typing this post. I swear. (The only thing likely to stay: the quote from Douglas Adams "Don't Panic" on the top in purple).
5) What should I probably do when I finish typing this post? Read more of Great Expectations. And I will definitely do that, but I have a feeling I'm going to need another mug of tea before curling up with that. (How long will I get in Great Expectations before it sends me into another nap: hopefully, hopefully I'll make it 20 pages. Not to say I think this isn't a great book, because it's actually quite good, but sometimes it puts me to sleep.)
Once, a cousin and I joked about creating Ratethatpickupline.com. A quick glance way to see if someone's line was as cheesy and awful as you really thought it was. (Hey, sometimes a little perspective helps). The way I see it, we could have created a whole new list of wing man responsibilities. Right before someone makes a move, the wingman could bump up the stats on the line. ("Hey, I was gonna call you cheesy and reject you, but apparently that wasn't so bad.)
We never did create the site. It's probably for the best. Maybe we don't want to be giving people any ideas about really hideous pick up lines. Though that idea never quite took off, pick up lines can still provide a bit of humor in everyone's lives.
Here are some good pick-up line rejections:
Woman: Haven't I seen you someplace before? Man: Yes, that's why I don't go there anymore.
Man: Your place or mine? Woman: Both. You go to yours, and I'll go to mine.
Woman: Is this seat empty? Man: Yes, and this one will be if you sit down.
Man: Hey baby, what's your sign? Woman: Do not enter.
Do you have a personal favorite pick-up line or line-block?
Okay, this is going to sound really strange, and I don't even know how I managed to do this, but I somehow managed to miss the anniversary of starting this blog.
February 8th, 2009, I started the blog. (Don't go back and look for the old post. They're not that interesting. I'm not kidding. Don't.) I'm not exactly sure why I did, except maybe the idea that the Create a Blog button on blogger seemed to be taunted me.
It definitely took me a while to get into the swing of things in the blogging universe. I didn't even figure out what this blog was going to be about until March 11th. So, maybe that would be a more accurate blogiversary. Well, I'm at a halfway point betwixt those dates; I can depart the field and call it a win.
Anyway, it's been an interesting year. I've learned a lot about myself, writing, and blogging. I've discovered a ton of interesting and nice people in the blogosphere. Y'all are great. I just wanted to let you know.
Also, a shout out to my 62 followers, thanks so much for sticking around and for reading my thoughts. Thanks for sharing your views and helping me grow a bit in the process. You guys rock.
A while ago, I read a post on someone's blog (I don't remember whose, unfortunately. If you have any idea, feel free to tell me) about getting back to the basics of one's story. I think the post was about remembering what the story was about as you write it.
I think this is very important. One has to remember what the story is really about, what tale one is actually trying to tell, or there's a pretty good chance the story is going to run all over the place and look like a half-baked version of four or five things. That's not what we want. I'm not disputing that there can be more than one story going on at once, but we'd like everything to be fully baked, wouldn't we.
I've come up to think problem myself. Working on The Thief Book, I realized that one of the reasons I really didn't like the ending I'd written was because it looked like a whole different story. I'd somehow lost track of the story I'd been telling -- which I really liked -- and accidentally got into some weird other sort of thing. I knew I needed to get back to the basics of the story and work from there.
I think that getting back to the basics of the story, the real kernel of it all, is very helpful. If you sense you're floundering in the story or don't know where to go from where you're at, ask yourself what you basic story is, what tale you're trying to tell. Use those basics to get a handle on where you are. This will allow you to focus on the one idea at a time and not going wandering off into the misty marshes of randomness.
Caveat: If you're a panster, you're probably not going to know what the basics are until you've got your first draft to work with, or maybe until you're pretty well into the draft. But, when you're re-figuring your story with what you've got, knowing your basic point can still be very helpful.
How do you feel about the basics of your story? Do you attempt to keep in line with the basics? Do you spend a lot of time trying to get back to those basics?
A while ago, I read a post on Roni Griffin's page about web presence. And, naturally, that got me thinking about, well, web presence.
I do not have a very large web presence. I feel secure enough in myself to admit that. ;-) This blog, this one right here, that you are looking at right now, this is my web presence. I don't twitter. I don't have another blog. I have a livejournal I created to look at something and now just links back to this blog. I don't have my own personal website. I am not splashed all over the Internet.
And, you know what, I am okay with that.
Because this blog takes time. Any form of web presence takes time. So, if I wanted to add anything else to the list of things I do on the Internet every day, I'd have to take some of that time away from here. I'm not okay with that.
See, even if I occasionally have a bad week or so, I like to think that I'm bringing my A-game to these posts. I don't want to write meaningless drivel that wastes your time and mine. And, something tells me, if I take up twittering, I might not have enough time and energy to give this my top notch stuff. Not okay.
That's my web presence.
How about you? What's your web presence? Big? Small? Are you considering changing its size? Why?
I know. I know. I've been a sort of lazy blogger lately.
But, I have a good reason. Well, a good one for me, anyway. I told a friend of mine I would help tech for a show she was working. Not a big tech role, just working moving set pieces around. It was loads of fun. It was a good show and a good production of it. Not to mention I got to be surrounded by the loads of awesome theater people involved. (Thespians are awesome people, in case I didn't tell you before. And techies, in my humble opinion, are salt of the Earth. But I might be biased.)
But, to relate this back to writing, because that should be done, at some point, on this blog, anyway...
My friend, who was the MC of this particular production, came to the realization about the second night of the show, "My character isn't funny. I'm supposed to be the main character here, and I don't get any laughs. None."
This wasn't entirely true, but, yes, in that particular production, most of the jokes and laughs were for the extras and the minor and supporting characters. The others got scripted jokes, not to mention some really hilarious improv material.
This isn't to say that the MC and Love Interest didn't have really great scenes, fun songs, or wonderful moments. They were great, really. They just didn't get to be the hilarious ones. They were just themselves.
They weren't the most awesome things since sliced bread. Some people might not think that's acceptable in an MC. Some people prefer the MCs to be 'big,' in a way. To have some things that they do better than anyone else in the book. And there are a lot of kick-butt-take-names MCs out there. Not to mention the ones who are funny, witty, smart, and understanding. Some even like bicylcing together and taking long, moonlit walks on the beach.
Me, though, I'm okay with a less than awesome MC. Because, well, some people aren't the most fabulous/funny/interesting you've ever met. In fact, I'd venture most people aren't the most awesome person you know. Some people are just ordinary people who are placed in interesting and unusual situations. I'm perfectly okay with MCs being ordinary people.
How do you feel about MCs not being the 'biggest' characters in their own stories? Can you think of good examples either way?
This is the true story of George Phillips of Meridian, Mississippi, who was going to bed when his wife told him that he'd left the light on in the shed. George opened the door to go turn off the light but saw there were people in the shed in the process of stealing things.
He immediately phoned the police, who asked "Is someone in your house?" and George said no and explained the situation. Then they explained that all patrols were busy, and that he should simply lock his door and an officer would be there when available.
George said, "Okay," hung up, counted to 30, and phoned the police again.
"Hello, I just called you a few seconds ago because there were people in my shed. Well, you don't have to worry about them now because I've just shot them all."
Then he hung up. Within five minutes three squad cars, an Armed Response unit, and an ambulance showed up. Of course, the police caught the burglars red-handed.
One of the policemen said to George: "I thought you said that you'd shot them!"
George said, "I thought you said there was nobody available!"
I am a closet writer easily identifiable by the presence of multiple pens or pencils stuck in my hair. I can often be found in unusual places posing (unsuccessfully) as a normal person.
