Sunday, July 25
1) July 25, 2010. 2:38 p.m.
2) Write while Ron and Benny are at the park.
3) Work on Prologue. We've landed in San Francisco!
4) Wasted a lot of time trying to find the right version of the Prologue. Finally found it, then decided to rewrite it to sound like a diary. So the prologue begins like this:
Sunday, July 22, 2007
5 a.m.
I’m typing this by the light of my laptop in our empty living room. I’m sitting on the floor, of course — all the furniture is gone — beside a pile of luggage and the cat carrier. Ron paces the room and Benny sits in his car seat, clutching his stuffed sheep.
I have no idea why I ever thought I wanted to relive that morning. We almost missed our flight to San Francisco because I called the night before to change our cab reservation and the idiot on the phone typed 4:30 PM. Since then, I've stuck to my vow NEVER to use Bauer again. Just working on the Prologue made me anxious and it took three cookies and a Milky Way Midnight candy bar to calm down. I managed to get us on the plane to San Francisco before Ron and Benny returned from the park.
5) Tomorrow: Work on Prologue and try to avoid an anxiety attack.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Friday, July 16, 2010
Pretty Nervous Writing Aardvarks speak out!
When we last left our intrepid contestant, she was following a bunch of goddam picky guidelines to enter the PNWA contest. Reducing an 80,000-word manuscript to a 5-page synopsis was a real trip, and I considered just mailing the thing off a major accomplishment.
Which was a good thing, because "Killer Robots Never Work" didn't make the cut as a finalist. They did, however, send along two long critiques of the synopsis and first 50 pages.
Judge No. 1 was apparently drinking heavily when he/she read my stuff, because No. 1 loved the Killer Robots, thought the writing was wonderful (blush), liked the fake explosion of Aphrodite City and called it an "entertaining, interesting and imaginative story." No. 1 had some good suggestions as well, like cutting detail out of the synopsis and easing into some of the characters and changes so that the reader can keep up. This story is about two twin sisters, and No. 1 felt that while Percy's character and motivation was immediately clear, Andie's needed more work. Grade: 87 out of 100.
Judge No. 2 seemed to like it too. No. 2 liked the synopsis and the plot, really liked the physical descriptions of the first planet, Venus, and said it was a pleasure to read. The judge also said "this is a strong storyline and would be enjoyed by the readers of this genre, especially those who enjoy stories in the style of de Lint and Asmov." (I haven't read either -- perhaps I should.) But No. 2 also wanted to understand my main character, Andie, better and said the dialogue between the twins was stiff. The most interesting criticism was that the pacing was was "a bit boringly the same," with suggestions how to vary it. Despite all the positives, No. 2 graded it 61 out of 100.
So, all in all, I'm pleased with the Pretty Nervous Aardvarks and plan to enter next year. It's always encouraging to know people will take one's weird writing somewhat seriously and not send people to your house with a butterfly net.
Friday, July 2, 2010
Treadmill Journal: Week of June 27
Well, the writing treadmill ground to a halt between May 16 to June 27. (I begin to see that the biggest benefit/drawback of this journal is that you clearly see the number of days you didn't write.)
My writing fell victim to a horrific work project involving a Color I Shall Not Name, Benny's last weeks of kindergarten and a two-week trip to Michigan. I actually hauled a ream of research in my airplane carry-on to Michigan and back, along with two military history books.
Nope, didn't touch any of it. There is no limit to the extent that people can delude themselves. The ironic part is that this memoir addresses the human tendency to make decisions based on the people we wish we were, rather than who we truly are and what we truly need.
Anyway, I trudge forward once more with today's journal entry:
Sunday, June 27
1) June 27, 2010. 2:33 p.m.
2) Write from 2:30 to 4 p.m.
3) Organize research and outlines for memoir.
4) Started well, but went downhill fast. Read over memoir notes and outlines. Read writing blogs. Searched through Writer magazines and selected a handful that addressed memoir. Looked at clock. A half-hour had passed. Found a neat Wired article on the Internet about how surfing the web wrecks your brain. Emailed the link to myself. Found neat blog about by a neurosurgeon called Dr. Grumpy. Emailed the link to myself. Remembered an interesting finance series that USA Today ran last year and found it. Emailed link to myself. Started to think that Wired was onto something. Found an old NanoWrimo novel about the Greek gods, sat on the floor and started reading it. Ron and Benny return an hour early at 3:30 p.m. and I only felt relief.
5) Tomorrow: Get to work early and work for an hour on prologue (I hope).
Friday, July 2
1) July 2, 2010. 1:44 p.m.
2) Write from 1:45 to 3:45 p.m., then pick up Benny from camp.
3) Work on Prologue. We're in the cab now, let's get to San Francisco today!
4) Wasted the first 15 minutes looking up quotes on adversity. We didn't make it to San Francisco, but at least we're on the plane.
5) Tomorrow: Get Ron, Christine and Benny to San Francisco and finish Prologue.
My writing fell victim to a horrific work project involving a Color I Shall Not Name, Benny's last weeks of kindergarten and a two-week trip to Michigan. I actually hauled a ream of research in my airplane carry-on to Michigan and back, along with two military history books.
Nope, didn't touch any of it. There is no limit to the extent that people can delude themselves. The ironic part is that this memoir addresses the human tendency to make decisions based on the people we wish we were, rather than who we truly are and what we truly need.
Anyway, I trudge forward once more with today's journal entry:
Sunday, June 27
1) June 27, 2010. 2:33 p.m.
2) Write from 2:30 to 4 p.m.
3) Organize research and outlines for memoir.
4) Started well, but went downhill fast. Read over memoir notes and outlines. Read writing blogs. Searched through Writer magazines and selected a handful that addressed memoir. Looked at clock. A half-hour had passed. Found a neat Wired article on the Internet about how surfing the web wrecks your brain. Emailed the link to myself. Found neat blog about by a neurosurgeon called Dr. Grumpy. Emailed the link to myself. Remembered an interesting finance series that USA Today ran last year and found it. Emailed link to myself. Started to think that Wired was onto something. Found an old NanoWrimo novel about the Greek gods, sat on the floor and started reading it. Ron and Benny return an hour early at 3:30 p.m. and I only felt relief.
5) Tomorrow: Get to work early and work for an hour on prologue (I hope).
Friday, July 2
1) July 2, 2010. 1:44 p.m.
2) Write from 1:45 to 3:45 p.m., then pick up Benny from camp.
3) Work on Prologue. We're in the cab now, let's get to San Francisco today!
4) Wasted the first 15 minutes looking up quotes on adversity. We didn't make it to San Francisco, but at least we're on the plane.
5) Tomorrow: Get Ron, Christine and Benny to San Francisco and finish Prologue.
"Scattered Thoughts Diabolical and Immoral"
When you're struggling through distressing times, there's nothing like a smug quote on adversity to make you feel worse. Here are a few supremely unhelpful thoughts from great minds on the topic and my churlish responses:
1) "If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome."
— Anne Bradstreet from her 'Meditations Divine and Moral,' in 1655.
Can you imagine the moxie it must take to title your random thoughts "Meditations Divine and Moral?" If I were to choose a similar name for my memoir, I"d call it "Broodings Cranky and Self-indulgent." Did she think of the title first, and then cast around for thoughts that could live up to that title? Such pressure!
And that whole "you must suffer through winter to appreciate spring" stuff sounds ridiculous anyway. I live in San Francisco now and consider its lack of seasons a huge benefit. I don't need to shovel snow for five months to appreciate flowers. I enjoy a nice daffodil as much as anyone.
2) "Certainly virtue is like precious odors, most fragrant when they are incensed, or crushed: for prosperity doth best discover vice, but adversity doth best discover virtue."
— Sir Francis Bacon (1561 - 1626)
I have serious problems with this quote, which looks like a fancy Renaissance way of saying "That which does not kill you only makes you stronger." Apparently if you take a nice, good person and crush her like a bundle of tarragon leaves, her virtues are supposed to shine all the stronger. I contend if you take a calm, thoughtful, nice, caring girl and give her a chronic disease, a foreclosure, some hefty medical bills and a cheating boyfriend, she won't be so nice and calm anymore. Let's add a crazy boss and a loser nephew who sleeps on her couch for three months too. I'm not saying adversity can't be a learning experience -- I think it depends on the person. If our poor Tarragon Girl was snooty, entitled and self-satisfied, obsessed with decorating her house and unsympathetic to sick people, well then a little adversity could only help. Hmm, maybe I'm proving Frank's point here after all.
Here are two adversity quotes from unknown authors:
1) "A smooth sea never made a skillful mariner, neither do uninterrupted prosperity and success qualify for usefulness and happiness. The storms of adversity, like those of the ocean, rouse the faculties, and excite the invention, prudence, skill and fortitude or the voyager. The martyrs of ancient times, in bracing their minds to outward calamities, acquired a loftiness of purpose and a moral heroism worth a lifetime of softness and security."
I was actually with this one, until it started going on about martyrs' "loftiness of purpose."
2) "Adversity is the diamond dust Heaven polishes its jewels with."
Yeah, yeah, we all know it's the speck of grit that makes the pearl, etc. etc.
So learn from these four quotes about adversity. Time to get off your sofa and go get crushed!
1) "If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome."
— Anne Bradstreet from her 'Meditations Divine and Moral,' in 1655.
Can you imagine the moxie it must take to title your random thoughts "Meditations Divine and Moral?" If I were to choose a similar name for my memoir, I"d call it "Broodings Cranky and Self-indulgent." Did she think of the title first, and then cast around for thoughts that could live up to that title? Such pressure!
And that whole "you must suffer through winter to appreciate spring" stuff sounds ridiculous anyway. I live in San Francisco now and consider its lack of seasons a huge benefit. I don't need to shovel snow for five months to appreciate flowers. I enjoy a nice daffodil as much as anyone.
2) "Certainly virtue is like precious odors, most fragrant when they are incensed, or crushed: for prosperity doth best discover vice, but adversity doth best discover virtue."
— Sir Francis Bacon (1561 - 1626)
I have serious problems with this quote, which looks like a fancy Renaissance way of saying "That which does not kill you only makes you stronger." Apparently if you take a nice, good person and crush her like a bundle of tarragon leaves, her virtues are supposed to shine all the stronger. I contend if you take a calm, thoughtful, nice, caring girl and give her a chronic disease, a foreclosure, some hefty medical bills and a cheating boyfriend, she won't be so nice and calm anymore. Let's add a crazy boss and a loser nephew who sleeps on her couch for three months too. I'm not saying adversity can't be a learning experience -- I think it depends on the person. If our poor Tarragon Girl was snooty, entitled and self-satisfied, obsessed with decorating her house and unsympathetic to sick people, well then a little adversity could only help. Hmm, maybe I'm proving Frank's point here after all.
Here are two adversity quotes from unknown authors:
1) "A smooth sea never made a skillful mariner, neither do uninterrupted prosperity and success qualify for usefulness and happiness. The storms of adversity, like those of the ocean, rouse the faculties, and excite the invention, prudence, skill and fortitude or the voyager. The martyrs of ancient times, in bracing their minds to outward calamities, acquired a loftiness of purpose and a moral heroism worth a lifetime of softness and security."
I was actually with this one, until it started going on about martyrs' "loftiness of purpose."
2) "Adversity is the diamond dust Heaven polishes its jewels with."
Yeah, yeah, we all know it's the speck of grit that makes the pearl, etc. etc.
So learn from these four quotes about adversity. Time to get off your sofa and go get crushed!
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