Better Than Dead

Random quote of the day:

“If you ever want to find out just how uninteresting you really are, get a job where the quality and frequency of your thoughts determine your livelihood. I’ve found that the only way I can keep writing every day, year after year, is to let my mind wander into new territories. To do that, I’ve had to cultivate a kind of mental playfulness.”

—Bill Watterson, “Some Thoughts On the Real World By One Who Glimpsed It and Fled,” Kenyon College Commencement, May 20, 1990

You can read the entire commencement speech here. Highly recommended.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

A lot of medical stuff going on this week.  Mostly not scary, just time consuming.  Real post soon, I hope.  In the meantime, here’s the news…

A “pay me now or pay me later” weekend dealing with boxes I was in too much of a rush to sort and throw stuff away when moving 5 yrs ago. 14 Feb

Had no choice but to do it now since we need the space for med supplies. Cramming books/trash into every nook and cranny in the house. 14 Feb

Venice library, et al., are also going to be making out like extreme making out things. 14 Feb

This has been a long damned afternoon.  15 Feb

The prank that would not die–now a movie! http://tinyurl.com/4ku94nu 15 Feb

justinemusk Retweeted by pj_thompson What not to say about Lara Logan http://shar.es/3c42N <– this is the year 2011. Let’s try not to BLAME THE FREAKING VICTIM. 15 Feb

The world never ends when you expect it to. Just in case, though, I set up the DVR for my shows… 16 Feb

debkalin Retweeted by pj_thompson via @splinister @jimchines astute analysis of LA Weekly’s coverage of Lara Logan’s attack: http://bit.ly/ij1P0g 16 Feb

In all my 1st draft novels 1 or 2 body elements that get way the hell overused. Last 1 it was all kinds of weird stomach things going on. 16 Feb

In the current rewrite it’s weird wiggily spines and blushing. What is up with all the spastic spines and hot faces? 16 Feb

The naming of Pyreka has gone the way of all flesh. Oh my darling, I loved you so, but it’s time we parted ways. 16 Feb

I guess if you expect to have a heart attack, you don’t. Kind of like watched pots never boiling. 16 Feb

Blah blah blah blah blah. 16 Feb

mrbrown Retweeted by pj_thompson Facebook’s new settings lets ZOMBIES eat you while you sleep! Go to Accounts—Home—Invasion Settings—Cannibalism—Brains, uncheck “Tasty” box. 16 Feb

Worked on a short today. Broken, I know exactly where/why, but no idea how to fix. Beginning and end are good, middle goes wayward. 17 Feb

It’s some of my best writing. I’d love to do right by it. 17 Feb

These are arranged chronologically now.

Bouncing around from idea to idea bcs I’ve been so distracted. Maybe I should stop trying to write new for awhile and stick to revisions. 6 Feb

Good day, sunshine, currently 53 degrees here in Westchester. 6 Feb

Do not let me near your microwave. Burned 1 up last month and burned the mini quiches just now. 6 Feb

lilithsaintcrow Lilith Saintcrow RETWEETED by pj_thompson The best curse is, “May you live in interesting times.” The second best? “May you get exactly what you want…” 7 Feb

I’ve held off on revisions for the last WIP bcs there’s a central plot point that has to be changed and I haven’t had a clue how to fix it. 7 Feb

This morning I got an inkling on how to fix it, but I still have no idea how to get there from here. 7 Feb

Maybe I’ll just start driving and hope the road holds out, or magic flowers start growing by its side that whisper the right direction. 7 Feb

Spent the afternoon revising one thing and another. Being in that cold-eyed revision mode, I think I made good progress. 7 Feb

Eat now? The ginormous cranberry muffin I wolfed at 9:30 won’t hold me til 5, but def not hungry now. Just have to get hungry, I guess. 8 Feb

Ick. I just took a Promark poll and I feel so slimy. Prolly skewed their demographic way Leftie though. 8 Feb

JoshMalina Joshua Malina RETWEETED by pj_thompson “Gnomeo and Juliet” looks pretty cute, but Disney’s “Lawn Jockey Othello” strikes me as racist. 9 Feb

I feel zero envy for people who’ve lived privileged, sheltered lives. In fact, I feel kind of sorry for them: they miss the nuances. 9 Feb

I do, however, resent the hell out of them telling other people how they should live their lives. 9 Feb

Word nerd! @pj_thompson scored 522 in The Times #WordNerd test. Discover your score at: http://thetim.es/word-nerd 9 Feb

You, Madam, are a douchebag. I’m so glad I don’t work for you, but I hate having to listen to you deal with the people who do. 10 Feb

Tonight’s viewing: The Social Network or DVR’d movies/shows? Hmmm… 5 Feb

Bioshock much more intense shooter game than I thot it would be. Fascinating and–did I say intense?–but just bloodier than anticipated. 5 Feb

@[NameRedacted] No worries. At this point, I don’t trust Life enough to totally unclench.  5 Feb

So this is what relaxed and unclenched feels like. I find that I like it. 5 Feb

@[NameRedacted] George brings many nuances, non-Biblical info about Lilith and “dark” goddesses in general. Very eye opening. 5 Feb

@[NameRedacted] Mysteries of the Dark Moon Goddesses by Demetra George a great resource for Lilith. 5 Feb

SteveMartinToGo Steve Martin Retweeted by pj_thompson Got some great pictures of paparazzi today. Man, they UGLY! Went through their garbage too. Found my own garbage in their garbage. 4 Feb

Mom is back in her room having juice. 4 Feb

Have moved on from coffee to hot chocolate. Really not bad for machine stuff. 4 Feb

I always bring so much stuff to distract me while waiting but am too distracted to use it. 4 Feb

Mom is in recovery though still out of it. Everything went well. We got in early and done early. 4 Feb

In sympathy with my iced in friends I scraped a thin coating of ice off my windshield this morning. 4 Feb

The coffee at least is good. 4 Feb

I have spent way too much time in waiting rooms and hospital cafeterias this year. [12 month period vs. calendar year.]  4 Feb

“You want the Haggis? You can’t handle the Haggis.” #FamousMovieQuotesMadeBetterWithHaggis 3 Feb

JillCorcoran Jill Corcoran Retweeted by pj_thompson For all of you querying agents…. RESEARCHING AGENTS: http://bit.ly/6WFMMT 2 Feb

MJMcKean Michael McKean Retweeted by pj_thompson Hey, fans: shooting begins next month on Indiana Jones and the Early Bird Special. 2 Feb

The current novel, The Numberless Stars, may be doomed in today’s market.  (The story of my life.)  I seem to be writing a female POV picaresque fantasy novel, and I don’t believe there’s any tolerance for that sort of thing in today’s instant gratification climate.

Of course, at this stage of the game the novel sucks (it’s a barely there first draft), so perhaps it isn’t a valid test of the viability of the picaresque, fantasy or otherwise.  It’s too twee, too infodumpy, too lacking in immediate and identifiable conflict.  Maybe the fault, dear Brutus, is not with the genre but with myself, my execution of said genre.  A story which wanders hither and yon and uses satire to point out a society’s flaws may indeed have some place in today’s world, but a wandering story which doesn’t engage the reader in some fashion early on is just a badly written novel.

Lord knows my first drafts take way too long to get to the point.  I spend enormous amounts of time getting the feel of the characters just so and have an unfortunate tendency to throw it all on the page.  My rewrites consist of paring down and refining, taking out gallons of character and tangential lard and boiling it down to make candles. And that’s for the novels that aren’t picaresque.  God save me if I actually write a novel where wandering around and having episodic adventures and living by one’s wit is built into the genre.

Because even if the conflict is there on the first page, it’s rather broad and cyclical:

• Hortensia versus the Western Society of her time.
• Hortensia versus her family.
• Hortensia versus deity, leading to transformation.

Then cycling back to:

• Hortensia versus her family, and finally,
• Hortensia versus the Western Society of her time.

God help us all.

Either I’m writing too much blog or not enough.  Where’s the balance?

Since I haven’t anything important going on today I decided I might as well post chapter 2 of The Numberless Stars on OWW.  27 Jan

Doctors: you can’t live with them and you can’t live without them. 27 Jan

Think I nailed down chapter 2, or at least good enough that I can progress to chapter 3 with a clean conscience and wait for revisions. 26 Jan

And so to lunch and the third try to nail the opening of chapter 2 of The Numberless Stars. 26 Jan

RETWEET: StephenAtHome Stephen Colbert by pj_thompson: I don’t want Sharia Law messing with our constitution! That’s the job of Scalia Law. 25 Jan

A word of warning: do not type “scars” into Google Images if you have eaten recently. 25 Jan

The Social Wetwork: An Assassin’s Dating Service #comingsoon 25 Jan

Life is a perpetual field of banana peels. You just never know when you’re going to step wrong. 24 Jan

Random quote of the day:

“You send books out into the world and it’s very hard to shuck them out of the spirit.  They are tangled children, trying to make their way in spite of the handicaps you have imposed on them.  I would give a pretty to get them all back home and take one last good swing at every one of them.  Page by page.  Digging and cleaning, brushing and furbishing.  Tidying up.”

—John D. MacDonald, introduction to Stephen King’s Night Shift*

*No, I didn’t leave a word out.

Disclaimer:  The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

Apologies for having so many tweet posts this week.  It’s been a busy/distracted time and I seem to only have to brain for short infoburps.

And….scene.  21 Jan

My quest for chocolate chocolate chip muffin foiled again this AM. Had to settle for a cranberry scone. As a second, it was right up there. 21 Jan

Done that RT @literaticat:When should authors on submission keep their traps shut? Well, almost always, actually. http://tinyurl.com/4cxthyh 21 Jan

I think the clock is standing still. I am really convinced of it. 20 Jan

We’re even. 20 Jan

Earlier last eve she scared the bejabbers out of me by making me think she’d gotten out of the house, hiding, & not answering when I called. 20 Jan

I think Min was trying to tell me something last night: she kept slapping the Droid as I was reading email. 20 Jan

Ha! My friend, Artur, tells me I got spammed in Russian for “high quality porn”! Someone will be getting acquainted with the banning club. 20 Jan

if I can’t picture the place I’m writing it seriously messes up my pantsing. And research shows the image template I had isn’t correct. 20 Jan

I’ve really jacked myself up with the research. Part of me just wants to write and worry about making right later, but… 20 Jan

That last statement has many parallels to “I can see your house from here” or “My sister used date the roommate of FamousGuy’s cousin.” 20 Jan

Huh. I just learned I went to high school with someone who lived on the same street as the famous “The Entity” haunting house. 20 Jan

Anyone speak Russian? I just got Cyrillicized in a comment over on LJ. 20 Jan

What is Microsoft’s problem? Instead of improving their product they reinvent Word each and every version. Idiots. 19 Jan

I must remind myself not to fall too much in love with the research. Too much is as bad as too little, I think. 19 Jan

I can’t find my research notes for the novella I’m currently turning into a novel. Which means I’ve had to start all over again. *sigh* 19 Jan

And so, another story committed to the winds of fate. Or editors, which is almost the same thing. 19 Jan

Looks like the Poe Toaster is gone for good, alas. http://tinyurl.com/yccv9tx 19 Jan

Happy birthday, Edgar Allan! 19 Jan

The worst part of this AM’s NPR tribute to Don Kirshner? I’ve got “Honey, sugar sugar, you are my candy girl…” earworming thru my brain. 19 Jan

Alas, I had to settle for poppyseed. 18 Jan

Time to go see if there are anymore chocolate chocolate chip muffins left in the cafeteria. 18 Jan

I long for the days when I can play Fallen London again. Mostly these days I’m just too tired. 18 Jan

Yes, positive signs. Story revised & ready for sending, Chapter1 finished and posted to OWW, Chapter2 1/3 done. Feels so damned good. 14 Jan

The tortilla chips however are chewy not crispy. One cannot expect miracles from cafeteria food. 14 Jan

Sat outside on patio last night with a beer & noticed the peach tree loaded with buds. 2 early blossoms had already produced tiny peachlets. 14 Jan

Chocolate chocolate chip muffins: I live for you. 14 Jan

The good, the bad, and the ugly, except without good. 13 Jan

After misreading headlines all morning, I think I’ll leave work now to take my elderly mother to a doctor’s appointment. 13 Jan

Positive signs of life: I’ve started writing again this wk for the 1st time since November. I hope Life settles down enough to continue. 12 Jan

Happy 101st birthday to Luise Rainer. 12 Jan