When asked to critique someone else’s work, do it with an air of sensitivity. If your comments wouldn’t be safe for a kindergartener’s ears, don’t say it. If you say nothing constructive to make the writing better, don’t say it. If you use the person’s story to psychologically manipulate them, you will be reported.
Yes, writers need to develop a tough skin, to be told their story lacks tension, is unbelievable, or has two dimensional characters. These are things that need to be pointed out to them. A critique session is not supposed to be an attack on the writer. It’s supposed to focus on the writing, and how the collective group comes together to make a piece stronger.
I don’t think it’s just the Christian in me saying treat others the way you’d like to be treated. I believe most of us like that tenet of human behavior, yes?
I came up with a hook today, as part of the snowflake outlining method. Finished a very rough one page summary, and rewrote it.
“Three sisters search for their missing father, and find themselves along the way.”
14 words. I’d like to trim the fat some, and get a less cliched sentence ending, but it gives the sense of the three main characters. Never mind the fact the eldest sister hunted down her siblings and dragged them along on her quest.
Interestingly, while my study of Merry Mount & Midsummer Night’s Dream led to interesting bits of symbolism for Maple Syrup Merengue, Ralph Waldo Emerson & Transcendentalism led to a very strange character development in Raquel. I tried explaining this theory to my husband, but it’s hard explaining this theory.
The ghist I wrote down today was, “be true to yourself…guided by the divine within you.” It’s such an easy concept to twist, which I believe we’re leading up to next class. This theory reminds me a bit of shintoism. Obviously Emerson’s not talking about the spirit within rocks, but he was obviously guided by the Eastern theory that god is within each of us.
Raquel is…somewhere between 14-16, and would have heard only the bare minimum about transcendentalism to convince her that she can do no wrong.
Tara, the only character still clinging to her religion is being…exaggerated. She’ll be taken from a religious commune, and her sister’s biased ideals will cause…conflict, to put it mildly. I haven’t decided which denomination of Christian she’ll be. I’m not sure which would make her angry enough to fight her sister on the concept, but ultimately come to peace with a compromise…of some sort.
As my readership is still fairly small (I’m assuming. The spam bots are the only comments), I’m going to throw this out here. Dance isn’t going to be central to this story, though my crazy college sneak is going to insist they drop by a Sacramento dance studio on their way to Utah. I’m not going to name it, here or in the book, but it’s going to be my little reference to some really cool ladies who’ve inspired me in non-writerly ways.
Unfortunately, I’m not as familiar with Utah, Hawaii or LA to make any more clever little hints, but I’m sure dance in some way will come into the novel. Raquel will likely be a student of some form, muttering and gesturing to herself as she plans something. I assume all performing dancers are much more graceful as they choreograph, right?
For those of you who remember when I tried writing this ten years ago, my grandmother took offense to the evil family matron. Unfortunately, evil granny survived the transition from magical new continent to coming of age story. I might throw in the father’s mother, just to appease her.
Note: I don’t advise showing your writing to every living relative you have. Some won’t understand, and most feel obligated to say good things about it. In my defense, I was 13 and entering a writing contest. I needed some outside input. I have since discovered critique and writing groups.
That is all in writing news. Onto the physical!
I bought a pair of Bloch shoes that looked amazing on Zappo’s. Unfortunately for me, I was stubborn in my disbelief that my feet had changed sizes, so ordered the wrong size on purpose. So when they came and didn’t fit, I only had myself to blame. Unfortunately, dance shoes don’t seem to come in wide sizes, at least from Zappo’s. Once my refund processes, I plan on buying a pair of supportive tennis shoes.
DH looked at some chucks, and I had to laugh. Those things were painful to walk in during high school, I doubt they’ll provide the sole support needed to slam my feet down, though they were decent at ankle support.
Classes are going well. I missed last week, not wanting to transfer my swine flu (read: flu) symptoms onto my dance teacher or classmates. Yoga was intensely painful last Monday, and I skipped Wednesday as my flu was culminating that day. I skipped today to do some outlining and track down the homework I missed on Thursday.
I’m planning on calling C about private lessons next week. I want to make sure my car isn’t going to relapse before I make plans to drive an hour north once a week. But it is exciting, to think of studying with C. Her style is full of personality, and uses eclectic music I love. When I heard Santigold & Black Eyed Peas in September? I knew I had to know more.
So…yeah. Yoga and Belly Dance are going well, hoping to add some regular hip hop and a new kind of funk to my BD repertoire!
(Also: Chorus & Duet terrify me!)
School started two weeks ago, and I just took my first midterm Friday. Even the instructor thought calling it a midterm was silly. Then why did he call it a midterm…?
Well, I’ve spent two years dreaming about getting back into school, working towards my degree, and getting an education in my day job. You know, the gig that gets me money to pay for the things I care about, my writing and dance. I am going to admit I still don’t know what that is. I thought about early childhood education, since I really liked taking care of kids, and then I thought about the immersion schools, and combining my love of kids with my love of language. I looked at physical education, then saw how much anatomy and hard sciences that required. It got to the point where I was trying to make up my own degree plan, and realizing the school I’m going to doesn’t offer the classes I would need to take. So I’ve decided to just stick with the basics, English major, writing minor. If and when I go to grad school, I can look at PSU’s publishing program, or maybe UO’s folklore program. I’m hoping in a year I’ll have a better idea of how I can accomplish what I want to do in Oregon, since DH has no desire to live in NYC or LA.
I’m taking tribal Wednesday nights, and I have to say, when I start getting desperate or depressed, I count the days until I get to dance and learn an art that makes me feel good. I tried out the intermediate class immediately following mine, and wish I could take it. It was a little scary being slightly out of my depth in the chorus/duet parts of the class, but it was also exhilarating to find the gap wasn’t so large I couldn’t keep up.
I’ve been studying BD off and on since I was 16. I tried getting serious in the fall of 2008, and due to extenuating circumstances, had to drop it for a couple of months. I spent 3-6 studying weekly with Severina in Portland, and I loved it. We worked on posture issues, and she showed me why I have issues doing side to side movements, and I started learning when you can’t do a move just like the other girls, you can modify it and make it your own, and not noticeably different to anyone other than dancers in the audience.
I also have been taking advantage of the college’s pilates/yoga lunch hour sessions. Two days of the week, it’s a nice end to the school day, and the other two, it prepares me for a class I’m struggling in.
That class isn’t something I’m afraid of failing, it’s just that the instructor has a very structured view of how writing should be. Writing, and many other topics are something I have a fairly skewed vision on. I have a lot to learn from this instructor, I’m just struggling to not be closed off to a viewpoint other than my own.
I’ve stopped overreacting about being car-less. It still chafes, not being able to drive down and pay for the intermediate class, go up to Portland for Znama Studios grand opening, know for sure I have a ride to the fall Medge show. I still feel trapped, especially when I’m home alone, but it forces me to focus on homework, my writing, my 3/4 shimmies.
And a page later, we get to what I wanted to talk about. Can you tell I’m a stream of consciousness writer? Heh. Well, I’ve worked retail for…close to 5 years now. I haven’t worked one of those since February, but being laid off didn’t mean days of the week held meaning. Going back to school, without being paid to get up on Saturday or Sunday is just…heavenly.
Waking up to a kitten purring in your ear is pleasant, because you know you can go back to sleep. When the covers are just so tempting to stay curled up in, two glorious days of the week, I can.
Whenever I finish school, I hope I end up with a Monday thru Friday schedule. Preferably one that allows me to go to a couple dance classes in the evening. I know I don’t plan on working for a secular business that hosts church groups anymore. But that’s a very different story.
Here’s a little insight into my past. Not new information for anyone who knew me before 15–and by knew me, I mean you’re one of the poor unfortunate souls who couldn’t shut me up–but still interesting.
I was a bad girl growing up. Our family used AOL…for quite a while. No one was quite tech savvy enough to deal with the gradually growing adware problem, but Comcast just wasn’t the affordable option it is today. At least for your first six months.
I visited a bunch of sites I really shouldn’t have, installed programs bursting with viruses, keyloggers, and other horrible things. I also visited sites run by kids just like me. As my kitten is currently fighting a cold by resisting taking her medicine, I’m going to call it the first day of kindergarten. Everybody traded bugs, went home, and infected everyone else.
I didn’t realize my problem for a while. My first hint my computer was a diseased thing was when I borrowed a relative’s laptop on a holiday weekend. The poor man ran virus checker after we left, and let my father know exactly what condition I’d left his machine in. Much blushing, a little bit of thinking, very little changing.
The second incident was when I had a little bit of spending money, and was starting to be tech savvy. I hosted family pictures online, and was again informed my website gave them a virus.
The second one has severe holes in it, but the thought that my poor choices were out on the internet, for anyone to catch, even relatives in Michigan? Well, I discovered reformatting, AVG, and I believe Norton was popular around then, too.
And then I met my husband, who had very big objections to nearly everything computer related in my life. For one, I got a new machine, with a warranty for the first time. I paid for anti-virus software. My computer wasn’t something so old, my dad’s company wasn’t throwing it out. I’ve learned to avoid lecherous programs and check the lice infested scalp before I download anything, anywhere.
Years passed, I got married, and knew how to smell a keylogger before clicking the link. My father in law recently ran into a horrible program. We don’t know how it got onto his machine, but it’s easy enough to guess. An innocuous pop-up, claiming to be an anti-virus, a free dose of penicillin for your computer. He likely clicked it, installed it, and thought little more of it.
This insidious program “pretends” to find all sorts of viruses, that it needs help fixing. It then leads the user on to other sites, which might be even more harmful than the original. All are packaged as the same good “anti-virus” while continuing to destroy your digital life.
When I heard DH speaking to his father about this program, I started getting that nasty feeling, that I’d been putting off notices on my computer. That I hadn’t looked at an AVG update in a couple weeks. So I turned into the overprotective mom, making sure I’d installed every update I’d put off, rebooting to make sure things worked properly. While there was zero risk to my machine, I was afraid I might have let something slip, and so I double and triple checked everything.
And that pesky virus? DH’s dad is going to have to reformat, and lose a lot of his information.
Tips for avoiding viruses
- If you need to download a new piece of software, type the name of the program in, plus the word “review.” Burned people typically complain about their experience. Try and find a trusted name or site to work from. iTunes typically isn’t out to get you, but iRipper2010 might be.
- Don’t download/delete/install or otherwise mess with programs you’re not familiar with. Find someone you trust who knows something about computers, and ask them.
- Hitting ctrl-alt-delete on your keyboard, it’s tempting to shut things down. Don’t. Google the .exe filename, and find out what it does. If it’s a virus, google should tell you.
- Download AVG. It’s free, and it checks your email, links, and scans your computer. Very painless, you can set the long scan to start while you’re sleeping, or at work.
For the savvy among you, you’re still tittering that I made those rookie mistakes. In ten years, you’ll be wishing you’d voted on the Internet Neutrality issue. Or, more likely, wishing you’d been old enough to vote at the time.
Those pretty little stars you saw previously have disappeared. They’ve gone on to a less white background, on a still highly rickety test site. Close friends have seen it, and said it’s starting to look something like a website, but like my domain page, it isn’t populated yet. I’d like to have a bit of a file system in place before I start showing it to the public, you know?
That’s all very nice, I hear you saying. But what is it? It, my friends, is a book review site. It will hopefully have its own domain in due time. Along with a podcast, and a summer vacation readerly folks will hopefully line up for. I don’t mean anonymous internet watchers, I mean the people following this who remember my maiden name, perhaps even remember my new one. Though the one listed on the domain is the only one people really need to remember.
The Goblin Market is going to be a site where books are reviewed, discussed, and dissected. I’ve got a signed hardcover of Twilight, just waiting for the summer charity next year. I hope to garner a few more of these books before my imaginary charity kicks off.
If you want to be ahead of the game, compile a list of your favorite 10 books, under 500 pages. Think hard about this list. You’ll appreciate the effort when the time comes, I promise.
Well, this handsome little she devil is named Alexstrasza, Alex for short. Occasionally Alexi(which DH does not appreciate), but more commonly baby girl. We just got our two boys neutered, and were very specific about what we wanted. We wanted a girl, with no chance of pregnancy(apparently boys are fertile months after their surgery), and a kitten who wouldn’t hide under the bed all day.
We found her, right off I-5 at the Albany humane society, where I highly recommend any locals check out.
And she is definitely not a hide n seek kitty. The only times she goes under the furniture is to ferret her big brothers out, or to practice her trapeze walking on the support boards of the couch or bed.
She played until she had no energy left, and still she had to keep going. She made sure she knew every inch of the house before her first nap, and she loves being carried up and down stairs. She enjoys riding first class, which means no carriers, and a view out the window whenever she meows for it. Her vet visit today went well, and when she piteously complained about the vet torqing her sprained leg, she was showered in kitty treats. I kid you not, the vet gave her ten treats. (At home, we try to limit them to two a day.) She also managed to explore the vet’s desk thoroughly, and was coddled and loved through the entire exam.
How did she sprain her little leg? Well, like most little kitties, her claws come out without her really thinking about it. Some carpet was caught in her claws, which indicated what had happened.
EDIT: Our little girl is now fighting off a horrible head cold. She’s taking antibiotics under duress, and her little sneezes and wheezes keep us up all night. Perfect practice for kids, right? Kids’ll be louder, but they won’t have sharp little claws.
Fragile Eternity
For fans of Melissa Marr’s world, the latest installment is back, and we’re paying attention to the original cast of characters, while dealing with thefallout from the actions from the previous two books.
For those unfamiliar in the series, this is the latest in the urban fantasy series started with Wicked Lovely and explored further in Ink Exchange. Aislinn and Seth have been drawn into the faerie realm for separate reasons, and continue sorting out how to live with the Fae watching, and trying to hold onto their relationship while Fate plays an active, antagonistic role.
While not dealing out too many spoilers, Aislinn and Seth are struggling to figure out their roles in all of the courts, and we finally meet the untouchable High Queen, Sorcha. Keenan, Donia, and Niall all return, and Leslie and Irial are left off screen, but not out of our characters’ thoughts.
My only criticism is with Sorcha’s personification. All of the court leaders have become malleable to Aislinn’s human nature, and her refusal to give in. I suppose my complaint is that I wanted a stronger antagonist, like Beira, but that wasn’t the role Melissa intended for the high queen.
Donia’s scenes in this book seemed very strong for me. Her actions and conversations were believable, and I found her complaints to be valid, while certain self centered characters were left slack jawed at her complaints.
The book ended satisfyingly well, leaving me wanting to know where each of the major characters go from here.
Bone Crossed
Another series continuation, this time by Patricia Briggs, this one had good pacing, a clever mystery, and a believable recovery from Mercy.
In Iron Kissed, Mercy is handed a heavy trauma she has to deal with, which she struggles with for the majority of this latest installment in Mercy’s adventures.
Mercy’s world includes the fae, vampires, a very possessive werewolf family, along with ties to the nation’s alpha. But instead of being a Mary Sue/victim of the supernatural, Mercy is much more rare. She is a Native American walker, not to be confused with a skinwalker. She is so rare, that all knowledge of who she is, how her power works died with her father, who may or may not have known more than what she’s found out. She can shift into a coyote at will.
For those of you in the know, the latest book deals with Marsilia finding out she killed her second favorite minion, and an old college buddy asking her to help with a ghost problem. As always, trouble finds Mercy, and a mix of luck and cunning helps her survive the predicaments she finds herself in.
It’s been a couple of days since I read this, and more than 3 books ago, so I’m a bit hazy on the technical aspect of the book. The voice remained concise with the former 3 books, and Ms. Biggs keeps her subthreads going while her main plot advances. Every time Charles is mentioned, I itch, waiting for Hunting Ground, which comes out…*grits teeth* it’s been moved back a month. August 25.
Also in the world of characterization, Mercy takes a believable amount of time resolving her conflict over the ending of Iron Kissed. She’s not instantly okay, she pushes herself to do things she’s not ready for, and she is the hardy protagonist, not wallowing in the past, but trying to move on.
Breathers
Yes, yes, I know. Finally, a book without faeries, vampires, and werewolves! Hate to disappoint, but this one is all zombies, all the time.
SG Browne’s debut reminded me strongly of Daniel Water’s Generation Dead. The plot consists of zombies fighting for equal rights, and the stunning idea that they hunger for human flesh not only because brains taste extremely well, but because living flesh helps heal them of the maladies they acquired upon death.
Having finished Breathers just prior to writing this, the voice, the style, the book is very fresh in my mind. For a first book, Browne leaps above some of his contemporaries in this field. I’m told he draws heavily upon George Romero, but having not seen any of those films, I can’t comment on that. The MC, Andy, has a very dry, sarcastic sense of humor, dealing with irate humans coating him in slurpees, half eaten fast food, and trying to dismember him after dark.
Half the book goes by, and Andy follows the rules, protesting with his dry erase board, going to counselling, support groups, and staying obediently in his parents’ wine cellar. After a friend introduces human flesh into the mix, he starts healing, and fighting for his rights, starting with reasonable protests, slowly losing his cool, as more and more is taken away from him.
Highly recommend this book for any fans of zombies, especially those of the Shaun of the Dead mentality. Slightly more serious, I’m afraid.
Blog below the cut. Just checking to see, can humans actually comment on this blog? None have done so before, to my knowledge. Granted, I’ve weeded through thousands of spam comments, I may have not yet hit the post where you said something.
But I’m hopeful this new CAPCHA spam filter will end my spurious commenters. Commentors? It’s 1 am, I’m going to let you decide which spelling is correct. Read the rest of this entry »
Considering the only comments I get are spam, I doubt anyone noticed. Something broke with wordpress, probably with it trying to auto update itself, and me not approving it. As cool as html determining how your page looks, you don’t want to see that instead of content.
I hope Pepsi Throwback will still be around after the move. Pepsi, with real sugar, not high fructose corn syrup? Yes, please! We’re rather broke right now, scrimping our meager pennies, and preparing to move down for school. This decision came very shortly after my first promising interview in months. It’s true the job may not call me back, but what do I do if they do? If we get rejected for the place we looked at, we’ll probably be here for another couple of weeks, if not months; and that regular paycheck would be wonderful. Plus, I got the sense from the interview the shop’s like a sisterhood, like the last job I really liked. Sorority? Bah, give me a clothing shop, any day!
Where and when? Well, down to a sweet little townhouse near OSU. It’s $150 less a month, with 300 extra square feet, not to mention being a two story townhouse on the safe side of town. I was really surprised on just how big the town was–in reality, I should be calling it a city. It just might be bigger than the city I’m in now! As for when…June 1st, if everything goes right. I’m hoping that as the graduating college kids leave, and the new students haven’t yet arrived, I’ll have a better chance at work down there.
Well, it’s a couple days late, but time for the yearly book count.
100 Books in 2009
Yearly Total: 29
Total for April: 4
Yeah…just a little bit meager last month. I had two books I intended on finishing, but haven’t finished either yet. One would be yet another warhammer book I have zero interest in, surprise! And the other was a book my husband just couldn’t muster the courage to finish, because to him it’s bone tiringly boring. I did end up reading a true blue romance novel on the advice of a friend, then found that no local bookstore carries the volumes 2-7. That’s the problem with collecting larger book series. The volume you’re looking for is invariably sold out or special order only.
We did hit Powells last night, and Jerick was amazed at how much trade in value we got for our books. Respectfully disagreeing with the book buyer, Goodwill did indeed take our used textbooks. We really don’t care if they throw them out after we’re gone, we just don’t want to be the one putting a couple hundred dollars’ worth of paper into the recycling bin.
He also was well capable of spending all the money on codices, fantasy books, and even had his eye on a board game, and something called BattleTech. We both restrained ourselves, spending a modest $75 between ourselves, and getting 6 books. I finally found Coyote Road & The Green Man, two anthologies I’ve been wanting to read for months, yet again, not found at the large chain bookstores near our house. Apparently Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling classify these, along with Faery Reel as YA fantasy, though I have yet to see one of their adult anthologies in the big stores, either.
I attended Saqra’s Showcase this past month, and watched some amazing performers. I enjoyed the beginner’s works as well, since they were branching out, and trying new things; sadly, most of the audience was either laughing at them or talking amongst themselves, which I found very disrespectful. However, it was late in the day, and I believe I was sitting in a crowd of my peers–not professional performers, but fellow students.
I bought from three separate vendors, and I wish real estate was such that these amazing artists could afford brick and mortar stores. As it is, one sells out of her own home, via email orders, one has an ebay store, and a non functioning web site, and another sells entirely via events and conventions he travels to.
I talked to the last vendor specifically at length about quality and pricing, and how much he enjoyed selling a well made product, and how angry he was when he watched a buyer purchase something from a nearby stall, only to have it break apart as she walked out of his booth, and the other vendor refused to offer her a refund or exhange of any kind. We talked about how places like this are really the place to find things, as we commiserated, what you buy from stores unravels, breaks, or tears shortly after purchase. I’m actually worried about ever wearing the cabaret set I bought from the mall, I can almost picture the top falling open while onstage!
Unfortunately, our camera’s dying of battery plague, so my purchases will have to work off of textual descriptions. I bought one long fringe belt, I bought a very cute tassel belt, in the style of those garter belt hip scarves. I also got a very interesting hip scarf, which I’ve also seen popping up at the mall. They have the see through fabric, but also raised velour in pretty patterns. That broke from my red trend, and I got that in a dark gray/blue color. The last purchase was back to my customary red, but it’s not the typical uniform fringe belt. It’s rather hard to describe, made out of many different types of material, some fluffy, some flat, and not all a uniform shade of red, but they blend together well, and give me a good feeling of tribal.
Should I have bought anything? No. Was I going to find an event like this again any time soon, an entire warehouse filled with vendors? That was the deeper, resounding no, that brought out the credit card, and had me circling the stalls until even I had to admit I’d done enough damage.
It’s interesting. I can walk into a chain bookstore, and look around, and restrain myself from buying anything. The really big must-have books on my list are either out of stock, special order only, or don’t come out for another few months. I think part of this comes from the genres I read are being saturated by authors I don’t like jumping on the bandwagon, or the fact that the chain bookstores are suffering due to the economy, and the selection is being limited to the books they know will sell well. Though I have to say, I think they can box up their tables and tables of Twilight merch until at least September, when there’s a trailer for the new movie to hype it up again.
Well, I think I’m done babbling about myself for now. It’s been about a month since my last update, so I think I’m good for at least a week, lol
