I've saved a few good thoughts for Scraps and Velma. Here's hoping for a better future.
I can't help thinking that for structural reasons, it's easier if the first draft is sprawling and massive and full of extraneous stuff. Because somewhere in that is the story, and you have to pare down the fat. But if your first draft is 9000 words that are polished to within an inch of your life, where is the room to trim? If everything is tightly knit, it's harder to rearrange bits of the story to make it stronger.
For me too, I like having room to get a proper run up. The first couple thou words tend to be my weakest, because I'm feeling my way. Once I get a sort of mental rhythm going, the subsequent words tend to flow better. If I'm trying to polish from the start, this rhythm never has a chance to build. I have constipated writing.
Of course, that's just me. Every writer makes their own process. But I suspect the wiggle room is good for lots of folks.
(Or for another whacky analogy, it's like if you're putting the IKEA furniture together and you tighten ALL THE BOLTS the instant they go in, instead of waiting til the whole thing is put together. I did that once and kept having to backtrack like crazy. Better to allow some wiggle room.)
I am FiDaNoing.
Finish the Damn Novelling, to be clear.
Like others here, I'm mid-project, and don't wanna be derailed. But I figure I'll post word counts so I can hang with the cool kids.
1250 words today. :)
My freecycle group seems pretty okay so far. They're moderated but that was partly because we had a large volume of people posting things like "First one to my house can get the ironing board--it's on the curb" without following up on whether it had been TAKEN and ignoring the fact that it created a frantic race which might cut into people's time if they got there and discovered the free ironing board had already been taken.
But I can see how the moderation privileges could be abused....and if people were skimming from the list before hand, that's kinda shady.
I am visible at Home Depot still, but I was once thoroughly chastised by a lady at Lowe's, who seeing me, rakes in hand, walked into me and then yelled at me for "waving the rakes around". I was standing still at the time, not gesticulating, and looking at a selection of flashlights, I think it was. Maybe the rakes had bobbed a little bit when I leaned over, but "waving" was definitely an exaggeration. She and her husband chided me for my thoughtless behaviour and wandered off mumbling about kids these days. I was 27 at the time.
Like many others, I feel that this was premature and would like more follow-through on my hope, please.
That said, one of the early actions of his presidency (and one of the few to take place before the nomination period had ended) was to repeal the Global Gag Rule, a policy of ours that impacted the health of women all across the world. By repealing it, he did open up a way for other countries to promote women's health without worrying that the US would cut aid funding. Invaluable.
Now if he'd just show the same initiative on some other issues.
AEG: It’s marketing my dear. Have you ever noticed how many domain names the Children’s Writing Institute uses? We spend a lot of time on Google pay-per-click for our authors, and we’ve seen at least six names for them, for sure, that go back to their site or a clone of their site. I’m sure you are aware of search engine optimization.
Condescension to his imaginary interviewer. How charming.
Also, that strategy causes brand dilution--which is the point for him, since it enables him to scam a lot of people under various names. Gah.
Love the accusation of identity theft, when it seems that's exactly what he's doing to his employee by using their handle to publish his fake interview.
Angiportus: You're in Seattle? My bf and I were watching the Seattle parade from Westlake's balcony. (Before we found the balcony, we were down on the ground, and all we could see was an occasional balloon perambulating by over the heads of the other onlookers. Good turnout!)
Wonderful news. It's nice to see the system work the way it is supposed to. :)
Sure, I don't NEED to know about 1840s birth control methods, but I personally find that sort of tidbit extremely interesting.
Incidentally I just finished reading The Great Influenza (another Macdonald recommendation) and found a review where the reviewer complained too much about the life stories of the individuals involved in reforming medicine in the United States, when that was the material I was finding fascinating. (Specifically he complained about a focus on Paul Lewis, even though quite a lot of space was devoted Welch, Flexner, Williams, and Park.) Seemingly he missed the point about how this entire circle of physicians and scientists changed the face of medicine in the US and made it possible for them to try combat the influenza, or how their policies were ignored by the Army or Woodrow Wilson. I guess it wasn't the narrative the reader was hoping for, but I found it terribly engrossing. These are the details that keep me on the track when reading historical non-fiction.
I'm sorry about the loss of your hamster, but I must add that I think Agnes is a great name.
Apropos of The Little Drummer Boy, my new favourite version is the Dr. Girlfriend and Monarch rehash of the David Bowie and Bing Crosby version. (The Monarch plays David Bowie and Dr. Girlfriend plays Bing.)
The Monarch and Dr. Girlfriend Sing Little Drummer Boy
John Chu: Thanks for the info. Have you performed in The Messiah before? You seem very knowledgeable about the arrangement.
Speaking of Christmas double-entendres, there's this whole section of the Messiah where the phrase, "We like sheep" is repeated. The full phrase is "All we like sheep have gone astray," and I don't know if that's the canonical way to do the arrangement, but seriously, five minutes of people singing, "all we like sheep," is enough to make you wonder at the innocence of the choir director. There's a bit further on about the love of the Lamb too, or some similar phrase. I felt bad, but I could NOT stop giggling.
Sadly, I first got the cold that was going around the office. Then I got the flu/bronchitis that my boyfriend got from his co-worker--and right after a particularly bad allergy attack. They gave me antibiotics and an inhaler last week, and I started to do better, but then as of last night I relapsed something hardcore, so now my doc has me on steroids (Goodbye, Olympic dreams! she said facetiously) and robitussin with codeine and some anti-nausea meds to boot. Whee. Basically I feel like I can breathe as long as I have hot tea and hold very still. It SUCKS.
The Death with Dignity initiative in Washington seems to have passed as well. (That makes Washington the second state to have passed such a law.)
Also...I am having fun plugging in "nation_name news" and checking out reactions all over the globe. So far, Russia's Pravda has cracked me up the most with "8 years of hell are over," and Germany's Spiegel has struck me as being extremely practical, both welcoming the new president-elect and presenting him with a wish list, while reminding their readers that the President is not like Santa Claus and comes with limitations. I know all my Canadian friends are heaving sighs of relief right about now.
People are still honking their cars and whooping as they drive by. :) Kids walking down the street occasionally cheer. (I'm in Seattle. Whee.)
WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!! President Obama! :)
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