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Category Archives: Random

“I’m Reading A Book!”

Some days, there are things that you just can’t get out of your head. When this happens, I like to share it with you, that way you can have these things stuck in your head too! Ain’t I just the greatest?

Number 1 on today’s link list is this video by Julian Smith. This video has inspired my desire to build a house with a secluded reading room even more than most of those library pictures I post.

Number Last (What? It’s a short list.) on today’s link list is this article from cracked.

On a story related note, I’ve been writing dialogue. As V has told me, characters will talk to each other far more readily than they will talk to me. This means that determining what situation they’re in at any given time is framed by their conversations. It helps me to get inside the characters’ heads, while still maintaining an outsider’s perspective on it. It’s fascinating to watch a world unfold in front of me. Arsus and Rime still bicker, but they’re getting more friendly with one another as time passes. I’m working on a really fun scene with the two of them right now, but they’re both a little shy to talk about it. I am taking it that this means it must be REALLY good. 😀 Landara’s relationship with Rebecca is shaping up very much like Ripley/Newt, as I predicted. I think that there’s going to be a twist here that they’ve not yet told me about. I’m still waiting. Miles is sitting over in the corner, sulking, smoking a little cigar. I can feel the heat of the matches and the burning tobacco as he inhales. Zach wants to tell another story, but everyone else is busy, so he’s sitting quietly, just gazing up at the stars.

I read a couple of books the other day. I finally finished Boneshaker, a steampunk novel by Cherie Priest, that’s a great adventure. I also sat down for an hour and read The Invention of Hugo Cabret. I set a new personal record for a book that’s over 500 pages, but don’t go calling Guinness or anything (the book people, not the beer people). It’s a great book, very deserving of the Caldecott it won. Those of you who know that the Caldecott is for illustrated books will be pleased to know that these incredibly intricate charcoal-style drawings make up over half of the book’s pages. They’re very reminiscent of the work of William Kentridge, a man whom I have attempted to emulate in my own drawings. The book is fantastic, a great read, and actually very historical. I can’t wait to see how the movie adaptation works out. I’m still working my way through Left Hand of Darkness, and then next up on the list is Gerard Way’s Umbrella Academy graphic novels. Aww yeah.

Random Link Day

As you know, I love to share the things I found elsewhere on the internet. For your enjoyment, I have five things for you today.

Thing 1: A list of the one hundred most beautiful words in the English language. Take a look at it here.

Thing 2: A reason to accept whatever other people say to you.

Thing 3: One of the most amazing reading areas I’ve ever seen. I want one of these.

Thing 4: A second list of awesome words. As a writer, I want to use as many of these as possible.

Thing V: A little something for my fellow writers. Keep this in mind.

Steal This Post

“Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is non-existent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery-celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: “It’s not where you take things from-it’s where you take them to.”

-Jim Jarmusch

New Inspirations

Okay, friends who know me well enough to know my reading tastes. Why have I not read Ursula Le Guin before today? Seriously. Her work has been out for over 40 years, and I’ve not read them until now. This is ridiculous. I finally picked up “The Left Hand of Darkness” from the public library yesterday, and her intro alone was enough to hook me. It’s a rarity to find a powerful female writer in sci-fi of that era, and I’m sad that it took me so long to discover her writing.

Le Guin does something fascinating in her depictions of the planet Winter. She intersperses chapters telling myths and legends of the planet’s people with the chapters that tell the primary narration. I love this. I’d been considering having Zach tell some stories throughout the main narration of my as-yet-unnamed book, but now I’m considering utilizing Le Guin’s technique. This would mean that my narration would potentially be interrupted every few chapters as Zach tells the other characters stories of the world they inhabit. Thoughts?

Quick News

Part 2 will be out soon, for those of you who have been wondering. I’m working on a few side projects now, though. Chief among these is a crash course on Linux. I hope it proves useful. Then there’s my reading. I’m reading the third book in a trilogy that’s been incredibly popular of late. I’m realizing that the hype is not just that. It’s true. Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games books are amazing. I’m more hooked by them than almost anything on the market of late. I’m quite impressed, and I may have more about them when I’m done with the last one tonight. In the midst of this and two part time jobs (plus a little extra project for an old boss), I’m keeping busy. It’s tiring, but it’s the satisfied “I did my best today” kind of tired. There’s also some continued job hunting. As one of my retail compatriots said, I feel like I’m rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Anyway, more later/soon. Until then.

(Note: I may soon be creating a separate tab on the home page that will link you to my Writing Challenge entries and other “microfiction” pieces.)

Works in progress

I’m still working on my entry for this month’s writing challenge. I’ve been considering it quite seriously, and I want to make it a bit of a teaser for the novel I’m diligently writing, bit by tentative bit. I want it to be good. I don’t care if it’s perfect (I’m not QUITE that OCD of a writer), but I want it to be a decent showcase of my abilities and my characters. That much being said, it will still be in by the end of the month. I’ve got some time.

I’ve been doing some reading. *GASP* “You have time to do that?” No, I don’t. I MAKE time to read. It’s how I’ve always been. It’s just something that comes naturally to me. I sacrifice time that I could devote for other things to make room for books in much the same way that I scrimp on food to make room in my budget for booze. It’s all about priorities. That’s why today’s visit to the liquor store cost me $2 more than today’s visit to the grocery store. That’s beside the point. The point is that I’ve been thinking about books I’ve not read in a long time. At the top of my list of such books is one rare title from a few years before I was born. It’s by Richard Adams (yeah, the guy who wrote Watership Down), and it’s called Maia. I borrowed a friend’s copy of it back in high school, and I never had a chance to finish it. Now that I’m older, I appreciate books far more than I used to (my English degree certainly helped this), and I am rereading a bunch of stuff that I loved in my youth.

Anyway, more later tonight.

Celebrity Connection

I discovered Weird Al’s blog today. I’ve been a fan of Al’s music for as much of my life as I can remember. I’d just like to throw him a shoutout, and thank him for brightening my life with his performances. I can’t wait to hear the rest of the new album. Random fun fact: I chose the design for my blog before ever knowing about Weird Al’s. I guess I must have good taste.

National Library Workers Day

Yeah, we actually have one of those. It’s also Beverly Cleary‘s birthday. The woman responsible for giving the world Henry Huggins and his neighbor girls, “Beezus” and Ramona. In honor of her, I’d like to invite all of my readers to follow D.E.A.R. guidelines for at least half an hour today. Not “Drop everything and run!” as Ramona once blurted out in her usual boundless enthusiasm, but Drop Everything and Read. Read with a loved one, or a close friend, or even just by yourself. Shut down your computers (after you finish reading this post!), turn off your cell phones, and dedicate a nice, quiet half an hour (or more, if you like) to reading a good book.

I’d like to jump up on my soapbox for a minute (and hope it’s one that I’ve not turned into a car) and mention something that bothers me. No, it doesn’t bother me, it infuriates me, frankly. I hate book banning. I’m of the opinion that books should never be restricted, just because it has some things in it that one person might find offensive. I know that I don’t write what I do to please everyone. If I did, I’d never sell anything. I don’t write just for the sake of controversy either. I’m looking at you, Dan Brown. Put the pen down and step away from the paper, slowly. Thank you.

If there is one thing that I’m truly passionate about in my life, it’s books. I spend my days surrounded by them. I edit them. I try to write them. I dive head first into them and hope that they don’t forget to let me go at the end. Some people, however, decide that it is up to THEM to protect the innocence of everyone else by banning a book that they personally find offensive, and attempting to prevent anyone else from reading it. First of all, this only makes people want the banned stuff even more (remember a little thing called prohibition?). Second, it raises the anger level of anyone with a relatively normal amount of common sense. People, these books were written the way they were for a reason. They need to exist as is. Have you heard that they’re attempting to reprint Huckleberry Finn without the use of the word “nigger” in it? Are we attempting to gloss over racism and act as though it never existed? I call bullshit. I intend to fight the banning of books until my dying day. Anyway, I’m going to step off of my soapbox now (the brakes are starting to give way, and I’m on a bit of a hill…), but I’ll leave you with this. Have a list of the most recently challenged books.

If she were here, I’d read a book with my significant other, but we both have work that we need to do. At least we had the weekend to spend together, visiting family, bowling, and whatnot. Anyway, I plan to use the time as a distraction from my ever ongoing job hunt, my need to finish my taxes (they’re done, just need to be filed, don’t worry), and my attempts to actually be productive with my own writing and editing projects (sorry, V, you know how I do).

I’m building a pantheon. The gods of this world are fun to create, especially in their descriptions. For example, the head of my order of gods is a goddess, atypical for most “mainstream” pantheons. Does that make my gods and goddesses hipsters? Yikes…Imagine Zeus, or even better, old one-eyed Odin, with the hipster glasses and a case of PBR at his side. Well, despite not being mainstream, per se, I think it’s better. The queen of the gods is a badass lady, beautiful and terrifying at the same time, and wielding a large glaive against her foes. I’m tempted to make death and a god/dess of the harvest into a single character. I dunno. Too many options present themselves at the moment. Time to go hide in a bookstore for a few hours.

Rivals

Well, It’s been a nostalgia week, so I broke out the Game Boy Advance SP and Pokémon Yellow. As I played through the interactions between Ash and Gary (yeah, I’m a by-the-cartoon-purist. I don’t nickname my Pokémon either), I realized something. I don’t have anyone that I compete with on such a direct level, a true rival. Now granted, I’m also not wandering around the world, capturing various wild creatures and forcing them into battle with other kids’ captured animals (and here you grownups thought Pokémon was wholesome 😀   Seriously. How are animal rights activists not up in arms over this franchise?). But I digress. My point is, I don’t have someone that I’m constantly struggling against that I can use as a focus for my energy and as a source of determination. What’s this boil down to? I have little to no drive to do anything. I don’t know that developing a rivalry NOW would be the best thing to do, either, considering that the only person I know that I could even begin to consider as a writing rival is one of my best friends, and is letting me edit her first book. There’s also the fact that she’s already done with her first book, and I really just started laying down foundations for mine back in January. Oh well. I guess I’ll just have to keep going.

I found some pretty awesome stuff today, in my various roamings and divings of the internet. 1: A Pokémon Tower Defense game. Play it here. B: A blog of man who gets authors to insult him when they autograph books to him. Read it here. Amy Sedaris has given me my new favorite insult.  Finally: The ultimate bedroom. If I ever have the means, I want each of my kids to be able to grow up with a room like this. Yes, occasionally I go link-happy. Today is one of those days.

I’m playing with dialogue a lot right now, partly in response to Sonia M’s latest writing challenge. I’ve decided that my upcoming entry will be a nice bit of story/character development, starring Zach and maybe one or two of my other characters. Zach’s got hundreds of stories to tell, if not more. He’s been around for a while, remember? This will be the first time he’s ever told anyone else (other than me, I mean) one of them in his recent memory. I hope to put most of it to paper while I am at work tomorrow. More soon, I promise.

During the climax of the PS2 game, the Major is fighting hand-to-hand with another cyborg who has a body identical to her’s. Batou comes across the battle, and has to figure out which one of them is the real Major. He calls her name to get their attention, then shoots the one who turns to look at him.

Behind Blue Eyes

This is in my head today. For those of you who don’t know yet, I didn’t get hired for that full-time job I mentioned earlier. So it’s back to the job hunt. I’ve still got 2 part-time jobs, but I’d really prefer the stability of a single job that’s able to meet my needs.

I have today off, so I’m taking some time to mope a little, and catch up on some reading and writing. I’m also still knee-deep in editing for V, so it’s all good. Naturally, though, a true day off demands little to no actual work. I’m doing my best at this, but I have a hard time truly doing NOTHING.

More book related stuff soon.