Day 25: Return from Blogcation

Yes. I'm back after a little blogcation -

Did I cheat a little on my original goal? No doubt. My goal of writing every single day for 365 days turned into a goal of 365 posts - which left me so much leeway that now - I've used my loophole to avoid writing for twelve days.

But I came back.

I gave myself permission to not log in and write. I told myself it was okay because I was "thinking about writing" the whole time - unfortunately - there's no machine to take my thoughts and turn them into words on a page (see The Tommyknockers).

And on one level, I am thankful for that (see picture). On another - wow - the amount of writing that I would have finished by now. No one would ever, ever want to hear all of the garbage that runs through my head at any given time (no - trust me - you really wouldn't! stfub :)

So, given there's no Alienware to sub-atomically turn my thoughts into novels - I need a clone. With a clone - one of me could do my day job and one of me could write all day. On second thought, I might need two clones. One for day job, one for running the house (OMG, the house could finally get cleaned!), and the final one for writing all day. Hmm. Scratch that - I need three clones. One for day job, one for housework, one for writing, and one for gaming (thank you Blizzard and Battle.net for beta free weekend!).

This reminds me of David Brin's Kiln People. It's been years since I've read the book, but from what I remember, people could make duplicates of themselves to go about their tedious tasks - or illegal activities- while keeping the "real" person safe and sound. I can't tell you how much time I spend at work trying to figure out how to be in two places at once. Sometimes, I think I'm close to figuring out how to make it happen.

Once I do, I'll write about it - or "I" 2.0 will.

Sneak Peek: Visit tomorrow for a discussion on Stephen King's latest novel, The Wind Through the Keyhole: A Dark Tower Novel. 

NOTE: All of the books I write about, can be found here: My Little Bookstore!
NOTE 2.0 Check this out Doctor Sleep by Stephen King

Day 24: Special Announcement

JK Rowling announced her new book The Casual Vacancy release date of September 27, 2012.
The Casual Vacancy is her first adult novel:

"In the novel, the unexpected death of Barry Fairweather leaves Pagford, the small town he lived in, in shock. Pagford appears to be a peaceful, serene town, but underneath that, it is a town at war. Fairweather's death leaves an empty seat on the parish council, and this causes the biggest fight Pagford has ever seen." (Huffington Post)

I also learned the JK Rowling website linked here and above is her new website that launched today. Good luck with it, though, I tried to check it out, but the "timeline" navigation leaves something to be desired.

I did read her Harry Potter series and I'm looking forward to reading her adult fiction. I look forward to reading something that maybe she didn't feel so pressured to write. Some of the Potter series felt rushed and unedited. I saw her speak several years ago (side effect - I was there to see Stephen King) and was quite impressed with her tales of writing the last few novels. Even then, she hinted there was an adult novel - not related to HP in anyway - and that was 2006, now that I do the math.

I think what I love most about this announcement ...

Can you feel the electricity? That moment of excitement that comes with the announcement of a new novel that could be huge? Did you stand in line for Harry Potter books? Twilight? Have you ever seen so many readers gather with such anticipation you could almost reach out and touch it? You walk around, watching the "real" fans decked out in full Hogwart's garb - and most aren't children.

You line up the night before, just to get a spot - to buy a book. You spend hours talking with other book lovers about what could happen in the next book - what's already happened in the previous books. You talk about the movies - the possibilities - and who would be Hufflepuff and who would be Slytherin - because either might be more daring and fun than Gryffindor.

Whether you even liked the Harry Potter series or the Twilight series, you can't deny they brought about an astounding level of excitement about reading around the world that's never been seen before. Of course, word of mouth is much better than the old days - now we have the internet (Thanks Al!) to share good-reads globally.

Will The Casual Vacancy draw the same excitement? Who can predict? 

But, considering most children who began reading the series are now young adults - I'm guessing this could be a pretty exciting September.

We'll have to wait and see (to paraphrase Paul Sheldon).   

(Visit J.K. Rowling's Amazon Page)

Day 16: Walking Cliff Notes

First, let me clarify something from my previous post -

I know what you might be thinking - No, I didn't have or consider having a sex-change, nor did I have relations (by any definition) with women. I am married to a wonderful man (a reader, of course!) with three amazing children, two dogs, and three cats. I just wanted to hang with the boys - and have all of the advantages boys had that I didn't (I've been rejected and practically laughed at for going for jobs as a female - furniture store in Colorado Springs - hiring manager said, "I can't believe he[district manager] sent a female for this job. That's just what we need, another woman." And Wal-Mart - manager said to me, "You'll only make a quarter more an hour and we don't need women with children in these positions. We need men because they can work in any store.")

With that out of the way - On to something more interesting, if not a little sad -

Mega Millions - Who didn't have a moment of thinking about what you could do with all that money? I rarely play - maybe once a year or every couple of years. I never let myself think too much about things like that, but even I had a moment of excitement figuring out what I would do with all that money.

In reality, even a thousand would make a difference. Oh, this brings up a thought - "Deal or No Deal" -
I was always shocked when someone would say, "I didn't come here to win $25,000. No Deal!" I always thought, "Well, why not? It's $25,000 more than you came with!" I don't know about you, but $25,000 - okay call it $16,000 after taxes- would help me considerably. I mean it won't clear off significant debt (doesn't even touch college tuition plus interest x 3), but it certainly would help out along the way. As much as I always wanted to go play the game because I was pretty good at it from the sofa, I would bail as soon as they offered anything. I mean, here - I guarantee you $30 - or turn it down and maybe you'll double it or maybe you'll get nothing. I don't see the problem. Something is better than nothing.

Sure, it would have been fabulous to win $640 million. Instead, I'll go to work on Monday morning, live paycheck to paycheck, and continue to be haunted by the one thing I truly want to be -

A writer.

SSDD

Day 15: Confessions of a Ghost Reader

I have a confession...

I desperately wanted to be a boy growing up. Boys were cool. They demanded classroom attention - and often got it. They could say and do things girls weren't allowed to say or do. My brother could come and go without question and so could I - if I was with him. Men were tougher, meaner, got better jobs, sweeter cars, and made more money.

While I know I was addicted to reading by 2nd grade, I finally realized I wanted to read what boys were reading. Of course, this was after reading every Judy Blume book, all of the horse books (Black Beauty and a bunch of others that I can't quite remember the names of now), and Nancy Drew books. I think my granny bought me my first Nancy Drew, which, of course, led me to the library and a wonderful discovery - The Hardy Boys.

Here's what The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew taught me - girls needed rescuing, boys saved themselves. I'd seen all the movies of women fainting and screaming (see Gone with the Wind and Psycho). Seriously, which would you rather be? (Even now I don't want to link a bunch of stuff to Nancy-girlie-Drew!) This shift to The Hardy Boys was more than just a book choice - I joined the high school math club - maybe there was one other girl, but I only remember the boys. Well, one boy (that's a story for another day!).

Although I didn't know a lot of guys who were readers, I dove into reading books by male authors because boys didn't read female authors (mostly true even today?). I would pass over any blatantly girlie (see Confessions of a Shopaholic) books in lieu of mysteries (Kellerman), horror books (King, VC Andrews), and sci-fi novels (Tolkien and Heinlein). To be fair, I didn't know VC Andrews was female until after I was hooked. I really thought that article was the one I read and that she had chosen to write as VC Andrews to appear to be male. I'm not sure where I got that notion from, but it certainly helped me shape my life.

There were times I wondered myself if I was interested in all of these "male" books or if I was interested in the boys these "male" books tended to attract. To this day, I'm still not certain there's a clear answer.
And in the end, does it really matter? Thanks to my friends now, I've moved out of the idea of male vs. female and have learned to embrace my womanhood (okay, that makes me laugh - while I'm not a tomboy, I still belch with the best!)

Okay, so enough about boys...

You've heard of ghost writers? People behind the scenes who write books for other people without taking credit (hey, I think I'd like a gig like that!).

Well, tonight I took on a Ghost Reading gig - for free because I heart Sara -
it was kind of a joke, but we'll see. Maybe we'll talk about the book - if you want to.



I have decided to go ahead with my announcement - but not until Sunday :)

Day 14: Quote of the Day

Writing is difficult on a good day - not the actual words flowing from fingertip to page (keyboard), but from the head to the fingertip is a much longer journey.

I struggle most with my internal editor - that voice that tells me everything I write is going to really be bad, so why bother? This is my goal - as suggested by Stephen King:

"I believe the first draft of a book — even a long one — should take no more than three months…Any longer and — for me, at least — the story begins to take on an odd foreign feel, like a dispatch from the Romanian Department of Public Affairs, or something broadcast on high-band shortwave duiring a period of severe sunspot activity." (Stephen King On Writing)

When I'm writing, I don't like to talk to anyone about what it is I'm writing. I feel like the more I talk about it, I guess I just get tired of hearing it... but it's more than that - I just need it to be fresh as I write it. When I talk about what I'm writing, I feel like the story has no surprises left. Then I get bored with it and wind up with nothing but a few dozen pages of what amounts to an old story that's going nowhere. 

What I like about trying to just plough through a book is that I have less time to contemplate every single word for accuracy or excitement level. For god's sake, just write the story already! (Don't mind me, I yell at myself a lot.)

National Novel Writing Month uses the same idea King writes about - just squishes it into ONE month, not three. I've done it once, but honestly, I will be lucky to get a few chapters out... if I can ever face my old writing again. I've lived with my stories for so long, I can't imagine anyone would want to read them.

But, enough of that for now - 

   Time to curl up with a good Jenna Marbles vlog and call it a night.

(Hope you like the new look! I liked the other look, but my Granny needed to be able to read it better - so I hope it helps!)

Day Twelve: The Path of Writeousness

So, yes - we all know movies based on books can never be as good as the novel. Well, I should say - Readers understand that films adapted from novels will never be as good as the written word.

Some movies are adapted with the understanding that readers are the audience - at least that's the only explanation that I have come up with, so far. I think on some levels, this is true for the entire Harry Potter series. Movies - from the reader's perspective - should be seen as a supplement to the written story. While, with some films, I've gained a deeper understanding of characters and/or plot.

There are times, though, when something doesn't necessarily scare me - like clowns or spiders (okay, I do squeal a bit with spiders and maybe hold my breath while releasing this odd choking sound, but in the end - I know I'll kill it if I have to). So reading It wasn't incredibly scary in parts (SPOILER - can't believe I'm writing that considering the book came out over 20 years ago...). Like in the end, when they were chasing down the spider. I mean, sure, going into dark tunnels with creepy-crawly things everywhere and some murderous thing you're not even sure what it is, of course it's scary - but when it came down to a spider, I remember thinking, "Hmm. A spider? Really?" That doesn't mean King didn't find many other ways to scare me to death in the story - there was plenty of other creepy things (like drains - I agree, Mr. King. Drains are just about as creepy as they get... especially when they might have a "shit-weesel" swimming in the toilet - wrong book, same idea! See Dreamcatcher).

Stephen King is such a master of horror because he knows very well how not scary something can be if you name it too quickly. Who doesn't stop and think about King on Family Guy with his (oooo) "Haunted Lamp!" - or was it "Lamp Monster?" (Now I digress -King on Family Guy cracks me up! You gotta watch). It's the unknown that's really scary because we, as readers, fill in our own deepest fears. Once it is named - the same thing can happen to you - maybe spiders just don't scare you, either. (Just like clowns don't scare me - but Pennywise sure does.)

The thing is - Stephen King could write the story about a haunted lamp monster and scare the crap out of all of us - because we wouldn't know it was about a haunted lamp until half the people in the story had been either eaten, sliced, diced, smashed, slashed, or split (or all of the above), but by then, he's got us, up alone at night, trying to finish the last 40 pages of the 1200 page novel. Lights on, doors and windows locked (hopefully), and a phone within reach with 911 punched in and ready.

Just in case...


Coming Soon:
I will be reviewing Stephen King's new book: The Wind Through the Keyhole: A Dark Tower Novel next month!

Day Ten: Visual Words Continued

So, where was I? Oh yes, vaguely talking about book to movie translations -
Since I was a child, I've longed to see movies made from books, but so often, I'm disappointed. I've tried through the years to enjoy the movies separately, but the first few times I see a book adaptation, every change is a glaring reminder that the "Dirty Birds" got it wrong! (See Misery)
Like Harry Potter - Am I the only person who noticed that his scar is in the wrong place? I mean, I get that some things don't translate well to film, but couldn't we get the small things right? What's the problem with hanging onto a modicum of integrity to the written word?

This is where I have to take the movie for what it is - a separate telling of a similar story. I've found that once I've seen a movie a few times, I lose the memory of some of the details (the scar is STILL in the wrong place!), but not all.

Now, this is how I try to watch films on the first go 'round, but it's just so difficult. I went to see The Hunger Games again today. (SPOILER ALERT) Yes, some changes bother me although some of the changes I understand.

I totally get why the mayor's daughter is removed from the film. She's really a secondary character that doesn't move the plot along to speak of - except for that one little moment where she gives the mockingjay pin to Katniss. Unfortunately in the film, the pin loses a lot of its power  when Katniss finds the pin on her own while she's trading in the black market. The mystery behind the pin's history held much of the plot together. Now that I think about it, the loss of the game player's tokens, in general, weakens the historical link so prevalent in the books - from the meaning of the mokingjays in that evolved from the oppression of the people but became the voice of the people through song.

On the other hand, additions to the film filled in some back-story that was interesting to witness - like the gamekeeper's death. Other films have additions that often become bigger than the film and book ~ see Jack Nicholson in The Shining. There are amazing moments in so many films -

But nothing compares to those moments that reading a novel brings. Reading allows each of us to bring our own ideas, thoughts, and dreams into a new world of amazing characters filled with new hopes and dreams.

Find your words - Find your dreams

Day Nine: Visual Words

Do you like yesterday's cheat post? You can thank my daughter for that one. She pointed out Pintrest and I had to give it a try. Oh right, then I went to the midnight release of The Hunger Games.

First, I'd like to say, I've always been critical about book to movie adaptations - and yet completely taken with them. I used to say Freaky Friday was the first time I read a book and begged Grandma to take me to see the movie (during the movie I told her every detail that was different from the book). But, I think my real first time with this experience was Charolote's Web. I read the book in second grade - and honestly, I was hooked on reading. That's also the first "real" book I remember reading.

Book-to-Movies appeal to me, but I am often disappointed. Overall, I think most movies cannot capture a book because we fill in all images based on words - and rarely does a movie capture the sense of our imagination. However, I believe Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings series mastered this in a way other directors/movies only hope to achieve. His vision remained closely linked to the written word and some of that probably comes from his love of the books - but another part must have included his desire to create films that only supplements the novels, not replaces them.

It's no secret that I'm a huge Stephen King fan (no no, not his "number one fan!" Just an average fan who's followed his work since I was a teenager). When it comes to books, well, picking favorites is tougher than it is to say which I could go the rest of my life without re-reading I enjoyed the movie Misery so much. Kathy Bates was amazing in the role. And yes, the book was very close to the movie - but there were some others that didn't work very well - in comparison.

(almost 4am - going to break here and continue this tomorrow... I know, I know - really cheating all over the place!)