Monthly Archives: June 2011

Podcast and Writing Talk

Posted in General, HP & The Giant Prehistoric Chicken by

I’m still on my podcast kick, and just when I started to get the number of podcasts down to a manageable level, I found some more to listen to!  While I still have a bunch of episodes I need to catch up, I’ve decided to take my time with it.  I’m not going to go back and listen to the episodes of the new podcasts just yet, so I’m going to download each episode as I listen to it.

Joy the Baker has a podcast!  I don’t read her blog too often, but her podcast is hilarious!  It’s still pretty new, but it’s really fun!  I’ve also been listening to Abandon All Hope, About Face Mouth, For Whatever Reason, Meat-Free Radio and Game Night Guys…to name a few.  Actually, I’m listening to 28 different podcasts!  No matter how many times I tell myself that I will NOT go looking for new podcasts, I find myself…looking for more podcasts.

In other news, I think I’m getting close to the end for Harry Potter and the Giant Prehistoric Chicken!  I’m excited, because it’ll be the first time I finished a novel.  And not only that, but it’ll be the first nano I finish!  I have no idea if I’ll go back and edit it.  I might, but I’m still not sure.  If I had to decide today, then I’d definitely edit it.  If I do, I might put it up somewhere, like over at ff.net or something.

I did a lot of writing on Wednesday, which was really nice!  It’s been a while since I’ve spent the whole morning writing, and I miss it!  Remember when I said I’d write whatever the average word count was for each novel?  It’s AWESOME!  I think it a lot closer to what I actually write for each thing, because for the first time in weeks, I’m not constantly checking how close I am to my word goal.  I’m definitely going to be doing this again!

I definitely need to get my butt into gear for camp nano!  I think I might do my ncis fanfiction next month for it, and as for august, I have no idea if i’m doing it yet.  I think it depends on how my plot bunnies work out.

My Brain And Fingers Need To Communicate Better

Posted in Turning Point by

Alrighty, I just have to share some of my nano-isms from Turning Point.  They’re just too funny not to share with the world.  These were some of the ones from the last few times I worked on it. 

  • “You cn borrow myine,” kior said.  (My question is: who exactly is kior?) 
  • “Sienna, it’s nice to see you back,” the tracher said.  “Please be sure to get the notes from someone.”  (who exactly is seeing saying this?  Apparently blog posts aren’t immune to nano-isms.)
  • “I stuck my finger in a vegetable slicer and cut myself,” kiora explained.  “It’s all my sautly there was no note, I should have left on, but I wasn’t thinking.” (*headdesk*)
  • “Dorry,” luna appoligized.  “I just open my mouth, and stuff comes out.”  “Apprently,” sienna nyterred.  (I would like to note that Luna is apologizing for Kiora.As for Sienna’s line, *facepalm*)

And my all-time favorite nano-ism:

  • “Thnaks,” she sadi again.  “Oh, what happened to your ginger, kiora?” (This is seriously one of the funniest things I’ve ever accidently written.  Sienna meant to say finger, but it makes me laugh everytime I think about it.)

It’s honestly any wonder I manage to keep writing with some of the stuff that comes out.  Everything needs to work together, and that clearly isn’t happening.  Like I’ve said a bunch of times, at least it’s always a good laugh, and it really does make writing more fun.  It’s like a game sometimes…what on earth will I come up with next?

6 Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII

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Book: Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII by David Starkey

Pages: 765/hardcover

My Thoughts: It’s taken me quite a while to get through this book for a couple reasons.  1- the length was an obvious factor, and if you add in the index and bibliography, the book is an astounding 852 pages.  2- it was really tedious, and there was an overwhelming amount of detail in certain parts of the book.  Those two reasons combined made it slightly difficult to read more than a few pages at a time.

I found the introduction to be slightly off-putting because I felt Starkey came across as arrogrant.  I felt like he thought his biography was the best one because he managed to access all these different documents that no one else was able to access and translate some documents that no one else has been able to translate.  In addition to that, he seems to not like any other Tudor historian because they weren’t digging deep enough, and all stuck to the same formula.

Starkey decided to structure the book according to the time each woman was married to Henry as well as the number of materials about each one.  This means most of the book is devoted to Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn, with a few chapters on Catherine Parr, and one chapter each for Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves and Katherine Howard.  Theoretically, it makes sense.  We know more about Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Parr than we do about the other three, so a good chunk of the book is going to be devoted to them.  In practice, it didn’t work out that well.

For one thing, most of the Anne Boleyn section was devoted to the divorce from Catherine of Aragon.  I’m not kidding when I say that Henry didn’t marry Anne until 500 or so pages in, and had her executed a mere 85 pages after that!  Furthermore, he talked about Henry VIII’s divorce from Catherine of Aragon twice- once in Catherine’s section, and once again in Anne Boleyn’s section.

Some of the details were repeated, making it boring.  I get that it’s a very important event in British history, because that was a major factor in the break from the Catholic Church.  But if he’s going to devote several hundreds of pages to the “Great Matter,” he should just write a book on that.

There was so much detail on Henry’s divorce from Catherine- it was all “such-and-such a person went to this place to deliver a letter” and “this group of people went to this one place to figure out how Henry can divorce Catherine.”  It did get better once he married Anne…kind of.

There was barely any overlap between any of the queens, which I thought was slightly odd, considering that there was a considerable overlap between Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn, some overlap between Anne and Jane Seymour, and then some overlap between Anne Of Cleves and Katherine Howard.  I got the definite sense that he was more interested in Catherine of Aragon and her subsequent divorce from Henry, and that everything else was just an afterthought.  I also didn’t notice anything groundbreaking or special about it, despite his “access to special documents.”

Rating: It gets a 2.5 out of 5.  It was more about Catherine of Aragon and The Great Matter than anything else.  For a book about Henry’s wives, it was more about the politcal aspects of his marriages and the important men around his wives as opposed to his actual wives.  I also felt like his marriage to Anne Boleyn and his subsequent wives were an afterthought.  Overall, it was a disappointing book.  I was definitely glad I checked it out from the library.

Plot Bunny Update!

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I thought I’d share some of my notes from some of my plot bunnies.

Plot Bunny 1: The Pact; 2 best friends make a pact, and it has far-reaching consequences

  • I’m definitely going with the idea that Poppy is sick, and ends up dying.  Jordan promises not to tell anyone, and then everything goes to hell once she dies.
  • After reading Fairy Tale and Graceling, I came up with the idea that maybe she has a superpower or extreme skill or something, and that’s what kills her.  But I’m still not sure about what kind of power or whatever to give her.  I know I’d have to work out the medical aspect, so I may need to look into that first.
  • My main question is how she figures this out- has she always had it, and it’s making a sudden appearance, or had she always had it and it goes into overdrive?  Maybe it’s been gradually appearing, and she doesn’t know what’s happening until it’s too late.

Plot Bunny 2: Secret Government Agency; Kaylee comes across a mysterious group of men, who are connected to a secret government agency.

  • I was originally thinking of something similar to the adjustment bureau, which was in theaters recently.  But now I’m not sure if I want to go in that direction.  But I’m keeping that as an option for now.
  • I’m leaning towards having her job put her in danger- she accidently finds something out that she wasn’t supposed to, and now these men are following her.
  • As for the men themselves, are they a super-secret part of some agency we know about, or are they an independent agency to keep an eye on everyone?  I need to figure out who these men are, because all I have are some vague possibilities. 

Plot Bunny 3: Funerals; this is my most recent plot bunny- a family only gets together for funerals`

  • At every funeral, they talk about how they need to see each other at events that aren’t funerals- they might organize a family reunion or something, but I haven’t decided on that yet.
  • If I decide to do just a series of funerals, then each one will probably be told from the POV of a different family member. 
  • I definitely need to do a family tree.  It’s going to be a large extended family, with lots of second and third cousins.  I’ll need to keep everyone straight, and if I decide to use different POV’s, then it’ll be a necessity.  I really should do one no matter what.  I must make sure all the names are distinct enough that I won’t confuse anyone.  Which I’m sure will happen once November hits, because what’s NaNo unless you confuse a few characters?

Right now, I’m really excited about PB 3, mostly because it’s bright and shiny, and I love bright and shiny ideas.  But I did get the idea from a family funeral I went to last week…so inspiration really can come from anywhere!

Here’s A Random Music List

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It’s been a while since I’ve done a music post, so I thought I’d share some of the music I’ve been listening to.

I’ve been listening to a lot of Oliver Boyd, but here’s some other songs/artists:

  • Living On The Highwire from the Lemonade Mouth soundtrack- very catchy song.  I have no problem admitting that I still watch the Disney Channel, and while I have seen the whole movie, I’ve seen a good chunk of it. 
  • Break My Heart by Sara Ramirez- I love this song!  I’m not sure what genre it would fall into, but iTunes says it’s singer/songwriter…whatever that means.  It’s kind of a mix of jazz and blues…but I’m probably wrong about that since I don’t know anything about genres, and the distinction between the two.  It’s a pretty happy song, actually, because it’s about a person who’s looking for a reason to miss someone. 
  • Push by Fill The Silence- I heard this song on Greetings From Nowhere, and decided to go looking for it.  I like it- it speaks to me, althought I don’t know why it does.  It’s the only song they have on iTunes right now, so hopefully they have something else soon!  I’m curious about what else they’ll come up with.
  • The NCIS Soundtrack- I know there’s 2 different ones, but I have the first one.  Most of the songs are album only, so chances are, you’ll have to buy the whole album for most of the songs.  Well, on iTunes anyway.  I actually didn’t mind, because most of the songs are some of my favorites.  Right now, I Don’t Want To Be On TV by The Toxic Airbone Event, Fear by Stop Making Friends, After All by Saving Abel, and No Matter What by Jakob Dylan are my favorites.
  • Mariah Carey- For some reason, I’ve been listening to a lot of her lately, namely Honey, We Belong Together, Against All Odds, and Vision Of Love.  I wish I could sing like that.  Actually, I wish I could sing period…and if I could sing like Mariah, that’d be an added bonus.  🙂
  • Parachute- they’re one of my favorites.  The songs getting the most playing time are Back Again, She Is Love, Blame It On Me, and Something To Believe In.  They have really catchy songs, and I find myself wanting to sing along.  I’m always in a good mood after listening to them. 

Going To Try Something New

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I was taking a look at my little progress sheet I made for my weekly writing goals, and decided I would try something different this week.  For some of my projects, I end up sticking close to the word goal for the week.  For everything else, I end up writing more than I expected.  So this week, I think I’m going to figure out the average amount I write every week, and have that as my goal.  If that works out, I think I might do that for a while, and tailor my goals.

Writing went pretty well this week, as did my plot bunnies.  I’m sticking to the schedule I had set up in January pretty well, but I’m trying to be flexible with it as well, because stuff happens and I want to be able to change things as needed.  I did come up with another plot bunny, so I’ll end up working that in.  Who knew a funeral could inspire a novel?   

I lost a pound this week!  Definitely unexpected, but I did eat better this week.  I still can’t get myself to the gym…maybe this week, but it’s not something that’s likely.  But at least I’m eating better, so I’m making progress.

I think that about covers it; it looks like I’ll have another productive week!

There May Be Something To This Planning Thing…

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I’m pretty good at not planning for NaNo- I usually don’t do research, but I will admit to doing character profiles that I don’t use once November hits.  But it’s still a good way to get to know my characters, and know how they cope with things and what things they like.  It is nice to refer to it if I need to.

I’ve done quite a bit of work on my plot bunnies, just coming up with some different ideas and possibilities.  I still have no clue what to do for my historical fiction, but then again, I’ve just been reading and haven’t really given it any thought.  But for the other 2 ideas I have, I’ve been doing some serious brainstorming. 

The brainstorming’s been pretty helpful, and I like what I’ve come up with so far.  I still need to come up with something more concrete, but everything should be ready to go by September or October. 

I’m not exactly going to go out and start coming up with an outline, but I at least want a general idea of what’s going on.  But who knows?  I might actually come up with a very basic outline for something one day.  I won’t know what works until I try it.

I did do some research for Turning Point, and had a list of conflicts and questions I had, and it was the only one I didn’t have trouble with last year, so there may be something to the whole research/somewhat planning thing.  I think I’m going to do something similar for my plot bunnies, but I’m going to hold off for the moment.   

The more I use OneNote, the more I like it.  I find it pretty easy to use, and it’s pretty easy to organize it the way I want.  I could even color-code it if I wanted to, and while I don’t, it’s pretty easy to do.    

I’m pretty glad I got my writing done yesterday morning, because I had a busy couple days.  When I got home yesterday, I didn’t really want to do anything except watch tv and maybe take a nap, so I’m glad I did it first thing in the morning. 

Today’s going to be a fun-filled day, so I’m not sure how much I’ll get done.  But I’m sure I’ll do what I can.

Mr. Impossible

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Book: Mr. Impossible by Loretta Chase

Pages/Format: 312/Paperback

My Thoughts: I’ve always been a fan of the romance genre, but it’s been a long time since I’ve read anything from the genre, so I decided to start off with this novel.

It’s a historical romance about Rupert Carsington and Daphne Pembroke, who are trying to rescue Daphne’s brother.  She’s the brains, and Rupert is the brawn.  Some of the imagery is absolutely hysterical, which is one reason why I like romance so much.  Plus, romance (as a whole) is very predictable, and sometimes I want to read something where I know that X event is going to happen on Y page. 

So, imagery.  It’s your typical “this is what they look like, and I’d like nothing more than to make them want to get in bed with me” imagery.  It was fairly descriptive, which was just okay at times, absolutely hysterical at others. 

Rupert wants Daphne, but she doesn’t want to admit that she wants him too.  Miles ends up being saved, and Daphne and Rupert end up being married. 

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.  An interesting (and sometimes funny) re-introduction to the world of romance.

Mansfield Park

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Book: Mansfield Park

Pages/Format: 412/Paperback

My Thoughts: Of all Jane Austen’s books, this one is probably my least favorite.  It was good, and I liked it, but it’s not my absolute favorite.

Alright, Mansfield Park is about Fanny Price, who goes to live with her rich aunt and uncle and their four children.  Her cousin Edmund is unusually kind to her, and Fanny is so grateful that she falls in love with him.

They’re visited by Henry and Mary Crawford, who are siblings from London, and their visit makes a splash.  Mary and Edmund become rather attached to each other, while Henry becomes rather fond of Edmund’s sisters (Julia and Maria).

Maria ends up having an affair with Henry, she gets divorced from her husband, and Henry won’t marry her, while Henry’s sister has no problem with the affair.  Edmund realizes Mary isn’t the person he thought she was,  realizes he’s in love with Fanny, and they end up getting married.

Honestly, I found myself rereading most of it, because I found myself losing interest at times.  I find the fact that Fanny is overlooked by her family interesting, but not a surprise, since her family was poor.  She does go back to live with her parents and siblings for a time, and it was interesting to see her in a different environment.  She is smart and shy, lives by a strict moral code, and is somewhat prone to wishful thinking.  She does become more confident by the end of the novel but other than that, she didn’t seem to change all too much.  Fanny was slightly difficult for me to relate with, but I still liked her.

Rating: 3 out of 5.  It’s my least favorite Austen book; overall, I thought it was just average.

I’m Back…

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Yesterday was pretty uneventful.  I decided to have a lord of the rings marathon, which lasted partway through the 2nd one before I had to stop.  Maybe I shouldn’t have picked something that’s an all day event. 

I didn’t make any chocolate frogs…but I decided to make myself some birthday cupcakes!  They were delicious!  And I went to Miguel’s, which is a restaurant about 5 minutes from my house, and had cheese enchilada’s.  They have the best cheese sauce/dip ever!  I’m not joking, I love that dip.  Maybe there’s a copycat recipe I can find on the internet…

I read a little, and did some work on my plot bunnies.  Nothing out of the ordinary, but it was fun.