An Award! Go Me!

OMG! I'm so excited! Woot!

Thank you Matt at Free the Princess !

Hey, it's my first award. I'm entitled to go a little psycho.

I'm not totally sure of the rules here, but I'm pretty certain I get to award someone else, right? How exciting.

And the award goes to... (Drumroll please)

J.M. Diaz ! (Firecrackers! Funfetti Ice Cream Cake! Beer!) Just for being extremely entertaining and for his interesting Santa musings.

*Edit*- I've just been informed of the rules. (Thanks Matt)

Seven Things You Probably Don't Know About Me

1. I think scientists should genetically engineer fruits to come in holiday colors, like pink and blue grapes for Easter, orange and black pomegranates for Halloween, ect. And not just the skin either, the edible part should be colored too.

2. I don’t like potato chips or french fries.

3. Most days I’m over-caffeinated and under-slept.

4. My favorite color is yellow.

5. I also think scientists should make fingernail polish in which the color is activated by a component in your fingernail. That way every time I paint my nails my hands won’t look like I just sneezed paint all over them.

6. Breakfast is my favorite meal.

7. I think there is a mouse living in my bathroom wall… I hear it chewing sometimes.

Random Grr Reviews and Recommendations.

Who's got a Wii? (waves hand) Well, the bestest game eva (as long as you have several people playing) are the Karaoke Revolution series and the American Idol series. Hilllllarious. Me singing rather resemles a cat with its tail closed in a door, but that didn't matter at all!

On second thought, the beer may have had something to do with that too.

Got a Kindle this Christmas. Pretty much fell in love in less than a minute. Sunlight blinds me, must crawl back into my cave now.

Currently reading "The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan" (good) and "Brave New World by Aldous Huxley" (gooder).

"The Forest of Hands and Teeth" is good, but so far I think it needs more action, less protagonist groaning and moaning. Otherwise, pretty good.

"Brave New World" is just really good. But everyone probably already knew that, but me.

Creativity-Can it be learned?

Many of us imagine the misanthropic genius from time to time, the guy that develops creative masterpieces in a social vacumme, his/her brain accompanined only by cigarette smoke and booze. But does creativity really thrive like this? I think not.

I believe creativity promotes more creativity. While we need our quiet time to reflect and draw conclusions, the collaboration part is actually the most important part. The social aspect is the seed and perhaps great ideas evolve more from interesting interactions rather than interesting individuals.

For me, situations/interactions/events seem to pile up in my head and compost there. Interesting people, conversations, fights, disagreements just ferment somewhere and what sprouts out of this mess is often nothing like how it started.

I think creativity can be learned in the sense that maybe people can learn to recognize viable ideas when they get them. That one can learn to put oneself in situations that promote those ideas. That there are ways to maximize ones creativity. But I don't think you can learn to care. An individual does need some natural tendency to entertain bizarre ideas. So tell me, do you think creativity can be learned?

How do you get unstuck?

I run. My brain seriously works so much better when I'm moving. If I could jog and type, I would double my work speed. Because that is when my WIP starts to move by itself without me manipulating it. And my WIP is so much better at it than me.

How do you work out the kinks? How do you get unstuck?

What? Graduate? Oh Shit!

Goal: Graduate with my MS degree in May.

What that means: Graduate with my MS degree in March!

Did you read that twice? Most of the deadlines for a May graduation are in March. Quite scary. Basically, in the next threeish months I have to finish my thesis, clear thesis through my committee, defend thesis and pass the comphrehensive exam.

No Christmas break for me.

No more weekends for me.

So, if over the next few months, my blogs seem exceptionally confused/bewildered/angry/lachrymose, just send me a smile.

Madeline's Letters

Just got home from a Thanksgiving in Kentucky. Bitter cold but I loved it. We visited an abandoned Shaker Village, saw the Palisades and ate lots of carbs.

The most interesting event was when I found the letters. Tons of discarded letters dated from the 1920's. They were from a North Carolina girl named Madeline to a Kentucky boy named Byron. Both were in college at the time. Madeline's letters enchanted me and I brought them home. They seem so alien (in language use, references ect) and at the same time totally familiar. There was drama, which I love. She obviously liked him and was always asking him to write back to her, but only if he really, really wanted to. Madeline wrote one letter after Thanksgiving 1924 in which she bragged about a new coat, regretted saying something mean about a romantic rival in Kentucky and mourned a low grade on a chemistry test. How cliche!

I am only half way through the letters. I hope to read that they got engaged, but I suspect I won't. I think their relationships is one that died, not from a fiery plummet, but from the erosion of time and obligations. That is how it usually happens I guess. I am planning a short story with these characters.

P.S. On the drive back home (basically drive south for twelve hours) it seemed the temp. increased 5 degrees at every bathroom break.

Plot (or the lack of it)

I love to plot. Really. I think many writers don't, but I do. I have read some authors say that if you have interesting enough characters the reader won't care if nothing is actually happening (Ann Lamont's Bird by Bird), but I disagree.

Yes there have been some plotless mushies published that were still rather enjoyable (who's read Glimmer Train?). But I believe that an actual storyline could have improved them.

A good plot to me should be like a woven leather belt. Strong character storylines tangeled together. Hints poke out for the reader to see. If you could only unravel it you would understand. Readers should be able to unravel the story as they read, but not necessarilly entirely, and leave the naked threads. Enough to understand the important part. Actually, a great plot should be a belt made of many woven belts, because the reader should not just unravel the story, but also the characters. The reader should come to understand them throughout the story.

For me, a great character won't make the story. They can make the storyline, but they cannot float and drift and bounce like so many bubbles. I like to read work with a sense of purpose. A great character should consume a storyline and run away with it. I love it when my characters run with a story, I love it when the result is nothing like the original conception. But it still needs the story part.

Damn I hope I get better at this blogging thing...

I've removed a post already! Read it a couple days after posting it and sounded like a retard. This shit is hard, man.

Kickoff Party

So, agents/editors insist every writer, published or wannabe, should have a strong internet persona. I think my brain already knew that, but wow, another time-gobbling internet portal. Just what I need. That said, I do want to give my writing the best possible chance. Sooooo…. Firecrackers! Balloons! Funfetti ice cream cake! Welcome to my new blog!


Are those crickets?


For now I guess I will just have to talk to myself. Anyway, other than using this site to promote well, me, there’s an added bonus: I get to blab uninterrupted for the duration my post. So to read about the progress of my writing, my degree, my musing and my life, just tune in. And comment while your at it.

Oh yeah. And I just won my first literary competition. Go me!