Song of the Day:
Saturday, April 28, 2012
It's Been a While
Been lying low this April watching A-Z from the sidelines and focusing on, unfortunately, mostly work. I've been going to an in-person crit group lately and trying to work on some various writing projects. My son is totally into photography these days. Here is one of his pictures that I just love. He's awesome.
His work will be featured at the Unknown Boardshop for May Art Walk in Bellingham. Spring is here, I'm needing sunglasses on my morning bike ride to work, instead of flashing lights, and if only my stupid job would chill out, everything would be perfect. Still, can't complain too much. So, I'll keep on the d-low on the blog for a little longer, but hope to be really back in May. Keep writing!
Song of the Day:
Song of the Day:
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Book Review: The Girls
The Girls by Lori LansensMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
The Girls are not just average twins, they are joined at the head, literally. Ruby and Rose Darlen are craniophagus twins, a rare form of conjoinment where they share a major vein in their heads. Imagine never doing anything without your sister, not even going to the bathroom, sleeping, your first kiss, nothing. Sounds horrible, right? But somehow Rose and Ruby's story is sweet and charming and so well told that it isn't horrible at all.
I'm an identical twin, which has given me a fascination with "Siamese Twins" my whole life. I mean, it could have happened to me, right? Some people are really freaked out by the idea of conjoined twins, but this book made it almost beautiful. Lori Lansens creates such real characters that this reads as believable memoir, though it isn't. Somehow, she managed to get into the heads of two very distinct girls who happen to have their heads stuck together physically, yet their thoughts are nothing alike.
The book is written from each girl's alternating point-of-view. Rose is the writer, desperate to get her story down for posterity. Ruby is just along for the ride, and somewhat grudgingly writes her story at first. Even the writing styles are totally different, underscoring the fact that Ruby and Rose are two separate beings, even though they are often treated as one big monster. The writing is a bit tangential, and this bugged me a little until I got to know the characters. Then I realized that it made it feel like I was having a conversation with them, the way a conversation naturally flows, you just end up side-tracked a lot.
This is such a great book for so many reasons. It could have been so sad, but even though it is somewhat tragic, Rose and Ruby never feel sorry for themselves and they both just accept the fact that they are what they are. When people call them "it" or treat them like freaks, they just shake it off. Their adoptive-mother, Aunt Lovey, teaches them this from an early age. She is awesome, too, as well as her husband Stash, who is a hilarious Slovakian man. There is a lot of culture, both midwestern Canadian and Slovak, in this book. That gave it another fun layer that helped keep the whole story upbeat.
All-around, The Girls is an excellent novel that teaches tolerance and understanding of others' conditions. The way Lansens makes these girls come to life is quite amazing. I kind of miss them now that I'm done reading...
View all my reviews
Song of the Day:
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Amphicars and Other Tangents
Today I went on ride in an amphicar out on Lake Whatcom. It's a beautiful sunny day here in Bellingham, with a slight chill, but at least it's not pouring down rain with high winds anymore. Eventually I'll have some pics from today, but here is what an amphicar looks like:
This one is almost exactly like the one I had a ride in. It was super fun to see all the random folks at the lake trip out on watching the car go into the water and boat away. There's still snow on the foothills surrounding the lake, so we had a lovely view as we cruised along in the convertible boat. When I was a kid, one of my neighbors had a "boat car" in their driveway, so I've always had a fascination with these odd vehicles. Luckily, my friend's parents have one and were generous enough to give rides at our friend's son's birthday party.
There were some emergency rescue folks doing drills at the lake and my friend's dad gave them all rides at the end because these guys were so stoked on the car. Other people are scared to death of it and can't believe it floats. It's fun to see all the reactions.
I was thinking that an amphicar would make a really interesting plot device. Imagine your character in some sketchy situation, trying to outrun an enemy in a car chase, and then-voila-they drive into the bay and boat on over to an island to get away. None of my novels need soemething like this, yet, but I have the idea squirreled away for later.
Also, on a literary note, I learned a new word in looking for pictures of these cars. Portmanteau. It's when two words are put together to form one word that contains both sound and meaning of the two singular words. Cool. Amphibian + Car = Amphicar. Yes, I'm a nerd.
My son is up at Mt. Baker enjoying their annual Golden Egg Hunt. He called me earlier to say he had already won a new parka, two Patagonia hats and three t-shirts. Wow. Have I mentioned how AWESOME Mt. Baker is? Seriously, if you are ever in Northern Washington, get on up there. They had over 250 inches of snow in March alone this year.
Happy Easter, Passover, or whatever you celebrate, everyone!
Song of the Day:
There were some emergency rescue folks doing drills at the lake and my friend's dad gave them all rides at the end because these guys were so stoked on the car. Other people are scared to death of it and can't believe it floats. It's fun to see all the reactions.
I was thinking that an amphicar would make a really interesting plot device. Imagine your character in some sketchy situation, trying to outrun an enemy in a car chase, and then-voila-they drive into the bay and boat on over to an island to get away. None of my novels need soemething like this, yet, but I have the idea squirreled away for later.
Also, on a literary note, I learned a new word in looking for pictures of these cars. Portmanteau. It's when two words are put together to form one word that contains both sound and meaning of the two singular words. Cool. Amphibian + Car = Amphicar. Yes, I'm a nerd.
My son is up at Mt. Baker enjoying their annual Golden Egg Hunt. He called me earlier to say he had already won a new parka, two Patagonia hats and three t-shirts. Wow. Have I mentioned how AWESOME Mt. Baker is? Seriously, if you are ever in Northern Washington, get on up there. They had over 250 inches of snow in March alone this year.
Happy Easter, Passover, or whatever you celebrate, everyone!
Song of the Day:
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Fun with my Son
My seventeen-year-old son and I went to the Hunger Games movie together yesterday. It was the first movie we had both really wanted to see since the first Harry Potters came out. It was fun to bond on a book/movie. We even played Scrabble on his ipod while we waited in line.
All in all, I though they did a wonderful job with the casting and world-building in the movie. I especially liked how close the outlying districts looked to how I imagined them in the book, as well as the crazy fun they had with the kooky Capitol folks who will do anything for style. All the settings were great, in general, including the games. Also, the whole media-circus element of the dystopia was really awesome. That's the good part.
Of course a movie will never live up to a book due to sheer lack of time. The Hunger Games movie is 2hrs plus, so it's long for a movie, but I still found a lot of scenes lacking in depth due to glossing over the tension that was built in the book, or changing it entirely. For instance, Katniss received the mockingjay pin from the Mayor's daughter in the book, and she just has it given to her by a trader at the Hob in the movie, without any real meaning.
The worst case of the change/lack of depth in the movie was the dog fight scene. I was highly anticipating that, especially the muttations looking like the dead tributes. That part totally freaked me out in the book, but they completely cut that from the movie. It seemed wrong, especially since that plays in to the third book later and is a big part of the post-traumatic stress in all the books. Also, Cato dies way too fast and loses his edge of meanness by the end. It made Katniss putting him out of his misery seem trite. That was disappointing.
Rue's death scene, another I was greatly anticipating, was well done, at least. It was crucial to get that right, but I think they nailed it, if only because they gave Katniss the time to be upset and showed the district rebelling after she puts the flowers on Rue. It was probably one of the better parts of the movie.
For a book-turned-movie, The Hunger Games was pretty good and worth watching. It was very cool to see the whole Panem world come to life the way it did. Most of all, it was fun to hang with my son and bond over a book series. It's been a long time.
Song of the Day:
All in all, I though they did a wonderful job with the casting and world-building in the movie. I especially liked how close the outlying districts looked to how I imagined them in the book, as well as the crazy fun they had with the kooky Capitol folks who will do anything for style. All the settings were great, in general, including the games. Also, the whole media-circus element of the dystopia was really awesome. That's the good part.
Of course a movie will never live up to a book due to sheer lack of time. The Hunger Games movie is 2hrs plus, so it's long for a movie, but I still found a lot of scenes lacking in depth due to glossing over the tension that was built in the book, or changing it entirely. For instance, Katniss received the mockingjay pin from the Mayor's daughter in the book, and she just has it given to her by a trader at the Hob in the movie, without any real meaning.
The worst case of the change/lack of depth in the movie was the dog fight scene. I was highly anticipating that, especially the muttations looking like the dead tributes. That part totally freaked me out in the book, but they completely cut that from the movie. It seemed wrong, especially since that plays in to the third book later and is a big part of the post-traumatic stress in all the books. Also, Cato dies way too fast and loses his edge of meanness by the end. It made Katniss putting him out of his misery seem trite. That was disappointing.
Rue's death scene, another I was greatly anticipating, was well done, at least. It was crucial to get that right, but I think they nailed it, if only because they gave Katniss the time to be upset and showed the district rebelling after she puts the flowers on Rue. It was probably one of the better parts of the movie.
For a book-turned-movie, The Hunger Games was pretty good and worth watching. It was very cool to see the whole Panem world come to life the way it did. Most of all, it was fun to hang with my son and bond over a book series. It's been a long time.
Song of the Day:
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Working of The Craft
I've decided to chill out on blogging for a bit and focus on actual writing instead. I know I"ve been toying with the idea for awhile, but now seems like time. The more I blog, the less I really write and that has to stop. I wish I had time for both, but I work 9 hour days most days and my job is only getting more stressful as the layoffs continue. Also, I just really want to write something awesome and blogging is so tempting, both posting and commenting on other blogs.
I was invited to a real-live critique group in my town and I'm going to start going to that. Also, I mentioned last week that I am writing a chapter for a serial fantasy that is going into the newspaper (which is sort of how I hooked up with the crit. group. I'm working on Hippy Dippy again, and I think it deserves my full attention. Yesterday I was cut from the ABNA contest with Luna-C, which I had really already given up on, but I thought I'd share the feedback I received from Amazon "Top Reveiwers". It's pretty funny (the first one) and actually fairly accurate, despite the creative license #1 took with the Oliver Twist part. For those of you who have read Luna, let me know what you think.
When you create a world and a society, you must maintain an internal logic based on that world and society. You must develop things that will work to benefit those ruling that world.
The best thing is that you have some writing skill. Your adherence to proper grammar et. al. is good. You don't cause the reader to stop frequently to mentally convert what you have said to what you meant to say.
Then we go into some fantasy world. Then we go back to the London orphanage in outer space run by Big Brother. I feel I read a Young Adult fantasy with part of the story set in space.
You have been consistent to the sociological story you are really telling. But, you can't ignore the setting you have created. This is somewhat like a “bait and switch” marketing ploy. Oliver Twist meets Brave New World and revolts against evolution is not a combination that will sit well with most readers, especially those who enjoy true science fiction.
I was invited to a real-live critique group in my town and I'm going to start going to that. Also, I mentioned last week that I am writing a chapter for a serial fantasy that is going into the newspaper (which is sort of how I hooked up with the crit. group. I'm working on Hippy Dippy again, and I think it deserves my full attention. Yesterday I was cut from the ABNA contest with Luna-C, which I had really already given up on, but I thought I'd share the feedback I received from Amazon "Top Reveiwers". It's pretty funny (the first one) and actually fairly accurate, despite the creative license #1 took with the Oliver Twist part. For those of you who have read Luna, let me know what you think.
ABNA Expert Reviewer
What is the strongest aspect of this excerpt?
You have obviously worked hard to create a world in space that copies the feel of other such plotted future plots. It is stark and harsh, but unfortunately, unbelievable.When you create a world and a society, you must maintain an internal logic based on that world and society. You must develop things that will work to benefit those ruling that world.
The best thing is that you have some writing skill. Your adherence to proper grammar et. al. is good. You don't cause the reader to stop frequently to mentally convert what you have said to what you meant to say.
What aspect needs the most work?
Is the reader supposed to believe that: a. CHI is expected to pass some exam to move on; b. it is set up to give her multiple chances to do so, implying it is somehow to their benefit that she do so; but c. they put her into a freezing space and deprive her of water and food (she's dehydrated and missed a mean) until she does? If they are insuring her failure, why bother?Then we go into some fantasy world. Then we go back to the London orphanage in outer space run by Big Brother. I feel I read a Young Adult fantasy with part of the story set in space.
What is your overall opinion of this excerpt?
Science fiction, or any fiction, though “made up”, still has to have veracity. Events must flow in some way that resonates with the reader as being plausible. Yes, even within science fiction (the key word of which is the first).You have been consistent to the sociological story you are really telling. But, you can't ignore the setting you have created. This is somewhat like a “bait and switch” marketing ploy. Oliver Twist meets Brave New World and revolts against evolution is not a combination that will sit well with most readers, especially those who enjoy true science fiction.
ABNA Expert Reviewer
What is the strongest aspect of this excerpt?
There is a palpable sense of despair in the descriptions of LUNA-C; the dystopian aspect of the story is beautifully created, bringing the reader into the story and engaging the mind quickly. Highly descriptive without being overwhelmingly so - very nice.What aspect needs the most work?
The only problem I have is that I wonder what the designations of the people on LUNA-C mean, but that's not really something that needs work, per se, because as far as I know this is explained later.What is your overall opinion of this excerpt?
A very strong excerpt, fascinating idea, beautifully detailed and described; I definitely want to see where this story goes and what happens to the main character. She is quickly and easily created in the mind and I want to make sure she will come out OK. This is a very well-done excerpt!
Ah, the writing world is so subjective. Anyway, I really think Hippie Dippy is a book I can pull off. We'll see...
Song of the Day:
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Lucky Seven and Writing News
- Go to p. 77 of current WIP
- go to line 7
- copy down next 7 lines, sentences or paragraphs & post them as they’re written
- Tag 7 other authors
- Let them know
I threw the alcohol into the outhouse--jars and all,
then put some toilet paper on top to cover them. Junie and Sunshine were
already halfway up the hill behind the house when I heard the front door being
kicked in. That’s all I needed to be able to run like the wind to catch up to
those two. We ran as fast as we could, Sunny half-dragging Juniper, to get the
hell out of there. The trail was fairly overgrown from the busy fall and the
fact that I hadn’t been going over to Sunny’s as much as I used to.
Juniper was sobbing when we finally reached the
gravel road that led up to Sunny’s place. Though it was cold, we were all
plenty warm from the running and the adrenaline coursing through our veins. I
hugged Juniper close, begging her to just keep walking a little bit longer so
that we could make it to the house. Chances were that we were safe, but it
still might look bad if one of the cops came around the neighbors and there we
were in our pajamas.
Finally, we reached the security of Sunshine and his
mom’s log cabin. When we fell inside the door, Sunny’s mom and Calliope both
looked shocked at our entrance.
“Everything okay, Sunshine?” His mom looked up from
her knitting. “What’s going on?”
We were all so out of breath that we could barely
speak.
“The…Feds,” I managed to say. “Another…bust.”
Now for my 7 tag-ees:
In other news, I am working on a project with 5 others for our local newspaper, The Bellingham Herald (link to last year's story), where we are all writing one chapter of a fantasy novel that will run as a serial each Monday in the paper over the summer. You may recall my post about entering my synopsis and hoping for the best. Yay, I was chosen and it's already been fun meeting other writers in my town. I've never done a group writing project before, so it will be interesting to see how it comes out. One of the other participants already blogged about the group, so I'll link to Cory Skerry's blog. When the time comes for the story to run, I'll be sure to let y'all know.
Song of the Day:
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Awesome Writing Advice from Around the Webz
Even though it feels more like winter than ever, I can feel spring getting ready to pop. Lots is going on in my life, from major changes at work to some exciting things brewing on the writing front. More on that later.
Really I just had to share with y'all these AMAZING links that should inspire you to write, edit and/or work on your query. Have you been spending more time thinking about writing or editing that actually doing it? That's my problem right now, so I'm going to keep this short. Here are some links:
Natalie Whipple had two posts in a row that just rocked last week: My Love/Hate Relationship with Revisions which will motivate anyone to edit. Then, one especially good for new writers, 10 Things I wish I would Have Done Differently
Vickie Motter just posted a super-awesome post about the query/manuscript relationship with some amazing examples that really puts you in the mind of an agent: It's not Me it's You
Mandy Hubbard posted this gem about her journey to publication: Leap Day Musings
All of these posts are just really excellent, so check 'em out. I'm trying to focus more on actually writing these days, but there is also a lot going on. It's light out in the morning on my ride to work now, and for hours after I get home. Daylight savings will cause darkness to return in the morning for a bit, but the nights are going to be awesome. Yay for it not being dark at 4pm anymore.
Song of the Day:
Really I just had to share with y'all these AMAZING links that should inspire you to write, edit and/or work on your query. Have you been spending more time thinking about writing or editing that actually doing it? That's my problem right now, so I'm going to keep this short. Here are some links:
Natalie Whipple had two posts in a row that just rocked last week: My Love/Hate Relationship with Revisions which will motivate anyone to edit. Then, one especially good for new writers, 10 Things I wish I would Have Done Differently
Vickie Motter just posted a super-awesome post about the query/manuscript relationship with some amazing examples that really puts you in the mind of an agent: It's not Me it's You
Mandy Hubbard posted this gem about her journey to publication: Leap Day Musings
All of these posts are just really excellent, so check 'em out. I'm trying to focus more on actually writing these days, but there is also a lot going on. It's light out in the morning on my ride to work now, and for hours after I get home. Daylight savings will cause darkness to return in the morning for a bit, but the nights are going to be awesome. Yay for it not being dark at 4pm anymore.
Song of the Day:
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