5.06.2011

Mud-Wrestling Pigs and other stories

Reminder: If you read or write novels, and you want to help tornado and flood victims, check out the Help Write Now auction! If it wasn't for charity, I'd be very disappointed that Veronica Roth's Divergent package just went waaay out of my price range. :)

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Hail, Twilight fans and foes! If you enjoy discussing the merit of Meyer's bestselling vampire series from either perspective, check out this extensive conversation between Maria (who critiqued my book) and I. Maria has made some good points that I've conceded, and I think I've made a few that she's done likewise for, and we're still talking. Feel free to join in. I'm going to try to answer her most recent comments this afternoon, if I can get a chance.

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Congratulations to my good friend and critique partner Mr. Pond for getting himself published in a book of essays! Anti-Tales: The Uses of Disenchantment, a scholarly work on the world of unsettling fairy tales, is available in bookstores. Well done, sir!

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Maia has discovered how to get on top of the refrigerator. I guess the highest bookshelves are her final frontier.

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Ever since this past year's NaNoWriMo disaster, I've been awfully worried about my ability to complete the book and make it any good. On a burst of inspiration yesterday, I took out a packet of colored index cards and started cutting them up, labeling them with character names, roles, structural units, and potential scenes. I laid them out all over the coffee table. And I wish I'd shot a picture of the mayhem that ensued when Maia discovered I was playing with little scraps of paper....but now I have some outline, several pages written, and a lot more confidence.

I love these paper clips. And the pretty colors. I'm such a girl.

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Writers' link of the week: Jason Pinter on The 10 Commandments of Social Networking for Writers. The piece contains some of the best wisdom I've heard about social networking. Among the great thoughts, "Thou Shalt Not Engage in Flame Wars" includes the aphorism "Never wrestle in mud with a pig—you’ll just get dirty and the pig will enjoy it."

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Music of the week: My friend Jana linked this band on her blog recently, and I enjoyed their music so much that I had to share. This cover of the Beatles' Eleanor Rigby is beautiful. You can also go over to Jana's site and watch their Paper Hats, which I like even better.



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Funny of the week: As someone very fond of decent spelling, I laughed till I cried over these Facebook corrections. There's some strong language—where ignorance and Facebook are gathered together, profanity is in their midst—but oh, the responses are funny. Enjoy. H/T Kelly Sonnack.

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I'm off! To write, to clean house, to make dinner for my husband and get ready for a busy evening. Happy weekend, everyone!

5 comments:

  1. Glad you liked Branches! Tyler, the guitarist, was a student at the school where I taught in CA, and his father was the pastor at my church. Great group, and great people involved. Hope to see them grow in their venture!

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  2. Oh, I didn't realize that you knew them! Sweet. They're a fantastic band, in my opinion--I watched probably half their videos yesterday--and I wish them success. :)

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  3. They have a really joyful sense in their music and performance :-) I love folk music for that.

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  4. Lookit the index cards, want! There's so much here I could comment on, but I love seeing a story laid out like that. Seize the momentum and go for it!

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  5. jana_kaye, that's really true. I like that about their videos.

    Amie, thanks for stopping by! The index cards are startlingly helpful and fun to work with. :)

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