Monthly Archives: November 2009

Nov
30

*thuds*

Posted in nanowrimo | 7 Comments
Okay, I can finally say I did it. Finally. I’m not sure I’ll ever want to do it again, but even with a full time job, two kids, Dragon Age, two websites to run and a whole mess of stuff dealing with agents/publishers/pitching and contest wins, I managed to crank out just over 50,000 words. Which just goes to show you – if you want something bad enough, you’ll find a way to do it. No, I’m not being an egotistical asshole here – just making the point that excuses are just that. Excuses. (And there are plenty of people out there that managed well above the 50k mark, so it’s not like I’m some sort of NaNo over-achiever here). Are all the words good? Nope. Some of this stuff is pure crap…but, there’s quite a bit that *is* good here, or at least workable. I managed to get over… Read more
Nov
29

On Finding Aragorn

Posted in craft, worldbuilding, writing | 4 Comments
Actually, this isn’t really about Aragorn at all. It’s more about details and worldbuilding, but Viggo is pretty much the shit when it comes to getting into character, so I thought I’d use him as an example. (Although in an unrelated note, it looks like they’re trying to fit Aragorn into the two forthcoming Hobbit movies in some fashion…or maybe not, since there appear to be rumors of Viggo quitting acting before they film them. Boo!) But anyway, it’s no big secret that Viggo is a method actor (and a damnably good one). I seem to recall reading a magazine article or two back when LotR first came out, and one of his interviews talked about realism. i.e. in Aragorn’s case – the dude was out living in the woods with the greasy hair and the unwashed bod and the dirty underwear and all that – and it actually makes… Read more
Nov
28

Channeling the Emo

Posted in craft, writing | 1 Comment
I hear that a lot some days. “Channel your anger/lust/angst/wangst/unrequited emo/fishcakes into something fruitful.” Whether that means writing about it, or pouring it into a burst of artistic creativity or just arranging the garden/cleaning the catbox/roundhouse kicking the shit out of something. Apparently it’s better to do something with all that energy. (Something more productive than sitting around and stewing about it, anyway.) Some emotions probably lend themselves better to this goal than others, though. Unfortunately I’m more of an emotional stewer. I’ll bottle it up and bottle it up and every once in a while it will leak out of me. Although, I’ll talk about it an awful lot. Diarrhea of the mouth and all that.  I’m one of those people that does need to talk about the same subject over and over again, much to my friends’ dismay. I will happily beat that horse dead into the ground until the… Read more
Nov
27

Turkey Day Goofiness

Posted in Connor, Lucy | 1 Comment
Just a few pics from yesterday. I got stuck having to work from home today (with children), so between that and trying to NaNo, I sort of lost track of time as far as writing up a decent blog post went. So my old fallback? Post pictures! Not sure what Connor was doing here. I understand there was football going on, and I believe he also managed to run right through the screen door and completely blow it off his hinges. A moment of triumph, perhaps? Trouble, thy name is Lucy…(after her second change of clothes. Girl completely mangled one shirt and two other sets of pants playing outside). Yeah. I don’t know either.… Read more
Nov
26

Happy Thanksgiving

Posted in random | Leave a comment
Just a quick note from the road to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and safe travelling. I’ve got 10,000 words to go on NaNo and I’m thinking I should be able to make that by Monday, so yay! And yes, I now have an agent.  More details to follow when I’m able to post them. 🙂… Read more