"Our life evokes our character. You find out more about yourself as you go on. That's why it's good to be able to put yourself in situations that will evoke your higher nature rather than your lower. 'Lead us not into temptation.'" Joseph Campbell
1. For Blogger/Blogspot bloggers 2. What if heroes stopped eating bonbons and stepped it up? 3. Learning to not commit is oweee
1. FOR THOSE USING BLOGGER/BLOGSPOT
Did you guys notice that you can edit your images on the blog now?? I didn't know!! What the--!! In case you didn't either, you click on the picture then choose "Edit Image." MY DAYS. It's got effects, frames, stickers, everything--I've only started to explore, but it's a little buggy. This is why I haven't left Blogger yet, though. They always add something nice.
2. SOMETHING GOOD TO READ
I just found this Betty blog that I don't think is on the Betty RSS feed.
If you're a writer, or just interested in books and what makes for an interesting hero, then read this post! Très très intéressant! It's like someone freshened up the oil in my brain gears. Here's a taste:
What would a fantasy epic look like if the hero wasn’t “chosen” (i.e. got to have his epic destiny without any autonomy or responsibility)? What if some farm boy (because they always are farm boys, right?) looked around himself and decided to do something about what he saw; to act autonomously, and to be responsible for what he caused? The first thing that occurred to us was: They wouldn’t get away with nearly so much.
Then you can go and discuss! Well I did anyway. En masse. Cause you know that's how I rollz.
3. AND NOW SOME NEWS & PERSONAL CRAP
I was relieved to hear that Bonafide Betty is not ready for a June nano, because neither am I. We're doing July instead. So those of you who thought you might like to try for July - Mouah ha haaaa!!!
And I warned her that, because things in my personal life might get kooky this summer, I'm going to attempt... for the first time ever... Purposeful Undercommitment.
Looking at my messy apartment, my what-ev-ah meals, my home haircuts, my never-makeup, my wrinkled clothes, you wouldn't think I'm a perfectionist. (See below - the view from where I'm sitting, on my bed, in my bedroom/library/office. See the pile of clean laundry, sitting on the boxes of my grandfather's dissertation? One of my favorite Betty conversations was about how a bunch of us have slept on clean laundry before.)
Sadly I've learned that I am, in specific areas of my life. And one of them is that if I commit to something like a Nanowrimo, I WILL FINISH IT. Especially if I'm doing it as a partnership with someone.
But I'm reading a self-help book on procrastination, and it's teaching me that my perfectionism, and my over-commitment-ism, lead to my procrastination. I meet all my deadlines, I've never underperformed at work, I've NEVER turned in a late paper at school, but I work too many hours, I exhaust myself, I lose pull all-nighters, I exacerbate my headaches, and I hurt my personal life instead. So I've got to change.
And one step is to say (though it send shivers through my soul) when we attempt our Nano in July... I'm giving myself permission to "lose." To not complete my word count. I'm not even doing a "real" nano for heaven's sake, cause one of the rules is it can't be a re-write. Imperfectionism! That's got to be my credo.
You've got my four badges, they ought to be enough for heaven's sake. You've got nothing to "prove" Mabelline. And you can cheer on Bonafide and anyone else who joins, even if you make a decision to stop partway through. Hush hush it's going to be okay.
(Looking at these badges, anyone want to guess what year I went back to school and when I graduated? At least I'm not that bad of an overcommitter.)
I should add that I've improved in one way, which is no longer freaking out over posting on time on my blogs. Self head pat.
Part 1 - The Background - If you're short on time, you can skip to Part 2 - Give Mabel Advice
Alright, I told you awhile back that I bought my first oracle deck. I guess I should expand a bit.
Okay I did tell you about my Inner Butterick Pattern Fairy who turns complex scented oils into talcum powder (which I liked as a child, and I think Butterick Pattern Fairy is my inner child). I felt she needed an oracle deck or tarot or something. My Betty friend Urthalun posts a card a day on her blog and my Fairy said "I want! I want!"
Butterick Fairy and I agreed on the Animal Dreaming Oracle Cards by Scott Alexander King since we love animals, and my adult self doesn't find it culturally-appropriating-ish like some animal-oriented decks. It's based on Australian animals, so sometimes the author talks about consulting elders, or going on walkabout, but he mostly he takes one quality about the animal and embroiders on the theme.
I was sure this was the right deck for me when I got it, because King explains in the little booklet that all his cards have positive meanings. Well I'm a positive sort of gal. I also got it because the texts are usually broad enough that you can get something interesting out of them on any day, rather than: Today you shouldn't make any money deals.
I tried out the two larger "spreads" in the book, where you're supposed to learn which animal represents your inner self, and your self as a teen, and this sort of thing. I'm not sure how useful it was, or whether I was really able to *believe.* I mean... the last one, the animal that's supposed to represent me when I'm myself an elder, when I leave this life, is the card that represents... Elders. The meaning of the card is: Talk to elders and learn from them. ... This seemed a bit unhelpful. Who is going to be older than me when I'm 80? Or maybe I'm going to be a really immature and unwise old lady who needs to seek out wisdom from other 80 year olds.
Part 2 - Mabel Seeks Oracle Advice Using the 3 Card Spread
The three-card spread, which you can turn to when something is troubling you, seemed a little more helpful. Because something is indeed troubling me (I'm not going to go into it, but it's not new, and it's not going to go away anytime soon, and please don't email me and ask me what it is. :-o ) The first card is supposed to represent lessons from the past that you should integrate into your present. The second represents the talents, loves and gifts currently surrounding you, that can help you (and anchor the lesson from card 1.) And the third represents the energies to realize your prospective abundant future.
So here's what I got.
1. Lessons from the past that you should integrate into your present: The raven here represents prayer, which should make my dad happy. This made sense. Prayer isn't in the past for me, since I do pray daily, but it's a big part of my history. And my praying's been a bit all over the map since the new year. So I'm going to take this card advice as: Refocus my praying on my issue, which the card says will strengthen my self-perception.
2. The talents, loves and gifts currently surrounding you: The platypus card, called: women's wisdom. Well this made me laugh of course, because I thought of the Betties, and also the other women who comment here, and all the girlfriends in my life who I reconnected with these past months. The card is actually about trusting your own judgment by drawing on your innate masculine and feminine qualities. I'll admit my judgment's totally blown in this area at the moment. So I may just take the card at face value for now and be glad that I have a lot of wonderful friends and family, male and female, offline and online, in my life right now.
3. Now this is the funny one. I was excited for this one cause it's like "The actual advice part!" This is the card to show you the energies to realize your prospective abundant future, the wisdom and strength needed to break through familiar/limiting behavior:The lizard = daydreaming.
The lizard wants me to take note of my daydreams, even journal them, because they are future possibilities that I'm dreaming up, and if I don't take note of them they might arrive but I won't recognize them when they do. The explanation was hard to understand. Upon second reading, I think he's just talking about creative visualization maybe. Except not purposeful--not sitting down and purposely thinking through a situation you want to happen. He's saying that when you daydream, it's your soul flying off and identifying its desires, I guess. And you should pay attention. It's a bit woo for me.
Friend maewitch and I once discussed taking walks, cause I said I find them really boring. She said, don't you just daydream on them? I said no. I don't really daydream.
If do get lost in thought. But I'm just thinking about stuff. Maybe imagining a conversation with someone. But I don't think that's "dreaming." I also put myself to sleep, or amuse myself if I'm somewhere bored with no book, by thinking up stories, or redoing movie endings. That's definitely daydreaming, but I'm in control of the scenario, and it's not my life.
I never imagine I'm walking around in London having an adventure, or something. Do people do that? What on earth is daydreaming? And I don't scour the internet looking for my dream mansion to live in, because I don't want to feel unhappy with the life I have here and now. I don't think about what I would do if I won the lottery. Is that daydreaming? Is my desire to protect my appreciation of my real life, hindering my dreaming life? In which case, I should be listening to the lizard?
I'm curious to know what you guys think, and how you day dream. Help a girl out.
Oddly enough I didn't realize til now that this was the same book my friend Swissgirl had photographed for me in London years ago cause the cover was funny. The library edition didn't have this great cover.
The premise: Every writing book tells you different, contradictory advice. But if you locked those authors in a room with slowly rising water, and no chance of escape until they reached a consensus, this book would be the result. <--This is the funny. (Except I wrote it more concisely because their writing, though funny, is oddly stilted at times.)
Here's more of the funny:
In re using your book to blab about Stuff: "The unpublished novelist should remember that his potential readers are people just like the friends and co-workers who didn't want to hear this stuff in person."
In re a setting where 100% of the characters are white and middle to upper class unless it's rural Sweden: "This will eventually give the reader an eerie feeling that some form of ethnic cleansing has taken place."
In re sex scenes: "Giving a reader a sex scene that is only half right is like giving her half a kitten."
In re sex and comedy and postmodernism: "Any of the following crimes against fiction can prevent the publication of your novel. Committing several will prevent the publication of anyone whose name is similar to yours, just in case."
You'll be entertained, even as you're shamed for your literary crimes. Now here are...
The kind of advice they give, not shared in other writing books:
* When every passing mood is lovingly detailed--a play by play of your protagonist's every passing emotion. Romance genre authors do this a lot. I get Le Tired of hearing what people are thinking over and over. Especially as they think about the same problem over and over and over. I'm all: Georgette Heyer never did this to me.
* Excitedly sharing everything you learned while researching. I learned this in high school when I read Lace II. At the time I thought the author was showing off, but Newman & Mittelmark are right it's probably just excitement. My favie Connie Willis does this cause she's a research goddess. (Mind, it didn't stop her from just winning her 7th Nebula. That's 10 Hugos and 7 Nebulas, boys-who-read-sci-fi-but-have-never-tried-Connie-Willis.)
* Characters who laugh disproportionately at each others' jokes. It's best, they advise, to err on the side of caution. So very true. I have a friend who has sworn off one particular author because she can't stand all the snickering that goes on over witticisms that just aren't witty. Mind you, this is hard when you're writing, because sometimes you need to show your characters bonding by laughing at something together. And then you re-read your own scene and you're all: "This sounds lame." Easier in a first person book when you can write "And then we laughed like loons" and your readers can always pass it off as an unreliable narrator.
* Don't sneak in a propaganda pitch for your idée fixe: Daylight savings time is bad, or the tenure system is bad, or root canals are bad, or whatever. Ya this one happens a lot in what passes for entertainment by political radicals. Sometimes you come across a political comic or graphic novel, and you know it's meant to be funny because somebunny radical has written a review saying it's the biting satire, but really it's so unfunny I'd rather go do a little dusting. It's not good satire if you're just coming out and making your point. Don't encourage these people.
Things I could identify with:
* Introducing characters for no good reason, or for one reason only, or as a big family mass, or because you think you need to show that the character has a mother so there's a "Hi dear how are you" phone call scene. <-- I've had to catch and fix varieties of these in my writing.
* Poorly rendered non-native English: My last book has French-speaking and accented characters, so I had to work very hard to find the right way to tackle it.
* Character's thoughts transcribed for no reason, usually taking stock of his life while watching the sunset or cleaning out the closet. lol lol and lol. Because I was writing a sweet romance, which I don't even like, I made myself do things I don't even like, like Too Much Inner Monologue. There are no sunsets, but my heroine does unpack a box. Shiver.
* Poor renderings of other classes: In my case it's rendering Other Ethnicities, because my heroine is half Mohawk and half Nuu-chah-nulth. I see failure as inevitable and something to be humbly accepted her, but I have to aim for the most respectful failure possible.
Points I didn't agree with:
* Their view on animals was basically don't do them, unless the animals are the ones solving the mysteries. So ridick. They're clearly haters. Might as well say don't write toddlers, because they play about the same role in comedy books as animals. Besides writers like Jennifer Crusie and Jilly Cooper who write wonderful animal characters, the Georgia Nicolson series wouldn't be half as funny without the Angus the Cat terrorizing the neighborhood, and Georgia's sister Libby, who dresses up Georgia's Jesus statue and says it's Barbie's cousin Sandra. Just shows you can't take all writing advice books as gospel.
The only person who can wrap Angus around her finger is Libby.
* They had a weird bit about "the protagonist is not allowed to [romantically] settle for less" like the nice neighbor best friend. They followed this up with a better worded point, that the love interest has to be sexually attractive in some way. I would nix their earlier point, but agree with this one. As decreed in the Tao of Steve: Be excellent in her presence. Everyone is sexy once you see them doing something they're good at, whether it's witty insults, canoeing, caring for someone sick, or speed accounting. To go from Best Bud to Hero, he (or she) needs to show excellence at some point. That can be the neighbor or best friend.
Bottom line:
Oh you want to borrow or buy this book. It's a gas and will prevent any authors with similar sounding names as yours' from getting rejected.
Their next book:
_____________
*I didn't understand speed-reading until I became a Poli Sci major at a university where the profs all believed in huge reading lists. (Unusually so, if people from other schools were to be believed.) The only way to survive was to learn how to skim a reading, figure out which parts you really had to read, and which parts you could skim--usually the examples, and anywhere the author repeated him or herself. That's when you learn that most non-fiction books (outside of histories) are 20% argument, 40% examples, and 20% repetition. Really bad ones are 20% examples and 40% repetition. And REALLY bad ones have a big font, are slim, sold in a glossy hard cover, charge $40, are called Business books and promise to make you a millionaire. #1 Lesson From University: Always read the article version of something if it's available, rather than the book form.
Spike Lee's School Daze. Can't say I recommend it, unless you're a supaLeefan like me. There were three different Great movies in here, but he tried to make all three of them at once, so, you know, it's a mess. Here's a good scene though.
One of our movie channels is showing Richard Pryor all week--always fun to watch one of the greats, and see where everyone else has been getting their sh*t from. Since we're on the N word, here's a corresponding serious moment from one of the shows we caught. (He's talking about his trip to Kenya.)
Bought Evil Minion (who I've started calling Evil Genius) her first real-fur mouse. It was fairly big. She ran off with it, and wouldn't let anyone near for fear we'd take it from her. About an hour or two later she admitted it wasn't real and lost interest. The next day she tore it to shreds and ripped out its plastic innards. Needless to say it no longer squeaks.
Smiling, with Fernando. I love her looong legs.
Slurp slurp slurp.
I looked over, when she was sleeping, and noticed that she tail had fluffed out, as though she'd had a scare.
Because Haley's not around me and the computer, we get less pics of her! Quelle scandale.
She also doesn't photograph as well without a flash, with her face all shrouded in evil and darkness.
There's a known problem with Blogger/Blogspot blogs that some people experience a lot of trouble posting comments on them. The forums are FULL of complaints, though I haven't heard of an official fix from Google.
Personally I don't get any more errors posting on Blogger blogs than I do on Wordpress or any other kind. I suspect part of the problem is with how people's internet browsers are set--and I found a *fix* for that once too, but can't find it at the moment.
One of the easiest solutions is to have pop-out comments like I have, but it's not a solution in all cases--I gather it just solves the problem most of the time. And I did find one person who complained that in their firefox broweser the popout window is super teensy small and annoying.
I just found two other solutions, which require the owner of the blog to make a fix. I'm going to post them here for any blog owners who want to play around with them, though I won't be adding any instructions/visuals cause I'm off to bed soon (my exciting new bedtime of 3 AM instead of the horrid bedtime which had crept up on me of 8AM!)
But I might make a better post in future, if anyone wants.
So without further ado, the two fixes I just googled up, that seem to work for a lot of people:
#1
I had the same problem, even though I had the option checked for people to be able to leave comments. I went to my Layout Settings, then "Edit HTML," and clicked the "Revert widget templates to default" underneath the text box. That took care of my problem...hope it works for you too!
I finally figured it out. Changing the settings like -emnj- made it so the posts I do now people can comment on but I couldn't figure out how to get it to change on the previous ones. So what I did was click on the edit icon for the post that no one could comment on. Then under the box I write in there is a part that says "Post Options". It's right above the orange "Publish Post" box. Click "Post Options" and click "allow comments". Presto change-o people can comment now.
#2 Explained on this person's blog, with proper detailed instructions:
I worked in a bookstore chain for 15 years, and I decided on a vague sort of rule, though there may be exceptions.
The greater the number of books put out by a New Age or Self Help author, the less trustworthy (authentic) they are. I think this would apply to some other categories too, like Business and Health;/Diet. Any genre that's trying to help people.
Example 1:
McGraw, Phillip C. (1999). Life Strategies
McGraw, Phillip C. (2001). The Life Strategies Self-Discovery Journal
McGraw, Phillip C. (2000). Relationship Rescue.
McGraw, Phillip C. (2000). The Relationship Rescue Workbook
McGraw, Phillip C. (2001). Self Matters
McGraw, Phillip C. (2003). The Self Matters Companion
McGraw, Phillip C. (2002). Getting Real
McGraw, Phillip C. (2003). The Ultimate Weight Solution:
McGraw, Phillip C. (2003). The Ultimate Weight Solution Food Guide.
McGraw, Phillip C. (2004). The Ultimate Weight Solution Cookbook:
McGraw, Phillip C. (2005). Family First : Your Step-by-Step Plan
McGraw, Phillip C. (2005). The Family First Workbook
McGraw, Phillip C. (2006). Love Smart: Find the One You Want
Latest: Real Life
Son's spinoff books:
Life Strategies For Teens
Life Strategies For Teens Workbook
Daily Life Strategies for Teens
The Ultimate Weight Solution for Teens
His first three books are all good books. And you know, if a first time non-fiction author wants to put out a guidebook or journal to go with their book to make extra money, authoring is a crap pay job, so I say go for it. But this man makes all his money from his show. So putting out a journal or workbook every time... ease. And they were often in hard cover.
But where I think he really jumped the shark was when he went on his weight loss thing, and put out a CRAP cookbook, and a CALORIE COUNTER and SUPPLEMENTS. And his greed became reflected in his show, it's been garbage ever since.
#2 Example - I actually first noticed this phenomenon much earlier, with Deepak Chopra. Chopra was once this well-respected new agey kinda guy. And then I noticed all this crap creeping in to my store... now hold on to your socks... I'll highlight in bold the year I started my job at a bookstore (this is lifted from wiki):
2002 Integrating The Masculine And Feminine In The Spiritual Traditions Of Judaism and Vedanta: A Dialogue Between Rabbi Shmuley Boteach and Deepak ChopraISBN 1-56170-824-0
2002 Quantum Physics of Quantum Healing: A Dialogue with Amit Goswami, Ph.D., and Deepak ChopraISBN 1-56170-920-4
2002 The Evolving Human: A Dialogue Between Jean Houston, Ph.D., and Deepak ChopaISBN 1-56170-916-6
2002 Rituals As a Path to the Divine: A Dialogue Between Stephen Huyler, Ph.D., and Deepak ChopraISBN 1-56170-841-0
2002 Healing Your Relationships : A Dialogue Between Kenny and Julia Loggins and Deepak ChopraISBN 1-56170-840-2
2002 The Soul and Relationship: A Dialogue Between Shakti Gawain and Deepak ChopraISBN 1-56170-917-4
2002 Yoga as a Form of Meditation with Yogi Amrit Desai ISBN 1-56170-839-9
2002 A Gift of Love II: A Musical Valentine to Tagore ASIN B-000-06IZP-E
2004 Soul of Healing - Body, Mind, and Soul Vol. 1
2008 The Love Guru
2010 1 a Minute
Let me add that in the last year at my job, we also carried Deepak Chopra TEA. It was because of Chopra that I invented the rule Too Many Books = Greed. You cannot possibly have this much of value to share. But I'll give him this--no worse criticism has been leveled against him on wiki than a little plagiarism, that was settled, and scientists making fun of him for his wackadoodle descriptions of quantum physics.
More than I can say for another publication specialist...
Example #3 - Sylvia Browne:
Browne, Sylvia; & Antoinette May (1990). Adventures of a Psychic Carlsbad, CA: Hay House, Inc. ISBN 0-7394-0178-5
Browne, Sylvia; & Harrison Lindsay (1999). The Other Side and Back: A Psychic's Guide to Our World and Beyond New York, NY: Signet. ISBN 0-451-19863-8
Browne, Sylvia; & Harrison Lindsay (2000). Life on the Other Side: A Psychic's Tour of the Afterlife Dutton Adult. ISBN 0-525-94539-3
Browne, Sylvia; (2000). God, Creation, and Tools for Life Carlsbad, CA: Hay House, Inc. ISBN 1-56170-722-8
Browne, Sylvia; (2000). Astrology Through A Psychic's Eyes Carlsbad, CA: Hay House, Inc. ISBN 1-56170-720-1
Browne, Sylvia; (2000). Meditations Carlsbad, CA: Hay House, Inc. ISBN 1-56170-719-8
Browne, Sylvia; & Harrison, Lindsay (2000). Blessings From the Other Side New York, NY: New American Library. ISBN 0-525-94574-1
Browne, Sylvia; (2000). Souls Perfection Carlsbad, CA: Hay House, Inc. ISBN 1-56170-723-6
Browne, Sylvia; & Harrison, Lindsay (2001). Past Lives, Future Healing New York, NY: New American Library. ISBN 0-451-20597-9
Browne, Sylvia (2001). The Nature of Good and Evil Carlsbad, CA: Hay House, Inc. ISBN 1-56170-724-4
Browne, Sylvia (2002). Prayers Carlsbad, CA: Hay House, Inc. ISBN 1-56170-902-6
Browne, Sylvia (2002). Conversations With the Other Side Carlsbad, CA: Hay House, Inc. ISBN 1-56170-718-X
Browne, Sylvia; & Harrison, Lindsay (2003). Visits from the Afterlife New York, NY: New American Library. ISBN 0-525-94756-6
Browne, Sylvia; & Harrison, Lindsay (2003). Book of Dreams New York, NY: Signet. ISBN 0-451-20828-5
Browne, Sylvia; (2003). Book of Angels Carlsbad, CA: Hay House, Inc. ISBN 1-4019-0193-X
Browne, Sylvia; (2004). Mother God: The Feminine Principle to Our Creator Carlsbad, CA: Hay House, Inc. ISBN 1-4019-0309-6
Browne, Sylvia; (2004). Lessons For Life Carlsbad, CA: Hay House, Inc. ISBN 1-4019-0087-9
Browne, Sylvia; & Harrison Lindsay (2004). Prophecy: What the Future Holds for You New York, NY: Dutton. ISBN 0-525-94822-8
Browne, Sylvia; (2005). Contacting Your Spirit Guide Carlsbad, CA: Hay House, Inc. ISBN 1-4019-0532-3
Browne, Sylvia; (2005). Secrets & Mysteries of the World Carlsbad, CA: Hay House, Inc. ISBN 1-4019-0458-0
Browne, Sylvia; (2005). Phenomenon: Everything You Need to Know About the Paranormal New York, NY: Dutton. ISBN 0-525-94911-9
Browne, Sylvia; & Dufresne, Chris (2005). Animals on the Other Side Cincinnati, OH: Angel Bea Publishing. ISBN 0-9717843-4-5
Browne, Sylvia; (2006). If You Could see What I See: The Tenets of Novus Spiritus Carlsbad, CA: Hay House, Inc. ISBN 1-4019-0648-6
Browne, Sylvia; (2006). Exploring the Levels of Creation Carlsbad, CA: Hay House, Inc. ISBN 1-4019-0891-8
Browne, Sylvia; (2006). Insight: Case Files from the Psychic World New York, NY: Dutton. ISBN 0-525-94955-0
Browne, Sylvia; (2006). The Mystical Life of Jesus New York, NY: Dutton. ISBN 0-5259-5001-X
Browne, Sylvia; (2006). Light A Candle Angel Bea Publishing. ISBN 0-9717843-6-1
Browne, Sylvia; & Dufresne, Chris (2006). Christmas in Heaven Angel Bea Publishing. ISBN 0-9777790-0-9
Browne, Sylvia; (2008). Temples on the Other Side Carlsbad, CA: Hay House, Inc. ISBN 978-1-4019-1745-6
Browne, Sylvia; & Harrison, Lindsay (2008). End of Days New York, NY: Dutton. ISBN 978-0-525-95067-7
Browne, Sylvia; (2008). Mystical Traveler Carlsbad, CA: Hay House Inc. ISBN 978-1-4019-1861-3
All Pets go to Heaven (2009)
Psychic Healing (2009)
Messages From the Spirit (2009)
Accepting the Psychic Torch (2009)
The Truth About Psychics (2009)
Psychic: My Life In Two Worlds (2010)
Afterlives of the Rich and Famous (2011)
Her list is less impressive than Chopra's, but she makes up for it by being convicted of fraud and grand theft, and by running around giving inaccurate psychic messages. Like telling someone their kid's been murdered by a man in dreadlocks, when the child is still alive, kidnapped by a white guy. She's a real piece of work.
I could probably think of more examples but I'm getting sleepy. So what should be the cut off number? I guess it should be a factor of time--one every three years? What do you think?
It didn’t take long for me to get a taste of the staggering sexism and class bigotry that would make the first season of Roseanne god-awful. It was at the premiere party when I learned that my stories and ideas—and the ideas of my sister and my first husband, Bill—had been stolen. The pilot was screened, and I saw the opening credits for the first time, which included this: CREATED BY MATT WILLIAMS. I was devastated and felt so betrayed that I stood up and left the party. Not one person noticed.
...I read The Art of War and kept the idea “He that cares the most, wins” upmost in my mind. I knew I cared the most, since I had the most to lose. I made a chart of names and hung them on my dressing-room door; it listed every person who worked on the show, and I put a check next to those I intended to fire when Roseanne became No. 1, which I knew it would.
...When the show went to No. 1 in December 1988, ABC sent a chocolate “1” to congratulate me. Guess they figured that would keep the fat lady happy—or maybe they thought I hadn’t heard (along with the world) that male stars with No. 1 shows were given Bentleys and Porsches. So me and George Clooney [who played Roseanne Conner’s boss for the first season] took my chocolate prize outside, where I snapped a picture of him hitting it with a baseball bat. I sent that to ABC.
Not long after that, I cleaned house. Honestly, I enjoyed firing the people I’d checked on the back of my dressing-room door. The writers packed their bags and went to join Matt on Tim Allen’s new show, Home Improvement, so none of them suffered at all. Tim didn’t get credit either.
... I gave Joss Whedon and Judd Apatow their first writing jobs, as well as many other untried writers who went on to great success.
Today's post is a public service message for those who read blogs and like to post comments, but who find said comments are sometimes (or often) eaten by the monsters of blogland.
Just like in the days before autosave you had to get in the habit of hitting control+s every few minutes as you wrote, I've developed the habit of saving what I comment before I hit post. If an error occurs, I can just paste in my comment and try posting again.
For those who don't know what I mean, here's a demo, conducted on an olllld blog I no longer update. (I've had many blogs over time. Mock me, I don't mind.)
________________
I'm reading Mabel's blog and notice this video isn't working.
I leave a long and extremely witty comment to the effect, that I shall never again be able to reproduce in this lifetime, or the next.
Before hitting "publish" I decide to copy my comment. I usually do it this way:
On a PC I would use the control button (Ctrl) at the same time as the "a" button to select "all" of my commentary...
on a mac I'd use the command button (the pinwheel) + a.
Method #2 would be to use the right click button and choose "select all" ...
or use whatever method my laptop has for bringing up the "rightclick" options (in my case it's two fingers on the trackpad.)
Now my text is all selectified.
Then I would use Ctrl + c to COPY all of that text.
Or command + c on a mac.
Or the right click button.
Or the track pad (etc.)
THEN with my comment safely tucked away in the computer's memory, I would hit publish. My comment will remain in memory until I copy something else.
If I got an error message, I would return to the comment field once again and this time press:
Ctrl + v for PASTE to paste in the comment held in memory.
Or command + v on a mac.
Or right click.
Or track pad (etc.)
And like magie! My BRILLIANT comment is restored, with little effort on my part.
And there, my chers amis, is the secret to avoiding comment heartache. :-)
The Necessities of Life - Ce qu'il faut pour vivre (click here for short Variety review)
Just watched this movie on French TV. I wish I'd caught it from the start, but I was just channel surfing and got sucked in. Mostly in inuktituk with French subtitles, the other spoken language is French (but there's an English version of the movie which I assume is fully subtitled in English.)
Don't believe the trailer, that makes it seem like it's about: Racism! Clash of cultures! He cheats on his wife!!
It's really the man's relationship with a fellow Innu patient, an orphan boy, who helps him adjust to his new surroundings; and who he in turn teaches about his heritage. It's a gentle, sweet, not emotionally over-wrought film. I highly recommend it.
Okay, it's the weekend, so now begins: Blogging about personal-whatever-stuff.
THIS ONE'S ABOUT WRITING (kitties at the end)
Though I've been researching and preparing to write a new book, for about 5 years now, I've decided to pick up an old project and give it one more rewrite first. When I started my political science BA in 2003 I decided to write a sweet romance, only because it was a genre Harlequin was actively looking for, and it was 55 000 words which was nice and short. I worked on it summers, and it was done a few years ago.
Then I decided, well, maybe I should try selling it as a single title first. But it was too short, so I added a subplot. (Figured, if I don't get an agent, I'll just pitch the original MS to Harlequin.) But it needed to emerge naturally from the story, so I took a character who was only ever heard of offscreen but who was instrumental to the plot, and made him real. He was based on Leonard Cohen (it all takes place in Montreal) and I gave him a romance with the hero's mother.
But he and the mother had no chemistry. So I made Leonard a woman. The chemistry was great! So now I had a sweet romance with a lesbian romance subplot. I polished it to best effect, mostly with my brother's help, and started to shop it about.
It wasn't that sweet, but still...
My energy for shopping it sort of wore out, and I haven't been very disciplined about it since the first round and a half. Possible conclusions? (A) I'm not disciplined. (B) I don't believe in my story. Considering I don't even READ sweet romances and purposely butchered my own book... what do you think? lol.
After leaving my job last November I didn't do anything re my writing, because I had to look at my CV, I was seeing a job coach, etc. Now I'm working on my French to improve my job chances, as I also apply for English jobs. But since the harder work (making a new CV, a good one, is work yo) I feel it's okay to get back to my writing. And so many of the Betties are writers, that reading about everyone else writing was making me nuts anyway. (I've written stories since I was 9, so when I go without writing for too long, I actually get depressed.)
When it came time to look at my writing, I suddenly thought of my old Faux Fiancés story, and I thought... I think I have to rewrite it. I think I have to make it into a romantic comedy, because it isn't true to moi. I wasn't sure if it was a mistake to revisit it, or if I should just let it go. My brother--who listens to the Popcorn Dialogues (movie analyses done by two romantic comedy authors)--said I should go for it. And when I checked the mail later that week, the cover of my new French Châtelaine magazine had the actor who "plays" the hero of my novel:
Well. If the universe is going to be THAT obvious. Who am I to say no.
Fellow Betty blogger, Bonafide, wants to do a Nanowrimo and write up backstory for her novel; but since she's both a teacher and a PhD student November's a terrible month, so I told her if she ever wants to nano another month let me know. She proposed June. So unless she has to cancel (she also has one of those children-types and Real Responsibilities, so I am at her disposal) I am planning to rewrite FF in June. Or at least the first 50 000 words.
I'm reading Writing the Romantic Comedy by Billy Mernit, in prep. It's awesome, perfect. I can see the things I've got right (plot beats, sex), where I need to fine-tooth-comb it before June (theme), and ideas on how to intro the humor. Like THE TOPPER I LOVE THE TOPPER!!!!!* Must consciously see if I do toppers. If not, must learn how. But I know I do comedic set pieces, just not consciously. There's already one scene in my book that I was dying to turn into a comedy scene, but held myself back; and another that half turned into one, and then I had to make bad things happen so that it became all serious and sad instead.
Anyone want to write a novel in June? (Or an oracle deck?)
And now: Cat on an ankle.
And now: Cat being obnoxious on lap while I write.
She squirmy-wormies around, touching the touchpad and messing up the writing.
"Editor kitteh improves your writing!"
No she doesn't. Stop it!! Show the people how annoying you are:
this is me holding back her paws from the touchpad
worm
squirm
I don't blog about Haley as much because if Minion's being distracted by sitting on me, then H takes advantage and uses the best sleep spots. She's on the Coussin de pouvoir.
