patrick.net

I was joking, Jack. Really. I replied to you a little while ago and made a goat joke.

You are welcome to post there, SQT! I did write a few writing articles in the past month or so that are posted there. But if you post on old theads there, I likely won't notice...blogger is supposed to notify me when there's a new post but it never does. So I only ever look at the latest threads.

I think people just couldn't figure out the time zone thing.

If it weren't for WTF, I'd never say anything at all.

"So I guess I have now posted on a total of TWO blogs. "

Didn't you post on Surfer X's blog? We should go troll him.

Except now surely isn't a good time to be smart-ass trolls, if the poor cat is still missing.

I just checked--no new posts there.

If there is an option of posting as Anonymous, that's the only trick to posting without having to register.

But I think blog owners have the option of allowing only registered users to post.

I'm off to watch Seven Samurai. It has subtitles so I can't blog and watch. Good night!

Wholly cow this thread took off today. See what happens when I leave the house.... Well I'm actually going to go back & read all the nights posts...for better or worse. Looks like a lot of 1:1 btwn SQT & Jack. I should make it to the bottom in about 20 minutes but it looks like noone's here now LOL.

You also have to find a way to maintain the excitement long enough to finish what you started. Now that’s the hard part
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Need to limber the fingers up.

To bad this isn't the Huh?-thread...oh the fun that' could've been had!

Nice discussions on art/writing. It's good exposure...my mind's stuck with tech/science too much. I'd like to see Jamie's blog, too. I've also tried to register just for posting to the blogspot blogs & found that it wanted me to create my own blog site.

SQT, I know you won't read this tonight, but I noticed you mention fantasy novels, and that you're writing something fantasy-detective hybrid. Sound good! Did you ever read Stephen R. Donaldson? I like reading his books when I was a kid (along with the usual tolkien, and some others I can't remeber). More recently, I've read a lot of Neil Stephenson. Ever read anything by him?

Oops that NeAl Stephenson.

SQT, regarding Stephenson. Probably more male-oriented...but IMO his best book is Cryptonomicon which is sort of sci-fi computer-geek type stuff...not exactly sci-fi...it's something that could take place today (or more likely ~1999 at peak of dot.bomb). It also is neat in that it switches back & forth between stories taking place "today" and during WWII, with the characters in the "today" story being related to thos in the WWII story.

His recent work...which I'm just now finishing, is a trio of 800-900 page books that are very hard reading. I don't know if they're just not that good, or if I'm too mentally lazy to read them. The story *should* be interesting...at least it's about interesting things. It takes place in ~1600's & has character's such as Isaac Newton and Willhelm Leibniz in it. It's about many things...including the beginnings of currency and world trade (think "dutch east-india trading company", etc.). Mostly the books focus on behind the scenes players that manipulate the kings, queens, dukes & duchesses...including one particularly powerful character...a women who's economic prowess & market manipulation skills are way ahead of her time. Well, something to look for.
Didn't I read once that you liked the John Sandford "prey" novels?

hmmmm...let's see... how about Marion Zimmer Bradley...Mists of Avalaon. Wow I can't believe I remember that.

Jamie Says:

Yeah, what’s up with that, SJ Jim? Is this because of the illness? Or because you feel like you should like, have a social life outside your computer or something? Getting too good for us shed dwellers?

Oops, almost forgot! Answers in order:
I don't know; to some extent; that's debatable; definitely not.
Well, another factor is the ongoing recovery from a 3rd saga w/my ex-fiance (disengaged 18 months ago). Funny thing is, I can't tell if I read this blog more when I'm anxiety-ridden or more when I'm not...but there is definitely some sort of correlation. Yeah, I think I should go to bed now :)

"Thanks for the encouragement. I’m not sure how good it is. But I figure if I can just get in the habit of writing something, maybe I’ll develop a flow or sort of figure it out as I go along. It’s harder than you’d think it would be, so I’m still sort of just limping along. "

SQT, even getting a few pages a day done is great! You have a two-year-old at home with you, and another child too! Having a contract deadline makes all the difference in my productivity. I can only get so much done at night and during naps, so my daughter also goes to preschool for 3 hours a day so that I have some uninterrupted work time (she doesn't nap consistently so I can't rely on that for work time). If it weren't for preschool, I'd be lucky to get a few pages a day done.

And trust me, I don't get 10 pages a day done unless I'm in the groove with a work in progress. Getting started is soooo hard, and there are days when I write very slowly while trying to get to know the characters.

I just give myself permission to write crap, because like Jack said, 90% of the inspiration is in revisions. Or something like that. I figure I can always fix it later, and many times what I think is crap turns out to be fine later when I re-read it.

You have to find the pace that's right for you, not anyone else. I know full-time writers who only get a few pages a day done.

"I get drained just teaching alot of times."

I was a student teacher for one semester and found it to be the most draining thing I've ever done. But I'm very introverted and interacting with other people drains me--so interacting with over a hundred kids a day left me nearly comatose at the end of the day.

It's great that you can be both an instructor and a painter, Jack.

Wow, you guys were chatty last night. I missed an interesting conversation! And now it's taking way too long trying to read through it!

I fell asleep watching Seven Samurai, damn it. It was a good movie--I was just too tired. Yes, it's a classic Japanese film. It's not really a fight movie, more of an epic or something. It was the inspiration for The Magnificent Seven (?), I think.

"I’d like to see Jamie’s blog, too."

I don't mean to be cryptic. I was just hesitant to toss the last bit of my privacy. :-P Since you and newfreak have both asked, here is a link to the blog: http://tinyurl.com/8ctrt

There's nothing exciting about it. Just me blabbering about nothing.

There were more posts I want to reply to above, but my quick morning email check has already turned into a two hour event.

Later!

Did I miss a Mr. Wrong/Newsfreak meltdown? What happened?

You're moving to PA, newsfreak? Why do you think it's a bad time to buy there? Is it in one of the major metro areas? I looked at housing in some more rural/suburban parts of PA recently because of a suggestion that we might have to move there (doubt it), and it seemed pretty stable/affordable to me.

"And I can’t send poems out to publish if we are ever moving, the snail mail is a joke I won’t get into if you move."

Do you have someone else's address you can use? Someone trustworthy who isn't moving? This is what I used to do--I used my parents address if I knew we were moving soon and I needed to submit something. And yes, I've submitted poetry before and know it can take years to hear back. ;-) Luckily my parents never move. Also I use a permanent email address that never changes when we move, for submissions and such.

"So it’s sort of a huh-blog? A jabberwocky-blog?"

LOL, it's sort of a head up my ass blog. I think writers just keep blogs for other writers to read. I keep mine mainly because I wanted a way to make my website more interactive and give readers a reason to visit it regularly.

Jack, thanks for the compliments on my pink dress. I guess I don't dress like an introvert, but then introversion is not all of who I am. And yes the award ceremony/conference is the one time of year when I get to have fun playing dress-up.

Re: teaching, I think it's good to push ourselves out of our comfort zones. That's part of the reason teaching appealed to me. I would probably find it much less draining if it were my own class. One of my best friends is a teacher and she always told me that student teaching is three times as hard as the actual job--there's the inexperience, working in someone else's class, always being watched and critiqued, etc.

I really respect and admire teachers, because it's just one of the most challenging jobs out there, and it can encompass your whole life if you let it.

SQT, fusions of different genres is becoming more and more popular. I think your idea sounds intriguing and unique.

Re: feeling like an imitator, I think that's just part of the process. When I first started out, I had no idea who I was as a writer (part of the downside of starting in college), and I spent years immitating other writers before I found my own writing voice. Some people find their voice very quickly...but I wasn't one of them. :-)

"Teaching is tough. I found I couldn’t teach and comfortably raise a family at the same time because teaching is so draining."

Yes, I can totally see how this would be the case. I found it very telling, in a book I had years ago about award-winning teachers in America, that so many of them didn't have families of their own. They were just teachers--that's all they could be and do the job that well. Not that that's the case for everyone--I"m sure many successful teachers manage to have both, but thinking back on my own high school years, many of the most committed teachers I had were single, didn't have kids, or were divorced. :-/

Thanks, but I don't want an apology. It would surely be loaded with an air of superiority. :-P

SQT, I agree, and you have every right to be pissed. I'm sorry for not noticing in the first place how one-sided the deleting was.

I don't want to stir the shit over there any more though. I'm trying to be nicey-nice so I'm not accused of being a hysterical over-emotional female any more, LOL.

I think he is inexperienced and didn't understand the context (or humor) of the comments. Nor did he understand how lenient threadmasters have historically been, especially you (not that you needed leniency--all our comments were harmless, IMO)!

Oh, and let me join in:
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Just posted there myself, SQT. I'm so glad you posted that stuff, because it made it much easier for me to say what I wanted to say. :-)

I am so sick of this topic. I wish allah would have just let it drop gracefully.

Bleh. Now I feel like fucking up all of Matt's threads. Just because.

Maybe I'll go make some muff jokes.

Eeeehhhhh, maybe not.

SQT, I'm sorry you took all the heat today. You did good!

I hope he buys the shitbox now.

Oops, correction: huh is at 2240, not 2290. But that can change!

"jack commented on, that picture that says “click to enlarge,” with the small picture showing up…very funny! "

Oh, are you guys talking about the profile picture? That one freaks me out when I click on it--turns me all pixelated like I'm composed of squares.

"Jamie, I saw your blog. Not enough pictures. It’s very…rosy…or mauve…okay, it’s quite PINK! You should put more pictures."

More pictures of what?! The goat? Allah and the goat?

But my website has more than enough photos, on the about jamie page. None of the goat though.

And what's the problem with pink? It looks good with red and orange. It's the ultimate girly girl color!

Yeah, yeah, pink *does* have tnose other connotations. They tend not to be the first thing I think of when I use the word though, LOL.