I was passing a church during my walk today and its marquee or sign or whichever it is read: “Life is like tennis, the server rarely losses.” Or something of that effect.
The server rarely losses.
Yeah.
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Archive for the 'Writer's Block' Category
“…her, um, feminine wiles…”?!
It’s really the “um” that blew it for me.
I hate to be a pretentious jack ass, but sometimes I can’t help but wonder about writing. I was on the train coming home from a night a Mike and Anna’s when I read that line. I promptly closed the book and started shaking with laughter. And not because the line was meant to be humorous.
Don’t get me wrong. I wouldn’t have bought the last two books if I didn’t like Kristen Britain’s heroine and story. But there are times when the writing really takes me out of it. I hate to say it, but I’ve read some fanfiction that was better written!
And now I’ll go straight to hell. I mean, who am I to criticize…I’m not even published, nor do I have an original story!!
But yeah. Sometimes….the writing…
It’s at least better than the damn kitchen table.
Post more soon!! Post more soon!!
So I’ve been seeing the acronym “pms” on a couple fic reviews. I speak fic almost fluently, but this one was a new one for me. At first, I thought it was PM as in “private message”, but the way it was used didn’t quite compute. Finally, I read it in context “please pms” and then it hit me. Post more soon!
I am the smartest person alive!!
(Or not. I’m probably wrong, but I’m pretty damn sure it means post more soon.)
Stumbled across this article on fanfiction at whedonesque. Considering my hobby, I thought it was cool. Although, I think I’ve graduated a bit from ff.net.
Of course. Why is it that electronic items and I get into such disagreements? Kaylee doesn’t seem to like RENT at the moment. I’m hoping to remedy this problem and have sent a query to one Ask Mark. I have my fingers crossed that I will not be at odds with Kaylee the way I can be with my beloved John. I mean, we barely know each other.
So I’m back on my Peanut M&M kick, as well as spaghetti. No, I’m not quite like me Da where he puts M&M’s or Skittles into his pasta, I mean, what freak would do such a thing? (And I can say this ‘cuz it ain’t like me Da is likely to I don’t know, check his e-mail or anything let alone check the blog. Which reminds me, someone put something in his food while I’m away! *looks pointedly at Vicki of Wau-con-da*) But yeah, the M&M’s are only 100 Yen at the SunKus by work so I’ve been like loading up. Back in the states I would never pay a dollar for this size bag, but the Japanese use 100 Yen coins like quarters in this country, so in my Japanese-head, this is a good deal.
I’m back to my spaz thing, second guessing stuff as is my way. I know that my head is so totally wrong, but I can’t help it. Friends and I don’t mix well and in certain friendships I guess I’ll always have serious doubts before just accepting that things are the way they are because they are (I lack for commas in there, don’t I…). I guess the folly of Umeda (and other instances) still linger deep with in the recesses of my stupidity. Lousy insecurity! I shake my fist at thee!
On the bright side, and potentially something completely different, I’ve been writing…well, kind of. I keep trying to remember that this is for fun and that I don’t need to try this hard, but like many other things in my life, I take this too seriously.
Now there’s a funny thought. Tell me, friends, do I strike you as “serious”?
Remember how I said having Rob’s collection of DVD’s was probably going to be a bad thing? Yeah. Watching Alias Season 4. I have fond memories of watching that with Yoss during my harrowing student-teaching days. It was the one night a week I got to be free of any kind of responsibility. That and the opening credits always made me smile. Wow. Going to hell.
They don’t have my Gummi Bears at Yamaya anymore. They have the weird hard ones again. I was bummed about that. Maybe that’s why I got back into M&M’s.
Wow. Toni’s right. I usually do mention a lot of food in these posts. Which reminds me, I really want pop corn. Why, oh why can’t Costco carry my pop corn again? They have this weird 94% Fat Free Butter crap that tastes awful! I just want Light Butter, people. Is that too much to ask?
Oh! I forgot to mention I inherited these private students from Rob who are just a blast. I had my first session with them this past Tuesday and seriously, I coulda done that for free. The students are a bunch of housewives who speak way more Japanese than English, but they were still fun. Rob was right; it’s pretty easy money.
Speaking of housewives, and this is a legitimate segue, we went to Costco on Friday (where I bought Persephone) because the Tea Ceremony ladies had never been to it before. Japanese housewives are a lot of fun.
I think that’s all the madness for now. It’s cold in the house again. It flurried this morning. I can see my breath in my room. Maybe I should use a heater…but I think it’s going to warm up again this week. I managed to keep my last electricity bill under 2,000 Yen. I was pretty proud of myself.
Yeah. Gonna go burrow under the covers now. Happy late birthday to my pal Al! I was gonna post about it but unfortunately for me, I got distracted by something shiny. D’ya get the flowers? 
I got it in my head that I should print what I have of my fic so far. It’s a good thing they have Kinko’s/FedEx here in Japan! The whole thing cost me under 3000 Yen to do!
It’s really weird having it in a binder. It’s kinda long. And skimming over some of the pages, I realize it kinda sucks. But it gives me something to read during my forever long layover. I plan on reading through it to see what I’ve fogotten about and see if I can’t write another chapter or so while I’m home.
Here’s hopin’!
See, there are times when I read fic and just gush and laugh and wish I could write.
From a fic that I actually really like:
After another hour of sitting by the pool, I made the announcement that I was going inside to make myself even more sexually appealing to her. Well what I actually said was:
“I think I’ll start getting ready.”
Straight. To. Hell.
Written in response to Mark’s post nu zlnd ed sux
Lynne Truss, author of the humorous punctuation book Eats, Shoots, and Leaves had a similar grievance about text-speak in one of her chapters. At the time, I agreed wholeheartedly.
However, after some thought, I cannot help but remember this is just another development in language. I may not like or agree with it, but as those of us brainwashed — I mean educated by Dr. Aaron Smith of Illinois State University, we have a healthy schizophrenia about this. I recognize this as a linguistic feature, but as an English teacher (or faux-English teacher) I am generally apalled.
This isn’t necessarily my generation, however. I don’t always like this short hand system of writing, but I have been known to use it. When I read it in fic, it’s generally an indication to me that the story isn’t worth my time if the author couldn’t find the time to write out the whole word.
I cannot help but wonder, however, if during the advent of contractions, philiogists and other die-hard grammarians were feeling the same thing we are about SMS in formal writing.
So, backformation? How would we classify this? My linguistic knowledge seems to be atrophying.
So I’m reading The Great Gatsby now, and strong memories of reading Hemingway’s The Garden of Eden came to mind. Maybe it’s ‘cuz of the whole “they were contemporaries” thing, but I think I’ll try a Hemingway novel next.
It was because of this that I started thinking about word processing. I know that I’m not the only person in the world to think about it, but because of my association of Fitzgerald and Hemingway, I couldn’t help but think of the writing process and about my independent study.
One of the projects we had done, as Melany will attest to, was manuscript study. We picked apart The Garden of Eden layer by later — the original type, the cross outs, the handwritten add-ins and the typed ones, the final product. It was incredibly intriguing for me as a student, a reader, and as a faux-writer.
Thus, with this in mind, my thoughts drifted to mine own writing process and those of others. I’m not talking about point A to point B (obviously), more about the fact that with the advent of technology, manuscript study on a contemporary novel such as say The Life of Pi, a potentially rising classic, may or may not be more complicated than books composed the old fashioned way. (Of course, this is with the impression that most writers use a computer now.)
IIRC, in Stephen King’s On Writing, the popular author admitted to still using a typewriter — I confess, however, that I may or may not be making this up.
Typewriters are pretty cool. My first 10-page paper was written on one way back in 1995. Admittedly, it was quite the process, and the “backspace” key on a computer is far more useful than the typewriter, but there is something certainly charming and quaint about the typewriter. Maybe it’s kinda how I still like to write letters and not simply send e-mails.
All right, so I’m reading The Riddle now and once again, I marvel at the lexicon of the average Australian junior high school student. I mean, wow, to use words like “vouschafe”, “verisimilitude” and “ubiquitous” so easily in conversation is stellar. Heck, I didn’t use any of these until I was in university and even then I still had to look ‘em up.
Seriously.
It makes me wonder about target audiences and the like. I really think that the language in this series is more of a collegiate level or perhaps a well-read high school student is capable of, but maybe not so much a junior high school student! Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure that there are the few out in the world who can make it through Pellinor without a dictionary handy, but perhaps not the average twelve-year-old.
Aside from the wacked out intended audience, I aspire to write like Allison Croggon. Her style and language are quite lyrical and for lack of a better word, beautiful.
It has indeed inspired hope in me that I can get through this next freaking chapter. And because of it, I probably won’t just make it three months later.
Wish me luck!