September 29, 2005
I Got an Even Better Idea.
I'm going to start the latest Harry Potter book. To feed my
soul.
I looked at The Half-Blood Prince, and then the three virgin mysteries I have in my "to read" pile.
I figure if I jump into the J.K. Rowling I stand a better chance at sleeping tonight than if I were to begin reading a Michael Connelly or a T. Jeff Parker.
Posted by: Attila at
07:26 PM
| Comments (4)
| Add Comment
Post contains 76 words, total size 1 kb.
1
depends on how far you get.... HBP gets kinda creepy.....
Posted by: caltechgirl at September 29, 2005 07:43 PM (Eb5t4)
2
p. 324. That's when I put it down--at 3:30 in the morning.
No wonder I stay away from fiction. I should probably give it up entirely in favor of something wholesome, like crack cocaine.
Posted by: Attila Girl at September 30, 2005 11:39 AM (Kti1Q)
3
First, read Atlas shrugged.
Then read The True Believer.
Posted by: Walter E. Wallis at October 01, 2005 02:35 PM (wDJE+)
4
Ah. I see you want to get me to think.
I'm against that
Posted by: Attila Girl at October 01, 2005 04:19 PM (Kti1Q)
Hide Comments
| Add Comment
I Just Called My Nephew
. . . to wish him a happy 12th birthday. His
voice is
changing. No one
warned me.
If my family is going to swap cute little boys out of their homes and exchange them for young men, I'd like adequate notice, please. The same thing happened with my little cousins, who now tower over me, wear baggy jeans, and listen to rap music.
I demand warning.
Posted by: Attila at
05:30 PM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 77 words, total size 1 kb.
So,
it looks like I'll be home tonight. Most likely, I'll be polishing the chapter I'm working on in Ye Olde Murder Mystery.
But if I finish early, I might watch TV. Anything in particular I should catch?
Posted by: Attila at
12:24 PM
| Comments (1)
| Add Comment
Post contains 39 words, total size 1 kb.
1
i'm partial to survivor and CSI, but I hear Alias is pretty good and so is Will and Grace.....
Posted by: caltechgirl at September 29, 2005 01:54 PM (Eb5t4)
Hide Comments
| Add Comment
September 27, 2005
And, By the Way,
this is why I quit college. (Well, that and a dumb boy problem.)
Posted by: Attila at
06:39 PM
| Comments (14)
| Add Comment
Post contains 21 words, total size 1 kb.
1
Because of profs like me?
Ouch.
That hurts.
Posted by: Jeff G at September 27, 2005 11:04 PM (TpsyO)
2
No, silly. Because I realized that there was something profoundly frivolous about making up new "interpretations" of texts on some (often rather flimsy) evidence.
Posted by: Attila Girl at September 27, 2005 11:22 PM (Kti1Q)
3
Granted, I honestly tried to come up with things that I at least imagined
could have been in the writer's mind—at least his/her unconscious—but I couldn't keep that up all the way through graduate school. It was just going to get worse. Making up more words to stuff into dead people's mouths. What a dreary form of mental masturbation.
Posted by: Attila Girl at September 27, 2005 11:22 PM (Kti1Q)
4
Ah. Well, it
can be fun -- or interesting, at least (I remember having a good argument with a prof I really liked over Gatsby; I was very interested in how Nick's narration was unreliable given his infatuation with Daisy and his own self-satisfaction. The prof thought I was crazy. But how reliable we believe the narrator to be can gives us clues to "his" intent, as that intent exists as a fictional construct. It was like meta-interpretation through appeals to meta-intentionalism).
That kind of stuff can lead one to make interesting and potentially important discoveries about how language works.
But that's not really what the academy wants from you. They want bureaucrats who teach course loads. You were right to get out.
Posted by: Jeff G at September 27, 2005 11:49 PM (TpsyO)
5
Good reason to quit college. I like it.
Posted by: andew at September 27, 2005 11:53 PM (lul6E)
6
Oh, believe me: it was fun. I just couldn't see a real point to what I was doing. It was, as Jeff suggests, creative writing. But creative writing virtually no one would want to read. (Rather like much contemporary poetry, come to think of it.)
Posted by: Attila Girl at September 28, 2005 01:14 AM (Kti1Q)
7
No one has yet asked whether I had a dumb problem with a boy, or a problem with a dumb boy.
I feel vaguely disappointed.
Posted by: Attila Girl at September 28, 2005 01:15 AM (Kti1Q)
8
I was going to ask, but figure it had to be a dumb problem with a boy, since you don't seem like the type to date a *dumb* boy (or at least to get emotionally involved enough with such to be really bothered..)
Posted by: david foster at September 28, 2005 08:23 AM (7TmYw)
9
My first boyfriend wasn't too bright. I was 14. When we broke up he wanted a lot of Sturm und Drang, but I couldn't do it.
The guy during college was terribly bright, and very alcoholic. I was living with him at the time, and financially dependent on him.
That's a dumb problem.
Posted by: Attila Girl at September 28, 2005 11:22 AM (Kti1Q)
10
Goldstein a college professor? I must have missed that nugget of info somewhere along the way.
That explains a lot, yes.
And I mean that in a good way.
Posted by: Desert Cat at September 28, 2005 01:04 PM (1NG8F)
11
He gave it up to be a daddy, so he isn't much a of a feminist, is he?
Posted by: Attila Girl at September 28, 2005 02:39 PM (Kti1Q)
12
LMA,
You'll note kindly that I am refraining from comments, snide remarks, and whimperings.
Though I'm dyin' here!!! Gimme a cookie for self-control...
LMM
Posted by: littlemrmahatma at September 28, 2005 03:23 PM (k1BP/)
13
I always disregard that first guy. You'll always be my first
real boyfriend.
(Was that a good cookie? I'm afraid it's the only kind our spouses will allow me to give you.)
Posted by: Attila Girl at September 28, 2005 04:17 PM (Kti1Q)
14
Good reason to quit college. I support you.
Posted by: Ashton at October 03, 2005 12:44 AM (exuFK)
Hide Comments
| Add Comment
So What's a CT Scan Like?
They want to do one on my sinuses, as part of a Grand Project that might enable me to breathe through my nose.
Will it be icky?
Posted by: Attila at
06:22 PM
| Comments (5)
| Add Comment
Post contains 39 words, total size 1 kb.
1
Icky? dno dno, it'th nothingk. No bigck thingk. Yu'll be gladd you thdid ith.
Posted by: k at September 27, 2005 08:08 PM (ywZa8)
2
A glorified x-ray! You'll do fine! I bet they give you a sucker afterwards...if you are really good!
I won't tell them about "The name my busiess" contest!
Posted by: Darrell at September 27, 2005 10:10 PM (SmyNG)
3
Ooooh--I'm taking darts from all sides, here!
Posted by: Attila Girl at September 27, 2005 11:24 PM (Kti1Q)
4
So how'd it go? I really was wishing you the best and trying to get you to relax. If there's still time, pick the grape! The sucker, that is...Best to stick with the classic...
Posted by: Darrell at September 30, 2005 09:17 PM (3JV30)
5
No, CT scans aren't icky. I've had two in the last three months (different body parts). If they took longer you could sleep through them.
Posted by: Bill Faith at October 01, 2005 09:13 PM (5vspZ)
Hide Comments
| Add Comment
Speaking of Music,
I assume everyone is aware that the music for
"I'm Always Chasing Rainbows" is actually part of Chopin's "Fantasie Impromptu." Though, truth be told, it's not my favorite part. The beginning of that composition is really sexy to me.
Posted by: Attila at
05:09 PM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 45 words, total size 1 kb.
I Used To Envy
. . . people who could take naps. I guess I assumed that the ability to fall asleep during the day translated into an ability to fall asleep at night. This turned out to be untrue.
Live and learn.
Posted by: Attila at
04:54 PM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 47 words, total size 1 kb.
September 22, 2005
Writer's Group Night.
Everybody said what they always say: your narrative voice is so strong. Your dialogue is so rich. Your descriptions really bring the settings to life.
And "what the hell is the main character's motivation?"
I consider killing them all, but I failed to bring a gun with me and I'm outnumbered.
Posted by: Attila at
11:01 PM
| Comments (1)
| Add Comment
Post contains 57 words, total size 1 kb.
1
And I don't want to hear about the tense problems in this entry, thank you very much. If I worried about tense problems I wouldn't be able to blog.
I fix 90% of my typos, and let it go.
Posted by: Attila Girl at September 23, 2005 12:06 PM (Kti1Q)
Hide Comments
| Add Comment
Sometimes I Wonder
. . . whether my husband has pangs of regret for not having married a normal person.
Then I think about how hellish his life would be with a normal woman, and I don't feel guilty at all any more.
Posted by: Attila at
10:58 PM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 46 words, total size 1 kb.
September 15, 2005
Naughty, Naughty Movable Type
Testing again. I'll best this one actually posts. The thing to do is trick it, by titling something "Test," and then posting an actual blog entry.
Posted by: Attila at
02:33 AM
| Comments (1)
| Add Comment
Post contains 34 words, total size 1 kb.
1
LOL
Yep and it even left your spelling mistake.
Really, it is being to contrary lately. I would say it needs a time out but then we would all suffer.
Posted by: Rachel Ann at September 15, 2005 06:30 AM (owC2e)
Hide Comments
| Add Comment
September 08, 2005
The "Tired But Happy" Post
After a mad drive back to Los Angeles from Scottsdale, AZ on Monday I spent a day preparing for a visit from my sister-in-law, and I've been playing hostess for 36 hours or whatever.
No, I haven't caught up on my Arizona posting, but I've got several more entries in draft that I'll polish up and post as time permits.
Tomorrow (okay, today—it is after midnight) I'll be catching up on some personal business and then frantically putting together another chapter for my murder mystery. It is, as my husband reminds me, the reconvening of our respective writer's groups tomorrow: how glorious and awful.
I had lunch today with a family friend I'll call "Ship Ahoy," a man I've known since 1988. In that time we've been colleagues at two different organizations. I was his editorial assistant at one local magazine, and he was my managing editor. I transferred to another department. I fell in love with someone else who worked in editorial, and ended up marrying this person, to my eternal good fortune. Eventually, Mr. Ship Ahoy worked for me at an outdoor magazine; I was his ME that time around.
This time, Mr. Ahoy had looked over the outline and sample chapters for my book, and was giving me his input in exchange for lunch. We talked about the problem of motivation, which is pivotal for anyone who's writing about mysteries that are not police procedurals. Ultimately, one has to "sell" the idea that Lord Peter preferred solving murders to seducing young heiresses—at least part of the time.
I sighed, because I hear this from my writer's group all the time. None of them are big mystery fans, and they'd all like to know why any normal person would try to figure this sort of puzzle out, instead of leaving it to the police and coroner, and knocking off early for a gin and tonic vs. looking at dead bodies.
Mr. Ahoy doesn't think the motivations for my characters are watertight.
"You do understand," I ask him, "that real fans of the genre might be willing to suspend their disbelief?"
"Yes," he tells me. "So you have a tactical decision to make. Do people have to enter the world you create, or are you going to bring it to them?"
"I do want it to be enjoyable by non-mystery fans," I tell him. I resist the temptation to add, "and fuck you." (Because he's doing me an enormous favor, and because I truly admire him.)
He hands me the pages as we part ways, and asks to be kept abreast as I produce more chapters. He explains that he found "a few little things," which scares me because I'm a copy editor/proofreader myself, and I know "a few little things" generally means a mass of pencil markings all over one's [previously] clean, white paper.
I promise myself that I'll look them over later, because I have errands to do before I go home. I make two stops, and then I can't stand it. Getting back into the car, I sit in the back seat and read his remarks. One has to do with a man's non-jealous reaction to the news that someone's been putting the moves on his fiancee. In retrospect, I realize that it serves my plot for this character not to care too much. Mr. Ahoy simply writes, "not a 'guy' reaction. He would either be pissed or extremely pissed." Fair enough. So he would.
A woman honks at me as she tries to maneuver out of the space adjacent to me, so I close the passenger door and realize after I've finished going through Ahoy's notes that—once again—I've locked myself into the back seat of my own car, because it has some sort of childproof feature that keeps it from being opened from the inside. So I climb over the front seat and free myself from the tyranny of my own scatterbrained nature.
And I exit the parking structure smiling. With something that looks almost like a plan to fix the plot holes. Or at least a renewed commitment to a project that's as maddening as it is fun.
Bear with me, okay? (Actually, there aren't any bears here at all. I don't know why I said that.)
Posted by: Attila at
03:05 AM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 722 words, total size 4 kb.
49kb generated in CPU 0.0269, elapsed 0.1474 seconds.
213 queries taking 0.133 seconds, 504 records returned.
Powered by Minx 1.1.6c-pink.