Wednesday, October 17, 2007
But Mom, he's GREEN.
Yes, folks, there's a comic book hero for every gal. And according to the Superhero Dating Quiz, this guy's the one for me. Now I'm as open minded as the next girl, but (ahem) green is so *not* my color. And I like my men with....gray matter. Ok, ok, I know Dr. David Banner was a doctor, and mom still hasn't gotten over the fact that I didn't marry "that sweet doctor", but this is so NOT funny mom! I know you're behind this. :D
So, guess I'll just continue writing my own romantic heroes. Take that, Mom!
Kiss of the Cerberus is now at 7,000 words, 23,ooo to go. And I'm having way too much fun. So much so that I'm afraid my novella is going to cop a tude and turn into a novel.
So far so good with the Seventy Days of Sweat Challenge. Day 3 and all is well.
Wish me luck! :) Today is actually as SANE day.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Day Two, Sven Challenge
Good grief. Today is where I will begin to learn what committment to my keyboard truly means. Just a glance at the days Mommy Do (or else hear me whine) List makes me wonder where on earth I'm going to fit in a thousand words. Here it is:
Get up, pack three lunches, do three breakfasts
Help youngest son do the excess from last night's (rediculous) assignment load.
Yell at DH for forgetting to give DD her meds last night (I was on tantrum duty with DS2)
Toss three kids out the door on time
Get a shower
Go to the dentist
Do laundry, make beds, quick dust so DH doesn't think I lay around eating bonbons all day.
Phone conference with my DS1's LA teacher
Get dinner ready to go in oven. Make salad.
Pick up DD from school (make up test, teachers only do them after school these days)
Race to DS1's school, haul him to the dentist.
Race home, put dinner on table.
Do my grant writing work
Clean up (DH is good at helping with this)
Lay out clothes for tomorrow, help DS1 with humongoid homework load (dang, he has autism, what do the NORMAL kids get???)
Toss in a load of laundry lest the laundry pile from hell turns sentient.
Help DD put together a pirate costume for Spirit Week at school.
Write 1000 words.
Hmmmm....I guess a lesser woman would, at this point, jump on over to 101 Reasons to Stop Writing. Otherwise, sleep is out of the question. :D And cuddle time for DH? Let's just say those who court Sven can't find the time....so we just write about it.
Get up, pack three lunches, do three breakfasts
Help youngest son do the excess from last night's (rediculous) assignment load.
Yell at DH for forgetting to give DD her meds last night (I was on tantrum duty with DS2)
Toss three kids out the door on time
Get a shower
Go to the dentist
Do laundry, make beds, quick dust so DH doesn't think I lay around eating bonbons all day.
Phone conference with my DS1's LA teacher
Get dinner ready to go in oven. Make salad.
Pick up DD from school (make up test, teachers only do them after school these days)
Race to DS1's school, haul him to the dentist.
Race home, put dinner on table.
Do my grant writing work
Clean up (DH is good at helping with this)
Lay out clothes for tomorrow, help DS1 with humongoid homework load (dang, he has autism, what do the NORMAL kids get???)
Toss in a load of laundry lest the laundry pile from hell turns sentient.
Help DD put together a pirate costume for Spirit Week at school.
Write 1000 words.
Hmmmm....I guess a lesser woman would, at this point, jump on over to 101 Reasons to Stop Writing. Otherwise, sleep is out of the question. :D And cuddle time for DH? Let's just say those who court Sven can't find the time....so we just write about it.
Monday, October 15, 2007
Chained to the Keyboard...by choice!
Do you think I can write 70,000 words in seventy days? Yes, I know, insane, considering I'll also be doing Nanowrimo during November. And yes, misery does love company. :) Join me for the Seventy Days of Sweat Writing Challenge and find out for yourself!
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
It's a Bird. It's a Plane. It's BARBIE???
This was simply too priceless to ignore. Yes, girls, you truly can be the Barbie you always dreamed of, right down to the waist length, flaxen locks and yes, even the pink fashion doll window box. Go ahead. You know you want to.
Sunday, September 23, 2007
'Tis Better to have Written Badly than Never to have Written at all
What makes a great story? For me, compelling stories are defined by writing so seamless and that I surrender myself completely to the author's vision. Good writing, in other words. .
In order to become a better story teller, I've worked pretty hard at making myself a better writer. During that process, I've certainly spun out my share of bad writing. Reams of it. Sadly, most of it lay in my desk, unfinished, until last year.
So what changed?
Last year, during November, I participated in National Novel Writing Month (Nanowrimo) for the first time. At the same time, I committed to finishing the story I started, no matter how heinous the end result of my labors.
Granted, bad writing changes nothing. Mangled prose will never leave the world a better place. The hallmarks of bad writing are glaring, common, and far too many in number.
Yet, I joyfully confess to having committed a multitude of literary atrocities during my Nano-misery last year. Shifting POV's, dueling tenses, stereotyped characterizations, yep, I did it all.
With abandon.
I also finished my first young adult, novel length project. Dear God, it was horrible. So horrible that on December 1, all but thirty-thousand words of the seventy-thousand total went into my recycle bin.
But my first draft was also finished, and "the end" was something I hadn't seen in a heck of a long time. I remember jumping up out of my chair and whooping for joy as I crossed the finish line. Somewhere through the effort of spinning out 1600+ words of prose every day, I came to realize that only my fear of failing--of writing badly--prevented me from stumbling my way to the finish line.
I also realized that 1600 words a day isn't that hard--not if you're serious about mastering your craft.
By November's end, I had a (hemmoraging) project with a great concept, that, once polished and revised, won me some seriously encouraging agent attention, a request for (still more) revisions, and an invitation to send them any other finished projects I penned in the future.
Not bad for a thirty day effort.
A casual friend of mine who is a well published novelist (and an agent) told me she'd written more than a million words of fiction before she considered herself publishable.
One. Million. Words.
That's twenty Nanovembers.
The Burryman Writer's Center has told its members a million times the secret to reaching our publishing dreams a million times. Do the work.
I'll reiterate that in my own terms.
Just write. Anything. Make up a story about your grocery list if you must, because until you type "The End", there's no diamond in the rough to polish. There's no hope of realizing your dreams.
Join me in November at Nanowrimo. I triple dog dare you.
If you do join up, and you want to friend me and follow my efforts, my site name is starmuser. And if you want to see the overview of this year's project, check out my group blog, Writer's Gone Wild. Yeah, I know. Cheap bid for members. But generally effective!
In order to become a better story teller, I've worked pretty hard at making myself a better writer. During that process, I've certainly spun out my share of bad writing. Reams of it. Sadly, most of it lay in my desk, unfinished, until last year.
So what changed?
Last year, during November, I participated in National Novel Writing Month (Nanowrimo) for the first time. At the same time, I committed to finishing the story I started, no matter how heinous the end result of my labors.
Granted, bad writing changes nothing. Mangled prose will never leave the world a better place. The hallmarks of bad writing are glaring, common, and far too many in number.
Yet, I joyfully confess to having committed a multitude of literary atrocities during my Nano-misery last year. Shifting POV's, dueling tenses, stereotyped characterizations, yep, I did it all.
With abandon.
I also finished my first young adult, novel length project. Dear God, it was horrible. So horrible that on December 1, all but thirty-thousand words of the seventy-thousand total went into my recycle bin.
But my first draft was also finished, and "the end" was something I hadn't seen in a heck of a long time. I remember jumping up out of my chair and whooping for joy as I crossed the finish line. Somewhere through the effort of spinning out 1600+ words of prose every day, I came to realize that only my fear of failing--of writing badly--prevented me from stumbling my way to the finish line.
I also realized that 1600 words a day isn't that hard--not if you're serious about mastering your craft.
By November's end, I had a (hemmoraging) project with a great concept, that, once polished and revised, won me some seriously encouraging agent attention, a request for (still more) revisions, and an invitation to send them any other finished projects I penned in the future.
Not bad for a thirty day effort.
A casual friend of mine who is a well published novelist (and an agent) told me she'd written more than a million words of fiction before she considered herself publishable.
One. Million. Words.
That's twenty Nanovembers.
The Burryman Writer's Center has told its members a million times the secret to reaching our publishing dreams a million times. Do the work.
I'll reiterate that in my own terms.
Just write. Anything. Make up a story about your grocery list if you must, because until you type "The End", there's no diamond in the rough to polish. There's no hope of realizing your dreams.
Join me in November at Nanowrimo. I triple dog dare you.
If you do join up, and you want to friend me and follow my efforts, my site name is starmuser. And if you want to see the overview of this year's project, check out my group blog, Writer's Gone Wild. Yeah, I know. Cheap bid for members. But generally effective!
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Shame upon me!
It has been brought to my (wandering) attention that I have been remiss in my duties to bash Barbie at every opportunity. Horrors! Such dereliction of duty cannot continue.
So, here we go....a concept for a New Age in Barbie dolls!
Date: Thu, 30 Oct 1997 14:08:27 -0400
(LA, California) Mattel announces their new line of Barbie products, the "Hacker Barbie." These new dolls will be released next month. The aim of these dolls is to revert the stereotype that women are numerophobic, computer-illiterate, and academically challenged.
This new line of Barbie dolls comes equipped with Barbie's very own xterminal and UNIX documentation as well as ORA's "In a Nutshell" series. The Barbie is robed in a dirty button-up shirt and a pair of worn-out jeans with Casio all-purpose watches and thick glasses that can set ants on fire. Pocket protectors and HP calculators optional. The new Barbie has the incredible ability to stare at the screen without blinking her eyes and to go without eating or drinking for 12 hours straight. Her vocabulary mainly consists of technical terms such as "IP address," "TCP/IP," "kernel," "NP-complete," and "Alpha AXP's."
"We are very excited about this product," said John Olson, Marketting Executive, "and we hope that the Hacker Barbie will offset the damage incurred by the mathophobic Barbie." A year ago, Mattel released Barbie dolls that say, "Math is hard," with condescending companions Ken. The Hacker Barbie's Ken is an incompetent consultant who frequently asks Barbie for help.
The leading feminists are equally excited about this new line of Barbie dolls. Naomi Wuuf says, "I believe that these new dolls will finally terminate the notion that women are inherently inferior when it comes to mathematics and the sciences. However, I feel that Ken's hierarchical superiority would simply reinforce the patriarchy and oppress the masses." Mattel made no comment.
Parents, however, are worried that they would become technologically behind by comparison to the children when the Hacker Barbie comes out. "My daughter Jenny plays with the prototype Hacker Barbie over yonder for two days," says Mrs. Mary Carlson of Oxford, Mississippi, "and as y'all know, she now pays my credit card bill. Ain't got no idea how she duz it, but she surely duz it. I jus don't wanna be looked upon as a dumb mama." Mattel will be offering free training courses for those who purchase the Hacker Barbie.
The future Hacker Barbie will include several variations to deal with the complex aspects of Barbie. "Hacker Barbie Goes to Jail" will teach computer ethics to youngsters, while "BARB1E R1TES L1KE BIFF!!!" will serve as an introduction to expository writing.
Originally posted at Planet Mike
So, here we go....a concept for a New Age in Barbie dolls!
Date: Thu, 30 Oct 1997 14:08:27 -0400
(LA, California) Mattel announces their new line of Barbie products, the "Hacker Barbie." These new dolls will be released next month. The aim of these dolls is to revert the stereotype that women are numerophobic, computer-illiterate, and academically challenged.
This new line of Barbie dolls comes equipped with Barbie's very own xterminal and UNIX documentation as well as ORA's "In a Nutshell" series. The Barbie is robed in a dirty button-up shirt and a pair of worn-out jeans with Casio all-purpose watches and thick glasses that can set ants on fire. Pocket protectors and HP calculators optional. The new Barbie has the incredible ability to stare at the screen without blinking her eyes and to go without eating or drinking for 12 hours straight. Her vocabulary mainly consists of technical terms such as "IP address," "TCP/IP," "kernel," "NP-complete," and "Alpha AXP's."
"We are very excited about this product," said John Olson, Marketting Executive, "and we hope that the Hacker Barbie will offset the damage incurred by the mathophobic Barbie." A year ago, Mattel released Barbie dolls that say, "Math is hard," with condescending companions Ken. The Hacker Barbie's Ken is an incompetent consultant who frequently asks Barbie for help.
The leading feminists are equally excited about this new line of Barbie dolls. Naomi Wuuf says, "I believe that these new dolls will finally terminate the notion that women are inherently inferior when it comes to mathematics and the sciences. However, I feel that Ken's hierarchical superiority would simply reinforce the patriarchy and oppress the masses." Mattel made no comment.
Parents, however, are worried that they would become technologically behind by comparison to the children when the Hacker Barbie comes out. "My daughter Jenny plays with the prototype Hacker Barbie over yonder for two days," says Mrs. Mary Carlson of Oxford, Mississippi, "and as y'all know, she now pays my credit card bill. Ain't got no idea how she duz it, but she surely duz it. I jus don't wanna be looked upon as a dumb mama." Mattel will be offering free training courses for those who purchase the Hacker Barbie.
The future Hacker Barbie will include several variations to deal with the complex aspects of Barbie. "Hacker Barbie Goes to Jail" will teach computer ethics to youngsters, while "BARB1E R1TES L1KE BIFF!!!" will serve as an introduction to expository writing.
Originally posted at Planet Mike
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