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I came across a blog post at Writers Write that caught my eye.  It seems that in an interview, author Stephen King savaged Stephanie Meyer, the author of the current blockbuster book series that includes 'Twilight.' 

I never had a formal writing course.  That is, I took creative writing in college, but to fulfill a requirement, not as a focus.

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I revamped the blog theme again.  I took advantage of the new Minimalism themes that lj offered, which I like because you can tab to the different pages.  I went with the blue because I liked the color of the font on it.  I will still love the Notebook and the Goth pets themes.

I've been doing that for all of my blogs, which are many.  I am excited about this one and the one I put together for social action and awareness. 

Well, the good news is that despite cold, fatigue and short time, I managed to make 50,800 words for this year's competition.  The bad news is that I waited until 6pm on November 30th to tried and post my work in the word counter at the nanowrimo  website so that I could get a badge of completion and recognition.  All my attempts met with failures and crashing, which made me mad.  I thankfully was able to post my word count, but unable to validate it.

Well I know what I did and I am pleased with it.  In about a week's time, which I can breathe and think clearly again, the revision begins.


august_baby27

I was finally able to log onto my NaNoWriMo page.  I updated the word count, which is 3000 so far and reflects my work on the Gondal portion of the work I call jokingly 'The Angry Gondals.'  I will be focusing more on the Angria side today, which was, once Charlotte completely took it over, a story about the rivalry of Arthur Wellington and Alexander Percy whereas I saw more political chess play in what I inferred from the scant evidence left behind of the Gondal tale.  I've always been interested in what I like to call "the sins of the father."  I always find it interesting to see what effects the actions of the previous generation has on the current or the future generations.  Considering the rivalry between the two men and the intermarriage (Wellington's second wife was Percy's daughter) and the children, I wonder how the children view their place in all of this.  Do they keep up the animosity?  Are the things that their parents value what they value?

I also spent a good amount of time updating and fixing up my blogs-the main personal blog, the NaBloPoMo blog and this one.   

I enjoy being able to think and breathe.  I did not work on the novel today only because I had to do some business writing for work.  I did blog and found out about Bloggers Unite, which is a group currently on Blog Catalog that gathers bloggers together to blog about social issues.  I still have to do mine, but I am glad to have done some research and surfing to some purpose. 

Bloggers Unite:
http://unite.blogcatalog.com/

As I emerged from my week o' congestion and fever, I learned that we lost three major literary talents.

Admittedly, I had not read a lot of Studs Terkel. In school it was far safer to stick with Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet than it was to deal with 20th century fiction. His work was about regular people too (often Shakespeare is lauded for creating realistic and enduring portraits of both 'high and low born' in his work), only we saw their blemishes as well as their beauty. They were people we knew and even talked about more than the important and the powerful. Scrappy and knowledgeable, this renaissance man was not just and author, but a radio host, a star of his own tv show and an activist. I knew more about Studs Terkel as a colorful figure that did interviews on shows like '60 Minutes' and talked about the nebulous old days. Perhaps when I am not reading about the latest upgrade of Adobe's Creative Suite, I'll pick up one of his books and read it and enjoy.


Michael Crichton's death was a surprise to me and apparently everyone who was not close to him. Much like a character on a show called 'ER,' he waged a private war with cancer that he unfortunately lost. He wrote books that were interesting to say the least and that showed a certain range. I must admit that I was not as big of a fan of the Jurassic Park books, not because they were not good, but because I believe that there is a gene on the Y chromosome that makes a person love all things 'dinosaur'. As a female, I don't get a Y chromosome and therefore am unable to appreciate dinosaur things on that level. I learned about 6 years into its run that Michael Crichton was the creator of and the executive producer of the long running medical drama 'ER.' It took a bit to reconcile that the guy who was responsible for 'Jurassic Park,' was also the guy responsible for a show where viewers tuned in to see if Dr. Doug Ross and Nurse Carol Hathaway were finally going to get married. I remember being told that 'ER' was based on Crichton's years as an intern and a resident. The earlier episodes do feel like a window upon those worlds, with its outlining of process amid the MTV-esque jump cuts as the unfortunate citizens of Chicago wheel in and out of the ER. I noted with a grim irony that it was fitting that this was the last season of 'ER' since its creator has now passed on.

John Leonard's passing was both unexpected and the one that I felt the most, in so far as one could feel about someone who was not family. I knew of him primarily through CBS's 'Sunday Morning,' a news magazine that profiles topics at a slower pace for those who have the time for more than the highlights. Leonard's reviews of books, tv shows and movies were knowledgeable and acerbic. The fact that my mother enjoyed him definitely had high stock value with me since media critics were not people she paid attention to. Since I had been busy of late, I had not missed Leonard's reviews as much as I might have, but I remembered thinking at times that something was missing from the show and I could not put a finger on it. I learned today that John Leonard left the show to also do battle with cancer-in his case lung cancer. While I enjoy the observations of Nancy Giles and David Edelstein, I will deeply miss the witty skewering and the alliterative praises of one John Leonard.

Three men gone. Two who would have liked more time and one who was ready to go. All who when their time came could look back and say that they did all right.

I decided to change my blog skin for no real reason.  I plan to return to the goth pets eventually but wanted to try this one on for size.  Since I am blogging about writing, it fits. 

I did the thing where I comment on past entries a la Louisa May Alcott and was surprised by some of the things that I wrote. 

I am definitely now more into the Gurdinans than the Wellingtons, since I introduced a new character into the dynamic based on a real life person I found in of all places, a collection of letters and diary entries of the Imperial Family of Russia.  The biggest thing about him is that we find out that not too long before and during the time of Marielena's disappearance and reappearance, this character was involved with her brother Pasha, who was lonely.  He is in love with Pasha, but the feeling is not as mutual.  We also realize that he is in love with the idea of being in love with Pasha rather than the down to earth man himself.  What can we say-this guy is one of the last Romantics.  He subsequently takes up with Pasha's cousine Solange, who finds out about ther past.  She is not upset by their past relationship per se.  She hates the idea of being the consolation prize for someone's unrequited love.

I started fleshing out the backstories of Ursula's father and the other members of that "lost generation," which took part in the first wars with Saimana.  I also enjoyed writing the first love stories about Ursula and Tobias.  I am not really much for love stories (though considering that I watch soaps, you'd think it would come easier).

Of the characters in that cycle, my favorites so far are Solon and Arantxa, Diana, Durexa, Festus William and Emma Fair .  

The Confederacy stories are challenging because there are so many characters and well of the Angrian ones, it's hard to really care about many of them because many of them are types.  Many of thr  Gondals are just names.  My characterizations of some of are based on my interpretation of the poems that deal with them.  Julius and AGA I don't perceive as being as cruel as their Angrian counterparts.  Both love each other, but are not afraid to seek comfort and pleasure outside the home when it moves them.  Originally her infidelity was in response to his, but then it evolved into a case of "cause I can".  She's definitely the one who watches in the relationship-it is that quality that saves her neck from the first coup.  I find the lack of strong women in the Angrian cycle curious, though you need to establish what constitutes "strong."  Elizabeth Hastings stands out as the one woman who knows herself and her mind and is more proactive, rather than reactive, which seems to be par for the course for the other women in the Angria stories including Marina, Zenobia, and Mary.

Chawton Battles City of Bath Over Jane Austen Bragging Rights

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/sep/23/booksforchildrenandteenagers

I wasn't too surprised to read this as I have found especially when it comes to women that self expression usually comes at a higher price than it does for men.  I applaud her granddaughter for sharing-I think that for some women, their real lives are ignored in favour of the imagined lives that we want to be real for them.

I found some thngs that I started a few years ago and stopped for some reason or other.  One was the outline of a story that  I dreamed about while wathing the 1984 version of "A Christmas Carol," starring George C. Scott with a mostly British cast.  I was reading some of the other pieces and I was reminded of that poem that appeared in Louisa May Alcott's 'Little Women."   I said to someone that if I watched the ending scenes of Jennifer Aniston's "The Good Girl" at a different age, I would have asked her to make a different choice than the one I felt that she should have and did ultimately make.  I wonder if I would write some of these pieces differently.  Would they have passion?  Would they breathe?  Would they be interesting reads?  One piece I wrote so long ago for a writing class is still resonant. I can definitely see a sophistication in thought in some things that I write about the same subject now that was so not there before. 

Immortality...