has it really been 16 days since i posted? where does the time go? jeez. now i'm going to have to have a 3 posts week in the near future to make up for it. that won't be this week though because my mom is coming for a visit, yay!
i'm having a slight time problem right now. perhaps because i work at home and my hobbies are home-based (reading, writing, watching TV, downloading stuff to watch/listen to, exercising) and i don't have an externally imposed schedule, time has started to do weird things. days run together, yet hours can stretch into torturous segments as i check and recheck my favorite sites to see if anything new has been written/posted. i'm not working right now, so i don't even have my work reports to keep me grounded in today's date. the weather hasn't yet summer-fied, so sometimes it feels like may and other times september. the days of the week are determined by exercises performed -- monday = walk/jog, bike, abs; tuesday = bike, legs workout, abs... et cetera, et cetera. i think that's one of the reasons i've had some difficulty making the final push to finish the book -- when every day seems quite the same, it's hard to understand that yes, time is marching on without me. that's not to say i'm drenched in ennui like that horribly depressing nine inch nails song (every day is exactly the same). quite the opposite, in fact. i'm pretty dang happy with my life. i just need a reliable time keeper that beeps and talks to me every once in a while to remind me that my existence may be cyclical but the rest of the world works on linear time.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
recommended reading: bad luck and trouble
margarita and i have coined a term for the urban fantasy mixed genre novels that we love and that we write in. they are known as Our Kind of Books. however, the urban fantasy genre is pretty saturated right now, and frankly, the content has become diluted. so if i waited for a great or even good Our Kind of Book to read, i would be reading about 6 books a year. as a result, i'd like to introduce a new genre: My Kind of Book. My Kind of Book includes Our Kind of Books, but the category also extends to thrillers, mysteries (hard-boiled and otherwise), romances (if decent, which is rare), and horror.
lee child has been writing My Kind of Book for a long time now. i read his first book, killing floor, about 8 or 9 years ago. i was immediately hooked. child's main character, jack reacher, is a former military policeman who wanders the united states, aimless, accumulating experiences of the country that he never had as a military brat and military cop living everywhere in the world but the good ole u.s.a. he is a true bad ass, and the way he is written makes him one of the best characters i have ever chanced upon, in any genre.
child's latest offering is titled bad luck and trouble. and let me tell you, it was neither bad luck nor trouble that had me reserving this title as soon as i heard it was on its way. sigh. the book is so good that i considered smoking a cigarette after, and i don't smoke. one of the members of reacher's old special investigations unit is found tortured and killed, so the remaining members of the team get together to hunt down the murderer(s?) because you do not mess with special investigations (that's their motto, not mine). though i have loved lee child since i was introduced to him, i find that i appreciate his writing even more now that i'm writing a novel. it's like a deeper, more mature love. ;) there is not one, NOT ONE, word or phrase that doesn't advance the plot or reveal character. reacher is about as proactive as it gets, yet he has to react to crazy shit happening to him or around him. the characters' actions are totally believable, and their actions are all you need to tell you who they are and what they are about. i think i've got to go buy the reacher novels that i was too poor to purchase during my immigrant years (i read them from the library instead, imagine that) so that i can read one every once in a while to remind myself of what great pacing, characterization and action look like. sigh. so dreamy. My Kind of Book.
lee child has been writing My Kind of Book for a long time now. i read his first book, killing floor, about 8 or 9 years ago. i was immediately hooked. child's main character, jack reacher, is a former military policeman who wanders the united states, aimless, accumulating experiences of the country that he never had as a military brat and military cop living everywhere in the world but the good ole u.s.a. he is a true bad ass, and the way he is written makes him one of the best characters i have ever chanced upon, in any genre.
child's latest offering is titled bad luck and trouble. and let me tell you, it was neither bad luck nor trouble that had me reserving this title as soon as i heard it was on its way. sigh. the book is so good that i considered smoking a cigarette after, and i don't smoke. one of the members of reacher's old special investigations unit is found tortured and killed, so the remaining members of the team get together to hunt down the murderer(s?) because you do not mess with special investigations (that's their motto, not mine). though i have loved lee child since i was introduced to him, i find that i appreciate his writing even more now that i'm writing a novel. it's like a deeper, more mature love. ;) there is not one, NOT ONE, word or phrase that doesn't advance the plot or reveal character. reacher is about as proactive as it gets, yet he has to react to crazy shit happening to him or around him. the characters' actions are totally believable, and their actions are all you need to tell you who they are and what they are about. i think i've got to go buy the reacher novels that i was too poor to purchase during my immigrant years (i read them from the library instead, imagine that) so that i can read one every once in a while to remind myself of what great pacing, characterization and action look like. sigh. so dreamy. My Kind of Book.
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
under water?
well folks, between the rising waters of the fraser river and the final push to finish my reports for work, i'm looking around for an ark to either save me from sewage and bacteria infested flood waters or to take me the fuck away from it all.
some poor peeps in maple ridge have had to leave their homes, as well as peeps in other places in the fraser valley and the interior. as for chris and myself, we've purchased some bottled water, granola bars and dried fruit, just in case grocery trucks can't make it in. it might not get that extreme, but who knows? we'll eat the stuff, regardless of what happens.
as for work, well, this project is almost done. it's driving me whacky, though. i've been a very good girl and began writing my reports well ahead of the due date so that i could avoid my usual "i-regret-this-work-because-i-could-have-done-better-if-i'd-worked-harder" self-flagellation. the result? my reports are pretty dang good, but i miss my last minute adrenaline rush. i miss the clarity that comes with panic, the way my mind focuses completely on JUST GETTING IT DONE. i miss the kind of writing that i am capable of when all those stress hormones coalesce into some brilliant turns of phrase and sentence constructions because i am IN THE ZONE. so while my reports may contain better, more thorough research, they lack the tone that i am capable of producing only when freaked out and under the deadline gun. sniff. the grass is always greener on the other side, yes?
some poor peeps in maple ridge have had to leave their homes, as well as peeps in other places in the fraser valley and the interior. as for chris and myself, we've purchased some bottled water, granola bars and dried fruit, just in case grocery trucks can't make it in. it might not get that extreme, but who knows? we'll eat the stuff, regardless of what happens.
as for work, well, this project is almost done. it's driving me whacky, though. i've been a very good girl and began writing my reports well ahead of the due date so that i could avoid my usual "i-regret-this-work-because-i-could-have-done-better-if-i'd-worked-harder" self-flagellation. the result? my reports are pretty dang good, but i miss my last minute adrenaline rush. i miss the clarity that comes with panic, the way my mind focuses completely on JUST GETTING IT DONE. i miss the kind of writing that i am capable of when all those stress hormones coalesce into some brilliant turns of phrase and sentence constructions because i am IN THE ZONE. so while my reports may contain better, more thorough research, they lack the tone that i am capable of producing only when freaked out and under the deadline gun. sniff. the grass is always greener on the other side, yes?
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