Where stories go to die

(here)

Yes, I am very guilty of immortalizing my bad stories with the Sims. You know how sometimes you just get a really clear vision of a character, and you feel the need to memorialize it with its digital twin? No?

Well, I do. Because usually the characters I feel compelled to do so with are the ones from flailing stories, who may have been great characters in my mind, but whose stories were, after several weeks of daydreaming lost trying to revitalize the story, still stunk for whatever reason. 

Well, I cant just abandon them because they're in a cliche/predictable/lacking in emotional fodder situation. But unfortunately, the ones that make it to the Sims usually don't come out. Once I place them on a lot, they're done. 

Actually, the characters of my favorite stories are the ones I don't necessarily envision super clearly. Physically, at least. Huh. 

And then there's the literary recreation Sims, but I won't go into that aspect of my geekitude. 

Gold Star to the re-creators of their favorite books via Sims.

Bookish

So cliche! A writer who loves books. But I truly, truly do. The past couple of months of my internship have been a bogged down by fighting through Internet marketing. I motivated myself by telling myself it was a good thing to learn, that I was getting all sorts of valuable experience in search engine optimization, building inlinks and outlinks and sidelinks, learning about Internet searching and all sorts of three-letter acronyms about all things Internet. And it is valuable to know. And it's valuable to know that it is very hard to motivate myself to do it.

However, now I have a book. And the work I'm doing with it is probably the most dull version of editing. I'm type-setting and formatting more than editing, but I love it. I love being among words, I love the rhythm  of it, and I love soaking up the information this book has to offer in and amongst the alien translations Word did.

I guess it helps to know your passions, and know how well you can do your job when its something you're passionate about. And how to do your job and motivate yourself when it's something that doesn't exactly light your fire.

Gold Star to the lexophiles.

If you can't say anything nice ...

(here)

Yes, that's right. I love Yiddish. Of the many languages I am interested in, it definitely has the most character. And like USA says, character welcome. So yes, I have a list of Yiddish words I need to use more often smack-dab in the middle of my desktop. I love to use them. They can express everything from exasperation to disgruntlement to bemusement with such panache. As a fan of language, I am simply in love with the words of Yiddish. Perhaps I shall write an ode to them...

Some of my favorites:

spilkes

tuches (I've used this one here before)

conniption

SCHMUTZ

bupkes

kvetch

mishugana

Gold Star to anyone who knows what those all mean.

Breaking news!

or not really...I've just been a little in love with the internet lately, all whilst cleaning out my emails.

but ohmigosh! Oxford broke up with the oxford comma! (This is to me what celebrity scandal is to most people).

read more (here)

While you mourn or celebrate, you may indulge in some geeky punctuation music. (Vampire Weekend -- a guilty pleasure)

(here)

The right book at the right time

So, cheesy as it may be, one of my favorite books is The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants. It's a good book, certainly, but that's not really why it's one of my favorites.

I love it because it's proof that the right books find us. When I first read TSTP, I was amidst the angst of leaving high school, moving on to college, and leaving decade-old friendships. And, if you've read the book, you can have no problem imagining how it comforted my worries, with its message that the important ones will always be there, even if you're separated, even if you drift from each other. And it's proven true. After four years of college and a homecoming, the important ones are still there.

And further proving the literary magic, I picked the movie to watch last night, looking for something chick-flicky that I'd seen before (see, the favorites). And lo and behold, as I deal with my one roommate being hours away in Chicago, a good portion of my best friends an hour away (a long way when one can't afford gas), and my other roommate/best friend/soul sister soon going to Korea, the right words showed up at the right time yet again.

Books can do that, it's in their magic.

Gold Star to the believers.

I like impossible colors.

More specifically, the lady who came up with that phrase!

In addition to posting some lovely vintage fashion, Andrea shares all the ups and downs of writing a novel. From her simple posts exclaiming over a word-count goal reached to dealing with publishers, she covers it all. She even hosts a challenge for NANORIMO (loosely translates to November = write a novel) that I was too late on this year, but I may have to do next year.

So, yes, my writerly affair this week is with this writerly lady.

And, she shared this exercise from The Relaxed Writer, to greet the New Year.

"Here's how it works.

1. Take a sheet of clean paper and draw a vertical line down the middle to create two columns.

2. Label the sheet, "My Writing Life"

3. Fold the page in half.

4. Set a timer for 10 minutes. On the left-hand side, as quickly as you can, list exactly what you DON'T want your writing life to look like in the coming year.

For instance:

I don't want...

"to not have a place to write"
"to struggle to find time for my writing"
"to be so isolated"
"to keep postponing developing story ideas"

5. Keep going until the timer chimes or you've completely exhausted all possibilities. If you feel uncomfortable with all the negative statements you're making, please be patient and stick with me. Emotionally connecting to your goals will help you achieve them. (I see this time and again in my private coaching practice.) The more you can allow yourself to really feel, see and experience what you don't want, the easier you'll be able to connect with what you do want. 

Please try not to edit yourself as you do this exercise. Redundancy is fine--even instructive! In this step and the next, pay attention to the themes and variations you lay out on the page. Notice where you concentrate your attention. Notice which topics appear again and again and again in different forms. If you pay close attention, the repetition will show you where you've been stuck.

6. Next, unfold the page. Use each bullet point in the left-hand column as a writing prompt. You're going to discover what you DO want by writing a specific, clear intention for yourself. How? Just rewrite each negative statement in the left-hand column into a positive one.
For instance:

I want...

"to have a dedicated space to write"
"to create a consistent, sustainable writing schedule"
"to refresh my network with new colleagues and writing peers"
"to send X new queries each week"
Voila! You've got marching orders for the new year--a perfect starting point to help you make good decisions and take the steps necessary to clear your internal and external environment of unneeded clutter.

Enjoy the process."

I will have to do this very soon :)

Here is another great post of hers, on books writers should read.

Gold Star to the lovers of the literarily minded.

A writerly affair.....

Will return after the holidays. Too busy crafting and baking myself into a corner.

Gold Star to all the holiday baked goods, and their lovely bakers.

The favorites

I'm not sure how exacly this became a necessity for my work, but it has. It probably has its roots in listening to music while working combined with the constantly relevant, intricate system of film-viewing in my last apartment.

I find that having a movie on while working can be remarkably productive. But it must be of a very specific kind.

It must be one I have watched before, and one that contains nothing which drives me nuts (changed actors in the sequel, gaping plot wounds, high-pitched voices, excessively un-grammatical characters). It must also not be one that requires much thought to process -- no Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, no matter how good a movie it may be. Preferably, it is one I have seen many times before.

While living in my aparment, the list narrowed to approximately this:

--Sherlock Holmes (possibly the one exception to the thinking rule, but only because we had seen it so many times the plot and 89% of the lines are seared into our memories.)
--Tangled
--Enchanted
--Big Bang Theory
--Stardust
--Pride and Prejudice
--Iron Man
--Ever After
--Mulan

and since moving home I have added Dr. Who and Pushing Daisies to the list. And occasionally How I Met Your Mother.

Gold Star to those who can't work in silence.

The whack-a-doo

I remember signing up for a fiction-writing class my junior-or-so year. I walked into the class of twenty-five, to see a lanky man with a pile of books at the front of the class. He introduced himself, his work (he was primarily a writer, who taught classes as the whim took him,) and then took a look around the class.

"I don't usually like teaching classes this big, I like fifteen-person classes,"  he announced (where he got these elusive small class-sizes in the first place, I will never know). "So if you want to leave, feel free."

And then, to prove his point, he turned on the whack-a-doo, presumably to scare us off. He proceeded to go off on a series of readings from his own books that were exceptionally out there and deliver impassioned speeches about how words are a third dimension and a religion and, as a writer, you must find the words that enthrall you so thoroughly you see the face of the sweet baby Jesus in each printing.

Some didn't come back. Most did however, including me. I just don't drop classes. In fact, I took his sort of behavior as a challenge. I am not typically a stubborn person, but I am academically bullheaded. If any sort of challenge to my skills is issued, I always (whether it is intelligent or not) respond with a resounding "Well, I'll show you!" So my response to the whack-a-doo behavior was a resounding "You want me to go out there? Well I'll give you outer space, pal!"

We proceeded to, for the first few weeks do exercizes to "find our inspiration words." Thankfully, the professor calmed down considerably after the first few lessons -- and it was proven that he wasn't going to shake anyone who was left -- and I began to find the brainstoming amusing. I apparently wasn't quite subscribing to the religion, as I didn't see many of them to be relevant, but I did, slowly, understand a new appreciation for words. Some words are visually pretty, others sound cool, and some, for some reason, I just liked. These thoughts were cool, and I probably wouldn't have thought them if I were not in this crazy, crazy man's class.

And then, it was time to submit our first story. I came up with something I liked, and then proceeded to be absolutely terrified. Because, despite my resounding cry, I am not an out-there writer. I prefer to think of my creative efforts as subtle and relatable. I couldn't write in his word-obssesed style. I like characters too much to throw them under the train of poetic experimentation. So my efforts may not be high art or groundbreaking, that's just how I am. This story, though it was more experimental than most, was also fairly subtle. And I thought, what if he fails me for not being covered in the dirt of a million rabbit holes?

However, I discovered that the whack-a-doo was actually really great at giving feedback while respecting my style (and others', as several classmates shared my fears). He kept pushing, but he did so in balance. And now, when I read "out-there" stuff, I have a lot more respect for it.

And I think every creative needs a whack-a-doo to show them the other side. One doesn't need to drink the metaphorical Kool-Aid to find some enlightenment. I produced some really interesting things outside of my comfort box, and I'll never forget that.

Gold Star to anyone who can tell me what movie the Kool-Aid line comes from (though I'd like to claim it as my own...)

"Praying for someone --anyone-- to write a book about punctuation with a panda on the cover"

So, I'm arguably late to this bandwagon, published in 2003, but nonetheless must share.

I love this book. It's rare one can say they couldn't put down a grammar book -- even for a grammar nerd like myself. But Lynne Truss does such a great job of presenting the basics with interesting dashes of history and hilarious bits of humor, it is quite accomplished. Moreso than that, it is one of those occasions where I would really like to meet the writer, since from page one I was exclaiming "she is my kind of people!" (You know, the rare and elusive people that understand some obscure -- or not-so-obscure -- facet of personality and demonstrate it just as you would.)

The book begins, for example:

A printed banner has appeared on the concorse of a petrol station near to where I live. "Come inside," it says, "for CD's, VIDEO's, DVD's, and BOOK's."

[Insert literal cringe from me here]

If this satanic sprinkling of redundant apostrophes causes no little gasp of horror or quickening of the pulse, you should probably put down this book at once. By all means congratulate yourself that you are not a pedant or even a stickler; that you are happily equipped to live in a world of plummeting punctuation standards; but just don't bother to go any further

from Eats, Shoots & Leaves, Lynne Truss

She is so like me she predicted my reaction.

In addition, I really like her approach to grammar. There is a lot published about the "rules" and argument about the rules. But Truss does a spectacular job of examining grammar for what it truly is -- something to lead comprehension and clarify words into sense. This interpretation is one I personally agree with, and one many of my teachers espoused. For it doesn't matter if your work is grammatically perfect if it isn't understandable -- because you can get away with a lot of jargon and still be grammatically correct. Case and point: the beginning of A Tale Of Two Cities is a 3-page sentence, and it is grammatically correct. But just because you can doesn't mean its best for your reader. And more and more, we're realizing writing isn't this act done separate from the world for purely creative reasons, it's done for a reader. So the rules change. But Truss covers the basics with a wonderfully editorial eye on clarity and making them understandable.

Gold Star to all the sticklers.

The listening ear

Perhaps the most useful tool to a writer. Even if they're not doing traditional editing, someone patient can be extremely valuable.  

Basically, this boils down to the value of having someone to listen to you rant, even if they're not entirely listening. Because ranting and telling stories is an underrated part of the writing process. The fact is, some of my most witty and insightful moments have come when I was ranting, or drifting on a tangent. Just talking and using your words out loud and expressing the way you see things can be really helpful. Its like a free write, but its talking at somebody. So, to do this successfully you need to have someone who is patient and will listen to your stories for the millionth time.  For each time you tell it it gets better -- just another link to the putting it on the page. 

It also helps I learn things by talking them through. That's how I studied for history tests, I'd read through my notes and figure out new connections reach cool new analyses, just by talking it out. You can really discover new things. Even if you're just telling a story, each time you tell a story you find new angles and learn new ways to express it and its going to work better. Use your brain's organic drafting process to your advantage. 

from here

This was too cute not to include. I gave into precious pressure...

Gold Stars (and so much love) to mine :)

The bible.

(for journalism majors, anyway). 

from amazon

This book is both every journalism student's best friend and nemesis. Who wants to check everyday words like email  every time you use them, to make sure they're the Associated Press approved version? However, it is crucial to remembering all the weird little journalistic rules about numbers and dates. Because, unfortunately, you can be a great writer, but you can't get hired unless you can write their way. There's just not enough time to train people when hundreds of journalism majors are out scrounging for jobs -- quite ferociously in the current climate.

So, while every student may get sick of having their AP style corrected, and every editor may despise having to look something up for a third time that day because they forget the politically correct term for Native American (which seems to change weekly, much to our chagrin -- the editors and the Native Americans), it really is a useful book. So useful, it seems, that copies often go missing from the newsroom...except our mentor's copy, because who could steal from that sweet old guy? (Who helps us for gratitude and the occasional pizza).

Its even useful to non-journalism majors, as many may not realize. Journalistic style is decided with the masses in mind  -- unlike other styles like Chicago, APA and MLA, which are almost exclusively academic. This means it is based upon achieving the most readable product. So there's some sense for other writers to check it out. Inside you can find the most current common usage of terms, ways to make your writing more concise, and just a lot of things to make you appreciate all the strange little things the people who write -- and edit -- your daily paper have to remember.

I'll admit, I like my AP style guide. Especially, as my former co-editors have shown, it makes kind of an awesome Halloween costume.

Gold Star to anyone who thinks the term Amerind is complete bollocks.

Meet Dave

(and my glowing-eyed dog, Taja, who got very interested that I was moving furniture and woke him up)

And no, I didn't name him Dave, IKEA did. But I keep calling him that, as he is such a handy little piece of furniture he deserves a name (and apparently, a personification). A simple laptop desk, really, but he allows me to work wherever I feel like it. Whether it be the couch, my bed, or a random chair that appeals to me, he is always there to support my computer (and tilt it to an ergonomically appropriate angle.) Dave is very supportive of my nomadic working habits. One fact about working from home -0 you take advantage of working where you're comfortable. 

Gold Star to all the nomads :)

For the love of Post-Its

(taken from here -- which has other cool art)

A long, passionate affair indeed.

If you look on my desk, alongside jars of pencils and some choice items to inspire me, you will find piles of Post-Its -- both used and of many variates of lovely crisp newness. 

I have been gathering pretty Post-Its for a while, but they really became a go-to item in college. I couldn't bring myself to violate books by writing or highlighting them, even though textbooks are low on the levels of book sanctity. So, I used Post-It notes. To this day, you can tell which books I used in lit classes because I never bothered to remove the many colorful passage markers. 

After a while, I began making my own little flags by (slightly obsessively) tearing bigger Post-Its into tiny line markers. 

Now, I use them in my job, to pull out passages of my company's books that are clever, define them, or make them unique. My current assignment has me writing promotional materials, which require many of these little nuggets. 

They really are one of my most often used tools, in that they allow me to keep track of the things that jump out at me, require my attention, and need to be remembered. It allows me to keep track of my reading in a way I need to do when I'm working with books, as opposed to reading for pleasure. 

Gold Star to everyone who can't bear to write on their books.