The veiw from my rear window today. Notice the blades of grass that look like grass that look like frozen green beans.
Snug as a bug in a rug indoors until next time. -LJ
Month: October 2009
You know you’re a writer when …
By no means do I consider this a blog for writers. I hope you’ve noticed that by now. I don’t give a lot of advice or interview a lot of authors on how to write. I mean, I definitely want to encourage fledgling writers out there, but this isn’t the blog to get the most information about how to become a writer.
Instead this is a writer’s blog.
As such, I feel compelled to share with you an anecdote from the other night. To set the scene, I was sitting at the dining room table with my revision notes spread out around my laptop. I was busy rewriting a scene that my editor didn’t particularly care for. In this scene my hero and heroine were having a fight, a nasty one, and it made me terribly sad. Just then my roommate Tracy walked into the kitchen and asked how things were going.
“Okay, I guess,” I sighed.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“I’m just so sad. My characters are having a terrible fight. I think I’ll have to re-read the end of the book to remind myself that it all turns out okay.”
She looked kind of a confused and said, “But didn’t you write it?”
Hmmm. I did indeed write it.
These writers are strange people, I think. Myself definitely included. Oh, well. I didn’t even try to explain the complex workings of my weird, weird writer mind. Suffice it to say, I did re-read the ending, and I was infinitely happy with how things turned out.
Even if I already knew that’s how they would end.
The Problem with PaperbackSwap
Okay, I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking: Gosh, Liz hasn’t posted in a while. Has she been up to something really cool? In answer: Nope. Just busy. I’m sure you understand.
But today I decided it was time to share a rant about one of prior Friday Favorites. I do believe you might remember this little ode to paperbackswap.com. To refresh you on this topic, I offered many a lovely details of the book swapping site known as paperback swap.
I love it. I really do. I love the concept. I love the price. Free membership and orders. You just pay to ship your books to others that request them. Simple. Easy. What more could you ask for?
A faster response. That’s all I want. You see, what happens is I hear about a new book, and I’m so excited about said book that I immediately go to paperback swap and look it up. It says they don’t have any available, so I add it to my wish list. No problem, I think. I say to myself, Self, I’ll get this book in no time. So I wait. And I wait. And I wait a little while longer. Still no word back from paperback.
I reason the delay away, saying that it’s a popular book. I’ll get it eventually. And pretty soon, I’m sitting like I am now, waiting for Sophie Kinsella’s newest book Twenties Girl. See I added it to my wish list–which means I got in line for it on August 25. And I’m still number 778 in line for it!!! PBS thinks that it’ll take 65 weeks for me to be offered a copy. 65 weeks! That’s more than a year! I could probably save up my change and afford to buy it in 3 months.
So really, my beef isn’t with PBS. My beef is with the users of PBS. If you’d quit being so stingy with the new and amazing books, I could get mine sooner! See, it’s simple. 🙂 My problem solved. Post your books. Fast!
Thank you. 🙂
Forced to read the many, many other books on my shelf until next time. -LJ
Friday Favorite Flashback – Hang Time
This week I thought I’d offer a bit of a flashback–to 1995 to be exact.
Back in 1995, I was a freshman in high school with a thing for Saturday morning shows for teens. Oh, yeah. I was all over Saved by the Bell, City Guys, Running the Halls … well, you get the picture. My deal with my mom was if I folded laundry while I watched, I could watch these shows every weekend. My favorite of these shows was Hang Time.
Hang Time was a show about Julie Connor, who loved basketball. But when she transfers to Deering High School, she discovers that they don’t have a girl’s basketball team. So she tries out for the boy’s team. Seems logical enough.
That’s pretty much the premise of the entire show, and even though I’m not a big fan of basketball, I loved this show. The guy players and coach seem to come and go over the course of 6 seasons (I’m not sure how that works with Julie’s 4 years in high school), but Julie and her cheerleader friend remain the same.
So you’re probably wondering why it’s making an appearance on my blog, some 14 years later. Well, I just discovered that nearly every episode of Hang Time is available on YouTube.com. Thank you, YouTube. So I decided I was going to watch some episodes, starting at the very beginning of season 1.
You know what? The show is awful! I mean really, really cheesy. And I like a bit of cheese in my books, movies, and TV, so you know it’s saying something about Hang Time. But I can’t seem to stop watching the bad acting, poor dialogue, and really bad fashion. I keep hoping it’ll get better. Maybe by the last season it’ll be really watchable. So I thought I’d share just the opener with you, so you can see what I’m talking about.
But refamiliarizing myself with Hang Time has made me wonder what other things I loved (slouch socks, hair-sprayed bangs, Union Bay striped shirts) that are actually really cheesy. Hmm … what did you once love that you’re now realizing is really terrible?
Cringing over how I spent my time 14 years ago until next time. -LJ