WIP

This has nothing to do with writing - and admittedly, I'm pausing between writing mere sentences over here to browse the blog things to the right side of my page. YA New York, Interview with Alma Alexander.

Alma is the author of those three bizarre looking books above.

If you’ve been reading the Worldweavers series up until now, you know that our heroine, Thea, was long considered to be a magical dunce. In her world, where magical talent is the norm for humans, Thea showed no aptitude for the arts until she was shipped off to Wandless Academy. At that point it became apparent that she’s not only a magician, but a rare powerful one, whose talent lies in the supposedly un-magical area of computers.

This sounds like something I might read... well, with reserve. I'm of that generation that finds computers to be functional and frustrating but not necessarily magical, and it would take a lot to convince me otherwise. Of course this series might do the job.

If only I could get past the covers...

Does anyone else do that? They see a plot that appeals to them, but then they blah-out when they see the covers? It reminds me of a poll that somebody did a while back about fantasy covers and what percentage of fantasy covers contained X. I guess these covers count because they have a glowy thing. Still it could be verging on scifi, because the glowy thing has electrical streaks ensuing from the girls/creepy robot face. I'm very suspicious of the plot - particularly as it has two scifi mainstays: computers and Tesla.

RANDOM: Prestige is one of my favorite movies, but I HAD NO IDEA THAT DAVID BOWIE PLAYED TESLA! I find that so bizarre!

Randomlocal: Watched the news at my dentist appointment (2.5 hours with my mouth propped open, my jaw is angry, very angry). The 1984 Detroit Tigers team is celebrating something - I wasn't paying close enough attention to that part. I was too busy staring at them. I grew up idolizing those guys! And they looked OLD! Cryptkeeper old. My goodness.

Editing: Nil. Technically I am 'editing' if you think about complete revisions/rewrites in that fashion.

Writing: Yes. Managed about 3,000 in the past two days. This would be on the UF revision. I'm up to 10,000 and continuing my relentless march to my usual 90,000 (I'm hoping for 65,000 words total, but that usually is the 5 chapter mark for me).

Research: Discovered that my idea of school is purely based on my own experience. I looked up other Catholic schools and realized that they are run a bit different with different schedules and vastly different curriculum than I had. Probably the only class that I totally recognized (in content focus) was the theology class. I spent a couple hours last night going over all of the details and writing up the setting - including class content. I won't be using much of it, but I need to be confident as I put my characters in the setting and use it as a backdrop. If I'm second guessing myself, it will show.

MSFV Contest: Is still going on. I really enjoyed commenting on everything as always, and I noticed a few subs this time that I'd really like to see more of.

I did cringe a bit over some of the comments that popped up now and then. A few people losing their cool. There also seemed to be two schools of thought going on - people who thought the idea was to fully critique and offer detailed feedback to the subbers and people who thought that they were just doing the thumbs up or down, offering polite/gently worded reasons why or why not.

I sided with the people who wanted to keep things simple - hooked or not. If somebody wanted a critique, they should really join up with a critting group (like Critique Circle) and get that feedback there. If they are submitting to a contest, they shouldn't expect detailed critiques on their writing. Least that is my way of thinking.

There also seemed to be people who were trying to use their comments to sway public (as well as the SA) opinion in favor of themselves (the authors posting as themselves or anonymously) or for their friends/critting buddies. I enjoyed the contest - learning experience, etc - but my goodness. Some people get my goat.

*Wonders what that saying - get my goat - means or how it originated*

Book Recommendation: Nothing as of yet. I should know tonight, because I'm stopping at the bookshop for a b-day present for one of my sisters. Of course I'll pick up something for myself too. My b-day is next week, after all.

In honor of the day:

May they who lost their lives on this day rest in peace, and may the living never forget or take things for granted. The life we live is unexpected and the future is uncertain. All we have is the path we have followed and experiences along the way to indicate what might happen if we let up on our guard. If you forget and flunk history, be prepared to repeat. May God bless us. May our children remember that we have a right to exist and live our lives as we wish. Those who came before us fought for every freedom we enjoy, and we should not be ashamed of those freedoms or squander them. Rather, we should cling to them and keep our heads high. Those people who have their heads up and ears and eyes open won't fall away.

Plan for the weekend: Ambitious. Planning on 10,000 words, though I'd be content with 5,000. :P