Audio Book Suggestions?

Sunny window Seat

A poor quality cellphone pic of the view that ruined my creative output.

I was working on a somewhat new story today, having rounded out at 15,485 words when I decided the sun was just too nice to stay indoors.

If you enjoy the discipline of writing, I don’t recommend window seats on beautiful days, unless you mean to play instead of work. Though I suppose I should enjoy the few sunny days Seattle will get..

There’s not much to say with the story at this point, apart from the fact that it involves a missing princess and a silver comb that she gives to my main character with the instructions, “brush your hair and she’ll be there.”

I’ve thrown in a coldhearted sister, a white-suited demon, a negligent father king, and even a Medieval musician. I believe I’m on my way to a faery tale of some sort.

I suspect the final story to round out between 45,000-60,000 words.

The hope is to get this story out of my creative system before the road trip this fall, allowing me to focus my creative energies there. And in case you were wondering, my prayers for that trip have been answered - my buddy Sammy wants to join me, and though I keep giving him chances to back out, he keeps showing interest, which is a huge blessing to me. All writers should have such good friends. 

The question now is what audio book we will listen to on our trip.

Any suggestions? 

 

Published in: on June 30, 2008 at 11:27 pm Comments (2)
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Fashion Mullets & Other Terrors

Man Mullet

Today I had a terrifying thought that wouldn’t go away.

       Mullets.

This morning I picked up my friend Sammy, grabbed our customary Thursday morning Top Pot, and arrived at men’s morning prayer (imagine 6:30am half-asleep unshaved men sitting in a large circle).

No one there had a mullet. I hadn’t seen any mullets lately. No strange nightmares of mullets. But I still kept thinking about them. I finally mentioned it to my friend Sammy and he said it sounded like a good post for The Journey. 

Here we go..

According to the Wikipedia article, mullets have been around since Grecian days. The article quoted a line from Homer’s The Iliad to prove it, with one problem - the reference is bogus.

I pulled out my copy of The Iliad and searched Book 2 lines 632-635, just like it said, plus about 4-5 pages before and after.

Not there, Wikipedia, not there. I was tempted to edit the article but I have no idea whether veiled references to mullets exist in The Iliad or not, and at 594 pages I was not feeling ambitious enough to find out. 

If it had been true - that mullets are an age old tradition spawning back to the days of Achilles - I might not have been so terrified. It’s always easier to cope with things that lie within the realm of the normal, but mullets, dear reader, are not normal. 

I was reminded of this 2 years ago while living in Bergen, Norway. There a hybrid form of the mullet has been enjoying a sort of Renaissance. It’s a hybrid, which means they shouldn’t be as bad as the real thing. Shouldn’t. But witnessing it daily proved otherwise.

It’s just as bad. 

         And remember these?

Ugg Boots

(Some of you are saying, “Remember? I’m wearing a pair right now!” It’s OK, your feet and legs will forgive you someday, really)

When I first went to Norway/Sweden in the spring of 2004, uggs were crazy popular. Almost every girl I met had a pair. Once I got back to the States, I placed the horror behind me and tried to move on. But then, about a year later, I started seeing them again. They were sprouting onto the feet of many girls I knew, like some hideous virus. Somehow it had been transmitted, caught like a cold, and carried back by some fashion infectee.

There are many things that can get into our country. And I understand our nation’s fear of illegal aliens, and the desire to build a Great Wall of America, but I have to ask,

Where does our real danger lie?

Oh yes, dear reader. The danger is very real. In fact, it may be coming to a salon near you. 

    Be afraid, reader.

         Be very afraid. 

Published in: on June 27, 2008 at 6:35 am Comments (2)
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Pogonology

The following post is part of Randy Elrod’s Watercooler Wednesdays. 

    It is also my exploration into the strange land of facial hair. 

This is a recent adventure for me. Unlike my father, who has had a full beard since he was 15, I’m only clocking about 3 years of observable lip and chin sproutage. 

I’ve learned a couple of things,

1) When you lose hair up top, and gain hair below, being carded for alcohol goes bye-bye, and sir becomes a regular byproduct of strangers’ vocabulary

2) Worrisome thoughts are whittled away with subconscious strokes to one’s chin

And I finally understand why all those creative types grow facial hair. It feels very, I don’t know how to express it, manly I suppose, a bit rebellious… maybe even a bit hip? 

Of course, sometimes it’s just lazy. 

I’ve found it’s actually a great indicator for how ordered my life is. A friend of mine let his beard grow wild recently, and I remember him joking, “I’m wearing my sin on my face.” 

So, what do you think?

 

Facial Hair

 

Manly? Rebellious? Hip? Or just plain sinful? 

Comment your opinion. 

(Bonus points if you can tell me what the title means)

 

Published in: on June 25, 2008 at 4:44 am Comments (4)
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Scott’s School of Grammar: “Scott Free”

Alphabet

I have been wondering about the origins of this phrase for quite some time. I finally took the time to research it, and the results were somewhat surprising. I’ll give you three possibilities, with the answer to follow in a soon-to-come comment:

1) Dred Scott was a black slave born in Virginia, USA in 1799. In several celebrated court cases, right up to the USA Supreme Court in 1857, he attempted to gain his freedom. These cases all failed but Scott was later made a free man by his ‘owners’, the Blow family. The etymology of this phrase shows the danger of trying to prove a case on circumstantial evidence alone.

2) The origin of the phrase “scott free” lies in the original wording, “scotch free”. “Scotch” is used in this sense to be a scratch, mar, or scar, particularly in a grid pattern. Similar uses of “scotch” in this context include “butterscotch”, (made with butter, has to be sliced up in the pan after cooling), “hop=scotch”, (a child’s game that in part involves “hop”-ping over grid lines /”scotches”) and “Scotch plaid”, (refering to the regular gridwork formed by the boundaries of the different colors/patterns). Hence, to escape “scott free” is emerge from a dangerous circumstance without even a scratch or mark, much less more severe damage.

3) The term is a contraction of ’scot and lot’. Scot was the tax and lot, or allotment, was the share given to the poor. Scot as a term for tax has been used since then to mean many different types of tax. Whatever the tax, the phrase ’scot free’ just refers to not paying one’s taxes

Answer to follow on Sunday 6/22/08

Comment your guess!

 

Published in: on June 20, 2008 at 3:09 pm Comments (3)
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2,777: Perfection or Destruction?

Odometer

(A Watercooler Wednesday post)

         2,777 miles

              Is this the number of perfection or destruction? 

Today my boss approved my vacation time for nine days in September. The plan was a birthday road trip following the footsteps of four of my characters - Serenity, Dissidus, Wharf, and Crazy Willie - characters in a kickass novel idea I got when I first moved to Seattle.

180 pages into the book I realized I had no idea where to take the middle third of the story. My well-intentioned idea was to follow the exact steps of my characters - a road trip taking me from Seattle to Butte, Montana, then to the White Mountains of central California, the Sequoia National Forest, and then a dejectedly long trip back up the coast through Portland en route to Seattle. 

It sounded great in my head, just one problem…my characters are driving an enchanted Volvo that neither breaks nor needs gas. My Volkswagen is special, but not that enchanted. 

Recent reality checks have forced me to second guess the wisdom of this trip. Things like gasoline, probably averaging $5-$5.50 per gallon in September;  Things like 2,777 miles placed on my car, enough for an oil change at least, if not a slew of small (or huge) mechanical problems. All of this for character development and plot. Hmm…

It is perplexing.

A large part of me screams, “You fool! You are not a real writer, stop pretending like you are! Get back to work, and take a vacation like everybody else: Buy yourself some new sandals, buy a cheap plane ticket, and go someplace warm.“

Another small part of me screams, “You fool! You are a real writer, stop pretending like you aren’t and get back to work on your book! Who cares where everyone else takes their vacation? Who cares how much it’s going to cost you? This is your passion, man!“

Like I said in the beginning, 2,777 is either the number of perfect miles necessary to finish a book that I feel has the potential to be the best thing I’ve ever written, or, it could be the number of miles necessary to complete my financial destruction.

If you remember it..

Pray for me!!

~~

By the by, here’s the route I’m considering,


View Larger Map

Published in: on June 18, 2008 at 4:10 am Comments (6)
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