tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63736288717289465422024-02-19T17:52:49.380-07:00Into 'da FireIn which I have heated debates with myself and the tabby next door.Elizabeth Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10878194286887425019noreply@blogger.comBlogger29125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6373628871728946542.post-77512183900448317072017-04-03T12:18:00.000-06:002017-04-03T12:18:01.434-06:00Every Film Needs a Script, and Every Director Needs a Screenwriter--or Three<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhetvjSIkvEeI_Zyogg7Dd__ncEAk2gha3399VLflWIsqw6CSokDa77ykiQwQbK9GJJ9hWVQ2wyXQwAfoO6I_lhkl9I9LaFDtk3P2iYw_osgrx4bpYeiHPxD-BgUe71RVYCkUgYGAh5xF0/s1600/Logo+Sketch+4+PNG.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="129" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhetvjSIkvEeI_Zyogg7Dd__ncEAk2gha3399VLflWIsqw6CSokDa77ykiQwQbK9GJJ9hWVQ2wyXQwAfoO6I_lhkl9I9LaFDtk3P2iYw_osgrx4bpYeiHPxD-BgUe71RVYCkUgYGAh5xF0/s320/Logo+Sketch+4+PNG.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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I'm part of a screenwriting group known as <b><a href="http://3kidsinacloset.weebly.com/" target="_blank">3 Kids in a Closet</a></b>, and we're looking for more clients.</div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Directors and Screenwriters
and Their Differences</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">A close friend of mine is a director in
training. His greatest dream is to be able to direct big-budget films, to work
with skilled actors in close quarters, and make a two-dimensional,
black-and-white story come to life. But in order to make that dream a reality,
he needs a story first.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">He decided the solution to his problem was to
take a screenwriting class. Over the course of the class, he found out how much
he genuinely dislikes screenwriting--the outlining, he said, felt like a
torture machine, and the writing process was the slow extension of the rack,
pulling him apart inch by inch. In the end, he had an unpleasant story and a
bundle of experiences even more so.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">At first, he thought this was a
reflection on filmmaking--that perhaps he should rethink his dream and choose a
non-creative career since the process seemed to disagree with him so badly. But
then he realized he still loved film and he still loved directing. It was just
a simple truth that writing wasn’t for him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">I can understand--I’m a screenwriter,
but directing and editing definitely aren’t for me. That’s okay. There’s a
reason we have so many different people involved in the creative process of
making a film. If you have one role that calls to you above any other--if you
just want to revel in the breathtaking experience of making films come to life
as a director--and you can’t write the story you want to create, well, that’s
why you have us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Who are we?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">3 Kids in a Closet started as an
accident. We were three novel writers working as closed captioning specialists
and proofreaders for our university, and one day our supervisor came to us with
a request from the video team--they had a few short video scripts that needed
help. An easy job.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">And we did it too well. They wanted a
grammar edit; we gave them a video overhaul. And we blew them away. A few weeks
later, in came a follow up project, then another, then another. Soon we were
writing videos from the ground up, videos on commission. We wrote for
professors in the psychology department, professors in the math department,
university relations, senior projects for students, etc. And we took it upon
ourselves to learn how to make excellent screenplays--after all, we had plenty
of opportunities for practice.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">To date, we’ve written 41 short
screenplays on commission for clients and three full-length screenplays for
personal projects. And we have more in the works. We would love to add yours,
and we promise you won’t regret working with us. <a href="http://3kidsinacloset.weebly.com/contact.html" target="_blank">Contact us</a> for a free consultation.</span></div>
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Elizabeth Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10878194286887425019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6373628871728946542.post-38041065962094322342017-04-03T12:08:00.003-06:002017-04-03T12:08:54.704-06:00How We Can Advertise Your Business (3 Kids in a Closet Feature)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkcNLwvxd0w3_70Ws5C7Okmx3gE8GvvntFNlkN5qoJSFoGTAVWv9x-PCl-DFA1oAzEh1OvZeJczuN_Ef2ICKNqeFuIzdOxuy-TK2Brye62lgSF3fJhQDRff5kTdrU4rr7qSODYYhTg9kM/s1600/Logo+Sketch+4+PNG.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="128" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkcNLwvxd0w3_70Ws5C7Okmx3gE8GvvntFNlkN5qoJSFoGTAVWv9x-PCl-DFA1oAzEh1OvZeJczuN_Ef2ICKNqeFuIzdOxuy-TK2Brye62lgSF3fJhQDRff5kTdrU4rr7qSODYYhTg9kM/s320/Logo+Sketch+4+PNG.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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I<span style="font-size: 16px;">’m part of a screenwriting group known as <b><a href="http://3kidsinacloset.weebly.com/" target="_blank">3 Kids in a Closet</a></b>, and we're looking for new customers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">If your business is looking to expand,
increase publicity, or market a new product, you need an effective TV ad. Good
thing writing videos is our specialty.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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o:title="gecko-side"/>
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</v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]--><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNCnlqgYtCExGNJpcThSdKcQM3u4tyLGIi0hO3_zwMKVQEZwYQu7cQQ4NAFz1azGGO5UBmuCB8KTKlYoFY34Vykbr3wJKOsdUZDv0CbcP7g7MqXPzAGgiF4EKwtxD6ftD7ognM9028Ytg/s1600/gecko-side.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNCnlqgYtCExGNJpcThSdKcQM3u4tyLGIi0hO3_zwMKVQEZwYQu7cQQ4NAFz1azGGO5UBmuCB8KTKlYoFY34Vykbr3wJKOsdUZDv0CbcP7g7MqXPzAGgiF4EKwtxD6ftD7ognM9028Ytg/s200/gecko-side.jpg" width="121" /></a><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 14.0pt;">What makes an ad memorable?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Someone stops you in the hall and says,
“Geico.” You might picture a green reptile with a proper accent. You might
think of the number fifteen. If someone says that people in their hometown are
farmers, you might suddenly find yourself humming, “We are farmers,
bum-ba-dum-bum-bum-bum-bum.” Catchy jingles and loveable mascots are two
elements of memorable ads.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">What if your business doesn’t have/want
a jingle or mascot? Well, take heart in the fact that you’re not doomed to poor
advertising; memorable ads are also built on clever taglines and branding.
Think of Capital One: Their branding is built around Vikings, but not a
specific one, and in every commercial, they repeat the tagline “What’s in your
wallet?” And you probably know as much about their company as a result of
advertising as you do of Aflac (duck mascot) or American Family Insurance
(jingle).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]--><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji6pn6rfD7ad88UzVa4gOpaLKitK7lhyhLJDGr-0fHwXk725YKrJ_33WEWj-ytwA_XhI_jgkjv74tJ-DkAdAk6jZnQQ6xdhBpvNzaEwalZCQ2NYqg4McKTY0kBKr2Y5VOfgqQc_kaPUaA/s1600/Rock-Climbing-4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji6pn6rfD7ad88UzVa4gOpaLKitK7lhyhLJDGr-0fHwXk725YKrJ_33WEWj-ytwA_XhI_jgkjv74tJ-DkAdAk6jZnQQ6xdhBpvNzaEwalZCQ2NYqg4McKTY0kBKr2Y5VOfgqQc_kaPUaA/s200/Rock-Climbing-4.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 14.0pt;">What do successful ads have
in common?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Successful
ads are built on understanding: understanding what makes an ad memorable and understanding
what customers want. We’ve already highlighted some elements that make for a
memorable ad—taglines, branding, mascots, and jingles—so let’s look at the
second two points.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Whatever
your business markets has a target audience. If you sell outdoor gear, you’re
trying to attract the attention of people who want adventure or escape. If you
sell books, you’re also trying to attract the attention of people who want
adventure and escape, but of a very different variety. The difference should be
immediately noticeable in your advertising in order to attract the right
customers. Successful ads understand what their audience wants and how to show
that they can offer it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 14.0pt;">How can our screenwriting
help your business?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">We understand what makes ads memorable
and successful. We understand what audiences want and how to best showcase what
your business has to offer. Most importantly, we understand film and media.
Communicating effectively through a visual medium is an art; it’s about more
than just putting images, words, and music together on a screen. After a
consultation with you, we can write a custom ad suited exactly to your needs.
<a href="http://3kidsinacloset.weebly.com/contact.html" target="_blank">Contact us</a> for a free consultation. We promise you’ll be sold by the
end.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Elizabeth Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10878194286887425019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6373628871728946542.post-78334272772585296392017-04-03T11:52:00.002-06:002017-04-03T11:52:49.205-06:00Television Writing is Best Learned from "Inside the Room"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUN1tk7yVmPbjam4snbiErHMmsQW39l6OsRACBkhVl_ZgQ2dGhVA5Sp3tWPriu-9NbBkQjAxQFgGh8NPNdzPw7V16vHJHmnCbj8rID28cwnHGqT9pjaJbvaNHbjTQz3dinVCDV_AkIrEg/s1600/Inside+the+Room.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUN1tk7yVmPbjam4snbiErHMmsQW39l6OsRACBkhVl_ZgQ2dGhVA5Sp3tWPriu-9NbBkQjAxQFgGh8NPNdzPw7V16vHJHmnCbj8rID28cwnHGqT9pjaJbvaNHbjTQz3dinVCDV_AkIrEg/s200/Inside+the+Room.jpg" width="132" /></a></div>
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This is a companion article to my earlier review of <i>Cut to the Chase.</i> Check that out <b><u><a href="http://intodafire.blogspot.com/2017/04/if-youre-looking-to-break-into.html" target="_blank">here.</a></u></b></div>
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<br /></div>
If you already know screenwriting but want to pursue writing
for television specifically, helps and guides are very limited. Most
screenwriting books address feature-length films or screenwriting in general,
but <i>Inside the Room: Writing Television
with the Pros at UCLA Extension Writers’ Program</i> by Linda Venis (editor) is
targeted to those people who want to learn the art of television writing.<br />
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Tackling
the Specifics<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This book is not just one long book about writing for
television, but rather it is broken into informative, specific subsections
about what aspect of television writing you intend to tackle. The book has
three sections:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Section One: <i>Writing
your One-Hour Television Drama Specs and Pilots</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Section Two: <i>Writing
Your Half-Hour Television Comedy Specs and Pilots</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Section Three: <i>Being a
Professional in the Television Business</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At a glance, readers can see what applies to them and use
the book as a helpful, immediate reference for their needs.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
Business Side of Writing<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Inside the Room</i>
gives helpful writing instructions--information about outlining, creating a
television story, what makes a sitcom funny, etc.--but it also addresses the
business side of writing. An entire section of the book is dedicated to helping
TV writers break into the company scene or get their TV script noticed. This
section is practical and extremely helpful, with details about the television
industry that are hard for anyone to learn who’s never experienced it
firsthand.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<v:shape alt="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/31Qk-kCsNYL.jpg" id="Picture_x0020_5" o:spid="_x0000_s1027" style="height: 160pt; margin-left: 68.8pt; margin-top: 1.4pt; mso-height-percent: 0; mso-height-percent: 0; mso-height-relative: margin; mso-position-horizontal-relative: margin; mso-position-horizontal: right; mso-position-vertical-relative: text; mso-position-vertical: absolute; mso-width-percent: 0; mso-width-percent: 0; mso-width-relative: margin; mso-wrap-distance-bottom: 0; mso-wrap-distance-left: 9pt; mso-wrap-distance-right: 9pt; mso-wrap-distance-top: 0; mso-wrap-style: square; position: absolute; visibility: visible; width: 120pt; z-index: -251654144;" type="#_x0000_t75">
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</w:wrap></v:imagedata></v:shape><b><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Technical Specifications<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
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The product details of <i>Inside
the Room</i> as listed by Amazon are:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<ul><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvU3j5YmePVCUPRkZqBXdInFewiTZsv59hPfyib0iBpdbgdbkuYYnhotAIYwOX4rGDPyPKCsz_eaP_pxrIoSYZU21Y1PkQ8lnqJ6XUksWkwPTnrFQOlWhc2kzNqw-DtTI2sfElefiU8vo/s1600/InTheRoomDimensions.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvU3j5YmePVCUPRkZqBXdInFewiTZsv59hPfyib0iBpdbgdbkuYYnhotAIYwOX4rGDPyPKCsz_eaP_pxrIoSYZU21Y1PkQ8lnqJ6XUksWkwPTnrFQOlWhc2kzNqw-DtTI2sfElefiU8vo/s200/InTheRoomDimensions.jpg" width="150" /></a>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> Paperback:
272 pages</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Publisher:
Avery (August 6, 2013)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Language:
English</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">ISBN-10:
1592408117</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">ISBN-13:
978-1592408115</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Product
Dimensions: 6 x 0.7 x 9.1 inches</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Shipping
Weight: 7.2 ounces</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Average
Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars (14 customer reviews)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Amazon
Best Sellers Rank: #192,752 in Books, #141 in Books > Humor & Entertainment
> Movies > Screenwriting, #730 in Books > Humor & Entertainment
> Television, #905 in Books > Reference > Writing, Research &
Publishing Guides > Writing > Writing Skills</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
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<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Click <b><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Inside-Room-Writing-Television-Extension/dp/1592408117" target="_blank">here</a></u></b> to buy the book on Amazon,
available in both Kindle and Paperback versions.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Customer
Reviews<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Here’s a sampling of some top reviews:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“The instructors at UCLA Extension are working
professionals, they have their own takes on the industry and you know you are
getting real, not jaded, opinions about the entertainment business.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->-<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Stuart Beattie, writer/director, <i>Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the
Black Pearl</i> <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“<i>Inside the Room</i>
should be required reading for anyone embarking on or dreaming of a career in
television. Like the classes I took at UCLA Extension when I was starting out,
it demystifies the process of becoming a working television writer and tells
you how to go about it. Most of all, it lets you know it’s possible.”</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->-<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Carol Barbee, writer/producer, <i>Touch</i>, <i>Hawaii Five-O</i>, <i>Jericho</i>,
and <i>Judging Amy</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<v:shape alt="http://tvseriesfinale.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/2015-10-16-13.29.23.jpg" id="Picture_x0020_6" o:spid="_x0000_s1026" style="height: 113.25pt; margin-left: 175.3pt; margin-top: 1pt; mso-position-horizontal-relative: margin; mso-position-horizontal: right; mso-position-vertical-relative: text; mso-position-vertical: absolute; mso-wrap-distance-bottom: 0; mso-wrap-distance-left: 9pt; mso-wrap-distance-right: 9pt; mso-wrap-distance-top: 0; mso-wrap-style: square; position: absolute; visibility: visible; width: 226.5pt; z-index: -251653120;" type="#_x0000_t75">
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</w:wrap></v:imagedata></v:shape>“Aspiring television writers have found their bible in <i>Inside the Room.</i> It is an honest,
insightful and incredibly accurate depiction of how the modern television
system works. No book can guarantee success, but this one will get you as close
as any can!”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->-<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Lee Hollin, director, drama development, CBS
Television Studios<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Possible
Downsides<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Some of the complaints for the book include:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“[Because] it was written by multiple people [it] is often
repetitive.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->-<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Ayu, Goodreads reviewer<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There is some informational overlap in the sections handled
by different authors. This is a natural danger of having a book written by
multiple individuals rather than one.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Aspiring writers might still want to check out a
screenwriting book or two.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->-<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Lauren, Goodreads reviewer<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This book deals only with the specifics of writing for
television, which means it doesn’t hit on the specifics of screenwriting
technique such as crafting dialogue, making memorable characters, or creating
subtext. It operates under the assumption that the reader is already familiar
with the basics of screenwriting in general.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In Summary<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
While there are screenwriting guides galore, there are very
few that deal specifically with writing for television. If it’s something you
want to pursue, <i>Inside the Room</i> is
the book to start with.<o:p></o:p></div>
Elizabeth Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10878194286887425019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6373628871728946542.post-39352103687924540232017-04-03T11:44:00.001-06:002017-04-03T11:44:25.738-06:00If You're Looking to Break Into Screenwriting, It's Best to "Cut to the Chase"<div class="MsoNormal">
Hey, guys. Here’s my very first book review. If you’re interested in screenwriting at all, check this out:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrYn4CFjz74B35HgDYKkmT2APmrXJpInbxRLHVKlKxrgktu8dbjuY2d2Gl_JtjzYMO8Q2W9PKer4NIWX_E4XVU31yEeUcyRHr_FvqrXetNQyhtGpWPqxCty2eGodMqN1wNTpCXWN01sEA/s1600/Cut+to+the+Chase.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrYn4CFjz74B35HgDYKkmT2APmrXJpInbxRLHVKlKxrgktu8dbjuY2d2Gl_JtjzYMO8Q2W9PKer4NIWX_E4XVU31yEeUcyRHr_FvqrXetNQyhtGpWPqxCty2eGodMqN1wNTpCXWN01sEA/s200/Cut+to+the+Chase.jpg" width="131" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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Learning
to be a screenwriter can be a tough process. It isn’t readily taught in
schools, and people don’t talk about it as openly or often as novel writing.
But there are some very helpful written resources for the would-be
screenwriter. Of these, there is one that is probably the most thorough
beginner’s guide to screenwriting (that even non-beginners can still learn
from). That book is <i>Cut to the Chase:
Writing Feature Films with the Pros at UCLA Extension Writers’ Program</i> by
Linda Venis (editor).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Something
for Everyone<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<i>Cut to the Chase</i>
has a chapter for everything. If you’re just starting as a screenwriter and
know nothing about the process, start on chapter one and just plow on through.
If you’re looking for help on a specific aspect of screenwriting, take a glance
at the table of contents, and you’ll probably see exactly what you’re looking
for. Here’s a sampling:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Chapter 4: <i>Building
Characters</i> by Cindy Davis<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Chapter 6: <i>Outlining
the Screenplay</i> by Juliet Aires Giglio<o:p></o:p></div>
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Chapter 8: <i>The Who,
What, Where, When, Why (and How!) of Writing a Scene </i>by Dan Vining<o:p></o:p></div>
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Chapter 11: <i>The Art
and Craft of Dialogue Writing</i> by Karl Iglesias<o:p></o:p></div>
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Chapter 15: <i>Launching
and Sustaining a Feature Film Writing Career</i> by Deborah Dean Davis<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The Pros of
the Business<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
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type="#_x0000_t75" alt="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41XY2tWSUaL.jpg"
style='position:absolute;margin-left:345.75pt;margin-top:72.5pt;width:122.25pt;
height:163pt;z-index:-251656192;visibility:visible;mso-wrap-style:square;
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</v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]-->Each
of the contributing authors in <i>Cut to the
Chase</i> is a proven-successful screenwriter, and there’s a section in the end
where you can look at their respective accomplishments and films. On top of
that, each author teaches in the screenwriting program at UCLA, which is one of
the most acclaimed universities in America for an education in screenwriting.
These are the professionals, and they know what they’re talking about. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Technical
Specifications<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
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The product details of <i>Cut
to the Chase</i> as listed by Amazon are:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Paperback: 400 pages</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Publisher: Avery (August 6, 2013)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaK7VAxAy0GtavTpkB7GXlJ9fHPVID2dBQSNdBU1epHBLwBZHgoTCYMrO2YEPA4MFxiKrhWSwTKl0N3aOYx-1Hp1euCvFxwF9BZRjJ_yMRJWmYdwvruPVsn-F7DRzXwvq7T6T5lndaIck/s1600/CutChaseDimensions.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaK7VAxAy0GtavTpkB7GXlJ9fHPVID2dBQSNdBU1epHBLwBZHgoTCYMrO2YEPA4MFxiKrhWSwTKl0N3aOYx-1Hp1euCvFxwF9BZRjJ_yMRJWmYdwvruPVsn-F7DRzXwvq7T6T5lndaIck/s200/CutChaseDimensions.jpg" width="150" /></a></div>
</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Language: English</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">ISBN-10: 1592408109</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">ISBN-13: 978-1592408108</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.8 x 9 inches</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars (32
customer reviews)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #78,425 in Books, #72
in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Movies > Screenwriting, #315 in
Books > Humor & Entertainment > Television, #452 in Books >
Reference > Writing, Research & Publishing Guides > Writing >
Writing Skills</span></li>
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Click <b><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Cut-Chase-Writing-Feature-Extension/dp/1592408109" target="_blank">here</a></u></b> to buy the book on Amazon,
available in both Kindle and Paperback versions.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Customer
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Here’s a sampling of some top reviews:<o:p></o:p></div>
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“Cut to the Chase is now the ONLY book I use for my advanced
feature screenwriting class at S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at
Syracuse University. It’s a book for aspiring screenwriters, written by
professional screenwriters. It’s the type of book that will one day be thanked
at the Oscars!"<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->-<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Keith Giglio; Professor, Syracuse University;
Screenwriter and Executive Producer whose credits include <i>Cinderella Story</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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“Cut to the Chase is a state-of-the-art collection of
articles by some of the best (and most prolific) teachers at the UCLA Extension
Writers' Program. In addition to practical information on craft, the reader
also receives some pithy, entertaining and frank advice on dealing with the
realities of a screenwriting career.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->-<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Dennis Palumbo, author and licensed
psychotherapist<o:p></o:p></div>
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</v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]-->“There's a lot written about writing for
the movies—but not much of it comes from professionals. With Cut to the Chase,
readers hear from real professionals talking about the art and craft of
screenwriting and learn not only the nuts and bolts of what it takes to be a
screenwriter, but also how to mold their creativity into that most challenging
of forms, the screenplay.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->-<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Diane Lake; Assistant Professor, Visual and
Media Arts, Emerson College; screenwriter for Columbia, Disney, Miramax, and
Paramount<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Possible
Downsides<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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“[The] disadvantage of a book with multiple writers is that
some of the chapters are more useful than others.” <o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]-->-<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Lauren, Goodreads reviewer<o:p></o:p></div>
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This is the most common complaint from anyone who dislikes
the book. Each chapter is written by a different contributor, which means some
are your style and some aren’t, some are more structured than others, and some
are more accessible. It can make it hard to glean needed information from a
chapter if the style doesn’t suit you, and it can be frustrating if you know
there are other chapters that do. It can also be hard to constantly switch
styles and voices from chapter to chapter as you try to learn.<o:p></o:p></div>
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That being said, the dislike is minimal, and this book is
still universally accepted as a valuable resource for screenwriters.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In Summary<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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If you’re looking to break into screenwriting, or if you
have a script you’re working on but want to make better, <i>Cut to the Chase</i> is an invaluable resource for you.<o:p></o:p></div>
Elizabeth Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10878194286887425019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6373628871728946542.post-17701478859921110912016-08-30T12:17:00.001-06:002016-08-30T12:17:08.137-06:00Worldbuilding<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://cdn.meme.am/instances/500x/60988321.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://cdn.meme.am/instances/500x/60988321.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Worldbuilding and I have always had a hate relationship. Lots of hate. With chainsaws. And blowtorches. And our conflicts have always ended the same way: I lose and abandon a high fantasy idea to go write realistic fiction or urban fantasy while high fantasy laughs in my face and taunts me from afar. With cookies.<br />
<br />
And then I befriended a coworker, and everything changed. She invents worlds and draws her own maps for fun, and I'm sitting there in slack-jawed awe as she shows me graph paper covered in sketches depicting the land mass of islands, population numbers, seasonal weather patterns, and cultural traditions. She knows what kind of food would be available in the area, what would need to be imported, what trades would be practiced, and what kind of government would reign. I ask her how she manages something so monumental--how she battles her way through the chainsaws and blowtorches--and she says just four simple words: "I think it's cool."<br />
<br />
I have never once thought worldbuilding was cool--not when I do it, anyway. Other people make cool worlds, and that's cool. But to me worldbuilding is like washing the dishes. It's a necessary, gross evil that gets your hands soggy and your mood irritated, and no matter how long you stand there scrubbing, you'll always find out thirty seconds after you "finish" that you missed three cups and a pot and you're not done after all and you'll never be done because someone is definitely conspiring against you. And I had always thought that in order to win the battle of worldbuilding (or dish-washing, for that matter), I would have to become a great researcher, or a great historian, or a great something-I'm-not-and-dread-to-think-of-the-work-required-to-become. It wasn't until that conversation with my coworker that I realized the only change necessary is not one of vocation, but one of attitude.<br />
<br />
I enjoy what I do--writing, I mean. I think it's cool. I think it's hard. I think it's awesome. My problem with worldbuilding stems from the fact that I have never seen it as part of writing; I've always seen it as the mud I have to slough through in order to get to the actual writing.<br />
<br />
Now I don't think that way. Now I think it's cool.<br />
<br />
(I'll conquer my attitude about dishes another day. With chainsaws. And blowtorches.)Elizabeth Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10878194286887425019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6373628871728946542.post-80530227878023459172012-04-27T01:23:00.003-06:002016-08-30T11:24:11.094-06:00The Language EnigmaSometimes in writing we have to deal with foreign languages--either existing or
created by us. When we do, we need to make SURE we are doing our research. I
can't stress it enough, so let me say it again: WE MUST RESEARCH. One more time,
say it with me: I MUST RESEARCH. <br />
<br />
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Even when creating your
own language, you can't just spew letters out and go, "Look, Ma, look what I
made!" Well, you can, but let me tell you right now people will catch you, and
they will be displeased. Every language has rules and cadences and a specific
ring that lets you know it is a language. Think about it, if someone walks by
you speaking another language, even if you don't know it, you recognize it,
right? I hear people speak Spanish all the time. No idea what they're saying,
but I know it's Spanish, or Italian, or Korean, or whatever because it has a
certain sound. <br />
<br />
I made this mistake in the first fantasy manuscript I
wrote with my own language. I thought I could just throw out whatever and it
would work because it was a made up language. Guess what? The feedback I got was
something like this:<br />
<br />
"These words look NOTHING alike. None of
them."<br />
<br />
"I like the story, but their language is really
unbelievable."<br />
<br />
"You've never studied languages, have you?"<br />
<br />
And
they were completely spot on. When your language looks like: "Xuop uenns to nkto
yu kam lau'la eknataliantbrlmdpkndiflasa?" there is something wrong. (Don't
worry, my language didn't look THAT bad, haha, this is just an exaggerated
example.) <br />
<br />
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My favorite example of an author who
has this nailed is Richard Adams--the genius behind Watership Down. The book is
about a group of rabbits who must find a new home when they realize their
current one is about to be destroyed by humans. Richard Adams created a
vocabulary for the rabbits based on how he thought they would genuinely speak if
they could. <br />
<br />
Look at some of the words from their language: <em>hrududu,
pfeffa, thlayli, zorn, hraka, homba, elil, fu inle.</em> <br />
Compare--look at
some of the words from Spanish:<em> muy, cabeza, boca, morena, nina, buenas,
llamo.</em> <br />
Japanese: <em>kokoro, tsuki, oshiete, wa, namae, iie, gambate,
itadakimasu.</em> <br />
Mandarin: <em>zhongwen, ni, qiu, ma, laoshi, dui, chun,
yue, zai, xiang</em><br />
<br />
Oh my goodness I could keep going! (You know by now
I'm long-winded, yes? Good! Continue to forgive me.) Back to Richard Adams. His
language LOOKS like a language. More than that, it FITS the characters who are
speaking it--if you can't picture a rabbit with its little wiggling nose saying,
"Hrududu, hrududu," then you've never stared at a rabbit long
enough.<br />
<br />
Now, I'm not saying you need to be J.R.R.Tolkien or James Cameron
or whoever created Klingon. If you want to make a complete working language,
FANTASTIC, if not (like lazy old me), you still need to put in the time and
imagination to make the words you do use believable. It makes a tremendous
difference, believe me.<br />
<br />
(This is self-explanatory for real languages,
right? I hope we all understand we must spare ourselves from the embarassment of
putting Arabic in our books when we know nothing about it and having someone who
does know the language corner us and demand to know why this character called
his girlfriend a lovely cow.)<br />
<br />
<br />
<em>~ Lizzy</em><br />
<em>Current word count today: Considering we just rolled midnight into a new day: 0. I better get cracking!</em><br />
<em>Current song: Lune by Bruno Peltier [Gringoire, Notre Dame de Paris]</em><br />
<em>Current quote: "De gustibus non disputandem est." ~ Cicero</em>Elizabeth Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10878194286887425019noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6373628871728946542.post-83953987191150993202012-04-19T07:00:00.000-06:002012-04-19T07:00:14.460-06:00Killing Violently and with Much BloodHaVe I frEaKEd yoU oUt? 0_o GooooooOooOOood. <br />
No, just kidding. Don't be freaked. What I am referring to here is your inner editor. When you first sit down to write, your inner editor perches on your shoulder like a little demon from the depths of that-place-of-which-we-do-not-speak, ready to shred your beloved, fragile little heart into ribbons the moment it ventures out onto the written page. If you try to shoo him away, he will stab you with his pitchfork. If you tell him to be gone, he will laugh in your face. If you force him out, he will force back in. The solution is to kill him. Violently, and with Much Blood. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7tsYwIdSekMqfSujxPiJQob3GgEQUSeQ3Qr4iPwVvg12_yJJpkG0bwMdURmvXolfxWaoSSl-RpPnFuuodC6sNnzWjkxOzJZHJaEBNhbCu0KVF2_T9EJywcq7M9dttvgHhf8RKvyClBY57/s400/LittleDevil.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" closure_uid_i8b57g="2" height="320" nda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7tsYwIdSekMqfSujxPiJQob3GgEQUSeQ3Qr4iPwVvg12_yJJpkG0bwMdURmvXolfxWaoSSl-RpPnFuuodC6sNnzWjkxOzJZHJaEBNhbCu0KVF2_T9EJywcq7M9dttvgHhf8RKvyClBY57/s320/LittleDevil.bmp" width="221" /></a></div><br />
DON'T PANIC! Before you begin screaming about the repercussions of such a rash act, let me remind you--the inner editor is a demon. Death is not permanent for him--it's just the action that takes him the longest to recover from. He will come grumbling and trudging back into your mind, dragging his pitchfork behind him, in due time, but in that lapse, you will have the time you need to get your feelings cemented into the page and your heart back safely within your chest. Then you can smile at him and gesture at the page, at which point his eyes will gain that demonic gleam and he will set to work happily tearing into the words. Now, your words are still lovely to you, and it will still hurt, but not in the crippling manner it would have if you had let him run wild to begin with. Besides, he doesn't hold grudges, believe me. After the chance to edit to his heart's content, he will forget all about the Much Blood, which will make him totally unsuspecting the next time you need to repeat the process. Do not jeapardize the importance of your first draft on his scathing input--his job is indeed helpful and important, but only when used later on, and it only hurts you both to act otherwise. <br />
<br />
<em>~ Lizzy</em><br />
<em>Current word count today: Today is a day of editing (funny, considering the topic)</em><br />
<em>Current song: Off My Mind by Henry Lau</em><br />
<em>Current quote: "'Smooth and Handsome' puts you in control and lets you have the hair you've always dreamed of!" ~ The really annoying commercial on YouTube that needs to die violently and with Much Blood.</em>Elizabeth Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10878194286887425019noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6373628871728946542.post-10209609334635948542012-03-08T08:00:00.001-07:002012-03-08T08:00:08.666-07:00Holding a Pineapple<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.floridahillnursery.com/images/gold%20pineapple%20.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.floridahillnursery.com/images/gold%20pineapple%20.jpg" width="173" /></a></div><div align="center"></div><br />
There exists a short story. I wish I could expound on that a bit, but at the present moment, I can't quite recall the story's title.<br />
<br />
No matter, the story itself is unimportant. The important thing is that at one point in the story, the main character knocks on a door. The door opens to reveal a man named Elroy Berdahl; Elroy Berdahl with silver-blue eyes like razor blades who is dressed in work pants and holds in his worn hands a green apple and a paring knife. When Mr. Berdahl first made my acquaintance, it was a lesson in characterization given by my creative writing teacher. After reading Mr. Berdahl's introduction, my teacher asked why the author had given this character a green apple to hold. When someone opens the door holding a green apple rather than anything else in the world they could hold, what does it say about them? Then he gave an off-hand and yet deeply wonderful thought. Allow me to share:<br />
<br />
"There are some characters who could open the door holding a <em>pineapple.</em> Elroy Berdahl is not one of them."<br />
<br />
Details are such a wonderful part of characterization. When someone with razor eyes opens the door holding a green apple and a paring knife, the readers instantly know this is someone completely different from a character wearing an argyle sweater who opens the door holding a pineapple. (That, by the way, would be my creative writing teacher. Yes, he is <em>that</em> fantastic.) The character didn't even have to speak, and the narrator didn't have to say a word about their past--we <em>know</em> them.<br />
<br />
Look around you--what items and images paint a very specific mood or personality trait? Would that person open the door holding a green apple? How about a pineapple?<br />
<br />
<em>~ Lizzy</em><br />
<em>Current word count today: 448</em><br />
<em>Current song: Faithfully by Journey</em><br />
<em>Current quote: "I remember what you wore on the first day / You came into my life and I thought, / Hey, you know, this could be something." ~ Boys Like Girls ft. Taylor Swift [Two is Better than One]</em>Elizabeth Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10878194286887425019noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6373628871728946542.post-53468243071241074402012-03-06T16:10:00.000-07:002012-03-06T16:10:40.718-07:00Facing Our Dragons<div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://ts4.mm.bing.net/images/thumbnail.aspx?q=1626394666619&id=18019dbba50bf652e8bc7f1e5ad39d09" /> </div><br />
There exists a board game called Talisman. (I know, right??) Don't tell me you've never heard of it, because I just told you. Yeah, I'm awesome, you're welcome.<br />
<br />
Writers need to play Talisman. Yes, <em>need.</em> Most specifically, writers need to play Talisman with the Dragon expansion pack. If you have access to this fantastic game with this fantastic expansion, play it now, and I need say no more because you will instantly understand my mysteries. (As well as the mysteries of the universe, the fabric of space-time, the intricacies of quantum mechanics, and a woman's mind.)<br />
<br />
(Okay, maybe not a woman's mind.)<br />
<br />
If you do not have access to such a resource, I shall explain so that you will be compelled to go acquire it. Talisman (with Dragon expansion) is a game of conquering small battles and building up your skills enough to tackle the final battle of the Dragon King. You choose a character to begin with and as they move around the board, battles with dragons will clog their path. Sometimes, these dragons are too strong, and the character dies.<br />
<br />
Yep. Dead.<br />
<br />
Well, crap. "Me mage's dead--whaddoido now??" The trick is that the dragon stays on the board until it's defeated. Sometimes in writing, we hit challenges that we can't for the life of us beat. The challenges won't just go away (if they do, that's not a good thing. We need challenges to make us and our writing stronger), so what do we do? <br />
<br />
We do the opposite of what we do <em>not</em> do. We do <em>not </em>heave a sigh, say, "That's a shame" and put the board away. We do <em>not</em> delete the whole manuscript and curl up with a bowl of ben-and-jerry's-specialty-frozen-self-pity. Uh-uh, no way! The game ain't over yet! <br />
<br />
In Talisman, you start a new character and approach the board all over again. In writing, we tweak, we redisign, we brainstorm, and we hit it from a new angle. The dragon won't change--it is the challenger who needs to. <br />
<br />
<em>~ Lizzy</em><br />
<em>Current word count today: 0 (Yeah, I'm fixing that now)</em><br />
<em>Current song: Severely by FT Island</em><br />
<em>Current quote: "Watson, don't be stupid. Bad people do bad things because they </em>can."<em> ~ Sherlock Holmes [Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows]</em>Elizabeth Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10878194286887425019noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6373628871728946542.post-10648427329709276272012-03-02T01:28:00.000-07:002012-03-02T01:28:14.670-07:00Writ3rs<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://rogerfields.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/calculus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" closure_uid_c12ydf="2" height="240" src="http://rogerfields.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/calculus.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div align="center"></div><br />
For anyone who joins me as a fellow Numb3rs fan, you'll understand the comparison I want to make today. Anyone who isn't a Numb3rs fan, I understand it's because you've never seen the show, and I forgive your unintentional ignorance. Netflix. Now. (Or, you know, buy it--that works too.)<br />
<br />
In this wonderful show, the character Charlie is a mathemetician who uses his skills to help guide the FBI in investigations--finding suspect locations, future target points, mathematical patterns, etc. In the second episode of the very first season, while working on an equation to predict a team of bank robbers' future movements, circumstances change and Charlie gets overwhelmed. His brother comes home to find him working on a completely different equation, and when he confronts Charlie, Charlie utters this profound thought:<br />
<br />
"Sometimes I can't choose what I work on. I can't follow through on a line of thinking just because I want to or--or because it's needed. I <em>have</em> to work on what's in my head."<br />
<br />
Sometimes in writing, we hit blocks. We face problems that are just too overwhelming for the moment, and our brains stray to something else because we just can't deal with the problem at hand. That's okay. Push the problem to a little corner in the back of your mind and let it mellow. Work on whatever else is in your head. The beautiful thing about our minds is that even when you're not conscious of it (sometimes <em>especially</em> because you're not) it will still be working on that problem. And it will find an answer. <br />
<br />
<em>~ Lizzy</em><br />
<em>Current word count today: 327</em><br />
<em>Current song: Make Up Your Mind/Catch Me I'm Falling from Next to Normal</em><br />
<em>Current quote: "Work is the miracle by which talent is brought to the surface and dreams become reality." ~ Gordon B. Hinckley [Standing for Something]</em>Elizabeth Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10878194286887425019noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6373628871728946542.post-66693341587270792532012-02-27T05:00:00.004-07:002012-02-27T05:00:00.796-07:00That Which Makes You Feel<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://blog.lib.umn.edu/graz0029/ponderingpsychology/Emotions.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://blog.lib.umn.edu/graz0029/ponderingpsychology/Emotions.gif" width="320" /></a></div>There are many things in the world that evoke emotion. Sometimes we expect them, and sometimes we don't. <br />
<br />
I find the most interesting cases to be when something makes you feel, but you're not sure exactly <em>what</em> it makes you feel. These, I feel (no pun intended), are the fertile soil in which living writing is sown. Living, breathing writing. The kind that sometimes isn't even meant for other people at all, but just for yourself. When we feel something we can't explain, these are crucial moments to write. Your very writerly soul might depend upon it. <br />
<br />
When someone tells a joke that makes me laugh, I feel happy. And I'll write that feeling when my characters hear jokes, and it's fine. But laughter is static on the page--we know it, we understand it, and it is a flicker in our minds that is registered and then escapes like vapor through the white spaces in the next sentence. <br />
<br />
When I walk onto a stone deck at three in the morning in bare feet to study a sleeping city, I don't know what I feel. Cold, naturally, but that's a shallow diagnosis for the complex symptoms. There is a magic in the soft yellow glow of streetlights on deserted sidewalks, and there is a chill in the surrounding shadows. The stars hold a whispered promise and the frosted ground echoes back silence. Nothing stirs and yet everything seems to simmer above an unseen energy. A stone deck at three AM is no fading vapor--it hovers as a constant fog for the mind to sift through again and again. That is where the best inspiration is drawn. Written words are the fingers that allow poking and prodding and a search for truth that sometimes insubstantial thoughts cannot accomplish alone.<br />
<br />
What makes you write? What makes you <em>feel?</em><br />
<br />
<em>~ Lizzy<br />
Current word count today: 1,355</em><br />
<em>Current song: Broken by Robert Downey Jr.</em><br />
<em>Current quote: "I don't reckon I know why [I write.] I just know I have to." ~ John-boy Walton [Richard Thomas, The Waltons]</em>Elizabeth Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10878194286887425019noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6373628871728946542.post-78622097766270101702011-11-13T07:00:00.000-07:002011-11-13T07:00:08.358-07:00I Promise I Shall Never Break Keep This PromiseToday, I'm going to tell you the story of a small being with furry feet who journeyed to a volcano, lost some friends and a finger, and, most terrifying of all, faced a giant spider (and lost.)<br />
<br />
Once upon a time, there was a young boy named Frollo Satchelouts (who wasn't that young in the book. What book? Not important). His parents died when he was very young, and he was taken in by his uncle, who was actually very mean. But luckily when he was eleven, he received an email inviting him to a magical school where he made lots of friends and almost died lots of times but really loved it anyway. And he fell in love, and he got attacked by giant spiders, and he beat the bad guy(s). The end!<br />
<br />
What do you mean that wasn't the right story? WHO IS THE AUTHOR HERE?? How would YOU know what the right story is????<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://images4.fanpop.com/image/photos/22300000/You-re-a-wizard-Frodo-harry-potter-22329251-350-700.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" nda="true" src="http://images4.fanpop.com/image/photos/22300000/You-re-a-wizard-Frodo-harry-potter-22329251-350-700.jpg" width="160" /></a></div>. . . What do you mean I promised something different? Oh, the thing about the lava rock and the spilled innards and the spider? Well, it didn't work out; I like this story better. And there were still spiders, so QUIT WHINING.<br />
<br />
Have you guys had that silent conversation with an author before? How about in your own manuscripts if you're a writer? Yeah-huh, I thought so. There is a silent contract in the world of literature called "promises to the reader," which is signed by the author the moment they put pen to paper. It goes something like:<br />
<br />
I, Author, do solemnly swear that--in addition to being up to no good--I shall keep the promises I make in my writing.<br />
<br />
And that's it. The reader doesn't have to sign--this is one-sided. (Yeah, well, life's not fair, so don't complain.) Yes, you're the author, and it's your world, and you can do whatever you want. No, the reader won't automatically like your book just because you keep all your promises.<br />
<br />
Do it anyway. <br />
<br />
Did anyone notice it's not Thursday? It's Sunday! Lovely day outside (actually, I don't know, because I'm writing this Friday night, which is also not Thursday). Great day of the week--the day of rest, the day of peace, the day of rejuvination. Now, I know that a few posts ago, I promised that I would blog a Monday Message every Monday, and a Thursday Thought, every Tuesday, but . . . you know . . . I wanted Thursday Thoughts on Sunday instead. Because I'm the blogger, and I can do that, no matter what I said back there in <strike>chapter one</strike> that karate-chop post. I know I did a few like I was supposed to, and it really looked like I was going to follow through on it, but . . . Sunday is the new Thursday. Also, I had the blog hop going, so I didn't want to override it. That's a legitimate excuse, right??<br />
<br />
Good excuse--yeah, no, doesn't matter. It's a broken promise. Today is not Thursday, and I promised Thursday Thoughts on Thursday. Even though Sunday might work just as well (which it doesn't, haha), I promised Thursday.<br />
<br />
I started out with a thinly-veiled (okay, non-veiled) reference to Lord of the Rings, and I'll tell you why. Because I just watched the first movie? <strike>Yes!</strike> No! Because Lord of the Rings shows this perfectly many times. Let's focus on the council at Rivendell just because.<br />
<br />
PROMISES MADE AT TEH COUNCIL OF TEH FREE PEOPLZ!<br />
<br />
Elrond: "[The ring] must be cast back into the fiery chasm from whence it came." (Awesome, so we now know that if the good guys are going to win in this story, the ring has to be tossed into a specific volcano. Sweet!)<br />
<br />
Frodo: "I will take the ring to Mordor." (Double awesome with a cherry on top! Frodo is going to make it to Mordor, giant troll or no giant troll, split-personalitied creature or no split-personalitied creature, hot stud from Gondor or no hot stud from Gondor, giant spider or no giant spider (and the list goes on!))<br />
<br />
PROMISES KEPT FROM TEH COUNCIL OF TEH FREE PEOPLZ!<br />
<br />
Gollum: "PRECIOUS!!!!" (Just kidding--for once he's silent. But you can picture him hugging the ring and falling from the high dive into the volcano, right?)<br />
<br />
Frodo: "I'm here, Sam." (That's it! This one epic line where we see Frodo standing dead-fish-eyed on this ledge over the toxic fumes of lava, while he says, "Here it is. Remember that lovely city by the waterfall with the leaves changing color in the fall, where I made a promise before I had dead-fish eyes? I made it. I'm here.")<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGchHTGSUDKbHcJ8qgCA3wvuDYZAwKrmHKBVupaLw6sWzXm95ysIhkAo2zQq_q7iQcxA-cpoq3WV5iAVq_9KYfmNRXybZRNh4VyihEmKt8dH3NgqtSBHhGKvZJ0xHjYk7w4GY7KESOiYk/s1600/Frodo+-+I%2527m+Here.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" nda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGchHTGSUDKbHcJ8qgCA3wvuDYZAwKrmHKBVupaLw6sWzXm95ysIhkAo2zQq_q7iQcxA-cpoq3WV5iAVq_9KYfmNRXybZRNh4VyihEmKt8dH3NgqtSBHhGKvZJ0xHjYk7w4GY7KESOiYk/s320/Frodo+-+I%2527m+Here.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>When promises are kept, it just makes your heart soar, doesn't it? Because it means we took that journey and we reached the end. I CANNOT EXPRESS HOW IMPORTANT THIS IS AND SO I SHALL PUT IT IN ALL CAPS AND MAKE IT VERY LONG SO YOUR EYES ARE DRAWN TO IT--STORIES ARE ALL ABOUT JOURNIES. That Frodo right there on your right is not the same one that set out from Rivendell, and we got to make that journey with him, because the author promised we could. If Frodo got kidnapped by Faramir and then heroically died at the hands of a Nazgul and Sam had to heroically carry the ring the rest of the way in honor of his dead friend IT WOULDN'T WORK. Not after the promise of Frodo has already been set. <br />
<br />
Keep your promises. You can't trick your readers. They aren't going to settle for the excuse of, "I'm the author, and this worked better." If it worked better, then go back and make it work from the beginning. <br />
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Now, you might not even realize you made a promise you have to keep! J.R.R.Tolkien could have just been turning out dialogue and not thought twice about Frodo's statement. If so, he might have had Boromir kill him to take the ring, then had Aragorn overcome Boromir and have to deal with the fact that he feels he will give in to weakness before he can destroy the ring. Sounds like it could work, right? No! Because the reader will say, "Wait, but you had <em>Frodo</em> carry the ring. You said <em>Frodo</em> would take it to Mordor. If it wasn't going to happen, why did you tell me it would?"<br />
<br />
So read through your manuscript and look for promises. What do you intend to keep and what did you not mean to make? Not just in dialogue either, but in prose. Do the details your characters notice come into play later on? Because if you focus on it, you're making the promise that it will.<br />
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I heard an author once phrase this perfectly (I believe it was either Karen Hoover or Sarah M. Eden, but don't quote me on that). She said, "If your character walks into a room and notices a gun on the mantelpiece, there had better be some shooting coming up." <br />
<br />
So shoot someone. Get the jewelry to the volcano. Give the boy dead eyes and shoo him on his way to the barren wasteland. <br />
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Or, if you can't, then don't have them notice the gun.<br />
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<em>~ Lizzy</em><br />
<em>Current word count today: 1,926</em><br />
<em>Current song: Broken Vow by Josh Groban</em><br />
<em>Current quote: "I made a promise, Mr. Frodo. A promise! 'Don't you leave him, Samwise Gamgee.' And I don't mean to. I don't mean to." ~ Samwise Gamgee, Lord of the Rings</em>Elizabeth Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10878194286887425019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6373628871728946542.post-3305037818953967452011-11-07T07:00:00.000-07:002011-11-07T07:00:03.698-07:00Where is the lid?<div class="deleteBody"><div class="postBody" style="color: #777777;"><span style="color: black;">I work in a small bookstore with a bunch of really awesome colleagues. Just thought I'd get that out of the way before I launched into a story.<br />
<br />
So! A few days ago, we got a shipment of new candles in. (Candles?? In a bookstore???? Yeah, we're that awesome.) While my manager and another employee set up prices for them, I found little nooks for them in our already over-stocked shelf. As I did, one little lonely candle caught my eye. A lidless candle, to be precise. I pointed it out to my manager and he shrugged.<br />
<br />
"I know," he said. "I can't find the lid anywhere. We'll just have to leave it on the shelf for now."<br />
<br />
So I put it back. The day moved on. Candles were unboxed and stickered and moved and stacked. And in the flurry of rapid movements and bumping elbows, one poor candle met its Mount Doom demise as it tumbled from Kate's hands. Except the bottom of Mount Doom in this case wasn't soft, gushy lava, it was rock hard carpet. (You know, that kind that should be labeled as carpet-colored tile rather than actual carpet.) <br />
<br />
Now, an interesting fact about carpet-colored tile is that it gives a jarring impact you wouldn't expect, and it serves as a slick surface even better than real tile (at least in the case of shattering glass). We had glass pieces <em>everywhere.</em> They completely covered the front of the store, not just the little corner next to the registers where the candle actually fell. Not only do we still need to transport candles through this mine field, but we have customers passing in and out of the front of the store all the time. <br />
<br />
Kate groaned and ran to the back for the vacuum. I, on the other hand, stood there doing a perfect impersonation of a speechless moron with candles in each hand while I wondered if even Superman's vacuuming skills would be fast enough to clear a path to the registers before the next customer needed to check out.<br />
<br />
And my manager, my crazy awesome manager, pursed his lips, surveyed the damage, and then scooped up the demolished candle's somehow-intact lid.<br />
<br />
"Look," he said, smiling. "Now we have an extra lid for that other candle."<br />
<br />
Ahh, it made me <em>laugh.</em> Isn't that such a wonderful view? Even more so if you take it with a bit of a broader perspective.<br />
<br />
When things go wrong in life, and we're left staring at this mess that looks hopeless to clean up before the next event hits us, I hope we can find the little lessons and be able to say, "Oh, look. Now I have an answer for that other problem." And if you can't find the problem that lesson will fit, hang on to it, because it'll be unboxed in the future for sure.<br />
</span><span style="color: black;"><em>~ Lizzy<br />
Current word count today: 57</em><br />
<em>Current song: Fiction by Beast</em><br />
<em>Current quote: "Some of the best lessons are learned from past mistakes. The error of the past is the wisdom of the future." ~ Dale Turner</em></span></div></div>Elizabeth Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10878194286887425019noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6373628871728946542.post-1951157199701846102011-11-03T02:25:00.000-06:002011-11-03T02:25:00.259-06:00ซึ่งจะทำแรก ๆ ในช่วงเช้าEver to the river it's downplay because tomorrow into forever should a dragon be forsaken to the snake beyond a rock. Right? YES!<br />
<br />
What you see above you is Thai. Unless you're not looking at the title, and then it's Coherant AM, fondly referred to by no one as "Coheram." <br />
<br />
Coheram is a language I and--I've heard whispered rumors--other writers only speak between the hours of 12:00 AM and 5:00 AM, and only if there has been no sleep between. It is a portal into the tired-yet-wired artist mind that opens up possibilities not available in mere English. <br />
<br />
Now, Coheram spoken aloud can lead to problems, because if you're not conversing with a fellow writer (even sometimes when you are), the language is very cryptic, and they will most likely think you're just speaking Nonsense. Though the languages sound almost identical when spoken, if they're written, that's when Coheram shows its true colors. It is the language that emerges when the over-analytical, self-criticist in your mind nods off and the rest of your brain is left to uncensored creativity. It is the crystal well from which the most pristine writing is drawn. (Haha, you're all looking back at that sentence I wrote and confusing it with Nonsense, aren't you? I told you it's tricky!)<br />
<br />
A few skilled writers are even able to hone their language skills enough to draw this elusive, slippery beast from hiding <em>during the day </em>(I suspect they have discovered a way to deliver mental sleeping pills to their inner editor. Hypothesis currently undergoing testing to prove)<em>.</em> I've only just begun the process myself, and I've heard it takes hours and hours and hours and hours and hours of slaving work to really perfect. But I cannot wait for the time when I can plow through a few hours of writing in Coheram with a great muddy mess in my wake that looks hopeless to clean up. That's when you switch your brain back to English, and allow that inner editor to filter the pure water from the cloudy excess. Because English is meticulous, and if you try to do all your writing that way (which is a personal flaw of mine (haha, redundancy, thy name is Elizabeth Hughes!)), you wind up with fairly clear water that still has to be filtered, and the process wastes heaps and tons of precious time.<br />
<br />
Do you utilize the magnificence of Coheram? Do you dose your inner editor? Let us blaze a muddy footpath, united in the language of uninhibited creativity!<br />
<br />
<em>~ Lizzy</em><br />
<em>Current word count today: 2,192 (NANOWRIMO!)</em><br />
<em>Current song: Lucifer by SHINee</em><br />
<em>Current quote: </em><em>“Writing is an exploration. You start from nothing and learn as you go.” ~ E.L. Doctorow</em>Elizabeth Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10878194286887425019noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6373628871728946542.post-5883088121518665902011-10-31T15:26:00.000-06:002011-10-31T15:26:24.103-06:00Karate-Chopping the WeekReaders, I'm afraid I've been thinking. A dangerous pasttime, I know. But this wacky young coot is just restless, and my sanity's only so-so. Now, the wheels in my head have been turning since I looked at this crazy small blog. See, I promised myself I'd be marr--<br />
<br />
Okay, that's as far as I can carry the song, haha. Anyway, I figure since I actually have a following now, I should try for <em>some</em> organization in this blog. (Not that I <em>need</em> organization, ha! No one has organization like Gaston--I mean me. Ha ha! Ha...... yeah) And anyway, here's the layout I propose: <br />
<br />
Monday Message<br />
Thursday Thought<br />
<br />
Yep! That looks organized enough for me! So that means from now on I'll be doing a post every Monday and every Thursday for sure . . . and possibly other days of the week if I burst with something I have to share. But Monday and Thursday for sure! Monday Messages will be little ideas and occurences just from watching the world, and Thursday Thoughts will be a little thought on writing (which I hope you will enjoy whether you're a writer or not).<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidaXvTd49JezJ-M-1d5dP-3FaGJcJF9Dg6zCHdQRWcRoGIn76wKXNaMuneM4HXUi6sVLxhyphenhypheneIV9F8JViEUe2FyUf8PA_Yor__z45UYJUi6laoYL-yf8SkEukt611sKiwjX6EXqh-LhdAM/s1600/Photo0206.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" ida="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidaXvTd49JezJ-M-1d5dP-3FaGJcJF9Dg6zCHdQRWcRoGIn76wKXNaMuneM4HXUi6sVLxhyphenhypheneIV9F8JViEUe2FyUf8PA_Yor__z45UYJUi6laoYL-yf8SkEukt611sKiwjX6EXqh-LhdAM/s200/Photo0206.jpg" width="150" /></a></div>So with no further ado, since today is a Monday and those only come around once a week, I shall disclose my first Monday Message. As you can probably tell, I've had the topic of candles on my mind. (You're like . . . "Huhyeahwhacomeagain??") <br />
<br />
Last night I carved a pumpkin again for the first time in years. (Candle for pumpkin leads to candlestick from Beauty and the Beast leads to the earlier song parody--ta da! (Now you're like . . . "How do you ever get anything done with that attention span?")) It was fun. A <em>lot</em> of fun. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuKic2_-BBpPD-PQ3pbG-EhsPTtOPC-UzLW2djUNHiay1gQjeyD0TFryttEOYQ86D64jtWEVyn5nay0_cX2L9RVWqasy7H8E0jCKEI5zLExyo7esD00BRIwS0RhEF0qQoaIZw2HxS-ABU/s1600/Photo0209.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" ida="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuKic2_-BBpPD-PQ3pbG-EhsPTtOPC-UzLW2djUNHiay1gQjeyD0TFryttEOYQ86D64jtWEVyn5nay0_cX2L9RVWqasy7H8E0jCKEI5zLExyo7esD00BRIwS0RhEF0qQoaIZw2HxS-ABU/s200/Photo0209.jpg" width="150" /></a></div>I dropped one of the pumpkins in the garage when getting it out of the truck, and that led to a giggling fit because, well, have you ever dropped a pumpkin on concrete? Have you seen them bounce? Have you <em>heard</em> them? <em>Hilarious. </em>The feeling of squishing pumpkin guts in my fingers is something I'd forgotten, and it brought another nice bout of laughter. Dumping pumpkin innards in the sink and having the slimy orange pulp hanging out of the mouth and eyes of your carved creation . . . nothing beats it. And the bright smell of pumpkin juice stains your hands even after washing.<br />
<br />
The best part is when you put in the candle though. You flip the lights off and there's this flickering orange creation sitting on the counter grinning at you. The grin's a little crooked, and the eyes are asymmetrical, and some of the light escapes through tiny gaps in the seal of the lid that you didn't even know were there. After a few minutes, a little spot on the lid starts blackening because it's a tiny pumpkin and you can smell the inside burning just a bit, but it's all good. Being lopsided makes it even more Halloween-y, and even if burning pumpkin isn't exactly perfume, it's not a bad scent either. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdV2q_EUwOtUFW-SKYesvunNEbqNjx20MQfZlruoDtG4CBWRt56tWi6gl1tIolLgTEeI3RnNorkRb02vmewCAY36dZYXXS8aDnl4AIod6Va3WQt8iG-iuZK6AfS-iQYcrmT7nz_1L8fQQ/s1600/Photo0203.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" ida="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdV2q_EUwOtUFW-SKYesvunNEbqNjx20MQfZlruoDtG4CBWRt56tWi6gl1tIolLgTEeI3RnNorkRb02vmewCAY36dZYXXS8aDnl4AIod6Va3WQt8iG-iuZK6AfS-iQYcrmT7nz_1L8fQQ/s320/Photo0203.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
When was the last time you did something that made you happy as a kid? It's fun, and far from pointless.<br />
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<em>~ Lizzy<br />
Current word count today: 23 (NaNoWriMo tomorrow!)</em><br />
<em>Current song: Dieu que le monde est injuste</em> <em>by Garou [Quasimodo, Notre Dame de Paris]</em><br />
<em>Current quote: "I want adventure in the great wide somewhere." ~ Belle [Disney's Beauty and the Beast]</em>Elizabeth Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10878194286887425019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6373628871728946542.post-15462607577305732052011-10-25T11:24:00.000-06:002011-10-25T11:29:31.435-06:00That Which is LackingI consider myself to be a calm and a rational teenager. (whY aRE yOu LauGHiNg?? O_o) Off the top of my head, I can think of very few things that upset me, and these things are very rational. To name a few--spiders with unreasonably long legs cause me to cringe, seeing people eat french fries with a fork causes me to weep, and hearing people say, "I love ALL music. Except screamo. And rap. And hip hop, and country, and opera. And classical, and LadyGagaandBowlingforSoupandNeilDiamondand30Secondsto--" that, well, that just makes me facepalm.<br />
<br />
Anyway, yes it is perfectly calm and rational to be upset by those things, yes? YES. I believe, also, that it is perfectly calm and rational to be upset by Blogger's LACK OF A REPLY BUTTON.<br />
<br />
Seriously. What kind of communication program lacks a method in which to reply to comments? It's BARBARIC, I teLL yoU! So, because of that-which-Blogger-lacks, I am forced to waste the time of everyone in order to create a completely random post in which I can justify replying to a comment as an ending sidenote. Here goes:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhey0j41_bKl45675x6Q0-o0j9USm6R5H-mC2gus9QJN2nruYbLIVijlM-bP6-VgocUON15GFY9M27iy_m4LZRzYAnB3LILPd6NiaDs41Up6t9bpiwJ0ZKMR5kqSAXVGCWtTuqtieI_-m4/s1600/Bunny%2521.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="175" ida="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhey0j41_bKl45675x6Q0-o0j9USm6R5H-mC2gus9QJN2nruYbLIVijlM-bP6-VgocUON15GFY9M27iy_m4LZRzYAnB3LILPd6NiaDs41Up6t9bpiwJ0ZKMR5kqSAXVGCWtTuqtieI_-m4/s200/Bunny%2521.bmp" width="200" /></a></div>(Mythical, booming voice) I HAVE COME TO YOU TODAY TO IMPART A LIFE-ALTERING STORY. For those of you who do not know, I am part Native American (for real, I'm Cherokee on my dad's side, but THAT IS NOT THE POINT!). There is a story of our people that has been passed down THROUGH GENERATIONS and told around COUNTLESS CAMPFIRES (or, I believe for me, I first heard it on the third-grade playground, but THAT IS NOT THE POINT!). It is a story of mystery looping through time, and one that will NEVER HAVE AN END, for what true story does?<br />
<br />
It was a DARK AND STORMY night, and the rain came down in TORRENTS, and Big Chief said to Flying Hawk, "Tell me a story."<br />
<br />
So Flying Hawk began, "It was a DARK AND STORMY night, and the rain came down in TORRENTS, and Big Chief said to Flying Hawk, 'Tell me a story.' So Flying Hawk began, 'It was a DARK AND STORMY night, and the rain came down in TORRENTS, and Big Chief said to Flying Hawk, (what's the rule for quotations inside quotations inside quotations?)--''"<br />
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ANYWAY, that is enough mystery to enlighten your minds for now, and, as I said, how could I finish a story with no end anyway? DUH! (YES, I AM still CALM and RATIONAL, wHy DO yOu aSK??)<br />
<br />
<em>~ Lizzy<br />
Current word count today: 10 (Wow, I am lacking. And with NaNoWriMo so close, too!)</em><br />
<em>Current song: Kiss it All Better by He Is We</em><br />
<em>Current quote: "You say, 'Dad, can you please park my [car] in the garage? I don't want it to get rained on, or, or </em>breathed<em> on.' . . . [After you get home,] you open the garage to kiss your car goodnight, and . . . there's no car. But you are a</em> calm,<em> and a</em> rational<em> teenager. . . You find your father in the living room watching TV, and you're not mad. No. You calmly say, 'Uh . . . Dad? DAD, Dad, D-Dad. Where's my, uh, my cAR, Dad?? Dad, wHeRE's mY--uh, where's my car . . . Dad?'" ~ Hank Smith [From the talk The Do's and Don'ts of Dating]</em><br />
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<em></em><em> </em>PS: I find this the perfect oppotunity to point out that Blogger is lacking a reply button, so I am unable to reply to comments made on posts. (No, I have never mentioned this before. I am sure you're mistaken--this post was about mystery and neverending stories (Also, I suppose I could just post a comment myself which contains a reply, but Blogger insists that my account does not have "authorization" to comment on my own blog. I am very calmly and rationally befuddled by this.)) Therefore, I take this time to add in a note to this extremely important post that I would like to thank WilyBCool not only for his awesome name but also for his comments on my last post and his nomination of me for the Versatile Blogger Award! Thanks, thanks, thanks, and I hope this mysterious post has not confused you or scared you away. :DElizabeth Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10878194286887425019noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6373628871728946542.post-9751772506202164092011-10-16T18:59:00.000-06:002011-10-16T18:59:49.821-06:00DA WINNERFirst off, I really really want to thank everyone who participated in the blog hop and who entered my giveaway. Gah, it makes me so happy just to see the followers box over there! I keep double-checking because I can't believe there are really that many people! <br />
<br />
Ahem, anyway. This is the first time I've ever done a blog giveaway, and after the actual contest ended, I was at a loss. My general problem looked something like this --> CHOOSING DA WINNER. In fact, it looked almost identical to that. In double fact, I do believe it <em>was</em> that. <br />
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Quite the hurdle, you must agree, so I devised a most spectacular plan to jump it. I would count the number of entries I had, then hop in the car and drive to Best Buy. Why Best Buy? Patience, Smeagol, my love. Have you ever been to Best Buy? Last time I went window shopping there, I got mobbed by eight different employees within the hour or so, all with the same question of, "Is there anything I can help you find?" Well, nothing that day, but today I did need help finding DA WINNER. So I wanted to run into Best Buy and wander the shelves aimlessly until an employee walked up and asked, "Is there anything I can help you find?" at which point I would very sneakily say, "Why, yes, thank you. I am looking for DA WINNER and I need a number between 1 and 31. Can you please suggest one?" After they gave me a few odd looks and perhaps asked for clarification, they would give me a number and I would proceed to the next employee. I would continue to do this until I found a number that repeated, which would then be dubbed DA WINNER.<br />
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Unfortunately, not only did I forget that today is Sunday, but we also got quite the heavy rainfall here and my poor car's engine started shuddering and coughing, so I retired indoors to stay (the kind vehicle got pulled out of retirement to drive me around, so I figure I can at least give it rainy Sundays off if at all possible). Thus came PLAN 2 FOR DA WINNER. (Haha, right now you're all like, "JUST TELL ME IF I WON, WOMAN!!" well, PATIENCE, MY LOVE! (man, I am super tired right now, so half of this probably makes no sense. Please forgive me for that, as well as for my hungering to watch Lord of the Rings and write in ALL CAPS.))<br />
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Spectacular indoor plan--I would count all of the DVDs in my collection, then all of the books on my shelf, then text three random friends and ask them for a completely random number (NOT a good idea when your friends are teenagers by the way. 752, really, Ash?). After gathering all of those numbers (some of them QUITE large), I would add them together and then divide by three (MY favorite number) until I achieved something below 100. I would then proceed to count through the entries in a round until I reached the resulting number, who would then be DA WINNER. <br />
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However (haha, are you going MAD yet?), after I did this (YES, I ACTUALLY DID IT!), I couldn't quite decide if it was completely fair or not. My math skills are rusty at best and I couldn't remember all the past lectures on probability and even odds and so on. Since I wanted it to be fair, I threw away all of my WONDERFUL, DETAILED PLANS, and simply pulled out my graphing calculator (such a let down in comparison.) I set my random number generater to choose between 1 and 31, and then let it draw randomly three times, at which point the third number would be declared DA WINNER. <br />
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HA! So here you have it--I honestly don't know how else I could choose in the rain indoors while being fair without making my brain explode and CONGRATULATIONS TO DA WINNER! I sincerely hope you enjoy this book, and I hope the rest of you stick around through my craziness, if just for the chance to win AWESOME THINGS in the future. :)<br />
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<em>~ Lizzy<br />
Current word count today: 3 (Haha, not really. I haven't done any writing yet. But I like 3!)<br />
Current song: Gee! by Girls Generation</em><br />
<em>Current quote: </em><span><em>“A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.” ~ Herm Albright<br />
</em>PS: What do you MEAN I haven't told you who DA WINNER is yet?? Read between the lines, Smeagol, my love. (What do you MEAN Gollum never says that??)<br />
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Haha, I'm tired. Congratulations to BETSY LOVE. Check your email for more from me (Not too much more, don't worry), and thanks for entering!</span>Elizabeth Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10878194286887425019noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6373628871728946542.post-35247144924413240722011-10-13T05:00:00.000-06:002011-10-13T05:00:08.617-06:00October Blog Hop!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXJJsdaqSeSleI-nR9s8A-0W2kX5zaclg_dz4EqHxtHPvPQX3RlJYVn1LQQiEDcAR0aJq5_-KeNQ1yaW1SgUrKVuGC1F3LnL9xoyMnNWfWe-5A7a8sgEVZdlTx4XpVPjxXmHniO3BcAiKJ/s1600/October+Blog+Hop+175.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 175px; height: 167px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXJJsdaqSeSleI-nR9s8A-0W2kX5zaclg_dz4EqHxtHPvPQX3RlJYVn1LQQiEDcAR0aJq5_-KeNQ1yaW1SgUrKVuGC1F3LnL9xoyMnNWfWe-5A7a8sgEVZdlTx4XpVPjxXmHniO3BcAiKJ/s400/October+Blog+Hop+175.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5662661918125397522" /></a>Welcome to the October Blog Hop, where you can visit new blogs, enter to win prizes, and have a great time!<br />
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At the bottom of this post, you'll see a list of participating blogs. Just click on each link, check out the prize, and follow the easy instructions to enter. You can enter on each blog, so it's possible to win multiple times. It's frighteningly easy.<br />
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On this blog, you can win a copy of David Klass's novel <em>You Don't Know Me,</em> which I talked about in my last post. It's a phenomenal YA realistic fiction with lots of bittersweet humor, a strong main character you'll fall in love with, and it serves as a fantastic lesson in unreliable narrators and first-person present-tense viewpoint.<br />
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<a href="http://images.bookcloseouts.com/covers/large/isbn978031/9780312653026-l.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" oda="true" src="http://images.bookcloseouts.com/covers/large/isbn978031/9780312653026-l.jpg" width="133" /></a><br />
<br />
To enter, all you need to do is:<br />
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<br />
1. Become a follower of my blog.<br />
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2. Leave a comment on this post and tell me why you'd like to win this prize. If your e-mail address isn't visible through your Blogger profile, please also leave it with the comment so I can notify you if you win. You can enter until midnight MST on Saturday night, October 15th. <br />
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That's it! You are now entered. Now please go visit all my friends on the list below. It's almost like trick or treating! <br />
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<!-- beginning of export. owner: Tristi, postid: 10Oct2011 --><center><u><i>October Blog Hop</i> Participants</u></center><table width="100%" border="0"><tr><td class="blenza-td" width="33%" align="left" valign="top">1. <a href="http://www.tristipinkston.blogspot.com" target="_blank">Tristi Pinkston</a><br/>2. <a href="http://www.iamareadernotawriter.blogspot.com" target="_blank">I Am a Reader, Not a Writer</a><br/>3. <a href="http://www.bonnieharris.blogspot.com" target="_blank">Bonnie Harris</a><br/>4. <a href="http://www.writermike.com" target="_blank">Michael D. Young</a><br/>5. <a href="http://www.sixmixedreviews.blogspot.com" target="_blank">Misty Moncur</a><br/>6. <a href="http://www.debbiesinkspectations.blogspot.com" target="_blank">Debbie Davis</a><br/>7. <a href="http://heyyouslackers.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Mandi Tucker Slack</a><br/>8. <a href="http://maryanndennis.blogspot.com" target="_blank">Mary Ann Dennis</a><br/>9. <a href="http://www.DeannaHenderson.blogspot.com" target="_blank">Deanna Henderson</a><br/>10. <a href="http://lauradbastian.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Laura Bastian</a><br/>11. <a href="http://kristystories.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Kristy Tate</a></td><td class="blenza-td" width="33%" align="left" valign="top">12. <a href="http://runawaybridalplanner.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Kristy Wilson</a><br/>13. <a href="http://www.booksaremyshoes.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Jennifer Debenham</a><br/>14. <a href="http://www.shesgotthewritestuff.blogspot.com" target="_blank">Jenny Moore</a><br/>15. <a href="http://intodafire.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Elizabeth Hughes</a><br/>16. <a href="http://jlloydmorgan.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">J. Lloyd Morgan</a><br/>17. <a href="http://www.closeencounterswiththenightkind.blogspot.com" target="_blank">Close Encounters with the Night Kind</a><br/>18. <a href="http://tomoveforwardlive.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Billy Boulden</a><br/>19. <a href="http://night-children.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Scott Bryan</a><br/>20. <a href="http://mariahoagland.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Maria Hoagland</a><br/>21. <a href="http://shirleybahlmann.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Shirley Bahlmann</a><br/>22. <a href="http://writingwithshelly.blogspot.com" target="_blank">Shelly Brown</a></td><td class="blenza-td" width="33%" align="left" valign="top">23. <a href="http://marcyhowes.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Marcy Howes</a><br/>24. <a href="http://lalasbooks.blogspot.com" target="_blank">Lynnea Mortensen</a><br/>25. <a href="http://www.jaclynmhawkes.com" target="_blank">Jaclyn M. Hawkes</a><br/>26. <a href="http://www.dlt-lifeontheranch.blogspot.com" target="_blank">Diane Stringam Tolley</a><br/>27. <a href="http://www.gailzuniga.blogspot.com" target="_blank">Gail Zuniga</a><br/>28. <a href="http://betsyloveldsauthor.blogspot.com" target="_blank">Betsy Love</a><br/>29. <a href="http://wewritenetwork.blogspot.com" target="_blank">iWriteNetwork</a><br/>30. <a href="http://candamortensen.blogspot.com" target="_blank">Canda's InkBlast</a><br/>31. <a href="http://www.saythiswrite.blogspot.com" target="_blank">Stacy Coles</a></td></tr></table><p align="center"><a href="http://www.tristipinkston.blogspot.com" target="_blank">Learn more about October Blog Hop here.</a><br/><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/giveaway+hop" rel="tag" target="_blank">View More October Blog Hop Participants</a><br/><a href="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/wizard.php?meme=8713" target="_blank">Get The Code</a></p><p style="border: 2px solid #000000; text-align: center; padding: 4px; color: #000000;">Powered by... <a target="_blank" href="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/">Mister Linky's Magical Widgets</a>.</p><!-- end of export -->Elizabeth Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10878194286887425019noreply@blogger.com31tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6373628871728946542.post-70974499751127495642011-10-10T12:20:00.000-06:002011-10-12T13:36:24.797-06:00A Tribute That is Not a TributeA few nights ago, I found myself in a most uncomfortable position. Not literally, as sitting indian-style on a couch is actually patented as "teh bestest chillin' position eva." Or, you know, if it isn't, it should be.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.readingmatters.co.uk/bookimages/show.php?143.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" kca="true" src="http://www.readingmatters.co.uk/bookimages/show.php?143.jpg" /></a></div>So I suppose what I should say is that I found myself in a most uncomfortable situation. I had been reading the novel <em>You Don't Know Me</em> by David Klass (which, if you haven't read, you absolutely should) and giggling insanely to myself. Out loud because I just plain couldn't help it--if you've read the book, you understand perfectly and sympathize, yes? It's rare to find a book that will make you cry alternately because it's horribly sad and also because the main character has such a wonderful sense of humor that you just can't stop laughing. <br />
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So, yes, here I am, sitting in "teh bestest chillin' position eva" reading "teh bestest book that is not a book" and my cousin happens to be sitting on the other end of the couch playing Super Mario 64 (LONGLIVEMARIO!). Now, I am trying my very best not to disturb him, but these sneaky giggles keep escaping me, and in the Lashasa Palulu tribe, it is considered socially rude to hold back laughter that is dying to escape, so I just had to let it out now and then or else be forever banned from civil society. <br />
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Finally, after I have dropped my head onto my knees and am almost crying from laughter, my cousin shakes his head in exhasperation and says, "It can't possibly be <em>that</em> funny." <br />
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Now I find myself in the aforementioned uncomfortable situation. Normally, if someone asks what I am laughing at in a book, I would hand them the item and point out for them to read "from here to here." However, Jon has his hands occupied with a controller paddle, and his eyes occupied with the TV, so I can't possibly use my normal method. I could try to explain the situation, but I just plain can't make it sound as awesome or as hilarious as the author. That leaves me with one choice--read the passage aloud.<br />
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I do not read out loud. I never read out loud--whenever I'm reading a book, it's either in private with no one to read to, or in full public where reading out loud would disturb the people around me (in more ways than one). I have never before found myself in the position where someone wanted to know something from a book in my hands and they couldn't read it themselves. The last time I read something aloud it was Shakespeare for my AP English class, and I fumbled my words almost as often as I got them right (which, I hate to admit, had very little to do with it being Shakespeare because I do the same with everything else). <br />
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So I sat there in silence and fought a debate with myself. On the one hand, I desperately needed to practice reading aloud because it's a good skill to have and something I should be doing with my own manuscripts. On the other hand, if I read aloud, I would most likely butcher the scene and be arrested immediately by the book police for premeditated scene slaughter of the third degree. On the other hand, I had run out of hands, and Jon was giving me weird looks while he waited.<br />
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So I took a deep breath and did the unthinkable. And now I am serving out a lifetime sentence in book jail.<br />
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On the bright side that is not a bright side, my chance for parole comes up in a few years, which gives me plenty of time to practice.<br />
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<em>~ Lizzy<br />
Current word count today: 18</em><br />
<em>Current song: Juliette by SHINee<br />
Current quote: "Here is my problem in a nutshell: polite requests for Friday night dates can be accepted or rejected, laughed at or cried over, but I believe, even with my limited experience, that they are very rarely ingested." ~ John</em> [You Don't Know Me,<em> David Klass]</em>Elizabeth Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10878194286887425019noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6373628871728946542.post-6794459510827237742011-09-11T14:17:00.000-06:002011-09-11T14:17:57.670-06:00To Be Published . . . in a Different Manner<a href="http://nothoughts2small.blogspot.com/2011/09/im-doing-giveaway-but-its-not-for-book.html">http://nothoughts2small.blogspot.com/2011/09/im-doing-giveaway-but-its-not-for-book.html</a><br />
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Hey, go check out Author Konstanz Silverbow's blog for a chance to appear in Karen Hoover's new book as a character! It's a wonderful feeling to see your name in print and know that it's not a coincidence, believe me. DO IT!!!Elizabeth Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10878194286887425019noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6373628871728946542.post-26288781568564527362011-08-19T20:54:00.000-06:002011-09-01T16:41:40.791-06:00Short One Audience<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgONFmKGUNjZdPoyXFjEB8-BAyZoPCLvMBxMqWam8sB4eu74l4QHk2rj1sKy2dzcqylkneDv27cU8y0ytV4KPsyZSvYfqtT0CoquG-cmcX6Yxjt0fNo2y_FYvkO-2BUYAkgGxWxfvYKy_Q/s1600/JG+Anthem.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; height: 170px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; width: 200px;"><img border="0" height="170" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgONFmKGUNjZdPoyXFjEB8-BAyZoPCLvMBxMqWam8sB4eu74l4QHk2rj1sKy2dzcqylkneDv27cU8y0ytV4KPsyZSvYfqtT0CoquG-cmcX6Yxjt0fNo2y_FYvkO-2BUYAkgGxWxfvYKy_Q/s200/JG+Anthem.jpg" width="200" /></a>So, I've mentioned Josh Groban thrice already on my blog (including this post, he'll have appeared in over 1/3 of my posts, haha), so by now you must know that I'm a hopeless Grobanite, yes? Sweet! In that case, permit me, I will speak of him once more, because sometimes the best lessons you learn come from the most familiar things.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Rewind to about 10:00pm Saturday, August 13th, 2011. Where am I? Energy Solutions Arena, Salt Lake City, Utah. What am I doing there? Listening to the most wonderful performer I've ever heard. And learning.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">To be honest, I was terrified to see Josh Groban perform live in concert, and I'll explain why. It wasn't that I thought his live singing would be bad--psh, <em>zero</em> chance of that. What I was worried about was his personality and his singing motivation and his feelings toward fans. Why? Because I've absolutely loved artists in the past (authors, singers, actors) only to find that who they actually were contrasted sharply with their work. Someone's work can be completely clean and wonderful, but you just can't enjoy it when you have a nasty aftertaste from that time when you saw them live or met them and found out they have awful morals, or their sense of humor is comprised of sex jokes, or they hate their own fans, or they don't care at all about the work they do and they're only in it for money or fame or because it's easy for them. </div></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">So when Josh Groban finished his opening songs and picked up the microphone to start talking for the first time, I sunk low enough in my chair I almost couldn't see him anymore at the same time I had every bit of my attention riveted on him. I think I was tense enough that if someone would have poked me, I would have screamed bloody murder and jumped about four feet in the air. Luckily, no one did, and my tension drained a bit more with every minute. Because it turned out I had nothing to worry about. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjux5O4uda5jzHB-0vj3t03IMy571-uu9AIXynrJEAuaCXiR3vU8JlvG7kpYArIzuJhPmapK6MqMc-0D2O_msTBkT-uWTWpCj4HP5wBA3i9t_VjU77zShfFw68UNH3sZ-4-fyc5UjJFlUI/s1600/JG+Side+Smile.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="196" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjux5O4uda5jzHB-0vj3t03IMy571-uu9AIXynrJEAuaCXiR3vU8JlvG7kpYArIzuJhPmapK6MqMc-0D2O_msTBkT-uWTWpCj4HP5wBA3i9t_VjU77zShfFw68UNH3sZ-4-fyc5UjJFlUI/s320/JG+Side+Smile.jpg" width="320" /></a>There's one thing in particular I want to talk about. The longer Josh Groban performed, the more obvious it became how much he <em>loved</em> singing. Not only did he never sing a half-hearted song, but he never sang a half-hearted <em>note.</em> Every song he performed completely surpassed its CD counterpart because he poured so much <em>energy</em> into every instant. I honestly don't even know where it all came from except that he just loves his craft. Even when he was pouring sweat and panting when he talked between songs, his performance and his smile never dropped. It left me with the very vivid feeling that Josh Groban is one of those artists who loves what he does so much that he would still do it even if he didn't have a single person listening. He <em>performs</em> for his fans, but he <em>sings</em> for himself.</div></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Seeing that in action made me wonder about my own craft. I think it's easy to lose sight of the reason you do something, and I realized that I've been lax in my writing lately because I was feeling the lack of an audience. I even stopped <em>reading</em> just because it stung to see someone who'd succeeded in something I loved so much but was getting nowhere in. I had that mindset of, "If no one sees it, if I'm the only one who likes it, what's the point?" </div></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">The point is that if you only do something for the attention it gains, you're only hurting yourself. If I don't want to write because I don't have an audience, I will <em>never</em> have an audience, because I won't have anything to gain one with. And if I only write to get praise from other people, I'll only feel happy in the one or two minutes of conversation where someone compliments me. It won't make me lastingly happy, and it won't be my best work because it won't have my heart and energy in it. I need to write for myself just because I love writing and it's what I <em>want</em> to do, with or without an audience.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.vampires.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/writer-needed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="145" qaa="true" src="http://www.vampires.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/writer-needed.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">And I do, actually. I have folders upon folders of writing on my computer to prove it that have never been seen by anyone, they were just written because I wanted to pour myself out on paper. I just lost my grip on that, is all. But I got it back on Saturday, and hopefully someday I'll be able to meet Josh Groban so I can thank him for it, right? (Now you all know my secret "if you could do <em>anything"</em> wish, haha)</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">So here's my focus back and in full force. I want to be <em>published</em> for an audience, but I want to <em>write</em> for myself!</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><em>~ Lizzy<br />
Current word count today: 769<br />
Current song: Oceano by Josh Groban</em></div><em>Current quote: "</em><em>Be yourself. Above all, let who you are, what you are, what you believe, shine through every sentence you write, every piece you finish." ~ John Jakes</em>Elizabeth Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10878194286887425019noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6373628871728946542.post-89769849899555489642011-07-25T16:46:00.000-06:002011-07-25T16:46:28.949-06:00All Things Good to Those Who Comment<a href="http://nothoughts2small.blogspot.com/2011/07/giveaway-time.html?spref=bl">No Thought 2 Small: Giveaway time!!!!</a>: "And now. . .. it's time. . .to win a copy of Darkspell!!(Will not be sent until the release of Darkspell Fall of 2011) Comment on this p..."<br /><br />Run over to my friend Konstanz's blog and look at her interview with author Elizabeth Mueller--and if you comment on her giveaway post, you have a chance to win a signed copy of Elizabeth's new book Darkspell. DOOOOOOO IIIIIIIIIT!! :DElizabeth Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10878194286887425019noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6373628871728946542.post-5263466130851617272011-07-14T12:13:00.000-06:002011-07-25T14:08:41.005-06:00Cursed<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I. Am. Cursed. No, really, it's true. I think that in my un-retainable baby memories somewhere, there's a day where a fairy/witch/troll/gnome/Voldemort/elf/mischeivious being appeared in my nursery, cackled some menacing evil cackle, and cursed me. Cursed me with what, you might say? Good question.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFmL-VSiHmJYb7ZocrKnXW_W0P4bCc3UzDZfTv9IRactbzQ3g0nX61bev8zrpEbeD-EocuzefZerpg5te5RTp3d960CcXSgA3cbDX4uBSrUutGtoriwGnV2N9b4j0EKjPcowuTq3xkgYc/s1600/ode_to_beauty_and_the_beast_by_listaspiran%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" m$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFmL-VSiHmJYb7ZocrKnXW_W0P4bCc3UzDZfTv9IRactbzQ3g0nX61bev8zrpEbeD-EocuzefZerpg5te5RTp3d960CcXSgA3cbDX4uBSrUutGtoriwGnV2N9b4j0EKjPcowuTq3xkgYc/s200/ode_to_beauty_and_the_beast_by_listaspiran%255B1%255D.jpg" width="138" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Credit to <a href="http://listaspiran.deviantart.com/">http://listaspiran.deviantart.com/</a> :)</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Will I sleep for a hundred years after jabbing my finger on a needle (because that's <em>my</em> favorite way to spend my sixteenth birthday)? No, quite obviously I'm already older than sixteen. Will I become a beast locked away in a castle? I can be sarcastic, but I don't think I'm a <em>jerk.</em> Will I have to charade as a mime for three days and try to convince a prince to smooch me? As fun as that could be, neither I nor my prince are part fish (plus I haven't met him yet). </div><br />
No, I am cursed to corrupt electronics. Total letdown, right? <em>I know! </em>It's not a cool curse that will lead me to Happily Ever After with a totally hot prince, it's just annoying. I hit a new curse record this week while house-sitting for a friend--I managed to jinx her TV on the first day so it wouldn't move from channel 23. Why 23? Ask the fairy/witch/troll/etc. After that, the music player on her computer became totally possessed and started collecting music in its library from some random source--not even <em>cool</em> music either. It was <em>Christmas</em> jingles! Why couldn't it snatch some Josh Groban or SHINee or Within Temptation or Jon Schmidt or <em>something?</em> No such luck. <br />
<br />
As I sighed to myself about electronics, my phone decided to jump in on the party and stop vibrating to give me alerts. An hour after I expected a text, I checked it and saw the text bouncing on my screen, but it had never gone off. Checked the settings--sure enough, on vibrate. Held it in my hand waiting for the next text and, sure enough again, when it came in, the phone stared at me blankly like, "I'm not vibrating unless I get medical benefits <em>now." </em>Five minutes later, it decided it liked my ringtone and randomly switched back to the ring setting. Fine, phone, have it your way. At least it gave me some kind of alert after that. <br />
<br />
More events piled up after that, naturally (picky PS2, snarky DVD player, and don't get me started on my iPod which is <em>always</em> possessed), and explaining them all to my friend when she returned was quite the fun time. But, here's the other great part about the curse--after my chi disrupts the spiritual flow of whatever electronic (or denies it medical), as soon as the original owner touches the machine, it is immediately restored. (Minus my stuff naturally, which is just stuck no matter what.) Which means that I get laughed at a lot, but that's okay, because I get these great stories out of it with no long-term effects.<br />
<br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><em>Except! </em>Mwah ha ha, the Christmas jingles remain in the music library. So, you know, Merry Early Christmas to my friend, unintentionally.</div>Elizabeth Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10878194286887425019noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6373628871728946542.post-54527441646584402962011-05-19T20:27:00.000-06:002011-05-19T20:33:14.061-06:00In Which Thursday Ate Hot Fudge Sundaes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirNJb8Jf2Do576qvT2qACEvdk7RFFJSzuxqknWF5TpNl1lrtlG3zIRaxnS4gaDkaRdDZRpgKcfRkxZtMaCR-DkzcDdAcXd205JmslWGI21-VPfBuxm3HjS_wnVrJzK5WntnaGiDBPdGt8/s1600/hot-fudge-sundae-cake%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirNJb8Jf2Do576qvT2qACEvdk7RFFJSzuxqknWF5TpNl1lrtlG3zIRaxnS4gaDkaRdDZRpgKcfRkxZtMaCR-DkzcDdAcXd205JmslWGI21-VPfBuxm3HjS_wnVrJzK5WntnaGiDBPdGt8/s1600/hot-fudge-sundae-cake%255B1%255D.jpg" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Thursdays make me happy. I dunno why, but it's just that day when I stop and grin and go, "Today is a great day." I think it's because of Thursday's flavor. Fridays are taffy--tastes great, but it takes <em>forever</em> to get through because you're looking forward to the full weekend. Saturdays are spicy, because there's so much you want to get done that you burn through the day before you even realize it's gone. Sundays are cranberry juice--fantastic flavor to begin with, but a nasty aftertaste when you realize the weekend has ended. Mondays are tangy because you just left the weekend behind, but you can still savor a bit of it. Tuesdays are bitter because you're even more ingrained in the week now, but you can still remember the weekend enough to miss it. Wednesdays are sweet and sour because they're stuck right in the middle. But Thursdays? Thursdays are brownies, warm and yummy, with bad memories of the week behind and optimism for the weekend ahead. <em>(Mmmmm, brownies!)</em> If you're extra lucky, life sometimes even hands you hot fudge and a scoop of cake-batter ice cream, like, say, basking in the glory of Josh Groban's phenomenal voice while soaking in the fact that you've (somehow) officially passed Calculus with not just a D-, but an A-. (As a random, nonspecific example! (Name that movie!))</div></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div>So enjoy your Thursday, everyone, because we deserve this deliciousness!<br />
<br />
<em>~ Lizzy</em><br />
<em>Current word count today: 33</em><br />
<em>Current song: My Confession by Josh Groban</em><br />
<em>Current quote: "Because we can change, and because we can never return, that is why we should live the only lives we have without remorse." ~ Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles</em>Elizabeth Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10878194286887425019noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6373628871728946542.post-82635362278947863562011-05-14T01:48:00.000-06:002011-08-19T21:16:49.474-06:00PerceptionsI <strong><em><u>love</u></em></strong> Chess--meaning two things. Naturally, that game we all know (haven't played it in <em>forever</em>--someone be my opponent, please!), but also the musical.<br />
<br />
The <em>musical,</em> mwah ha ha! Did you guys know there's a musical called Chess? 'Cause I sure didn't until my awesomeness-personified best friend introduced me to it. It's dark, romantic, political, deep, haunting, and just generally <em>EPIC.</em> (Also, it has the voices of Josh Groban (MELTMELTMELT!), Idina Menzel (LOVELOVELOVE!), <em>and</em> Adam Pascal (.....How do I <em>describe</em> his voice? I'll come back to this in a PS!) all in one place! That's like asking me to dissolve into a happy little puddle on the floor and never move again!)<br />
<br />
One thing perplexed me, though, during my second and third watch-throughs (Chess in Concert performance DVD for the win!). The more I watched, the more I came to know the characters, and the more one scene--my <em>favorite</em> scene--didn't make sense to me. As a brief walk-through, Chess is spread over two years for two World Chess Championships in a row. In the first, the American champion Freddy Trumper (Adam Pascal!) and the Russian champion Anatoly Sergievsky (Josh Groban!) are the competitors, and Anatoly comes out on top. The second has Anatoly defending his title (after defecting to Britain) against the new Russian champion Notimportant Whatshisname. When Anatoly shows up in Bangkok for the second championship, he finds attacks on every side trying to convince him to throw the match. Threats against himself, he brushes aside, but there are also threats against his family and lover, which he struggles with. SO! The scene I'm getting to is the final match of the second championship--the game everything's been leading up to. <br />
<br />
Naturally the whole scene is set to music, and the orchestration, vocal performances, and lyrics for the song are <em>magnificent</em>, with this perfect building energy that just explodes at the end. <em>Love, <strong>love, <u>love!</u></strong></em> But as I watched it those few times, I was completely perplexed by the character interactions. Anatoly steps down from the chess podium as he sings and is confronted by the two characters most influential for him. Their parts are brilliant and the scene's lyrics really show the entire internal conflict Anatoly's facing, but both of those characters were <em>completely</em> different from the last scene they'd appeared in. The first was being openly antagonistic and scathing rather than using the subtle guilt trips she'd employed previously, and the second was furious and hurt over something she'd decided to rise above in her last scene. On top of that, in their final exchange with Anatoly, they use the exact same words he first used on them (very striking, intense lyrics--I lost my breath the first time I watched!), as if they'd come to a bitter agreement. But there's <em>no way!</em> They were screaming their heads off at him only moments before! It made no sense to me at all. I watched the full scene over and over, trying to puzzle it out, and I couldn't make it all link up for the life of me.<br />
<br />
Finally, it occured to me that I'd been overlooking one crucial detail--Anatoly walked away from the chess game. <em>Walked away.</em> And yet, in the climax of his song, the chorus behind the three main characters gladly shouts "Check!" at him over and over to inform him that the Russian champion has him cornered, and then as the song ends, Anatoly strides back and makes his final move. Which means that the chess game was ongoing the entire time, and he <em>couldn't</em> just walk away. It's the World Chess Championships! I think if he suddenly walked away, there'd be just a bit of an uproar from the world. <br />
<br />
So, after mentally flicking myself for being oblivious, I ran through the scene again, this time taking the perspective that it was, literally, all in his head. He didn't go anywhere, and the confrontations were his private images of the two characters and what he thought their feelings toward him at the moment were. They also served as an outlet for his mind to throw at him all sides of his inner conflict. He'd made his decision to <strong>[spoiler]</strong>, but he still felt conflicted, and the final stanza really was a bitter agreement, but it was his mind finally coming to terms with itself so that he could move forward. <em>(Totally epic!)</em><br />
<br />
Anyway, what does this have to do with <em>anything,</em> you might ask? (Most importantly perceptions, since that's the title of the whole ranty post) I'm getting there! No, Polonius is not my idol; why do you ask? (I dearly hope you've read/seen Hamlet. If not, what are you doing here reading these words words wwwooo~orrddsss? Slacker!)<br />
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After the revelation of the entire scene being an internal conflict, I loved it even more, and while I listened to the song on repeat, it got me thinking about how Anatoly's perceptions (ha!) of the people in his life are so completely different from what we as the audience saw in reality. Holy cow, hats off to Tim Rice and anyone else involved in that writing. He/they mastered that human flaw of assuming we understand the people around us and acting based on that rather than truly communicating with others. <br />
<br />
I realized that's something I need to work on in my writing. I know my own characters, so I tend to have them interact based off of my knowledge and perceptions rather than their own, especially in tense and hurtful situations. Sadly, we as people tend to speak before we think, which results in hurt all too often, and I realized I try to avoid that with my characters because I hate when it happens in real life. But it <em>happens!</em> We can't truly know the people around us because <em>we're not them;</em> we just have to try our best based on the interactions we've had with them, and if two characters haven't had any good impressions from one another, they're going to be tense and hostile. <br />
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So, I'll add it to the pile of things to work on and start practicing. In the meantime, I want the rest of you to hunt down a copy of Chess in Concert and bask in it's magnificence. Then come back so we can talk what makes a good guy versus what makes a <em>hero!</em> (Goodness, I love Anatoly!)<br />
<br />
<em>~ Lizzy</em><br />
<em>Current word count today: 1,165</em><br />
<em>Current song: Endgame #3/Chess Game #3 from Chess in Concert [Josh Groban, Idina Menzel, Kerry Ellis]</em><br />
<em>Current quote: "Everybody's playing the game, but nobody's rules are the same." ~ Chess in Concert [Idina Menzel]</em><br />
<br />
PS!: (Ha! You didn't forget, did you?) Adam Pascal! Oh, wow, let me attempt to describe his voice. First of all, my favorite singers are people with very striking voices--those people who you can always pick out in a full band or chorus because they couldn't be mistaken for anyone else. (Josh, Idina, and<em> </em>Adam <em>all</em> fit that, by the way, I just didn't have any more catchy words to do THISTHISTHIS! to for Adam, haha) The first time I heard Adam Pascal, it was a small clip of Rent, and his voice was almost <em>too</em> different for me--honestly, I closed the clip and didn't expect to come back to it. Until five minutes later when I found it tugging at my brain. So I listened again. And again. And again. His voice is <em>addicting,</em> I tell you! He conveys this raw emotion that's just <em>incredible. </em>Anyway, what are you doing reading this? Don't take my word for it, slacker, just go listen to him! (Most preferrably, just go watch Chess, like I told you to do before! And then we can talk Adam's character too!)Elizabeth Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10878194286887425019noreply@blogger.com0