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Oct. 23rd, 2004 10:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cleolindaNnnnnnngggg. Took a two-hour nap break, ate junk food. Blarg. Sister Girl has turned on the heat, which VEXES ME. Am getting into a huge diva mood. Like I'm going to start stomping around the house shouting, "I AM AN ARTEEEEEST! I CANNOT WORK UNDER THESE CONDITIONS! I MUST HAVE THE MACARONI WITH THE POWDERED CHEESE! PHILISTINES!"
Maybe I should stop listening to Britney Spears. Do you think that would help?
I did just nail down the moment where Rose Hannah finally gets West to tell her what is actually going on, actually makes him say the word that the entire story has been dancing around (you'll know it when you get there). I think part of the problem with this story being a year old is that a lot of these half-finished scenes and rough outlines and notes have become calcified in my head to the point where I'm just sitting here wringing my hands and staring at them when they don't work. The only way I was able to resolve the opening scene was to open a blank Word document and just start writing down the who and the what and the why--I may have to completely close my eyes to what I've already got down in order to make some of these scenes happen.
I've also rearranged a ton of scenes--there has to be an emotional logic in this chapter where Rose Hannah is dealing with the situation in various ways and it gets worse and worse, and I need this progression in order for things to make sense. (I'm partly describing all of this for myself, so I can see what I've actually accomplished today.) Moving this one ball scene--don't worry; it's a hell of a lot shorter than that interminable stretch in chapter two--to nearly the end of the chapter has helped a little; originally it was near the beginning, and it's a pretty crucial psychological moment that didn't work that early in the story. It's weird--because I write out of order, I had this scene where Rose is really snippy with West, but I didn't have a reason for her to be snippy, and it was funny to see something earlier in the story eventually suggest itself as a reason. So it's a whole maze of crap I'm dealing with here--scenes written out of any sort of context, plot points that I'd totally forgotten about ("Hey! That's awesome! When did I think of that?"), and some things that are so old I don't even know what I'm talking about. Fnarrr.
Maybe I should stop listening to Britney Spears. Do you think that would help?
I did just nail down the moment where Rose Hannah finally gets West to tell her what is actually going on, actually makes him say the word that the entire story has been dancing around (you'll know it when you get there). I think part of the problem with this story being a year old is that a lot of these half-finished scenes and rough outlines and notes have become calcified in my head to the point where I'm just sitting here wringing my hands and staring at them when they don't work. The only way I was able to resolve the opening scene was to open a blank Word document and just start writing down the who and the what and the why--I may have to completely close my eyes to what I've already got down in order to make some of these scenes happen.
I've also rearranged a ton of scenes--there has to be an emotional logic in this chapter where Rose Hannah is dealing with the situation in various ways and it gets worse and worse, and I need this progression in order for things to make sense. (I'm partly describing all of this for myself, so I can see what I've actually accomplished today.) Moving this one ball scene--don't worry; it's a hell of a lot shorter than that interminable stretch in chapter two--to nearly the end of the chapter has helped a little; originally it was near the beginning, and it's a pretty crucial psychological moment that didn't work that early in the story. It's weird--because I write out of order, I had this scene where Rose is really snippy with West, but I didn't have a reason for her to be snippy, and it was funny to see something earlier in the story eventually suggest itself as a reason. So it's a whole maze of crap I'm dealing with here--scenes written out of any sort of context, plot points that I'd totally forgotten about ("Hey! That's awesome! When did I think of that?"), and some things that are so old I don't even know what I'm talking about. Fnarrr.
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no subject
Date: 2004-10-23 08:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-23 09:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-23 09:09 pm (UTC)how do you get so MetaQuotable? o_O
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Date: 2004-10-23 09:12 pm (UTC)macaroni
Date: 2004-10-23 09:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-23 11:41 pm (UTC)(And I'm just a random new person who's friended you, so you know. ^_^)
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Date: 2004-10-24 12:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-24 06:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-24 12:33 am (UTC)excuse the lack of coherent thought in this post. it's 12:30AM and i've been up since 7:15AM. gahhh. BAD.
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Date: 2004-10-24 02:26 am (UTC)Seriously.
POWDERED cheese, people. Do you know NOTHING of my struggle?!
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Date: 2004-10-24 07:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-24 07:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-24 11:00 am (UTC)Which reminds me of UC Riverside, where they make macaroni and cheese with nacho cheese.
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Date: 2004-10-24 12:11 pm (UTC)See? See? Velveeta = Not of the Lord. I was shocked to find out just now that it's actually produced by Kraft. Type in "www.velveeta.com" and see what you get.
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Date: 2004-10-24 12:56 pm (UTC)NACHO CHEESE ACK.
Just one of the many reasons why I chose not to attend UC Riverside.
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Date: 2004-10-24 11:11 am (UTC)Are we talking squeezy cheese like Cheez Wiz kinda stuff?
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Date: 2004-10-24 12:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-24 01:01 pm (UTC)Hopefully I'll never see it, much less have to consume it. (My preferred cheese is Black Diamond.)
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Date: 2004-10-24 05:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-24 05:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-30 12:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-24 03:58 am (UTC)But don't turn Nick Cave back on. I was trying to write last night to the soundtrack of The Good Son, and it ended up in a terrible mess.
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Date: 2004-10-24 12:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-28 10:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-28 12:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-24 05:42 am (UTC)But the important question really is...did you stomp around saying "It vexes me. I'm terribly vexed."?
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Date: 2004-10-24 06:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-24 06:20 am (UTC)Powdered.....cheese?
/shatner-off
Be sure when you stomp around, you're wearing some sorta goofy house slippers (bear claws, bunny slippers). They protect the feet and add that all-important extra sense absurdity to your rage. ;)
Yarha, Especially the Battery-Powered Kind that Go 'Grr-Grr'
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Date: 2004-10-24 07:54 am (UTC)Sorry for the bargled.
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Date: 2004-10-24 12:15 pm (UTC)Eureka!
Date: 2004-10-24 08:46 am (UTC)*obligatory fan-girl moment* OMGZ I LUV YOU!
Re: Eureka!
Date: 2004-10-24 12:09 pm (UTC)Re: Eureka!
Date: 2004-10-24 12:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-24 09:18 am (UTC)This may be one of the greatest lines ever!!
Culinary snottery
Date: 2004-10-24 10:15 am (UTC)It's good. It would have been much, much better with a staff of sous-chefs to handle the actual grating and washing up after, but it was tasty.
Somebody pass the electric orange cheese powder, please?
Re: Culinary snottery
Date: 2004-10-24 12:08 pm (UTC)But powdered macaroni is this wonderful childhood comfort food. Also, it's a hell of a lot quicker. In fact, speaking of learning to cook things--one of my greatest achievements in college was learning how to cook a box of Kraft powdered cheese and macaroni using the microwave. This was before Easy Mac, mind you.
Re: Culinary snottery
Date: 2004-10-24 12:39 pm (UTC)Speak for yourself. *shudder*
My mom made it from scratch. We didn't hold with that powdered stuff in my house.
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Date: 2004-10-24 10:46 am (UTC)Stop it!
In other commentation - Now I'm gonna have to start reading Black Ribbon. Oh, the work that will not be getting done! Heh.
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Date: 2004-10-24 11:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-24 04:54 pm (UTC)Turning off the Britney music might help. I find Ashlee Simpson to be helpful sometimes. But then, I've never written a story set in the 1800s, or had the heat turned on in October, so yeah.
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Date: 2004-10-25 07:33 am (UTC)My daughter, who is two, loves the mac and cheese with powdered cheese, and it has to be the powdered cheese kind.
Whenever I try to make the squeeze-packet cheese mac and cheese, I put it down in front of her and she looks at me like, "What the shit is this, mom?"
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Date: 2004-10-25 08:01 am (UTC)