Thursday evening, reeking of nail polish remover

[cleolinda]

Something interesting I've discovered: I can (and do) sit down at eight in the morning to write, and I kind of sputter along, but somewhere between two and three in the afternoon, the good stuff shows up; I wrote about seven pages longhand between 3:30 and 4:30 today.

Also, it's starting to feel like work--I wanted to say "it's starting to feel like shoveling coal," but God knows it is absolutely nothing like manual labor at all, and I would much rather be writing than coal-mining. But I do think there's a point when that fun feeling of racing to put down as much as you can and feel out the boundaries of your idea ends and the coal-shoveling begins. It's not editing or revising; it's still drafting, but it's the heavy lifting, when you have to finish what you've started. If you want to use the archaelogy metaphor, maybe this is the point after you've outlined what you've found and actually have to do some ditch-digging. It's not the refined detail work of air-puffs and toothbrushes when you get down to the individual bones; it's the point where you have to start shoveling out all the dirt around the dinosaur carcass so you can get to the bones. I feel like I keep writing and writing--and maybe having to write longhand downstairs is contributing to this feeling--but I never seem to make a dent in the amount of work I can tell needs to be done.

That said, it's still kind of exciting, in a problem-solving kind of way. I needed to expand the Wise Chinese Doctor stereotype I plunked into the original online version, and I'm really excited about what I've worked on this week; a lot of my crash-course research contradicted my expectations (Opium wasn't illegal. The Chinese community in London was relatively small. Limehouse really wasn't the den of Oriental iniquity it was portrayed as), which is always--I hate to keep using the word "exciting," but anytime you find an opportunity to do things a little differently from the accepted stereotype, well--it is.

I've been working on other things concurrently, of course, and today and yesterday I struggled with the Inventors' Club that Rose Hannah's father belongs to; it's mentioned in the original first chapter, I think. It's one of the things I wanted more of, just a chance to see who was in the club and what kind of things they worked on--another thing I've tried to do, speaking of which, is use characters I've already mentioned by name. Bonneville is now more fleshed out and someone you actually meet, someone who is well-known to both Munro and West, contrary to the original version of the story, and now there's a reason for what happens to him. It's my theory of character economy--as long as you avoid heavy use of coincidence, why have throwaway one-liner characters? Put them to work, make them do things--and if not now, save them for later. Thus, a random character in the Radcliffe ball sequence now shows up later in the story, and has a reason to. So now, the members of the Inventors' Club show up to do other things, and, conversely, random characters are now acquainted with the Munros in the first place because of the club. So, like I said, it's the ditch-digging of novel-writing, but it's rewarding.

Meanwhile, breakfast: the dinner of champions.

Massive linkspam, part one of two, to catch up after several days away:

megathy27: "I was wondering if you could post a link to my friend's survey in your next linkspam post? He, along with another student and a professor from Muhlenberg College, is studying "the addictive nature of non-drug related phenomena," specifically Harry Potter, in a four part series of surveys. HPANA has an article about it here with a bit more information, and the first survey is here."

pottersues: "I am having a Pottersues Fanfiction Banner Contest. Basically, readers/minions will go through the Archives of the past 1500 Sues and make a banner for one of the Sues. They must 'claim' their Sue so we don't have 10 banners for the same epic!Sue. They email the banner to me, and after two weeks of submissions, I will post a poll with all the banners. The readers/minions will vote for their favorite, and the winner will be mailed prizes. The runner-up will also have a prize. Everyone is welcome to participate!"

Fashion designer Liz Claiborne dies.

Chavez warns of resistance war with U.S.

CIA airs dirty secrets, scandals; CIA plot to kill Castro detailed.

Two arrests in missing British girl (Madeleine McCann) case.

Wrestler Benoit, wife and son found dead; Benoit strangled wife, smothered son; Benoit deaths raise 'roid rage' questions; WWE’s chairman calls Benoit a ‘monster.’

Then, the plot thickens: "Investigators are looking into who altered pro wrestler Chris Benoit's Wikipedia entry to mention [...] that the wrestler had missed a match two days earlier because of his wife's death."

Related: MSNBC host slams Bill O'Reilly for blaming dead mothers, or, "Reason #476 Bill O'Reilly is one of my top ten people to have shot into the sun."

Beverly Sills gravely ill with cancer.

Crater Could Solve 1908 Tunguska Meteor Mystery.

Egyptians: Mystery mummy is missing female pharaoh Queen Hatshepsut.

Doctors back plan to store medical info under your skin.

Jaw injury could stop hot-dog champ.

US Weekly blacks out Hilton coverage; MSNBC anchor says no to Paris.

'The Secret': Big sales, loud criticism.

Ex-Marine teaches pickpocket a lesson.

Pygmy hippo is born at Paris Zoo.

Giant Ancient Penguins Liked it Hot. Hey, nobody's perfect.

Diva Staring Contest. Clear winner: Dramatic Chipmunk.

Your Blacklight Poster Of The “Dark Side Of The Moon” Album Cover Has A Score To Settle Day!

“Is this going to get violent, Blacklight Painting?” you’ll ask. The prism will appear to crunch in on itself when it says, “We’re just going to teach somebody a lesson.”

“Steve eats lunch at the Del Taco on Cahuenga,” the blacklight poster of Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side Of The Moon” will say. “Pull up slow. And turn off the engine about 20 feet before we get to the restaurant.” You’ll do as the blacklight poster says. You’ll pull up to a space by the window to the restaurant, and then you’ll wait.

But… ar luv iz furbidden!

INVISBLE KARAOKE.

Thank you for flying Bunway Airlines.

Right now, the bloom is on these rose varieties.

And finally: GWTW fans, start saving your pennies, because Tonner Dolls is putting out multiple Melanies and Scarletts.

Comments

[scornedsaint.livejournal.com]

Oh, good lord, that Scarlett O'Hara doll is terrifying (although I do like that the Melanie one is appropriately wimpy-looking)

Of Poop Planes and Cat Macros...

[fox-gloves.livejournal.com]

Imagine my surprise that there's no mention of the Poop-Plane that flew from Amsterdam to Shannon,Ireland to Newark all the while with non-working toilets that overflowed into the aisles.

Continental Flight. Complete with Cat Macros.

http://pooponaplane.blogspot.com/

Re: Of Poop Planes and Cat Macros...

[free-reverie.livejournal.com]

OH MY GOD.

:|

Re: Of Poop Planes and Cat Macros...

[fox-gloves.livejournal.com]

I'm seriously having to resist the urge to leap into the living room and whilst imitating Samuel L. Jackson, who is quoting the bard, "I've had it with these mothuf**kin' turds on this mothaf**kin' plane"

*appropriate icon*

[laerwen.livejournal.com]

The full account. (http://nyc.metblogs.com/archives/2007/06/continental_fli.phtml)

I think I just threw up a LOT. SICK. Continental should be hung out to dry by their little toes. XP

[girlalmighty]

Giant Ancient Penguins Liked it Hot. Hey, nobody's perfect.

Maybe it's just that it's 2 am, but that seriously made me giggle. ♥

I'm trying to be more economical with my characters myself. I always have to resist the urge to create whole casts of secondary and tertiary characters, especially when a story's set in a high school or college. I think I'm getting better at it. Anyway, I'm glad to hear Black Ribbon's coming along well.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Yay, someone got my way-tangential joke!

[zrath.livejournal.com]

Some like it lukewarm.
Yeah, I got your joke, and I think I sprained something. :)

You do realize that those warmth-loving penguins are the ancestors to the ones portrayed in "Surf's Up"? :)


Ex-Marine teaches pickpocket a lesson

Hee-hee-hee, semper fi!

[lylassandra.livejournal.com]

Ooo-rah!

[crumpeteer.livejournal.com]

I'm stoked at Hatshepsut being found, which makes me a big ol' dork. I even made a model of Deir el-Bahri when I was in middle school. Yeah, big ol' dork.

The whole Benoit thing is very sad and disturbing. I'm interested in following how the WWE has gone from a three hour tribute to now distancing themselves as FAR away from Benoit as possible. Probably a good idea on their part doing damage control, but still interesting.

[agentsculder.livejournal.com]

Probably has something to do with the fact there is some evidence Benoit used a wrestling hold to strangle his son. Oh, and the evidence he was shot up with HGH. Just NOT a good thing for professional wrestling.

As terrible as killing his wife was, the idea he'd kill a small shild is pretty abhorrent to everyone.

[crumpeteer.livejournal.com]

I think the WWE was a little premature to air the tribute that fast when the minute I heard that the whole family was dead suicide/murder crossed my mind. Color me cynical, but there was suspicion from the beginning. The WWE is probably kicking themselves for not waiting a day or two. On the other hand, who expects this sort of behavior out of someone they work with and thought was sane? The more one thinks about his actions the more disgusting they get. I can't imagine being some kid who idolized him having to deal with this now.

The business REALLY needs to do something major about the steroid problem. There is an obvious problem that those in charge keep burying their heads in the sand about.

[whiski_sour]

McMahon will never really do anything about steriods because he loves the juice. He likes his guys big and pushes for that and has no trouble overlooking it if he can benefit off of it. Nature of the big leagues.

Sadly, it's also trickling down into the indys. It worries me.

[morganwolf.livejournal.com]

ARGHBILLO'REILLYARGH. More upsetting? The number of commenters that agreed with him. I don't know-- I know it's a different sort of thing entirely, but I'm a depressive and I know that sometimes your brain does not let you get yourself help. I am sure that with abuse victims it is the same thing. Sometimes you can't be responsible for yourself or your loved ones, and that's not your fault. And yeah-- the only person responsible for killing someone is the person that does the killing.

I need a Dr. Pepper in a bad way now.

[nc-bookworm.livejournal.com]

The Digital National Security Archive is probably going nuts over the CIA stuff. Right up their alley. Other than that geekiness, I've got nothing.

[karadin.livejournal.com]

I liked the bit about your original fiction and research, because I love creating original historic work (for manga) and often what you find, even the smallest tid-bits, end up becoming important to the story, and send your mind down different trails, it's not a chore for me (it's knowing when to stop) even when people always tell me, oh you don't need that much detail, readers don't care.

[agentsculder.livejournal.com]

I'm not surprised about Bill O'Reilly but god that gives me so much RAGE! Right with out on the whole shooting him into the sun thing. He and Paris can share a capsule.

So glad Dan Abrahams called blaming Jesse Davis and Nancy Benoit disgusting and sexist. He gets massive cool points with me.

O'Reilly is such a bastard.

[spectralbovine.livejournal.com]

Beverly Sills gravely ill with cancer.
Oh no! I remember reading about her in elementary school. We read a biography of her, or maybe we didn't, but the point was the author of the biography came and talked to us. Pretty much all I know about her is that her nickname was Bubbles. It's weird; it's not like I ever think about her or that author. But it's a childhood thing that sticks with me in a vague sense, for some reason.

[lilgoala.livejournal.com]

Something you might appreciate re: Paris Hilton.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4111295a1860.html

Video of the actual broadcast:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VdNcCcweL0

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Well, that's what the "MSNBC anchor says no to Paris" link was, basically.

[misachan.livejournal.com]

I'm a huge wrestling fan, so I've been knee-deep in the Chris Benoit story for days now. The whole thing is just so sad, and each new detail that comes out makes the whole thing sadder: Daniel having Fragile X (and that it was kept pretty damn quiet), that he left Bibles next to Nancy and Daniel, the texts he sent, everything. I can't imagine being as isolated as Benoit clearly was, and this was a guy who was loved. The tribute show on Monday (before it came out just how bad the situation really was) was proof of that.

Benoit was just never the guy you expected to do something like this. He didn't get in trouble, he never missed shows, he didn't have any obvious drug issues, none of that. This hit that locker room like a truck. Everyone's looking at each other, wondering, "How could this happen?" and "How did we not see this coming? How did we miss this?" That the guy who was solid, who was always there for everyone else could be having this profound a mental collapse and no one see it is just horrifying.

And McMahon is being kind of an ass, but if I had to deal with O'Reilly and Mushnick and their ilk I probably would be too. He has to distance his business from his as quickly as possible, and he's doing a decent job of it. And he's apparently been a rock behind this scenes, which is the important thing.

Gah. Thank goodness I have the Doctor with a kitten.

[txvoodoo.livejournal.com]

Dear Cleo,

No. Despite how many times you link to new dolls, I WILL NOT BUY. NO. I will NOT!

Not!

No love,
Lisa

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

I dunno, I just like to look at them and whimper a lot.

[txvoodoo.livejournal.com]

And make me share your whimpering, right? ;)

[jennnk.livejournal.com]

another blogger I read used to do this thing called "I'm not saying...I'm just saying..." and follow with some commentary on what some asshat like oreilly has said that day/week.

F'rinstance: I'm not saying it's their fault they're dead, I'm just saying they wouldn't be dead if they hadn't been with these men in the first place. I'm not saying it's her fault she was raped, I'm just saying she wouldn't have been raped if she hadn't been drunk while wearing a miniskirt and dancing on a bar.

How about instead of focusing (like a lot of the ONTD posters are) on changing how women react to being abused, we teach young boys that it's, oh, I don't know, NOT OKAY TO BE ABUSIVE.

grahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

[laerwen.livejournal.com]

Bunway Airlines made me LOL so much, aahahahaha! Also: nooo, Beverly Sills! ;___;

[lauramcvey.livejournal.com]

I officially love Mika.
I officially hate Bill O'Reilly.
And "The Secret" is a load of crap. You want something? YOU WORK YOUR ASS OFF FOR IT.

[dramedy.livejournal.com]

God, why did I let myself read the comments at ONTD. I hate O'Reilly, my god, I just...I'm seeing red, I am so upset at some of those comments and I just can't help but want to slap every single person who agreed that she..agh, can't handle it.

*headdesk*

[http://users.livejournal.com/_ravengirl/]

(Bah, sorry for the double post, I used the wrong icon :P)

We watched the first part of The Secret video in one of my classes last year and it was absolutely utterly rediculous. They have this scene where they're explaining the whole idea by showing this kid who really wants a bike. And I can't remember the whole thing because it was awhile ago, but basically they show the kid wishing for the bike and then the next day bingo, bike appears!

I was just like "WTF?!?!?!?!?!". It's pretty much telling you all you have to do is think positive thoughts, and you'll get what you want. UM A WHOLE WORLD OF NO?

Anyway this is just me adding in my thoughts on how absolutely stupid and pointless it is.

(Also that plane story made me absolutely sick, I can't believe that actually HAPPENED!)

[kookaburra1701.livejournal.com]

Yeah- my boss gave me the book to read, and from the little I get through it seems like a reinvention of affirmations. In the interest of full disclosure, I use affirmations, and they work for me. Not by magically doing what I say, but because I am much more focussed and positive, and that always increases your chances for anything.

But yeah, a big conspiracy? Wisdom handed down through the ages? Bitch, please.

[it-grrl.livejournal.com]

Oh my god, people are starting to catch on. IF WE IGNORE HER, SHE WILL GO AWAY. No petitions, no bitching, just don't look.

[pottersues.livejournal.com]

*huggles cleolinda* Thank you. :)

[rclementmoore.livejournal.com]

Excellent linkspam as always. But I really don't want to confess how much time I spent on the Tonner site looking at all the pretty. Those NYC Ballet (http://roberttonner.com/nycb.htm) ones just speak to my girly girl soul.

[eldritch-flame.livejournal.com]

Very nice linkspam, and as always I love the insight into your writing process (sooooooo happy that you're working on Black Ribbon again, btw). But one small thing that's driving a splinter into my brain: archaeology has nothing to do with dinosaur bones, that's paleontology. Archaeology is the study of past human cultures through their physical remains (so artefacts and ruins and the like). Sorry to rant at you. I'm an archaeology student and that's just a really big pet peeve.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Eeek! And it's not like I didn't know that, either, so now I'm really embarrassed. Damn you, mixed metaphors!

[youngcurmudgeon.livejournal.com]

I'm glad the writing is going!

Also, a request for pimpage in your next linkspam: my church is turning itself into Azkaban for the giant Harry Potter release party my town is throwing. My mom, my sister and I have been charged with creating a list of crimes (for small children, school-age types, and adults) that would land you a night in Azkaban. Turning the Minister of Magic's nose into a turnip, attempted underage Apparition, that sort of thing. (We'll be doing tours for several hours, and variety is good.) If your readers feel like helping out, could you please point them in the direction of this post (http://youngcurmudgeon.livejournal.com/99606.html) in my LJ? Thanks so much.

Don't see anything regarding this retired marine story in the comments

[xander77.livejournal.com]

so on the off chance you haven't picked up the story from another source by now:

http://www.miamiherald.com/466/story/154123.html

Former Marine defends himself from robbery attempt

[edda.livejournal.com]

YAY HATCHEPSUT! My favorite Egyptian queen! I'm glad they found her. He was apparently quite the minx in her day, if Will Cuppy's The Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody can be believed.

[edda.livejournal.com]

SHE was, pardon.

[glass-radical.livejournal.com]

Oh Dan Abrams, you have stolen my heart.