cleolinda: (black ribbon5)
[personal profile] cleolinda
1. I fought off several attacks of The Blahs today, but ended up getting a lot done. I'm trying to sort out the first three chapters at this point--rearranging the old material into logical concert with the new, and so on. Let's put it this way: I wanted to finish this by my birthday, December 14. Today is November 13. I'm not going to do the actual math, but we're talking twenty chapters that have to be filled out and whipped into shape in roughly thirty days. When you consider that I won't be able to write every single day (that's just Murphy's Law talking. Also, you've got Thanksgiving, and I know at least one or two days will be given over entirely to midnight-showing Golden Compass squee), and that I'd probably like to have a little time just to revise things on a word-by-word level... we're talking one chapter per day. Some chapters'll probably take an hour's run-through; the last chapter is going to involve a lot of raw drafting. Really, I just want to have it in a complete, readable format so I can show it to some close friends and, hopefully, my agent, with the understanding that I can still polish it at my leisure and double-check some research details for a little while, while it's shopping around. I've been working on it for four years now--I'd like to give it six months in a drawer, but it had a year or two in a drawer, unfinished, as it was.

But it's an arbitrary deadline. I made it up. Why is it such a big deal?

Because I'm going to be twenty-nine, which is almost thirty, and this is what I've wanted to do my entire life--write novels and, with any luck, publish them--and I haven't done it yet. If I don't draw a line at some point, any point, when is it ever going to get done? This point's as good as any other point.

2. Unfortunately I have a headache now, but it comes with the territory.

3. Questions that are not the most helpful to ask a writer: "So... who's the audience?" "Uh... people who like to read this kind of thing?"

4. I'm saying this here so as not to pick on any one person, but: ARGUING IN CLEO'S JOURNAL BAAAAD.

5. In other housekeeping issues, enough people are emailing me about the Free Rice thing (which I linked!) that it sounds y'all want a little graphic at the bottom of the page. I'm worried about reaching a saturation point with the reminder graphics, though, so I'm thinking of combining all the click-a-day sites into one graphic. Would this work for people? There's tabs at the top of the Hunger page to the others.

Linkspam:

It's a horrible story, but if you've got kids on MySpace, you need to read this: MySpace faked by enemy's parents drives 13-year-old to suicide.
She told the Meiers that Josh Evans was created by adults, a family on their block. These adults, she told the Meiers, were the parents of Megan's former girlfriend, the one with whom she had a falling out. These were the people who'd asked the Meiers to store their foosball table.

The single mother, for this story, requested that her name not be used. She said her daughter, who had carpooled with the family that was involved in creating the phony MySpace account, had the password to the Josh Evans account and had sent one message - the one Megan received (and later retrieved off the hard drive) the night before she took her life.

"She had been encouraged to join in the joke," the single mother said.

The single mother said her daughter feels the guilt of not saying something sooner and for writing that message. Her daughter didn't speak out sooner because she'd known the other family for years and thought that what they were doing must be OK because, after all, they were trusted adults.

On the night the ambulance came for Megan, the single mother said, before it left the Meiers' house her daughter received a call. It was the woman behind the creation of the Josh Evans account. She had called to tell the girl that something had happened to Megan and advised the girl not to mention the MySpace account.


Striking TV, film writers take protest to Wall Street; 'Scrubs' Creator Refuses To Bow to Strike Pressure; Soap writers cross the picket line; Schwarzenegger moves backstage in writers strike; Photo of the Day: Dogs Can Strike Too! (O snap, that t-shirt.)

'The Bachelor': That sound you hear is the women's movement flatlining. YAY FOR WRITERLESS TELEVISION.

Former pilots and officials call for new U.S. UFO probe. Pet grammatical peeve: do UFOs exist? Of course they do. Was it flying? Yes? Was it identified? No? Then it's a UFO.

Mystery $100M donation lifts Pa. city.

Ira Levin, of ‘Rosemary’s Baby,’ Dies at 78.

Cremation ashes at Disneyland -- a dusty epidemic. "The ash was identified by the Anaheim Police as cremated remains, and the custodial department found most of it all over the 'Captain's Quarters' scene in the [POTC ride] caverns."

BBC's snappy answers to climate-change denial.

John Scalzi tours the Creation Museum. With lengthy, snarky photo gallery.

Members sue ‘Hannah Montana’ fan club.

Polar Bears International!

[livejournal.com profile] trailer_spot: Revolver, Purple Violets, Air I Breathe, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince featurettes, Beowulf.

Harry Potter: Jessie Cave to Play Lavender Brown; The Face of Lavender Brown.

The Golden Compass: Kate Bush pens end credits song “Lyra.” Also: PAN!

Max Headroom Joins Watchmen.

Is This The New Bond Girl, Nearly Naked?

Beowulf's Ray Winstone Interviewed.

Mailer's Son Gets Film Rights to 'The Naked and the Dead.'

Michael Pitt in Talks for Oliver Stone's 'Pinkville.'

Juno Duo Reunites For Jennifer's Body.

Kristen Stewart NOT cast as Bella in Meyer's Twilight.

Mist Alters King's Ending.

Ridley Scott to Direct 'Stones' ("it's a supernatural thriller that deals with ancient landmarks like Stonehenge and the Great Pyramids").

No Songs For Enchanted Star Menzel.

Southland Tales Wins Festival Love.

Jeff Goldblum's Mockumentary Gets Hit with a Lawsuit.

Yep, Someone Made a Documentary About ... 'Troll 2.'

Indiana Jones Legos Reveal Key Scenes, Desperation.


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Date: 2007-11-14 09:21 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] khaman.livejournal.com
"3. Questions that are not the most helpful to ask a writer: "So... who's the audience?" "Uh... people who like to read this kind of thing?""

Beyond unhelpful - that's just plain stupid. You never write for an audience, you write for yourself because you want to tell that particular story. Later, the audience/money thing can be worried about.

Date: 2007-11-14 10:16 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] cleolinda.livejournal.com
Well, more to the point--the actual question you want to ask is, "What genre(s) would you put this story in?" Because the audience is therefore people who like those genres. I can say "It's historical--Victorian--and steampunk, so maybe sort of a fantasy/sci-fi thing. Also, too violent for children, so not children's lit." And if you like that, you're the audience.

Date: 2007-11-15 06:55 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] soleta-nf.livejournal.com
That's all you do in your query letters to publishers and agents - describe what your book is about (your description above is perfect) and it's their job to decide exactly how to market it. Plenty of books overlap genres - it's more a matter of what the agents/publisher thinks will sell at that particular time. Audience, schmaudience. :)

Date: 2007-11-14 09:30 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] r-a-black.livejournal.com
First off: (She) felt this incident contributed to Megan's suicide, but she did not feel 'as guilty' because at the funeral she found out 'Megan had tried to commit suicide before.'"

OH. MY. GOD.

Second: I'm sending rice by knowing the correct meanings to words? >.> Forgive me for my skepticism, but is this real?

Date: 2007-11-14 10:18 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] cleolinda.livejournal.com
So far as I can tell. It's like the "click here once a day, we'll donate a cup of rice" Hunger Site people. Theoretically, though, playing a vocabulary game would keep you on the site longer than one click, and I think they're looking for ad sponsors who would appreciate a site where people stayed on for a good long time.

Date: 2007-11-14 10:22 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] angelene.livejournal.com
You're (in a month, going to be) 29? Really? I thought you were a few years younger.

In regards to your deadline, I don't think it's the date that counts, nor whether you're going to meet it or not. Work as hard as you can, make the best of the time you have, be proud of yourself in the end. ;)

I love your new 'hungersite etc' 'banner', btw. Is it 'official' or did you make it?

Date: 2007-11-14 10:35 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] cleolinda.livejournal.com
Really, 29--well, I probably come off as younger online because 1) I'm still living at home with my family while I try to make this writing thing work and 2) I spent way too long faffing around in grad school. Sort of a case of arrested development on a real-world level. I'm properly embarrassed of myself, by the way; it's hard to tell fun stories while trying to gloss over details that reveal how completely lame I am.

The banner's just something I put together this morning--I cropped the individual symbols out of the tabs at the top of the Hunger Site page and arranged them in a line in Photoshop, nothing big.

Date: 2007-11-14 10:57 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] angelene.livejournal.com
I'm properly embarrassed of myself, by the way; it's hard to tell fun stories while trying to gloss over details that reveal how completely lame I am.

EEEEEEEEEEEW! STOP DOING THAT! The self-deprecation, that is. And sorry for the yelling.

What I meant, actually, is that I'm used to think of you in 'Awwww, look! She's years younger than me, and she's already published' terms.

Instead, we're about the same age.

And you're published, and I'm not. I'm the one who should be self-deprecating, not you! C'm on! ;)

Date: 2007-11-14 11:09 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] cleolinda.livejournal.com
Eh, I spend a good deal of the day being embarrassed over it; that wasn't just for show. There's a point, though, when you start to hope that pulling some kind of super-awesome bestseller out of your ass would make everyone go, "But see, that was a special case! She wouldn't have been able to do that if she hadn't been living at home!" And then with any luck you make enough money to move out into some tiny happy apartment and support yourself writing.

But take heart: I'm not some teenage prodigy. I slogged away for years and it's turning thirty in 2008 that's driving me at this point. : )

Date: 2007-11-15 06:51 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] soleta-nf.livejournal.com
30's not all that bad. :)

Date: 2007-11-15 09:35 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] cleolinda.livejournal.com
It's not even the number that bothers me. I've always heard that your 30s are supposed to be awesome. It's more that I've attained less personal and material independence than your average college freshman and I'm almost 30 that's the problem. : (

Date: 2007-11-16 01:03 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] soleta-nf.livejournal.com
Well, if you don't mind me offering my opinion, there are a few ways to look at it (some of which others have mentioned): 1) You have achieved a level of success that many of us your age or a little bit older have not attained - so perhaps look at the success you have in certain areas as a more accurate measure, 2) If you really are bothered by living at home at age 28 (let it be noted that in contemporary culture you have LOTS of company, most of whom haven't published a book or garnered a sizeable internet audience), perhaps think about why it bothered you. If it's just because of how it looks from the outside, then work on that (not being so concerned with appearances; knowing that this is a good situation for you and is not permanent); if you really *want* that kind of independence, then perhaps make a plan for moving out (whether that plan is more immediate or might take a few years)...

It's easy to compare yourself unfavourably with others. I was in grad school until I was 26 (not much younger than you) and in the last 4 years I've lived with my dad for a portion, and I haven't been fully employed, etc. We all have our stories and circumstances. If there are things you want to work on, then do that work; but know that from where many of us stand, on the balance you have done a LOT for the age you're at!

(I'd be happy to chat more specifically about things through email if you're interested. *hugs*)

Date: 2007-11-16 01:22 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] cleolinda.livejournal.com
Aww, bless. Really, it's the sum total of a lot of things: I can't drive (panic attacks; I do know how), either. If I were living at home but could drive, or were living on my own (and... somehow made it in a city without public transportation), it'd be okay. It's the huge sum total of fail (in my mind) and what other people must think of it that gets to me. And that's part of why I'm so hellbent on finishing this novel, because to me it's sort of my best chance at supporting myself doing what I really want to do, or at least proving that I can start trying. It'd offset the balance of fail, in my mind. Like, people could look at me and say, "Oh, well, she's obviously got some great things going on, she's just trying to get things settled. She'll be out on her own in a little while." And as well as I get along with my parents, I just want more room (and control, and peace and quiet, and all the things that go with living on your own).

Date: 2007-11-16 01:26 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] soleta-nf.livejournal.com
Like, people could look at me and say, "Oh, well, she's obviously got some great things going on, she's just trying to get things settled. She'll be out on her own in a little while."

If it helps, I already think that. :)

Date: 2007-11-15 07:32 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] cosette-esk.livejournal.com
That teacher story? THAT is why I switched over entirely to independent study in 10th grade. Bad teachers are like dictators, but much more soul destroying.

Date: 2007-11-15 02:20 pm (UTC)
ext_3370: (Default)
From: [identity profile] iko.livejournal.com
There has been some follow-up (http://stcharlesjournal.stltoday.com/articles/2007/11/13/news/sj2tn20071113-1114stc_pokin_1.ii1.txt) to the MySpace story (http://stcharlesjournal.stltoday.com/articles/2007/11/14/news/doc473bc0aebb167666086063.txt).

I'm curious to hear the interview on CNN.

Date: 2007-11-15 03:02 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lucky-ladybug.livejournal.com
This is more of a bad teacher story as opposed to anything else - but when I was in the 6th grade I got detention for "using big words on purpose to make other people feel bad." Or rather, using big words and making my teacher feel bad. My parents wanted to raise hell SO MUCH but this was my 4th school that year beacuse of military moving and I begged them not to do it.

Date: 2007-11-15 06:47 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] soleta-nf.livejournal.com
I actually prefer the one graphic for the hunger (etc) sites. That seems easier than opening a bunch of windows.

Date: 2007-11-15 09:33 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] cleolinda.livejournal.com
Yeah, and it actually shows all of them, instead of the top three I picked because I didn't have room for all of them.
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