Jan 2010
Ten Days Later
Back from a great trip to Ottawa, exhausted but
happy. While in Ottawa, I not only attended a very
interesting course on alternative dispute resolution,
I also met some great people, got to spend time with
Mike, Elizabeth, Stephen, Isabelle and Edward, met up
with Rob, had meal after meal of fantastic food, went
through the fabulous National Gallery and even attend
the Kub Car races of my nephew's Scout Troop (and,
yes, Stephen won the entire competition for the
second year in a row!).
I got absolutely no writing done. Not a word. I feel like I was on a whirlwind the whole time I was there. I did read the first forty pages or so of Sue Grafton's T is for Trespass on the flight to our nation's capital but, quite frankly, it was so terrible I couldn't go on. I kept turning the page, waiting for something to happen, only to find more back story. Listen, Ms. Grafton, just about anyone who picks up T has already read A through S. We don't need to reread them all in capsule form. Get on with it.
So I put the book in my suitcase and never went back to it.
I had thought I might get the chance to work on Luke, my latest Phillip Gold novel, but I never even looked at it. That's not due to lack of interest (I'm quite looking forward to getting back to work on it); it's just that Ottawa kept me so busy!
I got back last night, enduring a rather windswept landing at Fredericton Airport along the way. After my first good night's sleep in a week, I spent some of the day today working on a Star-Trek-based workshop I'm facilitating later this week. I just love iMovie and iDVD, which make the whole task of creating multimedia so easy.
And it has occurred to me that, with February upon us, I have now left The Silent Goodbye sit on the shelf for more than a month. Pretty soon I'll be able to go back to it with a more objective eye to do the first major revision. That will be fun too!
I got absolutely no writing done. Not a word. I feel like I was on a whirlwind the whole time I was there. I did read the first forty pages or so of Sue Grafton's T is for Trespass on the flight to our nation's capital but, quite frankly, it was so terrible I couldn't go on. I kept turning the page, waiting for something to happen, only to find more back story. Listen, Ms. Grafton, just about anyone who picks up T has already read A through S. We don't need to reread them all in capsule form. Get on with it.
So I put the book in my suitcase and never went back to it.
I had thought I might get the chance to work on Luke, my latest Phillip Gold novel, but I never even looked at it. That's not due to lack of interest (I'm quite looking forward to getting back to work on it); it's just that Ottawa kept me so busy!
I got back last night, enduring a rather windswept landing at Fredericton Airport along the way. After my first good night's sleep in a week, I spent some of the day today working on a Star-Trek-based workshop I'm facilitating later this week. I just love iMovie and iDVD, which make the whole task of creating multimedia so easy.
And it has occurred to me that, with February upon us, I have now left The Silent Goodbye sit on the shelf for more than a month. Pretty soon I'll be able to go back to it with a more objective eye to do the first major revision. That will be fun too!
Has It Really Been A Week?
20/01/10 17:33 Filed in: Writing
One of the things I like about the writing process is
the fact that, even if you are not actually sitting
down and writing, your mind (subconscious?
unconscious?) is still working on the book. That's
what the past week has been: me not at the computer
but my mind at the proverbial grindstone working its
way through various thoughts and ideas for
Luke, the new Phillip Gold novel.
I am still very excited with the idea for the book and have great confidence that the writing process will be fairly smooth. The plot is clearly established in my brain and the characters are starting to take shape. I will have to do some research in the field of psychiatry, especially child psychiatry, even beyond watching old Frasier episodes, but that's okay. Research isn't my strong point but I figure I need to get better at it someday.
I have several five-day long business trips coming up so I hope to take advantage of quiet nights in dreary hotel rooms to get some writing done. I asked Patti the other day: do you think it's reasonable to set a goal of completing the novel by the summer? The look she gave me suggested "perhaps not" but what's the sense of setting goals if their easy to meet, right?
Meanwhile, I finished re-re-re-re-reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on the weekend. I tried to force myself to savour every word but I'm afraid some scenes were still just too exciting for me. What a great book. I always feel a slight sense of loss when I finish it, like something wonderful is coming to a close. And I always start thinking again about my own Rowling-world novel, The Way Forward, which currently rests, slightly abandoned, here on this website.
I've already had some new ideas for it so, perhaps once I've got the first draft of Luke put to bed, I'll get back to Aberforth and George for a while.
I am still very excited with the idea for the book and have great confidence that the writing process will be fairly smooth. The plot is clearly established in my brain and the characters are starting to take shape. I will have to do some research in the field of psychiatry, especially child psychiatry, even beyond watching old Frasier episodes, but that's okay. Research isn't my strong point but I figure I need to get better at it someday.
I have several five-day long business trips coming up so I hope to take advantage of quiet nights in dreary hotel rooms to get some writing done. I asked Patti the other day: do you think it's reasonable to set a goal of completing the novel by the summer? The look she gave me suggested "perhaps not" but what's the sense of setting goals if their easy to meet, right?
Meanwhile, I finished re-re-re-re-reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on the weekend. I tried to force myself to savour every word but I'm afraid some scenes were still just too exciting for me. What a great book. I always feel a slight sense of loss when I finish it, like something wonderful is coming to a close. And I always start thinking again about my own Rowling-world novel, The Way Forward, which currently rests, slightly abandoned, here on this website.
I've already had some new ideas for it so, perhaps once I've got the first draft of Luke put to bed, I'll get back to Aberforth and George for a while.
Apparation Confusion
Not much progress recently. I've kind of fallen into
a bit of a lethargic state on the creative work, with
my career work heating up and a number of extra
projects coming my way. It's not the worst thing in
the world, to be frank, but it certainly makes
creating a "Writer's Blog" a little more difficult.
On the reading side of things, I'm back into Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, this time trying very hard to read it slowly and thoroughly. I always find myself getting so caught up in the action that I whistle right through it so I am making a conscious effort this time to savour every word. And most of the words are worth savouring. I've noticed one significant issue, however, that I still can't figure out.
It has to do with Apparating, that process whereby a witch or wizard can transport themselves to another place simply by turning on the spot with a wand in their possession. In an earlier book, our crew takes apparating lessons. Hermione, as usual, does fine but Harry and Ron struggle. At the end of The Half-Blood Prince, Dumbledore has to help Harry apparate since Harry is still not good at it and does not have his apparating license. Once Dumbledore is rendered incapable by the potion in the cave, however, Harry is forced to do the apparating for both of them and he is successful.
What I don't understand is why, in The Deathly Hallows, sometimes Ron and Harry are capable of apparating on their own and at other times they have to have Hermione's help. For example, when they move from Grimauld Place to the Ministry of Magic to put their plan into action, Rowling is quite specific that Hermione first takes Ron and then comes back for Harry. It's possible I've missed something but I can't figure out this inconsistency.
I know. Those of you who haven't read The Deathly Hallows eleven times like I have probably don't care but it still stumps me.
With regard to Luke, my new Phillip Gold novel, I hope to use some upcoming business trips to Ottawa (during which I'll have some evenings alone in a hotel room) to get back to writing. I'll keep you posted on how that goes.
On the reading side of things, I'm back into Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, this time trying very hard to read it slowly and thoroughly. I always find myself getting so caught up in the action that I whistle right through it so I am making a conscious effort this time to savour every word. And most of the words are worth savouring. I've noticed one significant issue, however, that I still can't figure out.
It has to do with Apparating, that process whereby a witch or wizard can transport themselves to another place simply by turning on the spot with a wand in their possession. In an earlier book, our crew takes apparating lessons. Hermione, as usual, does fine but Harry and Ron struggle. At the end of The Half-Blood Prince, Dumbledore has to help Harry apparate since Harry is still not good at it and does not have his apparating license. Once Dumbledore is rendered incapable by the potion in the cave, however, Harry is forced to do the apparating for both of them and he is successful.
What I don't understand is why, in The Deathly Hallows, sometimes Ron and Harry are capable of apparating on their own and at other times they have to have Hermione's help. For example, when they move from Grimauld Place to the Ministry of Magic to put their plan into action, Rowling is quite specific that Hermione first takes Ron and then comes back for Harry. It's possible I've missed something but I can't figure out this inconsistency.
I know. Those of you who haven't read The Deathly Hallows eleven times like I have probably don't care but it still stumps me.
With regard to Luke, my new Phillip Gold novel, I hope to use some upcoming business trips to Ottawa (during which I'll have some evenings alone in a hotel room) to get back to writing. I'll keep you posted on how that goes.
Tentatively Titled "Luke"
06/01/10 05:58 Filed in: Writing
Much to my surprise, I started writing the fourth
Phillip Gold novel the other day. And a good start I
made of it, as well, completing a full seven pages.
Wow.
I haven't arrived at a title for it yet, so I'm using "Luke" as a placeholder title, as in "I am your father, Luke," from Star Wars. That's because the book is all about the eight-year-old Phillip Gold's relationship with his abusive father. Not a great placeholder but better than nothing, I guess.
I'm experimenting with this new book, obviously, since my protagonist is just eight years old. That's fun but challenging to write. I keep having to go back over the dialogue to make sure his diction isn't too adult and his thoughts are no as well developed as an older person's might be.
The first seven pages are made up entirely of dialogue: not a single word of exposition. Another experiment. The idea is to alternate between dialogue-only scenes involving young Phil and the court-appointed psychiatrist and third-person narrative scenes that take the reader into the events of the novel. If it works, it should allow an exciting mix of insight into the character and straight-out action, with details of what occurred emerging slowly and with some amount of tension.
If it works. The jury is still out on that. Still, it's fun to write so far.
I haven't arrived at a title for it yet, so I'm using "Luke" as a placeholder title, as in "I am your father, Luke," from Star Wars. That's because the book is all about the eight-year-old Phillip Gold's relationship with his abusive father. Not a great placeholder but better than nothing, I guess.
I'm experimenting with this new book, obviously, since my protagonist is just eight years old. That's fun but challenging to write. I keep having to go back over the dialogue to make sure his diction isn't too adult and his thoughts are no as well developed as an older person's might be.
The first seven pages are made up entirely of dialogue: not a single word of exposition. Another experiment. The idea is to alternate between dialogue-only scenes involving young Phil and the court-appointed psychiatrist and third-person narrative scenes that take the reader into the events of the novel. If it works, it should allow an exciting mix of insight into the character and straight-out action, with details of what occurred emerging slowly and with some amount of tension.
If it works. The jury is still out on that. Still, it's fun to write so far.
Holiday Diversions
With snow coming down outside in one thick blanket
(we're expecting up to 35 cm by the end of Saturday),
today is a good day to curl up and do nothing. Not
that we've been doing much for the past couple of
days! Mostly reading and watching DVDs.
Patti borrowed a number of vids from the local library for the holidays and we've plowed through most of those. In honour of my commitment to reading all of Dickens, she picked up the BBC mini-series of David Copperfield (starring a very young, pre-Potter Daniel Radcliffe) as well as the recent theatrical film version of Nicholas Nickleby. We watched the first 90 minutes of the mini-series (the thing is more than 180 minutes in total) before giving it up as too depressing. Nickleby lasted only 20 minutes before we hit "Stop" and walked away. Maybe Dickens is better read than viewed.
As I was flipping among the various American college football bowl games yesterday, I noticed that Vision TV was showing all six hours of the BBC's version of Little Dorrit, the Dickens novel I am actually reading right now. Awful. Though it did seem to be a little more light-hearted than the others, it was still really bleak. I'm starting to reconsider my intention to read the whole Dickens oeuvre.
We have been watching the first season of Mad Men, the American TV show set in the 1960s, and are finding it a challenge. Yes, the racism, anti-semitism and misogyny so blatantly on display in the show are likely accurate representations of the time but they are very hard to watch. And I can't help but wonder if the decision to set the show during that time period and to focus on those kinds of behaviours (as well as smoking and drinking) isn't, itself, a form of backlash against the small progress we've made as a society towards inclusion and equity. Many have argued that the show represents a critique of such conservative, hate-filled attitudes (a la All In the Family) but I'm not so sure.
I'm happy to report, however, that the problematic aspects of the show seem to decline as the first season goes on while the plots develop in interesting ways and the characters and their relationships continue to be quite fascinating. The jury is still out but we still have six episodes of the first season to watch before drawing any conclusions.
I have enjoyed reading the two volumes of The Complete Peanuts I received for Christmas: 1971-72 and 1973-74. These two Peanuts volumes involve the introduction of both Marcie, the bespectacled little girl who calls Peppermint Patti "sir" all the time, and "Rerun", the baby brother of Lucy and Linus. As a result, I was concerned that, at this point in the comic strip's history, we might have reached the "jumping the shark" moment that plagues many a successful series (be it a TV program or a comic strip), when the writer runs out of ideas and the characters become mere caricatures of themselves.
I'm pleased to find that my fears were unfounded. In fact, I think I've laughed out loud more often with these two volumes than with any of the earlier books. And I'm finding it very interesting to see how Peanuts strips are reflective of their times. For example, in a February 1972 strip, Snoopy mentions Star Trek, the first time that iconic sci-fi show was ever mentioned in the Peanuts world. This is notable because the original series of Star Trek aired on television between 1966 and 1969 and passed unnoticed by Charles Schulz into oblivion. It was only when the show began to pick up speed in syndication that it became important enough a cultural force to make its way into Snoopy's world.
OK, so maybe I'm just pleased to see Star Trek make an appearance in Peanuts. Cool. I like to see my interests meld. Now all we need to have is Hermione refer to Spock and McCoy in the next Harry Potter film.
Patti borrowed a number of vids from the local library for the holidays and we've plowed through most of those. In honour of my commitment to reading all of Dickens, she picked up the BBC mini-series of David Copperfield (starring a very young, pre-Potter Daniel Radcliffe) as well as the recent theatrical film version of Nicholas Nickleby. We watched the first 90 minutes of the mini-series (the thing is more than 180 minutes in total) before giving it up as too depressing. Nickleby lasted only 20 minutes before we hit "Stop" and walked away. Maybe Dickens is better read than viewed.
As I was flipping among the various American college football bowl games yesterday, I noticed that Vision TV was showing all six hours of the BBC's version of Little Dorrit, the Dickens novel I am actually reading right now. Awful. Though it did seem to be a little more light-hearted than the others, it was still really bleak. I'm starting to reconsider my intention to read the whole Dickens oeuvre.
We have been watching the first season of Mad Men, the American TV show set in the 1960s, and are finding it a challenge. Yes, the racism, anti-semitism and misogyny so blatantly on display in the show are likely accurate representations of the time but they are very hard to watch. And I can't help but wonder if the decision to set the show during that time period and to focus on those kinds of behaviours (as well as smoking and drinking) isn't, itself, a form of backlash against the small progress we've made as a society towards inclusion and equity. Many have argued that the show represents a critique of such conservative, hate-filled attitudes (a la All In the Family) but I'm not so sure.
I'm happy to report, however, that the problematic aspects of the show seem to decline as the first season goes on while the plots develop in interesting ways and the characters and their relationships continue to be quite fascinating. The jury is still out but we still have six episodes of the first season to watch before drawing any conclusions.
I have enjoyed reading the two volumes of The Complete Peanuts I received for Christmas: 1971-72 and 1973-74. These two Peanuts volumes involve the introduction of both Marcie, the bespectacled little girl who calls Peppermint Patti "sir" all the time, and "Rerun", the baby brother of Lucy and Linus. As a result, I was concerned that, at this point in the comic strip's history, we might have reached the "jumping the shark" moment that plagues many a successful series (be it a TV program or a comic strip), when the writer runs out of ideas and the characters become mere caricatures of themselves.
I'm pleased to find that my fears were unfounded. In fact, I think I've laughed out loud more often with these two volumes than with any of the earlier books. And I'm finding it very interesting to see how Peanuts strips are reflective of their times. For example, in a February 1972 strip, Snoopy mentions Star Trek, the first time that iconic sci-fi show was ever mentioned in the Peanuts world. This is notable because the original series of Star Trek aired on television between 1966 and 1969 and passed unnoticed by Charles Schulz into oblivion. It was only when the show began to pick up speed in syndication that it became important enough a cultural force to make its way into Snoopy's world.
OK, so maybe I'm just pleased to see Star Trek make an appearance in Peanuts. Cool. I like to see my interests meld. Now all we need to have is Hermione refer to Spock and McCoy in the next Harry Potter film.