Harry Potter
Fowl and Potter
13/05/10 08:13 Filed in: Reading
An Open Letter to Emily and Clare,
Hi Emily and Clare,
I want to start by thanking you for introducing me to Artemis Fowl, the 12-year-old criminal mastermind created by Eoin Colfer. After our discussion at the dinner table last Sunday night, during which you told me that you and your friends are involved in a big debate over who is better, Harry Potter or Artemis Fowl, I decided I should go and check this Fowl guy out. As you know, I had a really hard time remember the little villain's name; I ended up reducing him (as suggested by your dad) to "Greek Duck". I did indeed manage to find a copy of the first Artemis Fowl book at the Bookworm in Westdale.
I then read this entire first book, titled perhaps predictably Artemis Fowl, before I got on the plane to fly back to Fredericton the next day.
I really enjoyed it. It's fun and witty and involves a playful third-person narrator who likes to talk to the reader directly. The "fairy world" is vividly created and the characters of Artemis Fowl, Holly Short, and Butler are well-drawn and interesting. I can't say the plot itself made me do cartwheels but it was certainly workable and moved at a nice pace.
But does it compete with Harry Potter? No way! Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is a work of art. It is both subtle and clever and the idea of introducing the main character (and, with him, the reader) slowly into the magical world is brilliant. We feel awe as Harry arrives, for the first time, at Diagon Alley, at Gringott's, and finally at Hogwarts, as he discovers the powers within him and the friends (and enemies) who surround him. The plot is intricate and scary and the weaving together of the magical and muggle worlds makes the book memorable.
I think Artemis Fowl is very good, no doubt, but you can tell all your friends, from me, that comparing Fowl to Potter is about as fair as comparing your local police officer with James Bond. Harry Potter wins out, easily and with an abundance of class!
Thank you for giving me the chance to contribute to the ongoing debate.
Sincerely,
Uncle Mark
Hi Emily and Clare,
I want to start by thanking you for introducing me to Artemis Fowl, the 12-year-old criminal mastermind created by Eoin Colfer. After our discussion at the dinner table last Sunday night, during which you told me that you and your friends are involved in a big debate over who is better, Harry Potter or Artemis Fowl, I decided I should go and check this Fowl guy out. As you know, I had a really hard time remember the little villain's name; I ended up reducing him (as suggested by your dad) to "Greek Duck". I did indeed manage to find a copy of the first Artemis Fowl book at the Bookworm in Westdale.
I then read this entire first book, titled perhaps predictably Artemis Fowl, before I got on the plane to fly back to Fredericton the next day.
I really enjoyed it. It's fun and witty and involves a playful third-person narrator who likes to talk to the reader directly. The "fairy world" is vividly created and the characters of Artemis Fowl, Holly Short, and Butler are well-drawn and interesting. I can't say the plot itself made me do cartwheels but it was certainly workable and moved at a nice pace.
But does it compete with Harry Potter? No way! Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is a work of art. It is both subtle and clever and the idea of introducing the main character (and, with him, the reader) slowly into the magical world is brilliant. We feel awe as Harry arrives, for the first time, at Diagon Alley, at Gringott's, and finally at Hogwarts, as he discovers the powers within him and the friends (and enemies) who surround him. The plot is intricate and scary and the weaving together of the magical and muggle worlds makes the book memorable.
I think Artemis Fowl is very good, no doubt, but you can tell all your friends, from me, that comparing Fowl to Potter is about as fair as comparing your local police officer with James Bond. Harry Potter wins out, easily and with an abundance of class!
Thank you for giving me the chance to contribute to the ongoing debate.
Sincerely,
Uncle Mark
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.
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.
Hard Reality
08/09/09 19:30 Filed in: Writing
I have to accept it. It's a hard reality but it
is reality: I'm blocked.
I've been making excuses on this blog for some time now but it's time I faced the fact that I am now facing a pretty nasty case of writer's block with regard to The Silent Goodbye. Even as I type that, my mind is coming up with all kinds of excuses: I'm too busy, work is overwhelming, too much to do at home, I'm working on other projects, etc. But the fact is, I'm blocked.
That's hard. And it's even harder because I know exactly what I should be writing. I just can't force myself to sit down and write it. That's sad. I am still working on the Phillip Gold Concordance and I'm still reading through the Harry Potter series again (I'm actually savouring book seven once again, forcing myself to read it slowly and deeply). That's fine. But I should be writing.
I'll get there. I set as my goal to complete a draft of the novel by the end of the year and that is still extremely do-able. I just wish I could get going again.
Maybe tonight.
I've been making excuses on this blog for some time now but it's time I faced the fact that I am now facing a pretty nasty case of writer's block with regard to The Silent Goodbye. Even as I type that, my mind is coming up with all kinds of excuses: I'm too busy, work is overwhelming, too much to do at home, I'm working on other projects, etc. But the fact is, I'm blocked.
That's hard. And it's even harder because I know exactly what I should be writing. I just can't force myself to sit down and write it. That's sad. I am still working on the Phillip Gold Concordance and I'm still reading through the Harry Potter series again (I'm actually savouring book seven once again, forcing myself to read it slowly and deeply). That's fine. But I should be writing.
I'll get there. I set as my goal to complete a draft of the novel by the end of the year and that is still extremely do-able. I just wish I could get going again.
Maybe tonight.
Rounding Things Up
30/08/09 20:34 Filed in: Writing
I am still proceeding very slowly in writing the
courtroom scenes for my new Phillip Gold novel,
The Silent Goodbye. Lots of research, lots
of consideration and reflection, lots of care in the
selection of each word and phrase. So slow going.
I have also decided that it is time for me to start addressing some of the inconsistencies that have sprung up in my Gold collection. Okay, okay, that's a grandiose way of saying: my memory stinks and I'm not going to get away with changing characters names (eye colours, hair colours, height, weights, vocal patterns, etc.) in mid-novel any more. I honestly write a character's name, then forget it two pages later.
It's really quite sad.
So, just as I am in the process of preparing a Harry Potter concordance, so I have decided I need to create a Phillip Gold concordance to ensure that characters and locations are consistent from book to book, page to page. It should also help me create signature descriptions for each recurring character, recognisable behaviour patterns, even pet words and phrases. I have always been impressed with how J.K. Rowling was able to create, very quickly, speech patterns that allowed me to recognise characters immediately from what they say: Dolores Umbridge's "Hem Hem" and Ron Weasley's "Are you mental?" to name but two.
I started the process on Saturday and spent four hours working on it. It was then that I realised both that I have written a lot of fiction involving Phillip Gold and also that I have created a pretty impressive collection of people and places that populate his world.
Here is a list of the Phillip Gold fiction I've written to date:
A Fleck of Gold, a full-length novel;
All That Glisters, a full-length novel;
The Gold Figure, the first chapter of a novel;
The Prequel, the first 60 pages of a so-far untitled novel;
"The Rare Book", a short story;
"Violet and Gold", a short story; and
The Silent Goodbye, a three-quarters complete novel.
That's a lot of writing. And it also represents a great number of characters and settings, both ones that are specific to a particular work and ones that recur throughout the collection.
My job now is to identify those characters and settings that do or might recur, locate every section of each story in which I have provided useful details about them, and copy those details into a encyclopedic entry. Once that's done (and, including today's three hours, I'm up to seven full hours of work on this task), I will review and revise each collection of entries so as to create a useful summary of each person or place.
I will also have to make some decisions between conflicting descriptions of a particular person or place. For example, Stacey McLean's eyes have been described as blue, green and hazel in different stories. I'm going to have to decide what colour they are, then go back and correct the descriptions throughout the various novels and stories.
The process also gives me a chance to flesh out the back stories for some of the major characters, especially Phillip Gold himself. This will allow me to ensure that his reactions to current situations are true and appropriate according to his life history. It will also, I trust, make him a more interesting, well-rounded character.
Of course, it will be a lot of work. But I'm finding it interesting. And kind of fun to think I've written enough about Gold and his world that this is necessary and possible.
The final product should also help me remember the names of characters from page to page as I continue to write The Silent Goodbye.
I have also decided that it is time for me to start addressing some of the inconsistencies that have sprung up in my Gold collection. Okay, okay, that's a grandiose way of saying: my memory stinks and I'm not going to get away with changing characters names (eye colours, hair colours, height, weights, vocal patterns, etc.) in mid-novel any more. I honestly write a character's name, then forget it two pages later.
It's really quite sad.
So, just as I am in the process of preparing a Harry Potter concordance, so I have decided I need to create a Phillip Gold concordance to ensure that characters and locations are consistent from book to book, page to page. It should also help me create signature descriptions for each recurring character, recognisable behaviour patterns, even pet words and phrases. I have always been impressed with how J.K. Rowling was able to create, very quickly, speech patterns that allowed me to recognise characters immediately from what they say: Dolores Umbridge's "Hem Hem" and Ron Weasley's "Are you mental?" to name but two.
I started the process on Saturday and spent four hours working on it. It was then that I realised both that I have written a lot of fiction involving Phillip Gold and also that I have created a pretty impressive collection of people and places that populate his world.
Here is a list of the Phillip Gold fiction I've written to date:
A Fleck of Gold, a full-length novel;
All That Glisters, a full-length novel;
The Gold Figure, the first chapter of a novel;
The Prequel, the first 60 pages of a so-far untitled novel;
"The Rare Book", a short story;
"Violet and Gold", a short story; and
The Silent Goodbye, a three-quarters complete novel.
That's a lot of writing. And it also represents a great number of characters and settings, both ones that are specific to a particular work and ones that recur throughout the collection.
My job now is to identify those characters and settings that do or might recur, locate every section of each story in which I have provided useful details about them, and copy those details into a encyclopedic entry. Once that's done (and, including today's three hours, I'm up to seven full hours of work on this task), I will review and revise each collection of entries so as to create a useful summary of each person or place.
I will also have to make some decisions between conflicting descriptions of a particular person or place. For example, Stacey McLean's eyes have been described as blue, green and hazel in different stories. I'm going to have to decide what colour they are, then go back and correct the descriptions throughout the various novels and stories.
The process also gives me a chance to flesh out the back stories for some of the major characters, especially Phillip Gold himself. This will allow me to ensure that his reactions to current situations are true and appropriate according to his life history. It will also, I trust, make him a more interesting, well-rounded character.
Of course, it will be a lot of work. But I'm finding it interesting. And kind of fun to think I've written enough about Gold and his world that this is necessary and possible.
The final product should also help me remember the names of characters from page to page as I continue to write The Silent Goodbye.
Toe Dipping
28/08/09 19:47 Filed in: Writing
I dipped a toe in the water of my trial scene. I'm
very proud of myself. The thing had been intimidating
the heck out of me so I thought I'd take two steps to
get myself re-started: first, I went on the web to
see if I could find sample Crown openings for jury
trials (I could); second, I decided to proceed very
slowly, very carefully while trying to be cognizant
of what each character would be thinking, doing,
aiming for with every word.
So I wrote about 300 words of Sharon Kyle's opening to the jury. I spent some time not only on what she would say but also thinking about how she would act and what impact her words and actions would have on Phillip Gold. And there's a lot going on there.
The last time Gold saw Kyle in action in a court room, he was on the witness stand and she was tearing him to pieces. So he's feeling a little bit vulnerable and embarrassed.
Meanwhile, Gold is not very confident as a trial lawyer while Kyle is the consummate professional. He wants to watch her closely so as to learn from her as much as he can.
And Kyle is drop-dead gorgeous, a fact that is not lost on Gold (nor on any one else in the court room).
This gives me lots to think about and lots to write about.
Going slowly seems to be working. I just hope my sister will be ready to receive a draft when I'm done. I'm thinking I should probably send her it piece by piece as I go along, rather than in one big chunk. That would give her a chance to review in brief spurts, focusing on each individual aspect of the trial (are you reading this, Janice?).
On the other side of the process, I think I mentioned that I have been re-reading the Harry Potter series (surprise, surprise!) from the beginning. I have just completed the fourth and fifth books (The Goblet of Fire and The Order of the Phoenix, the first two longer novels) and was surprised to find that I have only read each of them once or, at most, twice. As a result, the movie versions were more prominent in my mind. I was delighted to rediscover how really excellent these books are, how much detail Rowling puts into them and how complex and layered the plots are.
It brought home to me, again, the deficiencies in the films. I guess I'm going to have to work hard to ensure that it is Rowling's originals, rather than the film derivations, that stay uppermost in my mind.
Anyway, back to work on Phil and Sharon, Gold and Kyle.
So I wrote about 300 words of Sharon Kyle's opening to the jury. I spent some time not only on what she would say but also thinking about how she would act and what impact her words and actions would have on Phillip Gold. And there's a lot going on there.
The last time Gold saw Kyle in action in a court room, he was on the witness stand and she was tearing him to pieces. So he's feeling a little bit vulnerable and embarrassed.
Meanwhile, Gold is not very confident as a trial lawyer while Kyle is the consummate professional. He wants to watch her closely so as to learn from her as much as he can.
And Kyle is drop-dead gorgeous, a fact that is not lost on Gold (nor on any one else in the court room).
This gives me lots to think about and lots to write about.
Going slowly seems to be working. I just hope my sister will be ready to receive a draft when I'm done. I'm thinking I should probably send her it piece by piece as I go along, rather than in one big chunk. That would give her a chance to review in brief spurts, focusing on each individual aspect of the trial (are you reading this, Janice?).
On the other side of the process, I think I mentioned that I have been re-reading the Harry Potter series (surprise, surprise!) from the beginning. I have just completed the fourth and fifth books (The Goblet of Fire and The Order of the Phoenix, the first two longer novels) and was surprised to find that I have only read each of them once or, at most, twice. As a result, the movie versions were more prominent in my mind. I was delighted to rediscover how really excellent these books are, how much detail Rowling puts into them and how complex and layered the plots are.
It brought home to me, again, the deficiencies in the films. I guess I'm going to have to work hard to ensure that it is Rowling's originals, rather than the film derivations, that stay uppermost in my mind.
Anyway, back to work on Phil and Sharon, Gold and Kyle.
Harry Potter and the Second Chance
10/08/09 17:20 Filed in: Film
I just needed a little distance.
The first time I went to see the newish movie, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, I was very disappointed. You can read my disappointment in my blog of 21/07/09. In anticipation of seeing the movie, I had re-read the book and, with Rowling's powerful prose fresh in my mind, I went to the cinema with high expectations.
It turns out, I approached the movie with the wrong mind-set. I went in looking for the ways in which the movie version stayed faithful to the book and the ways in which it diverged. Though Half-Blood Prince is likely my least favourite of Rowling's seven, I still respected it for its consistency of tone, its psychological and emotional depth and the new directions in which it took the characters. I also knew it would be tough to make this deeply introspective, tone-poem book into a successful movie.
This time, I went to the cinema on the spur of the moment Sunday afternoon, now three weeks separated from reading the book, intent on judging the film on its own merits. Well, my opinion of it has improved significantly. Yes, I still think it is a pale, shallow, hollow imitation of the book but, as a film, it works. (Now that's a back-handed compliment if I ever wrote one!).
I will never like what Steve Kloves did to the book in making it into a film script. I will never like the liberties he took not only with Rowling's scenes and story but also with her characters and their motiviations.
I do, however, have a strong appreciation for the look, tone and atmosphere of the film. David Yates and his crew have done exceptional work at creating an artistic film, filled with beautiful images and interesting visual constructions. Yates is especially creative in finding visual ways to show Draco Malfoy's despair as he languishes in his efforts to fulfill the Dark Lord's orders to him. Rowling used the literary device of having another character (Moaning Myrtle) tell the reader (and Harry et al) about Malfoy's torment; Yates isolates Malfoy in the corners of frames, pans from scenes of youthful frivolity to images of Malfoy alone and lonely, pens him physically in the architecture of the school.
Yates also does a very nice job with the "Wizards in the Muggle world" scenes, particularly when the sisters visit Severus Snape in Spinners End. The image of Peter Pettigrew seen through the fogged glass of the home's front door is stunning and Snape seems right at home in the dusty library.
I would (and no doubt will) watch this movie again, not simply because it is an adaptation of one of Rowling's books but also because it is so beautifully filmed and beautifully acted, at least by the veteran back-up cast. I can't say any of the three leads particularly impressed me with their acting skills but they do have a nice chemistry and the film's emphasis of the growing friendship between Harry and Hermione (a steadfast, unquestioning, rest-of-their-lives friendship) is a nice touch in preparation for the final films.
The first time I went to see the newish movie, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, I was very disappointed. You can read my disappointment in my blog of 21/07/09. In anticipation of seeing the movie, I had re-read the book and, with Rowling's powerful prose fresh in my mind, I went to the cinema with high expectations.
It turns out, I approached the movie with the wrong mind-set. I went in looking for the ways in which the movie version stayed faithful to the book and the ways in which it diverged. Though Half-Blood Prince is likely my least favourite of Rowling's seven, I still respected it for its consistency of tone, its psychological and emotional depth and the new directions in which it took the characters. I also knew it would be tough to make this deeply introspective, tone-poem book into a successful movie.
This time, I went to the cinema on the spur of the moment Sunday afternoon, now three weeks separated from reading the book, intent on judging the film on its own merits. Well, my opinion of it has improved significantly. Yes, I still think it is a pale, shallow, hollow imitation of the book but, as a film, it works. (Now that's a back-handed compliment if I ever wrote one!).
I will never like what Steve Kloves did to the book in making it into a film script. I will never like the liberties he took not only with Rowling's scenes and story but also with her characters and their motiviations.
I do, however, have a strong appreciation for the look, tone and atmosphere of the film. David Yates and his crew have done exceptional work at creating an artistic film, filled with beautiful images and interesting visual constructions. Yates is especially creative in finding visual ways to show Draco Malfoy's despair as he languishes in his efforts to fulfill the Dark Lord's orders to him. Rowling used the literary device of having another character (Moaning Myrtle) tell the reader (and Harry et al) about Malfoy's torment; Yates isolates Malfoy in the corners of frames, pans from scenes of youthful frivolity to images of Malfoy alone and lonely, pens him physically in the architecture of the school.
Yates also does a very nice job with the "Wizards in the Muggle world" scenes, particularly when the sisters visit Severus Snape in Spinners End. The image of Peter Pettigrew seen through the fogged glass of the home's front door is stunning and Snape seems right at home in the dusty library.
I would (and no doubt will) watch this movie again, not simply because it is an adaptation of one of Rowling's books but also because it is so beautifully filmed and beautifully acted, at least by the veteran back-up cast. I can't say any of the three leads particularly impressed me with their acting skills but they do have a nice chemistry and the film's emphasis of the growing friendship between Harry and Hermione (a steadfast, unquestioning, rest-of-their-lives friendship) is a nice touch in preparation for the final films.
Update on all the Stuff in My Life
I have to come clean: I haven't written any Phillip
Gold in three days. Okay, there, I said it. I
admitted my fault. Work has been extremely busy and
so has life in general. Add that the constant rain of
the past few weeks has finally broken out into
glorious sunshine (and the resulting golf game) and
you'll see why I haven't been able to get back to
The Silent Goodbye.
My subconscious has been working on it (or is that my unconscious?) and I expect to be able to get rolling again when I next sit down. Too many things have gotten in the way.
By way of update on other things, however, I still have not heard from the publisher about my Abigail Massey submission. I have also given up trying to figure out what that means: they don't review new submissions very often so they simply haven't taken a look at it; they have looked at it and rejected it but figure bad news can wait; they like it but it has to go through the channels for approvals before they contact me again.
I"ve heard all the possibilities and have no clue which is true. I don't want to give up but I'd feel a lot better if I had heard one way or another.
My vegetable garden is coming along surprisingly well. Although we have little critters that seem to go after certain plants, the whole garden plot (so brown and barren two months ago) is alive with varying shades of green. I even had to go out and do some heartless thinning to most of the rows of veggies but learned from the way the remaining plants suddenly exploded in growth thereafter that thinning is a good and kind thing for plants. No actual, edible vegetables yet but we're getting there.
With regard to backyard birds, I made the mistake of buying the really cheap seed and ended up, perhaps not surprisingly, with a yard filled with grackles, crows, doves and pigeons. I'm surprised the neighbours didn't come to complain. So I took the main feeder down and put it in the shed. Within two days, most of the undesirables had disappeared and, for the last two days, we've enjoyed the company of gold and purple finches as well as chipping sparrows and chicadees at our finch feeder. Much better. Lesson learned.
In the area of reading, well, I've gotten myself caught up in Harry Potter again. In preparation for the disappointing film that came out a couple of weeks ago, I re-read The Half-Blood Prince, then followed the natural course of things and read The Deathly Hallows. Now I'm whipping through the first three books, reading the novel and watching the movie in rapid succession to see the changes. I can't believe I never realised how different the ending of the first book was from that of the first movie: in the book, Harry's battle with Quirrell/Voldemort is killing both of them when Dumbledore intervenes to save Harry; in the movie, Harry is victorious over Quirrell but knocked out by Voldemort's escaping spirit and wakes in the Infirmary. Very different.
And, still on the video front, I am now watching the third season of Star Trek: The Original Series again. You can feel the change in quality from the opening moment. For one thing, Kirk and the rest have been allowed to grow their hair out from the military cuts of the first two seasons to hippie styles of the sixties. It just looks bad.
Anyway, that's the update. Off to the golf course now!
My subconscious has been working on it (or is that my unconscious?) and I expect to be able to get rolling again when I next sit down. Too many things have gotten in the way.
By way of update on other things, however, I still have not heard from the publisher about my Abigail Massey submission. I have also given up trying to figure out what that means: they don't review new submissions very often so they simply haven't taken a look at it; they have looked at it and rejected it but figure bad news can wait; they like it but it has to go through the channels for approvals before they contact me again.
I"ve heard all the possibilities and have no clue which is true. I don't want to give up but I'd feel a lot better if I had heard one way or another.
My vegetable garden is coming along surprisingly well. Although we have little critters that seem to go after certain plants, the whole garden plot (so brown and barren two months ago) is alive with varying shades of green. I even had to go out and do some heartless thinning to most of the rows of veggies but learned from the way the remaining plants suddenly exploded in growth thereafter that thinning is a good and kind thing for plants. No actual, edible vegetables yet but we're getting there.
With regard to backyard birds, I made the mistake of buying the really cheap seed and ended up, perhaps not surprisingly, with a yard filled with grackles, crows, doves and pigeons. I'm surprised the neighbours didn't come to complain. So I took the main feeder down and put it in the shed. Within two days, most of the undesirables had disappeared and, for the last two days, we've enjoyed the company of gold and purple finches as well as chipping sparrows and chicadees at our finch feeder. Much better. Lesson learned.
In the area of reading, well, I've gotten myself caught up in Harry Potter again. In preparation for the disappointing film that came out a couple of weeks ago, I re-read The Half-Blood Prince, then followed the natural course of things and read The Deathly Hallows. Now I'm whipping through the first three books, reading the novel and watching the movie in rapid succession to see the changes. I can't believe I never realised how different the ending of the first book was from that of the first movie: in the book, Harry's battle with Quirrell/Voldemort is killing both of them when Dumbledore intervenes to save Harry; in the movie, Harry is victorious over Quirrell but knocked out by Voldemort's escaping spirit and wakes in the Infirmary. Very different.
And, still on the video front, I am now watching the third season of Star Trek: The Original Series again. You can feel the change in quality from the opening moment. For one thing, Kirk and the rest have been allowed to grow their hair out from the military cuts of the first two seasons to hippie styles of the sixties. It just looks bad.
Anyway, that's the update. Off to the golf course now!
Some Kid and the Half-Blood Prince
21/07/09 17:05 Filed in: Films
I have been wrestling with myself over how to write
my review of the recent David Yates movie, entitled
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,
since I saw the film on Sunday. My major issue seems
to be that, after seeing the movie, I'm feeling,
well, despondent.
I am a huge fan of Rowling's seven Harry Potter books. I have also been favourably impressed with the movie adaptations of those books, even when they slowly devolved into mere "highlight reels" of the books, showing only the action sequences and little of the character development or plot complexity. Even then, the movies stayed true to the original and gave us a "Coles Notes" type review of Rowling's books.
Watching the film versions of Rowling's fourth and fifth books (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix) was, to me, like watching the highlights of a fantastic baseball game on the eleven o'clock news: you see the big hits, a defensive gem or two, just enough to get the general idea of what happened.
When a game finishes 1-0 with both pitchers in top form and little in the way of hitting, the TV highlights end up shorter, with more focus on the pitchers. But what do the film makers do when the author pitches a no hitter?
That's what Rowling has handed them in her sixth novel. A gem of a book for literary purists. The book focuses on how Dumbledore sets about preparing Harry Potter for the task of defeating, fully and finally, Lord Voldemort in the seventh book. It is filled with interesting scenes and great writing, some fun character development as the three main figures reach and react to their new-found interest in romance, and very little action.
In fact, in Rowling's book, there are only two real action scenes and they come, one hard upon the other, at the end of the book. The other six hundred or so pages represent well-written back-story and character development.
It truly is the equivalent of a no hitter. If you want action, you'll hate it. If you like to see the craft of writing at its best, to read interesting character development and fascinating scenes, then you'll love it.
Director Yates, screen-writer Steve Kloves and their movie studio apparently hate well-pitched games. So they took Rowling's sixth book and said, "Yikes," then basically chucked it out the window.
Oh, they start in the same place: the wizarding world has finally accepted that Voldemort is back and at full strength. And they end in relatively the same place, with a major character dead and a war breaking out.
But everything inbetween they make up on their own. Honestly. Everything.
They invent scenes (including the first two and one already controversial one in which Bellatrix Lestrange burns down the Burrow, screaming "I killed Sirius Black", an echo of the previous movie). They revise scenes that Rowling wrote so as to completely change the motivations, tensions and long-term impacts of those scenes. They change things that do not need to be changed to translate the book into film.
It's like they're the sports editors for the eleven o'clock news and, when presented with a no-hitter, they decide to insert a couple of home runs from other games, just to make the highlights more exciting.
I might have ruined the movie for myself by seething through scene after scene that is neither based on Rowling's writing nor true to the tone, themes and characters she has worked so hard to create.
I am despondent because this movie is NOT Harry Potter. If I had not expected it to be Harry Potter, I probably would be writing right now that it was a lot of fun, filled with action and romance, great gags and some fantastically beautiful images. I would probably be writing about the pacing of the story, the camera work and framing of the action. Because all of that was exceptionally good.
But it's simply not Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. It's Some Kid's Big Adventure.
If you are a Harry Potter fan and don't mind a few spoilers, I'm interested in your thoughts on the following points:
In the book, Harry hides his potions text in the Room of Requirement very carefully, so that he can find it back. He places it under a bust upon which he sets a strange tiara-like thing as a way to remind himself where he left it. This becomes very important in the seventh book because the tiara-like thing turns out to be the lost diadem of Ravenclaw and one of Voldemort's horcruxes. Harry finds it because, once he knows what the diadem looks like, he remembers seeing it. In the movie, however, it is made very clear that Harry does not want to find the book back, takes no steps to mark its place and, in fact, closes his eyes while Ginny hides it so that he won't be tempted to find it back. He never sees nor handles the tiara-like thing that turns out to be the diadem. So how will he find it in the seventh (or eighth) movie?
In the book, after they arrive at the top of the Astronomy Tower, Dumbledore takes a moment to immobilise Harry before Draco Malfoy bursts onto the scene. That decision by Dumbledore keeps Harry out of the picture as Dumbledore faces his fate but also allows Malfoy to disarm Dumbledore in his first act upon arrival at the top of the tower. Harry feels guilty later that Dumbledore chose to protect Harry rather than himself but this is part of the pattern that Harry (and later Voldemort) focus on: so many people have sacrificed themselves for Harry. In the movie, however, Dumbledore simply orders Harry to hide and not intervene. What does this do to Harry's level of guilt (now he could have acted but chose not to) and our perception of Dumbledore's character (he attempts to draw his wand later in the confrontation, in a much more aggressive move)?
And it is a key point in the six and seventh books that Dumbledore told Harry to involve Ron and Hermione in the Horcrux search, putting the three of them in a strong moral position to resist the interference of others. The filmmakers clearly make a conscious decision to leave Dumbledore's instruction to Harry out, making Ron and Hermione's participation in the Horcrux quest a voluntary matter. How will this impact the seventh movie?
There are many many more such issues but those are three that stand out for me. What do you think?
I am a huge fan of Rowling's seven Harry Potter books. I have also been favourably impressed with the movie adaptations of those books, even when they slowly devolved into mere "highlight reels" of the books, showing only the action sequences and little of the character development or plot complexity. Even then, the movies stayed true to the original and gave us a "Coles Notes" type review of Rowling's books.
Watching the film versions of Rowling's fourth and fifth books (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix) was, to me, like watching the highlights of a fantastic baseball game on the eleven o'clock news: you see the big hits, a defensive gem or two, just enough to get the general idea of what happened.
When a game finishes 1-0 with both pitchers in top form and little in the way of hitting, the TV highlights end up shorter, with more focus on the pitchers. But what do the film makers do when the author pitches a no hitter?
That's what Rowling has handed them in her sixth novel. A gem of a book for literary purists. The book focuses on how Dumbledore sets about preparing Harry Potter for the task of defeating, fully and finally, Lord Voldemort in the seventh book. It is filled with interesting scenes and great writing, some fun character development as the three main figures reach and react to their new-found interest in romance, and very little action.
In fact, in Rowling's book, there are only two real action scenes and they come, one hard upon the other, at the end of the book. The other six hundred or so pages represent well-written back-story and character development.
It truly is the equivalent of a no hitter. If you want action, you'll hate it. If you like to see the craft of writing at its best, to read interesting character development and fascinating scenes, then you'll love it.
Director Yates, screen-writer Steve Kloves and their movie studio apparently hate well-pitched games. So they took Rowling's sixth book and said, "Yikes," then basically chucked it out the window.
Oh, they start in the same place: the wizarding world has finally accepted that Voldemort is back and at full strength. And they end in relatively the same place, with a major character dead and a war breaking out.
But everything inbetween they make up on their own. Honestly. Everything.
They invent scenes (including the first two and one already controversial one in which Bellatrix Lestrange burns down the Burrow, screaming "I killed Sirius Black", an echo of the previous movie). They revise scenes that Rowling wrote so as to completely change the motivations, tensions and long-term impacts of those scenes. They change things that do not need to be changed to translate the book into film.
It's like they're the sports editors for the eleven o'clock news and, when presented with a no-hitter, they decide to insert a couple of home runs from other games, just to make the highlights more exciting.
I might have ruined the movie for myself by seething through scene after scene that is neither based on Rowling's writing nor true to the tone, themes and characters she has worked so hard to create.
I am despondent because this movie is NOT Harry Potter. If I had not expected it to be Harry Potter, I probably would be writing right now that it was a lot of fun, filled with action and romance, great gags and some fantastically beautiful images. I would probably be writing about the pacing of the story, the camera work and framing of the action. Because all of that was exceptionally good.
But it's simply not Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. It's Some Kid's Big Adventure.
If you are a Harry Potter fan and don't mind a few spoilers, I'm interested in your thoughts on the following points:
In the book, Harry hides his potions text in the Room of Requirement very carefully, so that he can find it back. He places it under a bust upon which he sets a strange tiara-like thing as a way to remind himself where he left it. This becomes very important in the seventh book because the tiara-like thing turns out to be the lost diadem of Ravenclaw and one of Voldemort's horcruxes. Harry finds it because, once he knows what the diadem looks like, he remembers seeing it. In the movie, however, it is made very clear that Harry does not want to find the book back, takes no steps to mark its place and, in fact, closes his eyes while Ginny hides it so that he won't be tempted to find it back. He never sees nor handles the tiara-like thing that turns out to be the diadem. So how will he find it in the seventh (or eighth) movie?
In the book, after they arrive at the top of the Astronomy Tower, Dumbledore takes a moment to immobilise Harry before Draco Malfoy bursts onto the scene. That decision by Dumbledore keeps Harry out of the picture as Dumbledore faces his fate but also allows Malfoy to disarm Dumbledore in his first act upon arrival at the top of the tower. Harry feels guilty later that Dumbledore chose to protect Harry rather than himself but this is part of the pattern that Harry (and later Voldemort) focus on: so many people have sacrificed themselves for Harry. In the movie, however, Dumbledore simply orders Harry to hide and not intervene. What does this do to Harry's level of guilt (now he could have acted but chose not to) and our perception of Dumbledore's character (he attempts to draw his wand later in the confrontation, in a much more aggressive move)?
And it is a key point in the six and seventh books that Dumbledore told Harry to involve Ron and Hermione in the Horcrux search, putting the three of them in a strong moral position to resist the interference of others. The filmmakers clearly make a conscious decision to leave Dumbledore's instruction to Harry out, making Ron and Hermione's participation in the Horcrux quest a voluntary matter. How will this impact the seventh movie?
There are many many more such issues but those are three that stand out for me. What do you think?
Miscellaney
It has been an interesting week. A very good
conference at my home institution has taken up a lot
of my and Patti's time, filling it with interesting
new people, much-missed old friends and fascinating
discussions.
And the birds have been active too. We had a Ruby-Throated Hummingbird come to one of our new creeping vines and an American Redstart at the feeder. Too bad on both occasions the camera was not within reach.
And I actually sat down a couple of times at the laptop to work on the Harry Potter Concordance. I'm near the beginning of The Goblet of Fire right now, which means Harry and his friends are at the Quidditch World Cup. Lots and lots of characters flit on and off stage here, many of whom never reappear but, for thoroughness' sake, I have to catalogue them all. I spent an hour and completed only four pages of the novel.
Whenever I'm conducting a mundane task (like cooking or doing dishes), I set up my portable DVD player and watch an episode of The Original Series (TOS) of Star Trek. I've watched the entire first season and eight episodes of the second so far. It's interesting to see the arc of different television series and how long it takes them to hit their stride. I think the latter half of the first and early part of the second seasons are by far the best of TOS: with the characters established and most of the technology settled, the stories are stronger and deeper.
I have also been watching out for quotes I can use in my "Star Trek on Women" film-clip montage and there is no shortage of stuff (note, these are paraphrases, not direct quotes):
1) "Brain and brain, what is brain!" from "Spock's Brain";
2) Kirk despairing about how his good female officers all leave the service once they find husbands in "Who Mourns for Adonais?";
3) The highly respected, very successful Federation peace envoy who finally admits that her life is empty without the love of a good man in "Metamorphosis"; and
4) Spock telling a visiting computer that Uhura is a woman, which explains why the computer finds her erratic and emotional.
I have to admit, when I start to line up the evidence like that, I wonder how I could possibly watch the show at all. And it was considered advanced in the 1960s.
Meanwhile, we have rain in the forecast for the next week so I may find myself with more indoor time to write or work on other creative projects. The lawn is going crazy but the garden is, for the most part, looking great.
And, of course, the US Men's Open Golf Tournament is on this weekend. Watching golf always makes me miss my Mom even more. We'd watch golf together and marvel at the greatness that is Tiger Woods or take shots at Phil Mickelson or just wonder at the beautiful weather. This is my first US Men's Open without her, the first of many other such firsts I'll have to endure.
And the birds have been active too. We had a Ruby-Throated Hummingbird come to one of our new creeping vines and an American Redstart at the feeder. Too bad on both occasions the camera was not within reach.
And I actually sat down a couple of times at the laptop to work on the Harry Potter Concordance. I'm near the beginning of The Goblet of Fire right now, which means Harry and his friends are at the Quidditch World Cup. Lots and lots of characters flit on and off stage here, many of whom never reappear but, for thoroughness' sake, I have to catalogue them all. I spent an hour and completed only four pages of the novel.
Whenever I'm conducting a mundane task (like cooking or doing dishes), I set up my portable DVD player and watch an episode of The Original Series (TOS) of Star Trek. I've watched the entire first season and eight episodes of the second so far. It's interesting to see the arc of different television series and how long it takes them to hit their stride. I think the latter half of the first and early part of the second seasons are by far the best of TOS: with the characters established and most of the technology settled, the stories are stronger and deeper.
I have also been watching out for quotes I can use in my "Star Trek on Women" film-clip montage and there is no shortage of stuff (note, these are paraphrases, not direct quotes):
1) "Brain and brain, what is brain!" from "Spock's Brain";
2) Kirk despairing about how his good female officers all leave the service once they find husbands in "Who Mourns for Adonais?";
3) The highly respected, very successful Federation peace envoy who finally admits that her life is empty without the love of a good man in "Metamorphosis"; and
4) Spock telling a visiting computer that Uhura is a woman, which explains why the computer finds her erratic and emotional.
I have to admit, when I start to line up the evidence like that, I wonder how I could possibly watch the show at all. And it was considered advanced in the 1960s.
Meanwhile, we have rain in the forecast for the next week so I may find myself with more indoor time to write or work on other creative projects. The lawn is going crazy but the garden is, for the most part, looking great.
And, of course, the US Men's Open Golf Tournament is on this weekend. Watching golf always makes me miss my Mom even more. We'd watch golf together and marvel at the greatness that is Tiger Woods or take shots at Phil Mickelson or just wonder at the beautiful weather. This is my first US Men's Open without her, the first of many other such firsts I'll have to endure.
Tough Month
12/05/09 08:45 Filed in: Writing
Yesterday's blog entry set a record for one-day
traffic to my website. I mentioned on my Facebook
page that I was opining on the new Star Trek
movie and 28 people came to visit in one day. That's
a record for me and my site. Gavin enjoys reminding
me that his site gets hundreds of visitors a day,
especially on windy ones, but I think 28 is pretty
good. So thank you, everyone.
That being said, my run of tough luck continues. We won't go all the way back to the sad events of April. We need only look at May. First, I put a great big gash in my finger. Then I crunched my thumb with a hammer. Now I have some fairly nasty flu-like symptoms that are keeping me home and unhappy. And that's just my own health. Did I mention that Marlee Marie is also experiencing "flu-like symptoms" and then, to top it all off, ran into a skunk yesterday?
Helpful that Patti left for Ontario last night for six days. Great timing. Actually, she's heading back to celebrate both her god son's confirmation and her sister's graduation from a graduate program in education so I guess those are pretty good reasons to leave her two sick loved ones behind.
Underneath all of my suffering, however, I am starting to feel some energy return. I hope to get back to working on Phillip Gold soon and I am starting to contemplate writing an Abigail Massey novel, either by stitching together some of the existing short stories or with a fresh new plot. I may also revisit the original stories to do rewrites; I dashed them all out pretty quickly so I have no doubt some polishing could be done.
And, of course, as a result of the Star Trek movie and the conversations I have been having since, I have started watching all of the episodes of the original series in order again. Just to get back into it.
What about the Harry Potter Concordance and The Way Forward, as it appears on this website? Well, we'll see what the future brings.
That being said, my run of tough luck continues. We won't go all the way back to the sad events of April. We need only look at May. First, I put a great big gash in my finger. Then I crunched my thumb with a hammer. Now I have some fairly nasty flu-like symptoms that are keeping me home and unhappy. And that's just my own health. Did I mention that Marlee Marie is also experiencing "flu-like symptoms" and then, to top it all off, ran into a skunk yesterday?
Helpful that Patti left for Ontario last night for six days. Great timing. Actually, she's heading back to celebrate both her god son's confirmation and her sister's graduation from a graduate program in education so I guess those are pretty good reasons to leave her two sick loved ones behind.
Underneath all of my suffering, however, I am starting to feel some energy return. I hope to get back to working on Phillip Gold soon and I am starting to contemplate writing an Abigail Massey novel, either by stitching together some of the existing short stories or with a fresh new plot. I may also revisit the original stories to do rewrites; I dashed them all out pretty quickly so I have no doubt some polishing could be done.
And, of course, as a result of the Star Trek movie and the conversations I have been having since, I have started watching all of the episodes of the original series in order again. Just to get back into it.
What about the Harry Potter Concordance and The Way Forward, as it appears on this website? Well, we'll see what the future brings.