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September 30, 2005
Serenity Wow!
I just saw “Serenity" and it was fantastic.
The movie was over thirty minutes ago and I'm still there, still caught up in thinking about it, tears still in my eyes, heart still pounding in my chest. Given that the movie begins and ends with how love is one of the most powerful forces in the 'verse, I'm not sure being still wrapped up in it is a bad thing.
It left me with questions – big ones and little ones - like
1) can you succeed at something if you don’t love it? (big one)
2) can I pre-order the DVD yet? (little one).
Seriously I can’t recommend this movie highly enough.
Posted by Selena at 04:36 PM | Comments (0)
September 29, 2005
Serenity Now
The new “Firefly" movie opens tomorrow and I can’t wait!
For info on the movie “Serenity" visit
http://movies.aol.com/movie/main.adp?mid=19349
or
http://www.serenitymovie.com/
Posted by Selena at 11:13 AM | Comments (0)
September 26, 2005
Writing Practice
You know it was a successful writing practice when you…
1) go into overtime and don’t even notice, and
2) feel compelled to type it into your computer right away so you can start editing it.
The story has promise, but it’s raw and new and needs work. We’ll see how it goes. But at least I wrote today.
So that part of my day was a success.
The eating right part? Not so much.
Well, I’ll try again tomorrow.
Posted by Selena at 10:06 PM | Comments (0)
September 25, 2005
Success!
OK, so it’s really just a few small successes.
I managed to do 30 minutes of writing practice today. I’m still trying to draw the muse back to me.
Actually it did seem she was with me last night when I spent an easy, productive hour jotting down a preliminary outline for my next novel.
Sadly though, she took today off. (The writing was moderately bad overall, downright embarrassing in places.) But I wrote anyway, kept writing, in order to demonstrate my devotion.
I even worked on some columns in progress. I have to submit a new one soon but none of them feel right. Some are good but seem too risky - too potentially controversial, too personal.
Still, it was a successful day. I wrote. I was kind. I didn't buy anything. I didn't eat any junk food.
Well there was that one chocolate chip cookie...but hey I’m not going for perfect, just better.
And today I did better.
Posted by Selena at 09:29 PM | Comments (0)
September 24, 2005
Back to Writing
I have to get back to writing. I’ve been so caught up in my editor gigs for TSR and DKA that I’ve hardly written at all lately. That must change.
Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoy the editor stuff but I can’t let writing take a back-burner. It’s too important to me. Gotta put my time where my priorities are.
So today I got some writing practice in. It was so-so, but I guess it’s true what Heather Sellers says that if you take a day off from writing, your muse will take off the next three. At the rate I’m going, I’ll be muse-less and writing junk for the next few weeks. But the only way to fix that is to start writing again and keep writing until the muse returns.
I’ve still got a few subs pending, including the book proposal, so at least there’s some hope of a yes heading my way. Ah, how lovely a yes would be.
The day is grey but not yet rainy, at least not where I am.
I can’t bear to watch the news, it’s too upsetting. Just knowing what suffering is going on out there makes me want to cry. I can’t handle seeing the suffering replayed over and over on my TV.
On the plus side, “Serenity" opens Friday. I can hardly wait! A friend offered me an extra ticket to an advance screening on Monday, but I turned it down because hubby and I plan to see it on Friday and he couldn’t go on Monday. That’s true love, I guess.
Posted by Selena at 12:29 PM | Comments (0)
September 22, 2005
Good Reading-Poetry Edition
For today's good reading, check out this poem at Dragons, Knights, and Angels magazine:
The Stars That Sing
by Amy M. Smith
It's beautiful. Oh, if the stars could talk...what stories they would tell.
Posted by Selena at 08:10 AM | Comments (0)
September 19, 2005
Bad Day/Good Reading/Quotes
I’m having a bad day.
I feel terrible and it's making me all grumpy and distraught.
I guess that's why when I read this it hit me hard:
"I’m a curmudgeon. My bad days are tectonic. The EPA issues alerts about me. If you want courtesy, you need a subpoena. It takes a court order just to get me to return a phone call. Does that sound like a saint?"
It’s from a story called "A Quantum Bit Exists in Two States Simultaneously: On" by David Gerrold in the September issue of "Fantasy & Science Fiction." It’s the narrator explaining why he isn’t qualified to be a saint.
At first I was on the fence about the story, but the “Church of the Chocolate Bunny" started to win me over. I’m a chocoholic so a religion that revolves around chocolate is kind of amusing to me. (It certainly explained why there was a chocolate bunny on the front cover, something I had been wondering about.) But then I got to that quote and I was hooked.
Then there was all this discussion about faith and why there isn’t a science of spirituality, which was interesting.
I wish I could refer you to the story online, but it looks like the magazine doesn’t have a web edition. You can order the back issue here though:
http://www.sfsite.com/fsf/toc0509.htm
One more great quote from the story:
"You want to know the secret, don’t you? It’s no secret, it’s just this – you can’t ask people to be generous unless you first show ‘em what it looks like. That’s all."
‘Nuff said.
Posted by Selena at 05:54 PM | Comments (0)
September 17, 2005
Good Reading-Microfiction Edition
For today’s super-short good reading, check out the September 16th Flashshot, “It’s Only a Game" by E.N. Taylor, available for a limited time only at http://flashshot.tripod.com/secret.htm
I like unusual creation stories and this is a particularly good one.
Posted by Selena at 05:47 PM | Comments (0)
Temptation
I am trying to eat healthier, maybe even lose a little weight. Without much success, I might add. It’s not that I don’t know what to do; it’s that I’m weak.
I’m proud to say though that when I bought that Häagen-Dazs caramel ice cream today, I managed to get the pint not the gallon. That way, if I do fall, it won’t be from very far up.
Sure, it would have been smarter to not buy the ice cream in the first place. But I’m just not that good a person.
Posted by Selena at 04:03 PM | Comments (0)
Not Writing
I haven’t been writing much lately – blog or otherwise.
I’ve been very busy at my day job. Plus I’ve been busy settling into my new “For The Love of It" job at TSR, getting caught up on reading submissions and such.
But I’m off from both right now. So what excuse will I use today? The laundry? The groceries? A headache?
I did manage to do some editing and even submit a story last night. That’s something.
But I’ve really been slacking off. I have to finish that story for the TSR contest, do world-building for my NaNoWriMo novel, and write another column or two. Plus I should do some writing practice. Maybe my muse will be so excited to have my attention again that writing practice will bring forth a complete and promising story like it did last time. (Hmmm, there’s an incentive.)
Post a sign:
“You have entered an Excuse-Free Zone."
And get on with it.
Posted by Selena at 11:09 AM | Comments (0)
September 14, 2005
Odd Dream
I had a strange dream last night. I don’t remember most of it but here’s what I remember from the end of it.
I am in a bus at the base of a huge cliff next to the ocean. Some force grabs the front of the bus and begins pulling it up the cliff elevator-like, so the length of the bus is now vertical, wheels against cliff. I am desperately clinging to the back of my bus seat so that gravity doesn’t hurl me into the back window of the bus.
The bus keeps going up and up and it’s a long way. I’m looking down at the cliff and ocean below and have that horrible sense you do on a roller-coaster when you’re going higher and higher and you’re thinking “wow, if I fall from here it’s really gonna hurt."
Someone is telling me that there is a paradise and that the only way to get there is through this terrifying, seemingly dangerous route of raising the bus to the top of the cliff, then dropping it. So we get to the top of this very high cliff, then the force drops the bus and I am in free-fall, scared but trying to believe that there is paradise down there instead of certain death.
I wake just before the bus hits ground/water. Isn’t that always the way it is with dreams?
It’s not hard to see what the dream is about. On one level, it’s just about how sometimes to get what you want, you have to take a big risk. But on another level, it’s about the question of whether there is paradise after this life, or just death. It’s about faith. I do believe that there is paradise. And I’m really glad God doesn’t make me get dropped from a cliff to get there.
Posted by Selena at 10:04 PM | Comments (0)
Too Busy to Blog
I’ve been too busy to blog the last few days. I’m just not young enough anymore to work 9-8 two days in a row and not have it be a struggle. At least I managed to not lose my cool with anyone or make any major mistakes. That’s really all I ask.
Fortunately my schedule gets more manageable tomorrow. And there’s a day off in my future. Not soon enough, but there, shining in the distance.
Posted by Selena at 10:03 PM | Comments (0)
September 11, 2005
Quote of the Day
“Take my photo off the wall if it just won't sing for you."
-from the soundtrack of "A Lot Like Love"
(Good movie too. What can I say? I like the mushy stuff.)
Posted by Selena at 10:15 PM | Comments (0)
September 09, 2005
Mama’s Got a Brand New Gig
I’ve got a new job. It’s not a paid position but the benefits are fantastic!
I get to read tons of sci fi and fantasy, which I love. Plus I get to provide hopefully valuable feedback to writers, as well as contribute to the success of a magazine/organization I believe in.
All that adds up to a really good gig.
That’s why I’m so thrilled to be the newest Assistant Editor at The Sword Review. Seriously I’m listed right there on the staff page.
Gotta go read more subs now.
:)
Posted by Selena at 08:13 PM | Comments (0)
Column’s Up
My latest column is up at The Sword Review (at least on the forums page, strangely not on the main page) .
You can check it out at http://www.theswordreview.com/columns.php?sub_id=74
Posted by Selena at 08:09 PM | Comments (0)
September 04, 2005
Quote of the Day (Funny Book on Writing)
Today's Quote:
“Research trends show that Americans are tired of competent and qualified people doing things well."
To make sense of the quote you have to go to http://www.writersdigest.com/muse/brilliance.asp?archive where John Warner is talking about how he was asked to write a book on writing.
While you’re there, check out the short movie version of the book. (They call that VidLit apparently.) Here’s the link for that: http://www.vidlit.com/muse/
Hilarious!
And don’t miss the Blurb-O-Matic at http://www.writersdigest.com/muse/blurbomatic.asp
Need blurbs for your next book! John’s Blurb-O-Matic has got you covered.
My favorite: “A shimmering adventure of renegade clowns that will leave you breathless!"
The book is called “Fondling Your Muse."
An excerpt is available at http://www.writersdigest.com/muse/excerpt.asp.
ROTFL
I’m gonna have to buy this book.
I guess if people are tired of "competent...people doing things well" then maybe there is hope for me after all.
Posted by Selena at 07:45 AM | Comments (0)