Day #8503 - December Doings

Why hello there, blog! So nice to see you again. I know I've been neglecting you lately, and I really do feel bad about it. Let me tell you why, though, and I think you'll see where I'm coming from.

The last week has been a bit crazy to say the least in terms of scheduling and being booked. First off, I've been a reading MACHINE, devouring three novels in a matter of days. One of them was The Future of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Macker (check out my review of it over on my book-review blog) which seriously made me re-think the amount of time I spend on the internet and another was Five Flavors of Dumb, a work of fiction about a girl who is both deaf and the manager of a rock band at her high school - both books had such interesting concepts! If you haven't read them yet, you absolutely should.

Another thing that happened recently was on Thursday, I completed my grad school class for this semester! This now means I am one semester/two classes away from being DONE with my masters degree in May. *insert happy dance here*

But this is a writing blog, so I bet you're all dying to know what things have been like on the writing front for me. Honestly, I had to take a bit of a break. Not just because life has been reaching new levels of packed, but also after NaNoWriMo, I just needed to take a step back and take a breath.  I was starting to feel like Donna Moss in the West Wing:




See what I mean? My novel is the room with the boxes, and somewhere both written down and in the recesses of my brain is the piece of paper that I made out when this once "really great story idea" hit me and let me know where it was going. I can't find that piece of paper (I'm not even being metaphorical anymore - I really did lose the paper! eek!), but it's all okay because by taking a step back, it all came back to me. Now that November is over, I'm able to slow down my pace a bit (a necessary move for my sanity), but I've also set a personal deadline for December 18th to have this draft done by. Keep your fingers crossed for me, eh?

So that's really it from me for now, though I have to make a final plea. With both this and my other blog, I only have two followers each. If you read this regularly, please subscribe to me as a follower and if you like what you see, tell your friends and family! *steps down off soapbox*

Hope everyone's December is off to a good start!  Comments welcome and keep warm!

Day #8174 - West Wing Wisdom

When I find myself in times of trouble, Aaron Sorkin speaks to me through all of his characters on The West Wing

Corny? Yes. True? Actually I think it is in a lot of situations. I know that I've written here many times before about my love of this tv show that was on the air from 1999-2006, but I've recently been rethinking about how given such a diverse group of characters in a high pressure setting actually give quite a bit of commentary about being an ordinary person.

President Bartlett is the one always trying to do the right thing, and sometimes his intense intellect and wisdom make that hard. Put him with Leo McGarry and the two of them often say a lot about how they don't understand popular culture, despite how smart they are or how hard they try. Sam Seaborne is the idealist who more often than not seems to be putting his foot in his mouth despite his good intentions. If Toby Ziegler were a teenager today, I'm almost convinced he'd be a bit emo with the way he refuses to smile too much, acts like he doesn't care about people, and he sincerely wants government and people in power to quit screwing around all the time.

I could go on and on about how each of the many characters on this show have their moments or quirks that make them seem like anybody else, but the two that I think embody this more than anybody is Josh Lyman and his assistant Donna Moss. Donna is the closest to "normal" as any of these people get - it is through her that the writers would be able to clarify various aspects of our government that people outside of it may not know about or understand. She often asks Josh the questions and he'll somehow provide an answer. And as smart as Josh is with his Ivy League education and impressive resume, Donna is often the wiser one when it comes to really understanding people and, despite her own awful dating history, is the one telling Josh how he should navigate his social life. He even admits at one point, "it's like I skipped a year cuz I never learned what you do when you think you like somebody; what you do next." As a fellow braniac who has spent most of her life doing homework and studying, I can empathize with him. Donna's attitude says it all - there are different ways of being smart, and eventually, hopefully, we'll all figure out what it is we're supposed to do next.

Day #8129 - Turkey Day

What happened after the first Thanksgiving is perhaps what makes it one of the most ironic holidays ever. I mean, it's a day when we're supposed to sit down with our friends and loved ones, reflecting on what it is we're grateful for. Meanwhile, back in the 1600s when the Europeans started coming here and Thanksgiving began, almost an entire indigienous people were trampled on and their land was eventually taken over. Not exactly nice.

But even though history isn't the most glowing, the spirit of the day is nice. For a visual representation of this festive feeling, I recommend tuning into the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. But for many, today is about three things: food, family and friends. And for some, football.

Little known fact: Benjamin Franklin wanted the national bird to be the turkey rather than the bald eagle.

Little known fact about turkeys: if they look up towards the sky while it's raining, their brains think they are actually out in a body of water and they can drown. Seriously.

Fact about cooking turkeys for this excellent autumnal holiday: Butterball has a hotline :o)




No matter where you are celebrating or who you are celebrating with, here's wishing you a happy and safe Thanksgiving.

Day #8127 - A West Wing Thanksgiving

I was 11 years old when I decided that when I grew up, I wanted to be the White House Press Secretary. Not a conventional job choice for a 6th grader, but then I was the only one I knew my age who watched The West Wing. Press Secretary was after a long list of other jobs I dreamed of doing: teacher, astronaut, dolphin trainer, ballerina - the possibilities were endless in my mind, so wanting to work at the White House for a wise and intelligent president with his clever and witty staff didn't seem so far-fetched.

Then Aaron Sorkin stopped writing the show after season 4, and, there's no denying it, things changed.

But my love of words could not be ignored which was why I eventually became an English major and am now working on my masters degree in library science so I can hopefully some day get paid to be around books all the time. And as I re-watched my West Wing dvds, I realized that it was the writing I loved just as much as the characters.

So, in the spirit of Thanksgiving, I'd like to share a bit of that quirkyness with you.

Day #8001 - The Power of Great Oratory

Over the last week, I have been re-watching my dvds of The West Wing, starting with Season 1 and am now about halfway through Season 2. In addition to the genuine characters, interesting story lines, and a unique setting, one of the things I am finding myself appreciating more and more is the great writing that made up this show. The dialogue is smart and fast, the patterns of speech are strong and pleasing to the ear, and the sentiment is strong. Especially in the early seasons, I feel like Aaron Sorkin really raised the bar for viewers, challenging them to watch a show where highly educated people didn't dumb themselves down for the sake of ratings. After seven seasons, I was sad to depart with these characters, but even still, the show has been off the air for nearly four years and I still quote some of it's most memorable lines.

Though I have a dismal vocabulary (especially considering I have an English degree) and my ability to deliver understandable oratory has only moderately improved thanks to my semester of student teaching, it is still a trait I value above all when it comes to story telling. Anne Lamont in her book Bird by Bird stresses that for new authors, the biggest struggle is often developing realistic or believable dialogue. I can attest to that in my attempts at writing fiction. But I also think that this can be a double-edged sword - there are many people (right now, politicians come to mind) who are capable of great writing and oratory, but aren't actually saying anything. You have been warned, readership, to try your best not get lost in flowery language unless there is a point to it.

That's all from here. Keep it classy, readership. Comments and suggestions for blogging topics are always welcome :o)