November 2005

NaNoWriMo Part 1

NaNoWriMo Part 2

NaNoWriMo Part 3

NaNoWriMo Part 4

Her Grace Rants -or- No More Mrs Nice Duchess

Property prices is nuts

NaNoWriMo Part 5

NaNoWriMo Part 6

Stuff on my mind

NaNoWriMo Part 7

Angry Little Babies Live in Concert

29 November 2005
Angry Little Babies presents, for your listening pleasure:
The ALB Chorale--Concert 2005, Live at the Cathedral of Saint Leibowitz
"Theme" from "Fluff Theme and Variations" (750kb download)
"Christmastime" from "The Emotions" (1.2M download)

These aren't the best mix, but I thought I'd share anyhow, as I don't know when I'll have the time or the "studio space" (ie, no Ladyships making noise) to redo them.

So I'm collecting up all the stuff I wanna upload, and I realise I've got lots of music I want to record for your enjoyment. Alas, it'll have to wait even longer, because about two months ago I got a really nasty chest cold which thrashed my voice. I'm 80% recovered, but not still "toto voce". Maybe later. And here we are with the Christmas season upon us.

For all my fellow Americans, "Happy Thanksgiving" for last Thursday. You have to admit it's cool to have a national holiday of gratitude.

Oh, and I've stuck up the music and script for my award-winning roadshow, "Who am I?". I put the music as mp3s to make it easier for everyone to listen.

Wanna read my excerpt? Head on over to NaNoWriMo, click on "Team 2005" and look for user hkneale. If you're into flash (as opposed to Flash or flash), the member info pages look sweet. Check out my excerpt! It look spiffy.

I got my new corset from Meschantes yesterday. It's wonderful! I got the Victorian Overbust in a black satin with rose embroidery. I bought mine through eBay, thus getting a discount.

Anyhow, back to writing: If anyone knows any secrets to tweaking styles so they're better, feel free to share:

I'm a filmmaker by instict, so when I write, I see the movie the story makes in my head. Desafortumente, this also means that I tend to write like a scriptwriter, and not like an auteur. I need to find my thesaurus and my S&W and go read some Cecelia Dart-Thornton and enrich my stylistic skills to allow me to describe the beauty that is in my head. If I was shooting a scene, I would know how to block the actors, how to dress the set, how to light it, what angles to shoot and even compose the sound track. But do you think I can find not just the right words, but the beautiful words and put them in their puzzicular order.

Why is that? I've spent far more time as a writer than a filmmaker... well, in practice. I've been a filmmaker in my head longer than I've been able to write. If only I could take what was in my head and put it in a medium so others could see it as well.

Reasons why the particular scene I'm writing sucks:

1. I may be hormonal. I don't write well when I'm a victim of my hormones.
   
2. I don't want to write this scene. Alas, I've got to write it because some important things happen here.
   
3. I might not have pre-written enough. While I've got an earlier variant of this scene in the first draft, I'm writing this second draft completely from scratch because the original style is soooo bad I'm ashamed to admit it even exists.
   
4. I might not have done enough worldbuilding to be comfortable when I describe stuff. Originally I had it patterned after an Eastern culture, but now it doesn't ring right with the new map of the world.
   
5. I just don't care about these characters as I do about ML and Ad. ML & Ad have character and chemistry. The other characters, Desmone and Chamque are just baldly ambitious and don't have any depth to them. (Well, that's not true with Chamque. She's got a bit of depth, due to age and experience. But Desmone? What is it about her that I liked in the first draft? Well, for one, she was cleverer. Why's she not so clever in this one? Maybe because Chamque was a bit of a toady in the old script, and she's more developed in this one. I dunno. (See points 3 and 4.)
   

14 November 2004
Her Grace Rants -or- No More Mrs Nice Duchess

Okay, normally I tend to hold my personal opinions to myself because... well, many reasons. I don't rant and opine on my blog as often as I should. While I generally feel that the whole world doesn't need to know how I think, nor do I have the time or desire to explain why I feel the way I feel, I usually don't bother. But once in a while, I gotta let off steam.

So I'm reading a regional fan list for Utah when, without any warning (not that warnings ever come for this sort of thing), there appears a rather nasty snark about how one convention organiser was sniping another convention's guest of honour, yadda yadda, nasty personal attacks, etc.

At first, I was surprised. I know the accused, and sniping another con's GoH is definitely not his modus operandi.

Then I realised I had no idea who the accuser was. I don't recall ever having met her, so that means she must be new to Utah fandom. This was my first introduction to her and I must say I was most unimpressed. I guess if I was still a Somebody in Utah fandom (as opposed to a Pleasant Memory), my opinion might hold some weight.

She later apologised, but the damage to her reputation is already done. I certainly wouldn't trust her to a sensitive position, much less running a con, if she is the sort of person who would post such a lengthy and scathing public post before learning the whole truth.

Why do people do that?!? Do people truly think others are deliberately seeking for ways to offend them?

It's really bad in Utah. Not less than a fortnight ago, we had a discussion on this very same list where I noticed nearly everyone who posted something on what I didn't think was that sensitive an issue, prefaced their posts with "I don't mean to offend anyone..." Of course you don't! If you did, you certainly wouldn't be using such diplomatic language. Don't bother apologising. There's no need.

And to all you over-sensitive jerks in Utah fandom who feel the desperate need to be offended, stop playing your petty little games and trying to find offence where none is meant. Instead of assuming that someone is trying to play silly little high school passive-aggresive mind games with you, how about try looking at it where they're *not* trying to offend you if they do/say something. Give them the benefit of the doubt, especially if their reputation and prior actions say they are, for the most part, a decent and honourable person.

Pints of cream, folks, and if you're from Utah, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

Chilled out a bit last week so I could crank out six thousand words of Non-NaNo stuff for the OWW's Dead Charlie challenge. Our admin Charlie Finlay has been pronounced dead by our Unicorn Warlord and Challenge Dictator Jodi Meadows. For November, we had to write a story that started with, "It all began when they found Charlie dead."

But I'm back in the swing of things, and have done a few more thousand words since then.

Neither Their Ladyships nor my Day Job have been my salvation this week. I just wanna sit down and write!

I have had adequate exercise, OTOH, so that's made a difference. Now, to figure out how to get enough sleep.

Last night we had dinner guests and I made this Duck a l'Orange to die for! I'm gonna have to remember that recipe. I took a 2kg duck, salted and peppered the skin, the roasted it in the over for several hours. Then I prepared an orange sauce from the duck stock (minus as much of the fat I could strain) and reduced it until it was thick and rich. The duck was sooo tender and the sauce put me into alt. It was so good I'm still thinking about it!

Yesterday was a bit blah, being so tired over the weekend. I spent most of the weekend fighting the tain end of my chest cold so I could get a decent take for my audition tape for Operatunity. Take 46 was the best, but it was still a far cry short of how I can sing when in my best voice. Drat!

17,501 / 50,000 (35.0%)

This NaNoWriMo thing is easier than I thought. Now, if only the NaNo site didn't keep crashing, I could report my totals.

Her Grace's Top Ten Tips for Avoiding NaNoWriMo Burnout

1. Eat your veggies every day. Really. Your brain is a functioning organ that needs vitamins and minerals just as much as anything else in your body. The brain is also highly dependent on everything else working well. Give your body good nutrition and your brain will work better. A happy brain will also keep your body chemistry in balance. Veggies are the best source of the vitamins your brain desperately needs.
   
2. Get some exercise every day. Exercise has some benefits you may not have thought of. When you sit for hours on end, your metabolism slows down, your heartrate slows down and your body gets sluggish. Cellular waste products are not flushed as often as they can, and this waste product buildup can cause you to feel blah. A blah body cannot write well. So get at least ten minutes of vigorous exercise each day you Wri. Half an hour's even better, and doesn't have to be done all at once. The improved blood flow will help keep the body functioning its best.
   
3. Get adequate sleep. Brains need sleep so very, very much in order to function. They must have that down time or they go weird. Your brain chemistry will be disrupted and this will cause all sorts of problems. Sleep has the additional benefit of letting your subconscious process information while your conscious is, well, unconscious. You will find the ideas flow better when you've had enough sleep. Also, sleep is very good at resetting body chemistry. If you've got the Block, sleep on it and see what happens tomorrow.
   
4. Multi-task. Some people spent more time butt-in-chair but not writing because they don't "pre-write", or think head of what they want to say. They only do their thinking in the chair when they should be writing instead. This results in more time spent in the chair than should be. So, when you're grabbing your ten minute jog around the back yard, you're doing the dishes that *must* be done because you promised your spouse that if you did the dishes they'd let you write, while you're chauffering the kiddliwinks to school/soccer/ballet/whatever, use this time to also think about what you want to write. Then, when the butt goes in the chair, you won't be wasting time thinking, but using time to be productive and be writing.
   
5. Give up something. NaNoWriMo is only a month. Give up something you normally do and devote that time to writing. Television is always a good one to give up. If you have trouble giving it up, or don't want to miss any shows, invest in a stack of video tapes and record everything. Watch only after you've met your 50K. We fill our days with things that are easily sacrificable for four weeks. Choose what they are, then sacrifice them. Note: Don't sacrifice sleep, exercise, food, or family contact. Income-providing jobs are negotiable.
   
6. Ditch the booze. NaDruWriNi was last week. For NaNoWriMo, don't drink before or during your writing time. Generally alcohol isn't good for the muse. Alcohol depressed body and brain function. You are more likely to encounter writer's block while under the influence.
   
7. Give yourself permission to write crap. The very first words off our fingertips don't have to be brilliant, nor should we micro-edit as we work until they are. There will be time enough for it later. Turn off that internal editor, for the stress of wondering whether a phrase is perfect will sap more energy than you have.
   
8. Lay of junk food. Anything with a high caloric content or with a high level of high GI ingredients will cause blood sugar spikes. The brain doesn't like this nor do your emotions. These spikes will cause you more stress than you need. Steady blood sugar is the only way to go when creating something of this magnitude.
   
9. It's okay to walk away. If your stress level is rising and you're getting frustrated, give yourself permission to walk away. You will not be a good creator if you're upset. Go for that ten minute jog, get some fruit to munch. Cry to yourself in the bathroom and get some sleep.
   
10. Type faster. My personal secret to a successful NaNoWriMo experience is the ability to type fast. I clock in at 80-100 wpm. If you're not a fast typer, it may take you a long time to come up with 50K. But if you set a goal to improve your speed over the year, then maybe next November you will find NaNoWriMo easier. If you can't touch-type with all ten fingers, learn.