Category Archives: Life

Catching up

I’ve been sick, sick, sick this past week. Yes, that sentence did require three sicks. I get sick very rarely, but when I do, woo! I go all out. Maybe it’s because I only catch the Really Evil Virii (“virii” just sounds so much more evil than “viruses”). Anyhow. That’s where I’ve been.

Actual Content

So I’ve made my word count so far, but it’s taking more hours that I planned. I’m hoping it’ll speed up once I get more into the story.

Anyhow. During my daily blog-reading (read: procrastination), I ran across this:

[Japanese author Haruki] Murakami believes the first step toward successful writing is proper physical fitness.

“First train your body. Then, your writing style will follow,” the author said, is a mantra by which he lives. Murakami has run the Boston Marathon six times and will run his 34th marathon this weekend.

“I realized that I needed physical strength [to focus on writing for long periods] and that strength helped to develop my writing style,” he said.

I’d like to believe that.

Went for a run last night. When I started, it was just drizzling, but it picked up just after I reached my turn-around point. And then–whoosh–it was sheeting down. The light was crazy with headlights bouncing off all that water. My shoes felt all spongey. Squish, squish, crunch through the leaves. And my (bright yellow reflective) jacket plastered itself to me. Was all good, though. I’d warmed up by that time, and it wasn’t cold, just wet. Plus I felt really energetic right from the beginning. I think part of it is the abrupt change from running in the daylight to running in the dark. It’s a different experience. Makes me feel all dedicated and stuff. 😉

I love November.

Bullies & Honeymoons

I remember when I found this and finally realized WTF was going on.

Until then, I’d been completely bewildered & frustrated, because when someone starts insisting that 2+2=5, it is, really it is, don’t you agree, I know you think it’s 4, but it’s really 5, if you think about it, you’ll realize you’re mistaken, etc. etc. and you’re completely sane and sure of yourself and the facts, you’re like WTF is going on here? What is this person trying to prove?

I don’t think about that time much anymore, but when I do, it seems surreal. If it hadn’t actually happened to me, I’d think, “No way! That would never happen!” Because it just doesn’t make sense. Business-wise, it’s a terrible strategy. But it’s one of those instances where truth is stranger than fiction.

Today, this reminded me.

Horseshoes

~~ If anyone wants to send some good luck waves my way, I’d appreciate it. ~~

It’s hard typing w/ your fingers crossed.

What’s it about? It’s about nothing.

I don’t know who Brian Hennigan is, but after reading this, I think perhaps I should find out…

This had me in stitches.

It was also another one of those “I said this EXACT SAME THING!” moments (yes, I know exact same is redundant). (It happens w/ Anderson Cooper a lot. Which is why I think we could be BFF. But I digress.) Okay, I’ve not been quite as pejorative as he gets in his closing paragraphs. But this guy is Scottish, after all. I’m Canadian. You see the difference.

This, however, could be a direct quote:

Let me also say that, yes, I have read a Harry Potter book. It was nice enough – for a children’s book. But at no point did I ever think that I was involved in anything other than a book for children.

There was not anything of entertainment value for a fully-developed adult mind.

HP aside, these “Hey! I said that last week/month/year!” moments happen so frequently that I wonder if there is not an audience for my observations/opinions. Perhaps one needs to be semi-famous first before anyone is interested in what one has to say? Possibly. But maybe, just maybe, it’s simply a matter of articulating stuff that people identify with.

To memoir or not to memoir, that is the question

Don’t you just love it when someone else articulates something you’ve been thinking about / trying to say? Tayari Jones again, on whether writing a memoir is the right thing to do:


And it made more wonder if having the RIGHT to hurt someone makes it okay to do so.
…
In this piece I talk quite a bit anout my dad. Was it really okay for me to talk about him? Of course I have the right and desire to tell my own story, but I can’t really tell it without him.

She concludes:

I don’t know. I think I prefer the safe realm of fiction.

!!! I’ve thought a great deal about writing a memoir. This is always where I end up. Fiction does feel safe to me. I can write about more significant, weightier subjects in fiction than I can in memoir. The distance of fiction allows me to get nearer to the truth, if that makes any sense.

Writing a memoir would mean writing about my family, my childhood. That’s the key to the whole thing. Without that, there’s no point. But when I write personal non-fiction, even if I’m just testing it out, in a Word doc, I find myself hedging when it comes to my family. Who they are is crucial to who I am, hence I must write about them, if I am to write my story.

But the good daughter in me balks at hurting anyone. No one in my story is evil. There is no big bad.

It would be much easier if there was.

TCGN* Update

[*Tom Cruise Goes Nuts]

I’ve been confining my thoughts on this matter to Sallie’s ever-so-funny running commentary at So Anyway…, but I just had to share this tidbit.

Quite frequently, I’ll make an observation on something to myself or someone else, then later on I’ll hear someone else make the same observation in a more public forum. And then I’ll think, hey! I said that yesterday! (or whatever). I’m still trying to decide if this makes me a trendsetter or simply unoriginal.

Anyhoo.

Last Friday I commented on Eden’s post about TCGN’s appearance on Today:


You know back in the day (i.e. the 80s), I liked TC. That gradually wore down to neutrality. My feelings toward him remained pretty much neutral until the last, oh, how long would you say it’s been? two months or so? Now I actively dislike him. I may never pay to see another movie with him in it. And I can’t imagine I’m the only person who’s feeling that way.

Then last night I was noodling around TWoP and after catching up on the AC360 thread, I saw the Today Show thread, remembered Eden’s post (I didn’t actually see the interview) and thought I’d see what the TWoPPers had to say about it.

Just a few snippets:
ctygrltif2:

Between that and the “Matt, Matt, Matt” he was just so offensive. I hate the way he’s trying to force his cult on the rest of the world. I was never a big fan of his movies anyway so it’s no big loss that I’ll never pay money to see one again..

Damaris56:

Well, after this whole thing with Katie Holmes and Brooke Shields and this latest interview on Today, I’m boycotting his films. I’m never giving this guy a penny of my money. I had planned to see War Of The Worlds because Spielberg was directing it, but nothing will get me in to watch any movie with this idiot in it.

Lizziedrew:

Add me to the list of those who will be boycotting his movies in the future. That pompous asshat doesn’t need any more of my money, for damn sure.

BitchySmurf:

I never liked Tom Cruise. I never disliked him. But I never “got” the whole appeal. I’m never going to another one of his movies. War of the Worlds seems like the kind of thing I would enjoy too. But I won’t go.

So, heh. There are also links to transcripts of the interview wherein TCGN proves that he is, in fact, a crazy person. It’s funny (funny weird, not funny haha). The main reason my initial like of TC wore off was because I could never get a read on him in interviews. Maybe this is stupid, but if I find someone to be vacuous or annoying or assholey in interviews, I find it hard to like his/her work. Conversely, if someone comes off as bright or witty, I’m more inclined to enjoy his/her work.

Anyhow, to me, TC never came off as anything. He was like a robot, a shell. I got the impression that he had no personality of his own, he just filled this shell with roles, and when the role ended he was empty again. Now, I realize this was in part due to his publicist (you know, the one he fired) suppressing his urge to reveal that he’s a crazy person. But I also think that my instinct that he had no personality of his own is probably not that far off. That’s the kind of person that cults appeal to, after all, isn’t it?

One more thing: in all this frenzy, little mention has been made of TC’s children. I’ve been thinking about how they’re getting to that age (according to IMDb, they’re 12 and 10) where everything your parents do, regardless of how ordinary, is embarrassing. Can you imagine being a pre-teen and having to watch your dad behave as he has for the last while? I’m mortified for them.

Thinking…

I must be getting cooler (um, yeah, right) or at least more tuned in to the >cough< A-List, if I can read a list like this, and not only be familiar with five of them but have been so over one of the 5 six months ago (sorry, JB).

(The joke’s on me, of course, as he’s the one with the book deal.)

I don’t want to associate my writing with guilt.

This resonated with me:


I think they key is this: I know that it takes a long time to write a good novel. It will take me at least two years, but probably three. I can’t beat myself up for missing these days. All I can do is promise myself that I will do better. …… Whatever happens, I don’t want to associate my writing with guilt. I have enough stuff to feel guilty about. …

Everyone has their issues. Guilt is mine. Should I ever write that memoir I’ve mentioned, it will be a major theme.