Tag: writing

By the Numbers: June 2013

~ EMM

Books

Total read since January: 17
(target is 36 by December, to be on track I should have read 18 books by now)

I’m almost caught up to my 3 books per month reading goal! I read two mysteries, some science fiction, some fantasy, and some historical fiction… basically, a little of everything except non-fiction, but I have a few non-fiction titles lined up for vacation next month…

I really liked all the books I read this month… except one. I wanted to try to rank them in order of preference, but it’s so hard to do. If I were forced to stack rank them, here’s what I’d say:

  • The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman — I had big expectations for this one, and it completely lived up to my expectations. If you’ve never read anything by Neil Gaiman and you want an introduction into his books and the worlds he creates, start with this one. This is basically a book about childhood for adults. If it doesn’t make you remember what it was like to be young and believe in magic and monsters, then you are a cold-hearted person and I have no idea why you are reading my blog.
  • Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein — This may be tied with “Ocean” for the best book I read this month. I’m usually not a big fan of historical fiction, but this story just grabbed me and I couldn’t stop reading. I loved the characters and the story. The only annoying bit was something that was my own fault for reading reviews before I read the book. From what I’d read I was expecting some sort of major plot twist or something. Lots of people referred to how the main character “lies.” So I kept waiting and trying to anticipate (figure out) what would happen. So when the ending came, I had this feeling of, “that’s it? really?” Not a solid sense of closure to the story. I guess some of the stuff I guessed was going to happen was more of a surprise to others reading the story? Regardless, this is a really well written book and I highly recommend it. My advice though, just go into it and get absorbed by the story without expectations.
  • Thousandth Night by Alastair Reynolds — Technically, I think this is more of a novella, and I think it should have been paired with a second novella (Minla’s Flowers), but my Kindle version only had the one story. Still, Alastair Reynolds is quickly becoming a new favorite science fiction author. This story played with some of the concepts he explored more in Blue Remembered Earth, and featured a little mystery plot that kept things moving as we learned more about this world and this species of space travelers. I really enjoyed it and can’t wait to read more by Mr. Reynolds.
  • In the Bleak Midwinter by Julia Spencer-Fleming — This one may be tied with Thousandth Night, it’s hard to say which I liked more. I read this for a project I’m doing for my mystery fiction class. However, I got to pick the topic and the book for my project. I had narrowed my (self-selected) choices down to three, downloaded the samples for Kindle, and ultimately picked this one. I am so glad I did. This is the first mystery I’ve read for my mystery fiction class that I actually liked. I am excited to read more in the series. It’s an odd choice for me, since it’s a mystery (I don’t usually read mysteries) and one of the main characters is a Episcopalian priest (female, but still, a priest…). I’m not religious. But I do like fiction that features a tension between believers and non-believers (like Contact and The Sparrow). And both the main characters have military backgrounds, which ranks up there with boarding schools as another feature I enjoy in my fiction.
  • Indemnity Only by Sara Paretsky — This one I read for my mystery fiction class, and despite the fact that I generally liked the main character and liked the fact it was set in Chicago (my home town), I didn’t really like the book. Sure, it is a mystery and has a lot of action and a “who-done-it” plot that makes you want to keep reading to figure out what happened. However, I felt like the book moved unnecessarily slowly. There was a lot of “activity” that didn’t really result in much resolution, or wasn’t really critical to the development of the plot. The author makes a point of describing the main character’s clothes, what she had for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, how she slept, her exercise habits, etc., etc. It got really tiresome. So tiresome that I think it distracted from the story and left me thinking, “meh. it was okay.” Maybe I’m just not a mystery fan.

So many good books this month! If you want a sneak peak at the books I finally decided to bring with me on vacation, you can check it out here.

Writing

Big month for blog posts (6)… not much (any?) fiction writing this month, though. Writers write. But I haven’t been writing. I’ve been working. And reading. And, apparently watching a lot of movies this month, as you will soon see…

Swimming

My US Masters Swimming FLOG (Fitness Log) says I swam:

  • 12 of 30 days (target was ~20 days)
  • 19 miles (target was ~30 miles)

Yes, I remember saying in my last “by the numbers” post that I was determined to get 20 days in the pool this month. So, I only swam 12 days (3 days/wk instead of 5 days/wk). I’ve been struggling to get back on the getting up early in the morning schedule. I am also dreading swimming in the dinky three lane pool at the gym and would much rather swim outside. Unfortunately, swimming outside means waking up even earlier because the lap swim hours are 5:30am to 7:00am on weekdays. That’s early. Still, the weather has been so nice, even at 5:30am, that I can’t bear to swim inside. The last few weekday swims have been at the outdoor pool and they have been marvelous. Totally worth waking up early. If only I could remember that feeling when the alarm goes off….

Movies

I don’t even feel like talking about movies this month. We watched a lot of movies this month. Here’s what we watched with “Twitter-style” (140 character) reviews:

  • The Heat — Screening for Twitter employees. Really liked it. Wasn’t expecting to. Funny with strong feminist themes.
  • Double Indemnity — Watched for class. Didn’t like it. Don’t get why this is a “classic” that people love. Lame characters. Lame plot. I don’t like insurance.
  • If…. — Watched because I read it was one of Neil Gaiman’s favorite movies. British boys boarding school. Didn’t get it. Greg really liked it.
  • Cloud Atlas — Pleasantly surprised at how they turned this book into a movie. However, if you didn’t read the book you may not get the movie.
  • Robot & Frank — Cute movie.
  • Despicable Me — Really cute movie. I ❤ Minions. Looking forward to the sequel.
  • Beautiful Creatures — Terrible movie. The book was okay, but this movie was terrible.
  • Beasts of the Southern Wild — Cute movie. Artsy. Greg liked it more than me, go figure.

And that was June… A bit of a lull on progress towards most of my goals, but I did start to catch up on my reading… Next month, vacation! And hopefully a little more productivity outside of work…

By the Numbers: May 2013

~ EMM

Birthday Month Recap!

Books

Total read: 11 of 36 (target was ~15)

Only read / finished two books this month, both for my Mystery Fiction class:

  • Mr. Penumbra’s 24-hour Bookstore — This book is a geeky book lover’s dream. The author used to work at Twitter. He almost perfectly captures the Bay Area tech scene as it might be viewed by someone who lives here but isn’t working in technology. This is one of those books that I wanted to hug after I finished it. I read it on my Kindle, so I hugged my Kindle instead.
  • Bones and Silence — Apparently this book is one in a series. I’m not entirely sure why my professor picked this one, which I think is #11 in the series. It worked well as a stand-alone book, but it took me a while to get into it. It’s English, and the author uses a lot of English police / detective slang that took me a while to figure out.
  • The Maltese Falcon — This one is a classic. I think I’ve seen the movie at some point, it was one of my dad’s favorites. But I didn’t remember the story. The story takes place in San Francisco, and that part is really cool. The story was good, and kept me engaged, but I wasn’t really a big fan of any of the characters.

Neither of these are books I would have read if they weren’t on my class syllabus. I’m not sure that mystery fiction is my thing. I used to love mystery stories when I was a kid. But so far, the ones I’ve had to read for class haven’t really grabbed me. I have two or three more books I have to read for this class (sometime between now and October). We’ll see if I change my mind as I read more mysteries and learn more about the genre.

Writing

This hasn’t been a big blogging month, or a big writing month. I meant to do revisions on my “Bridge Beat” story (the one that started off as a class exercise). I’ve decided I need to expand on it. But, I’ve been busy with work and birthday month activities, etc. So, I’ve been putting it off. Time to get back on it.

Swimming

My US Masters Swimming FLOG (Fitness Log) says I swam:

  • 15 of 31 days (target was ~20 days)
  • 24.21 miles (target was ~30 miles)

Second month in a row that I’ve felt like I’ve been slacking off a bit and not getting in my swimming workouts. I averaged about three workouts a week, which isn’t terrible, but I am going to need to step it up a bit (and possibly add in some strength training) if I am going to be in tip top shape by short course meters season this fall.

For starters, in June I want to swim at least 20 days out of the month. That’s been my goal since January, and I don’t think I’ve hit it once yet. This month I will.

I swam in my first open water race this month! Open water racing is to pool racing as cross country running is to running track. It feels a bit as though I’ve been “set free” in the wild to run an obstacle course using skills I’ve honed in the pool for decades. Sort of like only ever running on a treadmill and then running outside in the woods for the first time. Empowering. I am not a hamster.

Movies

We kept Netflix busy this month, averaging about one DVD per week. Plus, we actually saw a movie in the movie theater this month! In 3D! Shocking, I know. As you will soon see, the majority of the movies we watched this month fit with a theme that could be summed up as “good guys going rogue to beat the bad guys…”

This month’s movies were:

  • Silver Linings Playbook — I did not read the book. I saw that the movie got some awards or something, and that it had Hunger Games chick in it, so I rented it and hoped it wasn’t a completely dopey RomCom. At first it seemed like it was going to be a RomCom, but then it redeemed itself and turned out to be an entertaining drama. Greg even enjoyed it, which is saying something.
  • Django Unchained — somehow I hadn’t heard about this movie until I saw a trailer for it on another movie we got from Netflix. I really enjoyed it. The slavery parts were really hard for me to watch. I hate that we treated people that way. And the ending was SUPER cheesy. But, it is a Quentin Tarantino flick, so that shouldn’t be a shocker.
  • No Direction Home: Bob Dylan (part 2) — last month we watched (or re-watched, depending on who you’re talking to), part one of this documentary. This month we watched the second half, strangely enough, on Bob Dylan’s birthday! Weird. This month has been full of weird coincidences like that. I think Bob Dylan is an artistic genius and this documentary has a ton of great interviews and old footage. For someone who wasn’t even born yet, it helps put a lot of that music and surrounding drama into historical context.
  • Gangster Squad — I have no idea why we picked this movie. I think we saw a trailer on another movie we watched and Greg said we should add it to the list. It was not great, but entertaining enough, and better than I thought it was going to be. Watch it if you like good guys going rogue to stop the bad guys.
  • Star Trek Into Darkness — You have to see this if you like “Space, the final frontier.” It is a really good movie. And not just because brimming with hotties. I love space. The effects in this movie are so good. We saw it in 3D which made it even better. Just go watch it, and then come home and stream the next movie on my list this month…
  • Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan (streaming) — I was a little too young to have seen this when it came out, but it is available to stream right now on Netflix, and since we just saw the newest Star Trek movie, which featured Sherlock Khan, I figured we needed to watch this one. It was surprisingly good! And after watching this, the newest Star Trek made so much more sense.
  • This is the End — we got to watch a special screening of this movie for Twitter employees and their +1 guests. Don’t expect anything deep from this movie. It’s basically a stoner flick. It’s funny, and gross, and has a star studded cast (Emma Watson! With an ax!). My favorite part (besides Emma Watson, who is basically the only female in the movie, btw) was the ending, but since I can’t spoil it for you, you’ll have to see it for yourselves.

And there goes another birthday month. I’m pretty satisfied with this one. Can’t wait to see what awesomeness my 36th year has in store for me.

Endings, beginnings

~ EMM ~ 1 Comment

It’s my birthday-eve! 

Last night I finished my fourth UC Berkeley extension writing class. Four down and three more to go for the certificate in creative writing! I’m really excited to not have class after work anymore — but I also really liked this class and the group of students in it. I’m going to see if any of them want to keep things going and start a writing group, but so far only one person has taken me up on the idea… 

So, now that I have all this time back, what do I choose to do with it? Enroll in two more classes, of course! I decided to do my literature electives over the summer. I am taking “Mystery Fiction” as an online class. I have six months to finish it. I finished the first of eleven modules tonight. For this class I am going to read about four or five mystery novels, and a bunch more short stories. As far as online classes go, it is really well structured and I think I’m going to learn a lot about mystery fiction. I’m pretty excited about that because, even though I’m not an avid reader of detective stories, I do like a good mystery mixed into a plot… A couple of the stories I’m writing right now have mystery elements in them, so I’m interested to learn more about how mysteries work and more about the history of the genre. I mean, I get to read Sherlock Holmes for class! How can you not like that?

The other class I’m taking is called “Vampires and Steampunk” — it’s a new class offering and only 5 weeks instead of the usual 10 weeks. It’s taught by the same professor as the Mystery Fiction class, and I’ve been eagerly awaiting this class since I first saw it listed as “coming soon” on the course list. I’m not a big fan of vampires, and I’ve read almost no steampunk, but the blurb says the class will also focus on sci-fi and “urban fantasy” (aka dystopian fiction?). This is another one where I’m interested in a more in depth study of and discussion of a genre I am gravitating toward in my writing. 

And, of course, here I am biting off more side-projects when work is crazy busy, and I’m planning on taking a summer vacation. But we already know, I’m most productive (and happy) when I’m busy.

So, bring on year 36! Let’s do this! I mean, it is my year after all (year of the Snake!)…

Writing break to write about writing

~ EMM

Happy Mother’s Day to all the Moms out there! Hope you are all enjoying your day and getting all the pampering you deserve.

Since my mom is over 2k miles away, I’ve been spending the weekend on writing-related activities rather than mom-related activities. Yesterday I participated in the UC Berkeley Student Readings at Books, Inc. on Van Ness in the city. I read the first three pages of the story that I’ve been working on that started off as a writing exercise that I posted here back in March. That was a thrilling experience that I hope I get to repeat!

The story, which I am tentatively calling “Bridge Beat,” isn’t done yet. I am on about my third revision (not counting the exercise). When I submitted one of the first versions to my workshop class, they all seemed to think that it deserved to be even longer… I don’t think there is enough there for a novel, even if I did create a moderately interesting world. So, I am still attempting to fit it into a short story sized box… Novella at most.

But, my current revision clearly ends at what is just the beginning of something that is presumably a much longer story. Either that, or I have completely missed the point and need to circle back and short circuit this before it gets entirely out of hand. The last thing I need is another in-progress novel. I swear this thing could be a short story if I could only see the story with fresh eyes…

But there’s the rub — it’s really hard to see a story objectively when you are writing it. The story is in your head. You know all the bits and pieces (even if there are also bits and pieces you are totally making up as you go along). So it’s hard to know how the story is appearing to the reader. Are you giving away too much too soon? Or are you being so vague that the reader is left guessing at too much?

Still, plot, character, and scene are my favorite bits of storytelling. I really like creating worlds and characters and setting them in motion. For me that’s the most fun part of story writing. The things I end up struggling with are “theme” and “meaning.” As in, “what’s the point?” and “what does it all mean?” Since I hate it when stories have heavy-handed “messages,” I tell myself I’m just writing to entertain, so it doesn’t matter.

As usual, Mark Twain probably said it best:

Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot.

However, if I’m honest with myself, I know that the stories that I love the most make me feel something. That may be because they mean something or have a theme. So, if I want to create stories that people love, I probably need to get real about this “theme” thing. It also might help me figure out how to know when I’m “done.”

This afternoon I’ve been mostly banging my head against the wall and repeating, “what does it mean? what does it mean?” and hoping that will help. Spoiler: it’s not helping.

This is where writing groups and workshops come in handy. Other writers (or avid readers) that know how stories work, can look at what you have, break it down, and help you see what’s needed. This kind of feedback from my writing workshop classmates has been invaluable, and I’m going to miss it when this class ends. (Sounds like it’s time to find myself a more permanent writing group…)

I did send my current revision to a handful of my classmates and to my teacher to get some fresh eyes on it. But, in the meantime, I think I need to take a step back and let it rest for a bit before I have another go at it. I feel like I’m so close… but to what, I’m not exactly sure. A breakthrough, definitely. But possibly one that involves scaling a mountain rather than skipping across a crack in the sidewalk.

(If you are a sympathetic human who knows me IRL and is absolutely dying to provide feedback on an early draft of this story, send me an email. I’ll send you a PDF.)

By the Numbers: April 2013

~ EMM

Books

Total read: 8 of 36 (target was ~12)

  • Sassinak (re-read) — This is one of my favorite books, but it’s been in a box for years along with all my other books. I finally unpacked those boxes a few months ago when we moved into this apartment, and I immediately wanted to re-read this, but didn’t have time. Then I found out they released it on Kindle and that was it. I had to buy it and re-read it. I have to say, I still love this story. Sassinak may be the best heroine ever. She would definitely make a “top five fictional heroine (from a book)” list were I to put one together… (future blog post idea!)
  • Beautiful Creatures — basically I read this because I saw the preview for the movie and decided I had to read the book first. I will say it was much better than the Twilight series (which I didn’t like), but not as good as some of the other YA fantasy / sci-fi that I’ve read recently. I’m not sure it’s worth continuing in the series. I am just not that interested in what happens next.

I have also been reading lots of short stories for my writing class, and I purchased quite a few new books for my Kindle this month that have now been added to my rapidly growing “to read” pile. Besides Sassinak, I purchased:

All this focus on short stories in my writing class must be paying off… I think I might finally be learning to enjoy / appreciate short stories… Hard to believe I purchased TWO volumes of short stories this month…

Writing

Only three blog posts, but lots of progress on other writing fronts… You might be interested to know that I took that writing exercise that I posted here and turned it into a short story. I submitted it to my workshop class and got some great feedback. I’m making revisions now and will find a way to publish / post / share with anyone interested once it’s complete. Everyone in my class seems to think it should be a novel, but I’m trying very hard to cram it into a box labeled “short story” because I can’t see a full novel story arch here…

I also completed another “just for fun” exercise for class which I think I will post here today or tomorrow, just for fun…

Swimming

My US Masters Swimming FLOG (Fitness Log) says I swam:

  • 13 of 30 days (target was ~20 days)
  • 21.14 miles (target was ~30 miles)

I was a bit of a swimming slacker this month. I intended to only take one week off after the Pacific Masters SCY Championships. One week turned into two. Then when I tried to go back, forces conspired against me. So, I swam just over half the number of days I intended to swim this month. However, I seriously kicked up my mileage and am not trying to swim 2800 – 3200 yards (1.7 – 1.9 miles) per session (this takes me about an hour).

I only had one race this month. You can check out my race times on the US Masters Swimming website here. But if you’re lazy and you just want to see my times / events from the Pacific Short Course Yards (SCY) Championship swim meet I participated in this month, see below:

Date Event Time Age Group Place
 2013-04-05  50 Breast 38.27 2
 2013-04-05  100 Breast  1:20.59 2
 2013-04-05  200 Breast  2:51.81 2
 2013-04-05  100 IM  1:17.11 2

As of right now, I have the 16th fastest time in my age group (35-39) for the 200 yard breast stroke, and I have the 25th fastest time in my age group for the 100 breast stroke. Not bad for about three months of training. Of course, the Nationals are next weekend and I’ll probably slip a bit in the rankings before they finalize the 2013 SCY season best times at the end of May. Until then, I will enjoy the fact that I achieved two of my three swimming goals for this season (Nationals qualifying times and top twenty times). Next year I’ll get that stretch goal — top ten times here I come!

Besides all my “season best” swims this month, I did achieve one additional swimming milestone… as of today’s practice, I have swum just over 100 miles since January first! Yay me!

Movies

We averaged about one movie and two TV show episodes a week this month… that means we probably watched almost four hours a week of entertainment. Not bad. Still WAY below the national average…

The movies of April:

  • Total Recall (the new one) — People told us this wasn’t as good as the original, but I actually liked it better than the orignal. The conclusion I came to was that action / sci-fi movies really benefit from a special effects refresh… and better acting… 
  • Argo — How did I miss this one when it came out? This movie was so good. I absolutely loved it. And now that I’m thinking about it, I want to watch it again.
  • The Hobbit — I really liked Lord of the Rings, but this… this was SLOW, almost nothing happens, and it made me think of this addendum to the submission guidelines for an online sci-fi / fantasy magazine that I read recently:

Stories that start in an inn are usually out.

Ditto for stories that start with a group of strangers meeting at an inn.

Ditto for stories that start with a group of strangers meeting at an inn and being hired to do a job by a mysterious individual who is clearly a sorcerer (or vampire, or sorcerer/vampire).

Double ditto for stories that start with a group of strangers meeting at an inn and being hired to do a job by a mysterious man who is clearly a sorcerer (or vampire, or sorcerer/vampire) who then turns on the very adventurers he/she/it hired only to be thwarted by the one dwarf in the party.  In fact, toss us a dwarf curveball.  So far we’ve never seen a story with a dwarf character where that character doesn’t kick ass from beginning to end.

  • No Direction Home: Bob Dylan (part 1) — Greg says we watched this already, but I don’t remember watching it. So we watched it (again?). I love Bob Dylan. He is so full of shit. And he is such a talented artist. Watching this I was struck by the similarities between being a musician / artist in “the Village” when he was up and coming, and the start-up scene in Silicon Valley today. He was like the Mark Zuckerburg of his age / industry. So many parallels… someone should write about that…

Besides movies, we’ve been enjoying Sunday night Game of Thrones, season 3, episodes on HBOGo (thanks, @MagMarCat!) and we finally finished season three (the final season) of Lie to Me on Netflix. We really liked Lie to Me and are very sad it’s over. At least we have Game of Thrones…

And that was April…

And tomorrow is the first day of the best month of the year… my birthday month!

By the Numbers: March 2013

~ EMM

Books

Total read: 6 of 36 (target was ~9)

I haven’t had much time to read anything that wasn’t assigned for my writing classes (mostly short stories). In March I finished:

  • Blue Remembered Earth — Space odyssey that is part mystery, part family drama, part environmental politics, part technology politics, and part adventure quest. The multiple “themes” at work here remind me a little of Frank Herbert and Dune. The Descrutinized Zone and the hacker / maker culture reminds me of Cory Doctorow and Little Brother.
  • Little Brother — Read almost all of this in one sitting. Definitely YA and definitely geeky, but in a good way. Doctorow is ever the activist, and his writing is very “message-y.” I wonder how this book actually goes over with teens (if they love it or if they find it too preachy). Even though I agree with his ideals, I worry that this is more propaganda than literature. Still… if you are a fan of freedom of speech, technology (esp. Linux), and security, you should check out this book.

I also noticed that Amazon (finally) added one of my all-time favorite Sci-Fi novels (Sassinak) to Kindle. So I had to buy it and start re-reading. Anne McCaffrey rocks.

Writing

Most of my writing this month has been part of one of my two writing classes. This was the month where my two classes overlap. So I’ve been writing all sorts of exercises and impressions of stories I’ve read, and working on my own stuff. It’s been a good month for producing content.

On Tuesday I turn in my final “portfolio” from my Craft of Writing Workshop. It will include two poems, one short story, and one personal essay. After that, I get to focus 100% on short stories (fiction) for another month plus. I’ve determined that it’s way easier for me to write fiction than to write personal essays or poetry. Most of the people in my class found writing non-fiction easier, which surprised me.

As much as I prefer writing fiction to writing non-fiction, I seem to be keeping up with the blogging. I posted six times this month (if you include this post). I seem to keep coming up with new ideas for blog posts, I just never seem to have time to write them. Maybe next month I’ll finally get around to those “learning to code” posts I promised.

Swimming

My US Masters Swimming FLOG (Fitness Log) says I swam:

  • 20 of 31 days (target was ~20 days)
  • 29.09 miles (target was ~30 miles)

That includes three swim meets this month where I swam US Masters Swimming Nationals qualifying times in all three breaststroke events. You can check out my race times on the US Masters Swimming website here. But if you’re lazy and you just want to see my times / events from the various swim meets I participated in this month, see below:

 Date  Event  Time  Age Group Place
3/10/13 (CAL)  50 Free 32.92 4
3/10/13 (CAL)  50 Breast 38.79 2
3/23/13 (USF)  50 Breast 38.16 1
3/10/13 (CAL)  100 Breast  1:21.65 2
3/16/13 (RINC)  100 Breast  1:22.28 2
3/23/13 (USF)  100 Breast  1:21.57 1
3/16/13 (RINC)  200 Breast  2:55.23 1
3/23/13 (USF)  100 IM  DQ  —

The two events I swam that weren’t breaststroke were disappointing. I almost missed the wall on the flip turn in my 50 free sprint at the CAL Masters meet, and then I got disqualified in my 100 IM at the USF Masters meet. The DQ was a stupid mistake. I thought backstroke turns were legal going from back to breast, but they’re not. Oops. I am now practicing touch turns in preparation for the Pacific Masters Short Course Yards Championship meet next weekend. I’m swimming all three breaststroke events and the 100 IM. It’s a two day meet. So, that’s actually a reasonable number of races — two on each day.

Movies

In addition to my usual busy schedule, Greg was out of town for a week this month and I was sick. So this ended up being a big movie watching month.

  • Total Recall — The original. I hadn’t ever seen it and Greg hadn’t seen it recently. Hello totally 80s! We’ve come such a long way in both special effects and… acting!
  • Ted — Funny. Mostly. A nice evening distraction. Also, I’m a sucker for Mila Kunis. Pretty sure she plays the same part in every movie, though…
  • Anna Karenina — Started watching this with Greg who lasted about 10 min and kept saying “is this a musical?” It’s not a musical, but it is “interpretive” in a way. Greg couldn’t handle “Anna” and her hysterical screeching. I watched to get a “Cliff’s Notes” version of the story and to admire what the Russian classics do with character and narrative. Also because I’m a sucker for Keira Knightly… who also pretty much plays the same part in every movie… huh.
  • Pretty in Pink — saw that Netflix added this to Instant and couldn’t resist re-watching. This was one of my absolute favorite movies as a teen. This was for me what War Games was for Greg. Now they are both on streaming, so we’re both happy.
  • First Position — Ballet documentary? Yes please. Of course. Watched this the night before my USF Masters swim meet to get a little inspiring athletic kick-ass drama.
  • LOL — I could just say I’m a sucker for Miley Cyrus and leave it at that, but that’s embarrassing… true, but embarrassing. Miley Cyrus may have been the hook, but this movie surprised me a bit… better than I expected. I will admit, the emo-boy love interests all kinda looked alike, but whatever.
  • Mona Lisa Smile — I remembered liking this one and was looking for something to watch while I was sick. Also I’ve been thinking a lot about gender issues / sexism lately. There are aspects of this movie I really like, especially the part where the teacher has to realize that part of feminism is that everyone gets to choose what’s right for them. Sheryl Sandberg, as inspirational as she is to many, takes a lot of flack for making a similar mistake… (Also, I’m a sucker for Julia Stiles…)

It’s not a goal of mine to watch movies, so you may wonder why I even bother including them in my monthly “by the numbers” post. I think it’s interesting to review the list of movies I watched in monthly snapshots. Movies are like little drama snacks for me. When I don’t have time to read a book, I watch a movie. Particular movies appeal to me more than others depending on my mood. I’ve been known to use both movies and music to “balance my brain chemicals” when I’m in a mad / sad / bad / whatever mood.

I definitely think these particular movies give some additional insight into my state of mind this month. Maybe the streaming ones more so than the ones I watched with Greg, but they all have some common threads. It would be an interesting exercise to trace the emotional / character / narrative links back to Pretty in Pink… maybe some other day.

Writing exercise

~ EMM ~ 1 Comment

I have a little bit of writing I thought I might share with you… it’s short, so it’s easy for me to post here on the blog. It was generated from a writing exercise we were given in class. Our instructor, Dan Coshnear, gave us the following assignment:

Write a story based on one of the two scenarios below. story should look like 3 paragraphs with white space between them to signify a transition in time. Paragraph one is in the present tense, par. 2 is in the past tense, par.3 returns us to the present. Each of the paragrapghs begins with a line from either scenario A or B, in their respective order.
A – Par. 1 – (present) The Bonneville drifts over the double yellow line. “Stop it, Lyle,” she says. “Do you want to get us killed?”
     Par. 2 – (past) She’d met him six months ago at a retreat for community organizers. He was the hairiest man she’d ever seen, and he wouldn’t leave the hot tub.
     Par. 3 (present) – “It can’t be now all the time,” she says.
B – Par. 1 (present) We’re driving over the Golden Gate Bridge when I see something go over the side. A yellow flash.
     Par. 2 (past) I hadn’t had a vacation in over a year.
     Par. 3 (present) – “Do I know what day it is? What the hell kind of a question is that?”
As i said last night, if you’d like to edit or change any of the lead-in lines, I have no trouble with that. what’s important is that you try this simple structure, present, past, present and see what emerges.

So, I chose “scenario B” and wrote the following:

We’re driving over the Golden Gate and I see something go over the side like a yellow flash. “There. Pull over. Now.” Rex angles the car toward the pedestrian walkway and jams on the hazards. He parks the car in the midst of the northbound bridge traffic and we both jump out, leaving the doors open, and run for the guard rail. He gets there first and begins jogging back and forth along a ten foot span of bridge railing, pushing tourists out of the way, looking for the telltale shimmer we were told would be evident. I struggle to climb over the barrier, land on the concrete walkway, and sight a direct path to the point I haven’t taken my eyes off of since I saw the flash.

I hadn’t had a vacation in over a year. This was my beat, the Bridge beat. All we knew was that somewhere along this two mile stretch of concrete and steel was a portal. Folks on this side mostly didn’t know these portals existed. The folks I’d been working for knew about the portals, but didn’t know where they were. The did know that at some point someone from the other side was going to have to use this portal. So we were on stand-by, always ready, ever vigilant, as though the very survival of the species depended on us getting this right. One other thing they didn’t know: I’ve been to the other side and returned. Now I needed to make sure that I was the one who went back to warn them.

“Do I know what day it is? What the hell kind of question is that?” The cop questioning me was blocking my path. They were quick on the scene, I’ll give them that. A parked car on the most iconic bridge in the country will have that effect, I guess. I have to find the portal before they march me off to the looney bin. Rex catches my eye and shrugs. He can’t find it. I tilt my head toward the cop and hope Rex will be able to interpret my look. He smiles, nods, turns around, and climbs up on the railing, drawing attention from the tourists. The commotion distracts the cop and I lunge past him. I spot the shimmer, fainter now, it will disappear soon. No time to think, I vault the rail and hurl myself over the side, angling my body toward the portal. Either I’m going home, or I’ll be dead when I hit the water. Either way, I’ve found my ticket out of this place.

I’m thinking about expanding it into a short story, but I’m not exactly sure about the plot… I may play with it a bit more this weekend, but thought I would throw it out here and see if anyone reading this has any thoughts…

So what do you think? Worth expanding on? As a short story? Something longer? Or do you think it’s complete as-is?

By the Numbers: February 2013

~ EMM

Books

Total read: 4 of 36 (target was ~6)

I know February is a short month and all, but it seems like this February went by at an unbelievably fast pace. It went by so fast, in fact, that I didn’t have enough spare time to finish *any* books this month. I find this particularly hard to believe, but I’ve actually been slowly chewing my way through Blue Remembered Earth for an entire month. Yikes!

It’s not that I don’t want to finish it — far from it. I’m really enjoying the book. It’s long, but not long enough to justify an entire month of casual reading for me. Even though I haven’t finished it yet, I will say that I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys science fiction adventures with political / social sub plots. I have been thinking of it as “Dune crossed with Little Brother / Homeland…” Which isn’t entirely fair because I haven’t actually read either of those books by Cory Doctorow (yet). I have heard him speak a few times and have a general idea (from Greg) about his novels.

Writing

My writing class that started at the very end of January has been occupying almost all the free time I’ve had outside of swimming and work. And, if you remember, I have a second writing class that starts this month and overlaps briefly with the one I’m currently taking. I am just beginning to freak out about that.

I did more writing than blogging this month (only 3 blog posts!), mostly due to free time and my writing class. I wrote two poems for a class assignment — the first time I’ve written poetry since high school. I also attempted to write a short story.

I say “attempted” because the process was messy and I’m not entirely pleased with the result. I wrote two different versions of the same scene that I was attempting to turn into a short story. But then I realized the story would have to be longer than I intended, and I had no ideas about how to make it shorter. So, I abandoned both versions to my “drafts” folder and pulled out something I’d written previously but never submitted to polish up for class. I need a lot more short story practice. Lucky for me, we’re working on short stories for the next two weeks in class.

Swimming

I didn’t compete in any swim meets this month, but I did hit it hard in the pool. My US Masters Swimming FLOG (Fitness Log) says I swam:

  • 18 of 28 days (target was ~20 days)
  • 27.13 miles (target was ~30 miles)

I surprised myself by swimming a couple of sets at times / pace faster than I though I would be able to swim. I’ve had several people at the pool that I don’t know comment to me about how fast I am. Compared to the competitive swimmers, I’m not that fast yet, and I know how far I have to go before I’ll admit to being “fast.” However, to regular lap swimmers that just swim for fitness or as practice for a triathlon they’re training for, I probably do appear to be “fast.”

Sometimes I will admit I am the fastest person in the pool at my gym (including the guys). But there are two women (both appear to be younger than me, and significantly taller), that are faster than me — except in breaststroke. I don’t think there is anyone that I’ve seen at the gym that’s faster than me at breaststroke.

You might think this would make me feel good, or confident. However, I don’t get any great joy from swimming faster than and/or intimidating a bunch of casual lap swimmers. At the same time, I worry I won’t get substantially faster unless I have someone faster to compete with and to push me. So, I’m beginning to seriously consider joining a masters swim team in the summer or fall. We’ll see how this season goes and how I perform at the meets coming up in March. I’ll decide after that.

Movies

I spent some of my book reading time watching movies. This month we watched:

  • Celeste and Jesse Forever – Disappointing. I was expecting this would be funnier. 
  • Perks of Being a Wallflower – This was better than the book. Emma Watson was fantastic in this. We were probably almost 30 min into the movie before I realized she was speaking with an (flawless) American accent.
  • the entire first season of House of Cards – This was way better than I expected. I had only 3 gripes with the first season: 1) Francis has terrible rowing form making him less believable as an ex-rower (#CoxswainProblems), 2) I noted one plot loophole that didn’t quite tie out (but I’m now having a hard time remembering what it was…), 3) The last episode was frustrating for many reasons that I won’t get into here so I don’t spoil it for those that haven’t watched yet…

And that’s February 2013…

Time for an update

~ EMM

I’ve been pretty much all consumed by working, swimming, and keeping up with my writing class. We made it through the poetry segment of the class (so happy that’s over…). I had to write some (terrible) poetry and read it out loud in class. I was shocked when many people in the class actually seemed to like what I wrote. Especially since one of the poems I wrote, the one I read aloud in class, was an ode to my extreme dislike of poetry. Regardless of feedback from the workshop, I don’t think publishing poetry is in my future.

We’ve now moved on to short stories. I’m no expert on short stories. I definitely came late to this party. I don’t remember reading any short stories outside of school until I started reading the Completed Collection of Sherlock Holmes last year. Shortly after purchasing that for my Kindle, I picked up a “best of” collection offered through a Kindle Daily Deal. The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2011 contained a section of short stories. I fell in love with this book and wrote the following review:

This little gem was edited by Dave Eggers (of Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, McSweeney’s, and 826 Valencia fame), and has an introduction by Guillermo Del Toro (producer/director/writer of fan-boy classics such as: Pan’s Labyrinth, Hellboy, and the upcoming Hobbit movies). The selections for inclusion were made by high school students. One of my favorite parts is the “Best American WiFi Network Names” (who knew people were so creative with WiFi network names?). If this isn’t enough to make you want to get a copy to read by the pool this summer, maybe this article will convince you: http://www.sfweekly.com/2011-11-30/culture/best-american-non-required-reading-dave-eggers-826-valencia/

At the same time I was trying to finish my first UC Berkeley Extension writing class and attempting to write my first short story since my high school creative writing class. These short stories and my attempts at writing them inspired me to purchase a subscription to Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine. Basically, I was giving myself a crash course in short stories.

With the exception of Asimov’s, I haven’t been reading short stories recently, and I certainly haven’t attempted writing any (bad me). But, I’m steadily increasing my appreciation of this genre of fiction. My next writing assignment is to write a short short story. I haven’t made much progress yet… okay, I opened a file, typed in my header, and saved it… I am going to start writing for real any minute now…

While I attempt to determine what in the world I am going to write about, I am inspiring myself with one of my favorite authors, Neil Gaiman, who is doing this project with Blackberry called “A Calendar of Tales” that also involved Twitter. You can check it out here if you have no idea what I’m talking about: http://keepmoving.blackberry.com/desktop/en/us/ambassador/neil-gaiman.html?CPID=E70C215 (you can download the stories from there)

As a result of all the working and the swimming and the keeping up with my writing class, I’m making slow progress with Blue Remembered Earth, even though I am enjoying it and wish I had more time to read it. Every time I find free time there seems to be something else more pressing to do, or I’m too tired to read. At this rate I’ll be happy to finish one book this month (and one blog post, for that matter).

Distraction

~ EMM

I meant to start reading a new book this weekend, The Dog Stars. Months ago I bought it for Greg because, as much as he prefers non-fiction to fiction, he is developing a liking for post-apocalyptic fiction. He read it and highly recommended it and keeps telling me I should read it next. So, I was planning to start it on Friday.

I posted a status to Twitter saying I was starting the book. I set it to the first page on my Kindle. But for some reason I couldn’t get started. My brain has been jumping around like crazy. Friday night I had almost no attention span and was in a grumpy mood. Saturday I was scattered, restless, and searching for something, who knows what. I couldn’t focus to start reading a book.

Finally, this morning, it occurred to me that these are my tell-tale signs that I’m ready to start writing again. I realized that I’ve been thinking a lot about this story that I started writing in the fall of 2009. I put quite a bit of thought into it and have a pretty good grasp on the basic plot of the story, the characters, and the “world” the story is set in. I wrote a good deal of the beginning — almost 20k words or so. Then, for the following 3+ years, I got distracted by work stuff and never went back to it. Today I finally pulled it out of my desk and looked over what I’ve written so far.

After skimming over what I’d already written and reminding myself where I was in terms of the plot, I scribbled down some thoughts and questions and general to-do reminders about what I need to work on next. Then I started puttering about the house.

Tea. Shower. Cooking. More tea. Snacking. Laundry. Email….

At least today I know I’m procrastinating. Yesterday, when I was procrastinating without realizing I was procrastinating, I researched all things swimming. I found workouts online. I read about stroke mechanics. I figured out that there is a masters swimming nationals and it’s going to be in Indianapolis this year. I looked up the qualifying times for what I expect will be the events I will compete in. I speculated on my goals and what it would take to make the top fifty times for my age group. I registered for a swim meeting next weekend. In the process of all this I produced nothing. I didn’t actually go swimming. I didn’t start reading The Dog Stars. And I definitely didn’t write.

I think knowing how much work is ahead of me is overwhelming me. I know what I have and how much more needs to get done. I know the story I want to tell. I know that I can’t bear not telling it. Now I just need to sit down and write it. And that, my friends, is where I’m stuck.

Case in point, here I am writing a blog post instead of sitting my butt down and working on finishing this story! Honestly, what is it going to take to get me to do the work?