Not reminded of celebrities.

[mrissa]

I just want to say, in response to a meme going around, that you don't remind me of a celebrity. No, really, you don't. Some of you qualify as celebrities in my world (hey, if more than five of my friends from before I started hanging out with writer-types have read one of your books, it counts, even if I was the one who made them read them), but other than that, I don't go around getting reminded of celebrities very often.

(Also not so much of animals, except in extreme cases (I was once in a writing group with an Airedale, for example), and I can't sum you up in single words. Any of you. Or colors, or elements, or flavors of ice cream -- well, most of you. One of you is clearly grapefruit sorbet, which is in no way my fault.)

I've had trouble finding a happy medium with the celebrity thing. For awhile during late high school and my freshman year of college, I went around telling people my superhero name was Out Of Touch With Pop Culture Woman. I don't make a huge effort to be in touch with pop culture now, but I also don't think that there's any great virtue to enforcing ignorance about it. I'm glad I don't know the details of, for example, what "reality" shows or "makeover" shows are on the air right now, but knowing that there are reality and makeover shows that have been popular in the last several years seems like a reasonable thing to me. I wouldn't announce with pride that I was wholly ignorant of Byzantine art or Kenyan history, so I don't know why I should announce with pride that I'm wholly ignorant of parts of the world much nearer to me. I'm not ashamed of my areas of ignorance, either. They are what they are, and when I have information handed to me to remedy them, I try to file it away as neatly as possible, regardless of the field. I don't seek out all knowledge equally, but I've stopped shying away from some kinds as a point of pride. I'm already as "different" as I need to be. I will be no more nor less unique as a human being if I have some idea what my next door neighbor is talking about.

I was thinking of doing a poll about which of my short stories in progress you would most like to read. Then I realized that 1) I wouldn't listen anyway and 2) half of you would clamor for "Carter Hall Sweeps a Path" because I gave you a bit of that to chew on earlier. So no poll for you.

Comments

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

May I please clamor for "Carter Hall Sweeps a Path"?

Thank you.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Heh. Thanks.

I've been working on it for awhile now this evening.

[miz-hatbox.livejournal.com]

Me too! (Okay, so I'm not an alpha reader but I'm really, really curious.)

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Separated alpha and beta readers really only apply in novel situations for me. It's not something I do with short stories much -- I'll ask for crits or I won't, but usually not in clumps.

Not that that's entirely relevant. I'm just saying.

[wilfulcait.livejournal.com]

If we're being flavors of ice cream, I want to be dulce de leche gelato.

Just saying is all.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

You go right on ahead, and I will do nothing to stop you.

You know what's good with dulce de leche gelato? Really dark, dark chocolate gelato. Mmmmmmmmmmmm.

[buymeaclue.livejournal.com]

You know what's good with really dark, dark chocolate gelato?

More really dark, dark chocolate gelato.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Now I want dark chocolate gelato.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

It certainly doesn't sound like a bad idea, although I think I'd be keener on it in a couple of hours.

[cadithial.livejournal.com]

Strawberries :P

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Very small pebbles. Gravy. Wood?

Okay, sorry, it's been one of those mornings.

[buymeaclue.livejournal.com]

Ohhh. That's a right answer, too.

[mkille.livejournal.com]

I vote for the story with the librarian in it.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I finished that one.

And no, I'm not starting another story with a librarian in it or inserting gratuitous librarians in these stories. Sheesh.

Oh, wait, "Singing Them Back" does have a librarian in it. But it's not a happy librarian.

[mkille.livejournal.com]

It doesn't have to be a happy librarian. And isn't that story intended for/inspired by a friend? They'd probably be happy to have it finished, then. So I vote for that one, still.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

It's a little more complicated than that: I owe it to elisem as an artist's challenge on a piece of jewelry.

[mkille.livejournal.com]

I think I was thinking of "Swimming Back from Hell by Moonlight" (apologies for errors in the title). They, y'know, share that preposition and all. Is "Singing Them Back" the one with the Scandinavian house-elf-ish folk?

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Yes, "Swimming Back from Hell by Moonlight" is the one that's already finished.

"Singing Them Back" has the disir in it, yes.

[skylarker.livejournal.com]

Your take on areas of ignorance sounds very sensible to me.

For a long time I took some pride in my total ignorance of Sports, Politics and certain other specific topics - but the more I got into doing crossword puzzles the more I realized that there is no area of knowledge so obscure or so far outside my personal interests that it does not have some potential value.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

For me it was getting serious about writing. It's hard to say what a character might need to know/do.

[skylarker.livejournal.com]

True. And one of the marks of good writing, to me, is writing that suggests the breadth and depth of what there really is to know in the world. I don't expect the writer to demonstrate an actual encyclopedic knowledge of Everything, of course, just to hint at what's out there. (Like a few carefully drawn lines can suggest a whole head of hair.)