Brave new etc.s

[mrissa]

Despite my grousing of yesterday, Sampo revisions are actually going pretty well again. I have reminded myself once again that I do not work sequentially. There is no reason I should work sequentially, not at this stage of revisions any more than earlier. (I think there is a time where you have to look at things sequentially, because that's how the reader reads the book. But that time is later, when some of the gaping chasms have been filled in.) It's one of the most basic things, and yet I forget so often. I should make myself a sign for on my monitor. Is there anything you know about yourself and how you do things, but you keep forgetting anyway? Or am I the only one who's dumb this way?

I have improved so much over the writing of this book. The down side is that I was so very unready to write this book when I started it, and so there are, in some places, more revision bits than book. But I feel like I've emerged into some sunshiney novel-writing glade, blinking and muttering about brave new etc.s that have such etc.s etc.

Also I'm in that stage where I want to write everything next. Everything. Well, everything that's mine, anyway. Which probably means I should keep on with the revisions, quietly, and maybe a bit of "Carter Hall Judges the Lines" when I feel like working longhand, and see what emerges from it all.

greykev is coming through here later today, in search of books and food and a dry place to rest his head. (Possibly also a wet place to rest his butt -- I don't know how much the hot tub was a factor in his vacation decisions.) Kev is the world's easiest houseguest. Not sure how long he'll be here (except for "not very"), but that fact that he'll be here for most of today is probably the only thing that's keeping me from going insane at the fact that my Veronica Mars Season 2 DVDs haven't shown up yet. I've never felt this way about a TV show before (<-- insert breathless ingenue voice there, if you like) It's disconcerting. I'm only supposed to be this excited about the release dates of books.

Comments

[songwind.livejournal.com]

I don't know, ailurodragon was a pretty good houseguest. He even loaded the dishwasher.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Last time he was here, Kev not only replaced a lightbulb, he noticed that we were low on that kind of lightbulbs, found the correct shopping list (among three), and wrote the correct type of lightbulb on it, all without saying a word to household members.

That in addition to party prep help etc.

[songwind.livejournal.com]

Okay, you win. :)

[greykev.livejournal.com]

Um, don't I win something? ;-) 1 free dip in the hot tub perhaps?

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

You'd better hope you don't have to pay for the rest of them, because you've already had that one!

[scottjames.livejournal.com]

DVD (particularly NetFlix, in my opinion, because of the selection) is a really good form of watching television series. I find that they're a more digestable length than movies--sometimes I get bored and want to wander off before a movie is over, but I can do a TV show. And if I feel like being stationary for longer, I just watch more episodes.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I think you've historically liked more TV shows than I have, but DVD definitely helps with getting the TV shows I like into my hands in a watchable format.

Also, I am strongly in favor of TV shows with overarching series plots, but I am apparently just not capable of committing to watching a TV show or taping it or anything on a weekly basis. So DVDs are my friends.

[scottjames.livejournal.com]

Having a TiVO-like device helps, too. I watch more TV now that I ever did before, because I don't have to schedule TV-watching time around their schedule.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

But you know me, and you know that the TiVo would become an implicit "TV to do list" for me, and the last thing I need is another to do list.

[scottjames.livejournal.com]

Well, yes, you're probably righ that the TiVo would actually create another list of things for you to do. Which, to be perfectly clear, is bad.

But, you know, hypothetically.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes, they're a marvelous invention for people who aren't me. And as timprov points out, so few people are.

Actually it was someone else he pointed that out about. But the principle was the same.

[scottjames.livejournal.com]

I'm sure that so few people are whoever it was to whom the phrase was originally applied.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

We were sitting at Sakura eating sushi, and the guy at the next table over turned his head, and I whispered to timprov, "That's not Seth Breidbart!" And he said, "So few people are." Which is very true, but if it had been Seth, I would have stopped to speak to him on my way out. Whereas this random guy with the back of Seth's head? Meh.

(I was pretty sure Seth was using the back of his own head for keeping his brains in, though, so it was a bit disturbing.)

[cardeia.livejournal.com]

I know that I work best at night, but my lifestyle means I have to be in bed early, and I collpase into bed when I do. I know that when I wake up early, I am more productive, yet I sleep in every chance I get, knowing full well that I will be sluggish all day. I know I procrastinate on cleaning and laundry, yet I don't invest in clothing hampers or systems to make it easier. It's funny, but I know that I work well under pressure, but if I give myself pressure, it never works. It has to be outside pressure.

And I have to work linear, or I lose focus of the story. But sometimes I want to write a scene further down the road than where I am, and it drives me to distrction until I outline it in my "info" file.

When we know how we react, its easier to adapt, but sometimes learned behaviors are sticky... and the "norm" is sometimes too ingrained to deviate from to be true to how we work.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

See, but that's the thing -- I have always written books out of sequence, and I have never had the idea that I had to work in sequence in draft. Just, apparently, in revision. Very silly.

[writingortyping.livejournal.com]

Is there anything you know about yourself and how you do things, but you keep forgetting anyway? Or am I the only one who's dumb this way?

Oh, no - you are not the only one:

Better Self: You should really write this down.

Worse Self: Nah, I'll remember it.

--Time passes--

Self: Arghhh... &#^%.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I have notecards and a pen in my nightstand for this very reason. Sometimes I find something totally stupid scrawled on them in the morning, because it seemed much cooler when I was still mostly asleep. But that's a small price to pay.

[zalena.livejournal.com]

I'm also excited about Veronica Mars, but scared it won't live up to the first season. I am breathless waiting for Battlestar Galactica 2.5, which is funny because I've never liked space shows. Currently I'm watching Rome which is pretty campy; but satisfying something in me.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I'm scared it won't live up to the first season, too, but there's only one way to find out.

[lutin.livejournal.com]

I forget & rediscover things all the time.

Usually with a forehead slap. ;)

[kirizal.livejournal.com]

I have improved so much over the writing of this book. The down side is that I was so very unready to write this book when I started it, and so there are, in some places, more revision bits than book. But I feel like I've emerged into some sunshiney novel-writing glade, blinking and muttering about brave new etc.s that have such etc.s etc.

This sounds so very, very familiar. Especially the "more revision bits than book" part.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I'm glad someone else is in the sunshiney glade with me, though!