Jennifer Crusie's Blog, page 150
July 27, 2019
Cherry Saturday, July 27, 2019
Today is Take Your Houseplant for a Walk Day.
No, I did not make that up. Here’s the blurb:
“Proud plant-owners can show off their leafy friends to the neighbourhood when Take Your Houseplant For A Walk Day rolls around. The idea behind this day is to celebrate plants, and to acquaint plants with their immediate environment, which is supposed to be healthy for them. Plant-owners can admire each others’ plants, and exchange stories and tips on plant-care. For those who find this concept a little strange, there are more conservative ways to get involved. Plants grow throughout their lives, and you can use this day as an excuse to re-pot any plants that might be getting a bit big for their abode. You can take your plant for a walk to a new location within the house, perhaps one where it might get more sun. And if you don’t own a houseplant, there’s no better day to bring one home and introduce it to your family.”
So I bring in a houseplant and say, “Look, Milton, Veronica, and Mona, I want you to meet our new housemate, Herb,” and one of them ignores me, one of them chews on it, and the other one pees on it.
Since I have a black thumb (every plant I buy dies), I’m just going to pretend this is Ice Cream Day instead.
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July 25, 2019
This is a Good Book Thursday, July 25, 2019
Instead of reading, I’ve been binge watching old seasons of Grimm, which apparently. started to go off the rails about the time the Black Claw showed up. Why is it that episodic shows always shoot themselves in the narrative foot with big mythologies? Character, not plot, people. Definitely time to get back to reading.
So what did you read this week?
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July 24, 2019
Working Wednesday, July 24, 2019
I’m cleaning out my kitchen and I’m appalled at myself. Old spices, rusted cans, and let’s not even discuss my range hood. But by damn, I’m working.
What have you been doing?
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July 21, 2019
Happiness is Not Reading Happiness Quotes
I went looking for happiness quotes and found them all irritating, in the same way that I find self-help books with titles like “Ten Stupid Things You. Do. To. Mess Up Your. Life” annoying as hell. (Also extra periods in my sentences, but that’s another post.) The last thing I need is some probably. dead person telling me that any state of being I am currently experiencing that is not happiness is all my fault. The dumbest one was “If you aren’t grateful for what you already have, what makes you think you would be happy with more?” Well, if I’m short on something, having more would make me happier, right? I mean, come on.
My gift for you this Sunday is no damn happiness quotes.
What made you unquotably happy this week?
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July 20, 2019
Cherry Saturday, July 20, 2019
Today is Moon Day.
There’s so much to say about the moon–new moon, blue moon, blood moon, Good Night Moon, so much–but I always think of that very early movie, Georges Méliès’s A Trip to the Moon, and this picture:
The picture above is from the same movie, colorized. According to Wikipedia, “the film follows a group of astronomers who travel to the Moon in a cannon-propelled capsule, explore the Moon’s surface, escape from an underground group of Selenites (lunar inhabitants), and return to Earth with a captive Selenite.” So your basic human invade-and-exploit-the-natives story.
For me, no thanks on going to the moon. I’ll just stay. down here and admire how gorgeous it is. Also, not made of green cheese, but probably full of NASA trash by now. Because humans.
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July 19, 2019
Argh Author: Nan Reinhardt’s Meant To Be
Nan Reinhardt’s newest book is out now!
Can a near-tragedy help two best friends realize they’re meant to be so much more?
Best friends since grade school, high-powered Chicago attorney, Sean Flaherty, and small-town mayor Megan Mackenzie have always shared a special bond. When Sean is shot by a client’s angry ex, Megan rushes to his side, terrified she’s about to lose her long-time confidant.
Upon his return to River’s Edge to recuperate, Sean discovers that his feelings for his pal have taken an undeniable turn for the romantic. While Megan struggles with an unfamiliar longing for Sean, she worries that he may be mistaking a safe place to land for love.
Can Sean help her realize that they are truly meant to be so much more than friends?
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July 18, 2019
This is a Good Book Thursday, July 18, 2019
The best thing I read all week was a recipe for Chicken Au Jus. And the book I’m writing which is brilliant, brilliant, I’m telling you. Also the directions to my spiralizer. Note to self: Find a good book to read that you’re not actually writing.
So what’s a good book to read?
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July 17, 2019
Working Wednesday, July 17, 2019
I am re-blocking Nita and having a marvelous time. Any task that involves graph paper and colored markers is My Kind Of Job. Also, appalled though I am to see school supplies in the stores already, I am delighted to report that there are school supplies in the stores already. I don’t need any. office supplies, but come on, it’s for work.
So what did you do this week?
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July 16, 2019
Echoes and Sharpies
Krissie bought me a pack of colored Sharpies the last time she was here and I’ve been working them like crazy, trying to track the echoes in Nita. “Echoes” is not a technical term, but “motif” isn’t right for this and repetition is too general. What I’m talking about here, folks, is a scene that recurs, shifting each time to arc a character or plot point. For example . . .
The Breakfast Scenes: Nick and Nita meet at 1AM on Tuesday and trouble ensues; seven hours later they meet again at the diner where they’re both having breakfast and Nick sits down with her to find out what she knows. During that breakfast, they get to know each other a little better and like each other, and then big trouble happens at the end of it and they’re both afraid for each other and the relationship has shifted. On Wednesday, they wake up together (platonically) and have breakfast in his apartment, repeating a lot of the actions (and food) from the previous day while dealing with new information and an antagonist while Jeo and Rab wander in and out, foreshadowing a team. On Thursday, they all meet for breakfast at the diner again, but this time it’s Nick, Nita, Rab, and Jeo, and then Max and Button show up, and they make plans for the day which get blown up immediately afterward.
I still have Friday and Saturday to go, but I dropped breakfast. I had a three beat, what the hell. Except they wouldn’t stop having breakfast, so attention must be paid. So on Friday, when Nick wakes up and has no idea who Nita is and leaves the room yelling for Jeo, Nita has to call after him, “What, no breakfast?” and then think she kind of misses it later that day. Easy fix. But then on Saturday, I need a new normal, so in spite of the fact that I have to cut a zillion words from thing, I am going to have to do something about that Saturday breakfast. Because there’s an echo, and waiting for the echo is like waiting for the other shoe to drop: upsetting if it doesn’t happen.
There are other echoes–Nick and Nita working together hit a rhythm of breaking into places, splitting the bad guy’s attention, getting information, and then taking out the bad guy, so that’s fun–but the key is to keep it light so that it’s under the radar–you don’t want readers thinking “Oh, hell, there’s another damn breakfast scene, I get it, I GET IT”–but still rhythmic to set up expectation.
And also to cut about a hundred pages because the book is too long already. Sigh. But all will be well because I have the colored Sharpies Krissie got me. Colored Sharpies and graph paper can solve ANYTHING.
I hope.
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July 14, 2019
Happiness Abounds
The weather here is freaking gorgeous, the dogs are snoozing, I’m making progress on the house and Nita, and I’m feeling fine. Happiness abounds.
How were you abounded by happiness this week?
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