Shanna Swendson's Blog, page 198
July 23, 2013
Dissatisfying Reading
Door Watch should supposedly end today. The door is on my patio. Now I'm just waiting for the contractor to show up and install it. Last night, he said he'd be here around nine or nine-thirty this morning, but it's now nearly eleven. Once this is done, it will still have to be painted, but I think they're going to do a mass painting project and get everything done at once, and I may not have to hang around for that.
I normally discuss books on Tuesdays, but I've been through a rather unsatisfying reading spell in which books by authors I usually enjoy have disappointed me. I did read and love The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman, but it's one of those books I don't really want to talk about much because I feel like talking about it will break the spell. I did find it scarier than most things I read, to the point I had to skip ahead a chapter or so to reassure myself that things were about to change for the main character when things got really bleak.
My main reading for the next week will be the Hugo nominees for novella, novelette and short story so I can vote intelligently.
For some book-related discussion: A couple/few years ago, I first heard book world people talking about "new adult," which was supposed to be books that transitioned between young adult and adult fiction. That makes sense to me. Readers in their early 20s who've just graduated from teen books probably aren't all that interested in reading about stressed-out mothers or the "I thought I had the perfect life until I learned what my husband was really up to" books. A category of books about younger characters in college or dealing with their first jobs would be a good way to hang onto that huge YA readership and help them find the books they might like in the vast adult fiction world.
Except, it turned out to be kind of like the "urban fantasy" category, in which the idea of it sounded good to me, but the reality turned out to be totally different (I wanted more fiction set in modern cities, but it ended up mostly being about vampires). It seems that what's been selling as "new adult," mostly self-published because the publishers and bookstores aren't yet totally on board with the category, is stuff of the 50 Shades variety. The characters may be college students, grad students or just out of school, but the stories tend to be very edgy and erotic. The characters seem to be damaged in some way and working out their issues through sex. At least, that's what the reviews sound like and what seems to be focused on in the online squee-fest about these books. Oh, and the readership seems to be mostly mature women, not the transitioning from YA crowd. There definitely does seem to be an audience, and it's nice that they're finding books to read, but selfishly, I was hoping that this might be a revival of chick lit under a different name. I'm dying for some fun, funny, fluffy reading like that and have zero interest in a heavy angst fest.
In fact, I went digging through the library for chick lit type stuff yesterday, but I think I may have tapped my library system's entire collection. Next I'll have to scour used bookstores for old stuff I haven't read yet. When I get in a mood for that kind of thing, nothing else really works.
I normally discuss books on Tuesdays, but I've been through a rather unsatisfying reading spell in which books by authors I usually enjoy have disappointed me. I did read and love The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman, but it's one of those books I don't really want to talk about much because I feel like talking about it will break the spell. I did find it scarier than most things I read, to the point I had to skip ahead a chapter or so to reassure myself that things were about to change for the main character when things got really bleak.
My main reading for the next week will be the Hugo nominees for novella, novelette and short story so I can vote intelligently.
For some book-related discussion: A couple/few years ago, I first heard book world people talking about "new adult," which was supposed to be books that transitioned between young adult and adult fiction. That makes sense to me. Readers in their early 20s who've just graduated from teen books probably aren't all that interested in reading about stressed-out mothers or the "I thought I had the perfect life until I learned what my husband was really up to" books. A category of books about younger characters in college or dealing with their first jobs would be a good way to hang onto that huge YA readership and help them find the books they might like in the vast adult fiction world.
Except, it turned out to be kind of like the "urban fantasy" category, in which the idea of it sounded good to me, but the reality turned out to be totally different (I wanted more fiction set in modern cities, but it ended up mostly being about vampires). It seems that what's been selling as "new adult," mostly self-published because the publishers and bookstores aren't yet totally on board with the category, is stuff of the 50 Shades variety. The characters may be college students, grad students or just out of school, but the stories tend to be very edgy and erotic. The characters seem to be damaged in some way and working out their issues through sex. At least, that's what the reviews sound like and what seems to be focused on in the online squee-fest about these books. Oh, and the readership seems to be mostly mature women, not the transitioning from YA crowd. There definitely does seem to be an audience, and it's nice that they're finding books to read, but selfishly, I was hoping that this might be a revival of chick lit under a different name. I'm dying for some fun, funny, fluffy reading like that and have zero interest in a heavy angst fest.
In fact, I went digging through the library for chick lit type stuff yesterday, but I think I may have tapped my library system's entire collection. Next I'll have to scour used bookstores for old stuff I haven't read yet. When I get in a mood for that kind of thing, nothing else really works.
July 22, 2013
Shopping Safari
That window-shopping trip on Friday turned into a shopping spree. I haven't really done a round of mall shopping in three years, so I guess I was overdue, but when I'd bought three dresses and a blouse after going into two stores, I figured I'd better get out of there. However, they were all very practical and versatile items. It felt so good to wear a new dress to church on Sunday. My favorite find came in the Banana Republic outlet store. I used to love Banana Republic back when it was "travel and safari clothing." They sold stuff like photographers vests and safari jackets. When I was in college and escaping my roommate on a Saturday by taking the bus to the mall and spending the day just wandering, I spent a lot of time in Banana Republic. I was planning to be a globe-trotting journalist, and I guess in my head a globe-trotting journalist dressed like Indiana Jones. Since then, they quit having a jeep in the middle of the store display and switched to selling yuppie clothes. But when I walked into this store, the first thing I saw was a "safari" style dress -- khaki with lots of pockets. It was the kind of thing they used to sell. And they had my size. And it actually fit me. Even better, it rang up for less than $24 (the tag was quite a bit higher, but I might still have paid that price). Now I have this urge to go report something from some far-flung corner of the globe (though I think there's also a steampunk vibe to it, so I'll get there via airship).
After last week's discussion of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope, I stumbled on a movie on HBO that seemed to be a satire of the trope, Ruby Sparks. Our Hero is a young man who as a teenager apparently wrote The Great American Novel, which was a big enough bestseller that he lives a pretty wealthy life in LA in spite of having written nothing since then. But he's got a bad case of writer's block and now barely interacts with anyone other than his brother, his therapist, his publisher and his agent. But then he starts having vivid dreams about a young woman, and he starts writing about her. Soon, he knows everything about her and feels like she's the most vivid character he's ever written. But then he lets his brother read what he's written, and his brother says it won't work -- it's a romantic story, so the main audience is women, and what he's written isn't a real woman but rather a Manic Pixie Dream Girl (though he doesn't use those exact words), and that kind of character pisses women off. Things get weird when he finds his character in his kitchen, acting like she's his girlfriend. At first, he thinks he's hallucinating her, but then she interacts with other people, and then he discovers that whatever he writes about her comes true. He puts the manuscript aside to enjoy having his perfect girlfriend, but things get complicated the more she develops into a real person with a life of her own.
To be honest, I don't think the movie lived up to its potential, and I'm not entirely sure what it was saying about the Manic Pixie Dream Girl idea. I was waiting for him to learn that this kind of person would be incredibly annoying to be around, but he was only bothered by her when she developed a life of her own that didn't revolve entirely around him. I guess maybe that was the statement the film was making, that the "dream girl" for a lot of men isn't a real person. Or maybe it was just that this character had to learn to deal with reality and stop being so self-centered. I think it was meant to be a comedy, but the only actually funny parts came when he freaked out about her having a life of her own and tried to write her to bring her back to him, only to have that backfire. The actress playing the dream girl seemed to have fun with instantly shifting to become the latest thing he'd written.
I guess I'd have found it a lot more satisfying if instead of it being about him needing to learn to let real people into his life, it had been more about him finding out that the Manic Pixie Dream Girl would really be a nightmare and he started trying to do away with her when he met a far more interesting real woman.
I won't even get into yet another Hollywood version of what a novelist's life is like. I won't quibble about the LA-based agent because I've had one. I do wonder about the publisher (or editor) who lives in LA and constantly throws swanky literary parties. My main form of amusement from the portrayal of a novelist was a trope I've noticed in other things, where the main character has a reading event of the new novel, and apparently he either reads the entire book at the reading (talk about a marathon!) or he reads the end because the part of the reading they show is him reading what's obviously the conclusion, complete with Valuable Lesson that also applies to his real life, then closing the book as the audience sighs and wipes away tears. I think I'd be outraged if I went to a book event and the author gave away the end of the book. Or is that the way I'm supposed to be doing it, reading the last chapter instead of the first chapter?
After last week's discussion of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope, I stumbled on a movie on HBO that seemed to be a satire of the trope, Ruby Sparks. Our Hero is a young man who as a teenager apparently wrote The Great American Novel, which was a big enough bestseller that he lives a pretty wealthy life in LA in spite of having written nothing since then. But he's got a bad case of writer's block and now barely interacts with anyone other than his brother, his therapist, his publisher and his agent. But then he starts having vivid dreams about a young woman, and he starts writing about her. Soon, he knows everything about her and feels like she's the most vivid character he's ever written. But then he lets his brother read what he's written, and his brother says it won't work -- it's a romantic story, so the main audience is women, and what he's written isn't a real woman but rather a Manic Pixie Dream Girl (though he doesn't use those exact words), and that kind of character pisses women off. Things get weird when he finds his character in his kitchen, acting like she's his girlfriend. At first, he thinks he's hallucinating her, but then she interacts with other people, and then he discovers that whatever he writes about her comes true. He puts the manuscript aside to enjoy having his perfect girlfriend, but things get complicated the more she develops into a real person with a life of her own.
To be honest, I don't think the movie lived up to its potential, and I'm not entirely sure what it was saying about the Manic Pixie Dream Girl idea. I was waiting for him to learn that this kind of person would be incredibly annoying to be around, but he was only bothered by her when she developed a life of her own that didn't revolve entirely around him. I guess maybe that was the statement the film was making, that the "dream girl" for a lot of men isn't a real person. Or maybe it was just that this character had to learn to deal with reality and stop being so self-centered. I think it was meant to be a comedy, but the only actually funny parts came when he freaked out about her having a life of her own and tried to write her to bring her back to him, only to have that backfire. The actress playing the dream girl seemed to have fun with instantly shifting to become the latest thing he'd written.
I guess I'd have found it a lot more satisfying if instead of it being about him needing to learn to let real people into his life, it had been more about him finding out that the Manic Pixie Dream Girl would really be a nightmare and he started trying to do away with her when he met a far more interesting real woman.
I won't even get into yet another Hollywood version of what a novelist's life is like. I won't quibble about the LA-based agent because I've had one. I do wonder about the publisher (or editor) who lives in LA and constantly throws swanky literary parties. My main form of amusement from the portrayal of a novelist was a trope I've noticed in other things, where the main character has a reading event of the new novel, and apparently he either reads the entire book at the reading (talk about a marathon!) or he reads the end because the part of the reading they show is him reading what's obviously the conclusion, complete with Valuable Lesson that also applies to his real life, then closing the book as the audience sighs and wipes away tears. I think I'd be outraged if I went to a book event and the author gave away the end of the book. Or is that the way I'm supposed to be doing it, reading the last chapter instead of the first chapter?
July 19, 2013
Clear-Sighted
It turns out my eyes weren't as bad as I'd thought. In fact, they'd barely changed. My current glasses are eight years old, and the doctor said getting new ones wasn't urgent but might be a good idea just because of wear. After this long, they're probably a bit scratched, even if the scratches are microscopic. I'm nowhere near needing bifocals. It may be a little more challenging to read while wearing my glasses that correct distance vision, but even with my distance vision corrected, I tested out at 20/20 for close vision. With correction, I've got 20/15 distance vision -- better than "normal." She did tweak my contact lens prescription to see if that would help matters. There's a very slight difference between my eyes, but not enough to make a huge difference, so for the convenience of being able to use the same lenses on either eye, one eye was very slightly overcorrected and the other was very slightly undercorrected. We're trying going for the exact prescription on each eye to see if that helps, since the overcorrection may have caused some of the reading problems. I've got a test pair to see if this works before I actually order more lenses. Right now, I'm working on the computer while wearing contacts for the first time in ages, other than the time when my agent called as I was getting ready for ballet and I had to consult the computer. I hardly notice that I'm wearing corrective lenses, other than that the street outside looks a lot clearer.
I'm afraid I'm going to get the "cataract surgery effect," though, in which once your vision is corrected, you suddenly realize just how dirty your house is. When I'm at home, I just keep a pair of glasses on the coffee table for watching TV and otherwise don't correct my vision at home. Since I'm testing the new contacts and getting ready to go out, I'm seeing my house with clear vision for the first time in ages, and EEEK. I don't plan to make a habit of wearing lenses all day, though.
In fact, the doctor suggested I keep doing what I've been doing, which is wear glasses/lenses just to watch TV or drive. If reading is a problem while wearing contacts to correct the distance vision, I can try the very lowest level of drugstore reading glasses. Otherwise, she suggests I get small glasses frames, maybe rimless on the bottom, to serve as natural bifocals, reading with no lenses from below the glasses. I've been going to this doctor for nearly 20 years, and what I like about her is that she actually asks about how you see and use lenses in daily life instead of just writing a prescription. If I worked in a regular office where I had to drive to get there and deal with people I needed to be able to see while also needing to read, I'd probably need something different (my eyes got a lot worse when I had a day job and wore contacts all the time. They've become a lot better since I started working at home -- maybe I should have added that to the intangible benefits list for writing full-time).
I may go shopping for new glasses in the next month or so, just because it wouldn't hurt to have another extra pair (my TV pair is more than ten years old) that's a little more up-to-date. Now, though, I'm off for a morning out. I'm plant-sitting for some friends and need to go water the plants, and I pass some stores along the way, so I may do a little shopping. I don't know if I'm going to do the actual buying at this point, but I haven't been shopping in so long that I don't even know what's out there. Mostly, I suspect I'll be buying yarn.
And then there's a scene I need to write that came to me last night, although I'm wavering as to how essential it is to the story. It may just be a character "doing laundry" scene, but I think there's something else going on. I can always cut it later if I write it and discover I don't need it, and writing it may tell me something about the characters that ends up being important even if the scene doesn't need to go in the final book.
I'm afraid I'm going to get the "cataract surgery effect," though, in which once your vision is corrected, you suddenly realize just how dirty your house is. When I'm at home, I just keep a pair of glasses on the coffee table for watching TV and otherwise don't correct my vision at home. Since I'm testing the new contacts and getting ready to go out, I'm seeing my house with clear vision for the first time in ages, and EEEK. I don't plan to make a habit of wearing lenses all day, though.
In fact, the doctor suggested I keep doing what I've been doing, which is wear glasses/lenses just to watch TV or drive. If reading is a problem while wearing contacts to correct the distance vision, I can try the very lowest level of drugstore reading glasses. Otherwise, she suggests I get small glasses frames, maybe rimless on the bottom, to serve as natural bifocals, reading with no lenses from below the glasses. I've been going to this doctor for nearly 20 years, and what I like about her is that she actually asks about how you see and use lenses in daily life instead of just writing a prescription. If I worked in a regular office where I had to drive to get there and deal with people I needed to be able to see while also needing to read, I'd probably need something different (my eyes got a lot worse when I had a day job and wore contacts all the time. They've become a lot better since I started working at home -- maybe I should have added that to the intangible benefits list for writing full-time).
I may go shopping for new glasses in the next month or so, just because it wouldn't hurt to have another extra pair (my TV pair is more than ten years old) that's a little more up-to-date. Now, though, I'm off for a morning out. I'm plant-sitting for some friends and need to go water the plants, and I pass some stores along the way, so I may do a little shopping. I don't know if I'm going to do the actual buying at this point, but I haven't been shopping in so long that I don't even know what's out there. Mostly, I suspect I'll be buying yarn.
And then there's a scene I need to write that came to me last night, although I'm wavering as to how essential it is to the story. It may just be a character "doing laundry" scene, but I think there's something else going on. I can always cut it later if I write it and discover I don't need it, and writing it may tell me something about the characters that ends up being important even if the scene doesn't need to go in the final book.
July 18, 2013
Semi-Famous Geeky Knitting
Door Watch continues. No news to report. They'll probably want to come work on it this afternoon, when I have an eye exam.
I got to play "author" last night as a guest at a book group. I think of my job as having two different modes. There's "writer" mode where I sit at home in sweatpants or shorts and write, and there's "author" mode where I glam up, go out and pretend to be semi-famous. This book group is one I've met with before. The hostess is a friend of a former client, and the former client suggested they have me visit the book group. They've had me back a few times since then, and then they started inviting me to their other social gatherings. You've got to love a book group meeting that also involves a demonstration of a stun gun. No, they didn't demonstrate on me or on each other, but they were admiring one lady's cute pink flashlight with bonus stun gun feature and then placing a bulk order from the company's web site.
I had another distraction day, but this time with nothing to show for it. I just couldn't seem to focus. I got most of a scene written, about 1,000 words worth, but I fizzled and never managed to get back into it before I had to get ready for the book club.
I got my preliminary program assignments for WorldCon, and that will have to be adjusted somewhat, as they put me on a panel on the history of atheism. Really? Me? I said I wanted to talk about faith in fiction, and that doesn't really say that I know anything about atheism. I responded to say that I didn't belong on that panel. I resisted the urge to tell them that if I remained on the panel, I'd know the room would be full of potential converts, that for once I wouldn't be preaching to the choir, so I'd be bringing my Bible and a hymnal. I did actually type that into the response, but then I deleted it before sending. However, I did get put on a geeky knitting panel. I'll have to bring the TARDIS shawl. I actually think that all knitting is kind of geeky because it's about geometry. That's one more argument for driving instead of bus. I can throw more knitting examples in the car. And a cool panel will be on having books adapted for TV or film, with Charlaine Harris on the panel. I'll be the baby on that one because I've only been in the beginning stages, but I can talk about when it gets stalled out.
So, yeah, it likely will be a worthwhile trip. I'm starting to get excited, and it's about six weeks away. I've even started to think about going shopping because all my clothes are rather out-of-date. I haven't really gone shopping in years. Now, though, I need to get back to the book because I want my first draft done before this trip.
I got to play "author" last night as a guest at a book group. I think of my job as having two different modes. There's "writer" mode where I sit at home in sweatpants or shorts and write, and there's "author" mode where I glam up, go out and pretend to be semi-famous. This book group is one I've met with before. The hostess is a friend of a former client, and the former client suggested they have me visit the book group. They've had me back a few times since then, and then they started inviting me to their other social gatherings. You've got to love a book group meeting that also involves a demonstration of a stun gun. No, they didn't demonstrate on me or on each other, but they were admiring one lady's cute pink flashlight with bonus stun gun feature and then placing a bulk order from the company's web site.
I had another distraction day, but this time with nothing to show for it. I just couldn't seem to focus. I got most of a scene written, about 1,000 words worth, but I fizzled and never managed to get back into it before I had to get ready for the book club.
I got my preliminary program assignments for WorldCon, and that will have to be adjusted somewhat, as they put me on a panel on the history of atheism. Really? Me? I said I wanted to talk about faith in fiction, and that doesn't really say that I know anything about atheism. I responded to say that I didn't belong on that panel. I resisted the urge to tell them that if I remained on the panel, I'd know the room would be full of potential converts, that for once I wouldn't be preaching to the choir, so I'd be bringing my Bible and a hymnal. I did actually type that into the response, but then I deleted it before sending. However, I did get put on a geeky knitting panel. I'll have to bring the TARDIS shawl. I actually think that all knitting is kind of geeky because it's about geometry. That's one more argument for driving instead of bus. I can throw more knitting examples in the car. And a cool panel will be on having books adapted for TV or film, with Charlaine Harris on the panel. I'll be the baby on that one because I've only been in the beginning stages, but I can talk about when it gets stalled out.
So, yeah, it likely will be a worthwhile trip. I'm starting to get excited, and it's about six weeks away. I've even started to think about going shopping because all my clothes are rather out-of-date. I haven't really gone shopping in years. Now, though, I need to get back to the book because I want my first draft done before this trip.
July 17, 2013
The Good Kind of Sidetracked
A Door Watch update, for those keeping score at home: I ran into the guy from the board last night, and he said they've been wondering where that door is, too. It was supposed to be done last week, and they're tracking it down. Apparently the guy making the door has gone MIA. This one job may not be too big, but he's screwed himself over for future work, since we'll be needing a lot more of these doors soon and they won't be going with him when it comes time for a bulk order.
In other news, last night was the last dance class of the summer session. I stayed after for the jazz class because we were making our traditional trek to Sonic for milkshakes afterward (something we do at the end of each term). I don't know if it was because the ballet class was challenging or because of the jazz, but my legs are currently unhappy with me, from my hips to my toes. Actually, just about every muscle in my body feels at least tired, if not sore. I felt moderately competent (at both ballet and jazz) for a change, so I may have been a wee bit overly enthusiastic and pushed myself harder than normal. The trick will be to force myself to exercise regularly in the next three weeks before the fall session starts so I won't be starting from scratch.
In writing news, on Monday I got to write a scene that's been in my head a long time. In fact, it may have been the first scene from this book I ever envisioned, before I even knew what the main plot was. At one point, it was going to be the opening scene, but then other stuff happened. It felt so good to get this scene out of my head and into words, but then I got to the end of it and felt a little lost. That's when I realized I'd skipped over a few things in my eagerness to get to this scene. There was one scene I'd planned, and then a few other things that needed to happen occurred to me. Yesterday, I re-read the parts leading up to the gap and figured out what I needed to do. Then I got sidetracked.
But it was a good kind of sidetracked. I was researching that bus option, looking up reviews, etc., and then I looked for the location of the San Antonio stop on Google Maps, since their map didn't tell me anything, and I had the map show hotels so I could get a sense of where it was in relation to my hotel and the convention stuff. Just to make sure I had my bearings, I clicked on the little flag for what I thought was the hotel adjacent to the convention center, and it turned out to be a Hyatt. It was so close to the convention hotel that the flags overlapped. Just out of curiosity, I went to the Hyatt site and searched for rooms at that hotel for the time of the convention, and they had a room for more than $60 less (when you include the difference in tax) than any convention rate, and it was closer than the overflow hotel. So I made a new reservation and cancelled the one I'd made. It did require a pre-purchase, which gave me pause, but I figured that I'm going anyway, barring a serious crisis, and saving nearly $400 for the stay is nothing to sneeze at. Not to mention being much closer to the action, just across the street from the party hotel and adjacent to the convention center instead of several blocks away.
I'm leaning away from doing the bus thing. The reviews for the service in Texas were fairly good, but the reviews for the company as a whole around the country were pretty bad, with most of the fault being put on difficult customer service. One complaint that came up a lot around the country and even in Texas was baggage handling. They don't really check bags, just stow them under the bus, and apparently they have a bad habit of forgetting to load all the bags and just leaving them behind. You don't know your bag isn't on the bus until you arrive, since you don't check bags you have no proof that you gave them a bag, and since they just have stops, not terminals, their staff just leaves the bags sitting there on the street instead of taking them to a safe place to be picked up later. Since this is a business trip, having my stuff is pretty mission-critical. Another review brought up a possible issue that hadn't occurred to me: since they're not in the air, there's cell phone coverage through most of the trip, and there will be people who talk on their cell phones the entire way. For some reason, listening to one side of a cell phone conversation is annoying in a way that two people nearby talking to each other isn't. It would be nice if they designated a quiet area of the bus, but apparently they don't think of that. It would probably diminish my convention experience if I were arrested for shoving a cell phone down someone's throat after the second hour of non-stop yapping of the "Yeah, I'm on the bus now" variety. I'm saving enough on the hotel that I can afford the parking rates, and although driving that distance is tiring, so is listening to annoying people for that amount of time. It's also nice to have the time and packing flexibility, and catching the bus would require a bus/train ride downtown.
Yes, I'm putting too much thought into this, but I really enjoy travel planning. I plan trips just for fun, even without any intention of actually taking them. In some cases, the planning is the most fun part of the trip. I love researching all the options, and it only becomes stressful if I actually have to make a real choice. Yes, I'm strange.
In other news, last night was the last dance class of the summer session. I stayed after for the jazz class because we were making our traditional trek to Sonic for milkshakes afterward (something we do at the end of each term). I don't know if it was because the ballet class was challenging or because of the jazz, but my legs are currently unhappy with me, from my hips to my toes. Actually, just about every muscle in my body feels at least tired, if not sore. I felt moderately competent (at both ballet and jazz) for a change, so I may have been a wee bit overly enthusiastic and pushed myself harder than normal. The trick will be to force myself to exercise regularly in the next three weeks before the fall session starts so I won't be starting from scratch.
In writing news, on Monday I got to write a scene that's been in my head a long time. In fact, it may have been the first scene from this book I ever envisioned, before I even knew what the main plot was. At one point, it was going to be the opening scene, but then other stuff happened. It felt so good to get this scene out of my head and into words, but then I got to the end of it and felt a little lost. That's when I realized I'd skipped over a few things in my eagerness to get to this scene. There was one scene I'd planned, and then a few other things that needed to happen occurred to me. Yesterday, I re-read the parts leading up to the gap and figured out what I needed to do. Then I got sidetracked.
But it was a good kind of sidetracked. I was researching that bus option, looking up reviews, etc., and then I looked for the location of the San Antonio stop on Google Maps, since their map didn't tell me anything, and I had the map show hotels so I could get a sense of where it was in relation to my hotel and the convention stuff. Just to make sure I had my bearings, I clicked on the little flag for what I thought was the hotel adjacent to the convention center, and it turned out to be a Hyatt. It was so close to the convention hotel that the flags overlapped. Just out of curiosity, I went to the Hyatt site and searched for rooms at that hotel for the time of the convention, and they had a room for more than $60 less (when you include the difference in tax) than any convention rate, and it was closer than the overflow hotel. So I made a new reservation and cancelled the one I'd made. It did require a pre-purchase, which gave me pause, but I figured that I'm going anyway, barring a serious crisis, and saving nearly $400 for the stay is nothing to sneeze at. Not to mention being much closer to the action, just across the street from the party hotel and adjacent to the convention center instead of several blocks away.
I'm leaning away from doing the bus thing. The reviews for the service in Texas were fairly good, but the reviews for the company as a whole around the country were pretty bad, with most of the fault being put on difficult customer service. One complaint that came up a lot around the country and even in Texas was baggage handling. They don't really check bags, just stow them under the bus, and apparently they have a bad habit of forgetting to load all the bags and just leaving them behind. You don't know your bag isn't on the bus until you arrive, since you don't check bags you have no proof that you gave them a bag, and since they just have stops, not terminals, their staff just leaves the bags sitting there on the street instead of taking them to a safe place to be picked up later. Since this is a business trip, having my stuff is pretty mission-critical. Another review brought up a possible issue that hadn't occurred to me: since they're not in the air, there's cell phone coverage through most of the trip, and there will be people who talk on their cell phones the entire way. For some reason, listening to one side of a cell phone conversation is annoying in a way that two people nearby talking to each other isn't. It would be nice if they designated a quiet area of the bus, but apparently they don't think of that. It would probably diminish my convention experience if I were arrested for shoving a cell phone down someone's throat after the second hour of non-stop yapping of the "Yeah, I'm on the bus now" variety. I'm saving enough on the hotel that I can afford the parking rates, and although driving that distance is tiring, so is listening to annoying people for that amount of time. It's also nice to have the time and packing flexibility, and catching the bus would require a bus/train ride downtown.
Yes, I'm putting too much thought into this, but I really enjoy travel planning. I plan trips just for fun, even without any intention of actually taking them. In some cases, the planning is the most fun part of the trip. I love researching all the options, and it only becomes stressful if I actually have to make a real choice. Yes, I'm strange.
July 16, 2013
Caution: Flying Sharks
First, a little crowdsourcing/survey: Does anyone have any experience with the Megabus line? They've started operating in Texas and have direct service from Dallas to San Antonio. It's much cheaper than either driving or flying and probably a little faster than the way I'd drive (if they stick to the posted schedule). Their baggage policy would allow for about the same amount I'd pack, though there is a limit so I wouldn't be able to just throw in whatever I want. However, there's no restriction on stuff like liquids, so I could bring a full-size bottle of hair gel. There's the same downside of flying in having to adhere to someone else's schedule, but then there's also the upside of having someone else do the driving while I sit and read or knit. I'm curious what the experience is like, what the clientele is like (would it be safe for a woman traveling alone?), etc.
Then again, the very name "Megabus" makes me twitchy. When we lived in Germany, we took a spring break trip to Spain that was a package tour for American military personnel. The bus was a double-decker with accordion extension, and it held something like 160 people. The guy sitting across the aisle from us dubbed it "Megabus" and didn't shut up through the entire trip from Frankfurt to south of Barcelona, narrating the adventure of Megabus driving through the night. His kids had that handheld Battlestar Galactica electronic game (this was the late 70s), and to this day, when I think "Megabus" I hear the particular pattern of beeps that went with that game.
In other news, I finally watched the infamous SyFy movie Sharknado. It fell into the category of stupid fun, but you really had to turn your brain off. If you've even watched a little of the Weather Channel, let alone actually been anywhere near a tornado or hurricane, it just doesn't work. For instance, there's a hurricane heading toward California that's driving all the sharks in the ocean toward LA. When the storm surge hits, the sharks are washed ashore to swim in the floodwaters. But the beach is full of beachgoers enjoying a sunny day when it hits. Generally, the rain bands of a hurricane hit first, so there are torrential rains even before the storm surge and the worst of the winds. There might be a few idiot surfers out enjoying the waves, but you wouldn't have crowds of people on the beach in their bikinis. Then once the tornadoes start attacking (that part reminded me of the episode of WKRP when there's a tornado and the station's only disaster communication plan is for communist invasion, so they read that, switching the word "tornado" for the word "communist."), they managed to CGI in the tornadoes but not the tornado damage. A major tornado goes through downtown LA, with the only damage caused when it flings a shark into something. Not to mention the people out swimming in a pool during a hurricane that's spawning tornadoes. Or maybe people in LA are that dumb.
But still, I actually kind of liked the main characters, and once you got beyond the stupidity of the situation, their story worked. They bothered to develop characters, and the acting among the leads wasn't that bad. The actress playing the barmaid needs to get cast in a series because she took a bimbo role and made it work. It helped that she wasn't written as a bimbo in spite of her wearing a bikini through the whole movie, but she also came across as believable, credible and sympathetic. Normally I cringe at the acting in these things, but she impressed me. It was the "name" actress who was painfully bad.
And, you know, it wasn't quite as stupid as the episode of Under the Dome I watched afterward.
Then again, the very name "Megabus" makes me twitchy. When we lived in Germany, we took a spring break trip to Spain that was a package tour for American military personnel. The bus was a double-decker with accordion extension, and it held something like 160 people. The guy sitting across the aisle from us dubbed it "Megabus" and didn't shut up through the entire trip from Frankfurt to south of Barcelona, narrating the adventure of Megabus driving through the night. His kids had that handheld Battlestar Galactica electronic game (this was the late 70s), and to this day, when I think "Megabus" I hear the particular pattern of beeps that went with that game.
In other news, I finally watched the infamous SyFy movie Sharknado. It fell into the category of stupid fun, but you really had to turn your brain off. If you've even watched a little of the Weather Channel, let alone actually been anywhere near a tornado or hurricane, it just doesn't work. For instance, there's a hurricane heading toward California that's driving all the sharks in the ocean toward LA. When the storm surge hits, the sharks are washed ashore to swim in the floodwaters. But the beach is full of beachgoers enjoying a sunny day when it hits. Generally, the rain bands of a hurricane hit first, so there are torrential rains even before the storm surge and the worst of the winds. There might be a few idiot surfers out enjoying the waves, but you wouldn't have crowds of people on the beach in their bikinis. Then once the tornadoes start attacking (that part reminded me of the episode of WKRP when there's a tornado and the station's only disaster communication plan is for communist invasion, so they read that, switching the word "tornado" for the word "communist."), they managed to CGI in the tornadoes but not the tornado damage. A major tornado goes through downtown LA, with the only damage caused when it flings a shark into something. Not to mention the people out swimming in a pool during a hurricane that's spawning tornadoes. Or maybe people in LA are that dumb.
But still, I actually kind of liked the main characters, and once you got beyond the stupidity of the situation, their story worked. They bothered to develop characters, and the acting among the leads wasn't that bad. The actress playing the barmaid needs to get cast in a series because she took a bimbo role and made it work. It helped that she wasn't written as a bimbo in spite of her wearing a bikini through the whole movie, but she also came across as believable, credible and sympathetic. Normally I cringe at the acting in these things, but she impressed me. It was the "name" actress who was painfully bad.
And, you know, it wasn't quite as stupid as the episode of Under the Dome I watched afterward.
July 15, 2013
Manic Pixie Dream Girls and Good Men
I don't think I'll be getting that new door installed today because it's supposed to be raining off and on all day, and it sort of defeats the purpose of weatherproofing an enclosure to remove the temporary closure while it's raining. At least, that's my logic. They may or may not agree with me. I'm loving the rain, though. The temperatures are in the 70s in mid-July. Between that and all the back-to-school ads in the newspaper yesterday, I'm afraid my body is trying to tick over to "fall" mode and will be terribly disappointed when summer inevitably returns for another couple of months. I'm anticipating getting a lot of writing done today because this is Good Writing Weather.
During yesterday's rain, I found myself re-watching Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day because it was on HBO, and I can't seem to resist that movie (yes, I have it on DVD, but watching on HBO is even easier). It's also a good rainy day movie. Seeing this movie this weekend after last weekend's Manic Pixie Dream Girl movie got me started thinking. What's the female equivalent of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl?
In case you aren't familiar with the term, a Manic Pixie Dream Girl is a character most often seen in a male-focused romantic comedy, romance or coming-of-age story. She's an adorable (or adorkable) woman/child (a childlike free spirit with a woman's body and sex drive) with a collection of quirks instead of a real characterization who guides the hero on his emotional journey. Zooey Deschanel is generally considered to be the poster girl for this character type (particularly in 500 Days of Summer), though I believe the term was coined for the Kirstin Dunst character in Elizabethtown. Another frequently cited example is Natalie Portman's character in Garden State. In Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, she's got a weird combination of hypersomnia and insomnia, so she has trouble getting to sleep but once she's asleep she can sleep through absolutely anything. She's in her twenties but loves vinyl records, and when it looks like her building could burn down (and the world's ending in about a week anyway), she grabs her collection of albums instead of her purse with her ID and money. She's so ditzy that she managed to miss the last plane that would take her to see her family before the world ended, and she never got around to delivering her neighbor's mail that was mistakenly put into his box, so he never got the letter from his old girlfriend that could have changed his life. But she's also so winsomely charming that she can get whatever help they need on their pre-apocalyptic road trip, and being with her solves all the hero's emotional problems.
I'm not sure when this character type first appeared, and I wonder if it's a misread of some classic characters. The Katharine Hepburn characters in Holiday and Bringing Up Baby fit some of the characteristics, but I'd say they're Fake Manic Pixie Dream Girls in that in both cases she's deliberately putting on the extreme quirkiness, perhaps out of an awareness that this is a male fantasy, while having a distinct agenda (a Manic Pixie Dream Girl usually doesn't have a real agenda of her own -- she may state a goal, but she'll always sacrifice that goal for the hero). Holly Golightly in the film version of Breakfast at Tiffany's looks like a Manic Pixie Dream Girl, but she has her own character arc. She may resolve the hero's problems, but then she has even bigger problems that he then has to help her deal with. It's that actual character arc that's usually missing from the Manic Pixie Dream Girl, who only exists as an accessory to a man's life.
There doesn't seem to be a Manic Pixie Dream Guy, unless you count those Frat Pack type romantic comedies in which the hero is an overgrown manchild, but that doesn't strike me as a female fantasy. That's more male fantasy/fear -- she has to loosen up a bit, but she's still in the role of mean mommy making him grow up. I think the female equivalent is the Good Man. In most of the movies I can think of that are centered on the woman's journey, it comes down to her having to learn what a Good Man really is. There's the guy who's Good On Paper, who seems to be just what she wants, but then she's thrown up against a true Good Man who may not fit her checklist, but who proves himself to be honest, loving and loyal. You see that in classic screwball comedies and in a lot of the current ones. There's Katherine Hepburn having to choose among her ex-husband (whom she may have misjudged), a passionate reporter and the seemingly solid businessman in The Philadelphia Story, only to learn that her ex is the man who will stand by her in spite of -- or even because of -- her human frailties. In Miss Pettigrew, there's the wealthy man who can keep her in luxury, the connected man who can make her a star, and the penniless but talented and honest man who loves her for herself. Even going more modern (since Miss Pettigrew was based on a book written in the screwball era), there's While You Were Sleeping, in which the heroine has to choose between the slick, handsome Prince Charming type and his hardworking, less glamorous brother. Or more recently, Leap Year, in which she has to choose between a superficial doctor and a hardworking Irish pub owner. Notting Hill was also on TV yesterday, and although it does seem more of a male-focused movie, it's clearly aimed at a female audience, so it's about a Good Man who has to prove to the heroine that he's a Good Man once she realizes that a Good Man is what she needs.
But while I think the Good Man is a strong female fantasy, the interesting thing is that in the screwball era, during the Depression, it was also playing into a male fantasy. The ordinary working man managed to win the heart of even a spoiled heiress because of his inner good qualities that made him a better man than a playboy or a social climber. And to add to the fantasy, usually the tycoon father also approved of him as a good man and often gave him an opportunity (never money, though -- the Good Man always rejects handouts, but he'll take a job he's proven himself worthy of). And maybe that's why the trope has stood the test of time. It plays into everyone's fantasies. Yeah, it's a high standard for manhood, but being honest, loving and loyal is probably more achievable for the average guy than being fabulously wealthy and powerful. On the other hand, it seems that women generally find the Manic Pixie Dream Girl irritating. Why go to a movie to watch a crazy chick mess with a guy's head when you can watch that so often in real life?
During yesterday's rain, I found myself re-watching Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day because it was on HBO, and I can't seem to resist that movie (yes, I have it on DVD, but watching on HBO is even easier). It's also a good rainy day movie. Seeing this movie this weekend after last weekend's Manic Pixie Dream Girl movie got me started thinking. What's the female equivalent of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl?
In case you aren't familiar with the term, a Manic Pixie Dream Girl is a character most often seen in a male-focused romantic comedy, romance or coming-of-age story. She's an adorable (or adorkable) woman/child (a childlike free spirit with a woman's body and sex drive) with a collection of quirks instead of a real characterization who guides the hero on his emotional journey. Zooey Deschanel is generally considered to be the poster girl for this character type (particularly in 500 Days of Summer), though I believe the term was coined for the Kirstin Dunst character in Elizabethtown. Another frequently cited example is Natalie Portman's character in Garden State. In Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, she's got a weird combination of hypersomnia and insomnia, so she has trouble getting to sleep but once she's asleep she can sleep through absolutely anything. She's in her twenties but loves vinyl records, and when it looks like her building could burn down (and the world's ending in about a week anyway), she grabs her collection of albums instead of her purse with her ID and money. She's so ditzy that she managed to miss the last plane that would take her to see her family before the world ended, and she never got around to delivering her neighbor's mail that was mistakenly put into his box, so he never got the letter from his old girlfriend that could have changed his life. But she's also so winsomely charming that she can get whatever help they need on their pre-apocalyptic road trip, and being with her solves all the hero's emotional problems.
I'm not sure when this character type first appeared, and I wonder if it's a misread of some classic characters. The Katharine Hepburn characters in Holiday and Bringing Up Baby fit some of the characteristics, but I'd say they're Fake Manic Pixie Dream Girls in that in both cases she's deliberately putting on the extreme quirkiness, perhaps out of an awareness that this is a male fantasy, while having a distinct agenda (a Manic Pixie Dream Girl usually doesn't have a real agenda of her own -- she may state a goal, but she'll always sacrifice that goal for the hero). Holly Golightly in the film version of Breakfast at Tiffany's looks like a Manic Pixie Dream Girl, but she has her own character arc. She may resolve the hero's problems, but then she has even bigger problems that he then has to help her deal with. It's that actual character arc that's usually missing from the Manic Pixie Dream Girl, who only exists as an accessory to a man's life.
There doesn't seem to be a Manic Pixie Dream Guy, unless you count those Frat Pack type romantic comedies in which the hero is an overgrown manchild, but that doesn't strike me as a female fantasy. That's more male fantasy/fear -- she has to loosen up a bit, but she's still in the role of mean mommy making him grow up. I think the female equivalent is the Good Man. In most of the movies I can think of that are centered on the woman's journey, it comes down to her having to learn what a Good Man really is. There's the guy who's Good On Paper, who seems to be just what she wants, but then she's thrown up against a true Good Man who may not fit her checklist, but who proves himself to be honest, loving and loyal. You see that in classic screwball comedies and in a lot of the current ones. There's Katherine Hepburn having to choose among her ex-husband (whom she may have misjudged), a passionate reporter and the seemingly solid businessman in The Philadelphia Story, only to learn that her ex is the man who will stand by her in spite of -- or even because of -- her human frailties. In Miss Pettigrew, there's the wealthy man who can keep her in luxury, the connected man who can make her a star, and the penniless but talented and honest man who loves her for herself. Even going more modern (since Miss Pettigrew was based on a book written in the screwball era), there's While You Were Sleeping, in which the heroine has to choose between the slick, handsome Prince Charming type and his hardworking, less glamorous brother. Or more recently, Leap Year, in which she has to choose between a superficial doctor and a hardworking Irish pub owner. Notting Hill was also on TV yesterday, and although it does seem more of a male-focused movie, it's clearly aimed at a female audience, so it's about a Good Man who has to prove to the heroine that he's a Good Man once she realizes that a Good Man is what she needs.
But while I think the Good Man is a strong female fantasy, the interesting thing is that in the screwball era, during the Depression, it was also playing into a male fantasy. The ordinary working man managed to win the heart of even a spoiled heiress because of his inner good qualities that made him a better man than a playboy or a social climber. And to add to the fantasy, usually the tycoon father also approved of him as a good man and often gave him an opportunity (never money, though -- the Good Man always rejects handouts, but he'll take a job he's proven himself worthy of). And maybe that's why the trope has stood the test of time. It plays into everyone's fantasies. Yeah, it's a high standard for manhood, but being honest, loving and loyal is probably more achievable for the average guy than being fabulously wealthy and powerful. On the other hand, it seems that women generally find the Manic Pixie Dream Girl irritating. Why go to a movie to watch a crazy chick mess with a guy's head when you can watch that so often in real life?
July 12, 2013
Difficulty Points
Still no door on the water heater cabinet. It rained yesterday, but I don't think it was enough to test either the leak repair or the temporary door because it was the kind of rain where you could dodge the raindrops. They seemed to be falling at least three feet apart. It's possible that no raindrop hit the cabinet.
I did get back into the groove of writing, and turning on the music seemed to help. I don't know why this one particular series requires music -- even music with lyrics -- to write when just about everything else requires either silence or instrumental music. I should make decent progress today since I know the next couple of scenes. Then again, there's the chance that when I get there, they'll go in an entirely different direction.
My other accomplishment was making homemade bagels. A month or so ago, there was an article being passed around Facebook on what kitchen staples it's worthwhile to make for yourself, based on time, cost and quality, and what it's better to just buy. One thing that surprised me on the "make at home" list was bagels. The writer claimed that not only was making them at home far less expensive, but it wasn't that time consuming and the results were so much better than anything you'd buy, even from a specialty bakery. I doubted homemade bagels would be cheaper than what I buy, considering that I usually get them at about $1 for six on the "Oops, we baked too much" cart at Kroger and I think he was comparing to buying them at a specialty bakery, but still, that article triggered the "Aha! A Challenge!" part of my brain.
As my friends and family can attest, I have a bad habit of living as though I'm putting together an Olympic gymnastics or figure skating routine, where you get extra credit for doing more challenging things. I actively look for the hard way, and I rationalize it by claiming that it's better or more efficient. Some people climb Mt. Everest because it's there. My reason would be that the place I want to go is just on the other side, and there's no point in going the long way around the mountain when you can just go up and over the top. To be honest, it comes down to the fact that the hard way is usually more fun or more interesting, and there's a real thrill in achieving something difficult. Because of this sometimes dangerous and scary trait, when I read something like "it's cheaper and better to make your own bagels," I have to pause to question whether this appeals to me because of the cost and quality, or if it's because I think I'll get bonus difficulty points for making my own instead of just buying them.
At any rate, for some reason, yesterday I decided that this had to be done. I used the recipe in Joy of Cooking, and it turned out not to be that difficult, if you know the basics of making bread. It only took about two hours, start to finish, and that includes the at least ten minutes of searching for a particular measuring spoon, only to find it in the dishwasher that's currently serving as a giant dish drainer. I won't be staggering out of bed in the morning and making bagels for breakfast, but a bagel sandwich for a lunchtime hike picnic is doable. A lot of that two hours is rising and baking time, so there's not that much labor, just stirring together ingredients, kneading, shaping, then boiling and baking. Looking at the cost of the ingredients, I think I may even be beating the Kroger bargain rack. But the real difference is the taste. The guy writing the article was right. There's no comparison between this and anything you buy at even a good bakery. Lightly toasted, with a little cream cheese and strawberry jam, this made a heavenly breakfast. I'm afraid this is going to become like the jam, where I did it once just to prove I could, and the results were so good there was no going back to store-bought. Because these have no preservatives, I froze most of the batch. Now I'll have to experiment with other flavors, like cinnamon raisin. Blueberry might be interesting, but I'm not sure how you'd knead a stiff dough without making a mess and popping blueberries all over the place. I bet bakeries use dried blueberries for blueberry bagels.
Aren't these lovely?
One other odd thing on the list of things it's better to make for yourself was yogurt. Supposedly, homemade is much cheaper and so much better that you won't ever want to buy yogurt again. I've yet to try that, but I am curious, and just think of the difficulty points!
I did get back into the groove of writing, and turning on the music seemed to help. I don't know why this one particular series requires music -- even music with lyrics -- to write when just about everything else requires either silence or instrumental music. I should make decent progress today since I know the next couple of scenes. Then again, there's the chance that when I get there, they'll go in an entirely different direction.
My other accomplishment was making homemade bagels. A month or so ago, there was an article being passed around Facebook on what kitchen staples it's worthwhile to make for yourself, based on time, cost and quality, and what it's better to just buy. One thing that surprised me on the "make at home" list was bagels. The writer claimed that not only was making them at home far less expensive, but it wasn't that time consuming and the results were so much better than anything you'd buy, even from a specialty bakery. I doubted homemade bagels would be cheaper than what I buy, considering that I usually get them at about $1 for six on the "Oops, we baked too much" cart at Kroger and I think he was comparing to buying them at a specialty bakery, but still, that article triggered the "Aha! A Challenge!" part of my brain.
As my friends and family can attest, I have a bad habit of living as though I'm putting together an Olympic gymnastics or figure skating routine, where you get extra credit for doing more challenging things. I actively look for the hard way, and I rationalize it by claiming that it's better or more efficient. Some people climb Mt. Everest because it's there. My reason would be that the place I want to go is just on the other side, and there's no point in going the long way around the mountain when you can just go up and over the top. To be honest, it comes down to the fact that the hard way is usually more fun or more interesting, and there's a real thrill in achieving something difficult. Because of this sometimes dangerous and scary trait, when I read something like "it's cheaper and better to make your own bagels," I have to pause to question whether this appeals to me because of the cost and quality, or if it's because I think I'll get bonus difficulty points for making my own instead of just buying them.
At any rate, for some reason, yesterday I decided that this had to be done. I used the recipe in Joy of Cooking, and it turned out not to be that difficult, if you know the basics of making bread. It only took about two hours, start to finish, and that includes the at least ten minutes of searching for a particular measuring spoon, only to find it in the dishwasher that's currently serving as a giant dish drainer. I won't be staggering out of bed in the morning and making bagels for breakfast, but a bagel sandwich for a lunchtime hike picnic is doable. A lot of that two hours is rising and baking time, so there's not that much labor, just stirring together ingredients, kneading, shaping, then boiling and baking. Looking at the cost of the ingredients, I think I may even be beating the Kroger bargain rack. But the real difference is the taste. The guy writing the article was right. There's no comparison between this and anything you buy at even a good bakery. Lightly toasted, with a little cream cheese and strawberry jam, this made a heavenly breakfast. I'm afraid this is going to become like the jam, where I did it once just to prove I could, and the results were so good there was no going back to store-bought. Because these have no preservatives, I froze most of the batch. Now I'll have to experiment with other flavors, like cinnamon raisin. Blueberry might be interesting, but I'm not sure how you'd knead a stiff dough without making a mess and popping blueberries all over the place. I bet bakeries use dried blueberries for blueberry bagels.
Aren't these lovely?
One other odd thing on the list of things it's better to make for yourself was yogurt. Supposedly, homemade is much cheaper and so much better that you won't ever want to buy yogurt again. I've yet to try that, but I am curious, and just think of the difficulty points!
July 11, 2013
Procrastinate!
I'm still waiting on that water heater door. The contractor called yesterday to ask if I'd heard anything because he hadn't been able to reach the guy who was getting the door made. It was supposed to be ready on Monday. I just want this all over with, but at least I have hot water in the meantime.
Yesterday was my official procrastination-busting day, in which I took care of a number of things that have been sitting on my to-do list for a while. One of them was making an appointment for an eye exam. I'm way overdue for a couple of reasons. One was that I ordered some contact lenses after my last exam via the WalMart optical shop. When I'd heard nothing after a few weeks, I checked on it, and it seemed that the order had been lost entirely. So they gave me a few samples to tide me over, cancelled the old order and placed another order. The lost and cancelled order showed up at around the same time as the new order, so I had lots and lots of contacts (I have the monthly disposable kind, but I don't wear them every day, so they last even longer). In the meantime, my contact lens use declined drastically because I'm getting old. I reached the point where if I correct my distance vision, it's difficult to read. I've never worn contacts at home. I just keep a pair of glasses on the coffee table and wear them to watch TV. Because of the reading thing, I mostly just wear contacts now if I'm driving long distances, dancing or hiking. If I'm going to have to read, I wear glasses so I can take them off or look under them to read. My usual cue for getting an eye exam is running out of contacts and realizing the prescription has expired. It took me a really long time to run out of contacts, and now I suspect my prescription has changed. I don't know if I'm quite up for bifocals because I read perfectly well without my glasses. It's just that issue of being able to see up close and far away at the same time. I give myself extra space in dance class because when people get really close I lose the ability to know exactly how close they are. This wouldn't be a problem if certain people paid any attention to where they were in relation to other people and made any effort to stay in their general space or lane, and it's more diplomatic to say my eyes aren't working right than to say I have to allow extra space because I'm afraid you're going to blunder into me without looking where you're going. The teacher teases me about having my comfort zone near the wall, but the wall isn't going anywhere. I know where it is. If I'm in the middle of the floor, I have to worry about people moving around.
My other bit of procrastination turned out to have a penalty for waiting this long, but then that turned out to work in my favor, so win! I'd been putting off making my hotel reservation for WorldCon because I hadn't decided when I would arrive and depart and I hadn't picked which of two convention hotels I really wanted. I figured I still had time because usually they'll post messages about how their room block is filling up and there are only X number of rooms, etc. They hadn't said anything, and I was worried that might even be a bad sign. So then I went to the site to make a reservation and it said the room block was full. They still haven't announced that other than on the hotel page. But it turns out that the overflow hotel, which has the same rates, is one of my favorite San Antonio hotels. It also has in-room mini fridges, supposedly is giving free wi-fi, and I get frequent flier miles while staying in this chain, which should give me account activity so I don't lose the zillion miles I've been hoarding to maybe upgrade for going to London next year. I was going to have to either take a trip between now and March or find some other way to have activity on the account. It's not that much farther from the convention center, and I can usually get someone to walk with me from the party hotel at night (or that gives me an excuse not to stay at parties too late). If this had been offered as a hotel option from the start, it's the hotel I'd have chosen, so in this case, procrastination worked out for me.
Strangely, taking care of all the procrastination triggered a massive procrastination fit in everything else. I sat down to write and just couldn't make it happen. My brain was all over the place. Part of the problem may be that the story is veering in an unexpected direction, and that new direction isn't quite clear to me yet. I also may not have found the right working conditions for this book yet. As I recall, when I wrote the previous book in this potential series, instead of working in my usual absolute silence, I put iTunes on that computer on shuffle and worked with music. Maybe I'll try that. I was also strangely tired. I'd planned to go to a ballet class but instead I was in the shower by 9 and in bed with the lights out (after a little reading) by 10, and still slept to my usual time. I should feel rested, but I think I could go to sleep right now if I let myself lie down.
On an entirely unrelated note, is there any interest in t-shirts and related items (coffee mugs, etc.) with the Enchanted, Inc. series artwork on them, like the frog or the fairy? The cover artist has raised the idea, and I wanted to gauge interest. However, I haven't been impressed with the quality of stuff I've seen from Cafe Press, so if you know of another on-demand kind of print shop, let me know that, too. I wonder if there's something via Amazon, so it could be linked to the books somehow.
Yesterday was my official procrastination-busting day, in which I took care of a number of things that have been sitting on my to-do list for a while. One of them was making an appointment for an eye exam. I'm way overdue for a couple of reasons. One was that I ordered some contact lenses after my last exam via the WalMart optical shop. When I'd heard nothing after a few weeks, I checked on it, and it seemed that the order had been lost entirely. So they gave me a few samples to tide me over, cancelled the old order and placed another order. The lost and cancelled order showed up at around the same time as the new order, so I had lots and lots of contacts (I have the monthly disposable kind, but I don't wear them every day, so they last even longer). In the meantime, my contact lens use declined drastically because I'm getting old. I reached the point where if I correct my distance vision, it's difficult to read. I've never worn contacts at home. I just keep a pair of glasses on the coffee table and wear them to watch TV. Because of the reading thing, I mostly just wear contacts now if I'm driving long distances, dancing or hiking. If I'm going to have to read, I wear glasses so I can take them off or look under them to read. My usual cue for getting an eye exam is running out of contacts and realizing the prescription has expired. It took me a really long time to run out of contacts, and now I suspect my prescription has changed. I don't know if I'm quite up for bifocals because I read perfectly well without my glasses. It's just that issue of being able to see up close and far away at the same time. I give myself extra space in dance class because when people get really close I lose the ability to know exactly how close they are. This wouldn't be a problem if certain people paid any attention to where they were in relation to other people and made any effort to stay in their general space or lane, and it's more diplomatic to say my eyes aren't working right than to say I have to allow extra space because I'm afraid you're going to blunder into me without looking where you're going. The teacher teases me about having my comfort zone near the wall, but the wall isn't going anywhere. I know where it is. If I'm in the middle of the floor, I have to worry about people moving around.
My other bit of procrastination turned out to have a penalty for waiting this long, but then that turned out to work in my favor, so win! I'd been putting off making my hotel reservation for WorldCon because I hadn't decided when I would arrive and depart and I hadn't picked which of two convention hotels I really wanted. I figured I still had time because usually they'll post messages about how their room block is filling up and there are only X number of rooms, etc. They hadn't said anything, and I was worried that might even be a bad sign. So then I went to the site to make a reservation and it said the room block was full. They still haven't announced that other than on the hotel page. But it turns out that the overflow hotel, which has the same rates, is one of my favorite San Antonio hotels. It also has in-room mini fridges, supposedly is giving free wi-fi, and I get frequent flier miles while staying in this chain, which should give me account activity so I don't lose the zillion miles I've been hoarding to maybe upgrade for going to London next year. I was going to have to either take a trip between now and March or find some other way to have activity on the account. It's not that much farther from the convention center, and I can usually get someone to walk with me from the party hotel at night (or that gives me an excuse not to stay at parties too late). If this had been offered as a hotel option from the start, it's the hotel I'd have chosen, so in this case, procrastination worked out for me.
Strangely, taking care of all the procrastination triggered a massive procrastination fit in everything else. I sat down to write and just couldn't make it happen. My brain was all over the place. Part of the problem may be that the story is veering in an unexpected direction, and that new direction isn't quite clear to me yet. I also may not have found the right working conditions for this book yet. As I recall, when I wrote the previous book in this potential series, instead of working in my usual absolute silence, I put iTunes on that computer on shuffle and worked with music. Maybe I'll try that. I was also strangely tired. I'd planned to go to a ballet class but instead I was in the shower by 9 and in bed with the lights out (after a little reading) by 10, and still slept to my usual time. I should feel rested, but I think I could go to sleep right now if I let myself lie down.
On an entirely unrelated note, is there any interest in t-shirts and related items (coffee mugs, etc.) with the Enchanted, Inc. series artwork on them, like the frog or the fairy? The cover artist has raised the idea, and I wanted to gauge interest. However, I haven't been impressed with the quality of stuff I've seen from Cafe Press, so if you know of another on-demand kind of print shop, let me know that, too. I wonder if there's something via Amazon, so it could be linked to the books somehow.
July 10, 2013
Quitting the Day Job
This week I have a reader question(s), which is essentially about when a writer can quit the day job, and what day jobs are best for writers.
I would say that the answer to both questions is It Depends. For the first question, it depends on your finances, your situation, your personality, your priorities and your goals. I would generally recommend waiting to make that decision until after your first book has been published, you've completed your first contract (if it's a two-book contract, both books have been written and accepted), you've received your first royalty statement and you have a second contract. That doesn't mean that you can quit then, just that then you'll have the information you need to make the decision. You'll know that you're not going to be a one-book wonder, you'll have some sales numbers to tell you how you're doing, you'll know if you're getting foreign sales, and if you've saved most of the writing money you received while still getting a paycheck, you'll have an emergency fund. Remember that book income isn't the same as a paycheck. If you have an agent, the agent gets a commission. You have to pay income taxes and self-employment taxes (the Social Security you pay, plus the part an employer usually pays) and benefits like health insurance, unless you can be covered on someone else's plan. On the other hand, there may be some cost savings from not commuting, eating out less, etc. From there, it depends on what you can comfortably live on. You may be willing to make financial sacrifices to live your dream and really push on your writing career or you may feel more creative without financial worries.
It's not necessarily an either/or thing, depending on your situation. There are ways you can ease into making the leap. I would suggest that if you hope to one day leave the day job, you start preparing now, even if you haven't sold or even written a book. Start saving as much money as you can so that you'll have a financial cushion when the time comes. That allows you to not live from contract to contract. You may be able to work out an arrangement with your employer to cut your hours or telecommute, which frees up extra time. You can look for freelance opportunities either to earn extra money for that nest egg while you're working or so you won't be entirely dependent on your novel writing once you do leave the regular day job. That was the way I did it. I'd sold some books and had been saving money ever since I got out of college, and I already had some freelance work on the side. When I wanted to focus more on my writing, I was ready to quit, but my boss allowed me to cut back to 30 hours a week (and since I was being paid part-time, that meant a firm 30 hours. I'd been working about 60 hours a week before without getting overtime) and telecommute. When I got laid off a couple of years later when my industry took a downturn, the severance pay, my savings and my freelance work allowed me to not look for a new job. The freelance work paid the bills until I got a new novel contract, and then I gradually transitioned to writing fiction full-time.
But should you quit the day job? Again, it depends. You don't necessarily have to if you have a job you enjoy that inspires and energizes you and that allows you time to write, though you may find juggling everything more of a challenge if your writing career really takes off and you have to do things like book tours. I've found in my own experience and heard from others that writing full-time doesn't really mean you spend that much more time writing. I seem to have a certain amount of fiction in me per day. What's nice is the luxury to spend more time if I'm on a roll without worrying about getting up for work the next morning. You may not even see a benefit from writing more, unless you're self-publishing or writing category romances, where frequency is how you build a career. Publishers generally don't want more than one book a year from an author because they can't get more than that slotted, though you may be able to publish more if you write a couple of different things for different audiences or publishers.
Not having a day job mostly allows for all the other stuff that goes with writing once you're selling books, like copy edits, page proofs and publicity. There are blog tours, media interviews, speaking engagements, convention appearances , booksignings, etc. A lot of these are evening and weekend events, but if you're spending evenings and weekends doing this stuff, that eats into your writing time when you have a full-time job. You also have to deal with agents and editors during business hours, and it's nice to be able to schedule conference calls without worrying about how that will look to a boss.
Where I find the real benefits is in the intangibles. For one thing, living according to my body clock makes me a lot more productive. I had a bad mid-afternoon slump when I had a day job, but now I find that's my best writing time, probably because I'm getting the right amount of sleep at night. I may not spend much more time actually writing every day than I did when I had a regular job, but I'm getting about twice the amount written. I'm an extreme introvert, so being around people all day at work drained me. Now that I spend my days at home alone, I have more energy overall and I've developed more of a social life. My life is a lot better balanced, and I have time to do other things I enjoy now that writing is my job instead of my hobby (even when the hobby made money). I can have other hobbies now. I read a lot more, and I think that's important. I think all that helps add up to making me a better writer. The volume of my output hasn't changed drastically, but I think the quality has improved and not just because I have more experience.
As for what day jobs work best, I've heard the advice that you shouldn't have a day job where you write a lot because then you won't want to write when you get home, but it didn't work that way for me because what I wrote at work was so different from fiction. When my job allowed me to hide in my office and write all day, I wrote more when I got home. It was when my job was more about meetings and management and I had to travel a lot that I wrote less. I think that writing as a career made me a better novelist because I had a firm grasp on the mechanics and was used to meeting deadlines. It may not work that way for everyone. I did find that the unhappier I was in my day job, the more I wrote, so maybe you don't want a really awesome day job. But I think that depends on your personality. An introvert will probably benefit more from quitting the day job. An extrovert may not get the same intangible benefits because all that alone time will be draining, and going to Starbucks every day to work gets expensive.
Before you make the leap, I would suggest talking to writers who've already done so. Give it a trial run. Take a week (or more, if you've got the vacation time) of vacation and pretend that you're now a full-time writer, keeping to the schedule and workload you think you'd have. If you're going stir-crazy by Friday, quitting may not be a great idea even if you can afford it. If you dread going back to your day job at the end of the week, then leaving may be something you want to work toward.
I would say that the answer to both questions is It Depends. For the first question, it depends on your finances, your situation, your personality, your priorities and your goals. I would generally recommend waiting to make that decision until after your first book has been published, you've completed your first contract (if it's a two-book contract, both books have been written and accepted), you've received your first royalty statement and you have a second contract. That doesn't mean that you can quit then, just that then you'll have the information you need to make the decision. You'll know that you're not going to be a one-book wonder, you'll have some sales numbers to tell you how you're doing, you'll know if you're getting foreign sales, and if you've saved most of the writing money you received while still getting a paycheck, you'll have an emergency fund. Remember that book income isn't the same as a paycheck. If you have an agent, the agent gets a commission. You have to pay income taxes and self-employment taxes (the Social Security you pay, plus the part an employer usually pays) and benefits like health insurance, unless you can be covered on someone else's plan. On the other hand, there may be some cost savings from not commuting, eating out less, etc. From there, it depends on what you can comfortably live on. You may be willing to make financial sacrifices to live your dream and really push on your writing career or you may feel more creative without financial worries.
It's not necessarily an either/or thing, depending on your situation. There are ways you can ease into making the leap. I would suggest that if you hope to one day leave the day job, you start preparing now, even if you haven't sold or even written a book. Start saving as much money as you can so that you'll have a financial cushion when the time comes. That allows you to not live from contract to contract. You may be able to work out an arrangement with your employer to cut your hours or telecommute, which frees up extra time. You can look for freelance opportunities either to earn extra money for that nest egg while you're working or so you won't be entirely dependent on your novel writing once you do leave the regular day job. That was the way I did it. I'd sold some books and had been saving money ever since I got out of college, and I already had some freelance work on the side. When I wanted to focus more on my writing, I was ready to quit, but my boss allowed me to cut back to 30 hours a week (and since I was being paid part-time, that meant a firm 30 hours. I'd been working about 60 hours a week before without getting overtime) and telecommute. When I got laid off a couple of years later when my industry took a downturn, the severance pay, my savings and my freelance work allowed me to not look for a new job. The freelance work paid the bills until I got a new novel contract, and then I gradually transitioned to writing fiction full-time.
But should you quit the day job? Again, it depends. You don't necessarily have to if you have a job you enjoy that inspires and energizes you and that allows you time to write, though you may find juggling everything more of a challenge if your writing career really takes off and you have to do things like book tours. I've found in my own experience and heard from others that writing full-time doesn't really mean you spend that much more time writing. I seem to have a certain amount of fiction in me per day. What's nice is the luxury to spend more time if I'm on a roll without worrying about getting up for work the next morning. You may not even see a benefit from writing more, unless you're self-publishing or writing category romances, where frequency is how you build a career. Publishers generally don't want more than one book a year from an author because they can't get more than that slotted, though you may be able to publish more if you write a couple of different things for different audiences or publishers.
Not having a day job mostly allows for all the other stuff that goes with writing once you're selling books, like copy edits, page proofs and publicity. There are blog tours, media interviews, speaking engagements, convention appearances , booksignings, etc. A lot of these are evening and weekend events, but if you're spending evenings and weekends doing this stuff, that eats into your writing time when you have a full-time job. You also have to deal with agents and editors during business hours, and it's nice to be able to schedule conference calls without worrying about how that will look to a boss.
Where I find the real benefits is in the intangibles. For one thing, living according to my body clock makes me a lot more productive. I had a bad mid-afternoon slump when I had a day job, but now I find that's my best writing time, probably because I'm getting the right amount of sleep at night. I may not spend much more time actually writing every day than I did when I had a regular job, but I'm getting about twice the amount written. I'm an extreme introvert, so being around people all day at work drained me. Now that I spend my days at home alone, I have more energy overall and I've developed more of a social life. My life is a lot better balanced, and I have time to do other things I enjoy now that writing is my job instead of my hobby (even when the hobby made money). I can have other hobbies now. I read a lot more, and I think that's important. I think all that helps add up to making me a better writer. The volume of my output hasn't changed drastically, but I think the quality has improved and not just because I have more experience.
As for what day jobs work best, I've heard the advice that you shouldn't have a day job where you write a lot because then you won't want to write when you get home, but it didn't work that way for me because what I wrote at work was so different from fiction. When my job allowed me to hide in my office and write all day, I wrote more when I got home. It was when my job was more about meetings and management and I had to travel a lot that I wrote less. I think that writing as a career made me a better novelist because I had a firm grasp on the mechanics and was used to meeting deadlines. It may not work that way for everyone. I did find that the unhappier I was in my day job, the more I wrote, so maybe you don't want a really awesome day job. But I think that depends on your personality. An introvert will probably benefit more from quitting the day job. An extrovert may not get the same intangible benefits because all that alone time will be draining, and going to Starbucks every day to work gets expensive.
Before you make the leap, I would suggest talking to writers who've already done so. Give it a trial run. Take a week (or more, if you've got the vacation time) of vacation and pretend that you're now a full-time writer, keeping to the schedule and workload you think you'd have. If you're going stir-crazy by Friday, quitting may not be a great idea even if you can afford it. If you dread going back to your day job at the end of the week, then leaving may be something you want to work toward.
