Mette Ivie Harrison's Blog, page 99
January 18, 2011
Top 10 Dr. Who Episodes
according to me--OK, I couldn't keep it to 10!
1. Human Nature/The Family of Blood
2. Blink
3. The Beast Below
4. The Eleventh Hour
5. Midnight
6. The Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead
7. The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances
8. Vincent and the Doctor
9. Army of Ghosts/Doomsday
10. Bad Wolf/Parting of the Ways
11. Amy's Choice
12. Runaway Bride
13. Smith and Jones
14. Partners in Crime
15. Tooth and Claw
16. New Earth
17. Dalek
18. Partners in Crime
I was having an argument with 16 and 15 last night about why I like The Family of Blood best and why they like either The Beast Belos (16) or Blink (15) the best. It became also a discussion of the flaws and virtues in Stephen Moffat vs. Russell Davies. When I made this list, I have to say, I was surprised to discover how many of my favorite episodes were from the 11th doctor (Matt Smith) era or written by Moffat.
1. Human Nature/The Family of Blood
2. Blink
3. The Beast Below
4. The Eleventh Hour
5. Midnight
6. The Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead
7. The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances
8. Vincent and the Doctor
9. Army of Ghosts/Doomsday
10. Bad Wolf/Parting of the Ways
11. Amy's Choice
12. Runaway Bride
13. Smith and Jones
14. Partners in Crime
15. Tooth and Claw
16. New Earth
17. Dalek
18. Partners in Crime
I was having an argument with 16 and 15 last night about why I like The Family of Blood best and why they like either The Beast Belos (16) or Blink (15) the best. It became also a discussion of the flaws and virtues in Stephen Moffat vs. Russell Davies. When I made this list, I have to say, I was surprised to discover how many of my favorite episodes were from the 11th doctor (Matt Smith) era or written by Moffat.
January 13, 2011
me as personal trainer
I made a commitment this month to join a friend at the gym three times a week and "train" her. I thought it would be interesting to see if I could help someone else get in shape without being insanely pushy. I don't think I'm going to end up in a career as a personal trainer, but I feel like I do sometimes need more social contact, since as a writer I would tend to stay in my own house 24/7. The friend I am "training" is also a writer, so we get to talk books while working out.
We had talked a few months ago about the possibility of me doing running and biking with her, but I didn't think that would work out. I also wasn't that keen on the idea of meeting someone at the gym to run on a treadmill since I have one at home and I like to watch my shows while on it. So this was the compromise. We meet and do weight training and yoga and whatever I think she needs that isn't cardio.
Two weeks in, I think I have been successful at not killing my friend off. That was one of my main goals. I still think that the main reason people give up an exercise routine is because they set insane goals for themselves (listen, Mette, to yourself here). And also, they don't actually enjoy it, either while doing it or afterwards, if they are in pain. I think of humans as basically animals, and you have to get yourself to do hard things by giving yourself a reward of some kind so that you think of it fondly, as something you want to do again. You have to *like* it to keep doing it.
We've done three circuits of various machines and balance moves. One of the things I have learned is that when you're working with someone who isn't in shape, you want to focus on the machines that do the most muscles at once. So that has meant overhead pull-downs, chest presses, and chin ups. Then I've focused on doing things that mimic real life motion, lunges, wall squats, and planks.
It has taken me a while to figure out what kinds of abdominal workouts are good for someone who has core strength issues. I remember trying to do situps and hurting my back and finding crunches not much better. The best exercise we've found is holding a big exercise ball between your legs, raising it to catch it with your arms, setting arms and legs down, and then raising them again and doing the motion backwards to get to the beginning again. Does that make sense?
So, we'll see what happens after a month of this, see if we want to go on. I love racing, but not everyone does, it seems. Maybe that's not the only way to get in shape, setting that kind of goal. And it's funny to me to see that even though I have tried not to set goals for myself this year, I'm setting them for other people now. I guess the goal setting just leaks out, eh?
We had talked a few months ago about the possibility of me doing running and biking with her, but I didn't think that would work out. I also wasn't that keen on the idea of meeting someone at the gym to run on a treadmill since I have one at home and I like to watch my shows while on it. So this was the compromise. We meet and do weight training and yoga and whatever I think she needs that isn't cardio.
Two weeks in, I think I have been successful at not killing my friend off. That was one of my main goals. I still think that the main reason people give up an exercise routine is because they set insane goals for themselves (listen, Mette, to yourself here). And also, they don't actually enjoy it, either while doing it or afterwards, if they are in pain. I think of humans as basically animals, and you have to get yourself to do hard things by giving yourself a reward of some kind so that you think of it fondly, as something you want to do again. You have to *like* it to keep doing it.
We've done three circuits of various machines and balance moves. One of the things I have learned is that when you're working with someone who isn't in shape, you want to focus on the machines that do the most muscles at once. So that has meant overhead pull-downs, chest presses, and chin ups. Then I've focused on doing things that mimic real life motion, lunges, wall squats, and planks.
It has taken me a while to figure out what kinds of abdominal workouts are good for someone who has core strength issues. I remember trying to do situps and hurting my back and finding crunches not much better. The best exercise we've found is holding a big exercise ball between your legs, raising it to catch it with your arms, setting arms and legs down, and then raising them again and doing the motion backwards to get to the beginning again. Does that make sense?
So, we'll see what happens after a month of this, see if we want to go on. I love racing, but not everyone does, it seems. Maybe that's not the only way to get in shape, setting that kind of goal. And it's funny to me to see that even though I have tried not to set goals for myself this year, I'm setting them for other people now. I guess the goal setting just leaks out, eh?
January 11, 2011
Huntress by Malinda Lo
I was at ALA Mid Winter over the weekend, so neiner neiner, I have ARCS of all the books you wish you could read earlier than everyone else! One of the books I got was Huntress by Malinda Lo, and I loved the lush world and the characters in it. In my continuing quest to find great books of fantasy, which I think describe my experience of reality better than any realistic fiction can, are a few quotes:
Kaede couldn't breathe; Taisin was breathing for her She felt oddly doubled, as if she could see everything twice as clearly. . . She could feel Taisin's heart beating in time with her own, and it made her light-headed. To have Taisin so close to her--inside her--and yet not physically present--it was an extraordinarily strange experience. She looked at her hands; they were her own hands, and yet it was like seeing them for the first time. The palms were torn up from the descent down the glacier wall, the skin scabbed over where the ice had cut her. She felt as though Taisin were sliding her own hands into hers, like gloves--but Kaede was the glove. She was the armor that Taisin had put on, here, to face Elowen.
She was no longer in her body; she felt free. She was as small as a drop of dew wuivering on a spider's web; she was a minute in an hour in a day in a million years. So much had passed to bring her to this moment: births, deaths, countless insignificant decisions that made her who she had become. All of that--all of her--could end now. She could return to the limitless state that every living creature once was in and will be again.
These are incredibly poetic passages, but they also brought up for me poignant feelings from my own past. I suppose that is partly subjective, because not everyone will experience life the same way, so one fantasy writer may get it right for one person, but not for another. I say that, trying to be fair, but how can you read either of the passages above and not feel as if your real self is exposed on the page for everyone to see?
Malinda, well done!
Kaede couldn't breathe; Taisin was breathing for her She felt oddly doubled, as if she could see everything twice as clearly. . . She could feel Taisin's heart beating in time with her own, and it made her light-headed. To have Taisin so close to her--inside her--and yet not physically present--it was an extraordinarily strange experience. She looked at her hands; they were her own hands, and yet it was like seeing them for the first time. The palms were torn up from the descent down the glacier wall, the skin scabbed over where the ice had cut her. She felt as though Taisin were sliding her own hands into hers, like gloves--but Kaede was the glove. She was the armor that Taisin had put on, here, to face Elowen.
She was no longer in her body; she felt free. She was as small as a drop of dew wuivering on a spider's web; she was a minute in an hour in a day in a million years. So much had passed to bring her to this moment: births, deaths, countless insignificant decisions that made her who she had become. All of that--all of her--could end now. She could return to the limitless state that every living creature once was in and will be again.
These are incredibly poetic passages, but they also brought up for me poignant feelings from my own past. I suppose that is partly subjective, because not everyone will experience life the same way, so one fantasy writer may get it right for one person, but not for another. I say that, trying to be fair, but how can you read either of the passages above and not feel as if your real self is exposed on the page for everyone to see?
Malinda, well done!
January 6, 2011
different ways
I was so afraid of being a writer when I was a teenager. This was in part because my parents were afraid of me being a writer. They so carefully steered me away from it that I think I was even more afraid of it. But one of the things I have started to realize after actually being a writer for a few years now is that there are lots of different ways of being a writer. You don't have to be a full-time, NY Times Best-Selling Writer to be a writer.
A writer can be:
1. Someone who writes faithfully in a journal.
2. A journalist, movie writer, TV writer, or any other kind of media writer.
3. An essayist.
4. A poet.
5. A picture book writer.
6. A non-fiction writer who waits for projects to be assigned to, and then does them.
7. A self-published writer.
8. A small press writer.
9. A writer who does anything for money, to keep a family together.
10. A writer who has a day job and writes on the side, but only what is interesting.
11. A writer who wants to quit the day job, but isn't there yet.
12. A writer who has no intention of quitting the day job, ever.
Just like there is no one way of writing properly, there is no one way of being a writer. You can write with an outline or without. You can write every day or on the weekends, or only when you have a project that you work intensely on for days without sleeping. There is nothing terrifying about being a writer. It is what you are when you are writing, and that's all.
A writer can be:
1. Someone who writes faithfully in a journal.
2. A journalist, movie writer, TV writer, or any other kind of media writer.
3. An essayist.
4. A poet.
5. A picture book writer.
6. A non-fiction writer who waits for projects to be assigned to, and then does them.
7. A self-published writer.
8. A small press writer.
9. A writer who does anything for money, to keep a family together.
10. A writer who has a day job and writes on the side, but only what is interesting.
11. A writer who wants to quit the day job, but isn't there yet.
12. A writer who has no intention of quitting the day job, ever.
Just like there is no one way of writing properly, there is no one way of being a writer. You can write with an outline or without. You can write every day or on the weekends, or only when you have a project that you work intensely on for days without sleeping. There is nothing terrifying about being a writer. It is what you are when you are writing, and that's all.
January 5, 2011
I can change me
I am working through a big revision of a novel with a concept I love but is somehow inexplicably full of crap plot and character development. I suppose this happens because I write in a free-flowing way and I don't know what is going to happen next, and so a lot of the time (sadly) what happens next is crap. And then later I assume I will be smart enough to fix it up, see what works and what doesn't, and then make it all shiny and new.
Now, this can sometimes be painful. Mostly when I believe that I don't have what it takes to fix the manuscript. So painful I want to quit and just rock back and forth in a quiet room and never think about being a writer again. So painful I consider other career choices. So painful I think that the horribleness of my writing must be bleeding into my horribleness as a person and that nothing in my life is right.
But I think about this sign a friend of mine has up in her office. It says, basically, that I am me and I get to choose the parts of me that I want to have be me. I can reject the parts that I don't like and add new parts that I do like. I am in charge of who I am.
Of course, this isn't true if one takes it too far. There are some things that we can't simply shrug off and say--I don't like that. If you have a disease, you can't just cut it out. You can't just make yourself have gifts that you don't have. But it is largely true, and perhaps it become more true, the more true that we make it by living it.
On good days, like today, I look at my manuscript and think, of course I can fix this. It's just cutting here and there, and adding here and there, and making sure it's all good. It doesn't have to be painful at all. But then again, the manuscript isn't "me" when I can think like a professional. Maybe it would be useful to somehow get distance from myself and think of whatever things need to be chopped off in myself as "other."
Just thinking.
Now, this can sometimes be painful. Mostly when I believe that I don't have what it takes to fix the manuscript. So painful I want to quit and just rock back and forth in a quiet room and never think about being a writer again. So painful I consider other career choices. So painful I think that the horribleness of my writing must be bleeding into my horribleness as a person and that nothing in my life is right.
But I think about this sign a friend of mine has up in her office. It says, basically, that I am me and I get to choose the parts of me that I want to have be me. I can reject the parts that I don't like and add new parts that I do like. I am in charge of who I am.
Of course, this isn't true if one takes it too far. There are some things that we can't simply shrug off and say--I don't like that. If you have a disease, you can't just cut it out. You can't just make yourself have gifts that you don't have. But it is largely true, and perhaps it become more true, the more true that we make it by living it.
On good days, like today, I look at my manuscript and think, of course I can fix this. It's just cutting here and there, and adding here and there, and making sure it's all good. It doesn't have to be painful at all. But then again, the manuscript isn't "me" when I can think like a professional. Maybe it would be useful to somehow get distance from myself and think of whatever things need to be chopped off in myself as "other."
Just thinking.
January 3, 2011
making anti-goals again
This is the time of year that makes me crazy. People make goals left and right and they put pressure on me to make goals. What's wrong with goals? Goals make your life better. Why wouldn't you want your life to be better?
The problem with making goals at New Years for me is that I make goals all the time. I have trouble not making goals. And once a goal is made, I kill myself to make that goal happen. I don't just shrug my shoulders and say, maybe next year. I do everything in my power to get to that goal, and then when I don't anyway, I spend months afterwards remembering I didn't make my goal and telling myself how horrible I am because I didn't. That is pretty much how I spent my Sunday, making lists of things that I hadn't done yet and that I should put on my list of things to do, and struggling valiantly not to put them down anywhere. Because once written, they are indelible. If I don't write them down, then I don't feel compelled to do them.
What I tried to do instead was to think of the great things that I got done this year without any goals. Most of them are too personal to share here, but one of them has been Twitter. I could not believe that Twitter would be something I would like, but I do. I love Twitter. And you know what? I no longer consider myself to be so socially maladept that I offend everyone I meet. I discovered this by going to a couple of national conferences this year (OK, that was a goal), and I did not, in fact, offend anyone to my knowledge.
One of the things I would like to do this year is to become more flexible about how I think about my writing and my career, so that I see more clearly different ways of working on it. This is not the kind of goal that you are supposed to set. It has no measures, no time limit, and no way of deciding if I have failed or not. So that's why I am picking it, because I need some things to have no measures. Just to be a thought in my head that rattles around and lets me think. I spent some time this year working on a play and then on fanfic that I've never done before, and it was fun. I think that's the sort of flexibility I am going for. I don't know what form it will take, but I say this year, bring it on!
The problem with making goals at New Years for me is that I make goals all the time. I have trouble not making goals. And once a goal is made, I kill myself to make that goal happen. I don't just shrug my shoulders and say, maybe next year. I do everything in my power to get to that goal, and then when I don't anyway, I spend months afterwards remembering I didn't make my goal and telling myself how horrible I am because I didn't. That is pretty much how I spent my Sunday, making lists of things that I hadn't done yet and that I should put on my list of things to do, and struggling valiantly not to put them down anywhere. Because once written, they are indelible. If I don't write them down, then I don't feel compelled to do them.
What I tried to do instead was to think of the great things that I got done this year without any goals. Most of them are too personal to share here, but one of them has been Twitter. I could not believe that Twitter would be something I would like, but I do. I love Twitter. And you know what? I no longer consider myself to be so socially maladept that I offend everyone I meet. I discovered this by going to a couple of national conferences this year (OK, that was a goal), and I did not, in fact, offend anyone to my knowledge.
One of the things I would like to do this year is to become more flexible about how I think about my writing and my career, so that I see more clearly different ways of working on it. This is not the kind of goal that you are supposed to set. It has no measures, no time limit, and no way of deciding if I have failed or not. So that's why I am picking it, because I need some things to have no measures. Just to be a thought in my head that rattles around and lets me think. I spent some time this year working on a play and then on fanfic that I've never done before, and it was fun. I think that's the sort of flexibility I am going for. I don't know what form it will take, but I say this year, bring it on!
December 31, 2010
Books Read and Recommended for December 2010
Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia (i)
War for the Oaks by Emma Bull
The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
The Happy Prince and Other Tales by Oscar Wilde
Yummy: The Last Days of A Southside Shorty by G. Neri
Enchanted Ivy by Sarah Beth Durst
Matched by Ally Condie
Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews
Heist by Ally Carter (read aloud)
A Civil Campaign by Lois McMaster Bujold (reread)
Happyface by Stephen Emond
The Actor and the Housewife by Shannon Hale (reread)
How To Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell (reread—audiobook read by David Tennant)
I spent most of the month working on Christmas stories, and some on the final copyedits of Tris and Izzie. Though publishing closes over the holidays, I think a lot of people are still working quietly in the back rooms, like me.
War for the Oaks by Emma Bull
The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
The Happy Prince and Other Tales by Oscar Wilde
Yummy: The Last Days of A Southside Shorty by G. Neri
Enchanted Ivy by Sarah Beth Durst
Matched by Ally Condie
Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews
Heist by Ally Carter (read aloud)
A Civil Campaign by Lois McMaster Bujold (reread)
Happyface by Stephen Emond
The Actor and the Housewife by Shannon Hale (reread)
How To Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell (reread—audiobook read by David Tennant)
I spent most of the month working on Christmas stories, and some on the final copyedits of Tris and Izzie. Though publishing closes over the holidays, I think a lot of people are still working quietly in the back rooms, like me.
December 28, 2010
Brag post--I'm sure this matters to no one but me
Triathlon Accomplishments 2010
Ironman St. George--14:33
Top of Utah Marathon--3:50 (BQ)
Ogden Valley 50--10:29
Overall placings in: Provo Tri (June—2nd) Turkey Tri (November—2nd), Cache Valley Tri (June—3rd), Layton Tri (July—2nd),
Age Group Placings in: Jordanelle (August—1st), Timp Tri (April—1st) Utah Half
(June—1st), Stansbury Tri ( July—3rd)
First place 200 meter Fly, Third place 1500 meter Free Style USMS Regional Championships
I think it may be time for me to try signing up for races in the overall category again. Maybe.
Writing Accomplishments 2010:
Two-book contract to Egmont (Tris and Izzie and ??)
Wrote Tris and Izzie
Attended 2 new conferences (Sirens, World Fantasy)
Wrote Irongirl
Wrote and directed The Mystery of the Missing Princess with daughter, Faith
Finished 3rd book in CROWN series
Idea for Anthology
Interesting that most of these were on my list of goals for the year, though the play and the anthology idea were not. Though my goals tend to be things that I can control, like writing books and submitting them, and not things that I cannot, like selling books for certain amounts or getting awards or good reviews.
I don't know what will happen with Irongirl and I think I've decided that's OK. I will probably always have a list a mile long of projects that aren't marketable right now. I want to have that because I always want to be working on things that I love just for me, and not because the market loves them.
Ironman St. George--14:33
Top of Utah Marathon--3:50 (BQ)
Ogden Valley 50--10:29
Overall placings in: Provo Tri (June—2nd) Turkey Tri (November—2nd), Cache Valley Tri (June—3rd), Layton Tri (July—2nd),
Age Group Placings in: Jordanelle (August—1st), Timp Tri (April—1st) Utah Half
(June—1st), Stansbury Tri ( July—3rd)
First place 200 meter Fly, Third place 1500 meter Free Style USMS Regional Championships
I think it may be time for me to try signing up for races in the overall category again. Maybe.
Writing Accomplishments 2010:
Two-book contract to Egmont (Tris and Izzie and ??)
Wrote Tris and Izzie
Attended 2 new conferences (Sirens, World Fantasy)
Wrote Irongirl
Wrote and directed The Mystery of the Missing Princess with daughter, Faith
Finished 3rd book in CROWN series
Idea for Anthology
Interesting that most of these were on my list of goals for the year, though the play and the anthology idea were not. Though my goals tend to be things that I can control, like writing books and submitting them, and not things that I cannot, like selling books for certain amounts or getting awards or good reviews.
I don't know what will happen with Irongirl and I think I've decided that's OK. I will probably always have a list a mile long of projects that aren't marketable right now. I want to have that because I always want to be working on things that I love just for me, and not because the market loves them.
December 27, 2010
homemade Christmas
This year, we made a pact to do an all homemade Christmas. OK, it was my idea and I enforced it, despite massive misgivings by children and husband. I told them that the notion of "homemade" could be stretched to include anything they assembled or in some way put their own stamp on. It was pretty tricky for 8, and we ended up allowing him to count some gifts that were to help other people with making homemade things. But all in all, it worked out OK. I don't know that I would recommend this to anyone else. If you've been watching me on Twitter, you've heard my various complaints and moans as I worked from December 1st to Christmas Day. I made everything for everyone who got a Christmas gift from me myself. In the end, that totaled:
14 knit hats
4 knit scarves
3 pair knit wool socks
2 pair knit mittens
100k of Christmas stories/novels
(1-20 page illustrated story with my sad illustrations meant to be in the Captain Underpants style)
a lot of fudge and candy for neighbors
6 T-shirts with various Dr. Who sayings
Also, helping all of my kids get their homemade things done, including:
undoing knotted yarn (one of my least favorite tasks--I get impatient and want to cut)
sitting while 15 made her Christmas CD in a professional studio and feeling like an idiot while knitting for hours on end
trying to not complain when 13 woke up in the middle of the night several nights to take care of secret smelly things in the kitchen
learning how to make jewelry so I could help kids do it
There were some wonderful surprises on Christmas morning, however. I didn't know what my husband would do, he who seems so very unartistic (despite working as an artist for Sony Playstation games for a few years). But he made
this necklace
for my daughter out of silver wire.
And
this necklace
for me (you can see the bike wheel, the running feet and the waves for triathlon).
13 made me dried fruit bits, which are delicious. For the other kids, he made homemade beef jerky (since Santa didn't bring any this year--he wrote a letter to the kids giving his regrets, but he said there were so many children with vegan parents that he had to try to spread around the joy).
I got a scarf from 11, who has just perfected her crocheting skills in bright, fuzzy blue yarn. She also wrote me a hilarious, sweet story about an "Ice Princess."
15's CD has an incredible version of Rufus Wainwright's Hallelujah on it, which is the song I wanted her most to do. Love it! Love it! Maybe I'll figure out one of these days how to put it up here or on youtube and link to it, so others can enjoy.
I can't say that I plan to ever do this again. I literally spent every waking minute (except workouts) doing one project or another for Christmas. We ate a lot of takeout and frozen food, and the house is a disaster. OK, I did keep laundry up mostly. I was stressed a lot, and still worry about whether or not the time spent on gifts was appreciated. I wrote fan fic, which I've never done before, in an attempt to please certain people who wanted certain things to happen with their favorite characters, and since the series writer was never going to do that . . .
Just so you don't think anyone was deprived, we bought plenty of things everyone wanted/needed and just didn't call them Christmas presents. Or we called them "supplies," like the camera my husband bought to take a picture so he could make a personalized mousepad for my son. And no, this is not a way to save money. It was about trying to make Christmas more personal, so that it wasn't about all the stuff the kids got. It worked in that sense. The kids were far more interested in seeing reactions to what they gave, since what they got was rather random. And the gifts were truly thoughtful.
16 gave 15 a pair of "throat" earrings, diagramming the vocal chords etc. Not the sort of beautiful earrings 15 usually wears, since they were made with shrinky dinks and string. But 15 is still wearing them, several days later. She thinks of them as part of the set to go with her cello and piano earrings. And 16 wore the skirt I made her to church on Sunday, since she hates any skirts but those with elastic waists, and you just can't buy elastic waist skirts in her size anymore. 13 wore my knit wool socks to church also, which was a surprise to me since I didn't know if they turned out well enough or nice enough. 16 loves her socks, too, and 11 is asking me to make a pair for her.
11 opened the novel I wrote for her and I told her I'd like feedback on it. She said then, "So you're giving me a job for Christmas?" Hmm, that wasn't quite what I intended.
14 knit hats
4 knit scarves
3 pair knit wool socks2 pair knit mittens
100k of Christmas stories/novels
(1-20 page illustrated story with my sad illustrations meant to be in the Captain Underpants style)
a lot of fudge and candy for neighbors
6 T-shirts with various Dr. Who sayings
Also, helping all of my kids get their homemade things done, including:
undoing knotted yarn (one of my least favorite tasks--I get impatient and want to cut)
sitting while 15 made her Christmas CD in a professional studio and feeling like an idiot while knitting for hours on end
trying to not complain when 13 woke up in the middle of the night several nights to take care of secret smelly things in the kitchen
learning how to make jewelry so I could help kids do it
There were some wonderful surprises on Christmas morning, however. I didn't know what my husband would do, he who seems so very unartistic (despite working as an artist for Sony Playstation games for a few years). But he made
this necklace for my daughter out of silver wire.
And
this necklace for me (you can see the bike wheel, the running feet and the waves for triathlon).
13 made me dried fruit bits, which are delicious. For the other kids, he made homemade beef jerky (since Santa didn't bring any this year--he wrote a letter to the kids giving his regrets, but he said there were so many children with vegan parents that he had to try to spread around the joy).
I got a scarf from 11, who has just perfected her crocheting skills in bright, fuzzy blue yarn. She also wrote me a hilarious, sweet story about an "Ice Princess."
15's CD has an incredible version of Rufus Wainwright's Hallelujah on it, which is the song I wanted her most to do. Love it! Love it! Maybe I'll figure out one of these days how to put it up here or on youtube and link to it, so others can enjoy.
I can't say that I plan to ever do this again. I literally spent every waking minute (except workouts) doing one project or another for Christmas. We ate a lot of takeout and frozen food, and the house is a disaster. OK, I did keep laundry up mostly. I was stressed a lot, and still worry about whether or not the time spent on gifts was appreciated. I wrote fan fic, which I've never done before, in an attempt to please certain people who wanted certain things to happen with their favorite characters, and since the series writer was never going to do that . . .
Just so you don't think anyone was deprived, we bought plenty of things everyone wanted/needed and just didn't call them Christmas presents. Or we called them "supplies," like the camera my husband bought to take a picture so he could make a personalized mousepad for my son. And no, this is not a way to save money. It was about trying to make Christmas more personal, so that it wasn't about all the stuff the kids got. It worked in that sense. The kids were far more interested in seeing reactions to what they gave, since what they got was rather random. And the gifts were truly thoughtful.
16 gave 15 a pair of "throat" earrings, diagramming the vocal chords etc. Not the sort of beautiful earrings 15 usually wears, since they were made with shrinky dinks and string. But 15 is still wearing them, several days later. She thinks of them as part of the set to go with her cello and piano earrings. And 16 wore the skirt I made her to church on Sunday, since she hates any skirts but those with elastic waists, and you just can't buy elastic waist skirts in her size anymore. 13 wore my knit wool socks to church also, which was a surprise to me since I didn't know if they turned out well enough or nice enough. 16 loves her socks, too, and 11 is asking me to make a pair for her.
11 opened the novel I wrote for her and I told her I'd like feedback on it. She said then, "So you're giving me a job for Christmas?" Hmm, that wasn't quite what I intended.
December 23, 2010
a few links and my dissertation
Here is an interview I did with Mormon Artist magazine. There are also interviews with Orson Scott Card, Dave Wolverton (aka David Farland), Brandon Mull, and Ally Condie.
Here is a local magazine article about LAWKI month that I thought came out nicely.
Here is my regular column at Intergalactic Medicine Show, this one on Writing a Sympathetic Protagonist (and the importance of getting it done in the first chapter).
And just a few thought on my dissertation, which I have thought about more and more this year. I wanted to write it on Sophie von La Roche and the female Bildungsroman. I ended up being forced to write it on male and female Bildungsroman, comparing Goethe's Wilhelm Meister to Sophie von La Roche. You know it's not going to turn out positive to the woman writer when you compare her to Goethe. One of the people on my committee had told me in a Romantic Literature class a few years before that he didn't have any women on the syllabus because "we only have twelve weeks and they just weren't that important." The one period of literature in which women were the most important, and still they weren't important enough. Sigh! I went to Princeton thinking that the sexism would go down, but it wasn't true. It went up, and they also just refused to admit it.
Anyway, I ended up arguing that female Bildung is tricky because of reproduction, for women in a way that it isn't for men, and that sometimes women confuse themselves for their mothers and have to start over and over again to find Bildung. Also, I argued that women tend to be a little more chary about describing a utopia with no gender difference than men are. Dichotomy/no dichotomy is just another dichotomy, if you see what I mean. Does this make any sense outside of academia? Probably not. Of course, I had to make my obeisance to Goethe periodically because he is the "master" of everything in German literature. I find I am less interested in the work of a technically perfect artist than I am in the work of an artist who had interesting plots. And so I became a fantasy writer, go figure! They passed me, but I'm not sure they are proud of me. One reason to keep putting Princeton on my covers, just to embarrass them, eh?
Here is a local magazine article about LAWKI month that I thought came out nicely.
Here is my regular column at Intergalactic Medicine Show, this one on Writing a Sympathetic Protagonist (and the importance of getting it done in the first chapter).
And just a few thought on my dissertation, which I have thought about more and more this year. I wanted to write it on Sophie von La Roche and the female Bildungsroman. I ended up being forced to write it on male and female Bildungsroman, comparing Goethe's Wilhelm Meister to Sophie von La Roche. You know it's not going to turn out positive to the woman writer when you compare her to Goethe. One of the people on my committee had told me in a Romantic Literature class a few years before that he didn't have any women on the syllabus because "we only have twelve weeks and they just weren't that important." The one period of literature in which women were the most important, and still they weren't important enough. Sigh! I went to Princeton thinking that the sexism would go down, but it wasn't true. It went up, and they also just refused to admit it.
Anyway, I ended up arguing that female Bildung is tricky because of reproduction, for women in a way that it isn't for men, and that sometimes women confuse themselves for their mothers and have to start over and over again to find Bildung. Also, I argued that women tend to be a little more chary about describing a utopia with no gender difference than men are. Dichotomy/no dichotomy is just another dichotomy, if you see what I mean. Does this make any sense outside of academia? Probably not. Of course, I had to make my obeisance to Goethe periodically because he is the "master" of everything in German literature. I find I am less interested in the work of a technically perfect artist than I am in the work of an artist who had interesting plots. And so I became a fantasy writer, go figure! They passed me, but I'm not sure they are proud of me. One reason to keep putting Princeton on my covers, just to embarrass them, eh?
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