L.E. Carmichael's Blog, page 36
July 30, 2016
The Monomyth: A Cat’s Journey
Calling all writer friends! Have you read Joseph Campbell’s Hero With a Thousand Faces and Christopher Vogler’s The Writer’s Journey yet? If not, you should get on that. Mythic structure is a good starting point for novels, especially fantasies, but both authors make the point that myth isn’t just about stories – it’s a guideline for life. Which got me thinking about mythic structure in my own life. Which naturally got me thinking about my cats. A cat’s eye view of the universal journey: It’s an ordinary day in an ordinary world. The sun is shining and the napping is superb. In a few hours, […]
The post The Monomyth: A Cat’s Journey appeared first on L. E. Carmichael.
July 28, 2016
You Gotta Have A Hook
Is this nerdy? Yes. Do I love it from the depths of my nerdy soul? Heck yes! To all my friends attending the SCBWI Summer Conference this week – have an educational, inspiring time! I’ll be over here, trying not to spontaneously combust from jealousy.
The post You Gotta Have A Hook appeared first on L. E. Carmichael.
July 25, 2016
Follow That Food! Wolf Migration in the Arctic
I’m cleaning out my files of unpublished manuscripts and realized that many of them would make excellent blog posts. Especially in the summer, when I would much rather be outside than in my office making words.
July 23, 2016
I Watched Star Wars: The Force Awakens and I Still Don’t Get It
I watched Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Actually, I watched it twice, because I wanted to make sure I knew it well enough to actually comment on it. It was really good! This was a pleasant surprise, because most of the time, I hate things everyone raves that hard about. Things I like about the movie: The writers managed to find that perfect line between assuming everyone watching knew the world and the characters, and explaining EVERYTHING in case people who haven’t watched all the previous instalments were confused. As I writer, I recognize how hard that is to do, so there’s some […]
The post I Watched Star Wars: The Force Awakens and I Still Don’t Get It appeared first on L. E. Carmichael.
July 21, 2016
Raven Mad Daze
Raven Mad Daze was a summer festival that used to take place in Yellowknife. If the memory of my junior-high-aged self can be trusted, it happened on the summer solstice, when it’s just as light at midnight as it is at noon. It’s also a phrase that perfectly describes how I feel today, after being woken up at 5:30 AM by the sound of ravens jumping on my roof. Directly over my bed. There’s a bachelor mob of half a dozen that seems to delight in meeting at my house. They bounce and scurry and squawk on my shingles, and sharpen […]
The post Raven Mad Daze appeared first on L. E. Carmichael.
July 19, 2016
Forensic Science: Not As Seen On TV
Why do TV shows have science consultants when they clearly don’t listen to what their consultants tell them? I have often wondered this. Generally while watching forensics procedurals. I still haven’t recovered from that episode of Bones where Dr. Jack Hodgins, in shocking defiance of sterile protocol, sorts through a fecal sample and then grabs a lamp with his dirty glove. GAH! The one that really gets me, though, is “zoom and enhance,” a ubiquitous trope so blatantly impossible that every seventh grader in every class I’ve ever visited knows it could never happen. As does anyone who’s tapped on a cell […]
The post Forensic Science: Not As Seen On TV appeared first on L. E. Carmichael.
July 16, 2016
Curse You, Netflix
Confession time: I do not understand why Star Wars is such a big deal. This is probably partly due to the fact that in general, I like fantasy a lot more than I like sci fi. But I love Edge of Tomorrow and Inception and The Martian, so inherent bias can’t be entirely to blame. Nope, I simply do not get the Star Wars phenomenon. So when Netflix emailed me yesterday to say that they’d just added The Force Awakens, I figured, OK. Why not. Let’s try to figure out what all the fuss is about. Except apparently, Netflix lied. At […]
The post Curse You, Netflix appeared first on L. E. Carmichael.
July 14, 2016
Pappadeaux Crab Cakes: Memories With Every Mouthful
This is a story about crab cakes. The best crab cakes anywhere in the world, and what they mean. The Discovery of Crab Cakes Around 20 years ago, my rambling maternal grandparents decided to turn in their fifth wheel for a house in Fort Clark Springs, Texas. Fort Clark is a former USA Cavalry fort, about 1.5 hours outside of San Antonio. In San Antonio, there is a temple of gastronomical delight. It is known as Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen. My parents discovered Pappadeaux. Mere moments after Tech Support and I arrived in Texas for our first visit, they whisked us through […]
The post Pappadeaux Crab Cakes: Memories With Every Mouthful appeared first on L. E. Carmichael.
July 11, 2016
What I Did on My Summer “Vacation”
Presented at a library conference (librarians rock!). Did two school visits (kids rock, too!). Attended the AGM of the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia. Talked to a university student doing research on literature and Canadian identity. Sold books at a homeschooler’s conference. Hosted my YA book club’s pot luck. Hung out with a good friend from high school I hadn’t seen in a while, and laughed so hard it hurt. Spent hours on the phone with Apple, without actually fixing my problems. Went to the dentist. Consulted with a cross-border accountant. Endured back spasm. Watched a lot of Netflix without moving […]
The post What I Did on My Summer “Vacation” appeared first on L. E. Carmichael.
June 2, 2016
Summer Siesta
You know that level of exhaustion where you walk into a room, stand there for five minutes, and realize you don’t know why you’re there? Where it takes three times as long as normal to make earth-shaking decisions like “Do I want black tea or green tea this morning?” Where the idea of trying to concentrate on a cognitive task is so overwhelming, you just want to cry? Yeah… That’s me. I haven’t been this tired since grad school. And when literally all of the work I do depends on my over-extended brain, that’s a problem. This month, I’m taking some pretty […]
The post Summer Siesta appeared first on L. E. Carmichael.
