M.J. Compton's Blog, page 76

Man of Steel: A Movie Review

Finally watched Man of Steel last night. There were four things I really liked about the movie.

1) Henry Cavill. Need I say more?

2) Kevin Costner, Diane Lane, Russell Crowe, and Laurence Fishburne in their roles.

3) Krypton (Superman’s home planet) being destroyed by mining its core. This is my own crackpot theory about the increase in earthquakes on this planet. It felt nice to be validated.

4) Young Clark Kent having a meltdown in his fourth grade (?) class room because of his heightened senses. This is something I working on in my current WIP, so it was good to see a visualization.

The thing I didn’t feel strongly about either way:

1) Amy Adams as Lois Lane. I’m indifferent to Amy Adams as an actress. I’ve seen her in roles I’ve loved and roles I loathed. She just didn’t do it for me as Lois Lane. I didn’t hate her in the part, but I didn’t believe in her, either.  In my opinion, the best Lois Lane was Teri Hatcher (Lois & Clark: the New Adventures of Superman).

The thing I really hated about the movie:

1) The script. The plot. Whatever.

SPOILER ALERT (DO NOT READ PAST HERE IF YOU DON’T WANT SPOILERS)

A) I have never made bones about how much I despise special effects for the sake of special effects, and this movie has them coming out the wazoo. I felt DC was competing with Marvel for movie bragging rights. Epic fail. Actually that’s what I hate most about Marvel movies, too. Whatever happened to the element of story in movies? Oh. Right. Action adventure doesn’t need enough story/plot to carry a full 2 hour movie, not in this day of computer graphics.

B) I do not have problems with resetting canon. I adore the reset in the Star Trek movies (although I really didn’t think it was that much of a reset). I don’t mind the changes in Superman’s history. I wish I’d thought of the Civil Defense shelters myself when Superman came back from being dead. But Lois Lane knowing Clark Kent is Superman’s disguise from the get-go? As the old cheer from my junior high school days went: no no never never uh-uh uuuuuuh. What is the point? To make Lois & Supes a crime-fighting team? Castle and Becket? Please.

C) I wish Superman would focus more on “truth and justice” than battling extra-terrestrials. That’s why he was the hero of my childhood. Without truth and justice, we will never be able to cope when technology finally does come for us.

 

 

 

INTRO: WORK IN PROGRESS (WIP) WEDNESDAY

Starting next week, I’m going to be hosting authors of all genres on my blog in a feature I’m calling Work In Progress (WIP) Wednesday.  To give you a taste of what is to come, I’m featuring myself this week. After all, it’s all about me (see far right column).

So here are some things you might not know about me.

On the Personal Side:

My top three dream destinations are 1) Greece, 2) Spain, 3) the south of France. I long for sunshine and warmth (no humidity); these are the lands of olives, crusty breads, hearty red and rose wines. Mary Stewart’s three Greek novels put Greece at the top of my bucket list (My Brother Michael, The Moonspinners, This Rough Magic). One of my favorite books to read in the summer is Peter Mayle’s delightful A Year in Provence.  As for Spain, I remember a line from a poem I read in high school: cinco de la tarde. Don’t ask me why five in the afternoon intrigues me. Maybe because of tapas bars.

My secret talent is the ability to whistle through my rolled tongue, using it as a flute.

The top book on my TBR pile (not counting the Kindle) is Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune by Bill Dedman and Paul Clark, Jr. I heard about it on Facebook and checked it out of the library.

I have a recurring dream in which my family and I move into the apartment in which I lived for 10 years, several years before I got married. A one-bedroom apartment. Love the wallpaper and the claw foot bathtub, loathe the turquoise refrigerator.

If I didn’t write, my creative outlet would be musical in nature . . . I like to sing (even though I can barely carry a tune); I play a couple of instruments and always wished I knew how to play piano.

If I didn’t write, my dream job would be owning a business that catered to people’s religious dietary needs, and I’d call it Kosher for Lent.

If I had to chose a theme song for myself, it would be a toss up between Simon & Garfunkel’s “I Am A Rock” or the Grateful Dead’s “Touch of Gray”.

I have seen two movies I thought were better than the books on which they were based: The Bridges of Madison County and Contact. The main character in Bridges never would have written the letter to her children the author had her write. Never. Ever. So the movie handled that part much better. As far as Contact goes, the book was fiction, written by a brilliant scientist, so it was a little . . . deadly. The movie is also the first time I ever saw Matthew McConaughey. (He played opposite Jodi Foster).

I’m not a fan of breakfast, so I tend to skip it more often than not. Eggs are disgusting. I will stop at McDonald’s for Sausage McMuffins and hash browns on occasion; when I’m on a writing retreat, I’ll eat fresh fruit & berries.

On the Writing Side:

My ideal/fantasy writing space would be a big bright room, lots of book cases, a desk large enough for things other than my laptop, a rocking chair in front of big windows. And it would be painted pale pink. And I wouldn’t have to share the space.

One writing-related website I can’t do without is Grammar Girl. She explains the tricky nuances of the English language in a way I can easily understand.

I am a pantser (style of writing), but even though I don’t plot, I do plan.

I do not believe in writer’s block. For me, it’s either lack of motivation (within me) or a plot/conflict issue (with the story).

Three things currently on my desk: my grand-hamster (in her cage); a treasure chest filled with glass florist beads; photos I borrowed from my parents to scan.

Would I ever consider self-publishing? Absolutely, especially once I have a back list in place. In fact, my current WIP is a novella for an anthology my crit partners and I have been discussing.

I listen to music when I write. I create a playlists for each book, which helps me stay connected to the story.

Lightning Round:

Addams Family or Munsters? Addams Family.

Wine: Red or white?  Red

Beer: Can or bottle? Bottle

Stephanie Plum or Eve Dallas? Eve. She’s grown throughout the course of the series, whereas Steph is more comic relief to absurd situations.

Cinco de Mayo or St. Patrick’s Day? Cinco de Mayo. Not a fan of corned beef.

Last movie I saw in a theater: The Winter Soldier. Loved it!

Books: paper or e? Paper!

Favorite band when I was in high school: Bob Dylan and the Band

Introvert or extrovert? Introvert

Favorite ethnic food: Italian.

WIP

Here are the first 10 sentences of my current WIP (tentative title The Mating Game)

He’s staring at me.

Men usually stared at Diana—it came with being a model—but this was . . . different. Uncomfortable. Or maybe she was just tired.

She scanned the crowd at the MEN-toring League Chicago Division award banquet, using the attendees’ faces to tick off the seconds until she could leave the event. She had an eleven p.m. flight to catch and was already feeling the dread. Plus her overworked body was doing some kind of meltdown thing, which concerned her. Prickles and heat raced through her. The symptoms resembled what she’d heard about influenza, but the flu was impossible.The strange sensation had to be a clue she was overdue for a vacation.

Here’s the buy link for my current release,  Moonlight Serenade, available only on Kindle at this time.

Follow me on FaceBook, Twitter (@comptonplations), and Goodreads

 

 

 

A Side Benefit of Social Media

I have two books out of the library. And you know how I learned about them? Social media.

Image credit: tieury / 123RF Stock Photo

My local library branch is going to be closed for the holiday weekend, so I had to make sure I got over there to pick up my reading. Can you imagine a long weekend with no reading material?

I can’t.

So here’s what I picked up:

The Spymaster’s Lady by Joanna Bourne (a romance novel)

Empty Mansions  by Bill Dedman and Paul Clark Newel Jr. (biography)

What will you be reading this weekend?

A Moment In Time

I picked my daughter, X-Chromo, up at college the other night. She and the grand-hamster were coming home for the summer. I needed to wait for her to finish up some hall council stuff before we we could start loading my car with her things. As I sat in the lobby, I saw Domino’s delivering pizzas, I saw students of both sexes hug and say goodbye. Several students told me to have a safe trip–I had no idea who they were; while waiting at the car for X to bring out the grand-hamster, I saw another young man driving around wearing a Burger King crown.

I never went to college, so I missed all of this bonding stuff.

So glad she’s having the experience.

Central New York Romance Writers

I am currently president of the best darned chapter of RWA, which is a non-profit trade association of over 10,200 members. My local chapter is Central New York Romance Writers. Yesterday, during our monthly gathering, a new member told me he chose our chapter over another chapter because our website presented a more active organization. Another member told me she went to return to her local chapter, found it no longer existed, but learned many former members were attending CNYRW.

Wow. That’s pretty empowering.

Other members who’ve come to us in the past have told us that our chapter is more exciting than the chapter they left. Other friends, who’ve moved away, say their new chapter can’t compare to CNYRW, so they aren’t as involved.

Yesterday, I sat with three other members on a panel to discuss editing: how we balance the editing life with the writing life, what we look for in a manuscript (well, not me, because I don’t acquire), the differences in various publishing houses. Char Chaffin acquires for the house for which I write and copyedit; Nicki Greenwood used to acquire for another upstate-based publisher, but now does freelance copyediting;  and Kara Leigh Miller is managing editor for yet a third small press.

Such energy! And great questions from the membership.

I’m blessed to have such a wonderful writing community.

 

 

Ithaca’s Literary Festival

Yesterday, Gayle Callen, Nona Raines, and I drove to the nearby city of Ithaca for the fifth annual Spring Writes — a Finger Lakes Literary Festival. This four-day event is free and is has something for everyone, regardless of genre. The first event we attended was on character building. It wasn’t the usual laundry list of character traits/what’s in his medicine cabinet sort of thing of which I was so fond when I first started writing. One of the presenters teaches psychology, and we looked at several different models of defining a personality. The other presenter, Jill Shultz, is also an author, so she was able to tie theory to practical application. Very enjoyable. And I had a “tiffany” about my own current work-in-progress

Jill Shultz and Dr. Bill Altman

After the workshop, we wandered to a nearby restaurant to meet up with our friend Ellen Hartman. Walking around Ithaca is a wonderful experience, because it’s such an eclectic city. It is a college town (Cornell and Ithaca College) through and through.     

    

It was a bit of an overcast day, but warm and springlike. The rain held off until we were inside.

Ithaca is home to an array of quirkiness, such as this doo-ragged statue

or the electrical boxes painted to resemble apartment buildings.

 

After lunch, we followed Ellen to the Community School of Music and Arts. Her talk was in a room that was used by musicians and artists. The furniture was paint spattered. There was lots of wonderful wood.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Somewhere down the hall, someone practiced piano and someone else was drumming. Her workshop on how to erase cliches from your writing was not only informative, but funny. She has  a wonderful sense of humor. We heard the opening pages of several wonderful stories written by the participants.

 

The next event we attended was at  Buffalo Street Books, where a panel of independent bookstore owners discussed the future of bookstores.  I know that might sound a little dry, but it was quite fascinating.  As we were leaving, I spotted a display of some Ellen’s books.

 

We all climbed into Ellen’s car so she could drive us to our next destination, Felicia’s Atomic Lounge, where we were treated to several author’s works on adolescent angst. Some of the imagery in the writing was breath-stealing. The sole male who read was so funny, we thought he should be in stand-up comedy.

So we had very full day, and other than our meals, the excursion cost nothing. There was so much going on that we didn’t/couldn’t attend. I even thought about going back on Sunday fora workshop called Shy Writers Desiring to Speak Dynamically and Reading: Finish With a Joke with Ellen’s friend Leslie Daniels and one of my favorite panelists from Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me  (NPR), Amy Dickinson.

We’ve all vowed to return next year. As Ellen said, it was great fun to just hang out together as writers.

Confessions of An Introvert

I am an introvert. That doesn’t mean I’m shy. I’m not afraid of people. What it means is being around people for long periods of time depletes me. I need quiet time, alone time, to recharge my energy.

Introverts are most comfortable with the inner life of the mind, drawing their energy from quiet and solitude, whereas extroverts are vitalized by people, noise, and action. Brain scans have shown that introverts even process information differently than extroverts.

This is an ongoing conversation between my husband and me. He’s an ambivert–he’s comfortable in social situations and enj0ys people, but also requires solitude. He tells me I could be less introverted if I wanted. He’s wrong.

Example:

On a recent Saturday, I had my local RWA chapter meeting. I love my chapter. I love the meetings. But they do take a lot of me because I’m surrounded by people. After the meeting, I usually go home and watch a movie with my husband. I have “down” time in which to recuperate from being “on”.

This particular weekend, we were invited to a Saturday evening surprise birthday party for one of my husband’s former co-workers. And I went, determined to have a good time, even though I would know maybe three or people there–people I see once or twice a year for a handful of years at work-related events. They’re nice people, but they’re not my people. Fortunately, there was a basketball game on in one of the rooms. I curled up in the corner and watched a team for which I have some fondness play while my husband socialized. But the game ended and it was birthday cake time, so I had to leave my sanctuary and mingle. And I did, as best I could. The art of small talk eludes me. I used to try, but it’s not my thing. I ran into a former co-worker of mine, and I listened to him recount his life in the twenty or more years since I’d last seen him.

I had a nice time. It was a lovely party.

But I paid for it the next day. I could barely open my eyes and had no energy whatsoever. I felt hung over. Maybe it was bad wine–one of the wines left the same taste in my mouth that blowing up a new pool toy does: Chateau New Vinyl–but I doubt it. This exhaustion happens to me every time I don’t get enough “down” time. Now I know why. I’m an introvert.

If you’d like to learn more, Quiet: the Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain delves into the research; The Introvert’s Way: Living a Quiet Life in a Noisy World by Sophia Dembling offers practical advice.

 

 

 

Challenge Accepted

This was on Facebook earlier this week. I had a lot of fun doing it.

 

Using only song names from ONE ARTIST, cleverly answer these questions.  Try not to repeat a song title. It’s a lot harder than you think!
Pick your Artist: Bob Dylan
Are you a Male or a Female: JUST LIKE A WOMAN
Describe Yourself: ONLY A PAWN IN THEIR GAME
How do you feel: FOREVER YOUNG
Describe where you currently live: GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY

If you could go anywhere, where would you go: BLACK DIAMOND BAY

Your Favorite form of Transportation: BLOWING IN THE WIND or LIKE A ROLLING STONE

Your Best Friend is: ABSOLUTELY SWEET MARIE

You and your best friends are: RAINY DAY WOMEN

What’s the weather like: A HARD RAIN’S GONNA FALL or HURRICANE

Favorite Time of Day: MEET ME IN THE MORNING

If your life was a TV show, what would it be called: WHEN I PAINT MY MASTERPIECE

What is life to you: I SHALL BE FREE

Your last relationship: MR. TAMBOURINE MAN

Your fear: MONEY BLUES

What is the best advice you have to give: DON’T THINK TWICE, IT’S ALL RIGHT

Thought for the day: ONE MORE CUP OF COFFEE

How I would like to die: KNOCKING ON HEAVEN’S DOOR

My soul’s present condition: BEYOND THE HORIZON

My motto: THE TIMES, THEY ARE A CHANGING

Pet Peeve: It’s Time for Change

Time for another of my pet peeves: receiving change when I make a cash purchase.

Many decades ago, when I worked in retail, I was taught to count back the change to the customer, starting with the coins.

Example: The individual made a $2.42 purchase and paid with a five dollar bill. Change was counted back like this:

“Forty-three, forty-four, forty-five,” while handing back three pennies.
“Fifty,” with a nickle.
“Seventy-five, three,” with two quarters.
“Four and five,” with two one-dollar bills.

The change went into the palm first.

That is not how it’s done these days, and it irks me. The cashier plops the bills on a person’s open palm, followed the the receipt, then the coins, which slide off all that paper.

Seriously? The old way is better.

Dating Service.Com: A Crackpot Theory

I have had a Yahoo home page for years. When I sign onto my computer, up pops my horoscope, local weather, word of the day, and scores from my favorite sports teams. I can link to favorite sites from it–blogs, my local library, Amazon, Goodreads. It’s a great tool.

The only thing I don’t love about it is the ad. For some reason, for the entire time I’ve had this pages–at least fifteen years, if not more–I see an ad for an on-line dating service. I have no idea why. I’ve been happily married for over 25 years. But there they are: single men in my area. But what’s curious is that over the years, the photos have never changed. The same men are single. For over fifteen years.

Makes a woman wonder what’s wrong with these guys that they’re still available.

Sometimes my imagination runs rampant. At least two of men whose photos are in the ad look like someone with whom I would not want to share a bathroom.

Ever see an ad and draw conclusions about the models?