Q&A with Josh Lanyon discussion
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What else are you reading? (June 2010 - May 2013) *closed*
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You've got it down pat Chris! I just read a great book you might enjoy called Networking for People Who Hate Networking. That's exactly what she said. That introverts need lots of alone time to recharge.
I used to be shy, when I was younger. I've grown out of it, and now I'm just an introvert. That book was great because she does explain the difference between being shy and an introvert, and that there IS a difference, which most people don't get.
One of the questions she uses to start off each chapter sounds like the start of a joke and is so true it ain't even funny! And yet, it is.
Why does an extrovert have voicemail? So he doesn't miss a single call.
Why does an introvert have voicemail? She she doesn't have to answer the phone.
So true! But then you have to check the voicemail and call the person back. Though at least, that way you get to compose your answer in your head. That was the other big difference between introverts and extroverts. Introverts want time to think on something, and an extrovert will blurt out an answer, even if they'll want to change it later. An introvert thinks long and hard and stands by their answer.
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Judging from that book I read Networking for People Who Hate Networking you're probably a centrovert, somewhere in the middle. These people do exsist, just like there are lots of people who don't fall into either male or female genders or their stereotypes.
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Last Summer I got my first pair of cowboy boots. Don't know what I'll buy next, but it sure seems as if I have a boot fetish. Not a shoe fetish exactly. lol, I'm not that girly.
In fact, my co-Municipal Liaison from NaNoWriMo wants to convince more people to donate by putting me in a dress if they'll donate up to a certain amount we haven't decided on. Last year he promised he'd shave his beard off if we raised over $600, and we ended up with $650. Uhhh... we're never going back to that restaurant again. That was a little embarrassing, for me anyway. They probably hated having to clean the men's room after that. lol.
Becky, I'm so sorry to hear about your illness. As a life long curly I have a few words of advice 1) hardly anyone knows how to cut curly hair - when you find someone who can, hang on to him/her (I was so traumatized when my hairdresser died that I didn't get a hair cut again for 10 years. He was a good friend but still, it was an extreme response even for me and I looked like hell for most of that decade) and 2) NEVER brush your hair. Check out Curly Girl for lots of good advice for dealing with your new hair.
Dev wrote: "Becky, I'm so sorry to hear about your illness. As a life long curly I have a few words of advice 1) hardly anyone knows how to cut curly hair - when you find someone who can, hang on to him/her (I..."I've read a bit about the Curly Girl system. I tried going no-poo, but that really made a mess of my scalp. Now I'm using a good quality sulfate-free shampoo and conditioner, and things are going much better. I only wash it about every 3 days or so, and that helps, too. I do brush it before washing. It would be one large dredlock by now if I didn't. But I have a detangling brush, with widely spaced bristles, and I only brush before washing. I've tried using one of those large combs, but that just doesn't do it for me. I get it just past the crown of my head, it snarls, and then I'm stuck like Chuck. It pretty much does the same thing with the brush, but the brush picks out the tangles much faster.
For the non-curlies out there who now think I must walk around looking like a homeless person... OK, you're probably right. :P But you can't brush curly hair like you do straight. You want it to collect in curls (called clumping). Brushing separates the clumps, and instead of curls you end up with a head full of frizz. Hello, Don King.
I do have a couple of old long-sleeve tshirts that I use for plopping. That amuses my parents greatly. Dad calls me swami whenever I show up to the dinner table with my hair all wrapped up. But it does seem to help with clumping, and I seem to have fewer fly-aways when I let it do most of its drying that way.
Ahhh, I see you have been initiated grasshopper. May the curl be with you.
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..."
One of the biggest surprises traveling across country the first time was how different people look in California versus New York, for example. There really are a disproportionate number of slender, tanned blonde (especially) females in this state -- certainly in Southern California. You see a LOT of belly buttons and tummys here all year long. I would say it's probably one of the most vain, er, well...looks-conscious places on the planet. Not in a suberb fashion sense like Paris or New York, I mean physical looks -- body, teeth, hair, tan (yes, even in these days of skin cancer awareness).
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..."
It is! And I can't even remember what got me off track.
But...not make it relevant, writers should be aware of a specific cultural look or vibe of any place they're writing about.
HA!
There. Relevant once more. :-D
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..."
:-D
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Ha! Boris Badenov? That was an unexpected and very pleasant zing down Memory Lane. :-)
What an interesting discussion. I'm ..."
Nailed it, KZ. :-D
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And I agree with the consensus on physical perfec..."
When I was a young reader -- I mean teens and younger -- I strongly preferred all my protags to be handsome or beautiful, healthy and brave. Oh! And they couldn't have unattractive names. :-D Now that to me is typical of an immature reader.
As you get older you stop being so superficial in your reading tastes. At least I hope so.
I remember a reviewer on Amazon complaining that Kit in Holmes and Moriarity wasn't good looking enough for her taste. When I read that kind of comment I think...I'm writing books for grownups, lady. Go find a Harlequin Romance.
Not to diss Harlequin romances. Only to point out that most of us are looking for more in a SO other (even fictional) than a handsome count in Italy.
Although summer holidays at the palazzo wouldn't be so bad. ;-)
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What do you think you're doing bringing books into our beauty salon?!?
Fashion magazines only.
Josh wrote: "One of the biggest surprises traveling across country the first time..."Curious to know whether you have visited all the places in which your stories are set (the ones outside of California, that is). These days it's so easy to research settings using YouTube, Google Maps/Earth and Wikipedia that sometimes I wonder how necessary it is to go there.
Josh wrote: "Kit in Holmes and Moriarity wasn't good looking enough for her taste"Erm. It's a book, not a movie. If a character doesn't look the way you want him to, replace him in your mind with Brad Pitt or Daniel Craig like normal people do.
Josh wrote: "Emanuela ~plastic duck~ wrote: "Ahem, I'm reading Yakuza Pride."What do you think you're doing bringing books into our beauty salon?!?
Fashion magazines only."
Do you know that there's a special treatment to make your lips luscious and soft like baby lips without chemical treatment? The way it works, the doctors force the skin on your lips to regrow by peeling off all of the existing skin on your lips. It leaves your lips bleeding, black & blue for at least a month before the new skin forms.
Oh yes, it must be repeated every 5 years to.
Oh yes, tattooing your eyelids is quite trendy nowadays to, I heard.
Anyone wants to try?
:D
Ow. Dayum.No baby lip treatments for me, thanks.
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..."
This is what I think -- speaking now as a former Evil Corporate Overlord. Good looks and presentability will get you an audience -- in the same way that a great opening first line will grab the reader's attention. But after that, it's on merit. And you've either got the chops, the follow thru swing, or you haven't.
Do we notice beautiful people? Sure! There's no question that physical appearance opens doors -- well, it's not just your appearance. It can be your attitude, your presence...how do we define "presence"?
These things are an edge and they do open doors.
But once the door is open, you either have what it takes or you don't.
Most people are not so shallow that they will hire you or fall in love with you based on looks alone.
But when you're very young there *is* a tendency to think that looks are the primary thing.
This is partly because when you're very young, looks ARE the primary thing for a lot of other young people and that's because when you're very young everyone is trying to figure out the currency of success and physical appearance often plays a role.
And that would be because kids have only half-formed brains. So they equate "pretty" with "good."
Did you know that when the movie The Wizard of Oz was being made there was discussion as to whether the Wicked Witch could be beautiful or not. The decision was it was too confusing for people if the bad witch was beautiful.
I think that tells you a lot about our western culture right there.
Cleon wrote: "Do you know that there's a special treatment to make your lips luscious and soft like baby lips without chemical treatment? The way it works, the doctors force the skin on your lips to regrow by peeling off all of the existing skin on your lips. It leaves your lips bleeding, black & blue for at least a month before the new skin forms."You mean I can't just stick my face in a pail of water and have fish nibble off any dead skin cells like they do with my feet?
(I don't actually do the fish pedicure thing. Ew.)
Josh wrote: "Antonella wrote: "IMO imperfections are forgotten in the general aura of a person. But if the general aura is negative, all the perfection of this world won't be enough to make this person interest..."TOTALLY not just Western culture. Getting nose job as coming of age for girls is popular in Korea nowadays.
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:-D
You can use a tooth-desensitizer. :-D
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I think writers and readers in general have introverted tendencies. Writers in particular, which is why you see such ghastly mistakes when it comes to self-promotion. It's not in their skill set. Asking them to perform on cue like trained monkeys is cruel. Of COURSE they make stupid gaffes. Bursting into conversations with I JUST WROTE A BOOK, BUY MY BOOK!!! because they don't have normal, relaxed conversations about neutral topics. :-D
Writers live in their heads all day long where they can control everyone else's responses and reactions. Then they hit real life where people are judging their books on how white their smile is. :-P
Dev wrote: "My 82 year old mother had her teeth bleached recently."This seems pretty pointless. When you're that old, people seeing your white, white teeth are just going to assume you're wearing dentures!
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"An obese girl enters an elevator with me.
All dressed up fancy, a green butterfly on her neck.
Terribly sweet perfume deafens me.
She`s going to dinner alone.
That makes her even more beautiful."
I just love that line, it says so much, is beautiful, and yet also sad.
Fish pedicure? Back home, we call that swimming. LMAO
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So yeah, age, and how you look do make people think different things about you. No doubt about it. These days, when I see someone with a hairstyle I can't stand, I think back on what my mother said to me and remind myself that *I* might not like it, but they clearly must, and that's the important part.
And yeah,at my last interview, I was asked about my age, though not directly, of course. But they gave me an opening to say that by me looking as young as I did, I might better be able to have teens identify with me, than if I looked too much older than them. Sometimes I think this is true, and sometimes it's not. But I got the job, so I'm good.
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I mean, that's pretty bad that they determined the Witch had to be ugly... but understandable at the same time. If I were a little kid, I wouldn't question that at all.
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The weird thing is that there are fantasy men that I might ogle in pictures, and then there are men I would actually be attracted to and date. Two entirely different body types. I prefer my actual men to have some cuddle on them.
Jordan wrote: "Oh yeah, that lip thing? No way in fucking hell is anyone doing that to me. Heck, my lips are already chapped enough because I'm too lazy to reach into the drawer beside me and pull out the chapsti..."I am a total lip balm addict. I have, no joke, 23 different flavors of lip balm in a couple of baggies on my nightstand. (I counted.) I end my blog posts, when I bother to blog and when I remember to do it, with my lip balm flavor of the day. Two strangest flavors I have right now? Cat Pee and Jock Strap. (Cat Pee is actually a citrus mix, and Jock Strap is Irish Cream.)
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lol, once, I combined soft-serve ice cream and the wrong toothpaste late at night... as in, at the ice cream, then brushed my teeth... woke up with swollen lips. Almost called in sick to work cause I couldn't talk properly. Oh yeah, that was a fun day.
And ya'll wanted to know that about me, didn'tcha?
Jordan wrote: "Ummmmm... Cat Pee? Jock Strap? Don't think I'd ever go there. The names alone would turn me off. But, I love the idea of signing off a blog that way! *sigh* I've got such a problem with chapsticks ..."Have you tried the Neosporin lip balm? I have a couple of friends with Sjogren's (an autoimmune disease where your body doesn't secrete normally-- dry eyes, dry mouth, dry lips all major problems) and they swear by the stuff for healing up the lips. I haven't used it myself, and I have no idea if it's likely to kick off allergy problems for you. But it might be something to look into.
Christopher wrote: "Have you ever read 'Ethan of Athos' by Lois McMaster Bujold?"Ooh; one of my favorites. I have it in paper and audio book.
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But as I like Neosporin anyway, maybe I'll check out their lip balm. Sounds nice!
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Charming wrote: "Christopher wrote: "Have you ever read 'Ethan of Athos' by Lois McMaster Bujold?"Ooh; one of my favorites. I have it in paper and audio book."
Isn't Grover Gardner wonderful? I wasn't sure about him at first, but now he's the Voice of Miles for me. I can't imagine the Vorkosigan series being read by anyone else.
Jordan wrote: "lol, we're sooo not on topic anymore!"There's a topic? :D
Josh wrote: "Emanuela ~plastic duck~ wrote: "Ahem, I'm reading Yakuza Pride."What do you think you're doing bringing books into our beauty salon?!?
Fashion magazines only."
I thought the rule was to bring up at least ONE book in 100 comments. The Japanese character in Yakuza Pride is smoking hot...
Well, it's supposed to be what you are reading lately and not how much lotion you use. Grumble.
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btw, uh... the next M/M book I read will be a good one. I swear. I just don't know which one it will be yet. lol.
If the topic is books then I am going to be on topic now;), I just started reading The Shattered Gatessince I heard so much good about the Rifter series here. It looks very interesting, and the language is very beautiful.
Charming wrote: "Well, it's supposed to be what you are reading lately and not how much lotion you use. Grumble."At the point I left the book, the Japanese guy is giving the American guy a bath and it's very sexy and he doesn't mention what he's using, but I was disappointed he washed his hair with the same soap he used to wash his face. At least he didn't use on his face the washcloth he used to wash him... there... tra-la-la tra-la-la...
I've been working my way through the Petite Morts series. Finished #6, Pretty Ugly, last night. Not 100% sure what I think so far. Not what I'd call fluffy, happy little reads. One thing I do know for sure is that Chance is not someone to mess with. Definitely not a benign, baby cupid type character.
I just read several stories from the latest edition of Shousetsu Bang*Bang (disclaimer: I beta'd one of the stories). There wasn't a length limit this time, so some much longer stories than usual. Shukyou has a story, which is of course excellent:http://s2b2.livejournal.com/199935.html
Josh wrote: "It is! And I can't even remember what got me off track.But...not make it relevant, writers should be aware of a specific cultural look or vibe of any place they're writing about.
HA!
There. Relevant once more. :-D "
You do it quite well Josh. I remember reading one of your novellas set in Wales with a few scenes in Cardiff (which is where I live and where I'm from). You even mentioned Club X which is kind of trippy.
Btw, are you a Doctor Who/Torchwood fan?
Josh wrote: ":-D ";-D
If you ever do a book signing in my neck of the woods (what? it's only the other side of the planet! I'm sure your publisher will stump for it) I'll give you the full version!
Jordan wrote: "You've got it down pat Chris! I just read a great book you might enjoy called Networking for People Who Hate Networking. That's exactly what she said. That introverts need lots of alone time to recharge. "I'll have to read that one! Sounds great.
I guess I'm similar in that I used to be quite shy as a kid, but outgrew it. I have no trouble being the life and soul of a party should the occasion demand it, but my brain literally starts to freeze up within a few hours.
At the end of a night, I tend to have that dull, bovine-like expression that can be mistaken for just having been hit on the head with a baseball bat.
Kim wrote: "Dev wrote: "My 82 year old mother had her teeth bleached recently."This seems pretty pointless. When you're that old, people seeing your white, white teeth are just going to assume you're wearing..."
Ah, now you know that I come by my vanity naturally - it's genetic
Becky wrote: "I've been working my way through the Petite Morts series. Finished #6, Pretty Ugly, last night. Not 100% sure what I think so far. Not what I'd call fluffy, happy little reads. O..."I read/reread the Petite Morts all at once and it was a wonderful experience - I loved reading one before bed every night for a few weeks.
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Q&A with Josh Lanyon
Books mentioned in this topic
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I am sorry to hear about your illness, Becky. I hope you are well now.