Floridians Are Freaky

Okay, okay, so maybe the PEOPLE aren't freaky, but I loves me some alliteration.

I work at McD's.

Every once in a while we get a batch of new recruits.

So I was making nice with this new girl, introducing myself.

I forget the exact details of the conversation (you will find out why in a moment, dear reader(s), I assure you), but this struck me as just...beyond the pale unbelievable.

I belong to a group of Kim Possible fans who emigrated from a now-defunct site called TV Tome (it's now TV.com and is far inferior to the original site). One of the other members there who has been mentioned on this blog before (and undoubtedly will be several times from this point on, as I consider him my best friend [and he considers me his]) is from a small town in Florida.

I am from a small town in Indiana.

Comparing the two by size (Thank you Wikipedia, you normally-inaccurate but right-in-a-pinch gift from the Interwebz), my small town is about twice as big as his small town. Neither of our hometowns are towns you normally associate with the states of Indiana or Florida.

(Indiana, you think of Peyton Manning. Florida, you think of either Disney World or old people [no offense, cG].)

So it is by complete and incomprehensible luck that this girl has come to my McD's. We talk for a while, as I am working on counter and she is working on French fries.

So, as I said, we speak.

The topic of where she is from comes up.

"Bradenton? Did you say Bradenton?" I say, rather incredulously (and probably with a very ridiculous look on my face).

A million questions pop up. "Do you know cG?! Do you know cG's sister's real name?!"

(In order to protect their privacies, I have left their names out of this. I did not address them this way in conversation!)

"No," she says, but she wouldn't be surprised if they had met and she hadn't realized it.

Some hours later my shift ends and I go home. I immediately fire off an email to cG, a million things running through my brain. Have I been played? If you're going to lie about where you're from, why a small town like that? Why not Orlando? Why not Miami? Why not...?

He responds and is nearly as incredulous (I do so love that word, if you can't tell) as I am.

Just goes to show how...Oh, you know, I can't accurately put this into words so...

And yes, I am fully aware that I am evil. :)

Une monde comme notre es petit.......

*laughs maniacally*

Getting Published....So easy, a caveman could do it.

A friend of mine recently had the privilege of reviewing a manuscript.

He toiled and grimaced and went through the entire thing with much more diplomacy than I (and several other individuals I could name), and shared some of the effort with me.

And I must say, I was...

It was...

Okay, Syd, time to be tactless.

It sucked. It sucked like a truck stop...Well, you know.

See, I can be somewhat graceful.

Anyway.

Whoever wrote that is either oblivious to the laws of writing.

There are things you don't do, that you just KNOW you don't do, by instinct.

Writers have this instinct, whether or not they know they do, they do.

And this guy just broke ALL OF THEM. IN ONE GO.

AND HE GOT PUBLISHED.

So what does this mean, loyal readers?

It means I can too. :)

Ethnicities in Writing

I'm one of those genealogy buffs. At least one friend can attest that if I hear an ethnic name, I will go GAGA for it. No idea why. But this carries on into my writing, where you get last names like Lipsky, Delacroix....(The former being Polish, the latter being French). I think it's because there's some sort of majesty in their names. There's a history behind them, a meaning. Usually poetic. For instance, 'Delacroix' means 'of the cross'. The character's name translates to 'Reborn of the cross'. Pretty cool if you ask me.

I actually think I know why. Basically, I know nothing about my family. With the exception of my parents and I and a few scattered family members of varying hierarchy. Aunts, uncles by marriage, cousins, etc.

With other names, there's a story to tell.

I guess.

I dunno.

It made sense in my head.

Current counts, not counting words that were struck through:

Pages: 19

Words: 6,390

Chapters: 2

Failure

I did not, my reader(s), do as promised.

However, I do have a backup plan.

A while ago I bought this thing called 'Book In A Month'.

So yeah.

I'm gonna use that sometime this month, I suppose.

I did get a decent chunk (and by 'decent chunk' I mean 10 percent) of what I wanted to get done, done. So yeah.

Day One, Part Uno

Hello folks.

Well, today starts a new dynasty in the era of my writing.

Wait, doesn't dynasty = era?

Hell, I dunno.

Anyway.

Today starts a new X in Y (a little math humor for you).

I must fulfill the following conditions on Mondays-Thursdays. Because Blogger is being a pain in the ass, I can't tell you in bullet format what I'm doing on Fri-Sun, so I'll put that here. 3 hours, 7,500 words:

1. I cannot write less than 5,000 words or for two hours.
2. I cannot exceed 5,000 words or two hours.

If I manage to go over 5,000 words, I must rewrite at least one sentence to make it fit.

There, I fixed it.

That was mildly annoying.

But yes, today starts a new era.

Well, folks....

Two weeks and a day later and I finally decide to get off my arse and blog.

Lots has been going on in the world, from my point of view.

For one thing, tomorrow starts my new writing regimen.

On Saturdays and Sundays, I dunno. Maybe....three hours and 7,500 words.

I have got to get this crap done.

The trouble is, I have a nasty habit of sitting on my bum and not doing anything. Seriously. If a project is due at 12, I'll end up doing it at 11:30. Now, yes, I'll usually do a decent job, but I can't imagine that it reflects very well on my personality.

Nor does, really, the manuscript that I have been working on for years and years.

I'm not kidding on this one. The first little inkling of my idea came when I was 14, and I'm nearing 21*.

I owe it to myself, to cG, and to all my other friends (and family as well, I suppose, although I think this particular novel would not quite be up their alley, it's incredibly dark).

I'm tired of dragging my feet, and I'm tired of monkeying around.

One of my major problems, I think, is not wanting to let my little baby bird go.

Even if that baby bird does happen to have feathers made out of money.

Oooh, now I want a pet moneybird.

Perhaps PHZ can be my moneybird.

So, yes.

5k or 2 hours on weekdays.

I'm insane.

(*)A funny mental image just popped into my head. Me, sitting at a bar with a drink, staring at my finished book and asking it "Why'd you take so damn long?!"

Stories of Great Writers

So, while rereading (for the millionth time), Melissa Anelli's 'Harry, A History', I thought about the ultimate question.

What makes a good writer?

Surely the story of J.K. Rowling, if you haven't heard it already, is a wonderful one. It's a real-live fairy tale.

I can't do the story justice like Melissa Anelli (who runs one of the top Harry Potter fansites, the Leaky Cauldron), can. She has personally met J.K. Rowling, something I can only dream of (and have. Many times).

Harry Potter, the series that transformed a poor single mother to a billionaire, started because J.K. Rowling forgot a pen.

So her brain just kept going.

I've found that's the best way to write, too.

If I let my mind wander, then I'll of course have more ideas.

So yeah.

I'm gonna go. Bye.