THE DAY
So, considering how packed yesterday was, I looked forward to solid writing time. By and large, I got it. Had to break off earlier than I had planned to go work out and then be back in time to meet up with more contractors, but things worked out in the end because the husband attended an event this evening that kept him away from the house until about two hours ago. By then, I was in a fever to get this section done, and he’s sensitive (and supportive) enough to understand.
Turns out that some of the folks here are sensitive to my need for feeling less pressured, too. There’d been an event I’d signed on for but then begged off because of all the other obligations this week. Come to find out that everyone backed out after that and then got together for games’ night. Which sounded like fun, and I’ll be honest: I hadn’t seen any messages in that thread, which was apparently separate because, as one friend said this evening, they didn’t want me to feel even more pressured than I already did. Which was very kind of them.
But I felt left out and a little hurt, too, until they explained. Kind of weird of me, if I do say so myself. Because, really, you can’t have it both ways. You can’t go all Greta Garbo–I vant to be ah-lonnne–and then get upset because people do what you signal. Know what I mean?
Contractor folks were interesting fellows. One had looked me up. They were both interested in how writers, you know, write. So we chatted for a while about that, and I gave them some books for their kids.
Anyway, did my pages. Did my exercise. I just worked until things got done, which I guess would be the equivalent of binge-watching only this would be binge-writing. (Although you want to meet real binge-writers? Romance folks knock off books PDQ. I can be fast when I have to, but I’ve never done a book in a week or ten days.)
The only thing I sloughed off: the online covers workshop. Hit that tomorrow and then I have to get cracking on the assignment. Something else to learn: how to use bloody InDesign. (Although design is fun. I like art, so I’m thinking, heck, maybe I should just do graphic design and that’s that.)
WRITING OUT LOUD
GHOST IN THE MACHINE
Day 1: 4326 Day 11: 2500
Day 2: 2085 Day 12: 500
Day 3: 3011 Day 13: 1000
Day 4: 2652. Day 14: 3700
Day 5: 3210 Day 15: 5630
Day 6: 3450 Day 16: 1055
Day 7: 0 Day 17: 5330
Day 8: 2756
Day 9: 4580
Day 10: 2670
Blog Post:
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What I’m Watching:
Fargo, Season 2: I’m still kind of . . . meh. This reminds me, once again, never to listen to The New York Times. The directors this time are way too in love with their stylistic quirks and, IMHO, that’s getting in the way of telling a story. Plus, this just isn’t that compelling. Like, hello, show me a butcher and a dead body, and I already know what’s going to happen. No surprises there. I find myself waiting for them to get on with it already. I’m also kind of sorry that I bought the bloody season. Maybe give it one or two more episodes before I call it one way or the other. I would like to like this. I think I liked it so much the first time around because it wasn’t cute or so in love with its own cuteness that this got in the way of a decent story. The pacing for Season 1 was much better; the actors were better, too, and Billy Bob Thornton was riveting. Martin Freeman wasn’t a slouch either. So I’m not in love here, and the accents are starting to get to me. Having lived in that area, I’m sitting here, thinking, No one I know sounds like that. And some of the actors are having trouble nailing down the accents, anyway. Sometimes I think I’m in “Sveden” but listening to Norwegian bachelor farmers that have gotten lost along the way; and then, at others, I’m hearing the more familiar (and correct) flat Midwest accent with a trace of roundness. (You just have to hear it to know what I mean.) I’m all for parody, but caricature is just plain silliness.
And UFOs? Come on…
Two more eps. Max.
Interesting article in the Times today, speaking of the devil, all about binge-watching changing the way that TV shows are structured (and our experience). I . . . guess? I’ve only binge-watched one show, ever, and that was LOST, when it came out on DVDs. Got ’em through Netflix and then the girls and I binged during their college breaks, I think. Or over Christmas break, when one was home and the other was in high school. But I remember that we watched the first DVD of the first season and were, like, blown away and just had to see the next episode. (I also really liked how the DVDs were set up, with an interesting scene that you never saw in the actual show. You’d have to find a physical copy and watch to see what I mean.)
I stopped watching LOST, though, somewhere around Season 5. Or 6. Can’t remember. For whatever reason, I was just tired of the trope, setup, whatever. Never saw the end, though I heard how it ended, and you know, it ended just exactly the way I thought it had to all along: as the dream of a dying man. Which, to me, was a complete cop-out. So, in a way, I’m really glad I never saw the end.
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What I’m Reading:
Too tuckered out last night to read. Tonight, I’m going to start The Revenant, though.
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What I’m Listening to:
Let Me In by Lindquist. Oh my, is this good. The writing is just great.
