I've been wrapping up one project and plunging right into another, so my head is almost always someplace else. The thing I love best about my brain is the way it keeps problem-solving for my characters, even when I'm away from my desk and not entirely conscious of the thoughts that are spinning. The thing that annoys me is that when my brain is working out dialogue or checking for flaws in a new plot twist, the other things I'm attending to in autopilot mode don't always get the most careful attention. I imagine my autopilot as a Jetsons-style robot who has a few bugs in her program. Of … [Read more...]
Non-writing
There's a part of my writing process that involves not writing. And not only is it not writing, but it's not doing much of anything productive at all. It's not doing dishes and not doing laundry and not vacuuming. It's not paying bills and not mowing the lawn and not going grocery shopping. It is basically sitting on my butt and reading, or watching movies, or playing Scramble on my phone until my thumb starts to hurt. This, for me, is the hardest part of writing, because even though I know I need it, I have a really hard time justifying it to myself. I need downtime to be productive. I … [Read more...]
Mannequin, McCarthy, Cusack, et al
I'm addicted to the Watch Instantly feature on Netflix.com. It's the only way I can bribe myself into doing dishes, folding laundry, making dinner, etc. I also have a burning love of 80's movies. So, when I found out that I could watch Mannequin on my computer while making dinner on Saturday, I was in heaven. But, after I started watching it, I was horribly disturbed. As a kid, I was in love with Andrew McCarthy. Mannequin, Class, Pretty in Pink, St. Elmo's Fire - I watched them all over and over and over again. Andrew McCarthy was almost as good as John Cusack (but who will ever be as good … [Read more...]