These are a few of my favorite things

So Since I have nothing to say today it is time for more Smexopedia. Today is the letter D and on object of my obsession Vin Diesel.

Sexy man + hot bike = WIN

And because one pic is never enough

I need distractions

Last night was a slow night at the bar. I had three customers who had all been recently topped up withtheir alcoholic beverage of choice and I was pretty much standing around like a piece of furniture. With nothing else to do I found a pad of paper and sat down at the bar to work on Sariel.

I have been so utterly unproductive lately it shames me to speak of it. I have carved out time to write and spent 90% of it staring at a blank page. Late night I wrote more than I had in three weeks.

The funny thing is that as soon as I sat down to write somone invariably wanted something. I scribbled out about three pages between demands for more beer, cooking food, and cashing out lottry tickets and chatting. I was writing again though and that was all that really mattered to me. It occured to me that before the move I did most of my writing at work between customers or while caring for 3-6 children. Sometimes I even got it done while 6 or 7 grown men were sitting 4 feet away playing D&D.

It had never occured to me that I needed mayhem and distractions to write. I had only ever heard that people wanted peace and quiet. Guess I'm just a weirdo *shrug*.

From now on when I carve out time to write I will pack up and head to a bar of coffee shop I guess. As long as it works I don't care. I will save my quiet time for transcribing.

BAAA I'm a sheep

Because everyone else is doing it and my blog has been sorely neglected as of late.

BAAA I'm a sheep

Rules: Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen movies you've seen that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes.

1. Exorcist - First scary movie I ever saw and the beginning of a life long obsession with scaring myself shitless
2. X-men 1, 2 and 3 - I love the story behind the X-men. Although the powers may not be believable I find government reaction to civilians having that much power entirely plausible.
3. Iron Man - the fact that I have two Marvel movies back to back tells me I need a new hobby. I love the Iron Man story though. Samuel L Jackson being cast a Nick Fury is just icing on the cake.
4. Lucky Number Slevin - Someone was one some seriously fucked up narcotics when they wrote this but I love it.
5. Shakespeare in love -
6. Titanic- This movie came out when I was 16. It's not my fault I was genetically predisposed to fall in love with it. I have to give credit though to a move that can make me sit still for three hours even though I know it is going to end with a sunken ship.
7. Spice World- never before (or since) has a movie been made of such epic fail.
8. In Bruges - Colin Farrell nuff said lol. Actually it was probably the beginning of my obsession.
9. The Departed - I love a movie where most every main character gets shot in the head.
10. Dragon Lance, Dragons of Autumn twilight - I can't remember the last time I got so excited when I saw a movie on the shelf. It wasn't nearly as awesome as the book but I own it anyways. ..... I have a problem.
11. Twilight - Better than the books but that is not much of a compliment now is it?
12. 30 days of Night - Vampires in Alaskan Winter. Why didn't I think of that?
13. Max Payne - Best video game adaptation EVER
14. Resident Evil - A very close second. I don't even play video games but thanks to a gameaholic husband I know they were pretty true to the story.
15. The Pagemaster - My favorite children's movie of all time.

Digging out the ruler.

After spending a few months on a writing forum that will remain unnamed, I have noticed a lot of measuring going on. Many people seem to be caught up in how many words others are producing in a set amount of time and trying to figure out how they measure up.

While aspirations are undoubtedly a good thing I can't help but feel drawn back to school where I would listen to the guys I hung out with talk about who had the biggest dick.

Now much like the measuring contest of yesteryear writing measurements don't tell us a whole lot. There are extreme cases like where a writer does only ten words a week that we could compare to a 1 inch penis but for the most part writers will write however much works for them.

I'm not going to say I never have the urge to whip out the ole yard stick and see how I do compared to others, but people like Lori or Scarlett would just give me an inferiority complex and the writers version of erectile dysfunction (also known as writers block). This hardly seems constructive.

Instead I concentrate on my own writing and set my own goals. For me I will be content to write, edit, polish, and submit one novel a year. Other people would cry if they couldn't finish one in a month. There is nothing wrong with either of those goals as long as the writer picks one for themselves rather than force it upon themselves because they feel inferior otherwise.

I could probably bang out many thousand words in a day but I prefer to put out words that make sense when strung together and that takes time for me.

I also have to wonder how much time writers loose to wangsting about poor output when they could be using that time to actually .... you know.... write words.

Of course I coudl be writing words instead of wangsting about wangsting but, I'm a special case.

The letter C

So haven't had any new entries in mt smexopedia lately.

I'm a slacker get over it.

The letter C is next in the alphabet and for this one I bring you Dane Cook

picking but not packing

So I have been picking away at Sariel but not making nearly as much progress as I would like. Out of the progress I have made far too much of it is in red ink.
For those of you not acquainted with my anal retentive nature, red ink is place holders. Mark sets the table while chewing Miya out. would be an example. Now the prose sucks but I know what has to go there and it allows me to move on. Well in theory that's what it does. In reality all it does is give me something to wangst over while I try to write the rest of the story.

Blender (my short) is moving along much better and I think I have a better feel for where I want to go with it now. All I need now is my own computer so I can get more writing time on it.


I have the ferry booked for July 23rd so that is the day I am moving off the island. I am SO not ready. Insurance still has all my stuff and I have painting and whatnot to do before the move as well.

Today will be my last day at work. Still have yet to figure out how I am getting home from that one as my van is in the shop.

My brother is flying in tomorrow to help us with the move. I am going to have to find some time to ignore him so I can write. He is pretty supportive of my writing though so that shouldn't be a problem. I also pick up my last cat from the kennel tomorrow.

Is it August yet?

Got bored

I was bored and blog stalking Lori when I found this. Seemed like a good cure for my boredom so here you go. Now you too can be bored out of your skull while you read it,

1) Where do you write?

Couch, van, work, bed, and at the computer desk. I think I may have consistency problems.

2) When do you write?

Usually when I should be doing other things. Between customers at work, When my son is occupied with video games, and when I want an excuse to be antisocial

3) Planner or Pantser?

Pantser. Complete and utter pantser. It is all outlined in my head but I have been known to scrap 90% of it.

4) Coffee or tea?

Coke (cola not contraband substances)

5) Pen and paper, or computer?

Pen and paper. It sucks for speed but my OCD can't handle my abysmal typing skills and still make progress.

6) What gets you in the writing mood?

Reading good books, watching good movies, and getting bills in my mailbox.

7) What pulls you out of the writing mood?

Having people touch me. Seriously I am not a touchy feely person and it messes with my mojo.

8) What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever read/heard/received?

"That's what first drafts are for." is right up there with "It's only words, you can change them later." .Wow sounds really lame when you write it out.

9) Got muse?

No but I have a cat does he count? I have a lot of inspiration but I think we all do the difference is what we choose to do with it.

10) Who is the biggest supporter of your writing?

My husband, brother and mother, and myself of course. It seems silly to list myself but without the faith in my own abilities I would never get anything done. Other people having belief and faith is not what allows me to take the leap and potentially waste hours/days/weeks of my life I am never going to get back. It is believing in myself that gives me permission to do that.

11) Sound or Silence?

am pretty sure silence is an urban legend. I have heard of it but never experienced it for myself.

http://emilymurdoch.wordpress.com/2009/06/16/got-muse-a-writer-to-writer-meme/