Laura and I in Revo, Italy.
Thoughts on The Hunger Games
I don’t have a whole lot to say about The Hunger Games, but it won’t fit into a tweet, so I’m putting it here.
I tweeted that there was something about the writing that was weird to me. I think it was that the world felt uninhabited, to me. Like mannequins being used in a movie to fill out the crowd shots or having cardboard backgrounds. For instance, in the scene where Katniss has to show her stuff before the Gamemakers, not a single one of the Gamemakers is described. We don’t know how many there are there. We don’t see a single reaction from any of them, other than “people stumble back” and “a few are nodding in approval”. There’s no image. It’s just a vague sense that there are people there. It’s supposed to be kind of a big scene, I think, but it has no weight to it. We don’t see any monocles dropping from eyes. So that’s my main problem with the book: Big moments fall flat and/because the imagery is nonexistent a lot of the time.
I think it’ll make a better movie than a book.
Now I will read Catching Fire.
I’ve been playing the Draw Something iOS game the past few days. It’s basically Pictionary on a phone. Anyway, I’m really proud of these raccoons I drew.
Poetry.
Additional line by Laura MacKenzie:
Sweater, trousers, briefs and hat,
woollen socks and a fine cravat.
Trying out the old split screen trick.
Ungodly Trifles - a rambling blog post about how I “finished” my novel called Ungodly Trifles
I am “finished” my novel, in the sense that I wrote the whole thing from beginning to end and have begun the process of showing it to other people. I am not finished in the sense that I’m done working it on it. Because there’s still plenty of work to do.
I started writing Ungodly Trifles around October 18, 2007. I’ve been working on it off and on since then. Half the book’s been scrapped in that time, and I’ve written and rewritten all over the place.
I wrote the ending while Laura and I were in Europe. I don’t know exactly when it was, but we were on a train. I didn’t count the novel as finished at that time because I knew I had to write new chapters around the beginning and end of the book, and heavily rewrite other parts and edit a whole lot of the book.
And so I completed that writing, rewriting and editing mission on February 8, 2012 at 11:33 pm, in a parking lot looking out onto Halifax Harbour.
But now it’s “finished”. It still needs a lot of work, but it’s all there. For those keeping track, that means that it took me four years, three months and 21 days to write it.
Laura and Nina are the first two people in the WHOLE WORLD who get to read it. They will contribute the first wave of feedback and criticism and editing suggestions. Then, my friends Cameron and Kathleen have signed up for round two. I’m glad to have people who are so eager to read the novel and help with making it better.
It’s weird and exciting to have Ungodly Trifles being read by other people, because save for a couple of really early chapters that I had floating around, I haven’t spoken a word about what the novel contains to anyone, really. It’s just been me in a vacuum.
But last night, Laura and I talked for an hour or two about all the characters and the various events of the book and who she likes and dislikes and why she likes or dislikes them, and it’s very cool to hear about the world and characters I created from the point of view of someone who is not me.
She’s not finished reading it yet, but she’s really close.
And now I’ll stop rambling and I assure you I will write better blog posts later.
In addition to using Tumblr to host my website and blog (which you are now looking at), I have also been using Tumblr for its intended purpose: reblogging and junk like that. I’ve been reblogging things like the above. Follow my reblog blog over here!
Latest video at Junior Pigeon: This chicken recipe calls for one full pound of butter. And it’s delicious.
The vast majority of tourists visiting Venice never make it to the outer islands of Murano and Burano, which is unfortunate because Burano may be more beautiful than Venice. I’ve been to Venice three or four times and I’d never visited Burano until this past summer. I love how colourful the buildings are.
Blue cardigan and Muppet shirt (Animal shirt, more specifically): match made in heaven.
Snow… AND HAIL?! Damned Halifax weather. Biggest hailstone I’ve ever seen.
12 Steps To Success In ANY Field
By Vincenzo Ravina
1. DO something that matters. Drop the chaff from your work-life and focus on the good-times.
2. Leverage your social media CLOUT.
3. Make the most of what’s there by RAISING your profile.
4. MODULATE your vocabulary to include the most popular Google keywords, like ‘cats’ or ‘funny cats’.
5. STOP to smell the roses. Write reviews of how yesterday’s roses compare to today’s roses versus the roses from your childhood and ENGAGE with your SOCIAL AUDIENCE.
6. BE daring.
7. Dress the part. Model your wardrobe after what you see in your mindstream for what you’re projecting to BE in five years.
8. FIND your niche by choosing two things you like and mashing them together. For example: If you like mayonnaise and guitars, trying packing a guitar full of mayonnaise and then selling it to like-minded people on Etsy.
9. ENGAGE with your LIFE-SOCIAL MAYONNAISE GUITAR CONSUMER-FRIENDS.
10. Convert BUSINESS CONTACTS into LIFE CONTACTS.
11. DEVELOP your mantra. Mine is ‘BE successful’.
12. Make a BUDGET for supporting others in your SHARE-CIRCLE. REAP the benefits of success and share them with your SHARE-CIRCLE, like me.
Take these tips into your life and watch your LIFE-PROFIT increase tenfold. Have these tips worked for you?
