I have recently come to realize that my new main character, Maddie Dunn, is not a very good person. I think that's why she's so interesting to write; she can do things that I find morally questionable, and she's cool with it. She can rationalize wonderfully; I really like her for that. Her boyfriend, Trevor, was in danger of becoming boring, since he had such a strong moral center, but I've been working on a way to corrupt him without destroying what I love about him, so I think that's coming along, too.
Why am I writing this in my frikkin' blog? No clue. I've been really bad about posting regularly; my energies have been going into the new manuscript (and before that, the old manuscript). So, I bet no one is reading this as it's posted. Oh well; consider this blog public therapy, then.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
My Day Has Been Made
I got a partial request for Maddie Dunn from the first agent I queried!
Woo hoo!
My master plan for taking over the world is finally moving forward.
Woo hoo!
My master plan for taking over the world is finally moving forward.
Friday, July 3, 2009
Laugh-Out-Loud Funny
Check this out, especially if you are a writer:
http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-kickass-lessons-books-could-learn-from-the-movies/
Speaking of writing, I finished my second novel last week. This could be the one. It's called "Maddie Dunn;" watch for it!
http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-kickass-lessons-books-could-learn-from-the-movies/
Speaking of writing, I finished my second novel last week. This could be the one. It's called "Maddie Dunn;" watch for it!
Friday, May 22, 2009
Still Not Published
What's the deal? I think my book is really good, but I'm not getting any nibbles from agents. I think I will self-publish. If you actually read this, put a comment in the comment section with either an email or a mailing address, and I'll send a free copy to the first ten people (I may be foolishly optimistic in thinking that ten people read this) who reply. All I ask in return is that you send me a few lines of feedback once you have read it.
Friday, November 28, 2008
Free the YPMB!
The Game (always capitalized) between Yale and hahvud has a long and storied history, albeit most of the stories involve alcohol. Shortly after this past Saturday's Game, the YPMB alum network lit up with a rapid fire of emails. Tom Duffy, the director of Bands at Yale, had suspended the YPMB (Yale Precision Marching Band). The reason given was that one of the props used in the Yale halftime show at The Game, a replica of the Berlin wall, had numerous obscenities painted on it, notably "fuck harvard."
OK, it's rude. It's juvenile. But it's also something that Mr. Duffy should have checked prior to the actual show! If he had seen the prop and said "paint over the swear words," then he would have had a reason to punish the Band members, at least those who made the props, when they appeared in the show. However, punishing the entire Band for the work of a few is wrong, particularly when no warning was given. Also, by suspending the winter season, the actual people who made the props are not the ones being punished! The Band does not use props at the basketball and hockey games that Mr. Duffy is cancelling. Not one of the people being punished is responsible for the problem.
The other point I want to make about this is that I only know about this problem because Mr. Duffy got so upset. I'm in frikin' Istanbul! As far as I can tell from talking to friends who were there and from reading the YDN and New Haven Register articles, no one in the stands saw the obscene words. The only person complaining is Mr. Duffy himself; the first that any of us heard about this was in his own email. And what he's complaining about is language that can be seen on t-shirts throughout the stadium itself. This story apparently made the front page of the New Haven Register (as one person commented, it must have been a slow news day).
I care about this because I am a YPMB alum. I love the Band; it was a fantastic part of my Yale experience, and I am still friends with many of my fellow Bandies. Tom Duffy, please let it go.
For something that will cheer you up after this, please see: http://www.wherethehellismatt.com/
OK, it's rude. It's juvenile. But it's also something that Mr. Duffy should have checked prior to the actual show! If he had seen the prop and said "paint over the swear words," then he would have had a reason to punish the Band members, at least those who made the props, when they appeared in the show. However, punishing the entire Band for the work of a few is wrong, particularly when no warning was given. Also, by suspending the winter season, the actual people who made the props are not the ones being punished! The Band does not use props at the basketball and hockey games that Mr. Duffy is cancelling. Not one of the people being punished is responsible for the problem.
The other point I want to make about this is that I only know about this problem because Mr. Duffy got so upset. I'm in frikin' Istanbul! As far as I can tell from talking to friends who were there and from reading the YDN and New Haven Register articles, no one in the stands saw the obscene words. The only person complaining is Mr. Duffy himself; the first that any of us heard about this was in his own email. And what he's complaining about is language that can be seen on t-shirts throughout the stadium itself. This story apparently made the front page of the New Haven Register (as one person commented, it must have been a slow news day).
I care about this because I am a YPMB alum. I love the Band; it was a fantastic part of my Yale experience, and I am still friends with many of my fellow Bandies. Tom Duffy, please let it go.
For something that will cheer you up after this, please see: http://www.wherethehellismatt.com/
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Prop 8 -Everybody Settle Down!
Hi folks,
Like most progressives, I am disappointed that Prop 8 passed in California on Tuesday, banning gay marriage. I have been a supporter of full civil rights for the LGBT community for years, primarily through Lambda Legal, and this is a discouraging setback. However, I am further disheartened to see all of the HATE in the blogs, facebook sites, and rallies, particularly toward the Mormons.
Yes, you have valid feelings. Yes, you have the right to express them. However, these nasty attacks to NOT help the cause! Look at the successful civil rights movements in history. Obama is president-elect today because Martin Luther King was NOT hateful and violent! His inspiring example shamed white Americans into acting in accord with the best aspects of their characters and up to their high ideals. Ghandi did the same in India; the British public could not stomach being on the morally wrong side of the conflict. I believe that a separate Palestinian state would have come into being decades ago if Hamas had used non-violent measures.
Focus on the positive; don't frighten those who oppose you; it will only harden their opinions against you and scare others into joinig them. Use cold, hard legal action to deal with those who try to hurt you; if the LDS church has been acting as a political entity, take them to court and have their non-profit status revoked. Use advertising to sway opinions, and let every public action taken in the name of this cause reflect the best of our ideals.
The cause of gay marriage is the same as interracial marriage four decades ago, when that was illegal in half the states in the US. Basically, it comes down to this; who is the better judge of who can and cannot marry; the individual or the government? While there will be setbacks along the way, take comfort in the fact that this cause will eventually succeed, and future generations will look at the current situation with the same indignant sense of "why was that allowed?" that we share for the "back of the bus" days of segregation. Time is on our side; the younger generations of Americans are far more accepting of GLBT rights than their parents and grandparents, and more and more of them are voting every year. President Obama may have the opportunity to appoint up to three new Supreme Court justices in his first term alone, and the Democratic Congress will almost certainly approve his choices, who will likely be left-of-center, brillant, and extremely well-qualified.
So, take a deep breath, and let's behave intelligently, responsibly, and persuasively. It will all work out OK in the end.
Like most progressives, I am disappointed that Prop 8 passed in California on Tuesday, banning gay marriage. I have been a supporter of full civil rights for the LGBT community for years, primarily through Lambda Legal, and this is a discouraging setback. However, I am further disheartened to see all of the HATE in the blogs, facebook sites, and rallies, particularly toward the Mormons.
Yes, you have valid feelings. Yes, you have the right to express them. However, these nasty attacks to NOT help the cause! Look at the successful civil rights movements in history. Obama is president-elect today because Martin Luther King was NOT hateful and violent! His inspiring example shamed white Americans into acting in accord with the best aspects of their characters and up to their high ideals. Ghandi did the same in India; the British public could not stomach being on the morally wrong side of the conflict. I believe that a separate Palestinian state would have come into being decades ago if Hamas had used non-violent measures.
Focus on the positive; don't frighten those who oppose you; it will only harden their opinions against you and scare others into joinig them. Use cold, hard legal action to deal with those who try to hurt you; if the LDS church has been acting as a political entity, take them to court and have their non-profit status revoked. Use advertising to sway opinions, and let every public action taken in the name of this cause reflect the best of our ideals.
The cause of gay marriage is the same as interracial marriage four decades ago, when that was illegal in half the states in the US. Basically, it comes down to this; who is the better judge of who can and cannot marry; the individual or the government? While there will be setbacks along the way, take comfort in the fact that this cause will eventually succeed, and future generations will look at the current situation with the same indignant sense of "why was that allowed?" that we share for the "back of the bus" days of segregation. Time is on our side; the younger generations of Americans are far more accepting of GLBT rights than their parents and grandparents, and more and more of them are voting every year. President Obama may have the opportunity to appoint up to three new Supreme Court justices in his first term alone, and the Democratic Congress will almost certainly approve his choices, who will likely be left-of-center, brillant, and extremely well-qualified.
So, take a deep breath, and let's behave intelligently, responsibly, and persuasively. It will all work out OK in the end.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Thinking about politics again
I think the reason that a significant portion of Americans still believe Sarah Palin is qualified to be president if something happens to McCain is simply that they do not realize the depth of her ignorance. That is because they share it.
If you personally cannot name a Supreme Court case other than Roe v. Wade, then you do not realize that it is a big deal that she cannot, either.
If you do not know the name of a single foreign leader (many Americans can't name a single one), then you do not realize that the president needs to know them, as well as the structure of their governments, the timing and methods of their transfers of power (e.g., elections or successions), the names of the leading opposition figures, and their lead diplomats such as foreign ministers and ambassadors.
If you do not know the difference between Sunni and Shia, Hamas and Hesbollah, or even the difference between Muslim and Arab, then you do not even know the basic information that is required to understand our foreign policy in the Middle East, let alone create it.
If you do not understand how a short position works in a stock trade, or that sub-prime mortgages were bundled and re-sold as stock-like securities, then you are unable to understand the basics the current financial crisis, let alone find a solution.
If you think that we can pay for two wars, a huge financial emergency package or two, buy up billions of dollars of bad mortgages, pay for medicaid for the growing number of poor American families, as well as cover social security and medicare for the aging Boomer population WITHOUT RAISING TAXES, then you don't even understand basic math. That's just addition and subtraction; you don't even need to think about multiplication or fractions to understand!
Furthermore, if you think that increasing our national debt is an acceptable way to avoid that tax increase,then you don't understand that, in a very short time, PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD WILL STOP BUYING DOLLARS, because the dollar will not seem a safe and reliable currency. We've been spending more than we've been taking in in taxes for nearly a decade now, and the difference is made up by selling Treasury Bills, which are LOANS to the US government. If people think that the currency will be worth less in a few years, they will stop buying them, because they want thewir investment to be worth more. They will invest in the Euro or the British Pound or just hold on to a lot of gold. My fellow Americans, we currently owe more than 10 trillion dollars! That's:
$10,000,000,000,000.00
That's more than $33,000.00 for each citizen! The portion of the debt for my family of five (myself, my husband, and our three children) is more than $160,000.00.
WHO DOES THESE BOOKS!?!?!
Anyway, I started this post with the idea of sharing a funny video clip, but now I just feel like punching a few elected representatives.
Here it is anyway. Enjoy it, if you still can:
http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1831461
If you personally cannot name a Supreme Court case other than Roe v. Wade, then you do not realize that it is a big deal that she cannot, either.
If you do not know the name of a single foreign leader (many Americans can't name a single one), then you do not realize that the president needs to know them, as well as the structure of their governments, the timing and methods of their transfers of power (e.g., elections or successions), the names of the leading opposition figures, and their lead diplomats such as foreign ministers and ambassadors.
If you do not know the difference between Sunni and Shia, Hamas and Hesbollah, or even the difference between Muslim and Arab, then you do not even know the basic information that is required to understand our foreign policy in the Middle East, let alone create it.
If you do not understand how a short position works in a stock trade, or that sub-prime mortgages were bundled and re-sold as stock-like securities, then you are unable to understand the basics the current financial crisis, let alone find a solution.
If you think that we can pay for two wars, a huge financial emergency package or two, buy up billions of dollars of bad mortgages, pay for medicaid for the growing number of poor American families, as well as cover social security and medicare for the aging Boomer population WITHOUT RAISING TAXES, then you don't even understand basic math. That's just addition and subtraction; you don't even need to think about multiplication or fractions to understand!
Furthermore, if you think that increasing our national debt is an acceptable way to avoid that tax increase,then you don't understand that, in a very short time, PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD WILL STOP BUYING DOLLARS, because the dollar will not seem a safe and reliable currency. We've been spending more than we've been taking in in taxes for nearly a decade now, and the difference is made up by selling Treasury Bills, which are LOANS to the US government. If people think that the currency will be worth less in a few years, they will stop buying them, because they want thewir investment to be worth more. They will invest in the Euro or the British Pound or just hold on to a lot of gold. My fellow Americans, we currently owe more than 10 trillion dollars! That's:
$10,000,000,000,000.00
That's more than $33,000.00 for each citizen! The portion of the debt for my family of five (myself, my husband, and our three children) is more than $160,000.00.
WHO DOES THESE BOOKS!?!?!
Anyway, I started this post with the idea of sharing a funny video clip, but now I just feel like punching a few elected representatives.
Here it is anyway. Enjoy it, if you still can:
http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1831461
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)