Thursday, November 04, 2010

100 Word Challenge: Show Me Something

The 100 Word Challenge resides here, and could save you 15% on your car insurance. The word this week is "harsh", and my story is called "Show Me Something"









Her track suit was tight, electric blue, and it glowed where the sun hit it. She was blonde, of indeterminate age, and standing very close to me.

“What would you say, sir, “ she said with a posh British accent, “if I told you this all natural cleanser would get a coffee stain off of your shirt in 15 seconds, and if it didn’t, I’d give you 50 American dollars? All natural, no harsh abrasives, no scrubbing.”

She peered at me, her pale blue eyes searching me out, looking at my Dodgers t shirt and my eyes.

“Go ahead,” I said.

One hopes Mr. Larson's estate got PAID



Macy's is now running a commercial featuring one of the songs from "Rent", a musical that I have a positively unhealthy fondness for. I am trying to remember James Hetfield's dictum that, if I'm going to accuse someone of selling out, I should at least have had an offer made for something of mine first. (Implying that it's a little easier to sell out if someone is willing to make you set for life-it would be hard to turn down that kind of money.) So I will leave it with the wish that Macy's took care of the composer's family. (Jonathan Larson, the composer, died before the show opened on Broadway.)

And if you haven't seen "Rent", by all means please do so. It's marvelous.

Wednesday, November 03, 2010

NaNoWriMo: It's Everywhere You Want To Be

Current Word Count: 3906
Goal for Today: 5000



This is thrilling, isn't it?

Tuesday, November 02, 2010

NaNo UpDate

Current Word Count: 2181

Goal for End of Day: 3500-4000

Oh, my.




A movie is coming out based on Ernest Hemingway's unfinished novel, "The Garden of Eden". It certainly looks very adult, very passionate, very intriguing. The novel is odd-very Hemingway, in places, and very different in others. Of course, he died with it unfinished, so who knows what he really intended for it. But the movie, at first glance, seems true to the manuscript that remained. I wonder how successful a movie about grownups doing grownup things will be in 2010.

Sunday, October 31, 2010

What Do I Want?

What do I want?

I've been asked this question a lot lately. I've been asking it of myself, and other people have asked it of me.

I have given lots and lots of different answers, most of them at least partially in jest.


-$252,000(I don't know why that particular number. It would solve a lot of problems, though. Arguably, the only problem it doesn't solve is "owing someone $253,000.")

-World Peace

-Musical talent(If I have longed for one thing that I do not have above all else, it is that. I love music and it frustrates me to no end that I can't produce it.)

-The ability to pursue my passions and earn a living while doing it.

-Overwhelming physical attractiveness

-For this dang cold to go away already.

Among other things.

NaNo starts tomorrow-really, tonight at midnight. I'm going to do it again. I don't know if I'll finish-writing all 50000 words in 30 days. Nobody does until they try. If what comes out is less than nauseating and plausibly editable, I may just clean it up and self publish it. (Rest assured, if you are a regular reader, you won't miss out. I will pimp it like mad.)

Gretchen Cello says she writes to "heal humanity with art". Given her outrageous talent, she probably could. Kelly at Ordinary Art would probably laugh at that. She says stories should be as big as people. Hemingway said writing was an obsession- the only thing that hurt worse than writing was not writing.

I don't know what I believe.

Scratch that.

To quote Crash Davis, I believe in "the soul, the cock, the pussy, the small of a woman's back, the hanging curve ball, high fiber, good scotch, that the novels of Susan Sontag are self-indulgent, overrated crap. I believe Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. I believe there ought to be a constitutional amendment outlawing Astroturf and the designated hitter. I believe in the sweet spot, soft-core pornography, opening your presents Christmas morning rather than Christmas Eve and I believe in long, slow, deep, soft, wet kisses that last three days."

I don't know what I want. I have never been entirely sure who I am. I don't know what the next 30 days are going to be like. I don't know who will win the election on Tuesday.

But I know the ball drops at midnight.

Nanowrimo.org

Join us. Admission is free, and you only have to be slightly insane.