I posted my wee interview with John back in November.
He’s kept in touch with me through Facebook and let me know when his signings were. Though I had to miss his Coles appearance, I wanted to get out a meet John face-to-face at some point.
Last Monday was my day.
John at the Fromagerie
John set up in the Fromagerie Elgin from 5:30 to 7 pm to sell and sign copies of The Second Lives of Honest Men.
We chatted for a bit about social media and self-publishing.
Over the holidays, Phil and I rented a few movies on cable.
Here’s what we saw, and what I thought of them 🙂
Pacific RimPhil and I were looking forward to seeing this, not enough to pay to see it in the theatre, but looking forward nonetheless.
We both enjoyed it.
The movie had no pretensions. It knew what it was and played to those strengths. It was a great “live action” version of some of our favourite anime.
We also appreciated the “tips of the hat” to what’s gone before. Easter eggs are hidden throughout for the geek who has memorized some of the best lines from the science fiction hits of the 70’s and 80’s. Phil and I enjoy films full of homage, like Shawn of the Dead.
I put live action in quotes because I know there was a lot of CGI and green screen work, but the effect was impressive.
I agree with K.M. Weiland in her post series of months ago when she had seen the movie in the theatre: Mako’s character arc and journey were the most interesting. The wounded warrior and the old war horse were okay, but offered nothing new or riveting for the story.
How the three characters were tied together was interesting, however, and something to be remembered for future storytelling efforts of my own. Coincidences must be significant to the plot to transcend the basic technique.
Phil and I had both enjoyed District 9 and were again looking forward to seeing Elysium.
We both enjoyed it, but were a bit disappointed.
The protagonist is much more self-centred in this film than in District 9, to the point that he actually walks out on the woman he once loved, and still might, and her child, leaving them in dire circumstances.
Yes, he’s dying, but there’s no way to paint such douchebaggery with a heroic brush.
As a result, his sacrifice rings a little hollow in the end because even he knows he deserved it.
Also, the villain was a little one-dimensional. There was insufficient backstory to justify her stance in opposition to both her government and the earthbound poor and nothing to engage the viewer. In that sense, District 9 was much more satisfying.
The concept was intriguing, though. Lesson for writing: an intriguing concept isn’t enough.
Kick Ass 2We thought the original Kick Ass was, well, kick ass, but we’d heard some less than positive things about the sequel and were uncertain about it.
It wasn’t bad, but the original movie ended with both Kick Ass and Hit Girl settling into a “normal” life, so discovering that Mindy was still obsessed with crime-fighting didn’t make sense.
For her storyline, if the writers had started off with her failed attempts to fit in with the popular girls and then introduced the Motherf@#&%r’s vendetta, it might have been more satisfying. If she honours her promise to Marcus from the outset and only breaks it when forced to, it would have been more consistent for her character.
Having her prowl the night streets and only agree to Marcus’s rules “for Daddy’s sake” doesn’t make sense. Big Daddy would have wanted Hit Girl to continue the crusade regardless. Her refusal to help Kick Ass when the Mother f@#&%r threatens him also doesn’t make sense.
The protagonist and the antagonist’s character arcs were less interesting. Kick Ass was simply interested in taking up the mantle again and fulfilling the promise of his name. This switched to a wish to survive the antagonist’s “more money than brains” approach.
The antagonist, though understandably seeking revenge, was such a tête soufflé that it was hard to take him seriously. His complete lack of awareness and resulting ineptitude (case in point, the “fertilizer bombs”) was irritating at best.
Lots of lessons here, most having to do with character consistency, dynamic storylines for all, and creating an antagonist that inspires fear rather than ridicule.
I’d watched this movie on my way out to Vancouver in October, but was willing to sit through it again when Phil rented it.
We were skeptical about “rebooting” the franchise. Phil in particular, because the original Star Trek (the series, not the movies) was part of his childhood. He was pleasantly surprised by the story and the performances in the first movie, though he was distinctly uncomfortable with the Spock/Uhura romance. In his mind, Uhura belonged with Scottie.
Again, Into Darkness surprised. The reinvention of Khan and putting the whole series of events before the crew’s “five-year mission” was, well-done, overall.
I appreciate J.J. Abrams’ vision with respect to remaking the movies for a new generation. He definitely makes a good movie with a balance of action and character development.
In this last case, the lessons are all positive in nature.
Have you watched any movies recently from which you drew lessons about the art or craft of writing? Do you agree or disagree with my assessments of the above movies? Please share in the comments below.
Just a quick note about work.
chaos – wikimedia commons
A scant three weeks after beginning my second acting consultant position, it has ended.
Once again, my acting was based on a series of circumstances. Think of them as dominoes, if you will. One of the dominoes decided not to fall, and so I am once again an advisor on the training team.
It’s been three frenetic weeks of planning next fiscal’s learning for not one, but two different business lines, creating third quarter reports, weekly reports, financial reports, etc.
Frankly, I’m a bit relieved. Though I had made the determination not to take things quite so seriously and not to be such a perfectionist about my work, I just can’t do less than my absolute best. This was why I needed a leave after my year and several months in the position. The way things were going, I’d probably need another leave in the spring after my acting was scheduled to end (March 31, 2014).
My pool has now officially expired, however, and I haven’t seen another posting for consultant that I can apply for. I did apply for a senior project officer, but I haven’t heard anything from that application yet.
As a result of that one domino’s misplacement, the training team is now in a bit of a bind. Due to a significant amount of hiring, my manager has over thirty staff to supervise. And all the training and monitoring to arrange. And several other projects to implement before March 31.
She’s advised me that she’ll be leaning on me heavily, so I’m sure things will be interesting. I’ll let you know what I can in the coming weeks.
Next week, I start mentoring monitors and assisting in the design of several action plans.
The week after, I’m away observing the Advisor Curriculum course so that I’ll be able to train it in the future.
After that, we’ll see how things go.
So. We’ve just been through a record-setting cold snap up here.
On Thursday morning, it was minus 36 degrees Celsius with a wind chill that made it feel like minus 47.
That was the coldest, but the whole week was like that. On New Year’s Day, I didn’t take Nu for her normal walk. On Thursday, we just went into the vacant lot across the road and even then, she was limping with the cold on the way back.
Other areas had it worse, I know. Timmins and Montreal experienced wind chills of minus 52 and minus 50 respectively.
Still, that was cold.
Thankfully, we didn’t have an ice storm, like Toronto, or the resultant power outages.
Today, we were minus 4 degrees. Anyone who lives in a seasonal climate knows that in the winter, when it warms up, that’s when you get the precipitation.
So we had snow.
Environment Canada and the Weather Network predicted 10-15 centimetres. We had at least 20. Tomorrow, it will be minus 7 and they’re calling for another 10-15.
We don’t know where we’re going to put it all.
Corner lot. Big driveway.
This is not a bitching post. These are facts. You can check ‘em if you like.
I’m just sayin’. It’s WINTER up here folks!
That is all.
Lookit the SNOW
Last week, I wrote about my accomplishments in 2013.
Now I’m going to write a bit about what I want to accomplish in 2014.
First, I have to tell you about a few things I picked up.
One of the rewards from my NaNoWriMo win was a 50% discount on Scrivener. So I finally bought the software after being on the fence about it for a couple of years. Jack Whyte’s commendation of the program for research purposes was one of the things that tipped the scales in the favour of purchase. The discount didn’t hurt either.
I’m still working my way through the tutorial and sorting out exactly which project(s) I’m going to use it for, but rest assured, I’ll tell everyone about my experiences when I do start using it. I know I won’t have anything to add to the conversation considering the cajillions who already use Scrivener, but I’ll put in a few words.
A few months ago, Jenny Hansen discussed how she uses OneNote to support her writing. I’m running a Microsoft box, much to my husband’s discontent, and I have the program, so I figured, why not use it? At first blush, it seems that several of the features of Scrivener and OneNote overlap, but we’ll see how they work together, and if they behave themselves.
I have Evernote too, but I find I’m using the webclipper a lot more then anything else. Again, we’ll see how the various programs work together. Or not.
Writing progress worksheet, ready to go
I nabbed Jamie Raintree’s Writing Progress Template. I spent some time customizing it to my projects, and we’ll see how it goes.
I loved the ‘ding’ moment I had when I finished NaNo. I’ve also been following Dean Wesley Smith’s Writing in Public challenge. I think that I write quite a bit and it would be nice to see that progress reflected in concrete form.
I’ve been having fun with the technology. Yes. That’s the geek part.
Finally, I just purchased the Writer’s Digest Guide to Literary Agents 2014. Guess what I’m going to do with that?
I took a bit of a break after November’s triumph. I didn’t stop writing altogether, but I focused on getting my last original short story of the year completed and submitted. Oh! And while we’re on the subject – I managed to write or revise and submit 13 stories (3 of them on Dec 31, but I did it) thus meeting Kasie Whitener’s Just Write Challenge! W00t!
I also kept up with my blogging.
This weekend I’m spending time getting things organized and as of Monday, I’ll be back in the writing swing of things.
This is going to be the first year that I’ve worked on so many things at once. It’s going to be a challenge, but I think I’m up to it. I’ve always been pretty good at switching focus between priorities, and I hope that moving between projects will keep the work, and my perspective on it, fresh.
All of the bits and pieces I’ve purchased or obtained (above) will help me on my way.
I think that being so devoted to one project for so long has been a bit of a detriment. I need to diversify.
I’ll let you know how it all goes.
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 13,000 times in 2013. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 5 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.
I think it’s important to recognize all the good things one accomplishes. With regard to my writing, 2013 has been a banner year. I haven’t seen its like in … well a very long time.
You may remember way back at the beginning of the year what I wrote about resolutions, how I’m not fond of them, and how I prefer to make reasonable goals so I can have a chance to reach them.
It worked a charm for me.
I wrote four (soon to be five) new short stories this year and revised six others for submission. This has resulted in three fiction publications (one paid), and another three poetry publications.
While the goal of Kasie Whitener’s Just Write Challenge was to write thirteen stories in 2013, I think that eleven was pretty darn good, considering the other things that I’ve accomplished.
I sent Initiate of Stone for a content edit in January and revised the whole thing twice. I’ve now sent the manuscript to select beta-readers and have sent it off to one agent and will ship it to one editor shortly.
In the mean time, I started on a middle grade fantasy, Gerod and the Lions, and drafted Figments, a YA fantasy, during NaNoWriMo.
Since the end of November, I’ve given myself a bit of a break. I’ve written a crap-load this year (because in addition to the 11 short stories, poetry, revisions, and the 50k+ draft, I’ve also tried to keep things rolling with my blog) and felt the distinct need for a rest before diving back into things in 2014.
Though I was not able to meet my goal of revising my blog (reader response seemed to indicate it wasn’t a priority) or moving to self-hosted WordPress, those goals remain on the list. This time last year, I managed to accrue 100 followers on my blog. Now I’m over 222. While I’m still considering a newsletter, I continue to hold off. Until I have a novel out, I’m not certain a newsletter will have much value.
This year I also attended the Canadian Authors Association’s (CAA’s) CanWrite! Conference (June) and the Surrey International Writers’ Conference (October). Both were amazing experiences, and I learned a huge amount from the sessions at both conferences.
Currently, though my services haven’t been much requested of recent months, I’m sitting on the CAA’s Program Committee, and so putting some of my efforts into not only the CanWrite! Conference, but also, the Literary Awards, the Roving Writers Program, and other events.
As a reward for all my hard work, I’m going to be investing in Scrivener, thanks to the NaNo
Scrivener (software) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
reward discount, and purchasing the 2014 Guide to Literary Agents.
As far as what I’m aiming for in the New Year, stay tuned. I’ll have a post on more reasonable goals coming up next week.
books for sale! (Photo credit: bookgrl)
In the meantime, please share your accomplishments. It really helps to put them down in writing. I think when you see everything you’ve managed over the last year in print, you’ll be amazed. I was.
Then celebrate! You were fantastic! And you know what? So was I 😉
Sorry, couldn’t help the Doctor Who reference. Geek girls rule!
LEGO Doctor Who (Collection) (Photo credit: ChocolateFrogs)
And other dogaliciousness 🙂
Yes, this is a pupdate.
Nuala’s doing well these days, but has persistent issues with her allergies/ears that have resulted in a second aural haematoma … in her other ear.
Let’s back-pedal to several years ago.
Nu was going bald in places. There were several hairless patches on her chest. She would also fuss incessantly with her ears and her paws. The vet diagnosed food allergies and after a summer of Phil and me making Nu’s food, we switched to Science Diet z/d, which is a hypoallergenic formula food.
The fur grew back and though not completely alleviated, Nu’s snarf sessions with her feet weren’t keeping up us at night.
When she was diagnosed with kidney issues earlier this year, we switched to k/d, the kidney formula diet. Since then, Nuala’s been scratching at her ears more and back to chewing at her feet long enough that wherever she sits or lies to perform this operation gets soaked with saliva.
I know. Ew.
Not long after the food switch, Nu gave herself the first haematoma in her right ear. That healed up after a month or so, but now her ear is twisted and bent. At the time, the vet said he couldn’t find anything wrong with her ears per se, just a persistent inflammation. So he prescribed some drops. He gave us the economy size so that if her ears flared up again, we could treat it.
Just a couple of weeks ago, Nu gave herself a second haematoma in the left ear and we were out of drops. When we went in to get her latest batch of food, we asked for some more ear drops. These were given without too much of an argument.
So now my pup will have two bent and twisted ears, akin to the condition called cauliflower ears sometimes seen in humans. It’s kind of sad because she did have lovely, perky ears (see header). I’m sure it will have some affect on her future hearing and possibly the frequency of inflammation. Dogs ears are the way they are for a reason.
Nu in profile
I wrote a poem about my snow-loving Nu and posted it to Facebook. People seemed to like it, so here it is for all of you:
A dog’s ode to winter (on the occasion of the first persistent snow of 2013)
Winter, I want to roll in you
—on my back,
paws in air,
body a-waggle—
I want to get your scent
all over me.
I want to bury my nose
in your fluffy layers,
find the dainties hidden there
—this is where the garbage goes,
racoon and raven
tear it open,
leave these treats for
meeeeeee!
I want to lay down,
fold my front legs back, and
push my head into your depths using
my back paws;
slide down a hill on my belly;
shatter thrown balls of snow;
follow the scent of mouse burrowing;
bark at the strange, frozen
tower that appears in the
front yard.
Winter, you are love to a
black dog to whom the
summer sun means suffering, but
not after a thaw.
Then, all is ice, hard, and
crystalline, packed snow into which
no nose may thrust.
Let us not think of thaws and
hardness; for now, you are soft,
white, and mine!
Floppy ears, wagging tail, the new kung fu puppy movie 🙂
Today was, in case you didn’t notice (you could be forgiven for missing it), the shortest day of the year, the winter solstice. It’s also the first day of winter, though you wouldn’t know it up here in the Sudz. It’s been snowing and cold since mid-November. It usually is, this time of year, but that doesn’t mean I can’t complain about it.
Now we face the longest night, but you know what? Things get better from here on out.
You’ll notice that the days start getting longer again and we start that long stretch to spring.
Christmas is coming, and with it the latest Doctor Who special 🙂
New Year’s is coming, with all its promise for another fresh start.
We actually have a chance to appreciate the people we’ve taken for granted all year, or the activities we’ve cut back on so that we could work/get the promotion/pursue various important things.
We can put things in perspective.
We just went out to celebrate my mom’s birthday. It was yesterday, but we celebrated tonight because everyone’s off. I was a terrible kid and forgot to wish Mom happy birthday yesterday. I took her shopping this afternoon. I don’t think it really made up for the lapse.
The 20th of December was also the day, twenty years ago, that Phil asked me to marry him.
We were getting ready to take my mom out, and I’d just gotten off work. I was a life guard back then, and I was rushing to get changed. I noticed that every time I turned around, Phil was there, but I whirling-dervished around him until I turned and nearly tripped over him.
Phil was kneeling. I was stunned until I realized what was going on. Then, I was all *amazeface*! He asked my parents’ permission and everything.
I’m always rushing at this time of year, and I have to remember to slow down and appreciate the people in my life.
Slow. Down. Appreciate. People.
Don’t be a dervish douche. Don’t forget your mom’s birthday. Trust me. It sucks.
It’s scientific.
Winter solstice (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Because of the tilt of the earth’s axis and the way we orbit the sun, we have seasons. The solstices and equinoxes delineate the divisions of the year.
It is a fact that the winter solstice is the occasion of the shortest day of the year and the longest night. In the northern hemisphere, anyway.
It’s pagan.
Well, neo-pagan, at least.
Seemingly on the opposite side of the spectrum, the solstices and equinoxes form some of the pagan holy days. In case you haven’t been following me for that long, my spiritual inclination is agnostic with pagan leanings.
Agnosticism, according to Richard Dawkins, is the worst form of self-delusion in that we aspire to atheism, but can’t quite commit because of the niggling doubt that maybe there is a God …
Well, Phil is atheist, and we’ve discussed religion at length. I think that the atheist position is very sensible. I also acknowledge that there is a lot that science hasn’t made clear for us yet, and while I think that the existence or non-existence of God is not one of the questions that science can answer for us, I think that there is enough mystery left in the universe that the answers science will provide us will be surprising.
I like to keep an open mind.
Besides which, I’m a fiction writer. A fantasy fiction writer at that. Gods, goddesses and magic are kind of what I’m all about.
I’ve studied shamanism in some depth (though not, I would say, comprehensively) and I’m fascinated by the ancient sites and their purported use in astronomy and astrology, time-keeping, the precession of the stars, and the observation of the sun.
I could geek out on ancient cosmology all day and all night.
English: Highworth cemetery at the winter solstice The shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere falls between the 20th and 23rd December depending on the year. In 2007 the solstice occurred on the 22nd with the period between sunrise and sunset being 7 hours 49 minutes and 40 seconds. The sun set in London at 15.54 today, 22 minutes after this picture was taken. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
It’s quiet.
Because a lot of people travel to visit relatives at this time of year, the city (small, yes, but a city nonetheless) grows quiet. In the morning when I’m walking the dog, I can feel the increased stillness, the anticipation of a world holding its breath for the next sunrise.
It’s about light.
This is why we have so many festivals of lights at this time of year. We’re fighting back the darkness, recalling the light, celebrating with our wee candles in the night, shielded against the wind.
I prefer strings of LED lights on the stair rails outside my house, though. I plug ‘em in the night before solstice and don’t unplug ‘em until New Year’s Day.
I’d just like to wish everyone, regardless of your religious or spiritual convictions or devotions, the happiest of holiday (holy day) seasons.
And ‘cause I was raised Christian and still celebrate with my nearest and dearest: Merry Christmas!
The Ren & Stimpy Show (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
To really get the effect of the title of this post, allow me to coax you back to the classic Ren & Stimpy episode, Space Madness. If you’ve never seen it before, take a few minutes and watch. I’ll wait.
Ok, now that you’ve had a taste, you have to say “work madness” the way Commander Hoek says “space madness” in the ep. Seriously. You have to say it the same way or this won’t work half as well.
I think the last time I blogged about work was at the beginning of October, when my self-funded leave started. Though a fifteen-month stint as a regional training coordinator (consultant) was, strictly speaking, the reason I needed that leave, I am grateful to my employer that such options are available.
When I feel the spectre of burnout or depression, I know I have the means to fend them off.
My leave was five weeks of heaven spent focusing on the art and craft of my writing. I attended the Surrey International Writers’ Conference, and participated in my first National Novel Writing Month, which I won 🙂
I returned to work November 19, which was a Tuesday, and before I’d even settled in, learned that I was to start delivering training the following Monday, training that I hadn’t delivered in about two and a half years (!) It was in Sudbury at least, so I wouldn’t have to travel.
I did spend the rest of the week prepping and revising the training material, though, and somewhere in there found the time to complete my travel request for something else coming up (more on that in a few paragraphs).
Say it with me now: work madness.
This was something that had come up in the five weeks I’d been off. Though I’d only heard the rumours before I left on my leave, I knew the powers that be were interested in “stabilizing” one of the processing positions. This meant hiring, and a lot of it.
The November 25th to December 3rd training was the result of hiring from an established internal pool of candidates.
After the training, the last two days of which I completed solo, I had to work some overtime to get the marking done and summary reports prepared. Four and a half hours added onto my seven and a half hour day. It was a loooong day. The rest of that week was devoted to further revisions—a lot of errors emerged during the delivery—and facilitating a conference call as a follow up to a self-study module.
While I was off, I was recruited to participate in a “training for trainers” session in team dynamics. The idea was to develop some regional expertise so that operational teams could assume delivery of the course. As only of a few certified trainers in the province, I was invited.
It’s nice to be needed.
This would be from December 9th to 13th in Toronto (yes, I know a couple of people who may be displeased to learn that I was in Toronto and didn’t tell them, but really, I was so busy, I wouldn’t have had time—still, my apologies).
Then the next sessions of stabilization training in Mississauga and London were to begin December 16th through to Christmas Eve. I was tentatively scheduled for London. These would all be new hires.
This training would require me cancelling some leave that had already been approved, and missing out on my family’s Christmas celebration, which we hold on Christmas Eve. Further, it would require the approval of some hefty overtime so that I could travel home on Christmas Day.
Work madness!
Still, I was prepared to do it. Fortunately, I didn’t have to.
While I delivered training and stood on tenterhooks waiting for plans to solidify—they weren’t even finished with the hiring process yet!—another person was given the acting assignment so she could do the training.
Plus, there were so many people being given acting assignments to cover the training and monitoring for the fifty or so new hires coming into the organization, that I might have to resume my consulting duties as regional training coordinator.
This may require some ‘splaining.
My substantive, or permanent position, is with the operational training team for Ontario. We’d been told for years that our positions were “overstaffed.” This meant that as team members retired or moved into other positions, that there would be no back-filling of staff. We’d have to make do with less.
Prior to my joining the team in 2009, there had been fifteen or sixteen trainers. By the time I joined, we were twelve. Then ten. When I accepted the regional training coordinator position, there were eight trainers left. Then two more received assignments and another was affected by business transformation, leaving five.
Shortly after I returned to the team in September, another of our number received an acting assignment elsewhere. Now that I’m departing again, the number of permanent staff on the team is down to four. That’s to serve all of the training needs of staff in our business line in the whole province. Really?
Though being regional training coordinator wore me out, I was nonetheless disappointed when my assignment ended and I returned to the training team, especially when I learned that the reason I’d likely never get a consultant-level position again was geographic rather than merit-based.
Though the consultant pool I’m in has been extended through to December 31, 2013, this may be my only chance at a consultancy again, ever.
On the team that houses the regional training coordinators, there have been changes as well. The manager has received an acting position as a director and the person taking his place is also acting.
Two other team members have received assignments off the team, and now, due to the number of acting trainers and monitors in this stabilization exercise, another of them will become a second acting manager for the training team.
Though they too had been told that no positions would be back-filled, there won’t be anyone left on the team who’s done the regional training coordinator gig who doesn’t already have a full plate.
And so I’m heading back.
Altogether now: WORK MADNESS!
I’m going to adjust my expectations of the position. I know now the kind of chaos I’m going to be parachuted into the middle of. And the planning process I worked at so dilligently last year? It hasn’t even started yet.
I think I’m going to start every day with the Serenity Prayer.
Are there other projects I’m going to be involved in, work-wise? Yes. I’m going to be observing and potentially delivering the Business Expertise Curriculum (though I never received the training myself—this may be my only opportunity to take it in) in January and (possibly) February.
I may be training the team dynamics workshop too, though there are currently no plans on the table for it. Things shouldn’t be as insane as they were last year, however. I’ve already been certified. I won’t be going back there again.
In other news, the training certification program has departed our internal college for another training provider. So, no next steps for Mellie. No assessment, no mentoring, and no training. Unless I get some kind of in with that other training provider. I become eligible to apply to them in March. We’ll see how that works out…
So that’s my work madness.
What’s yours?
Always Looking Up 