Try some; it's good.
Wherein I ramble about books, movies,
music, TV shows, my life, and occasionally, hot emo boys.
My Books
Current WiP
My ValentineGuide sequel = DONE
|
Monday, April 23, 2007
presumptuous bastards
This is a mini-rant, mixed with a whine. So cut yourself a slice of your favorite cheese and listen up.
First of all, who the hell does Google (and other websites) think they are? I'm sick and tired of having my preferences changed without my consent. It seems like every time I click to a site, they decide I want all my content in Spanish because they recognize my ISP is out of Mexico. Yes, I live in Mexico, but it doesn't mean I want all my online content in Spanish. Why don't they give me a choice about it? Or better yet, let me change it myself, if I need it done. Fact of the matter is, I do okay in Spanish, but it's not my native language. I write in English. I do business in English. So why are they making me waste my time, struggling to find the way to switch it back when I didn't switch it in the first place?
That makes me feel ill at ease about how much information is readily available just from accessing a site. I click and they know I'm looking at their page from Mexico, using Prodigy Infinitum, so they decide to change my subscriptions without asking me? WTF is that? I'm starting to think websites know entirely too much. They're crossing the line in trying to anticipate my needs. I don't want some web-bot doing that, just like I don't want my online content translated without my say so. It's often like that when people think they're doing you a favor -- by not asking first, half the time they mess up what you had going.
Moving on to the whine portion of our program. Got your cheese handy? Good. My WIP isn't going well. I'm not feeling it, I don't want to write it right now. It's not under contract or anything yet, so I have no obligation to it. I really want to do a sequel to Falling or Good Touch, at this point. I was trying to be smart in a business sense. Guide is sold, my editors want a sequel telling Darnell and Maya's story. Said they'll contract on a partial. The other two books aren't sold, don't know if they will be. I was going by the "bird in hand beats two in the bush" edict, but my muse thinks this is a lame-ass idea.
When do you guys put a project on hold and move on? Do you force yourself to slog on through something you're not feeling? Or do you follow your muse wherever she leads? I could use some advice.
First of all, who the hell does Google (and other websites) think they are? I'm sick and tired of having my preferences changed without my consent. It seems like every time I click to a site, they decide I want all my content in Spanish because they recognize my ISP is out of Mexico. Yes, I live in Mexico, but it doesn't mean I want all my online content in Spanish. Why don't they give me a choice about it? Or better yet, let me change it myself, if I need it done. Fact of the matter is, I do okay in Spanish, but it's not my native language. I write in English. I do business in English. So why are they making me waste my time, struggling to find the way to switch it back when I didn't switch it in the first place?
That makes me feel ill at ease about how much information is readily available just from accessing a site. I click and they know I'm looking at their page from Mexico, using Prodigy Infinitum, so they decide to change my subscriptions without asking me? WTF is that? I'm starting to think websites know entirely too much. They're crossing the line in trying to anticipate my needs. I don't want some web-bot doing that, just like I don't want my online content translated without my say so. It's often like that when people think they're doing you a favor -- by not asking first, half the time they mess up what you had going.
Moving on to the whine portion of our program. Got your cheese handy? Good. My WIP isn't going well. I'm not feeling it, I don't want to write it right now. It's not under contract or anything yet, so I have no obligation to it. I really want to do a sequel to Falling or Good Touch, at this point. I was trying to be smart in a business sense. Guide is sold, my editors want a sequel telling Darnell and Maya's story. Said they'll contract on a partial. The other two books aren't sold, don't know if they will be. I was going by the "bird in hand beats two in the bush" edict, but my muse thinks this is a lame-ass idea.
When do you guys put a project on hold and move on? Do you force yourself to slog on through something you're not feeling? Or do you follow your muse wherever she leads? I could use some advice.
Labels: SBD, whiny writerness
Totally get the rant. Google.ca has attempted to make me French by times. WTF?
As for slogging, never. The few times I've tried to keep at something I'm not feeling its all wasted effort because I wind up deleting 99% of it. For me, running with something I 'feel' keeps the 'muse' or whatever ya wanna call it, limber and makes it far easier to go back to what wasn't working and maybe pick it up in a fresh direction.
Might have to rethink that someday if I'm ever lucky enough to have a deadline to write to, but for now I can indulge myself.
After a lot of emo-angsty soulsearching and conversation with my long-suffering husband, who somehow managed not to say "I told you so" we agree I need to write the Touch series. All six books. The first one is done, the rest are titled. Even when I'm supposed to be working on My Valentine, I often find myself plotting the storyarcs for this series.
Today I'm calling it. My Valentine is getting put on hold. I'll finish it someday, but Corine comes first.
But I had to do it. So I forced myself. Submerged myself in the stories, listened only to music I associated with the plots and characters, didn't let up until I'd written X number of words every day.
My crit partners tell me they love what I produced, so I'm not sure if my lack of joy in the work shows too much. Both stories are certainly much darker than what came before, but I suspect that's just where my head is at lately. I'll need a little more time to figure out if I shortchanged the work by being cruel to my muse.
Bottom line: sometimes ya gotta do what ya gotta do. But only you can decide if you really, really "gotta."
Give it a few days, try to work through it. If nothing comes in a week, put it on pause.
I reckon if you're feeling excited about a certain project - go for it, even if it might not be the most sensible choice - that feeling of enthusiasm and excitement is the best bit of writing and it'd be a pity to risk losing it!
(the SENSIBLE thing to do would be to quit writing and go and study brain surgery - you know, something easy, definite, and with a guarantee of something to show for all your struggles)
I get those moods too. This weekend, I went on a gi-enormous Monk glom and watched like 1/4 of season four. But then, I was trying to force myself to write a book that didn't light my fire. Once I started Touch and Go today, it really flowed. So that's what I need to be working on, for sure.
For those who care, these are the TV shows that make me want to waste my time sitting on my butt watching them:
Bones
Heroes
Monk
Psych
Supernatural
Huh, they're all one-word titles. Does that mean something?
Okay, now on to finishing stories. My rule for myself is not to start anything new until I've hit The End of the WIP's rough draft. That's so I don't keep piling up aborted stories, as I used to do. That said, I'm neither published nor under contract. Following the sale doesn't seem like an illogical plan, either. I guess I'm no help. Sorry. =)
Currently I'm finishing a short for an anthology, co-writing a novel with a friend, and editing an older full-length novel. When those three projects are done (actually the co-written thing will be ongoing for a long time, but we're passing it back and forth), I'll return to the project I didn't want to be distracted from--the new full-length novel. And maybe after having had enforced time away from it, I'll find new insight.
My philosophy of writing is "Nothing is ever wasted." You can always return to an older project, re-vamp it and send it back out there. If something is contracted, I'll find a way to chip away at the work even if I'm not "in the mood", but at the same time I'll certainly allow myself to embark on the new, cool project that's taken my fancy.