Updates

The Johnny Depp obsession continues, Felis Valiante fights with Dancing For Ribbons for prominence in my head, I used the dreaded Index Cards for the first time ever, and mt PC does not like Holly Lisle's website.

Yeah, so those are the headlines. I currently have a list of every Johnny Depp film that he has been in, so I'm going to work my way through each one (I love the internet, purveyor of free films) This is much more fun than when I had my David Tennant obsession. :)

Project wise, I'm in a bit of a mess. I'm working on two big project at once, and I'm at more or less the same point (the planning/just starting to write point). I've been working on the outline for Felis Valiante all weekend, and I now have a proper complete outline, but lots of questions still unanswered. I used index cards for the fist time ever in my whole life!

Luckily I can concentrate on FV for another week as I'm up to date with my 2 year novel course (which is what I'm writing Dancing for Ribbons for). I guess, when the writing starts, I'll have to alternate the two.

Of course, before I know it, November will be upon me and I'll be taking a month out to write my 100,000 (help!!!!) word long bout of projectile vomiting, which has the working title of 'The Jingle Scissorhands Cat', featuring a scissor slinging, boot wearing grey tabby called Jingles. Don't ask.

They're Back!!!

Muse (the best band in the world bar none) are back. And about bloody time.

This morning, Radio one played the first single from Muse's upcoming fifth album , 'The Resistance'. I wasn't there. I was one step ahead. I used Youtube to listen to the song, which is called Uprising. I also found a song called United States Of Eurasia, which at the moment I assume is just an album track.

Here are links to the two songs on Youtube. My review follows below:

Uprising

United States of Eurasia


Uprising -

My first thoughts on Uprising were that it: A) was bloody good. B) sounded like the Doctor Who Theme tune and C) that I found myself singing along to it on the first listen. I'm not sure if my ability to sing along to a song I haven't yet heard once is a good or bad thing. It is either a sign that I am truly connected to the souls of the entire band on a spiritual and mental level, or that Muse's new stuff sounds exactly like thier old stuff. On the second listen, I realised Uprising sounded almost exactly like Knights of Cydonia, from the album Black Holes and Revelations.

United States Of Eurasia -

Slower then Uprising, this track has a lot of piano in it. But it's nice, and very Queen sounding. I have to say I didn't listen to it all the way to the end because it tapered off into a piano solo and I got bored.

Looking at the comments on YT, the tracks haven't been entirely well received. Someone said that Uprising sounded like Lady Gaga with different lyrics, and someone else said that Muse should stop trying to copy Queen.

My personal opinion is that Uprising and USOE are stronger and less 'mainstream' tracks than the first two tracks I heard from Black Holes and Revelations, which were 'Supermassive Black Hole' and 'Starlight'. Uprising sounds like an updated version of 'Knights of Cydonia', and United States Of Eurasia has echoes of 'Invincible' and 'Soldiers's poem'.

As a whole, the two tracks are better than 'good', but not fantastic, although Uprising instantly hit my spot. I hope the rest of the album doesn't sound like a slightly updated clone of BH&R though. I hope there is stuff that echoes songs like 'Microcuts' and 'Time is running out', but I also hope there is completely new stuff on there as well. I hope it is fantastic because I've been waiting for Muse to bring a new album out for 3 years. I hope... And now, perhaps I ought to go before I turn into Morgan Freeman. I also hope I get to go to Sheffield to see them in November. Screw the 100,000 words I'm supposed to be writing for NaNoWriMo. I can see me not getting much done, as I have a hen party weekend to organize, (as my fellow bridesmaids won't pull their fingers out) and go to in November as well.

By the way... I have finished The End Of The Dream. Oh, what a happy day that was!

Phoof

There is no other word to describe how I feel. I don't feel tired exactly, I just feel lethargic. I'm out of the house most of the time over the next few days, so I'm not even going to get much time to chill out over the weekend, and the day job has been a complete headache this week.

If only we could all have a week off in July, like the school brats. Just one week, paid, on top of my regular holiday entitlement, to chill out and relax. Like another Christmas. It would be amazing. I a seriously going to campaign this year to make the 25th September a National holiday and an honorary Christmas. I hate September. It always depresses me, because of the feeling that summer is over for another year, all five days of it.

And the Doctor is five years older than me and dresses like my dad. Humph.

On a slightly more positive note, if I can pull myself together and get down to it, I should be able to finish The End Of The Dream this weekend. The wine's coming out then, let me tell you... I know how pregnant woman feel now when they get to the end and they've got this massive annoying squirming lump underneath their skin. I just want this thing out of me once and for all. It was only supposed to be 10 thousand words long, and it's got to 40 thousand.n

Slacking off again....

Nearly 3 weeks without an update. Never mind. I've been busy.

I've come to terms with the fact that 'The end of the dream' wants to be a novel, or at least a very long novella. I can see the thing stretching to 40k. But at least I have had some development in the plot today, so hopefully should get some writing done tonight. I think when it's done, I'll post it here in chapters. I can't really try to publish it properly, it being little more than glorified fanfiction. We'll see. I have to A) Finish it, and B) Get it through the editing process.

But all I really want to do is watch my 'From Hell' DVD (the Johnny Depp Obsession continues) and drink tea and eat melon and clemintines. Woe is me.

Tea

Oh my god... two posts in as many days.

I'm so tired. And hot. And overworked. And if I have as bad a day tomorrow as I have the last couple of days, I'm going to go batty.

I have also underestimated my tea consumption. It's more like six cups a day.

Hanging on

Still haven't finished The End of The Dream. I've been working on my Thinking Sideways and 2 Year Novel project a lot in the last week, so haven't been doing a lot of work on TEOTD. And I still haven't got an ending I'm entirely happy with.

In other news - I am a tea addict! Still, at least tea is good for you. Or is it, if I drink an avarage of 5 cups a day? Even though its ruddy boiling, I still want my tea.

I've also found a new film to be obsessed with. Sweeney Todd (2007). I love Johnny Depp. No, seriously. I do. Love. Him. And the film is quite good too. :)

The Narrative Particles....

Oh God. 'The End of the Dream', which was supposed to be a nice short, bridging the gap between novels kind of story is going to be a novella (or a novelette, at any rate. I always get confused as to how many words you need for each). I got to 20,000 words last night with no signs of stopping just yet. I can see it going on for at least another 10,000 words, so help me. And I don't even have a satisfactory ending.

You know what I'd like to do? I'd like to start putting my fiction on this website as EBooks. I'm not sure how as I'm not sure if I can upload PDF files to this thing. I could with Wordpress, but I love Blogger. It's my home. I could post stories into the actual blog as text, but it isn't the same thing. You can't take it home with you, if you know what I'm getting at. Advice would be really helpful at this point. As I say, it's something I'm just thinking about at the minute, but it would be cool to have some free downloadable Ebooks on here.

Anyway, peace out, guys. I must try and do something constructive for the rest of the night (haha, who am I kidding?)

Back

Yes, I'm back, after a short detour to Live Journal. I've been reading some of my old blogs, seriously, they're all over the place, and I used to have so much spirit. I wasn't afriad to say or do anything. But maybe that was just in 2007 when I was fucked up with bad love and didn't care what anyone thought of me as long as I could drink and have fun. I feel a lot older than that girl now, but I still have the will to fight. And hey, in a post I wrote in January 2008, I asked for a quiet year in which to take over the world. And I kind of did. :)

Anyway, to remind me of that time, here is a poem I wrote when I was going through my 'experimental' phase. Enjoy.

Rose


Mixed mediums,
broken fragments,
fragmented hybrids of an established art form,
tiny blind and hairless creatures, unable to touch or think or breathe, struggling to move among the sea of thier fellow impoverished artists.
Mindless drunk one night, no longer caring, no longer wanting to care, can't take any more pain,
they bring into the world these half beasts of beauty and nightmare, an assault on all the senses:

a story to be written in song,
a song to be seen never heard,
a painting for the sense of touch alone,
a novel read in rhythm - the intricate melody of repeating phrases.

Another song on the Ipod, words and noise to bring you out of the dried dead heat of the commuting bus, hot as hell, windows tight shut as though the fresh air could kill the honest hard working folk this time of the morning.

Another story just been read, sounds in neon, beats in grey, swirling together, mating, moving on the sea and breaking out in motion. A desperate fumble behind a train station, Thursday morning, one AM, with ears still pulsing with the noise from the speakers, not wanting to let go of this moment, for the knowledge that it can never last.

The public won't stop drinking, they sway in time to the spoken words, mixed, hands open and stary eyed, swinging from the barriers, screaming out the poets name, their own voices mingling with his as they surge forward, crushing, willing to die just to feel the touch of his hand.

The children sit quietly in bus stops, hearing their own lives through the throbbing basslines, crying out at the raw power, the feeling it stirs up inside them like a restless rush of air shifting leaves, its noise, its endless ceaseless poetry becomes a wall between them and the rest of the world.

a song that no one can hear,
the colours and textures and marks on our faces,
instruments and changes of voice,
structure as melody,
grammer the background noise, a static,
the plot becomes lyrics, optional.

The month after the novel before....

I most definitely have a post Nanowrimo hangover.

I managed to finish the damn thing though, finishing off at just over 80,000 words. I got to the end on Saturday night, which means it only took me 28 wo write the whole thing. I'm pretty impressed about that. Now the trauma of editing lies in my path like a bloated fish. I'm not even attempting it until January. I think I need a bit of distance from the act of writing the novel, and then I can try reading it like I would a normal book (as opposed to a 'special' book like mine...).

In the meantime, I'm having the usual struggle with writing. I've edited a bunch of stuff I wrote in October. I've got three good short stories out of it, and I want to extent a some of the other pieces into Novellas/longer short stories.

My current project is a rewrite of Richard III crossed with Hamlet, written as a farce set in an alternate East Midlands. Or at least, it's supposed to be. I have no idea what time period to set it in, or what sort of world. To be fair, I've only written about 500 words so far, and it's shit. Give me the benefit of the doubt (whatever that means. What does that mean?) I've had a very bad cold, and I'm out for most of the next week in the evenings. And I've had to go to college a couple of times this week. I've not had a lot of time for writing.

But, the show must continue.

Here's to the Future! And Novels! And Christmas! And the knowledge that whatever happens, we will always end up somewhere! Hurrah!

Gosh, I feel like writing a National Noval Writing Month style pep talk now.

Pops open champagne

Not really, but I'm enjoying a very nice glass of Rose.

I've done it! 50,511 words in 21 days. Blimey. However, I think my spelling has become steadily worse over the course of the month. Now I've got 9 days to see if I can actually finish the story. =)

And then I'm going to have a nice lie down.