This Is My Secret

"He who desires not to use Bernini's designs, must take care not to see them."

2012-01-30T00:00:00.006-05:00

I have such a short fuse lately when it comes to the news. I think about blogging about things (the latest being Alabama's disgusting, cruel new immigration law, which is just one of numerous disgusting immigration laws in place all over the world today), then realize it's going to be a huge energy suck because of how angry I am... and I need to save my energy for my work. (Which is always at least indirectly about the news anyway.)

So this is going to be another post of Rome pictures. The last post of Rome pictures -- and by the way, if you're new to my blog, I assure you that I hardly ever post as many pictures as I've been posting. Really, you're all the victims of my fascinating new phone. I've never wanted to take pictures before, ever in my life, until I got this phone...

So. I adore the work of sculptor Gianlorenzo Bernini (1598-1680, Italy). It's one of the reasons Rome is one of my favorite cities – it's full of his sculptures. You can see them in museums; you can see them on the street. One of his sculptures, Apollo and Daphne, inspired one aspect of Bitterblue, which I'm sure I'll be talking about more on this blog at some point (I have lots to say about Bitterblue, but there's not much point in saying it until more people have it in their hands and have read it). In this post, I want to share some images of Bernini's famous fountain, Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi ("The Fountain of Four Rivers"), which sits in Rome's Piazza Navona.

Look at how perfect he is. Look at his feet and hands.


It's a statue with many emerging forms. Can you see the horse?

This man is my favorite.

Here's another angle. Takes my breath away.
Can you see the emerging alligator-type-thing?

Horse again

Emerging lion

On my last night, I went to Piazza Navona to see the fountain. My memory was working in its typical way – I remembered that I loved the fountain, but I didn't remember anything else about it, including what exactly it was about or even that Bernini had been the one to design it. The sight of it took my breath away. I thought in my head, "Wow, good as a Bernini." But still, I didn't remember that it was a Bernini – until I got back to the hotel and looked it up online. I was not particularly surprised.

To see a picture of the fountain entire, learn where I got my subject heading, and read about what all the figures in the fountain mean, go to the fountain's Wikipedia page. And if you're ever in Rome and want to see more Bernini, by all means, go to the Galleria Borghese.

Dome Fatigue Is Real

2012-01-26T21:37:00.006-05:00

All photos are of ceilings unless otherwise indicated. All are from Rome. All were taken on my phone, which is an iPhone 4S. And last time I checked, Blogger was crap at jump cuts, but this post has 30+ pictures, so I can't not. After the second picture, click on the link that says "Read more"... or, to see all the pictures, just click here.

ETA 1/27/12: Blogger, I hate you. My apologies to anyone whose blog readers were overwhelmed by this post during the time Blogger decided to arbitrarily remove my jump cut! Should be back now.

Dome of Abbazia San Bernando alle Terme

One of the domes of the Basilica dei SS. Ambrogio e Carlo

Another of the domes of the Basilica dei SS. Ambrogio e Carlo

Another of same

Ceiling fresco of same

Dome of Chiesa SS. Vincenzo e Anastasio Padri Cistercensi

Ceiling fresco of same

Ceiling (and upper walls) of Oratorio del SS. Crocifisso, which is a
random office-building type thing I happened to wander through

Dome in Chiesa di Santa Maria di Loreto al Foro Traiano

Teeny little ceiling window in same

Main dome (there are many many) in St Peter's Basilica, Vatican City

Another view - St Peter's

Another

Another dome, St Peter's

Another (there are so many -- I took pics of at least 11 and that wasn't all)

Floor

Moving on to the Vatican Museums -- miles of ceiling frescoes

I like these ladies at work on the ceiling

This fresco had a net under it to catch pieces flaking off

Here's what the ceilings look like in the halls of the Vatican Musei

Doorway

Wall painted with stars

Spiral staircase in the musei. Note the circle on the floor at the bottom --

-- because here's what it looks like when you stand on that circle and look up at spiral and ceiling.

Random entranceway ceiling in a building on Corso Vittorio Emanuele II

Random lights on the terrace of a restaurant near Piazza Navona. I know they're pretty unspectacular
compared to the other ceilings I photographed, but I liked them a lot

Dome in Basilica di S. Maria in Aracoeli

Another of same

And finally -- last but far from least -- the ceiling of
the Pantheon on my last night. The sun was setting.
Can you see the star?

At Codename: La Coraggiosa's House in Trevagnano

2012-01-23T19:10:00.001-05:00

What could possibly be better than Hercules curled up in a ball?

Hurcules and Kasa curled up in a ball!

Some Photos from Rome and Orvieto

2012-01-21T13:32:00.003-05:00

It's 6 PM in Rome and bells are ringing all around me. I'm posting this on my phone (with the help of dear Siri), with pics also taken on my phone, so we'll see how it works...

Here's looking up at the (hole in the) ceiling of Rome's Pantheon. The Pantheon has an interesting history to do with pagans that you can read about here.

Here's looking down into the bottom of the Pozzo di San Patrizio ("Well of Saint Patrick") in Orvieto. The well has an interesting history to do with popes and mules and double helixes that you can read about here.

Here's looking up at the sky from the bottom of the well.

Here's looking up at one of the domes in the church of Sant'Ignazio di Loyola in Campo Marzio in Rome.

And here's looking up at a few more in the same church.

Are you sensing a theme? Yes, I've been looking up, and looking down, a lot. However, I'VE ALSO BEEN LOOKING SIDEWAYS AND ALL AROUND.

For example, returning to that well in Orvieto – here's Melina.

And returning to the Pantheon, which is my favorite building in Rome, possibly in the world. Here are some random shots.

column

floor

outside pillar

The end!

Packing, but --

2012-01-17T23:04:00.004-05:00

-- just had to come onto the blog to say that the final (3rd) episode of Series 2 of the BBC's Sherlock, "The Reichenbach Fall," is among my favorite ever 90 minutes of television. Congratulations to everyone who had anything to do with making this episode. I believe in these characters, and all of their feelings, 101%. (Also, I love Molly and I'm dying to know what she did.) Here's a teaser by the BBC which is inadequate at expressing the awesomeness, but will acquaint you with some of the main players:

<p>&amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;H&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;gt;</p>

Coming to PBS in May -- and, a third series has been confirmed.

My goal while I'm in Italy is to eat a gelato for each of my blog readers. :D?

Nobody Understands Me

2012-01-16T00:00:00.082-05:00

Me at the local yummy vegetarian foodie place (Life Alive. Stupid name, delicious food. Also, no, I am not a vegetarian): I'd like the Romantic Wrap. Please add eggs and greens.
The guy: The Romantic Wrap, add eggs and beets?
Me: Eggs and greens.
The guy: I'm afraid we don't have any beans.
Me: GREENS! I WANT GREENS!

***
My sister, codename: Apocalyptica the Flimflammer, on the phone in the wind: I just got to Harvard Square! I'm sorry I'm late! I'm on my way!
Me: Oh, don't worry, I'm just doing crap.
Apocalyptica: Crafts?
Me: Crap.
Apocalyptica: Crack?
Me: Crap! I'm doing crap! I'm paying bills and filing paperwork!
Apocalyptica: So you're not doing crack?

***
So, travel puts a lot into me, but it also takes a lot out of me, and lately I've been using what I've got for stuff other than blogging. My expectation is that this will result in you someday soon having more fiction by me to read. Fair deal?

On Wednesday I leave for Rome and environs, where I'll be doing some research into small medieval towns. A friend doing research into small medieval towns talked me into joining her. It's nice to have friends with common objectives :-)

Unrelatedly, here are some beautiful photos of ranchers out West (in Colorado), taken by Michael Crouser. Make them nice and big on your screen.

Finally, my lack of blog brain makes me grateful to Brian Ibbot of Coverville for providing me something awesome to repost: this video of the band Walk off the Earth (link automatically plays music) covering Gotye's "Somebody That I Used to Know," all five of them on a single guitar. Funny that around 2:55, the guy on the far right is making the guitar sound like a piano (IMO) -- reminding me, of course, that a piano is a string instrument.

Home Again, YEE-HAW

2012-01-09T00:00:00.029-05:00

You know it's a good trip when you don't pine for home even once. And you know you love your home when you get back and find yourself practically skipping from room to room because you're so happy to be there. Three weeks is a long time to be away from home! All of my plants utterly thrived while I was gone, which is a sign that (1) as I suspected, I have been overwatering them this winter (they *loved* not been watered for three weeks); and (2) re: my orchids, which would *not* have loved not being watered for three weeks, I have an excellent steward. :o)

The sight that welcomed me home.

I'm soaking in as much home as I can right now, because I leave on another trip in ten-ish days.

Loved the recent cover feature in Boston Magazine called "Single by Choice," by Janelle Nanos. "When it comes to getting hitched, more Americans than ever before are saying 'I don't.' Singles now make up nearly half the adult population in this country, and new research suggests they’re happier, more social, and more active in the community than many of their wedded counterparts. Now if only their friends and family (and oh, while we're at it, coworkers, benefits providers, and the federal government) would get off their back." (H/t JD!)

BTW -- HEY EVERYBODY, IN CASE YOU DIDN'T NOTICE, DOWNTON ABBEY IS BACK.

Resolutions

2012-01-02T15:20:00.003-05:00

I just stumbled across a list of books about body image, health, and dieting and had the urge to list them here on my blog, now, at the New Year, when the societal pressure toward weight loss rises to a fever pitch. In case it is helpful for anyone to know that books like this exist:

Andersen, Arnold, Leigh Cohn, and Thomas Holbrook. Making Weight: Healing Men's Conflicts with Food, Weight, Shape & Appearance. Carlsbad, CA: Gurze Books, 2000.

Campos, Paul. The Obesity Myth: Why America's Obsession with Weight Is Hazardous to Your Health. New York: Gotham Books, 2004.

Cash, Thomas. Body Image Workbook: An 8 Step Program for Learning to Like Your Looks. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger, 1997.

Dixon, Monica. Love the Body You Were Born With: A 10 Step Workbook for Women. New York, NY: Berkley Pub Group, 1996.

Doty, William G. Myths of Masculinity. New York: Crossroads, 1993.

Erdman, Cheri. Live Large! Ideas, Affirmations, and Actions for Sane Living in a Larger Body. San Francisco, CA: HarperCollins, 1997.

Johnson, Carol. Self-Esteem Comes in All Sizes: How to Be Happy and Healthy at Your Natural Weight. Carlsbad, CA: Gurze Books, 2001.

LoBue, Andrea and Marcus Marsea. The Don't Diet, Live-It! Workbook: Healing Food, Weight and Body Issues. Carlsbad, CA: Gurze Books, 1999.

Maine, Margo. Body Wars: Making Peace with Women's Bodies. Carlsbad, CA: Gurze Books, 2000.

Pope, Harrison G., Katharine A. Phillips, and Roberto Olivardia. The Adonis Complex: The Secret Crisis of Male Body Obsession. New York: Free Press, 2000.

Wolf, Naomi. The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women. New York: William Morrow and Company, 1991.

Please note that I haven't read any of these books. Please bring your open mind and your critical mind to them, as I expect you always do.

******

My New Year's resolution is special this year, because 2012 is set to be a pretty crazy year for me, what with Bitterblue entering the world. It's also pretty broad: I resolve to try to remember what matters.

Happy New year, everyone! Be kind to yourself :o)

Baking Bread in Time for the New Year

2011-12-30T20:47:00.003-05:00

I kept all my New Year's resolutions!

I baked this bread (with my mother, in her kitchen) in honor of Bitterblue.
(When you read Bitterblue, you'll understand.)
Happy New Year, everyone!

Conversations from the First Leg of My Trip

2011-12-27T13:09:00.000-05:00

(Background: My nieces, codenames: Phoenix and Isis, are approaching 2 ½ years old.)

Someone discovers an enormous quantity of water inside one of the low kitchen cabinets where the girls have just been playing together.

Me: Isis, did you pour the water from your cup into the cabinet?

Isis: Yes.

Me: Phoenix, did you pour the water from your cup into the cabinet?

Phoenix: No.

Me: You didn’t?

Phoenix: No, but I poured my water into Isis’s cup.

Sometimes it’s difficult to maintain the appropriate stern expression.

***

Isis, Phoenix, and I are lying on the floor together, hanging out, talking. Each girl is holding a bottle she found in the kitchen.

Isis (holding out her bottle to me): Will you read it and tell me what they is?

Me (reading the labels): Yes. This one is coconut oil and the other one is balsamic vinegar.

Isis: No, they are peepee and poopy!

This joke rocks Phoenix’s world. She tries to repeat it, the way one does when one enjoys a joke, but she’s laughing so hard that she can’t even get the words out. “They are peepee and poopy,” she finally manages, bright red and gasping, then collapses into giggles again.

***

Phoenix: Daddy, do Santa bring presents to bad girls too?

Codename: Joe: Yes, Santa is very nice. He brings something to everyone, even bad girls.

Phoenix: But Santa can be bad too.

Joe: What do you mean, Santa can be bad?

Phoenix: Santa run over Grandmommy with his reindeer.

Joe (understanding): Did you hear that in a song?

Phoenix: Yes.

Joe: But Phoenix, that song isn’t real. That song is only a joke.

Phoenix (actually sounding quite relieved): Oh! That song is a JOKE! (giggles)

***

Codename: Cordelia and I are driving with the girls to a festival called the Winter Wonderland. We hear giggling in the backseat and listen in.

Isis: It’s the Winter Peepeeland!

Phoenix: It’s the Winter Poopyland!

***

Isis (very upset): NO! IT’S GLOOT! IT’S GLOOT!

Phoenix (very upset): NO! IT’S FLOOP! IT’S FLOOP!

(This is an argument over the pronunciation of the word “flute.”)

***

Cordelia and Joe are whispering to each other about what a good job the girls did sharing that morning. They’re whispering in the girls’ hearing on purpose, so that the girls will overhear the praise. Isis indicates to me that she has a secret to tell me, too.

I lean toward her.

Isis (whispering): Poopy!

(Were you expecting something else?)

Things I Thought I Knew about Writing, But Had to Learn Again in New Ways from Bitterblue

2011-12-22T10:14:00.003-05:00

Even if you go into a book knowing your plot and your plot never changes from your plan, you still don't know what you're getting into.

Making messes isn't just okay, it's necessary.

For most of the process, nothing but faith, fueled by your own stubbornness, will be pulling you along. The work that you've done on the book so far won't be much comfort, because so much of it will be insufferable crap, until the very last moment, when you figure out how to fix it and everything comes together.

Everything will come together, as long as you don't lose hold of what the soul of your book is, work as hard as you can, and don't give up.

When it does come together -- that moment is the best feeling there is.

The next part, where the book stops being just yours and becomes other people's, will be thrilling to your spirit, but there are aspects of it that will possibly be too strange and surreal for your quotidian little soul to process. You may be overwhelmed, scared, or hurt on occasion. That's okay; you'll get your solid footing back. Just let it happen, observe, try to grow, and be grateful.

And in the meantime, ground yourself with a new project.

Waiting to Be Rescued by My Bunter in Shining Bowler Hat

2011-12-19T00:00:00.007-05:00

I'm going to be away from home for 31 of the next 40 days, which is always lovely once I'm on the road but COMPLETELY BONKERS before I go... especially this time, because I need to bring so much stuff and so many books. I mentioned my e-book reader in a previous post... I much prefer reading physical books -- there's no contest -- I should write a post sometime about all the things I find frustrating about e-books -- but I do have an e-book reader, pretty much solely for travel, and I can't overstate how much easier it makes life. I'm in research mode for the next three weeks and will probably be reading as many as 15 to 20 books, not to mention a few manuscripts, and all of it weighs less than a pound and takes up practically no space at all, since it's on the e-book reader. As it is, I'm still going to be lugging a lot of books and paper, but at least I won't be a walking bookcase.

Anyway, as I write this, I'm in travel prep mode, so I'm not at my best. I just want to take a nap, not spend every waking moment being organized about getting tasks done. Also, I have strong words for whoever invented 7 AM flights. HELP HELP

Once Upon a Time (um, vague spoilers ahead?) may have done something unforgivable; they may have lost me; yes, a mere seven episodes into the show, I may have to stop watching, UNLESS THEY DO SOMETHING EXCEEDINGLY SPECTACULAR TO MAKE UP FOR GOUGING OUT MY HEART WITH EPISODE 7. If they're going to make me that sad and OUTRAGED, then they also need to make me that fascinated and delighted. IMMEDIATELY. Or it's all over. Here's a suggestion: UNDO WHAT THEY DID.

*hrmph*

There is probably other news, but I'm working with about a 10-second memory span at the moment and can't remember it. If I have bloggy time and things to blog while I'm traveling, I will. I need some tea. Where is my tea? Oh, wait, I remember: I wanted to link you all to Tui's fabulous holiday book-buying post in which she tells you what book to buy for whom on your list! She also mentions some favorite charitable organizations, and I'd like to share my own at some point, too, maybe while I'm traveling.

Why hasn't Bunter brought me my tea?

It always strikes me as funny that the time of year which involves quiet contemplation and reflection for me (New Year's) is always preceded by the time of the year involving the most frenzy (December). I used to hate it. Now I kind of feel like the process of fighting for calmness and centeredness in the middle of frenzy is an important step.

I guess I'd better go get that tea by myself, and pack, and make arrangements, seeing as I'm not an English lord in the 1930s and Bunter does not seem to be materializing...

The World's Smallest Reading/Writing Lesson

2011-12-15T00:00:00.013-05:00

Look look! Hebrew cover from Kinneret-Zmora! ----->

So, a gazillion years ago, I wrote a post about Megan Whalen Turner's A Conspiracy of Kings, which included a picture of my own copy of the ARC. Afterwards, people kept asking me what was up with all the post-it flags, and I got all inspired and enthusiastic about writing a big long post about How to Read Books like a Writer. I was going to tell you all the things I'd flagged in A Conspiracy of Kings, then tell you why I'd flagged them. Unfortunately, Bitterblue yada yada, in other words, I never got the time, in addition to which, now that I look around, I can't find my copy of A Conspiracy of Kings anywhere. *directs suspicious glances at my sisters and other ne'er-do-wells*

So instead of that big grand post, I'm going to give you a teeny crappy post. :D? I'm going to share one tiny example of something I just flagged in the excellent book I'm currently reading, The Likeness, by Tana French:

When I was sure they were gone, I shut the door and stood still in the hallway, listening to the empty house. I could feel it settling, a long whisper like shifting sand, to see what I would do now. (p 124 of the 2008 Viking edition)

Here's the thing: when I read a book and find myself loving or admiring the writing, I'm always trying to learn from it. How is the writer making me feel this way? How is the writer being so evocative? How is the writer making it so damn easy for me to read this book?

So I flagged that line about the house, to remind myself that one small way to breathe life into a book is to breathe life into the book's important spaces. Almost everything I write has some sort of important domicile. Now that I've read this line by French, I want to remind myself to think about the spaces in my books, the buildings, and ask myself, what is my building like when my protagonist is alone? What does it feel like, what does it sound like, what kind of personality does it have? The next book I write will probably have moments where I try to do something with this. I also flagged this line:

The house felt huge and unwelcoming, the way a house sometimes does when you come back downstairs after you've closed up for the night: alien, withdrawn, focused on its own private business. (329)

Yet another reminder to try to think of new ways, when I'm writing, to breathe life into my settings.

Sometimes I'll read a book and flag nothing, or only one thing, because nothing much has sparked my writing brain; sometimes there aren't enough flags in the world for the book I'm reading. Sometimes a book is creating explosions in my mind with every single line and I don't flag anything because the whole damn book is a big waving, flapping flag.

I started doing this flagging thing when I started getting serious about writing. Once you find yourself trying to breathe life into people, places, dialogue, once you realize how hard and frustrating it is, it becomes impossible not to start deconstructing how other people do it.

And that's why I post-it flag the books I read. And to answer a frequently asked question, no, they're not color-coded. I will sometimes color-code the flags I use in my own manuscripts, in order to follow a single revision thread or a single character or WHATEVER all the way through, but I'm not that organized with the books I read.

Holiday Randutiae and a Couple FAQs

2011-12-12T13:30:00.004-05:00

Dear Santa, I would like a teleporter for Christmas.

Though I have to admit that air travel has gotten less onerous for me recently. Not because anything has changed for the better at the airports or on the airlines; quite the opposite. Things seem to be getting worse. Rather, because I've come to realize that unless I want to be miserable all the time, there are certain things I just need to let go. Like my expectation of being treated with any dignity, for example. :D? Sigh...

I just took a look at last year's resolutions. I've happy to say that I've kept them all, except for one: I still haven't baked any bread. I was too busy making Bitterblue. HOWEVER, there is still time, and I bet I can convince one of the many people I'll be traveling to in the next few weeks to make bread with me before the New Year.

A couple random FAQs:

Should I read/reread Graceling and Fire before I read Bitterblue?
You don't need to. It wouldn't hurt, and I suppose it might help, but only do it if you feel like it; don't worry about it if you don't.

Why do you use swear words on your blog, but never the F word?
Because I'm saving the F word for the day when I write a blog post about the for-profit health insurance industry and the way its CEOs become wealthy by not only preying on, but exacerbating, other people's personal tragedies.

*ahem*

Happy Monday, everyone :o)

Bad Days, Voice Recognition Software, SNoQ, and Benedict Cumberbatch

2011-12-08T00:00:00.176-05:00

Wednesday was one of those days where you wake up and it's so dark outside that you feel like there must've been some mix-up with the sun. And it never gets any brighter, and also your hands hurt, but you have to do a lot of computer work anyway, and because your hands hurt, you're clumsy, and because you're clumsy, you keep spilling crumbs and splattering liquids everywhere on account of a person must eat, and it sucks to have to clean everything all up, because your hands hurt.

I depend on my dictation software for my e-mail communications and the transcription of my work. I'm inexpressibly grateful for its existence. BUT that doesn't mean that it doesn't make me livid with anger, even bring me close to tears, from time to time. There are just some days where nothing works; no matter where you put the microphone, no matter how distinctly you speak, it won't get any of your words right, and nothing works, and you have to use your hands. On Wednesday, in the middle of an e-mail to my sister, codename: Apocalyptica the Flimflammer, I finally gave up. "I'm not correcting what my software just wrote," I dictated. "You can figure out what words I actually said, right?"

She wrote back, "Of course, and I'd much rather do some sleuth-work than have you typing."

A minute later, she wrote back with another e-mail: "Sleuth-work! Benedict Cumberbatch!"

What a splendid world it is when we can run into Benedict Cumberbatch around every corner.

Which reminds me of an excellent game of Sufficient Number of Questions (SNoQ) Apocalyptica and I recently played. (SNoQ, as I have explained before, is a game much like 20 Questions -- 20 Questions being the game where Person X thinks of a physical entity and Person Y guesses what the entity is by asking no more than 20 Yes/No questions. Here's the difference: With SNoQ, there are no limits to what the entity can be. It can be an abstract concept, a nonentity. It can be a made-up invention. It can be an existing thing that you might not in ordinary circumstances consider to be an existing thing. There are also no limits to the number of Yes/No questions Person Y is allowed to ask. S/he always asks whatever number is sufficient.)

It only took Apocalyptica about 25 minutes to guess this concept: Apocalyptica herself, rescuing Benedict Cumberbatch when he deposits a quarter into the world's largest gumball machine and the machine goes haywire, burying him in gumballs! She is a SNoQ pro! (Especially in matters concerning Benedict Cumberbatch. Which is why I made sure this matter did. Concern him, I mean.)

It took me significantly longer to guess "an apple blasting off." (I don't have it in me to explain the context for that, but if you're curious, it's quite delightful and has to do with the scientists who recently won the Nobel Prize in physics for discovering that the universe is expanding, and you can read about it here.) (ETA 8:28pm: Okay, I confess that when it comes to physics on the blog, I'm sometimes lazy on checking my facts, because I happen to know that one of my friends will let me know if I've made a mistake. Which I did here. The scientists did not discover that the universe is expanding -- that has been known for some time. They discovered that its rate of expansion is *increasing*. Thanks, former physicist JD. ^_^)

Incidentally, my TOS keeps me from being able to type, but two things I can do without pain are: (1) drawing; and (2) procrastinating.

Apocalyptica rescues Mr. Cumberbatch
from a gumball calamity

Bank Of America Makes Me Happy That I Have So Many Pictures of Women with Swords At My Disposal

2011-12-05T13:33:00.002-05:00

Yes, I hate Bank of America so much that I'm writing an extra Monday post to rant about it.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I am to be congratulated. I just closed my Bank of America account (as I've been promising to do for months). But before it could happen, there was one last moment of bullshit.

Very nice lady on the phone who I'm sure is only doing her job: "We want to make absolutely sure that all of your checks have cleared and all of your automatic payments have been canceled, because if, after we close the account, a request comes through to pay anyone, the account will automatically open back up again."

Me: "WAIT. What? That is not acceptable. It's my account; it's my right for it not to exist. I don't want an account that pops back open sometime in the future, simply because I've forgotten about some yearly charge or something. How can we do this so that when we close the account today, it's gone for good and it's closed forever?"

Nice lady on the phone: "I can do that. I just need to make a note here that that's what you want."

Why did this piss me off so much? A few reasons. First, you know what would happen if a payment request suddenly popped my account back open again? Bank of America would charge me an overdraft fee, essentially for bouncing a check. And not only that: suddenly, I would have a bank account again -- but my balance ($0.00) would be WAY below my minimum balance! Bank Of America would charge me its monthly fee for dropping below my minimum balance. Once again, Bank of America would be nickel and diming me out of my money with their crappy policies -- AND now I would have to go through the process of closing the account again.

And you know why else it pissed me off? Because this is apparently the bank's default: closing accounts so that the slightest thing can pop them back open again. And even worse, not only is it their default, but they don't explain that you have another option -- that you have the right to close your account for good -- unless you ask them for it. Nor do they explain the consequences of the account popping back open, unless you ask! This just strikes me as even more evidence that Bank of America deliberately takes advantage of unsophisticated consumers, of busy people who don't have time to learn or understand all this crap, of the way we do banking today... of every single way they can harvest the mistakes people make to LEGALLY make that extra bit of money off of us.

Rant over.

The Phantom Sculptor Strikes Again

2011-12-05T00:00:00.002-05:00

The month has only just begun, but already, December is reliably crazy. I'll do my utmost to keep blogging, right up until the point where it starts feeling like another task on my list.

Today I don't have time for anything of my own, but this post by Robert Krulwich on the NPR blog is too delightful not to share: "The Library Phantom Returns!"

Somebody has been dropping glorious little paper sculptures into libraries and museums all over Edinburgh, Scotland, and we've just heard (thank you, alert reader Paul Smith) that there are now three more.

Readers, please go take a look at these delightful, imaginative sculptures, created by an anonymous library phantom! They're too beautiful to miss.

The Mysteries of the Multiverse

2011-12-01T00:00:00.116-05:00

If my initial reaction to the theory that our universe is just one in an infinite series of universes in the multiverse, each universe containing a slightly different version of me -- if my initial reaction to this theory is that I'm going to be the BEST one (of all the me's) and all the others me's can kiss my ass -- does that suggest that I have a competitive nature?

(Perhaps more importantly, do all the me's have this competitive nature? Because if so, I think I/we am/are in trouble...)

Speaking of alternate dimensions... against all expectations, I'm utterly charmed by ABC's new drama Once upon a Time. I'm three episodes in. The premise is that back in fairytale land, Snow White's evil queen cast a spell on all the characters, propelling them into a terrible alternate dimension -- our world. Now they all live in a small town in present-day Maine, and none of them can remember the truth of their pasts or their true identities. (Here's more about the show.) It's fun to watch the real-world manifestations of such familiar characters (including, so far, characters from Snow White, Cinderella, Pinocchio, Little Red Riding Hood, Rumpelstiltskin, and more); it's also fun to learn their back stories during the parts of the show when we jump back in time to when everyone was themselves, living in fairytale land. For example, how did Snow White and Prince Charming really meet? Cast into the forest by the Evil Queen and scrambling for a means to live, she stole from him, of course. Here's a picture of Snow White kneeing Prince Charming in the stomach. Yee-haw! Also, I have to say, this Prince Charming is extremely charming. Rakish grin, heart of gold, ability to shoot an arrow hundreds of yards through a forest of trees into the back of the man on the galloping horse kidnapping the woman who (Snow White) just punched him (Prince Charming) in the face and threw him in the river: he's got the whole package.

Relatedly, what does it mean if you finally set about to clean a closet no one's cleaned in years, then find it to be spotless? Not a cobweb, not a dust bunny, not a single carpet beetle carcass, not a speck of lint, not even in the deepest darkest corners? Would you start pushing things aside looking for a looking glass, wardrobe, police box, or the door to Howl's moving castle? Or am I the only one who, finding something clean in my house, assumes that I've stumbled upon a portal to an alternate dimension?

For Amber Waves of... Stone

2011-11-28T00:00:00.289-05:00

This post picks up where last Monday's post left off. My dear friend and excellent photographer TLR and I had visited Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, then driven back to Salt Lake City, remember? In Salt Lake City, we picked up a third friend, codename: Perfect Gentleman. Then the three of us drove south.

In the southwest corner of Utah sits beautiful Zion National Park. I'm going to let the pictures (all taken by TLR) speak for themselves. Click any picture to enbiggen.


This bench, which TLR called the "pi bench," led to a conversation in which PG and I tried to decide which Greek letters would make the best benches. Some letters were more easily judged than others. Capital delta, for example (∆), would not make for a particularly comfortable bench. Lowercase delta, on the other hand (∂), might make for a nice sort of rocker, depending on how you sat on it. While we considered such matters, TLR had the sense to ignore us and keep taking pictures.

Can you spot the rainbow?

How can the landscape be so dramatically different from what we'd seen in Wyoming, yet still be so beautiful? We spotted the rainbow on the way out of the park; it seemed impossible to me that any place could be more beautiful.

Which is the innocent sort of thought a person might have when she hasn't been to Zion's neighbor park, Bryce Canyon, yet.

Bryce Canyon National Park

Can you get a sense of the vastness, of how far it extends?

In case you've been doubting that this is planet Earth, here's a picture of a humanoid as evidence. (Don't be deceived
by my T-shirt. No one on Tatooine actually wears R2-D2 T-shirts.)

Bryce Canyon was the last stop on our trip. We drove ourselves back to Salt Lake City, then flew home. If you're aware of the size of the states of Wyoming and Utah, you'll have gathered that we covered a lot of miles on this trip. 1,900 miles, in fact (~3,000 km)! In case you don't know, most USA national parks charge some sort of nominal fee for entrance, and if you plan to visit several national parks in one year, it's wise to purchase the highly economical annual pass.

What a wonderful trip it was; I'm a bit sad to wrap up this photo essay. I'll end with a thank you to TLR for taking such beautiful pictures and for allowing me to post them here. You know, during the Wyoming portion of our trip, we were in grizzly bear country. I have what I believe is quite a rational terror of grizzly bears -- and in fact, someone had been killed there by a grizzly bear quite recently -- so TLR and I made sure to implement a Bear Plan whenever we went hiking. Bears don't like to be startled; also, if you do encounter a bear, you're supposed to back away slowly with your eyes on the ground while speaking in a soothing tone of voice. (NEVER RUN!) Our Bear Plan involved keeping up a steady conversation as we hiked, with an occasional "Wokka wokka!" thrown in (so that if a bear did hear us, it would know we were friendly to bears). Were we to encounter a bear, the plan was that while backing away slowly with our eyes to the ground, I would recite T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," with suggestive modifications. Let us go then, you and I/ When the evening is spread out against the sky/ Like a bear etherised upon a table.

Fortunately, this is the only bear we encountered.

TLR strikes a pensive pose.

Thanks to my traveling companions. And I hope you've all enjoyed the pictures from our trip. :o)

What I've Been Reading (and some music TV)

2011-11-24T00:00:00.461-05:00

Okay, this is an even more random edition of What I've Been Reading (and Watching) than usual -- I hope some of it speaks to some of you out there!

1.
Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About Colleges (2006, 2nd revised edition), by Loren Pope. The college application thing is such a rat race, isn't it? So stressful, so depressing, so many assumptions about what's best (name-brand schools), so many messed-up notions about how to decide who is and isn't "smart." When I was choosing a college, I bought into all of that completely. I thought it was all about rankings and scores. I think differently now. And yeah, I'm happy with the path I took, not that it matters, because I wasn't really in a place then to take any other kind of path. But if I had to go to college now, knowing all I've learned, I might choose one of the colleges in this refreshing book I've been reading, called Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About Colleges (2006, 2nd revised edition). It's by Loren Pope, who, according to the book cover, is also the author of a book called Looking Beyond the Ivy League.

High schoolers, if you're stressed out about all this crappy crap, you might want to pick up this book. Please note that the tone can be old-fashioned, some of the reports of complete collegiate bliss make me suspicious, and I have the occasional quibble with the author. For example: "Agnes Scott is one of the best colleges around. It is a women's college that has all the advantages of a coed one, and, the women there say, a lot more besides. First, there are thousands of attentive young men at seven heavily male institutions nearby, eager for dates." ...SRSLY? This is the very first thing to be said about this stellar institution?

But that's not the point. Reading about colleges that approach admissions, education, and/or grading a little bit differently from the norm but are still extremely challenging, still passionate about learning, and still produce all those quantifiable results everyone is crazy about -- it might just help you break out of the trap so many of us are/were in when the time comes/came for applying to colleges. Much of this book involves students and alums talking about their experiences in their own words. (By the way, an aside in case you don't know, from someone who does know: a lot of the schools in this book -- and outside this book -- a lot of small, private, expensive schools -- have extremely generous, need-based financial aid. You may actually be able to afford to go to the school you think you can't afford to go to, and without taking on terrible debt. There are probably books out there to help with that jungle, too... I just did a search in my library catalog for college financial aid and came up with a bunch of titles.)

Anyway. After reading a few of the college profiles in this book, I had to stop myself from sending a copy to my sister, codename: Cordelia, to give to my nieces to read. They just turned two. They can't actually read yet. Do you think it's too soon?

(By the way, another book kicking around my house that I haven't had a chance to look at yet but I'm mentioning just in case it's helpful for people to know it exists: Peterson's Colleges for Students with Learning Disabilities or AD/HD. And I just did another search in my library catalog; college learning disability comes up with a lot of titles.)

2.

Death Comes for the Archbishop, by Willa Cather. I've tried to read this book so many times in the past, and was never able to get into it. Now I'm realizing I was just trying on the wrong days, or something. It's SUCH a wonderful book -- quiet, not a lot of plot, but a lot of substance and character stuff. I'm allergic to plot summary... it's about an archbishop in the American West in days of yore. He dies. ^_^ But! The imagery! "At one moment the whole flock of doves caught the light in such a way that they all became invisible at once, dissolved in light and disappeared as salt dissolves in water. The next moment they flashed around black and silver against the sun." This book contained so many moments like that.

3.
Toning the Sweep, by Angela Johnson. This is a tiny little book, Johnson's first novel, leaves you with impressions of the desert, light, heat, color, family, memory, grief, and healing. Read it.

4.
Skim, by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki. This is a graphic novel about a high school girl in Canada going through some pretty normal life stuff, especially loneliness. Understated, and I just loved it. Take it out of your library or take a peek at it the next time you're in a bookstore; see if it appeals to you. Or, if you want to know more about the themes or whatever, go to goodreads and see what people are saying.

5.
There Devil, Eat That, by JonArno Lawson. I've blogged about Lawson's poetry before. It is a quiet delight. JonArno has given me permission to share a couple that spoke to me particularly -- because it's so much easier to show you the poems than to try to explain what they're like!

From a section called "Travels":

iv.
305 Rue Marie-Anne est
(or How my past self tried, unsuccessfully, to disown me)

I know more about him than he thought I'd know.
Looking back, he didn't know much.
He couldn't guess well --
Certainly he didn't know that I'd come someday

Straight to where he hid in the past
Not to disown him
As he disowned me,
But to gather him back.

And one more:

Here Comes the Wind

Here comes the wind
to push your goat over the side of a mountain
to sadden a wall
to darken the sky
to rattle a little tin can --
It comes to toss a tired bird beyond reach of the shore --
here comes the wind
oh friend of the wind
to rid me of your ashes.

******

Now, we should all feel free to look beyond the Ivies, but HAVING SAID THAT, I would like to point out that there is a young man who sings in Dartmouth's all-male a cappella group, the Dartmouth Aires, who, as far as I can tell, was born to be a big Broadway star. His name is Michael Odokara-Okigbe, and while the entire group is talented and fun and energetic and funny, I think Odokara-Okigbe is the biggest reason the Aires have made it all the way to the upcoming finale of NBC's slightly quirky a cappella reality competition show, The Sing-Off (link opens a video with sound). Judge Shawn Stockman (of Boys II Men) said to him once, "What were you thinking of doing outside of singing?"

This video will give you a sense of his voice and presence. (Sorry about the ads. Props to NBC for posting the vids so we can embed them legally -- but of course with ads, sigh. Wait... suddenly I wonder if this video will work overseas. If it doesn't and you want to search elsewhere, the song is "Shout," the group is the Dartmouth Aires, and the show is The Sing-Off.) (BTW, the music only lasts 3 minutes -- the rest of that space is judging.) (ALSO. Last parenthetical: if you get my posts as emails, you may need to go to my Blog Actual to see the vids.)

And here's a really fun performance of the Aires doing a Queen medley (the music is only about 3:30 long). I think this was the moment when I first thought to myself, Could I please see him on Broadway someday?:

In the meantime, my favorite group on the show is Pentatonix, who do not actually sound like Florence and the Machine, except for when they're singing Florence and the Machine (music lasts 2:45):

(If you love them, here they are again with an adorable version of "Video Killed the Radio Star".)

What I love about really good a cappella is that you can try to deconstruct what's happening while you're watching it -- who's doing what, and how? Sometimes it helps you deconstruct what the original artist does, too. It made me laugh to listen to a group of five vocalists put on the Florence and the Machine sound -- I think I would've recognized it as F+tM even if I hadn't known it was her song! Anyway. The finale is Monday on NBC; I'm guessing some pretty good music is guaranteed.

O Beautiful for Spacious Skies

2011-11-21T00:00:00.274-05:00

Now that the days are growing short and it feels like it's night most of the time, I love more than ever to look at the pictures from my recent(ish) trip out west.

All these pictures were taken by my dear friend and excellent photographer, codename: The Lovely R. Click any photo to enbiggen.

Suuuuure okay no problem.


The Flaming Gorge (northern Utah, southern Wyoming) was so utterly silent that when I stepped out of the car, I thought something was wrong with my ears. Our footsteps sounded SO LOUD.

So, TLR and I live on opposite coasts of the country and don't get to see enough of each other. We planned this vacation kind of haphazardly. About a year ago, we basically opened our calendars, stuck a pin randomly into the last week of September 2011, and promised each other that we'd get together then. About five months ago, TLR sent me an e-mail saying that her favorite airline was having a special deal on fares to a list of cities, did any of the cities appeal to me? I was like, "Gah, I don't know, I've never been to Salt Lake City, how about there? I can get us a rental car with my airline miles." We agreed: Salt Lake City, last week of September. Then, literally a week before our trip, I was like, "Huh, I wonder where Salt Lake City is, exactly. Here, I'll look at a map. Hey, TLR, did you realize that Salt Lake City is driving distance from Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone?"

In other words, it was some really random, last-minute planning and a whole lot of luck that landed us in one of the most beautiful parts of the country during just about the most beautiful time to be there -- the height of leaf-turning season. I won't speak for TLR, but I can attest that I was completely unprepared for the magnitude of the beauty. Honest to God, it was overwhelming.

The colors in Grand Teton National Park

I'm being as selective as I can with these pictures, and it hurts to leave so many out.

Love TLR's framing here.

Can you even believe the size of those peaks.

Grand Teton National Park is in western Wyoming. A bit north of Grand Teton is Yellowstone National Park, which encompasses an ENORMOUS stretch of land in northwest Wyoming and also a little bit of Montana and Idaho. The pictures I'm going to show you are the barest fraction of the range of natural landscapes we saw at Yellowstone. I'm trying to keep this post from getting out of hand, but it's almost insulting to these parks to show so little!

In Yellowstone, we saw a lot of what you might call classic, normal, natural gorgeousness.

Hiking down to the bottom...

... of this waterfall.

Here's how it looks from far away.

We saw elk.

We saw antelope, a wolf, and many many bison.

And cliffs, water, rock, rolling hills, trees, mountains.

Beautiful. And like I said, pretty normal, right? But Yellowstone actually sits on top of one of the world's largest active volcanoes, and in various parts of the park, the landscape is SO BIZARRE.

See that steam venting out of the ground?

All kinds of weird things are surfacing from the inner depths of Yellowstone National Park.


Hi, I'm just an innocent rock, and an innocent pool of water. No really, I'm not boiling or anything. flutters eyelashes innocently.

Double double, toil and trouble. Fire burn and cauldron bubble.

Gloopy glops in blobby bogs.

Nearby, Old Faithful geyser blows off some serious steam.

It's hard to believe that some of these colors happen naturally. Like, just sitting there on the ground.

After Yellowstone, we wound our way back down to Salt Lake City, through beautiful Idaho. The gentleness of the landscape was almost a relief to my eyes; like I said before, the dramatic gorgeousness in Wyoming was almost overwhelming. We could see the far distant Tetons from the other side (the western side) as we drove south through Idaho. Beautiful.

Back in Salt Lake City, we visited the Great Salt Lake.

And then, what did we do? Did we get back on the plane? Hell no! Because you know what else is driving distance from Salt Lake City? Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon, both in southern Utah.

But I'm already worried about how much I'm monopolizing your blog readers, so I'll save that for next Monday. On Thursday, I hope to have time for a post about what I've been reading lately -- including a book about choosing the right college for some of the stressed out high school students (and parents) out there.

A Whinge and a Trailer

2011-11-17T00:00:00.005-05:00

Dear Gmail,

I like ya lots. HOWEVER. I switched to your "new look" about a week ago, because, as you intend to force this new look on all your users soon, I wanted to see what I was in for. Want to know how it's been for me? Well, let's see, I can no longer figure out what any of the command buttons mean, because you've turned them into obscure symbols instead of words. When I send an e-mail, the sent mail displays on my screen with its top cut off, which is sloppy, weird, and requires me to scroll with my sore arms if I want to see the whole thing. Worst of all, when I open a conversation, I can't see readily where one e-mail starts and the next begins -- a serious problem, because it means I risk missing e-mails altogether if I'm reading fast.

How can anyone possibly consider this an improvement? Please, PLEASE, don't force your new look on us, or I will be forced to leave, and then you'll no longer be able to show me hilariously irrelevant ads based on what you think my e-mails are about, like "Find Out If Your Husband Is Cheating" and "Couples Counseling" and "Singles in Your Area" websites because I've been e-mailing a friend about a fight that my characters, all of whom are, please note, imaginary people, are having. You wouldn't want that, now would you? I know I wouldn't. Please, please Gmail, don't take away my fun.

Sincerely, Kristin

******

In other, much more pleasant news... I am hardly ever excited about new movies, but this one excites me. Here's a trailer for Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games, coming in March:

Something Racist Stuck in our Teeth

2011-11-16T18:13:00.004-05:00

If you've got 12 minutes today, consider watching Jay Smooth's TEDx Talk, called "How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love Discussing Race," presented at Hampshire College (yay Hampshire! My sister, codename: Apocalyptica the Flimflammer, went there). Transcript and related links coming soon to Jay Smooth's website.

I Don't Want to Be Anything Other Than What I've Been Trying to Be Lately

2011-11-14T00:00:00.012-05:00

(My title = words I like from singer-songwriter Gavin DeGraw. The song is called "I Don't Want to Be" [link opens to the Wikipedia page; it doesn't play the song].)

I never got around to cleaning that closet this weekend. That's all right, I'll get to it sometime this week -- and I did make the time to go to Mount Auburn Cemetery, climb the tower, and take a look at the fall leaves. I love to see the world from high up, because it alters my perspective; it gives me some distance from my own tiny life and makes me feel more connected to all my people who are far away.

It was busy at the top of the tower; a lot of people were leaf-peeping. I probably heard four or five different languages. That's pretty normal for Cambridge, what with the world-renowned universities, but I wondered if some of the people were tourists, coming to see New England's leaves. I sat up there for some time while people came and went. I wouldn't say that I reached a place of peace, exactly, but I did come to the realization that, well, I don't want to be anything other than what I've been trying to be lately. I think "trying" is the most important word in that lyric.

Mount Auburn Cemetery is one of those cemeteries chock full of famous dead people, and every once in a while, I accidentally manage to find the grave of my favorite of the bunch, Winslow Homer. I stumbled across it this time. People always leave stones and shells on his grave, the shells, I suppose, because he painted so many seascapes, and lived much of his life on the coast of Maine. People bringing him shells makes me happy. If you don't know Homer's work, one of the things he was fabulous at was light. The image below, which I got from Wikipedia Commons, is, as far as I can tell, in the public domain, which means I can post it here. "Gloucester Harbor," oil on canvas, Winslow Homer, 1873, courtesy of the Atkins Museum Of Art:

Local people, if you want to see the leaves from the top of the cemetery tower, go soon, because they're already just past their peak. You can get a map at the visitor center, but I usually just enter at the main gate on Mount Auburn Street, then head for higher ground. It's not very scientific, but I always do spot the tower eventually.

******

On a completely different topic: Here's Jon Stewart reacting to the rioting by Penn State students when head football coach Joe Paterno was fired in the wake of the recent scandal. Last time I checked, my readers on this blog come from 116 countries and territories, so I'm not going to assume you all know what's been going on at Penn State University. Therefore, trigger warning that this video contains somewhat explicit language about alleged sexual abuse of children by assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky. By the way -- because I know you're out there, and probably embarrassed by the contemptible behavior of your classmates -- I grew up in Pennsylvania, I know plenty of thoughtful people who went to Penn State -- I just want to give a shout out to all the students who didn't riot, who don't think football is sacred, and who understand why Joe Paterno couldn't continue as head coach.

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Rainy Day Randutiae

2011-11-10T11:14:00.006-05:00

I'd like to return to my Monday/Thursday blogging schedule sometime soon, but at the moment, there's so much life going on, and a lot of good work too, and the time keeps eluding me. Truth is, I'm still recovering from Bitterblue. My house is recovering too; I'm in the midst of a deep clean my house hasn't experienced in way too long. One of the things that got lost during the past year and a half or so when Bitterblue was consuming 12 or 14 hours every day is deep cleaning. Not just dusting the books, but moving them and dusting behind them -- that sort of thing. I love a clean house. This weekend, it's Me v. a Very Large Closet. Wish me luck.

In the meantime, I am slowly compiling my post with pictures from out west. They make me very happy. I hope to share them soon.

Fall also makes me very happy.

My friend JL recently linked me to this New York Times article, "To Feed the Hungry, Keep the Can, Open a Wallet." Food banks and food pantries can buy food more cheaply and efficiently than we can; they know what food they need; and food drives often burden food banks/pantries with donations they can't use. Of course, for many people, a can of food is all they can afford to give -- and food banks/pantries are grateful for that, when it's done thoughtfully. But if you possibly can, consider donating money or time to your local food bank this holiday season, rather than food. Many food banks accept online donations of any amount, and tiny amounts can be a big help. From the website of the Greater Boston Food Bank: "For every one dollar you donate to GBFB, we can provide 2.5 meals for those in need." Poke around, ask people, I bet you can find a big or small organization around you that's working hard to help the many, many hungry people in our communities.

In Which Some of Us Are 27 Months Old

2011-11-07T00:00:00.008-05:00

Kristin bumps her head and says Ow.
Codename: Phoenix: Kristin, did you break your crown while you were fetching a pail of water?

Codename: Joe is driving the car, at a reasonable pace. Codenames: Phoenix and Isis are in the back seat.
Phoenix (screaming): GO FAST! GO FAST!
Isis (screaming): SLOW DOWN! SLOW DOWN!

I am reading Death Comes for the Archbishop on my e-book reader. Phoenix, awake from her nap, wanders in. I put the device to sleep immediately and close it inside its case, but not before she sees.
Phoenix: What you doing, Kristin? Are you reading your book?
Me: Yes, Phoenix, I am reading my book.
Phoenix: Can I see it?
Me (holding it so she can see): Yes, you can see it.
Phoenix: Can I just hold it?
Me: You can hold it for a minute, but then you have to give it back to Kristin.
Phoenix (holding the reader in delight): Can I just open it?
Me: The book is sleeping now, Phoenix. We need to let it sleep.
Phoenix: Can I just see it sleeping?
Me (opening the case): We can look at it once, but then we need to close it and let it sleep.
Phoenix (in delight): Can I press the buttons?
Me (beginning to whisper): No, we can't press any buttons. We have to close it now and let it sleep and be very quiet so it doesn't wake up.
Phoenix (whispering): Can I just press two buttons?
Me (whispering): Okay, you can press two buttons, but then we have to close it and let it sleep.
(Phoenix presses ALL the buttons while singing the alphabet song under her breath.)
Me: "...won't you come and sing with me." (Taking the reader) Okay, we need to let it sleep now.
Phoenix: Can I see it later?
Me: Maybe later.
(I stand up and place the reader out of sight on a high shelf. Isis wanders in and spots it before I'm able to conceal it.)
Isis: What you doing, Kristin? Can I see your BOOK?

First of the Season

2011-10-27T22:09:00.004-04:00

Just popping in to report that after a day of drippy cold rain, it is now snowing.

New England, I ♥ you.

Stuff and Things

2011-10-27T00:00:00.011-04:00

The mailman left me a package slip, and in the space where he was supposed to write down the name of the sender, he wrote "Poland." ...? Poland sent me a package? I'm guessing it's copies of Fire (see snazzy cover ---->) from my Polish publisher, Wydawnictwo Nasza Ksiegarnia. Can't think why he didn't just say so. :P

Philip Pullman is still fighting hard for libraries in England. "Philip Pullman has lambasted Brent council for its comment that closing half of its libraries would help it fulfil 'exciting plans to improve libraries', describing the statement as a 'masterpiece' which 'ought to be quoted in every anthology of political bullshit from here to eternity'." HA HA HA (Thanks, R)

As a freelance writer, I found this article about how to budget for an irregular income helpful... with the exception of the suggestion that one project one's cash flow based on one's minimum monthly income from the last 12 months. That one isn't going to work for a lot of writers, who may have many months in the year where they make $0. Maybe what we need is for someone to write an article about how to budget for an EXTREMELY irregular income. :-) (Thanks, J)

Here's an important post as we approach Halloween. It brought me close to tears and also made me think: "Open Letter to the PocaHotties and Indian Warriors This Halloween." Read it and pass it on.

Preparing for another trip, so that's all for now...

Boats and Bartók

2011-10-24T00:00:00.002-04:00

I promise I won't use my Bitterblue cover as my post picture for the rest of all time, but for now, I just can't help myself. I've been working on Bitterblue for almost four years, and haven't really been able to express how it's made me feel. Now that I finally have a cover to express things for me, I find I keep reaching for it. :o)

So, there's this piece of music by the Hungarian composer Bartók called Suite from The Miraculous Mandarin. If you're curious, you can listen to part of it here. I theorize that there's a relatively high potential for disaster when an orchestra attempts to perform this piece, seeing as even when it's played well, it sounds kind of shrieky and discordant. Imagine how it would sound played badly!

Yesterday, I listened to the Boston Youth Symphony play it magnificently. The whole concert was beautiful and I was SO IMPRESSED with these fine young musicians. It was kind of a delightful crowd, too, younger than the average symphony audience... I've never been in Boston's Symphony Hall before, but I've been to other snooty symphonies, and I'm guessing that generally speaking, people in symphony audiences don't scream and hoot out the names of performers who've merely come on stage between sets to organize their music. No doubt there are some highbrow symphony-goers who would frown on that kind of behavior. People like that need to get over themselves. I speak as someone whose family brought pots to my college graduation and banged them together when my name was called, even though the crowd had been instructed to save their applause until the end, which technically my family did, because banging pots together is a completely different activity from applauding.

Where was I?

The concert yesterday was fantastic; the memory of my graduation got me sidetracked. Although COINCIDENTALLY perhaps I should mention that my graduation also included a fantastic concert, because our commencement speaker was Yo-Yo Ma, who brought his cello.

OKAY SO now I'm going to pull some information straight out of the program to tell you about the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras: "Founded in 1958, the BYSO is an independent organization in residence at the Boston University College of Fine Arts. BYSO's mission is to encourage musical excellence in a professional and supportive environment by providing the highest-quality orchestra training and performance opportunities to qualified musicians, grades K-12, while making its programs accessible to underserved communities through financial assistance and outreach. ...BYSO has the largest operating budget of any youth orchestra in the United States today," and it shows. (That last part is me, not the program.) Most exciting of all, in March, they're going to perform one of my most favoritest pieces of music ever, Brahms's Requiem. I love it so much that I've mentioned it several times on this blog before, like here. I hope I'll be in town!

Here's the link to learn more about the BYSO, including their performance schedule.

Another nice thing that was happening in my neighborhood this weekend was this regatta called the Head of the Charles, which involves crew teams from all across the land swooping in with their beautiful long graceful boats and rowing them up and down the Charles River. In case you don't know, here in Massachusetts, the Charles River separates Boston from Cambridge. Today, I took the bus from Cambridge into Boston to get to Symphony Hall, and when we crossed the river, it was JAM PACKED with boats and people. Really very pretty. I love autumn in New England.

Have a good week, everyone!

O HAI

2011-10-20T16:40:00.006-04:00

Hi everyone. I still exist. Apparently I am taking a small blog break! I didn't see it coming or I would've announced it. But I've been doing some more travel, I've been having work meetings, I've been recuperating, I've been working on various categories of things, and somehow haven't been feeling bloggy.

I think a lot of people's hearts have been bleeding a little bit on account of the National Book Award/Lauren Myracle kerfuffle. I very much enjoyed/appreciated/admired Myracle's own explanation of what happened, and agree with everyone else that she's a class act. Good on you, Lauren.

Here's a post I read recently and liked: "A 'Cowboy and Indians' party is just as bad as a blackface party," at Adrienne K.'s blog Native Appropriations. I also appreciated her more recent post, "Representing the Native Presence in the 'Occupy Wall Street' Narrative". There's always something interesting going on on Adrienne K.'s blog!

Okay, that's all I've got for now... but those photos of my trip out west are in the future. Also: If you ever have the opportunity, see the show War Horse. Here's a single moment that expresses only a tiny part of why this show is amazing: during a battle scene, one of the horses dies on stage (not a real horse -- a life-sized puppet operated by three AMAZING human artists whose work you also get to watch, in addition to watching the horse itself in action). When the horse's body finally goes still -- and I really can't express how dramatic and beautiful these horse scenes are -- the three humans roll out together, stand up, and back away, backing offstage. In other words, you watch the horse's spirit leave its body, in the form of the puppeteers. If I could re-see only one of the many Broadway shows I've seen, this would be the one.

Bye for now :o)

Just Be Sure That Yours Is Not the One

2011-10-10T00:00:00.009-04:00

In case you missed it, I made an announcement about Bitterblue on Thursday.

You know, I wanted to come here and try to express some of my thoughts and feelings about what it was like to write this book, tell some stories, and describe how it feels to be done writing it. But I don't think I can yet. It was the hardest work I've ever done, and now that my part of the process is mostly over, I'm grieving. It's a comfort to me that if I have to give her up, at least I can give her to all of you.

Randomly, my subject line is from a Neil Young song I can't stop listening to. (The link is to youtube.) If you've never listened to much Neil Young and are curious, I highly recommend the album Neil Young Unplugged as your introduction.

My recent trip took me to Grand Teton National Park, Yellowstone, Salt Lake City, Zion National Park, and Bryce Canyon. Wisely, I chose an excellent photographer as my traveling companion :o). I'll be posting some pictures here soon. I don't think I've ever seen so much, and such diverse, natural beauty in such a short period of time. Plus, we saw elk, bison, a cantaloupe --

*blinks*

... okay, in the wilds of Yellowstone National Park, grazing by the river, we did not see a cantaloupe. We saw ANTELOPE. But since that was one of the funnier dictation mistakes I've seen in a while, I thought I'd leave it there for you.

Where was I? We saw elk, bison, antelope, and a wolf. A wolf!

Scattered today, but I'll gather myself together and post more soon.

The Bitterblue News I've Been Promising

2011-10-06T18:40:00.003-04:00

(Click to embiggen)

Bitterblue will be released on May 1, 2012 in the USA, Canada, UK, Australia, and New Zealand. It will be released on the same day in a few other countries/languages as well; I'll supply that information when I have it.

A few reasons I love the (USA/Canada) cover above: It feels like Bitterblue (the character) to me. The colors have special significance. The keys are a highly appropriate icon (like Katsa's dagger on the Graceling cover). And, the keys look like weapons. :o)

Here's a link to today's press release in Publisher's Weekly, which includes a little bit of teaser information about the book. Thanks to Sue Corbett for the interview.

Here's where you can preorder on bn.com. Here's where you can preorder on Amazon. Ask your local indie bookseller about preordering, too, if preordering is what you want to do.

A lot of people have asked me why it took so long for me to finish this book. The answer is simple. It's not because I was distracted; it's not because I wasn't working my ass off; it's simply because Bitterblue is longer and more complicated than the other books I've written, and some books require more time than others. The book decides.

There's so much more to say, but for now, I'm just going to breathe a sigh of relief that I'm finally able to share the news and the cover. Enjoy, everyone!

"I don't believe in an afterlife, but I still fully expect to see my brother again"

2011-09-29T00:00:00.005-04:00

Last Christmas, at my parents' house, my nieces (who were about 16 months old at the time) kept telling us that they wanted to be read to, but every time their mother, codename: Cordelia, began a new book, they would get distracted, wander around, then come back a few minutes later with another book, asking to be read to. They didn't seem to know what they were looking for.

Then Cordelia picked up Where the Wild Things Are. It was their first time ever seeing this book. Both girls went still; both girls watched and listened, entranced, to the entire story.

I felt that something I knew in my heart about books -- especially our very best books -- had just been proven true.

Here's a recent Fresh Air interview with Maurice Sendak. It's about 20 minutes long. As my sister codename: Apocalyptica told me when she sent me the link, it will make you happy and it will make you cry.

"Okay, Mulder, but I'm warning you: if this is monkey pee, you're on your own."

2011-09-26T00:00:00.013-04:00

That's what Scully says to Mulder when Mulder hands her a flask of yellow liquid that came from a laboratory full of caged monkeys, gives her one of his significant "no-doubt-it's-evidence-of-extraterrestrial-life" looks, and asks her if she can figure out what it is. And in this case, it does turn out to be evidence of extraterrestrial life. This is the X-Files first season finale ("The Erlenmeyer Flask"), and one of the earliest examples of Scully, the skeptic, having no choice but to believe, because the evidence comes to her in the lab, through the practice of her own religion, namely, science.

I ♥ Scully.

So, I just noticed the weird, highly specific, wordy recommendation categories Netflix has created for me, based on my viewing and rating preferences. "Foreign Thrillers Featuring a Strong Female Lead." "Critically Acclaimed Visually-Striking Dark Movies." "Inspiring Fight-the-System Movies Based on Real Life." "Mind-Bending Sci-Fi and Fantasy Based on a Book." "Family-Friendly Talking Animal Animation." (??) "Heartfelt Period Movies Based on Classic Literature." "Classic Crime Movies from the 1970s." This is all very helpful. The next time someone asks me what kind of movies I like, I intend to reel off this list. Except, I'm actually rather confused about a number of those categories, plus, why hasn't Netflix figured out yet that I love a category that can be named with a single word: "Bollywood"? Or, where's "TV Mystery Based on Close and Complicated Partner Relationships, Not Necessarily Romantic," like Bones, the X-Files, Inspector Lewis? Etc.? That's what I want recommendations for, please.

I'm pretty unimpressed that the cost of my Netflix service has risen sharply while the value remains the same, but I haven't had time to figure out if there's anything to be done about it. I think corporations must make a lot of money off of people who don't have time to react to their crap. I know Bank of America is still making a lot of money off of me for that reason. (Here's a link to my previous post about how much I hate Bank of America.) I'm moving forward with closing my account there, but it's taking ages, simply because it requires time. I'm determined to be done with it by the end of the year. And then I will raise a glass in celebration, and never do business with them again.

Have I been a bit ranty on the blog lately? Hopefully not. I've been a bit ranty in real life. Ah well. I'm taking a brief vacation which will involve watching 8,000 gallons of boiling water shoot 150 feet into the air on a regular basis, and when I get back, either the cathartic experience of this sight will have helped me reach a place of peace within myself or I will predictably rant on at regular intervals, not unlike Old Faithful. Both options seem fine to me. :o)

I've set something nice up to post on Thursday, while I'm away. Also, I've been assured by The Powers That Be that I'll be allowed to gives some news about Bitterblue very, very soon. (To be clear: that's not what's posting on Thursday.) I'm really sorry that it's taking so long. I like to create momentum and tension in my books by revealing things slowly, but I don't actually like to do that on my blog. It's out of my control, but I expect to have the go-ahead soon.

Pretty Maps

2011-09-22T00:00:00.014-04:00

This week, my happiness about Elizabeth Warren running for Senate in Massachusetts...

(transcript here)

...combined with this (funny? offensive? certainly clever, certainly reductive) t-shirt for sale at Threadless Tees...

(click on it to enbiggen; you can buy it here)

...combined with my recent perusal of maps because I'm going on vacation next week to a part of the country I barely know at all...

(no picture for that one, sorry -- though maybe there will be once I get back!)

... all got me searching the internets for something I'd remembered seeing once before. I found it. It was created by Mark Newman in the Department of Physics and the Center for the Study of Complex Systems at the University of Michigan. Here it is:

What is that purple monstrosity?

Well, many of you will recognize this:

It's the results of a USA presidential election (in this case, 2008). Blue is for Democrat, red is for Republican; each state is colored either red or blue to represent which party the majority of voters in that state voted for. The winner on a state-by-state basis matters, completely, because of our weird electoral college system.

And perhaps some of you will recognize this:

Two new things are going on in this map. First, the map is divided into counties, rather than states, to better show variations within any given state. Second, rather than straight red (Republican) or straight blue (Democratic), most areas on the map are a shade of purple, representing percentages of voters in any given county voting for either party.

Doesn't this feel like a more accurate representation of voter behavior than the straight red state/blue state map? There is a LOT of purple on this map. Of course, we elect the president via state results, not county results, and populations vary from county to county, so it has no direct relevance to the results. But if you've been a blue voter in a red state or a red voter in a blue state, this map definitely represents you better than the straight red and blue map.

But there is still one enormously relevant thing it fails to represent! Returning to the purple monstrosity:

This map is called a cartogram. It's a map which shows the relative size of counties by population, rather than by area. That's why everything seems distorted. On this map, Rhode Island takes up twice as much space as Wyoming, even though in area, Wyoming is sixty times bigger than Rhode Island -- because Rhode Island has more than twice as many people than Wyoming.

There are hardly any plain red (Republican) spots on this map at all. There are some places that look plain blue (Democratic) -- mostly the big cities.

See how mixed-up and evenly divided we, and our opinions, are? See the political diversity of our neighbors? I'd like to get that on a t-shirt!

Here's where I found all these maps, plus more maps I didn't show, and all the explanations. All maps are © 2008 M. E. J. Newman. Thanks to Professor Newman for allowing the free distribution of his text and images. Go check out the webpage, it's interesting stuff.

And thanks to JL for links.

Monday Randutiae

2011-09-19T00:00:00.012-04:00

So, when I posted about Winter's Bone a few weeks back, I didn't realize that the main actress, Jennifer Lawrence (whom I greatly admired), is our future Katniss Evergreen. (Edit: EverDEEN. Can I blame that on my voice recognition software? It's clearly read Harry Potter and a lot of Charles Dickens, but The Hunger Games must still be in its TBR pile.) Here's a link to portraits of the cast of The Hunger Games, which will be released... I have no idea when. But I'm sure it's easy enough to find out. *coughs lazily* I hope for your sake that when you click on the link, you're not compelled to watch a preview of the new tv show The Playboy Club like I was. Gee, that show doesn't look like it's going to be demeaning to women or anything.

But at least I can scrub my brain clean with the news that Elizabeth Warren is going to challenge Scott Brown in the next Senate race in Massachusetts. Elizabeth Warren, you have my vote.

Next, I would like to officially state my opinion that the reason Masterpiece Mystery hired Alan Cumming as its host is so that at the end of every introduction, he can drop his voice a register and say the word "murder" as only a Scottish person can. This little promo video starring Cumming doesn't end with the word "murder," but at least you can get an idea of what I mean.

Finally, thanks to my friend Kristin for sending me this video of magical creatures walking on the beach. The kinetic sculptures, made of plastic tubes and lemonade bottles, are by Dutch artist Theo Jansen; The New Yorker is the source. The creatures are called Strandbeests. :o)

(If you loved that, I highly recommend Theo Jansen's 8-minute TED talk (below), in which he explains a little more about how they work and what he's trying to do.)

"There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so"

2011-09-15T00:00:00.008-04:00

(Says Hamlet, who thinks himself straight down the path to disaster, but anyway. I've been thinking about thinking, and the ways that thinking can be good. ^_^)

FAQ: How would you respond to an interpretation of Graceling that reads Katsa and Po's relationship as abusive?

(Okay, this isn't actually a frequently asked question, but I was asked it once.)

I think that every reaction to a book is genuine, and every interpretation that can be supported by the text is valid. People read the same book and come to different conclusions; no one has a claim to some sort of absolute truth about a book. What I hope is that if someone who doesn't interpret the relationship as abusive encounters someone who does, the person who doesn't will listen to the person who does, rather than dismissing their interpretation without thought, or trying to shut them down. In my wanderings through all parts of the Internet, I see way too many people shutting down other people's concerns, rather than pausing to think, "Hmm, does that person maybe have a point? Could their interpretation be valid, even if it's not my interpretation?" Taste and interpretation truly are subjective; too many people don't allow for that.

In fact, I think this could lead to some really interesting conversations. Now I'm going to be a devil's advocate. What if we decided to assume, just to see where it takes the conversation, that it is an abusive relationship? What does that mean? Who's the abuser? What would it say about the characters, their relationship, their mental health, their future, or the overall feeling of the book? What other questions can we ask? What I love about a conversation like this is that it expands our ways of thinking about and interacting with books. It makes us see new things, and it also tests the soundness of our initial reactions and feelings (and sometimes strengthens them -- or creates cracks in them). Sometimes, it helps us hold contradicting opinions at the same time. It adds complexity and multiplies possibilities. I think that's a good thing.

Of course I'm interested and concerned when I hear an interpretation like this (and trust me, I have heard many conflicting interpretations, about both books, including this one. When I say interpretation is subjective, I do so from an EXCELLENT position for observation!). So I would add to the above that my response is to think about it a lot, maybe talk to a couple friends, and, whether or not I find that I agree, add it to the huge list -- or maybe it's more of a web -- of thoughts, feelings, and dynamics that I try to keep in mind while writing the next book.

(If there's anyone out there who's disappointed by this post because you think the author should explain how her book is meant to be read -- I don't think any author has the right to do that. You'll notice that I haven't even given my own opinion on this interpretation, or any other interpretation; that's because I'm worried that my opinion would influence your opinion. The book serves as its own explanation; go to it for your evidence and come up with your own interpretations. Have fun!)

Thanks to Deborah and Marc for helping me formulate my thoughts for this post.

Another Plug for This American Life

2011-09-11T23:59:00.005-04:00

I liked This American Life's approach to the tenth anniversary of 9/11. Instead of focusing on the day itself, they interviewed people affected in different ways by 9/11 who've appeared on the show at various points in the past ten years, and talked to them about how the world has changed, and where we are now.

I have enormous gratitude to This American Life for understanding and allowing me my complicated, messy, self-critical understanding of what it means to be American in the world. The folks there understand that being deeply ashamed of your country and furious with your government never precludes loving your country fiercely, or grieving for those whose lives have been torn apart. They get the difference between governments and individuals, between armies and soldiers. And they get that there are many different ways of being heartbroken.

I guess I'm trying to say that I love this radio show because it allows things to be confusing, contradictory, and inexpressible. It doesn't force things into a false neatness just so we can all understand and feel good about ourselves. I wish there were more places in life where it was okay to be like that. And I'm grateful that TAL was there to help me process my feelings today.

If you'd like to listen to their tenth anniversary show, the options for doing so are here. I probably don't have to tell you this, but before you pop off glibly to listen to it before your lunch meeting with your boss or your algebra test or whatever, do remember that it's really, really sad.

To my readers in Australia: I notice that Ira Glass, the host of the show, will be in Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and Melbourne this January.

Library Stuff and Movie Things

2011-09-08T00:00:00.010-04:00

In case you've not heard about the libraries devastated by Hurricane Irene, here's a post from Kate Messner with info about how to help. (Update: this blog post has more, and possibly more complete, information!)

Also, do you have a teeny tiny library in your town? (Thanks, R, for the link.)

In other news, I recommend the Bollywood movie Band Baaja Baaraat, and think it's a good movie for anyone who's never seen a Bollywood movie, wants to try, but doesn't know what to watch first (along with Main Hoon Na and Dil Bole Hadippa, to name two others). What I particularly like about this one is that not only do I like the female lead (Shruti, played by Anushka Sharma), but I like what the movie does with her. Often I admire the woman's character but have some lingering annoyance about the role she's required to play... but this one balanced out for me. It was a fun watch! Now, will someone explain to me why newcomer Ranveer Singh was credited first when Anushka Sharma is already an established star and the story is as much hers as Singh's? Not as annoying as Shahid Kapoor getting first billing over superstar Rani Mukherjee in Dil Bole Hadippa (when she carried that movie and even played two roles!), but I still call shenanigans.

In a completely different category (beautiful and sad, sad, sad) I watched and LOVED the German movie The Lives of Others (Das Leben der Anderen). A story of the Stasi (the secret police of East Germany) in 1980s East Berlin, and the people they terrorized. Written and directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, who is, apropos of nothing, rather tall.

My Thoughts on Writer's Block

2011-09-05T00:00:00.023-04:00

First, unrelated, and from the Department of Misheard:

Me: I just noticed that this bag I'm carrying discriminates against lefthanders!
JD: Against werepanthers!!!?

(Those of you who watch True Blood may have surmised that my friend JD watches it too.)

Now. I get questions from time to time about writer's block and how I deal with it, and I thought I'd try to write some thoughts down. My problem with this issue is that I don't really understand what people mean when they talk about having writer's block. Philip Pullman says he doesn't believe in it. "All writing is difficult," he writes. "The most you can hope for is a day when it goes reasonably easily. Plumbers don't get plumber's block, and doctors don't get doctor's block; why should writers be the only profession that gives a special name to the difficulty of working, and then expects sympathy for it?"

Now, I won't go so far as to say that I don't believe in writer's block... maybe I'm misunderstanding, or maybe I've just been lucky. But when asked, my thoughts take me in two directions.

1. If "writer's block" refers to the hopeless confusion of not knowing what to write, having an "I don't wanna" feeling, and knowing that if one sits down to write, it's going to be hard and the product isn't going to be very good... well, then OF COURSE I've had that. I've had it for weeks and months at a time. That's not writers block. That's writing. Or more accurately, it's one of the possible states of writing (maybe I should write a post sometime on the multiple states of writing). Welcome to writing! Get used to all those bad feelings and don't let them make your decisions for you. Understand that the only way out of that kind of blockage is through (to paraphrase Robert Frost). If you wait until you feel like it, or until some higher power starts sending genius inspiration through your fingers, you're going to be waiting a long time. Just WRITE. Write crap and keep writing; figure out what you hate about it and write it all over again; then again, then again; and eventually, through the process of elimination, you'll start to get a sense of the nature of the things you're writing that feel wrong, and this will lead you to some clues about what it is you do want to be writing. Writing something right is often about writing something wrong two or five or ten times first.

Plus, in the process, you'll be getting practice at one of the most important skills a writer needs to perfect: the ability to be objective about his or her writing and recognize when something needs to be fixed/rewritten/revised. It's a kind instinct to contradict the writer who says that what she's working on isn't very good -- to tell her, "Oh, I'm sure it's not that bad" -- but I think that a lot of the time, the writer is merely being honest. After all, the writer knows. It's a writer's job to know when something isn't what she means it to be; it's a skill writers work really hard at, to be able to step back, look at their writing as a reader, and see the ways in which it isn't nearly good enough, yet. Hopefully the writer also knows that hard work can, and will, make it better.

Don't ever let other people minimize your work or convince you that writing should be easy. Don't look at your crappy writing and let it convince you that consequently you must be a crappy writer. If you can recognize that it's crappy, that's the first step! :o)

If what I've described here is what you're calling writer's block, I do have sympathy, because I've been there and will be there again. But if you really want to write, then you'd better get used to it and soldier on.

2. On the other hand!

I firmly believe (having learned from both experience and observation) that a writer is not always meant to be writing, and sometimes can't. We have to learn to listen to ourselves. Sometimes, in addition to the whiny feeling of "I don't wanna," there's a voice that's trying to tell me, "No, quite seriously: I do not want to do this right now, and in fact, I can't, not without pushing too hard and doing damage to myself. It's not working and I need a break. I need to let my energy rest with something else for a while." Maybe that "something else" is something that's arisen in my life -- a crisis, a transition, a pending decision, something else I'd like to try -- or maybe it's nothing special or particular, just a new focus, or a quietness, stemming from the realization that now and then, a person needs a break.

If this is what people mean when they talk about writer's block... well, I think that in this case, if circumstances allow, a person should respect the block. Stop cold. Do something else for a while, and wait until you want to write again. There is nothing wrong with needing a break and there's nothing wrong with not writing. There's nothing wrong with the break you take lasting days, weeks, months, even years. There's nothing wrong with never writing again, if you decide that's what you want.

I guess the tricky part is knowing whether the block you're experiencing is the whiny "It's hard and I don't wanna" or the more serious "For whatever reason, my craft is in need of a break." I think the distinction is something you learn from experience; or maybe it's a distinction you never really learn, and end up spending a lot of time muddling through it messily. That's fine. Sometimes messes are necessary; they should be allowed. Great things come from throwing yourself into a mess; peace comes from messes.

On that helpful note... sigh....

Before I go, I want to acknowledge again that I speak only from my own experience, and if what I'm saying doesn't gel with your own experience, don't feel like you have to take me seriously. You know yourself and your process better than any outsider can. Just make sure you're being honest with yourself.

And good luck. I think that if we're strict and kind with ourselves, we writers can muddle through :o)

"'Hail Mary,' prayed Lovejoy between her teeth, 'Mary, make me cocky and independent.'"

2011-09-01T00:00:00.009-04:00

A few things today.

First, I and mine got through the hurricane unscathed, but the news reports make it clear that we were lucky. My heart goes out to everyone devastated by this storm. Especially our neighbors to the north in Vermont! The Big Picture at The Boston Globe put together a great slideshow of photos from Hurricane Irene -- check it out.

Second, a FAQ: Are you on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, etc.? No. This blog is my only online presence; I am not on any other social media sites.

Third, my title today is a favorite line from An Episode of Sparrows, by Rumer Godden, which I just read. I've talked about Godden before on the blog and want to recommend a few of her books again, in addition to AEoS: A Candle for St. Jude; China Court; Greengage Summer; and In This House of Brede. (If you're planning to read your first Godden, maybe don't choose that last one first -- it's very long, takes place in an abbey, and practically nothing happens. I wouldn't want you to give up on Godden altogether if that turned out not to be your thing. Frankly, An Episode of Sparrows also might not be the best first choice; hardly anything happens in that one either.) Godden just has the most distinctive and beautiful voice, and she's fabulous with relationships, artists, children, dialogue. She opens up my understanding of the way a book can sound, and until she does, I don't even realize it's closed.

Fourth, I watched, and greatly admired, the movie Winter's Bone. Loved these characters and this darkness! And it was written, produced, directed by women (Debra Granik was the director) -- SO refreshing to see more women breaking into the movie industry in positions of power. I hope that keeps happening.

Fifth, in some recent research, I stumbled upon an obnoxious quote, but couldn't find any information about who to attribute the offensiveness to. Here's the quote: "Anyone who cannot cope with mathematics is not fully human. At best he is a tolerable subhuman who has learned to wear shoes, bathe and not make messes in the house." I poked around online... and found website after website attributing this quote to Robert Heinlein.

Which is when I began to sigh to myself. Robert Heinlein is a famous science fiction writer. The person who said the quote is clearly a bit of an asshole. How much do you want to bet that this quote, attributed to Robert Heinlein, was actually spoken or written by one of his characters, not Heinlein himself? There's a difference! While it would be an enormous waste of anyone's energy to try to fix all the wrongness on the internet, I do wish people would be more clear with their attributions. Did J.K. Rowling say, "How could they have believed I would not rise again? They, who knew the steps I took, long ago, to guard myself against mortal death? They, who had seen proofs of the immensity of my power in the times when I was mightier than any wizard living?" Of course not (even if it might work as a metaphor for her success ^_^). J.K. Rowling doesn't go around saying weird things like that; that was Voldemort (In Goblet of Fire, Chapter 33). I'm sure there are plenty of things my own characters have said, thinks my main character has thunk, or concepts presented in the voice of my narrator, that I wouldn't want attributed to me, as if I'd taken that position on things in real life. Part of writing a worthwhile book is filling it with people who say good things and people who say bad things, good thoughts and bad thoughts and complicated thoughts that shift and change and are owned by characters. It's fiction!

So anyway. To set the record straight, the guy who said the obnoxious thing about mathematics is apparently (though I haven't read the book yet) the character Lazarus Long, in Time Enough for Love, by Robert Heinlein. (For all I know, Lazarus Long is otherwise delightful. But my heart rises up in defense of a rather large proportion of people who are deeply human despite not being able to cope with mathemetics.)

And that's all for today. :o)

Book? Check. Pajamas? Check. Baby Nieces? Check.

2011-08-29T00:00:00.033-04:00

To calm the mind: a favorite picture from last Christmas.

Books are for cuddling.

Waiting

2011-08-27T19:09:00.007-04:00

It's a strange feeling to be waiting for a storm. You get this weird sense of suspension. I'm taking advantage of all the warnings to stay indoors, and doing some good work this weekend.

I called my parents, who live in southern New Jersey (outside Philadelphia), and asked them, "How's the weather?" Har-de-har. My Dad cheerily told me that he figured out the vector of the wind and is fairly confident that if the big willow tree falls, it will land between the house and the garage. My Mom, who grew up on a vegetable farm, told me her heart is going out to all the farmers who have acres and acres of tomatoes ripening at this moment. Rain like this is devastating to tomatoes, she said.

It started raining around 1pm here; the worst rain and wind are predicted for tomorrow; I'm not concerned, though I do expect we'll lose power. As I watch the radar map on TV, I keep thinking of Laura Ingalls Wilder and The Long Winter. They had no way of knowing when the next blizzard was going to come, until it came. If they'd had radar and telephones and all that stuff, would Almanzo and Cap Garland's courageous quest for grain have been less terrifying? I still get the willies when I think about how close they came to getting caught in that next blizzard. I also keep thinking about this one winter when I was a kid: A blizzard knocked our power out, and the power stayed out for days. I happened to be sick. You know what it was in the house? COLD. This storm that's about to happen will not be cold.

Why do the news people think it's a good idea to stick their news anchor out in the middle of surging waves in hip waders while he or she tells us what the weather is like on the coast of Maryland? That strikes me as extremely silly. It's dangerous and unnecessary, and it makes the news people look like they're desperate to make everything seem more dangerous than it actually is. In addition to which, the waves that keep hitting him make it impossible for us to understand what he's saying. Just... tell us what it's like in words that we can hear, and show us a picture with no humans, okay? Geez.

Well, back to my book. Stay safe, everyone.

Hurricane Irene, August 27, 2011. Credit: NASA/NOAA GOES Project

Pants Pants PANTS

2011-08-25T00:00:00.013-04:00

Perhaps (based on emails I received from friends across the pond) I should have clarified that when I said (in my last post) that Shah Rukh Khan stole my pants (in my dream) and wore them in the rain, I meant pants in the American sense, not pants in the British sense (see definition 2b). Allow me to clarify this now, for the sake of Dream Shah Rukh's dignity. :D HE STOLE MY TROUSERS, OKAY?

Relatedly, here's an amusing dictionary of British slang.

I'm not sure what it says about my reasoning capabilities that during the earthquake on Tuesday, as my house swayed back and forth and my mind tried to make sense of what was happening, I got to "a monster-sized backhoe is picking up my house and carrying it away with me in it" before I got to "earthquake." I thought to myself, "Don't the backhoe people understand that I'm still in the house? Why was I not informed of this move?!"

Personally, I think all it means is that I've never experienced an earthquake before. It was SO disorienting. It didn't seem as if the thing happening should be possible. I will be very happy for it never to happen again. If a tiny little earthquake like that can give you such a sense of being out of control, I don't even want to think about what it's like to be in a big earthquake.

In the meantime, a good distance away in NJ, my parents' drinks were sloshing around and the windchimes started playing. A friend in NYC, who didn't feel the earthquake, saw hundreds of people gathering on the sidewalks and assumed they must be movie extras. (I ♥ NYC ^_^.) And codename: Apocalyptica the Flimflammer, on MA's north shore, started sending me a stream of emails. "I wonder if mom and dad felt the earthquake!" "I wonder if President Obama felt the earthquake!" "I wonder if Mark Hamill felt the earthquake!"

(The answers, BTW, are "Yes", "No", and "Oddly enough, there have been no reports on whether Mark Hamill felt the earthquake.")

There's a lot on my plate right now, so off I go...

Dreams, Whales, Books

2011-08-22T00:00:00.007-04:00

I've been rather itinerant for the last week or so... did some visiting, some birthday celebrating, and so much reading that you'd think I'd be reading in my dreams. Instead, I had a dream that Shah Rukh Khan raided my suitcase, stole my pants, wore them in a rainstorm and ruined them. This is nearly as random as the dream I had once that Eminem was my boyfriend: when he came to visit, my father chased him around the house in a rage. Or the dream I had last night that I found a pair of glasses, needed to know whose they were, and hired a private investigator to find out. The role of the private investigator was played by Matt Damon. This is usually the situation when actors appear in my dreams -- the actors appear not as themselves but playing the role of someone else. Not the case with Shah Rukh. He was himself when he stole my pants. The nerve!

Anyway. Itinerant. I went on a whale watch, with 7 Seas Whale Watch in Gloucester, Massachusetts. (The link automatically plays a video.) The sea was unusually still -- so still that we saw sharks more than once -- and so quiet, nothing but the sound of the whales breathing, slapping the water, appearing and disappearing. It's hard to believe, when the whales show themselves, how big, slow, and majestic they are; you think you're prepared for it, but you're not. They brought tears to my eyes. We have an enormous responsibility to them and we're not doing a very good job.

If you ever have the opportunity, do a whale watch. You will not be sorry.

Now, about all that reading... I need a clone. Can I have a clone who's wired in to my own brain? I've got about fifteen Must Read Now books piled up on my bedside table, then a shelf of Must Read Next fiction on the bookshelf outside my bedroom and a shelf of Must Read Next nonfiction just below it, but really what I need is to be reading all of it simultaneously. I'm adding about five books a day to my hold list at the library, I'm buying books I've already read because I need to reread them immediately and can't bear to give them back to the library, and then there's my e-reader, which is full of manuscripts, mostly mine, and research I've compiled into Word docs, and nonfiction books, and other stuff there's no way in hell I'm ever going to get to. This is a wonderful, intoxicating problem to have, but I don't really know how to manage it. All of this reading is in service of the next book I'm writing. I would like a clone, please. I will call her Cora, or maybe Beverly. Daphne? Could I get three clones?

In the midst of all the reading, I'm also reading one thing just for fun, Edith Wharton's The Glimpses of the Moon, because I adore Edith Wharton, though I have several friends who don't like her at ALL, which I completely understand, though please note that my understanding does not alter the fact that my friends are in error.

*thbbbbtttttttt*

LA LA LA

Yours with inexplicable hyperactivity,
Kristin

Chime, Outnumbered and Stuff

2011-08-11T01:55:00.014-04:00

Kangaroo summoning and socks seem to be going head to head as the best birthday presents in my birthday poll. As I recall, that was the case last time, as well. (I actually voted for the least popular item, the foot-fungus-ridden seven league boots. Because being able to travel seven leagues in one step feels worth the itch right now... ^_^)

In other news, I will spend my whole life trying to write a book as beautiful as Chime, by Franny Billingsley. Seriously, folks, this is one of those books where my post-it flags became so numerous that I started to feel like I was flagging the whole book. The delicacy of these characterizations, the depth of feeling captured, the familiarity of some of our most basic and self-destructive feelings -- guilt for hurting the people we love, turning to self-hatred, then deciding to try to heal -- this book is gorgeous. (Also, randomly -- and referring back to a previous post -- it strikes me that it's a book that Terrence Malick could make into a gorgeous Terrence Malick movie. Just the right mood and feel.)

If TV is more what you're looking for, have you seen Outnumbered?

(ETA: Here's a link in case you don't get "the problem of the fourth plinth" reference and are curious.)

Finally, a note -- I only just noticed that I never updated my My Books page to reflect that Bitterblue takes place eight years after Graceling, not six. This change occurred somewhere between drafts one and two, for a very specific reason that I'll probably explain in a FAQ someday. Right now, it's too spoilery to explain.

You're probably beginning not to believe me, but I swear that I'll be able to post some info soon about Bitterblue timing.

Birthday Month on the Blog

2011-08-08T00:00:00.010-04:00

August is Extreme Birthday Month here on the blog. This month, I turn 35, my father turns a particularly distinguished age, and the babies, if you can believe it, turn TWO -- and that's not even taking into consideration all the friends with birthdays now-ish. I'm sending happy birthday wishes to Switzerland and France this week! :o)

I have to say, I feel bad about how weak my blog posts have been lately. I just... well, remember my blog post with the emoticons? Please refer to that if you're wondering how I am. It's not a permanent state. That's the best that can be said of it.

Because I don't have the juice to create a new birthday poll and because I'm still rather fond of the one I created three years ago, here it is again: What would make the best birthday present? Please vote! If you can't see the poll, check it out on my Blog Actual.

Yours in needing some rest,
Kristin

♥♥♥s to Sydney

2011-08-04T00:00:00.005-04:00

Can your local performance arts center put together a promotional video like this one?

Email users, if you can't see it, go to my Blog Actual.

It's called The Ship Song Project. The original song is by Australian Nick Cave. It's performed by Neil Finn, Kev Carmody and The Australian Ballet, Sarah Blasko, John Bell, Angus and Julia Stone, Paul Kelly and Bangarra Dance Theatre, Teddy Tahu Rhodes and Opera Australia, Martha Wainwright, Katie Noonan and The Sydney Symphony, The Temper Trap, and Daniel Johns and the Australian Chamber Orchestra. It's directed by Paul Goldman and arranged by Elliott Wheeler.

You can read about the making of the video, see photos, and learn more about the Sydney Opera House here. Thank you to Brian Ibbott at Coverville for the links.

Sydney, I ♥ you.

La La La La

2011-08-01T00:00:00.008-04:00

In the Boston Public Garden, walking on the grass is not allowed. The other day, codename: Isis (nearly two years old) kept trying to climb over the low chain to get onto the grass. Codename: Cordelia said to her, "No, Isis, we're not allowed on the grass." Isis said, "Okay Mommy." Then she threw her hat as far as she could over the chain and said, "I need to go get my hat."

In the meantime, in order to stop codename: Phoenix (nearly two years old) from trying to climb into the duck pond in an attempt to bring a duck his missing feather, I had to create an elaborate story about how the feather was going to float across the water to the duck all by itself. (Around boats and over waves, dodging the fishies.)

Hey, Cambridge-and-Environs residents! Bob Slate is coming back! YAHOO! Those of you who've been reading my blog for a while may remember how sad I was when the news came out that Bob Slate Stationer was closing.

In other news... for those of you getting tired of me talking about So You Think You Can Dance, don't worry, the season is almost over. :) It's a confluence of things. I have lots of deadlines this summer and no extra energy for in-depth blogging. I have stuff about Bitterblue I want to blog, but am not allowed to yet. And, despite the inevitable copious bullshit, it's an unusually good season of SYTYCD. If things go as I hope they will, I will love all the people in the finale and be happy with any one of them winning.

I tend to enjoy a super-cool dance (with super-cool characters, if the dance is a story) more than an emotional dance where everyone is flailing around with agonized looks on their faces and we've been informed beforehand that the subject of the dance is something deep and meaningful. I mentioned a dancer a couple weeks ago who has "it." If you want to see a super-cool dance with the super-cool "it" oozing out all over the place, you should really watch this video (or this video if you're outside the USA or, um, want a better-quality picture and playback than the crap Fox puts online). This is contestant Tadd Gadduang dancing with All-Star Lauren Froderman (last season's winner, who also has "it"), choreographed by Mandy Moore. I love the hand in the pocket -- could he be more cool? I was enjoying this routine so much the first time I saw it that I didn't even register that Tadd had lost his prop (the hat). He didn't need the hat to make the dance work. I did, however, notice Lauren accidentally punching Tadd in the face (at 0:51) and Tadd not even flinching. His mouth was all bloody during the judging section! Tadd is a b-boy (as you might gather from some of the things he does so gracefully in this routine) who isn't trained in other styles, but he seems able to absorb every style of dance the show throws at him. (He was one of the dancers in the vulture routine I linked to a couple weeks ago.) One of the most exciting things that happens on this show from time to time is that you have a b-boy who can do the other kinds of dance, too, which gives you a dancer with an extra (and extra-awesome) skill set that the choreographer can take advantage of. I love when they work breaking into contemporary or jazz routines. Anyway, I think I know which other contestants will end up in the finale (go Melanie!), but I and a few compadres are extremely worried about Tadd. If you watch the show and don't usually vote, think about voting for Tadd on Wednesday. This is extremely important, people! :o)

Okay, on that note, I need to get back to work, sigh...

Wild Turkey Update

2011-07-28T15:55:00.004-04:00

Just reporting in on the Cambridge news: the wild turkey that lives in my neighborhood had babies! I just saw her walking along with a little line of babies behind her. At the time, I had two sleeping (human) babies with me as well, and had to keep moving, so I wasn't able to count the turkey babies, but I'm happy to report that Cambridge's population of wild turkeys has as least quadrupled. Funnily enough, just this morning, the girls, codename: Cordelia, and I visited the Make Way for Ducklings sculpture in the Boston Public Garden. I hope the girls will get a chance to see the baby turkeys before they leave. :o)

Twins in the House

2011-07-26T16:51:00.005-04:00

Lack of blogging is due to the presence of toddler twins in the house.

This morning, I wasn't wearing my glasses, so everything was a little fuzzy at the edges. I thought I saw codename: Isis, two years old, down the hall. Someone I was pretty sure was codename: Phoenix, also two years old, came marching up to me. (These girls are identical, but the more time you spend with them, the more they just look like themselves. Which isn't to say I don't make mistakes all the time.)

"Hi Phoenix!" I said.

"That's Phoenix!" she said, pointing down the hall to Isis. For a minute, I was EXTREMELY confused. Then she started giggling. It was just a game; she really was Phoenix; I was right all along.

On the day these girls realize fully the power they possess, we're all in trouble. :o)

Some Music and Dance Stuff for a Thursday

2011-07-21T14:10:00.010-04:00

It's hot in Massachusetts! Perfect for staying inside and writing a blog post. Especially a lazy one where instead of doing my own work, I point you to the work of others. :o)

So, not having HBO, I don't watch Game of Thrones, but a friend who does shared the spectacular opening credits with me:

(Oh, BTW, this reminds me. If you get my posts as emails, sometimes the videos are attached to the emails and sometimes they aren't. If you ever get an email and I seem to be referring to something that doesn't seem to be there, try going to my Blog Actual, where videos are embedded where they're meant to be and everything is nice and organized.)

Spectacular opening credits for Game of Thrones:

And, if you like that theme music (composed by Ramin Djawadi), here's a beautiful acoustic and electric violin cover of it, arranged and performed by Jason Yang. I love it! (Thanks, JD, for both videos.)

AND, completely unrelated but also recommended to me by a friend (thanks Aimee!), here's a youtube video I've been watching/listening to a lot lately: The Raconteurs performing their song "Old Enough," with special guests Ricky Skaggs and Ashley Monroe. (When you click the link, an annoying ad will start up that you can skip pretty quickly. Thanks, The Raconteurs, for making this video available!) Love this song and love watching them perform it. Is it just me, or is Jack White looking a bit Clockwork Orange?

Finally, there's something about this season of So You Think You Can Dance that I've been trying to get a handle on. It has to do with girls beating up boys, or otherwise being in charge and in control... there have been a LOT of dances with that sort of storyline or theme this season. At first, I enjoyed it, because it was a much-needed tip of the balance (and a blessed relief) after a couple seasons with hardly any dances like this at all and WAY too many dances where the girl played the role of either weak partner, victim, or the boy's personal sex object. Add to that the constant woman-hating comments from choreographer and judge Mia Michaels in the past few seasons (and please note that many of the "Women Are Weak" dances were choreographed by her, too) and my head was just about to explode. It has been SO NICE this season to see that the show is open to moving away from that a bit! But? Too many dances about women kicking the asses of all the men isn't exactly the ticket either! Could we have some balance? Or could we maybe stop killing each other through dance quite so regularly?

Please note that I'm not complaining about any particular dance. In fact, some of these dances have been my absolute favorites (which I'll get to in a moment). I'm only complaining about the impression that starts to build in one's mind when it happens over and over. Just like all those dances of "women are pathetic and men are destructive and evil" started to send a message, "men are pathetic and women are destructive and evil" is starting to send a message. Find the balance, SYTYCD! (Although, to be fair, it didn't happen on last night's (fabulous) show (with refreshingly honest guest judge Neil Patrick Harris), so maybe I can back off.)

Tui and were watching SYTYCD together last week and actually talked a little bit about the weird "girls beating up on boys" theme this season. The dance that got us talking was my absolute favorite dance of the July 13 episode and one I'll link to below. It was funny, because the dance started, and we were like, "OMG, girl kills boy again!?" And then the dance went in a different direction, and Tui was like, "But I'm not sure that's okay, either!" Watch the (gorgeous and disturbing) dance yourself and see what we mean. It's Jordan Casanova and Tadd Gadduang performing a dance choreographed by Travis Wall, about a man being stalked by a vulture. My apologies for the annoying ad, and also to those of you outside the USA (and Canada? Can Canada see it?) who can't watch the video. Fox, wouldn't you consider putting these vids up on youtube? It'd be good for business, and then fewer people would need to go to youtube and type in "SYTYCD Tadd Jordan Travis contemporary HD" (for example) to see an upload of the dance!

*ahem*

Anyway. Loved this dance, partly because it's the first time I've really watched Jordan closely (no fault of Jordan's that her partner, Tadd, has "it"; Tadd is distracting; whenever Tadd is dancing, my eyes tend to go to him) and I think she's GREAT as the vulture. Also partly because the choreographer worked some fun breakdancing into a contemporary routine for Tadd (who is a b-boy). Partly just because the conflict between the two dancers is so palpable and real. I just love it! If it were last season or the season before, I would hate that I loved it, because it would be Another Dance About the Woman Losing. But it's not, it's this season, and this season can bear a dance like that. It also helps that the choreographer (Travis Wall) has no longstanding record of woman-hating- (or man-hating-) choreography -- his dances are about a refreshing range of things -- so I feel safe with a dance of his.

I'm not trying to say anything profound here; really, I'm just blathering out some words about the things SYTYCD gets me thinking about and talking about. While also sharing a dance with y'all that encapsulates some of the stuff I'm trying to work out. Enjoy.

Notes from a Few Days Off

2011-07-18T00:00:00.009-04:00

If you've never seen a movie by Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life (out in theaters now) might not be the best one to start with; I worry that this tale of family relationships in the 1950s and today, starring Brad Pitt, Jessica Chastain, Hunter McCracken, and Sean Penn, might lose you 'round about the time it flashes back to the era of the dinosaurs. :o) Then again, maybe not; my first Malick movie was Days of Heaven (1978), which is also pretty abstract and plot-free, and I loved it from the first frame. Malick's movies are abstract, poetic, musical, beautiful, and always deep character studies. I love them and I loved The Tree of Life, including the dinosaur part; do try watching one at some point, if you never have. It might not be your thing (a guy stormed out of the theater in a huff partway through), but it also might be your favorite thing ever (there was one woman who stayed to watch all the credits, just like me). The other three Malick movies I haven't already mentioned are Badlands (1973), The Thin Red Line (1998), and The New World (2005). It's impossible to rank them. They are all the best.

Season 1 of Community is AMAZING. I love these (HILARIOUS) characters so much, especially Abed, Troy, Annie, Shirley, and Britta. And the nice thing about sitcoms is that there isn't a huge time commitment. If you don't have a lot of time to catch up on all the TV dramas everyone keeps telling you you need to catch up on, maybe catch up on a hilarious sitcom instead.

(This is a picture of Abed, in the episode Physical Education, trying a different version of himself to see if it appeals to girls more than his usual standoffish manner. Abed often tries on different versions of himself, usually with less alarming results. Troy, in the bottom of the frame, is about to pick him up and carry him away, before Abed hurts himself or others. ^_^)

Last week, I read a book for no reason other than that I felt like it. I don't get to do this very often -- like most people in the book industry, I'm usually reading for some specific purpose. The book I chose: The Attenbury Emeralds, by Jill Paton Walsh. Do the Lord Peter Wimsey fans among you know that Dorothy Sayers left an unfinished manuscript when she died? Jill Paton Walsh was commissioned to complete it a few years back; the result was the fabulous Thrones, Dominations. Walsh followed this up with the (IMO) even more fabulous A Presumption of Death, which takes place during World War II. And now she's written The Attenbury Emeralds, a post-WWII Lord Peter/Harriet Vane mystery!

This one was a bit jarring in places, partly because the cultural references were to movies, paintings, and books I myself grew up with (Hitchcock, for example), whereas I'm used to not getting Lord Peter's and Harriet's references. But also because this was possibly the most self-conscious mystery I've ever read. Any mystery with Harriet Vane as a character lends itself to metafictive stuff, because Harriet is herself a mystery writer -- hence, there tends to be some dialogue or reflection about the difference between mysteries in books, like the novels Harriet writes, and mysteries "in real life," like the ones Lord Peter and Harriet solve. But dialogue like the following is particularly common in this book (spoken by Harriet to Lord Peter and Bunter, who are telling her the story of a mystery that happened decades ago): "I observe that you have a problem familiar to novelists. A large cast list to be introduced to the audience, and no reason why they should wish to know or remember any of it until the story starts." (16) The dialogue draws attention not just to Lord Peter and Bunter's problem as they tell Harriet their story, but to Jill Paton Walsh's problem as she tells us hers.

That sort of thing can start to get distracting if it happens too much and doesn't build on itself in some sort of new way. Please note, I'm not making a judgment about whether it happens too much in this book. I've read, and LOVED, a fair amount of Jill Paton Walsh, and have gotten to the point where I trust whatever she does; I trust and respect her reasons and decisions; I leave myself in her hands. Here's one moment where her hands threw me right out of the book -- this is Harriet Vane talking about her own prowess as a mystery writer: "'I don't compare with Conan Doyle, or Agatha Christie, or Dorothy Sayers,' she said reproachfully."

What! Harriet Vane saying the words "Dorothy Sayers"!? And saying them to LORD PETER WIMSEY?!? No worries; I got up, brushed myself off, and climbed back into the book again. It was a fun read. Not my favorite of the JPW Lord Peter/Harriet Vane books, but just what I needed last week.

This sunny Sunday afternoon is passing me by and that's not okay, so I guess I'll have to save my latest SYTYCD exegesis for next time. :o)

Bleary Photo Essay

2011-07-11T09:50:00.001-04:00

Let's start with a new cover that I LOVE. Here's Graceling in Japanese, published by Hayakawa:

Can I have that outfit? At least the boots? Next, here's one of my favorite things.

Let me help you parse that picture: an orchid sits in a leather chair. (No, that's not where I normally keep it. The sunlight was streaming through the window where it normally sits, plus, it was being encroached upon by an aloe plant on one side and a zebra plant on the other, so I moved it to someplace dignified for the sake of the picture.) A stake protrudes from the soil and a small red monster sits atop the stake. A stem with a few buds is growing its way up the stake. BUT! BUT! Guess what? A few weeks ago, that stem didn't exist. It was an orchid with a pot, big green leaves, a stake, a monster, and NO STEM. Then I went to Australia and left my orchids in the sunny window of a hot apartment for two weeks. A friend watered them for me. When I got back, they ALL made it very clear to me how much they'd loved my absence, but this orchid in particular had been busy, growing a whole new stem. This is the first time I've ever gotten a stemless orchid to start all over with a new stem. I feel very proud. And it's been so long since it bloomed that I can't remember what color it is, so that will be an exciting discovery.

In case you're curious, here is the monster close up. The monster was given to me by a lovely friend at my publisher in Germany, who will remain nameless for the sake of her anonymity :o):

One of the cutest things about the monster is that his back is yellowish orange.

As long as I'm showing you things in my house, here's the portion of my world map that is no longer accurate because it doesn't show the new nation of South Sudan.

Congratulations, South Sudan! Thanks to my friend D for this link to a Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres article about the humanitarian emergency in South Sudan. This brand new country needs a lot of help, and DWB/MSF is an awesome organization. Please consider donating, if you're able!

Finally, here's one more thing lying around my house these days.

Some of you can probably guess what that is. Here's the view from the other side.

There should be more news about this big fella soon. :o)

Nancy Drew Retraction

2011-07-05T20:24:00.003-04:00

Everyone, I've now gotten a bit further into The Hidden Staircase and need to retract my claim that it's awesome. Turns out that what it is is appallingly racist. Wow. No wonder they rewrote these books. My apologies for expressing ecstasies on my blog before I'd actually read the entire book.

"The connection so crispy, so clean, so beefy"

2011-07-04T23:48:00.015-04:00

My title today is how choreographer and wordsmith Lil' C described an adorable lyrical hip-hop number from last week's So You Think You Can Dance, choreographed by Tabitha and Napoleon D'Umo, danced by Melanie Moore and Marko Germar, and linked to here, because you should really go watch it. It's like an entire romantic comedy plot smashed down into two minutes: the groom is stood up on his wedding day; the groom's best friend (and "best man?") tries to cheer him up; the groom gradually comes to a realization about something significant. Except that we've got two minutes, folks, so nothing is gradual, and certain points need to be demonstrated unsubtly in the most time-efficient manner possible. Truth is, I think I might have had a list of complaints if any other couple had danced this. (It's too soon! He's on the rebound! Is this the time to be making big decisions?!) But I've fallen hard for Melanie and Marko (I linked to their statue dance a few weeks ago) and find that they can do no wrong. Plus, cutest wedding-party outfit ever. Thank you, Fox, for making the videos bigger and easier to access. Now could you please make them less grainy?

[ETA: A French friend just informed me that the video "cannot be viewed" in France... which I would have realized, had I thought about it for a few minutes, having tried to stream American TV myself from time to time while abroad. Sorry to those not in the USA!]

So, moving on, I was obsessed with Nancy Drew when I was a kid. She was self-reliant, she went where she pleased, she was smart, she solved mysteries! Did you know that in 1959, the earlier books were condensed and rewritten (I understand to make them less offensive and to make Nancy way less plucky)? The original editions from the 1930s (All of them? Only some of them? I'm not sure) have been rereleased by Applewood Books, and I'm reading The Hidden Staircase (originally published in 1930). It's AWESOME. Allow me to share a few gems:

Graciously, Nancy acknowledged the introduction. Rosemary Turnball was an elderly maiden lady, tall and a trifle too thin, but not at all severe-looking in spite of her clothing. She wore an old-fashioned dress, long and wide of skirt and high in the neck, but she also had a kind face, and Nancy was instantly attracted to her. (34-35)

What's particularly funny about that passage is that I'm picturing a woman in, like, her 80s, right? But I just reached page 81, and here's a line about Rosemary and her sister Floretta: "Although nearly thirty years older than the girl, they seemed to look to her for protection."

...Nancy Drew is a teenager. These "elderly maiden ladies" are in their MID-FORTIES.

Also, the original Nancy was a gun-totin' girl.

"I think Dad was wise to suggest that I take his revolver," she told herself. "And I'll take plenty of ammunition, too! Enough to annihilate an army! Though truth to tell, I don't know whether I could hit the broad side of a barn or not." (65)

Oh, Nancy, always with the modesty. We know that if, while driving your blue roadster "with a skill born of long practice" (51), you happened to pass a roadside sharpshooting contest, you would try your best, and your best would lead you to win the damn thing.

The big mystery of this book so far seems to revolve around a baffling series of thefts, strange noises, strange shadows, et cetera in a mansion where all the windows and doors are locked -- so how, in heaven's name, is the perpetrator getting in?

Rosemary shuddered and turned appealing eyes upon Nancy. "Tell me, do you believe in the supernatural?"
"I am almost certain your house is not haunted," Nancy replied firmly. (67)

Wow, Nancy. That's... really reassuring.

Seriously, though, what could be the explanation for these strange disappearances of family heirlooms?

"Have you noticed any prowlers around the house?" Nancy questioned next.
"No, I've seen no one except an old organ grinder, and you couldn't class him as a prowler."
"Still, his monkey might have climbed in a window and taken the articles," Nancy suggested. (37)

Yes, that seems likely. It certainly is mysterious; I've been reading for nigh on 100 pages and I can't begin to imagine how anyone is getting into this sealed-tight house. It's a stumper. Did I mention that the book is called The Hidden Staircase?

Back to my reading, because I have to know how it ends :o)

ETA #2 (7/5/11): I've now gotten a bit further into the book and need to retract my claim that it's awesome. Turns out what it is is appallingly racist. Wow. No wonder they rewrote these books. My apologies for expressing ecstasies on my blog before I'd actually read the entire book.

Pressure and Thanks

2011-06-30T00:00:00.010-04:00

I'm using one of my Swedish covers today in honor of Graceling being a best seller in Sweden :o). Thank you to my publisher Semic for making this happen! --->

Today, outside my window, a woman's voice said, "Holy shit! What is that thing?"

I leaned toward the window and yelled, "It's a turkey!"

Yes, both the neighborhood turkey and noisy conversations about the neighborhood turkey have become so common in these parts that I didn't even need to look out the window to know what she was talking about. I'm really becoming fond of this guy. My favorite is when he's perched on a fence or a low tree branch, as if he were a mere sparrow. (He's a really big wild turkey.) I wonder if he's tired of astonished reactions yet. I try to act very blasé whenever I see him, to give him a relief from all the pressure to be astonishing.

Speaking of pressure...

Pressure is a funny thing. When I'm not working, sometimes I feel the pressure of work, of timing, of deadlines and schedules, pressing down on me. But when I am working, it goes away. I've noticed that while pressure can have less-than-wonderful effects on my appetite, dreams, and ability to rest (for example), it doesn't have any effect on my work. It doesn't make me work faster or slower or for fewer or more hours in the day; it doesn't make my work better or worse. The outside pressure needs to go away in order for me to clear my head for writing, and I'm not sure why it goes away without too much trouble, but it does. In this way, the pressure is nothing. It can't touch me where it hurts.

I think that if this ever changes -- if the outside pressure starts to affect my work -- that will be the day I take a break from writing for the outside world. Luckily, there are a few things a writer can do to limit the outside pressure -- or at least, to limit how much of it actually makes its way through the barriers to touch her. I try to do these things. And of course, I'd be remiss if I didn't thank my editor and my agent at this point. Both of them are blessedly patient with me, both of them understand my process, both of them know I don't dawdle, and both of them have made themselves into walls for my sake, holding back the pressure, dealing with it themselves rather than passing it on to me, and hiding it so that I can't see it.

Just one of the ways in which I'm a lucky, lucky writer.

Back to work.

"Jarndyce and Jarndyce drones on."

2011-06-27T00:00:00.000-04:00

As often happens, I've got tons I'd like to blog about and no time. Ack! So, quickly, I've got two recommendations to offer:

A book called The Brothers Story, by Katharine Sturtevant. Loved the characterizations, loved being inside Kit's head while he works through a whole lot of things.

If you like BBC productions of old books, you have GOT to watch the BBC's 2005 production of Charles Dickens' Bleak House. Gorgeous. Heartbreaking. Perfect cast for the job. (My subject heading is a line from the book.)

Re: the recent news from New York, I also have a photo to share:

Have a good week, everyone. Wish me luck, for I'm burning the midnight oil.

Good News to End the Week

2011-06-24T23:43:00.003-04:00

New York State, I love you lots.

These Are the Creatures in Your Neighborhood

2011-06-20T19:18:00.012-04:00

A few days ago, while walking down a nearby street, I came upon an enormous wild turkey. It was rather a surprising sight in the middle of Cambridge, Massachusetts. A confused man was taking pictures of it. We had a little chat about how confused we were about it.

Later the same day, I was walking through the Harvard Business School campus and this big crowd of people went by. Several people in the crowd, at several points, began dancing when they saw me, waving their arms around, sticking their legs in the air, and saying hello to me. I smiled at them politely, all the time secretly wondering WTF was going on. Were they a dance troupe? And drunk? Later, I passed a reflective window and realized I was wearing my t-shirt that says "ALLOW ME TO EXPLAIN THROUGH INTERPRETIVE DANCE."

Next (it was quite a day for encounters), I was walking along Memorial Drive -- probably the most trafficked road around, crowded with very fast cars -- when suddenly, the traffic came to a complete halt. Why? Because about 40 geese and goslings had decided to cross Memorial Drive, taking their own sweet time, stopping to honk a bit, changing their minds and turning around to go back, changing their minds again and turning forward to continue on, perhaps pecking at a few tires. It made me so happy. This happens here all the time and busy commuters are adorably patient about it. It's appropriate that Make Way for Ducklings takes place in Boston.

As I write this, I'm sitting by an open window. I just heard someone on the street yell to someone else, "Are you expecting a lot of rain?" (It's a very sunny day.) I looked out the window and saw a woman holding a huge rolled-up umbrella in one hand and holding a toddler by the other hand. "No!" she yelled back, gesticulating with the umbrella. "I just wanted to be prepared for the wild turkey!"

Seems it's moved in for good and is gaining a reputation.

Hope you're all well on this Monday, and enjoying the creatures in your neighborhood. :o)

No Blogging Juice

2011-06-16T21:33:00.008-04:00

But I can share some awesomeness. First, want to see the views from an astronaut's camera?

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br/&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/view-from-an-astronauts-camera/20ki3o6i?src=v5:embed::&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;fg=sharenoembed" target="_new"title="View From An Astronaut's Camera"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Video: View From An Astronaut's Camera&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

Next, here's something that cracked me up (click to enbiggen):

Thanks to The Riot for creating it, and thanks to Hydrodynamically Captivating for bringing it to my attention.

And finally... maybe SYTYCD is getting tired of illegal youtube videos, because they've finally starting posting videos of the most recent dances on their website. It's a teeny little screen (could we have them bigger, please?), there's an Oreo ad that will make you never want to support Oreos again, there's sometimes a black bar at the bottom of the screen unnecessarily cutting off the dancers' feet (SRSLY? Is this the best SYTYCD can do at keeping people from searching youtube?), AND I'm sure the routines won't be up forever, so while you have the chance, go to the SYTYCD website and click on the down arrow to the right of the "Video Extras" box until you see "Melanie and Marko," then hit play. To paraphrase something David Letterman said once, if this dance routine doesn't drop you, you ain't hooked up right. Watch the others, too, of course, if you like! There were lots of good ones last night. But this one with the statues is an example of the reason I keep watching SYTYCD, despite the copious bullshit, like tonight's judging decision for example HRRRUMPH. Careful, judges, your manipulation is showing. HRRRRUMPPH! *ahem*

Your Sun Is Lighting My Moon

2011-06-14T00:39:00.002-04:00

So, years ago, when I started an email correspondence with my lovely Australian publicist, we discovered that not only had he and I both studied at Sydney Uni at the same time, in the same program, possibly even taking the same lectures -- but I'd worked at the pub where he'd gone to drink beer! Isn't it funny that I had to come back home, finish college, go to grad school, write a book, and get an Australian deal for us to get to know each other?

I got to meet Brendan in person during the Sydney leg of my trip. We went back to our old stomping grounds for dinner -- the Nag's Head, in Glebe. It was so surreal. Every time I rounded a corner, memories came rushing back.

I can't remember if I made a point, before this Australia trip, of explaining here on the blog that when I was in college, I spent a year in Sydney. I think I may have failed to do that! I studied English at Sydney Uni, lived in Darlington, screwed up people's orders at the Nag's Head, got into a lot of mischief, walked down to the harbour frequently, and traveled. It was a wonderful year.

One thing I *didn't* get to do during that year was spend much time in Melbourne, so both legs of this trip were a delight. In Sydney, I stayed with a wonderful writer friend ("wonderful writer friend" = "person who is a wonderful friend AND a wonderful writer." Like Charlotte, you know) and didn't worry about running around doing a million touristy things -- because I'd lived there before. I got to revisit old haunts and old favorites, calmly savoring the beauty of this city. (There may be no sight more beautiful at the end of a 12-hour plane ride than Sydney through your airplane window.) In Melbourne, I got to be the tourist -- with a second wonderful writer friend, also an American, also a tourist! We tore up the town. THE WHOLE TRIP WAS SMASHING.

A huge full moon was hanging over the city skyline one night as we drove into downtown Sydney. The thing about a full moon in Australia is that it's my family's sun, as they experience day on the other side of the earth, that's lighting up that moon. And now that I'm back home, I think about how the sun of my Australia friends is lighting up my moon :o).

I picked up a couple guys in Melbourne.

The I took them to the register, bought them, packed them in a box, and sent them away to their intended recipients.

Yes, King Tut was in Melbourne! Or, rather, his stuff was. Tut himself was in Egypt, I believe, where he belongs. King Tut's stuff? Breathtaking.

This blog post is all over the place, so I may as well end by embedding this hilarious clip from the Tony Awards. It involves Hugh Jackman, who's Australian, so that makes it relevant, right? Thanks, Sam, for the link.

Closer to home -- before I go, there's a book just out that I recommend: The Lost Crown, by Sarah Miller. This is beautiful and heartbreaking historical fiction about Olga, Tatiana, Maria, and Anastasia, a.k.a. the daughters of Tsar Nicholas II.

For my next blog post, I'm going to try for some structure.

Randutiae and Housekeeping for a Thursday

2011-06-09T00:00:00.013-04:00

A few people have asked me for my reaction to the Wall Street Journal article by Meghan Cox Gurdon called "Darkness Too Visible." (Here's the subhead: "Contemporary fiction for teens is rife with explicit abuse, violence and depravity. Why is this considered a good idea?") So, here's my reaction: Seriously? That old complaint again? I don't have time for this. I have a book to write. *closes tab and gets back to work*

Relatedly, here are two (thoughtful and patient, unlike mine) responses I like a lot: Laurie Halse Anderson's "Stuck Between Rage and Compassion" and Linda Holmes's "Seeing Teenagers as We Wish They Were: The Debate Over YA Fiction" on the NPR blog. *reads them. Nods. Closes tabs and GETS BACK TO WORK*

A friend picked me up at the airport the night I returned from Melbourne. When, at an intersection, he (correctly) turned into the right lane, I had a brief moment of terror and cried out. This is more of a freakout than I ever had while I was in Australia and people kept turning into left lanes. I guess I was expecting my instincts to be broken there. Not at home, though! Luckily, I seem to have gotten my "we drive on the right" instincts back, and also, for the most part, my sleep. Though now I am sleeping endlessly instead of not at all, which is okay, seeing as it's WAY better for me and also more fun.

I have been meaning to link for ages to the Dreamwidth community accessibility_win. This is a community of people with disabilities giving tips for day-to-day accessibility improvements that people might not think to provide otherwise. Anyone with a disability is welcome to post, and anyone can comment. However, please read the rules before diving in.

A thank you I should have extended ages ago: thank you to my Italian readers who voted Fire the winner of the Xanadu prize in the category Terza media (and second place in the category Prima superiore)! I was in Australia when I got the news, and I was very happy. Thank you!

I have been watching Ballykissangel, Series 5. I have my problems with this show, but with the exception of Series 1-3, I do generally find it relaxing. In the last episode I watched, Danny (played by Colin Farrell) called his girlfriend Emma (played by Kate McEnery) and told her to come over quick! It's an emergency! When she got there, the emergency was that his pig wasn't acting like herself and kept giving him reproachful looks like it was his fault. I find it calming to watch an extremely young and adorable Colin Farrell fall apart with worry for his pig.

That's all for now. Back to work!

Who rides the wrecking ball into our guitars?

2011-06-07T21:41:00.007-04:00

Hi everybody. I'm still here, and I even have a list of things I want to blog about, but I have no time. In lieu of a real post, here are a couple of new covers I've loved recently. The first is for the Polish Graceling, published by Nasza Księgarnia. According to Google Translate, the title means "Chosen," which is appropriate, I think! Click to enbiggen.

The second is the French mass market pocket edition of Graceling, published by Orbit-Livre de Poche. I think she looks like an 80s rocker, which I love :o). I also adore her dagger.

Can't you just see Katsa putting turquoise highlights in her hair and caking on the mascara before going off to catch dinner?

I've uploaded a few new covers to my cover gallery -- check it out if you like. (I wonder, if all the Katsas on all the covers battled each other, which one would win the fight?) I hope to be back on track with the blog soon. Sorry for the dry spell, everyone!

(PS: Does my title ring a bell? It's from Starship's "We Built This City." And for the record, Katsa would never ride a wrecking ball into someone's guitar, unless it was an evil guitar. ^_^)

This Post Comes to You Courtesy of My Jet Lag

2011-06-02T12:33:00.013-04:00

A play in one act.

BODY, having finally consented to fall asleep at 2am Boston time, wakes up at 4am Boston time, completely alert. This is quite rational, because while BRAIN knows that sleep took place from 2am to 4am, BODY, on Sydney/Melbourne time, believes that sleep took place from 4pm to 6pm. BODY believes that it has taken a pleasant afternoon nap, presumably during a (lengthy) solar eclipse.

BODY: Wow! What a great nap! I'm ravenous! Eclipses must make me hungry!

BRAIN: [moaning] Shut up! It's not an eclipse! Eclipses don't last eight hours! Go back to sleep!

BODY: I'm starving! What's for dinner?

BRAIN: I wonder if I should try to fall back to sleep, or get up and eat breakfast.

BODY: Can I have a cheeseburger?

BRAIN: I'm completely awake. Better have breakfast and do some work now, before the breakdown that will inevitably occur later this morning.

BODY and BRAIN move to kitchen and begin to putter around.

BODY: What? Breakfast for dinner again? Can't I have some meatloaf? Can't I have polenta? Can't I have a steak and a meatpie? OMG!! There's a horrible bright light shining through the window! It's an intruder! Call the police!

BRAIN: Shut up!

BODY: OMG! It's getting closer! It's blinding! Call the fire department!

BRAIN: Shut up! It's the sunrise!

BODY: You frakking moron! It's an intruder! Close the shades!

BRAIN: No! You have to go sit in it and let it bore into your eyeballs so that you readjust to the time zone!

BODY: You frakking sadist!

BRAIN: Shut up! Just shut up! Do your work!

BODY gives in, sitting down in the bright light, rustling papers. A few hours of work go by.

BODY: Bedtime!

BRAIN: Must stay awake.

BODY: Bedtime!

BRAIN: Must stay awake until tonight or we will never get over this jet lag.

BODY: Bedtime!

BRAIN: No! No sleeping!

BODY: If you don't let me sleep, I'll give you a splitting headache.

BRAIN: I absolutely forbid you to sleep!

BODY: [pulling out the ace] If you don't let me sleep, I'll make you feel nauseated.

BRAIN: [faltering] Okay, please, no. No nausea, please. Here, let's make a deal. If I let you watch TV for the rest of the day, will you stay awake until it gets dark again and not make me feel nauseated?

BODY: Can I watch the Star Wars movie where Amidala says to Anakin, "Hold me like you did at the lake on Naboo?"

BRAIN: [groaning] Okay, fine, but I can't believe I let you buy that movie.

BODY: Can I watch The Two Towers extended edition, the one where Theoden says, "The horn of Helm Hammerhand shall sound in the deep one last time?"

BRAIN: We deleted that from the DVR, remember, because it was taking up, like, half the memory. And anyway, I know that's just you trying to trick me into falling asleep and dreaming about Eomer.

BODY: Oh, I know! Can we watch So You Think You Can Dance?

BRAIN: Yes! Let's watch So You Think You Can Dance!

Time passes as BODY and BRAIN settle into the couch watching So You Think You Can Dance.

BODY: That one judge keeps telling contestants that they're just like the Pussycat Dolls. The weird thing is that she seems to mean it as a compliment.

BRAIN: I admit, I've been confused about that, too. Sit up. No lying down.

BODY: [sitting up] Can you believe Nigel just played a memory trick -- for laughs -- on a contestant who's suffering from a traumatic case of amnesia?

BRAIN: I agree that that was horrible and offensive. Here, drink this tea. No yawning.

Time passes. More time passes. The sun begins to set.

BODY: OMG! Irish step dancing! I love it! I'm so proud to be Irish!

BRAIN: [begins to feel a bit apprehensive] Okay, well, don't get too excited. Maybe you should lie down now. It's getting late and I'm starting to feel really tired. [yawning] Oh, man. I'm EXHAUSTED.

BODY: [jumps up and begins to bound about] I think that strange fiery light from before really perked me up! I am so wide awake! I am so wide awake! I AM SO WIDE AWAKE I AM NOT GOING TO SLEEP FOR ANOTHER 24 HOURS!

BRAIN: [cries]

The end.

The World Is Round

2011-05-29T23:52:00.007-04:00

Jet lag is a funny thing. I think it goes beyond your body readjusting its sleep schedule; you can feel dizzy, and like you're floating, generally unattached to the earth. As if your body has landed but not all the parts are quite present yet. Last week, a writer friend from home arrived here in Melbourne and was having some jet lag issues, the same issues I'd had the week before when I'd arrived in Sydney, and she mentioned a book called Pattern Recognition, by William Gibson. The book is about a lot of things, but the thing she explained to me is that (please note, this is me paraphrasing something she paraphrased, so apologies if I get this wrong) the main character has a unique take on jet lag, something along the lines of, your soul can't travel as fast as your body, so it takes a little time for the soul to catch up and reunite itself with the rest of you. Or, if you've read Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, think of being stretched apart from your dæmon, then allowed to reunite again. I love thinking of jet lag this way! It seems right to me.

Today I'm looking at it from the opposite direction: I leave Australia tomorrow, and today I can feel my soul digging in its heels. It's happy here. It doesn't like change and it doesn't want to go home, and its protests are leaving me quite disoriented. So I'm trying to explain to it that we have to go home, and that it really will be okay. I brought myself to St. Kilda today and just looked out over the water, looked south at the big boats leaving Port Phillip Bay, to remind my soul that leaving is something people do. I wondered where the boats were going. Tasmania? I stood there at the edge of the water and thought about how far I am from home, so far it almost can't be believed.

Then I backed my perspective up a bit and imagined the earth from above, with me standing tiny on this little point near the edge of the bottom of Australia. I kept backing up until I could see the whole world, and realized that the water I was looking at was connected to the water where my sisters live, my friends and family, all over the world. I saw them standing tiny on their little points. The further you back up your view, the more you realize you are home. Maybe tomorrow, I'm not so much leaving as going back to my usual side.

This beautiful trip has been about places, but like all of my recent trips, it's turned out to be more about people -- friends. As I re-settle into my regular life, I'm sure I'll be blogging about it. Maybe I'll start at the end, like I'm doing right now, and work my way back to the beginning.

Two Recent Song Purchases, Plus, Leaving on a Jetplane

2011-05-16T00:00:00.014-04:00

As this post publishes, I'll be recovering from my flight to L.A. and preparing to board my plane to Sydney. If you check back here 15 hours later, I'll still be on that plane, a bit grumpier and with bigger feet. A reminder that my appearance schedule for Sydney and Melbourne is here.

In other news, those of you who receive my blog posts as e-mails may be wondering why you've been receiving so many random e-mails in the past few days. It turns out that Blogger has been having some hiccups and sneezes, but all should be well again now. My apologies!

So, the Beatles song "Norwegian Wood" is about an asswipe with a sense of entitlement who sets a woman's room on fire with seemingly little provocation, but you might not notice that, since it's such a cheerful-sounding song, with a bouncy melody in a major key. :o) I enjoy the juxtaposition, not complaining, but one of the many things I love about the Aaron English Band's mashup of "Norwegian Wood" and Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir" is that it's creepy. If this guy came into my room and started leering at my Norwegian wood, hell, forget the bath -- it'd be straight back out into the hallway for him. I LOVE the minor key setup with occasional flashes into the major key. I love Aaron English's eerie, beautiful vocal interpretation -- a series of great decisions for this song. (He is WAY too excited about the Norwegian wood, and listen (below) to the way he says, "biding my time, drinking her wine." *shudder*) I love the flute. I love that there are tiny little hints of "Kashmir" seeping in -- not the strange Kashmir-ish time signatures, but hints of the chord patterns. (What do I mean by that? I'm not sure how well I can explain it, but try this. First, listen to Thing 1: the guitar from 0:13- 0:22. Then, listen to Thing 2: the guitar chords from 4:11 - 4:27. Can you hear how Thing 1 hints at Thing 2? Imagine Thing 1 shifting a little bit, and breaking out of its cage. Mightn't it sound like Thing 2? If you can't hear it yet, try listening to Thing 2 first, then Thing 1. Thing 1 is from this band's version of "Norwegian Wood," and Thing 2 is immediately recognizable as "Kashmir" to anyone who knows the song. Also, the bass you can hear in the background starting at 0:23 (that's a bass, right? I don't really know my guitars) makes me think of Kashmir, but with descending notes instead of ascending. IMO, the entirety of this "Norwegian Wood" sounds like a song being played in anticipation of "Kashmir." While also sounding like "Norwegian Wood.")

The "Kashmir" part of the mashup, OTOH, seems to be pretty purely "Kashmir." I'm not catching any hints of "Norwegian Wood," though my ears could certainly be missing something. Actually, guaranteed, my ears are missing plenty things, but they're taking in enough to know that they love it. The lyrics of "Kashmir" are not my favorite (incomprehensible + cultural appropriation that makes me uncomfortable), but the music is AWESOME, of course, and the guitars have always struck me as A Reason to Learn Guitar. What a great couple of songs to put together! And thank you, Aaron English Band, for sharing the song on youtube and enabling embedding so that I can share it here. Readers, if you like it, do buy it!

My other recent song purchase is the motet "Ubi Caritas" by Paul Mealor. I purchased it from The Royal Wedding -- The Official Album. You are welcome to sneer at me for that. I suggest you listen to it first.

Happy taking off and happy touching down, everyone, in whatever sense that applies to you :o).

"And the Whole World Collapsed"

2011-05-12T00:00:00.005-04:00

In my last post, while (gracelessly) complaining about the way some nonprofit organizations try to drum up support in my neighborhood, I mentioned that before I contribute to a particular organization, I like to do research on it and seek outside opinions. At the end of this post, I explain *how* I do that, and give links to help you if you want to do the same thing.

But first, over at her blog There's a Botticelli Angel Inside, Snapping Beans, Rebecca Rabinowitz is trying to get some straight answers about the difference between the UK text of Philip Pullman's The Amber Spyglass and the American text. If you're knowledgeable on this subject, please head on over and enlighten us.

Trigger warning: the next three paragraphs are about a documentary I just saw on the subject of sexual abuse by Catholic priests and the spectacular denial of Church officials. I will be brief and non-explicit, but that is the topic at hand, up until the bold Researching Nonprofits title.

Deliver Us From Evil (2006), by filmmaker Amy Berg, tells the true story of pedophile Father Oliver O'Grady, who molested, abused, and raped over twenty children while serving as a priest in several parishes in northern California from the late 1970s to the early 1990s. It also exposes just a few of the many priests, bishops, archbishops, cardinals and popes who treated, and still treat, this kind of abuse as a PR problem rather than a criminal outrage with victims who are left traumatized, alone, lost, and betrayed. Here is a quote from Father Tom Doyle, a canon lawyer and historian (and a decent man): "It's futile to ask the question, 'How can this [cover up] be? Why does this happen?' The system -- the monarchical, hierarchical governmental system that the people in charge of the Roman Catholic Church, from the Pope on down, firmly believed was willed by Almighty God -- is the reason why Roger Mahony [the Archbishop of Los Angeles at the time of the O'Grady cover up] is believed to be substantially more important and better than the children who were ravaged by Oliver O'Grady."

The title of my post is a quote spoken by the father of one of the victims while describing the conversation he had with his daughter in which she admitted, finally, after decades, that the priest he'd invited into their house had molested and raped her for seven years. This documentary wasn't easy to watch, but I strongly recommend it.

The one thing I felt was lacking was a list of organizations that support the victims of this kind of abuse; I wanted to know if there was some way I could help, and somewhere to point interested readers; but it didn't take much googling to uncover some possibilities. One is SNAP, or Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests. From their website: "We are the largest, oldest and most active support group for women and men wounded by religious authority figures (priests, ministers, bishops, deacons, nuns and others). We are an independent and confidential organization, with no connections with the church or church officials. We are also a non-profit, certified 501 (c) (3) organization." And SNAP gave me a list of links to lots of other organizations -- check them out, if you like. Those links of course, lead to other links, all of which got me thinking that maybe I should explain the way I choose which organizations, out of the gazillions, to support -- in case it would be helpful to any of my readers trying to navigate the same terrain!

******
Researching Nonprofits

So. Not all charities are efficient, consistent, or transparent, and some, on occasion, are even dishonest or unethical. I just feel like it's good sense to look into a nonprofit, any nonprofit, even the big, famous ones, before donating. Usually what I do is try to learn as much as I can *about* the org, reading its website and maybe asking friends, so that I'm not surprised later to learn that I disagree with some of its positions or practices. But then I take it one step further than that -- I open up the websites for a few of the charity watchdogs out there and see if I can learn more.

Do you know about charity watchdogs? They're independent orgs that keep an eye on charitable, nonprofit organizations, study them, rate them, and provide reports about them for consumers. If you google the term "charity watchdog," you'll come up with sites like The American Institute of Philanthropy's CharityWatch.org, Charity Navigator, and the Better Business Bureau's Wise Giving Alliance. (Disclaimer: I think these are all for USA charities only -- non-USAians might have to do some more creative searching!) If you're lucky, one of the watchdogs will yield some sort of report on the charitable organization you're wondering about. All you'll have to do is type the charity's name into the box, hit enter, and follow the site's guidelines for how to interpret the results. If you're less lucky, your organization will be one of the MANY organizations none of the big watchdogs have gotten to yet, and you'll have to do some more intensive research. Luckily, Charity Navigator has a page with some clear and helpful instructions and tools for pulling up your nonprofit's public tax return and analyzing it yourself. That probably sounds like an APPALLING activity, but I just used their tools/instructions to take a closer look at SNAP, and not only was it pretty straightforward, it was kind of interesting! Did you know that 501 (c) (3) organizations are required to report how much their CEOs get paid? Tax returns that aren't yours can be a little bit fascinating.

Having done my research, I now feel good about donations to SNAP. I am not in love with some things about their website -- links that unexpectedly download files when you click on them are not cool, and why can't I find a schedule for the upcoming national conference? But overall, I feel good about the work they're doing!

That's the news.

A Walk in the Neighborhood, Charitable Orgs, and a Little Bit of Bones

2011-05-09T00:00:00.004-04:00

It makes me happy that mail carriers understand the importance of getting your Netflix to the mailbox in time for pickup, to expedite the delivery of your next movie. I left my house a little later than I meant to the other day and saw the mailman down the street, beside the blue mailbox, getting into his truck, about to drive away. When he saw me running toward him with my red envelope, he stopped his truck and waited for me. :o)

To the charitable organizations with a policy of stationing aggressive representatives in Harvard and Central Squares to target sympathetic-looking pedestrians for donations: I do research into nonprofits before donating to them, I seek the opinions of people outside the organization as to whether the organization is going to use my money wisely, and I do not make split decisions about such matters on the street. To the charitable organizations that instruct their representatives to yell questions along the lines of, "Hi! Do you have a minute for the environment?": I have lots of minutes for the environment. What I don't have a minute for is you. Your phrasing is manipulative and rude and it makes me determined to give my money to an environmental organization that is not you. Just sayin'. Chances are I like the work your organization does, but I surely don't like the way you're trying to get me to support you.

(Please note that my quarrel is with the organizations, not the representatives who are only doing their jobs. Also, BTW, here's a tiny handful of favorite nonprofits I've done my research on and would like to plug: Doctors Without Borders. Pathfinder. The American Indian College Fund. All great orgs to contribute to.)

So, randomness is good, right? Which is why I'm going to talk about Bones now. I sniffled my way through last week's episode, "The Signs in the Silence." I cannot NOT cry when Bones herself is near tears.

One of the things that makes Bones so dear to me is that she's stuck behind her own inability to express her feelings, especially when she senses they are irrational. And when she's feeling a lot of feelings, her struggle with her own inability to express them causes the feelings to get jammed up and burst out everywhere willy-nilly, in a way that's outside her control. She's a person who normally seems cold, except for when it couldn't be more obvious, from the feelings flying everywhere, that she has an enormous heart. From the writer's perspective, she's also an awesome narrative tool, because she can say sentimental things that, by virtue of them coming out of her mouth, do not sound sentimental.

Plus, in this last episode, there were no embarrassingly shameless plugs for Toyota! Though I expect that as usual, the science in the episode was crap. I don't watch Bones for the science or the mystery; I watch it for the relationships, the heart, and the humor. I jot down the verbal exchanges when they amuse me. A few exchanges between Bones (forensic anthropologist Dr. Temperance Brennan, played by Emily Deschanel) and her partner in murder-solving, FBI agent Seeley Booth (played by David Boreanaz):

BONES [looking skeptical]: Do you even know what superconductivity is?
BOOTH: I know it's better than regular conductivity.

BOOTH: These honesty people tell more lies than the average bear.
BONES [looking skeptical]: Upon what criteria are you determining that the bear is average?
BOOTH: ... How many lies it tells?

BONES [looking skeptical]: There's a rational explanation for his powers. It's not magic.
BOOTH: Maybe not, but it sure is magicky.

BOOTH: Bones, you think a potato gun and a beanbag gun could generate the same fig newtons per square inch?
BONES [looking exasperated]: It's just newtons, Booth.

Finally, a nice exchange between (atheist, pragmatist, and skeptic) Bones and (God-fearing, practicing Catholic) Booth. This takes place in a graveyard, at the end of possibly the funniest Bones episode ever, "The Double Death of the Dearly Departed" (link is to a promotional youtube vid for the episode):

BOOTH: Look, if I die, I want you to do me a favor --
BONES: Well, you will die, Booth. It's inevitable.
BOOTH: All right, whatever, Bones. When I inevitably drop dead before you, I'd like you to come out and, you know, spend some time and talk to me every once in a while.
BONES [looking skeptical]: Well, I'll feel foolish knowing that you can't hear me.
BOOTH: Promise me.
BONES [after a pause]: I promise.

(I think that sometimes she expresses her feelings better than she knows. ^_^)

Regarding "The Sad, Beautiful Fact That We're All Going to Miss Almost Everything"

2011-05-05T00:00:00.005-04:00

After two weeks of lovely, restful travel I am back home and am blogging from my red couch. So many things to do. I have about 40 books out from the library (mostly for work), about 150 movies on my Netflix queue (many for work!), a megaton of email (mostly work-related!), lots and lots of, um, work, less than two weeks until I fly to Australia, my Christmas cactus is in bloom, an orchid died, and the flowering trees in Cambridge are all abud. (Isn't "abud" a word? The dotted red line is telling me it isn't. I'm going to use it anyway.)

Fueled by my outrage, encouraged by friends, and armed with some great suggestions, I'm moving forward with opening a new checking account at a bank that doesn't suck, and closing my Bank of America account. (I blogged about my banking rage in an earlier post.) Have you heard of community development banks? They're commercial banks, but they have a mission to generate economic development in low-to-moderate income communities, and serve those communities. Imagine, for a moment, banking with an institution that tries to do some good in the world with the money you lend them and/or the fees you pay. What an idea. It almost makes your head explode, doesn't it? Thanks to my pals, and especially to D, for getting me on the right track.

Also thanks to CW for linking me to Linda Holmes' post at NPR's blog Monkey See: "The Sad, Beautiful Fact That We're All Going to Miss Almost Everything." It's a sad, beautiful, and even joyful look at the impossibility of any of us ever doing all the things we want to do -- and especially reading all the books we want to read -- in one lifetime. We may as well surrender -- and be grateful that the world has such a wealth of art for us to surrender to. The post makes me teary and very happy to be alive.

It also makes me want to get off my laptop and stop rattling around among my own thoughts. Bye, everyone!

And Thereto I Give Thee My Troth

2011-05-02T00:00:00.003-04:00

Text messages on the morning of the royal wedding:

CORDELIA: What is a troth?

ME: It's a kind of trowl.

(actual definition of "troth")

******

So. In Verdi's opera Il Trovatore, the handsome, maniacal stalker Count di Luna is determined to have the lovely, brainless Leonora, but much to his fury (which is a passion raging fiery in his breast, or some such -- he goes on and on about it), she has fallen in love instead with a gasbag named Manrico who frequently flies off the handle at the slightest provocation. Unluckily for all three of these bombastic individuals, Manrico's stepmother Azucena is harboring a secret: the Count and Manrico, sworn rivals, are actually brothers. To avenge her mother, who was murdered by the Count's and Manrico's father a very long time ago, Azucena leads the Count, Leonora, and Manrico to tragic ends.

Welcome to the world of a certain brand of tragic, romantic, unintentionally-comic opera, everyone. The music is gorgeous and everyone is completely insane and it is frankly kind of awesome and hilarious. There is a scene in this opera wherein Leonora has taken poison in order to save Manrico's life -- specifically, she has promised herself to Count di Luna in return for the Count sparing Manrico's life, but then taken a fatal poison to thwart the Count's desire -- and Manrico, not knowing she's taken the poison, is yelling at her (interminably) for betraying his love. In the meantime, Leonora is flopping on the floor in front of him (on account of the poison), but he's so wound up in his rage that he doesn't notice she seems a little under the weather. Finally, she sings, "I am dying!" He gasps in grief and horror and is like, "NO WAY!" I mean, seriously? Good grief.

Anyway. Did you know that lots of movie theaters all over the world play simultaneous (IOW, live) broadcasts of performances of the Metropolitan Opera? My parents took me to one this weekend and it was fun; I am not generally a fan of opera music -- quite the opposite -- but it's different when you can see it performed. The sets are AMAZING and I particularly fell for Dmitri Hvorostovsky as the evil Count di Luna and Dolora Zajick as Azucena, the woman avenging her mother. If you have a passing familiarity with classical music, there's a good chance you'd recognize the Anvil Chorus from Il Trovatore. (FYI, the production in that video link is not the Met production). Check and see whether there's a theater near you for watching one of these spectacles. It made me want to go to an opera at the Met for real.

Diversity in YA Tour

2011-04-28T10:40:00.005-04:00

Readers in San Francisco, Austin, Chicago, Cambridge MA, New York City, and San Diego -- Cindy Pon and Malinda Lo's Diversity in YA Fiction tour is coming to you in May. Here's the Diversity in YA tour schedule. Cindy and Malinda will be presenting panels in the company of a whole lot of other great YA writers in each city, to talk about diversity in YA books. For example, on May 12, Malinda Lo, Cindy Pon, Holly Black, Sarah Rees Brennan, Deva Fagan, and Francisco X. Stork will come together to present a panel at the main branch of the Cambridge Public Library. And for those who can't make the events, check out their website, www.diversityinya.com, and the Diversity in YA blog!

Lots of blogging ideas; no time. Happy weekend, everyone. If you run to your TVs and internets tomorrow to see what Kate, Chelsy, William, and Harry are wearing, not to mention Camilla and Elizabeth's hats, I will not judge you.

A Book Recommendation and a Bank Non-Recommendation

2011-04-26T17:00:00.005-04:00

Writers out there: I strongly recommend the book Writing the Other: a Practical Approach, by Nisi Shawl and Cynthia Ward. It's the companion book to Shawl and Ward's Writing the Other Workshop. From the workshop website (linked to above): "Are you afraid to write about characters whose racial heritage, sexual orientation, or religion differs from your own? Do you think you'll get it wrong — or cause offense? In this intensive four-hour workshop, authors Nisi Shawl and Cynthia Ward will teach you to write sensitively and convincingly about characters of diverse backgrounds and cultures." The same can be said for this book, which contains a lot of great information, guidelines, exercises, etc., to help you write characters whose race, sexual orientation, age, ability, religion, or sex differ from your own. The book is gentle. Shawl and Ward tell the reader that it's okay to make mistakes; that it's worthwhile -- more than worthwhile, important -- to try. Read this book.

Another helpful read, for writers and readers, is Mitali Perkins's article in School Library Journal, "Straight Talk on Race: Challenging the Stereotypes in Kids' Books."

I'm writing this in a rush because there are two 20-month old girls in the other room about to wake up at any moment. I'm writing it carelessly and badly because I'm distracted by being furious with Bank of America, who recently raised the minimum balance on my checking account from $750 -- which was absurdly high to begin with -- to $1500, and informed me of this change with a note on my bank statement. Hello. I am a freaking busy person. I read my bank statement to make sure no one is stealing from me. I do not always read the extraneous writing on my bank statement, and sometimes I don't get to my bank statement for a while. I should have been notified of a change like this in a separate communication. The new minimum balance is BEYOND absurd, as is the $14 fee I was charged for dropping below that balance. I have resisted closing my BoA account up until now, despite numerous frustrations and insults like this one, because so many of my bills are set up to be paid automatically from that account, and changing those arrangements will be a big hassle. Finally, today, I am mad enough to close the account and reorganize all my bills.

USAian readers, if you're fed up with your big bank and are ready to move your money to a local bank or credit union, check out moveyourmoneyproject.org, which explains the benefits of investing locally and also has features to help you find and read reviews of local banks and credit unions in or near your zip code. Thanks, codename: Joe (who was nearby when I saw the Bank of America fee, and witnessed me losing my temper) for the link. It's one of the resources I intend to use to help me open an account with a banking business that won't make me feel like I'm being taken advantage of on a continuing basis.

Apologies again for the rush in which this post was written. And for souring my support of Writing the Other and Mitali Perkins's article with this bank rant. They deserve better.

The littluns are stirring. Better post this and go. ^_^

Not a Lot to Say on This Thursday

2011-04-21T00:00:00.003-04:00

Conversation between two people, overheard on the street:

PERSON 1: You could certainly drop the appendix.
PERSON 2: Yes, the appendix!

Here's what I'm wondering. Do you think they were graduate students or writers (or some such) talking about a document? OR, do you think they were surgeons, having a conversation about which organs it's acceptable to drop on the floor?

I prefer the second option.

Anyway. I don't have a lot of time today, but I want to recommend two things: the Edward Gorey exhibit at the Boston Athenaeum. And, this blog post by Lesley Kinzel about her thoughts on the TSA, scanning machines, patdowns, and differences between men and women. (Thanks, B!)

Musical Medleys, PSAs, and James Franco Cutting His Arm Off

2011-04-18T00:00:00.010-04:00

I'm going to send you to a website that you're never going to want to leave. Of course, maybe you've already been there. I keep sending it to people and they tell me they've already been there. Annoying people hooked into the pulse of the internets! Stop being so on top of things!

Go to this page, turn up your sound, click on a few squares, and see what happens. Then click on more. Keep clicking! Write your name and see what it sounds like. Draw lines and grids. Draw the Grim Reaper! Draw flowers!

YOU ARE WELCOME. (Thanks, Jess!)

Moving on. The following is a public service announcement for people who are new to the activity of running/jogging. Newbie runners, in case you don't know: when given the choice between running safely on sidewalk or running safely on pavement, choose the pavement. If the choice is sidewalk, pavement, or dirt path, choose the dirt path. Please. Running is a high-impact activity. You cannot condition your body to it too slowly. Take it easy, take lots of rests for your joints and feet even if your heart is going strong; if you are new to the sport, do not run every day; listen to your body and don't run if it hurts; and choose the least-hard (safe!) running surface available to you. Things you inadvertently do to your joints now, even if it feels fine while you're doing it, have the tendency to come back back years later to haunt you. TRUST ME I KNOW.

This has been a public service announcement, inspired by many people I saw running on the sidewalk along Memorial Drive today, even though the paved road was closed to traffic and open to runners, and even though there's a dirt path along the river.

The rest of this post is about the movie 127 Hours, and I'm not going to say anything grisly, but if you've seen the movie and had a hard time with it, or if you don't want to hear about self-surgery, now is the time to stop reading.

I quite liked the movie, and was super-pleased that a film about a man stuck by himself in a canyon for 127 hours wasn't the least bit boring. James Franco was completely believable and sympathetic as Aron Ralston, the real-life adventurer who actually was trapped by a fallen boulder in a Utah canyon for 127 hours in 2003, finally escaping by cutting his own arm off with a blunt blade. I will say that just as advertised, the graphic parts are *extremely* graphic, such that some of the images -- one in particular -- were imprinted in my brain for about 24 hours after watching. I don't usually have a problem watching grisly things, so this is a testament to how grisly this thing was. I'm not surprised to read about people fainting, having panic attacks, or needing medical assistance while watching this movie, and I will warn you to take it easy if you're planning to watch it. If it's helpful, the most difficult part only lasts maybe 10 minutes, and it's very close to the end.

I like to read other people's reactions to movies to help me cement my own. I read a few reactions that made a big deal about the character's deep inner transformation and inner experience, and I can't say that I shared that reaction. I felt that Ralston as a person was dealt with rather shallowly, as was any personal transformation he underwent -- and please note that I'm not saying he was presented as a shallow person, nor am I saying that real-life Ralston was/is a shallow person (I don't know him, I haven't read his book, I have no idea what kind of person he is!). What I'm saying is that the character's inner life and outer relationships were dealt with rather shallowly by the writers of the movie. "I should answer the phone when my mother calls" and "I should leave notes when I go adventuring so people know where I am" are both important realizations (the latter being of life-and-death importance in this instance, obviously). "I'm a person who needs other people, I can't do everything myself, I'm not invincible, I take people for granted" can be profound, but at least within the 94 minutes of this movie, it was not the stuff of a fascinating character study. I'm fine with that. Ralston's physical experience is well more than enough to carry this story, and there can be no doubt that what he endured and then accomplished physically demonstrated an enormous emotional and mental depth and strength. This is a survival story, well-filmed and well-acted. It leaves you with your mouth hanging open in amazement at what Ralston physically survived, and what people in general are capable of.

(I was also a little amazed at my own abusive cheerleading. After he finally frees himself, he pauses for the merest instant to rest and recover from just having amputated his own arm. In that instant, I started yelling at the TV. "What are you doing? Don't just stand there! Gather your supplies and move! Move it, Aron!" I couldn't help myself. I was so desperate for him to survive, and it's not like he cuts off his arm and then everything is better. He's still in a canyon in the middle of nowhere all by himself, starving, dehydrated, bleeding, in terrible pain, and minus one climbing hand.)

It's a physical survival story, and I recommend it for that.

Relatedly -- if you're looking for a survival story in which the character, also based on a real-life person, demonstrates tremendous depth, intellect, conscience, and a (heartbreaking) inner transformation, I would say watch Into the Wild, about the wilderness trek of young Christopher McCandless, except -- and this is a spoiler, but it's an important one -- that is not a survival story. McCandless died on his trek. The movie is desperately sad in the end, but McCandless, as portrayed by Emile Hirsch, touched my own life. I felt privileged to know him.

127 Hours trailer:

Into the Wild trailer:

Australia Stuff and Things; and a Rainy Day

2011-04-14T00:00:00.012-04:00

It was raining like crazy today in Cambridge. Rain dripping from all the flowering trees. A perfect day to walk to my friend Titus's house and just hang.

Titus can't open the door by himself, but luckily, his butler was there to let me in. Titus is a problem solver (you can probably tell that by looking at him). As we hung out, my problems disappeared into the ether.

So, a while back, I mentioned that I'm going to be in Australia in May. I now have events, dates, and locations!

SYDNEY STUFF

Thursday 19th May at 17:30

Galaxy Books, 173 York Street, Sydney

www.galaxybooks.com.au/

I’ll be doing a book signing.

Friday 20th May at 18:00

Kinokunyia, 500 George Street, Sydney

www.kinokuniya.com/

I’ll be doing a talk, Q&A, and signing.

Sunday 22nd May at 11:30

Sydney Writers’ Festival

Sydney Dance Company, Studio 4, Pier 4/5, Hickson Rd, Walsh Bay

http://www.swf.org.au/

I’ll be ‘in conversation’ with Judith Ridge, and will do a signing at 12:30.

MELBOURNE THINGS

Friday 27th May at 17:00

Readings, State Library of Victoria

Palmer Hall, State Library of Victoria, 328 Swanston Street, Melbourne

http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/

I’ll be ‘in conversation’ and do a Q&A and signing.

Saturday 28th May at 12:30 (note the time change)

The Emerging Writers’ Festival

Town Hall Melbourne, 90-120 Swanston Street

http://www.emergingwritersfestival.org.au/

Panel: Going Global. How do Aussie writers fare overseas? We look at how to navigate the business of becoming a global success, and whether it’s more lucrative to sell to international or local markets. With Kathy Charles, Luke Devenish, Chris Morphew and me, hosted by Jacqui Dent. I will be speaking from the perspective of a non-Aussie writer, of course. :o). Presentations, panel discussion, and audience Q&A.

I'll let you all know if there are any updates or changes!

I could be on a panel. I have thoughts.

"...it is quite a risk to spank a wizard for getting hysterical about his hair."

2011-04-11T00:00:00.006-04:00

It's very rarely that I read a book for the first time (or ever), put it down, contemplate what book I want to read next, then pick up the same book to start all over again. That seems to be what's happening with Howl's Moving Castle, though. It's just... Diana Wynne Jones writes such beautiful sentences! With the slightest word, she can make me laugh and laugh. If a book is witty and contains intellectual puzzles, like this one does, but *doesn't* contain heart, then I might like it okay, but I don't love it -- but this book has it all, including the heart, without being the least bit sentimental. I'm reading it again, because I wasn't paying close enough attention the first time through, and because it deserves it.

Here's a moment I love:

She had to get this right, and she was not sure how you did. "Well, here goes," she said.

That's it. Maybe it doesn't look like much out of context, but that's the character of Sophie in a nutshell. She never knows for sure how to fix things (which is, incidentally, NEVER her fault), but that doesn't stop her from trying. I love that.

Diana Wynne Jones died on March 26, and my inbox has been filling with friends' favorite tributes to her. The Diana Wynne Jones obituary at the Guardian, by Christopher Priest, taught me about the fascinating life she led. Kirkus Reviews' tribute, by Deborah Kaplan, taught me that her books had a way of predicting her future. Bn.com's tribute, by Sarah A. Wood, goes into more detail about the books, and Neil Gaiman knew her personally.

Thanks to Amanda, Tui, and Anindita for the links.

Home Is Where the Ax Murderers Aren't

2011-04-07T00:00:00.008-04:00

I've been home for a couple weeks now, but I'm only just starting to get on top of the accumulated mail, laundry, grocery shopping, etc. The more important things, however, are completely under control. For example, one of my orchids is about to blossom, and I moved my ginormous (easily 6 feet tall, probably 4 feet wide) money plant tree out of my front window and into my office. It was getting too much light in the front window; the leaves were getting sunburned.

So. As I sat in my office swivel chair the other day, swiveling a bit (as one does), a hand appeared over my shoulder. I knew myself to be alone in the house, so there was only one explanation -- it was the ax murderer -- so I jumped and screamed, and even grabbed a pencil with which to STAB HIM TO DEATH.

Anyway. Turns out I'd just swiveled myself against my money plant tree, which was being friendly, not with hands, but with leaves. Which was QUITE a relief.

One of the things I haven't really gotten back on top of since I got home is my blog. Which accounts for the patheticness of this thrilling Ax Murderer? Or Overgrown House Plant? tale.

To redeem myself, here are a few things that made me really happy recently:

A slideshow of beautiful walled cities. Need some inspiration for your writing? Take a look at these gorgeous sites.

In a similar vein, a slideshow of "extreme castles."

The FABULOUS soundtrack of the movie Taal, composed by A.R. Rahman.

These four Michael Jackson songs covered by Snowblink on Daytrotter. Go to that link to hear clips from the most eerie, sad, beautiful covers of "Thriller," "Don't Stop till You Get Enough," "Human Nature," and "P.Y.T." -- and, if you're like me, put down four dollars to buy them right away.

LA LA LA LA

Have a nice weekend, everybody!