Monthly Archives: March 2004
Argh!
Word has crashed thanks to Track Changes yet again. At least now I automatically hit Save after every major edit. I keep having to reboot the damn computer to access the document again, though. I’m so close to being done with it – so close! Just the hundred-page Chapter From Hell to clean up and rewrite!
I had tea with an old friend this morning, which was a lovely way to start the day. If I’d plunged right into editing, I think I’d be suicidal by now.
Hellboy
The four-word review:
They got it right.
Yeah, sure, they took a few liberties with the stories in order to make a unified two-hour plot, but they got it right.
The characterisation, the art direction, the cinematography, the music (who the heck is Marco Beltrami anyway?), the pacing, the editing…
I find myself flipping through the calendar to figure out how many days I have to wait before the film premieres in general release so I can see it again.
A colleague sitting next to me at the advance screening said at the end that it wasn’t as good as X-Men, but I disagree. This is the most realistic superhero-type-genre film I’ve seen, with a better script. But they’re apples and oranges, really. This is, well, dark comedy/occult/action. I’m a fan of dark comedy and the occult, and hey, well-done action’s all right too, if it has a purpose.
It was a geek reunion at the advance screening too, with a significant portion of old clientele from the four-years-defunct F/SF bookshop at which I used to work in attendance.
All in all, it was a wonderful day, what with speaking with my author of the Pacific coast and confirming a major amount of the revisions in the first half of the manuscript, beautiful weather, seeing my goddaughter, taking my husband out to dinner, seeing a fantastic film, and having coffee with friends afterwards. I haven’t felt so good in ages. And of course, none of this would have been possible without Debra, who gave us the movie pass! You made my day, and quite possibly my week. Maybe even my month.
To All Aspiring Authors:
When an editor asks you for a more sophisticated tone, simply using more ten- and fifteen-cents words instead of perfectly good five-cent words will not achieve this for you. “Utilise” instead of “use,” “perceive” instead of “see,” and “ponder” instead of “think about” merely clutters up the prose for the reader. Get to the point. A thesaurus is a useful tool for a writer at times, yes; however, your reader shouldn’t have to use one to get through your book. Sophistication arises from how you approach the subject, not the words you use to discuss it.
Thanks.
Oops
We had two people over last night for dinner.
We had to call Skippy and borrow chairs for the dining room table, because we only have two.
Hmm. Evidently we don’t do sit-down dinners for our guests very often, or we’d have noticed this lack sometime over the past thirteen months.
Note to self: Invest in two more chairs for the dining room table to avoid looking like a dork in the future.
Invocation of DayQuil
Hail, powers of DayQuil, conqueror of sinus infections, cold, and flu.
I invoke the powers of Pseudoephedrine Hydrochloride, Dextromethorphan Hydrobromide, and blessed Acetaminophen.
With your might I banish infection and congestion, muscle ache and sore throat.
I invite the ability to breathe clearly and to edit a whole page of this manuscript without coughing so hard that I see spots.
For the good of all (and I really mean it), and with harm to none (because I wouldn’t wish yet another cold on anyone this spring),
So mote it be.
(Yeah, this wretched cold is courtesy of my husband, who feels appropriately guilty. Nothing’s stopping me from seeing the advance screening of Hellboy tonight, though — nothing, I tell you!)