Friday, August 24, 2007

Why does my dog ...

Why does my dog lick walls? I know that there is nothing to eat there; I just washed them. Still, she licks them, the paper in my office, the lava lamp, and her favorite bath tub. I can only guess that she experiences the world more profoundly through her sense of taste. Then again, I thought dogs had an underdeveloped sense of taste.

On the note of dogs, what do you think about stories that are told from the prospective of animals, in which they maintained their "animal" nature (i.e. Animal Farm doesn't count, but Startide Rising does)? Are they always a little campy in your mind, or can you think of a story that really pulled it off?

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Cats ...

Go here.

It has nothing to do with writing, but it cracked me up.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

An awesome discussion brewing ...

Go check out this post. I think the post, and the following discussion thread, is really cool*.

*I'm not just saying that it is cool because I wrote a near novel-length comment. *blush*

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Harry Potter Review

I know I am super late on this, but I really have to throw my two cents into the Deathly Hallows ring. I read the book about three weeks ago, but I wanted to think about it before I posted my thoughts on the matter.

First, I’d like to say that the series, as a whole, is good. Ms. Rowling did a good job of telling a very long and involved story. She clearly managed to reach out well beyond the believed market for such stories.

Now down to the nitty gritty …

I really didn’t like Deathly Hallows for many reasons. There, I said it! I know that lots of people are going to wildly disagree with me on this, but I really feel pretty strongly about it. There are several reasons for my not liking the book, and most of those reasons revolve around rule breaking and logic errors. I know, I am an uptight reader about things like this, but I really want the writer to make it work it out correctly, as in, in accordance with the rules of the world. In my writing group, this is the first thing any of us will point out in the each others’ stories. It is so important! So where did she fall down, in my opinion?

1. The elder wand. The rule was that the elder wand couldn’t be defeated in a duel, yet that is how Dumbledore won it from Grindelwald. Bad. Bad. Bad.

2. The final duel. What weird logic was that? Really? Harry can defeat Voldemort because he defeated Malfoy and took his wand, and Malfoy is the rightful owner of the elder wand? So, somehow the elder wand knows that its true owner (Malfoy) was defeated while using a different want and now must belong to Harry? I don’t buy it.

3. More Final Duel. Nor do I buy that a teenager (and not a well-studied one at that) defeats the most powerful wizard of all time, who is currently using the unbeatable wand, with a simple disarming spell. Sorry, it doesn’t fly with me. You know what I would have believed? I would have totally bought into the concept that the horcruxes held his power, as well as his soul. Thus, if the majority of the horcruxes were destroyed, so was the majority of his power. This would clear the way for Harry to defeat him easily, but this would also mean anyone else could have done the same, too.

4. The epilogue was horrid. I wish I hadn’t read it, truthfully.
I could go on, but I am afraid of the rabid Potter fans. On that note, until this book, I was a pretty rabid fan.

Monday, August 20, 2007

A swing and a miss

It was no love from F&SF. So off Blink goes to Strange Horizons.

:(

Friday, August 17, 2007

Now for the random question

Does anyone know the average time it takes a letter to go from Seattle to NYC? How about Boston to NYC?

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

The best thing about ...

The best thing about a writing group is that it motivates me to write. I just shipped off my newest short story to Fantasy & Science Fiction. It's great to have things going out again. I have to admit that after being orphaned at my literary agency (not being immediately picked up by the other agents), I've been feeling a bit down about sending anything off.

Well, wish me luck.

Friday, August 3, 2007

Clarion West

I was recently looking into science fiction and fantasy writer seminars and workshops, and I ran across the Clarion workshops, again. I run into this seminar, boot camp, writer heaven every couple of months while looking for cool writer retreats, etc. Here's my question though, who has time to take six weeks off of work? And if you could take that time off, who could move into a dorm for that time? I don't and can't, so I just never get to go check it out, which totally bums me out. Not only is it a great workshop, but its name will carry you far into the industry.

I know I'm whining, but I feel a bit down today about it all. Trying to build two careers simultaneously is feeling more and more daunting. Maybe next year I can make it to Orson Scott Card's writer boot camp; it also has a good name in the industry and is supposedly amazing.

:(