katiefoolery: (Coconut modem)
[personal profile] katiefoolery
There's the strangest feeling in the air these days and I know exactly how to describe it. Which is useful, really, otherwise I'd just be sitting here making strange gestures and saying Oh, you know, it's sort of like this with a bit of that and actually, it's a bit like the smell of freshly-baked scones if I think about it...

But no.

The feeling is exactly as though a coin has been tossed and I'm waiting for it to come down. As though something very spectacular is about to happen but I just don't know what. Meanwhile, I'm just watching... waiting for the coin to fall and for things to be set in place.

What things?

What place?

I have no idea. All I know is that it's a weirdly euphoric feeling.

Something that's not making me weirdly euphoric is this vague plan I have of doing something before Christmas. I can't say much more, since I'm going to be posting it here eventually - suffice to say, I'm both anticipating it and putting it off in one breath. That multi-tasking procrastination thing again.

And it has a lingering air of hypocrisy, due mostly to conversations I've been having with my writer lately.

Firstly, my writer will exclaim that it's impossible to finish this chapter. That they can't write fight scenes. That it's been too long since they last wrote and surely the standard of writing will have dropped due to lack of use.

To which I reply: Nonsense. Rubbish. Of course you can write fight scenes. Of course you can finish this chapter. Now shut up and get on with it.

I'm a very considerate, sensitive beta.

:D

And then my writer will pick up past passages and say they can't write like that any more and how the hell did they write something so incredible in the first place?

To which I reply: Less angsting, more writing.

Very considerate and sensitive.

:D

Yet, now I find myself in my writer's place... except I'm not being quite as positive to myself. When I say I can't write like that any more; when I say I can't find that voice again; when I say I'm doomed to failure... I agree. Cheerfully.

Yes, you are! Why not forget about it and have a nice cup of tea instead?

And that, my friends, is hypocrisy at work. Unfortunately, hypocrisy happens to share top spot with passive-aggressiveness on my list of My Most Hated Things (DIAF Pls). (This list also includes eggplant and people who think their brains are purely for plumping their skulls out.) But I digress.

I'm going to do my best to overcome this bout of hypocrisy and your good wishes would be most appreciated.

They'll be extra-appreciated if said good wishes come with good luck chocolates or snacks of some sort. :D

on 2008-12-23 03:36 am (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] everydayjoy.livejournal.com
Would virtual chocolate and candy canes help? Or perhaps Buddy the Elf singing that he loves you? (see userpic)

I am so very excited about the Possibility of What You're Not Telling Us.

on 2008-12-23 03:45 am (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] katiefoolery.livejournal.com
Yes, very much so! I haven't had any real candy canes yet, so virtual ones are surely the next best thing.

Thank-you muchly - your excitement makes me feel more confident about this... thing I'm doing. :D

on 2008-12-23 03:47 am (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] everydayjoy.livejournal.com
Keep in mind that I'm giving you actual peppermint candy canes, not those freakish cherry-flavoured ones that look like peppermint but taste like medicine. Cherry candy canes are the devil.

Good luck with The Thing! We wait with bated breath :).

on 2008-12-23 04:28 am (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] katiefoolery.livejournal.com
As far as I'm concerned, peppermint flavoured candy canes are the only real ones. I'm going to have to be on my guard about these cherry ones now...

on 2008-12-23 04:33 am (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] erinmacha.livejournal.com
*grins evily* I know you are up to something great. :D And I can't wait to see what it is. MWuahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah...

As for your writer not able to write how she used to? Well, I think she needs to hash out her angst in her writing. Fights aren't always smooth and flowing like dances - spars are, but not fights. Fights have bumps, they have bone chipping skips, they have bleeding noses and broken arms. Calculation and posturing. Not pretty - tell her a fight scene doesn't have to be pretty. Tell her a fight scene is supposed to make the reader feel like it was their face that was drug over dust, grit and jagged rocks.

on 2008-12-23 05:34 am (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] katiefoolery.livejournal.com
Oh crap, I have inadvertently raised expectations.

*panic-flails*

I keep telling my writer: layers. Start with the basic layer, then build on that, then on that, then on that... until it's done. I like your advice, though - I think I'll definitely pass that on.

on 2008-12-23 05:52 am (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] erinmacha.livejournal.com
If it is the writer is whom think it is (I used the feminine pronouns too much, but I think it is whom I think it is) she likes to think of herself as a 'painter with words' and her paintings are most astoundingly gorgeous and detailed.

Sometimes that dazzles the eyes though. The observer loses the focal points.

Time for abstract art. She needs to splash black, red and yellow up on the canvas and smear it with her hands and pressure. Pat it in a couple of places she thinks bars of color might need interruption. Ugly, isn’t it? And yet it is still art.

Blue and purple come later - when the healing actually starts.

Layers are good advice. I can think of chapters I’ve written (on a beta’s advice!) that started as nothing but pure dialog. I am certain your writer will be able to do this and so much better than I.

on 2008-12-23 06:47 am (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] katiefoolery.livejournal.com
I'm definitely like you, then - I'd be happy to put out chapter after chapter full of mostly dialogue. Description is not my forté.

on 2008-12-23 01:49 pm (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] erinmacha.livejournal.com
*blushes* Um...sorry about the drunk comments...one problem with being snowed in. O.o

on 2008-12-23 04:41 am (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] erinmacha.livejournal.com
Oh yeah...there were supposed to be goodies for you weren't there. :D

*hands you mince pies and folds your laundry*

on 2008-12-23 05:35 am (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] katiefoolery.livejournal.com
Oooh, extra lovely!

on 2008-12-23 05:33 am (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] moonlitpromise.livejournal.com
Oh, geez. I hate those whining comments but I go through those phases all the time. And EVERYONE is a hypocrite, so don't feel bad. I can't even get out my chapter to send to you. :/ Stupid writing.

Can't wait for Christmas! Hopefully, I'll get my laptop and then I'll be sending you a chapter a week (hopefully!!!!!!)

Have a nice Christmas and don't worry about being a hypocrite (no one is perfect), you'll be fine. Everything will work out.

<3333

on 2008-12-23 05:41 am (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] katiefoolery.livejournal.com
I think it's starting that's my biggest issue. Everything looks so daunting and scary before you start. Hopefully I'll be able to get over that.

So you still might be getting your laptop? That's fantastic!

ETA> I should add that I don't mind the comments at all - I totally get where my writer's coming from. Maybe I should have more sympathy but I want that latest chapter, dammit!

on 2008-12-23 05:36 am (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] kwalktown.livejournal.com
You're a fantastic beta, I'm sure... *shifty* Hehe.

Would it be good if I said just write it?

Oh - and snacks! *passes the Rocky Road and the White Christmas, because it's in the house and I sure as hell ain't eating it! (No, really)*

on 2008-12-23 05:44 am (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] katiefoolery.livejournal.com
I'm a mean beta. Seriously mean. Just ask my writer. :D

And that would be good. It would be very helpful, in fact. So thank-you. And I will accept your Rocky Road but I'll pass on the White Christmas (so you can continue not to eat it). I never worked out how to love White Christmas, really.

on 2008-12-23 06:05 am (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] kwalktown.livejournal.com
Me either. It's white! And sweet! And... That totally sounded better in my head. :P

on 2008-12-23 06:46 am (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] katiefoolery.livejournal.com
How often things sound much, much better in our heads...

My biggest issue is that it always seems to have orange peel in it (White Christmas, not my head, obviously...). I do not get orange peel.

on 2008-12-23 06:52 am (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] kwalktown.livejournal.com
Orange peel? I've never seen orange peel! - I think my sister cheats then, she puts glacé cherries, jelly babies and snakes and things in it. Sweet things, and lots of them! Probably some chocolate, because she's an absolute chocoholic. I missed that gene, totally missed it.

on 2008-12-23 07:48 am (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] katiefoolery.livejournal.com
Um, I wouldn't mind trying your sister's version of White Christmas. Just one piece, though, because I'm like you in lacking the chocolate addiction gene. I mean, I like it, but I think I have more of a cheese-fancying gene. Or an Arnotts Shapes fancying gene.

on 2008-12-23 09:34 am (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] kwalktown.livejournal.com
You! You have totally won my heart. Cheese. Cheese is the food of gods and like... cool people. xD. I'm totally the same, I like chocolate... I just... Nah.

I totally lack a sweet tooth whatsoever... Perhaps I'm adopted?!

on 2008-12-23 10:46 am (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] alankria.livejournal.com
LESS ANGSTING, MORE WRITING.

on 2008-12-23 10:55 am (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] katiefoolery.livejournal.com
Perfect! Thank-you. :)

on 2008-12-24 05:53 am (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] katiefoolery.livejournal.com
Also, we've been talking about it and we think you should join [livejournal.com profile] getyourwordsout. :D

on 2008-12-24 01:32 pm (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] alankria.livejournal.com
I did begin contemplating it, and then I forgot to continue contemplating it because my memory is like a sieve with a really big hole in the middle.

*joins*

on 2008-12-23 01:26 pm (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] the-wanlorn.livejournal.com
Awwwwwwwwww don't be silly! Beat yourself into submission like you beat your writer!

on 2008-12-24 05:53 am (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] katiefoolery.livejournal.com
That's exactly what I should do. Excuse me, I have to go off and give myself a good talking to...

on 2008-12-23 01:58 pm (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] cornish-pixie87.livejournal.com
[i]Yet, now I find myself in my writer's place... except I'm not being quite as positive to myself. When I say I can't write like that any more; when I say I can't find that voice again; when I say I'm doomed to failure... I agree. Cheerfully.

Yes, you are! Why not forget about it and have a nice cup of tea instead?[/i]

I laughed out loud when I read this because I DO IT TOO.

We are bad kids. We should lay off the tea and lay on the writing. Or....still have tea while we write.

Mmm tea.

*makes some*

on 2008-12-24 05:55 am (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] katiefoolery.livejournal.com
*is just finishing off a nice cup*

It makes me feel all productive when I go off and make some tea! Unfortunately, it's the wrong sort of productivity.

Combining the tea and writing is definitely the way to go. Bonus points if we can get someone else to make the tea for us. :D

on 2008-12-23 04:03 pm (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] surferartchick.livejournal.com
lol, Yes, you are! Why not forget about it and have a nice cup of tea instead?

Hypocrisy is a good thing as long as it's in short bouts and quickly remedied but production.

*sendshotcoco*

on 2008-12-24 05:52 am (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] katiefoolery.livejournal.com
Absolutely. My main issue is the way procrastination or tea or something seems to sneak its way in before the productivity has a chance to occur. But not this time!

Mmmm, hot cocoa...

on 2008-12-23 04:59 pm (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] flippyfrog.livejournal.com
Nope, sorry:

get into that study and write me a novel bitch!

*bitchslaps*

on 2008-12-24 05:51 am (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] katiefoolery.livejournal.com
*salutes smartly*

Yes, ma'am.

on 2008-12-23 09:32 pm (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] naelany.livejournal.com
good luck? *hands you chocolates galore* (homemade ones, with rice crispies..yummmmmmm)

on 2008-12-24 05:50 am (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] katiefoolery.livejournal.com
Thanks! That's pretty delicious encouragement. :)

on 2008-12-24 07:44 am (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] naelany.livejournal.com
Thanks ^_~. Hope it helps ^_^

on 2008-12-24 12:40 am (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] morbane.livejournal.com
Possibly we should rig your electric kettle up to your computer through a nifty USB attachment, along with a program that allows your kettle to charge up based on wordcount.

Along with anti-cheating measures that disregard text added by use of Cntrl+C, etc, etc.

on 2008-12-24 05:50 am (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] katiefoolery.livejournal.com
Oh, I like that idea! I will pay you good money if you can make that into a reality!

on 2008-12-25 12:15 pm (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] crazedturkey.livejournal.com
I''m sorry did you say something? All I heard was blah blah blah Not writing blah blah.


GET BACK TO YOUR COMPUTER AND WRITE IT DOWN.

gheesh!

on 2008-12-26 08:47 am (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] katiefoolery.livejournal.com
Awww, you always know exactly the right things to say. Thanks. :D

on 2008-12-30 12:34 am (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] gwencameron.livejournal.com
Hypocrisy, huh? Well, I'll tell ya what -- you got 2 full days left before the "spectacular" thing happens, so I say go ahead and wallow in that ol' hypocrisy. Wallow in it till your fingers get all pruny! Till your stomach's all sickly-sweet and you're disgusted with yourself and you'd barf if anyone even mentioned White Christmas!




.... hmm, after all that, would it be too goofy to offer you a cheese ball and some crackers? ;)

on 2008-12-30 04:41 am (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] katiefoolery.livejournal.com
Oooh, cheese ball and crackers! Lovely. :D

And you're right - I have precious little time left in which to be lazy and to procrastinate and angst about things... I might as well enjoy it while I can!

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