On Hiatus

I'm going to take a break from adding new posts to this blog. I'll update the sidebar but that's about it for now. I need to devote as much time as I can to my writing in that I have four short stories I want to write and submit by the end of the year.

Enjoy the holidays.

Oh, before I forget. I saw The Prestige last night. Very interesting movie. Unfortunatley, it's difficult to talk about the movie without giving away the twists, but I will say that Bale and Jackman were very good and David Bowie was a wonderful surprise in the role of Nikola Tesla. Andy Serkis (Gollum) is also in it and Michael Caine is, well, Michael Caine. He's like Morgan Freeman. He rarely disappoints in a role.

I would definitely recommend seeing the movie but be prepared to have to pay close attention. The movie shifts back and forth in time and it can be a tad confusing. At least it was for me but not terribly confusing. Just took me a second or two every now and then to orient myself as to "when" I was. The costumes are GORGEOUS!

Laptop Blues, Two Magical Hunks, NaNoWriMo, A BookFestival

And a partridge in a pear tree.

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

I had to buy a new laptop this week.

Did I want to buy a new laptop? No, not really seeing that I'm still quite broke.

But my old laptop died on me last week. Columbus Day to be exact. The place I'm temping at was closed that day so I grabbed my laptop, my binders and my notes for my current WIP (a short story) and took off early that morning for what I assumed would be a blissful day of writing.

Except my laptop died.

As for my buying a new laptop the reason I did so, despite my current dismal financial situation, is I've been spoiled. Very spoiled. I lug my laptop to the coffee shop, to the library, and to just about every bookstore in this town that has decent tables upon which to write and coffee to drink. I was going through very pronounced laptop withdrawal after my old laptop died. So I bought a new one. Do I have the money to pay for it?

Nope, not really. But I figure I can stand eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for awhile. As a a matter of fact I'm sure I can. As long as I can keep writing. I mean, heck, I don't do anything else. I can't remember the last time I went out to eat, or to a play, or went crazy in a bookstore, or bought myself a new pair of shoes just to buy them. I've been very frugal this past year I've been temping. Cutting back on just about everything that one tends to spend one's discretionary income on!

Sorry about that mini-rant.

As for the two magical hunks, well of course, I'm talking about Jackman and Bale!

The Prestige opens today but I won't see it it until Monday. One, because tonight is Dr. Who and Battlestar Galactica night. The other reason is that if I wait until Monday I can get in free and and I can use that money towards this laptop I just bought that I can't afford.

I haven't read any reviews for The Prestige yet because some reviewers don't review as much as summarize the movie! I hate that! But, as I've said before, I don't care how badly reviewed it is, there's no way I'm not going to see it! *grin*

I also want to see Flag of our Fathers, The Departed and Marie Antoinette. As to whether I'll see all of those, that's up for debate. But I will see The Prestige for sure, and my son wants me to go with him to see Flag of Our Fathers.

Now, as for NaNoWriMo there's a good chance I won't be doing it this year. Two anthologies have come to my attention looking for submissions. They are paying money. Money I could use. The deadline for both anthologies is Jan. 1, 2007. And they have to be mailed. No email submissions so the deadline will actually be earlier than that in order for me to get them forwarded in time.

My concern is that if I spend November doing NaNo instead of writing those two stories, and then if the place I'm temping at does like it did last year and requires a 50 hour per week mandatory overtime for the entire month of December in order to reach profits that will impress the powers that be, that will cut into my time to work on those stories.

I'm going to wait until the end of October to make my decision, however.

This weekend is the Fifth Annual Wisconsin Book Festival, held here in the Mad City. Neil Gaiman is scheduled to appear on Sunday - Genre Fiction and the New Wave Fabulists -- A discussion with Neil Gaiman, Peter Straub, and Gary K. Wolfe: The Evolution of Horror and Fantasy.

I'm going to that discussion. There's a note on the schedule that says he's on-call for an overseas movie prodcution so might not make it. I hope he does, as I'm sure a lot of people are hoping. I've seen him once before and I'd sure like to see him again.

Quote for the day - When you look at yourself from a universal standpoint, something inside always reminds or informs you that there are bigger and better things to worry about. -Albert Einstein

The Prestige Opens This Friday!

Don't forget. The Prestige opens this Friday, October 20th. I am so there! I went over to Rotten Tomatoes to see where it is on the Tomatometer but there aren't enough reviews yet.

But as my son likes to tease me, it wouldn't matter if this movie were the biggest pile of crap this side of a cattle ranch, I would still go see it.

Damn straight! *grin*

However, I think it will be very good. I liked Batman Begins, which Christopher Nolan, the director of this movie, also directed and which also stared Bale.

That's good enough for me. And the fact that it has Bale in it. And Jackman. In Victorian London.

I think I'm going to faint.

National Novel Writing Month

National Novel Writing Month starts on November 1st. For an entire month you work on writing a 50,000 page novel by the end of November. It started in 1999 with only 21 particpants. Last year there were over 50,000 people who signed up and this year they're prediciting well over 70,000 participants.

What do you get if you're a "winner?" A certificate, a sense of accomplishment and, who knows, maybe even a published novel. Lani Diane Rich joined the National Novel Writing Month challenge in 2002. Those first 50,000 words turned into her first published novel, "Time Off for Good Behavior," in 2004.

You can find out more about NaNoWrimo by clicking on this link
NaNoWriMo Webesite

This will be my fourth year participating. The first year, 2003, I didn't finish. I did finish in 2004 and 2005. I'm rewriting this year the novel I wrote in 2005. I'm not sure if that's against the "rules" or not, but I'm doing it anyway.

Casanova

Masterpiece Theater is showing the first part of a movie based on the life of Casanova tonight on PBS. A recent film staring Heath Ledger was released some time ago. I didn't see that one, but I do plan to watch this one.

David Tennat, the current Doctor Who, plays the younger Casanova, while Peter O'Toole plays his older self.

You can find out when it will be on in your area by going to this website. PBS Local Listings

Some Links

I've been busy the last few days since I made the move to this new Blogger account. It seems to be working okay so far, but I believe they are still working out some bugs.

Have a three-day weekend coming up so have lots of writing to get done.

I'm going to post some links I came across while researching.

The first one is Eyewitness to History It's a site with first-hand accounts of famous moments in history.

The next one is The Historical Novel Society. For anyone who reads or writes historical novels.

The Baby Name Wizard Blog is the blog of the author of The Baby Name Wizard Book which I've found very helpful for naming characters.

The WorldCat
is an online catalog to libraries all over the world. You can search for books, music, videos, etc. If's very useful if you make use of inter-library loans.

19th Century Slang Dictionary Here you can find 19th century slang to spice up your dialogue.

Finally, The Time Traveller's Guide to Victorian Britian is a very neat site chock-ful of info about those wacky Victorians

My New (Old) Blog

I made the move over to Blogger's Beta site as I was having trouble with the old Blogger site. With hope things will go smoother here. :)

Unfortunately all my old posts are at the old blog but I was able to transfer over all my links. So, here's to hoping I don't have to move again anytime soon.