Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
Re: writing
But the stuff that flows easily always seems to be my best stuff; it
gets all dry and stiff and lifeless if I overwork it. Very happy with a
stream of conciousness short I did this afternoon. It's a new form to
me as writing, I like punctuation, but the story needed that to get the
emotional impact I wanted...

I did get this comment on the poem, which I like:
"totally creeped me out.  You are too morbid to be a mother."
  

    
I wouldn't spoil anything about Buffy here.  I talk about Buffy in the Buffy
topic in the tv conference like god intended.
  

    

Or at least like various demons intended.
  

    
Thank you everyone who has said nice things about the photoshoot - it
was very trying to do! Like herding cats, only harder, I think,...
yeeesh! Just getting all the egos into one room was a real trick.

And JaNell - heh, well, we are all considered larger girls. We fit
anywhere from size 14-20, between the three of us, depending on the
manufacturer. And when you consider that most models don't, especially
most goth models who tend to bear striking resemblance to sticks,
yeah,...

Neil- I just saw the international covers for various books - I love
the Hungarian version of Smoke and Mirrors! *gasp* It's beautiful! The
signing photos look, well, painful more than anything. Sebastian
actually refused to take photos of you while at the Seattle signings
(he was at both) - he said you looked too tired, and too much like a
caged animal. (Then again, this was the signing and Keane Hall where we
were all asked to return to chairs, because we apparently were "making
the author feel as tho you're about to stampede him.")

Happy slightly early birthday, Neil, as on Saturday I'm going to be
off helping an absolutely charming two year old celebrate being two
years old.  :-)  (If anyone would like to suggest excellent gift ideas
for a two year old, I'm more than... AAAH! Day I Swapped My Dad!
Perfect! Jen and Ry can read it to her til she can read it to herself!
More ideas welcome, too,... heheh... but I really wanted to get her a
book, and that would be perfect,...)

You know, I'll admit, I've not read anything you've published
Martha,... altho being unemployed, I should really take the time to. 
:-) However, I do enjoy your writing here, and certainly join in saying
with everyone else that I hope you continue to write, only because I
envy you for writing at all.  :-)

-Kelly
  

    
Kelly~
Duplos, esp. the little dino sets...
'Cause Duplos lead to Legos.
Both my kids play with them (4, & 14) and get more every birthday &
christmas...
  

    
About the previous Pseud...
Don't ask.
That's just the way my life is, right now.
  

    
Tree, it's been taped and on it's way but you have to have seen one
little part of the episode before it to totally get it. Package should
be in the mail tomorrow.

Neil, have no help for you,....however do have an ex who runs the IT
department in Connecticut, so if it's bad I can seak help.
But I'm pretty sure you've got it under control.

Kippers,.....ok,..I tried them,....for about 2 seconds, spit it into a
napkin, politely and went on with my breakfast.

Martha,....it's not a spolier but wasn't Spike totally yummy? I need
to go to CA. and see him sing with his band in a big way now.

on the birthday note, Happy thought Neil, and anyone and everyone
going to BosKone, is welcome to come to my last and final birthday
ever. Plans are in the works but nothing confirmed.

Jinx who tried to stay 28 forever but was told that wasn't allowed

Kelly wonderful pics, and I know the size thing, depending I'm either
a 10 to and 18,...I have shirts that are smalls to 2xls
  

    
JaNell- I don't mind being invisible sometimes. It comes in
particularly handy when one is doing something illegal or when I say
something stupid. Although, I do need luv'ins from time to time. 


Will/Pamela et al- Everything Neil said, plus another interesting
"trick". When you've been stuck on a story for a week or more chances
are there's something "wrong" with it, though, sometimes it doesn't
take much to correct it. For instance, I've gotten stuck on stories
where I thought I could never finish them. I thought they just weren't
meant to be written. But much of the way a story flows comes down to
point of view. Who's telling the story? Maybe they don't want to be the
ones to tell it. Many times I've rewritten the same story from a
different point of view (changed it from 1st person to 3rd or
visa-versa) and suddenly I wasn't stuck anymore. I'm so glad I'm only
doing short stories right now. I would hate to re-write a novel. 

Martha- That is my worst fear as well. I just finished a second draft
of a story and showed it to a friend. He says: "It's just like such and
such movie. Well not exactly, but almost." It's a movie I haven't seen
before, but as he explained the plot, I realized that, in good
conscience, I couldn't submit it to anyone. So I stewed and I stewed.
Then when I wasn't stewing, I got more ideas. I added those ideas and
then added an extra twist at the end. It's now more or less the same
story only more interesting, (hopefully) complicated (yet simple), and
therefore nothing like the movie anymore. I think that every artist
recycles things. Archetypes. You can't really avoid using them. But as
long as people add their own perspectives to it, I don't think the
average reader minds. Or even the above average reader. Although, when
reading your stories I never stopped and thought "I've read/heard
something like this before." And you're one of the few authors I've
read where I haven't said that. So I don't really think you have
anything to worry about. Like Neil and many others, I would be very
disappointed if you never wrote another story. 
And you know, what with the age of the Internet, if you're worried
about a story, you could always upload it somewhere temporarily, and we
could tell you how much we love it and how much you need to get it
published :) 

And now it's time for me to mind my own business and "put my money
where my mouth is" or something like that. Ta-ta.
  

    
Um, hi!

Mike--your last post was hysterical.  

Neil--you're right.  He *is* good.

World Market carries Cadbury's biscuits.  Just thought everyone should
know..... 
  

    
Linda - Supposed to shoot at an Italian cemetary in Colma, and at Lone
Tree in Hayward... sometime in December now. My photographer's wife is
still too ill to travel at present. I do want to head out to MVC at
some point tho'. Too cool to pass up. 

Kelly - Amazing photos! Wow!

Martha - Agreed on Buffy! (just saw it on Daddio's Tivo this
afternoon) As for repeating yourself in writing... what <stagewalker>
said. And the whole telling stories that have already been told thing -
who is to say that you can't tell it better in the next round?
Shakespeare comes to mind with that notion. So keep writing, Martha!
Pleeeeeeeeeeze?

Neil - Good luck with Endless Nights. And sometimes art is created and
*then* meaning is found in how it's interpreted. At least that
explains half the work done by a former roommate (including a bronzed
bust of my ex-boyfriend from Hell).

Okay, phonecall is distracting me so I'll post more later.

toodles,
squeaks
  

    
Weird question - can anyone recommend a good silversmith who creates
custom jewelry and has a web site?

-Kel
  

    

E-mail sent to Kelly!
  

    
E-mail from Reg:

Hello all, just poking my head back in since I finally have home internet 
access again.

I'll second Jinx's Boskone birthday invitation, although in my case the 
milestone will be a little happier, as the son of a carpenter named Joseph, it 
will be rather a relief to make it beyond 33.

Neil, I'm afraid I can't offer any help on the computer woes except to remind 
you how many tech support guys it takes to change a lightbulb: "Well the 
lightbulb we have here seems to be working fine..."

Reg
  

    
Neil, honey, re: the blogger entry on the dates of the pics...
Since the urls of the pics all have the towns in which they were taken
on them, can't you just extrapolate the dates from the town?
  

    
Never mind, I 'll send them...
  

    
My copy of Now We Are Sick just arrived...
...
and I have to do work.
...
damn
  

    
Another quick question - there have been rumours of Tori magically
appearing after the shows to sign things, say hello, etc - are these
rumours true? (WhatsHisName has heard this from other sources, and is
somewhat tempted to bring the new musicbook if such rumours are
true,...)

Cheers!
-Kelly
  

    
Have to admit, I was a bit perplexed when I found over 100 new posts
in about 4 days time, so I scrolled down to make sure nothing awful had
happened :)  Relieved, I went back and discovered it was mostly due to
Neil's computer problems and Martha maintaining that she doesn't have
anything worth writing, when we all *know* that's not true (but will
probably have to wait for Martha to come to the same conclusion,
dammit).

Neil - Coming in a bit late, and can't help with the current problems
w/Win2K, but for the future, this will make things easier, especially
when the OS needs to be re-installed.

In Outlook Express, go to Tools menu > Options > Maintenance Tab, and
click on the Store Folder button.  Click on the Change button, and
point it at the folder of your choice (you should create a folder ahead
of time for this).  If you have to re-install the OS in the future,
you just repeat the process after you open Outlook Express for the
first time, and it will find all of your old mail.

You should also do this with the My Documents folder if you usually
save your stuff there, as that's also buried in your Profile folder by
default.  If you use the standard Windows Address Book, it's usually
good to save a copy of it in the mail folder, as well, since it can
disappear in a reinstall if you're not careful (like I wasn't two
weekends ago - still rebuilding my work contacts list.......).

Okay, enought geekery from me - you'd think I'd have had enough by
now, what with being at work for 13 1/2 hours yesterday trying to
resurrect a NT4 server/Firewall that had a major disagreement with a
network card.  By the end of business today, we were back to where we
started yesterday morning.  The joy of IT!  I do, however, get lunch on
my boss tomorrow for finishing the fix today.

PS:  did I mention that my wife and I are separated but living
(amicably) in the same apartment, and that this is the second time this
has happened in my life?  Not to rain on the "Love Parade", mind you -
I still believe in it, just not here-and-now.........
  

    

How do you do that?  

I once had a boyfriend whose parents were divorced and dad just moved into
the den.  Then he got sick and they remarried just before he died.  Very
strange.  I can't imagine staying in the same house with an ex or a
soon-to-be...
  

    
Kelly -- There was a small throng gathered around the parking lot
after the Detroit Tori show, so it wouldn't surprise me if she made an
appearance. She's terrific about that.

Rick & Linda -- My mom and stepdad married, divorced a few years
later, she moved out of state and then back into the state, and when
she came back she moved back in. They just seemed to be much better
friends than they ever were spouses. Strange but true.
  

    
I have a friend whose sister, I'll all her Karen, met & fell in love
with a man who was still legally married.  We all thought she was nuts.
 What had happened was that when "John" and his wife "Ann" were filing
for divorce, they discovered that she had a fatal degenerative
disease.  Since Ann had been a stay-a-home mom, if they divorced she
would lose her insurance coverage.  So they separated, but stayed
married.  When Ann got really sick, for the last couple of years of her
life, guess who took care of her?  Karen.  She said that she loved his
kids, and wanted them to be able to spend as much quality time as
possible with their mom, so she moved in with them.  She eventually
passed away, and Karen & John are now happily married.  The things
people find inside themselves to do out of love for each other never
cease to amaze me. 
  

    
Well, the lease runs through March, and the rent is a stretch for
either of us alone (I can do it, but it wouldn't be easy - though I
make less than she does, my expenses and lifestyle are cheaper).  We
get along fine as long as we don't talk about the relationship, so I'm
living in the living room, and she's in the bedroom and her
studio/office.  We're fortunate to have 2 full baths, and we're sharing
custody of the kitchen :)

It would never work as something permanent, but until we save up some
money, I guess it works okay.  She seems to be intending to spend
weekends away, which helps, though there is surprisingly little tension
in the air right now.  It probably helps that I'm really easy to live
with - I do my "share of the chores" without prompting, and I don't
have a problem being nice and supportive regardless of the relationship
issues.  That's probably the midwesterner in me coming out :)

Mind you, I'm hoping to be alone in this place by the end of the year
or so, just so we can both start moving forward a bit more
convincingly.  We can't do that together - she's not a bad person by
any stretch of the imagination, just impossible in a relationship (for
me, though I think she'd be challenging for anybody).
  

    
Rick - I'm with you. I've been keeping nice and quiet on the love
thing in here... 
And as someone who had two ex-girlfriends in the same office... I can
understand the "enforced time together whether you like it or not so
lets all be as good to each other as possible" kind of situation.
Ick
  

    
Email from Jouni Koponen:

Hi again.

And thanks for the kind words. You people are the best.

Neil -- If I'm not entirely wrong, you'll have a birthday
coming up next saturday (November 10th). If that is
correct, and since I don't have a net access during
weekend, well...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE PRINCE OF STORIES... TO YOU NEIL!

I'll promise to draw something (hopefully) cool and post
it to my online-picture garage first thing next monday as
a late birthday card.

Promise.

But right now I can only give you a small story... or a
mystery... or something.

This is a true story (actually it's happening in front of
me as we spe... err... write.

Our ad-agency is located to a very idylic part of the
town (old wooden houses, big trees etc.), no industry, no
shops, just people living all around us... get the
picture, right.

Few days ago our nextdoor neighbor died.

He was an old man living alone in his house. He seemed
quite mad; he dressed weird and talked/shouted/laughed to
himself. My office window gave (and still does) to his
house, so I saw him almost every day standing on his yard
doin' something and talking to someone who wasn't there.
A year back he was still kind of chubby and healthy but
recently he had lost weight and his skin looked grey...
he seemed ill.

Couple days back I saw an ambulance and a police car
parked in front of his house. I haven't seen anyone move
in the house since.

But the WEIRD thing is how animals now behave around the
house. Dogs go nuts when they pass it. They either start
barking like mad or just run from their owners and to the
dead mans yard chasing something invisible. And this
morning when I came to work there was a huge flock of
crows in his yard, hopping in the snow or sitting on the
apple trees. They didn't seem to do anything, they
just... dunno... waited. When someone walked by they flew
away, but returned as soon as the person had gone by.
They spent most of the morning there and left when sun
was high and shone bright. It was really creepy.

How do they know? Do they smell it or what?

Kinda reminds me about The Kindly Ones too...

There.

Have a nice weekend everybody.

Jouni (who's looking forward his first fathersday (as a
father) this sunday)
  

    
Kelly -- Tori did an after-show meet&greet at the show I went to, so
I'd say that the rumours are likely true.

Neil -- Happy Birthday a day early!  I too am unlikely to get online
tomorrow, so there you go.  Hope this next year of life proves even
more joyous and prosperous than the last.