The end of the year is when many entertainment and news magazines and papers publish their “Best of” entertainment lists. The difference between them and me is the writers who come up with those lists are professional reviewers who are paid to watch TV and movies, read books, listen to music, and write about their opinions. I’m just going to let that sink in for a second… there are people who get paid to do what for the rest of us is an escape. Maybe they do Excel spreadsheets in their spare time to relax; I don’t know.
Since no one’s paying me to watch TV – to be honest, no one’s really paying me to do anything right now, but that’s OK – my own list of personal bests and worsts is hardly all-inclusive. I know I’m missing out on a lot of quality TV by refusing to subscribe to more than one pay channel. I know this because I follow a lot of professional TV people on Twitter and I am not watching what they are watching on Sunday nights. Furthermore, my husband doesn’t like the movies, so I’ve only been to three in 2012 – and one of them was a 3-D remake of a film I’d seen several times, and the other two were both in December. Yes, one of my 2013 goals is to go to more movies.
So here it is; my own personal list of the best of 2012, the biggest disappointments of 2012, and things I hear are really good but I didn’t have time to watch in 2012, in the world of entertainment. I can’t promise a specific number because I don’t know how many I’ll come up with.
Best in Entertainment
The revitalization of General Hospital
Fans have complained for years about the mob-centric show, and as the ratings declined and its sister soaps All My Children and One Life to Live were canceled, rumors were that GH was next on the chopping block. Instead, with a new producer/writer team at the helm, GH returned to its roots of character-driven story and brought back stars that shined in the heyday of the 1980s. While the show still suffers from some weak storylines, overall it’s an hour of soapy goodness once again.
The Redskins, the Nationals and the Orioles all make the playoffs
The DC area has long suffered with some of the worst teams in the nation. Only the Capitals, now on strike again, have provided area sports fans for a reason to look forward to the post-season. But in 2012, these three teams all made the playoffs. (Yes, I know the Ravens regularly compete in the post-season, but DC fans don’t root for them. Yes, we do root for the Orioles, but that’s only because we went for so long without a baseball team.) While the Redskins and the Nationals were both revitalized due to new, young, ubertalented players (RG3 for president, anyone?), the Orioles turnaround was that much more miraculous as they did it with pretty much the same staff they had in 2011. No one expected new VP Dan Duquette to have that big of an impact that soon, but you can’t argue with a winning season.
Grey’s Anatomy continues to shine
This show is older than my dog, and should be jumping sharks and disappointing fans all over the place. Instead, by allowing characters to grow professionally, adding new young doctors, and keeping the Meredith/Christina friendship at its core, Grey’s remained an entertaining hour full of characters you love without ever getting stupid or repeating itself.
These terrific shows kept me entertained: The Walking Dead, Mad Men, Girls, Portlandia, 30 Rock, Nashville.
Best books of 2012? Gillian Flynn’s“Gone Girl” wins, hands down. It’s the kind of book you can’t predict, you can’t put down, and you can’t stop kicking yourself for even thinking you can write because who can compete with a book like this? Other books I really enjoyed this year include “Blackberry Winter” by Sarah Jio, “Totlandia,” by Josie Brown, “Home Front,” by Kristin Hannah, and “Unbroken,” by Laura Hillenbrand.
Music? Two songs by Fun – “We are Young” and “Some Nights.” Pink and Nicki Minaj make the treadmill that much easier to handle. Phillip Phillips’ “Home” is great for the cool down, while Train’s “50 Ways to Say Goodbye” is great for a laugh.
Biggest Disappointments of 2012
I read a lot of reviews, so I generally stay away from bad stuff and don’t need to come up with a “worst” list. But I did find myself disappointed a lot, mostly by these:
Revenge
Revenge turned into a mess this season, with too many new characters and “the Initiative” – aka, “It’s not really Conrad and Victoria’s fault, because we want to keep them around.”
True Blood
Whose idea was it that Bill and Eric needed to leave Louisiana and spend the entire season and storyline away from Sookie? Because as ideas go, this was a very bad one.
The Good Wife
Most people are citing Kalinda’s creepy ex-husband as the reason why this season was disappointing. I found him serious fast-forward material, but more than that, the evaporation of the Will/Alicia relationship was puzzling. Without the tension between these two, the urgency to tune in every week disappeared, too.
ABC cancels 666 Park Avenue
This was a good show that got better (and better DVR ratings) every week. Its cancelation made no sense, and ABC’s decision to put sitcoms in its time slot rather than giving fans its last episodes was an additional kick in the butt.
The Hobbit
Without a ring to fight over and possibly turn heroes into Gollums, the journey lacked urgency. And what does a dragon want with gold, anyway?
I Heard These Were Really Good, But I Didn’t Have Time
Homefront
Magic Mike
Hunger Games
Defending Jacob
Breaking Bad
Oh, and one last disappointment – Netflix streaming service, which guarantees I’ll need a disc in the mail in order to watch the stuff I missed!
Monday, December 31, 2012
Sunday, December 23, 2012
What RG3 has in common with Ron Carlivati and Frank Valentini
There were two things that I loved in high school that are making a comeback today: The Washington Redskins, and General Hospital. In the 80s, the Redskins went to two Superbowls in a row under ubercoach Joe Gibbs, and went to the playoffs in other years. And General Hospital reached his heyday with the Luke and Laura wedding; even after actress Genie Francis left the show and took a million viewers with her, it was still the top-rated soap for the rest of the decade.
Sports and soaps both produce insanely committed fans. And just like winning teams build on their fan bases and gain even more popularity, soaps that produce stories that fans want to watch gain in ratings and word-of-mouth. At the same time, losing teams shed fans – empty seats at Fedex were common, even though the team insisted the waiting list for season tickets was still long – and soaps that showcase stories and characters people don’t want to watch will lose fans, too.
It’s been a hard decade for both Skins fans and General Hospital viewers. The Redskins haven’t won the division since 1999, and reached the playoffs only a few times. And General Hospital allowed the show to be dominated by a misogynistic, bi-polar mob boss and his brain-damaged hit man. As mob stories took over and the tone of the show changed completely, long-time fans deserted en masse. The ratings fell precipitously, and several other soaps were canceled.
The Redskins are in no danger of being canceled (I guess the NFL equivalent would be being sold or moved), but owner Dan Snyder did go through more head coaches than General Hospital went through head writers. Even so, Redskins fans blamed Snyder for the team’s woes, citing his micro-managing, free-agent shopping and mercenary ways. And General Hospital fans blamed “The Idiots In Charge” – namely, ABC Daytime head Brian Frons, executive producer Jill Farren Phelps, and head writer Bob Guza. While Snyder was mostly silent , ABC fought back, blaming the fans for going to work, for watching the OJ Simpson trial, and for being unhappy no matter what stories played on screen.
Then, two miracles happened.
Robert Griffin the 3rd was drafted by the Redskins. And Ron Carlivati and Frank Valentini took over at General Hospital, as head writer and producer, respectively.
Football is not a game in which the fortunes of a team can usually be turned around due to just one player, and indeed the Redskins still have weaknesses, specifically defensively. But RG3 is one of the most gifted players ever under center, with amazing passing accuracy, lightning fast speed, executive-level decision-making capabilities, and incredible leadership skills. If he is able to stay healthy, he will have a Hall of Fame career.
I don’t know if Ron and Frank ever played football, but they are running General Hospital under a two-minute drill. They were hired after One Life to Live was canceled, even though that soap actually had higher ratings than General Hospital did at the time. Long-time fans themselves, they quickly set about making changes fans had cried for for years: bringing back show vets, de-emphasizing the mob, adding some lighter stories.
The ratings are up by 12% since last year. Instead of whispers of GH’s cancelation, eager plans are being made for the show’s 50th anniversary in April.
The show isn’t perfect; some storylines are downright annoying. But it feels right. Port Charles has become a cohesive town again, where everyone knows everyone. It’s an hour spent with cherished friends, rather than with bad guys trying to kill worse guys.
Best of all, in my opinion, is that they proved The Idiots In Charge wrong. For years, executives who hated soaps blamed the fans on the low ratings and refused to listen to complaints about story. They said nothing could stop the decline and inevitable cancelation of the shows because nothing they could do would bring the fans back. Unfortunately these idiots were allowed to destroy two long-cherished soaps, All My Children and One Life to Live. But Ron and Frank have proved that by being fans (many soap exes aren’t), listening to fans and delivering what fans want (on a macro level rather than specific storyline), fans will tune back in.
Currently the Redskins lead the NFC East, with only the Cowboys standing in their way. Even if the Redskins lose on the 30th, they will still make the play-offs this year. Considering they were 3-6 at one point, it’s a miracle. But even if the Redskins lose the first playoff game, with RG3 under central, the future is bright.
It feels like the 1980s again. Only without the big hair and bright blue eyeshadow.
Sports and soaps both produce insanely committed fans. And just like winning teams build on their fan bases and gain even more popularity, soaps that produce stories that fans want to watch gain in ratings and word-of-mouth. At the same time, losing teams shed fans – empty seats at Fedex were common, even though the team insisted the waiting list for season tickets was still long – and soaps that showcase stories and characters people don’t want to watch will lose fans, too.
It’s been a hard decade for both Skins fans and General Hospital viewers. The Redskins haven’t won the division since 1999, and reached the playoffs only a few times. And General Hospital allowed the show to be dominated by a misogynistic, bi-polar mob boss and his brain-damaged hit man. As mob stories took over and the tone of the show changed completely, long-time fans deserted en masse. The ratings fell precipitously, and several other soaps were canceled.
The Redskins are in no danger of being canceled (I guess the NFL equivalent would be being sold or moved), but owner Dan Snyder did go through more head coaches than General Hospital went through head writers. Even so, Redskins fans blamed Snyder for the team’s woes, citing his micro-managing, free-agent shopping and mercenary ways. And General Hospital fans blamed “The Idiots In Charge” – namely, ABC Daytime head Brian Frons, executive producer Jill Farren Phelps, and head writer Bob Guza. While Snyder was mostly silent , ABC fought back, blaming the fans for going to work, for watching the OJ Simpson trial, and for being unhappy no matter what stories played on screen.
Then, two miracles happened.
Robert Griffin the 3rd was drafted by the Redskins. And Ron Carlivati and Frank Valentini took over at General Hospital, as head writer and producer, respectively.
Football is not a game in which the fortunes of a team can usually be turned around due to just one player, and indeed the Redskins still have weaknesses, specifically defensively. But RG3 is one of the most gifted players ever under center, with amazing passing accuracy, lightning fast speed, executive-level decision-making capabilities, and incredible leadership skills. If he is able to stay healthy, he will have a Hall of Fame career.
I don’t know if Ron and Frank ever played football, but they are running General Hospital under a two-minute drill. They were hired after One Life to Live was canceled, even though that soap actually had higher ratings than General Hospital did at the time. Long-time fans themselves, they quickly set about making changes fans had cried for for years: bringing back show vets, de-emphasizing the mob, adding some lighter stories.
The ratings are up by 12% since last year. Instead of whispers of GH’s cancelation, eager plans are being made for the show’s 50th anniversary in April.
The show isn’t perfect; some storylines are downright annoying. But it feels right. Port Charles has become a cohesive town again, where everyone knows everyone. It’s an hour spent with cherished friends, rather than with bad guys trying to kill worse guys.
Best of all, in my opinion, is that they proved The Idiots In Charge wrong. For years, executives who hated soaps blamed the fans on the low ratings and refused to listen to complaints about story. They said nothing could stop the decline and inevitable cancelation of the shows because nothing they could do would bring the fans back. Unfortunately these idiots were allowed to destroy two long-cherished soaps, All My Children and One Life to Live. But Ron and Frank have proved that by being fans (many soap exes aren’t), listening to fans and delivering what fans want (on a macro level rather than specific storyline), fans will tune back in.
Currently the Redskins lead the NFC East, with only the Cowboys standing in their way. Even if the Redskins lose on the 30th, they will still make the play-offs this year. Considering they were 3-6 at one point, it’s a miracle. But even if the Redskins lose the first playoff game, with RG3 under central, the future is bright.
It feels like the 1980s again. Only without the big hair and bright blue eyeshadow.
Monday, December 17, 2012
Our Deepest Fear
There’s a very famous quote attributed to new-age guru Marianne Williamson (although I’ve heard she was actually quoting someone else) that goes something like this: Our deepest fear is not that we’re inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
Maybe Ms. Williamson (or whomever first originally said this) hangs out with a completely different crowd than I do, but I find this hard to believe. Most people, I don’t think, aren’t carrying around a deep-seated fear that they are, in fact, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Most people, I believe, deep down inside are scared that they suck and no one’s ever going to tell them that.
Maybe this is just a writer thing, or an artist thing. After all, if you’re a scientist or in some other math-based profession, it becomes obvious pretty quickly whether or not you suck. If your patients keep dying or your equations never add up or you’re always losing all your clients’ money, there’s really no question that you’re not any good.
Not so for the creator-based community. Writing – any art – is reviewed separately and subjectively by each person, so that while as a society there’s an agreement about certain blockbuster works of art – Harry Potter, the Mona Lisa – there’s plenty of disagreement around others. Was 2001 A Space Odyssey a masterpiece or a joke? Is J.K. Rowling’s “A Casual Vacancy” a thought-provoking, sweeping saga or just a mess? And is my novel any good?
There’s a saying in Hollywood that you can die from encouragement, which basically means that no one you talk to will ever say that your writing sucks or you’re the worst actress ever or you can’t put two images together without boring the entire country. Because, God forbid, what if your judgmental judgment is wrong and this person actually makes it big and then refuses to work with you because of your criticism? This ignores the question of why you’d want to work with someone that you know sucks even if the rest of the world thinks he’s the greatest talent since Da Vinci, or at least the Da Vinci Code. So you spend your entire life, or at least the most productive part of it, slaving away at your art because so many people say encouraging things, and then you spend the end of your life wondering why it never happened for you.
How do you know if you’re one of the ones who really has “it,” or if people are just patting you on the head to be kind? After all, it isn’t just Hollywood execs who are trained to be encouraging. From an early age, we’re all taught that “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” So if you give your book to your best friend, is she really going to tell you if she thinks it sucks? Of course not.
At the same time, we writers are supposed to be able to handle rejection. We’re told to develop tough skins, not to take it personally. After all, the first thing that happens when you find a professional who really loves your writing is that he’ll tell you a million things wrong with it.
I have gotten pretty good handling rejection on one level. I’m OK when someone declines to read my book. After all, there are a million books out there, good ones, that I’ve decided not to read myself. I have very specific tastes and interests and I imagine that agents and editors do, too. So when I present my idea and I’m told, “Thanks, but it’s not for me,” I’m disappointed but I really don’t take it personally.
What I do take personally is a rejection after the material has been read. Because in that case, the agent/editor/producer has already shown interest in the idea. It’s my take and writing of said idea that they’re rejecting.
And no, no one ever tells you that they’re passing because as a writer, you’d make a great waiter. It’s a few sentences of form letter; after reviewing the material, they don’t wish to see anything more. Occasionally there’ll be a note at the bottom saying feel free to send anything else you’re working on, and that’s heartening, but only slightly.
I’ve been writing stories since I was very young – I can remember working on a “Little House on the Prairie” fan fiction I called “Light Up the Sky with Firecrackers” (Did they even have firecrackers in the 1800s?) – and in school I was a good enough writer that I could often bullshit my way through papers relying on skill rather than content. This is why I went into PR.
I don’t think you can bullshit your way through a novel or a screenplay.
Self-publishing has really taken off in the past few years. It’s become so legitimate that a few very well-known, well-compensated authors are choosing to leave their publishing houses and go out on their own. After all, that means the money goes directly to them and they don’t have to wait a year for their book to come out.
Self-publishing means there’s no one to stop you. No one to say this idea isn’t right for us, no one to say there’s no market for it, no one to wrinkle their nose and say that no one wants to read about a character like your protagonist.
There’s also no one to say that your writing sucks. (Of course, as I wrote just a few paragraphs ago, no one’s going to say that anyway.)
I’ve read many self-published books this year, and while one or two of them were strong enough that they could have easily come from a major house, most of them had problems. There were issues with plotting, character, and dialogue. And one or two of them flat-out sucked.
I wonder if those writers got any editing help at all. Did they ignore suggestions? Did they really think readers would be interested in a three-page conversation about what the characters had for breakfast? Or maybe it’s me… maybe I’m too picky.
My manuscript is going out to some editors after the holiday. I’ve had three people read it --- two baseball parents and the owner of a book blog. They didn’t think it sucked, so that’s a good thing.
I’m also looking in to self-publishing. If these editors pass, I want everything in place so I can start that process as soon as possible.
And hopefully I don’t suck.
Maybe Ms. Williamson (or whomever first originally said this) hangs out with a completely different crowd than I do, but I find this hard to believe. Most people, I don’t think, aren’t carrying around a deep-seated fear that they are, in fact, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Most people, I believe, deep down inside are scared that they suck and no one’s ever going to tell them that.
Maybe this is just a writer thing, or an artist thing. After all, if you’re a scientist or in some other math-based profession, it becomes obvious pretty quickly whether or not you suck. If your patients keep dying or your equations never add up or you’re always losing all your clients’ money, there’s really no question that you’re not any good.
Not so for the creator-based community. Writing – any art – is reviewed separately and subjectively by each person, so that while as a society there’s an agreement about certain blockbuster works of art – Harry Potter, the Mona Lisa – there’s plenty of disagreement around others. Was 2001 A Space Odyssey a masterpiece or a joke? Is J.K. Rowling’s “A Casual Vacancy” a thought-provoking, sweeping saga or just a mess? And is my novel any good?
There’s a saying in Hollywood that you can die from encouragement, which basically means that no one you talk to will ever say that your writing sucks or you’re the worst actress ever or you can’t put two images together without boring the entire country. Because, God forbid, what if your judgmental judgment is wrong and this person actually makes it big and then refuses to work with you because of your criticism? This ignores the question of why you’d want to work with someone that you know sucks even if the rest of the world thinks he’s the greatest talent since Da Vinci, or at least the Da Vinci Code. So you spend your entire life, or at least the most productive part of it, slaving away at your art because so many people say encouraging things, and then you spend the end of your life wondering why it never happened for you.
How do you know if you’re one of the ones who really has “it,” or if people are just patting you on the head to be kind? After all, it isn’t just Hollywood execs who are trained to be encouraging. From an early age, we’re all taught that “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” So if you give your book to your best friend, is she really going to tell you if she thinks it sucks? Of course not.
At the same time, we writers are supposed to be able to handle rejection. We’re told to develop tough skins, not to take it personally. After all, the first thing that happens when you find a professional who really loves your writing is that he’ll tell you a million things wrong with it.
I have gotten pretty good handling rejection on one level. I’m OK when someone declines to read my book. After all, there are a million books out there, good ones, that I’ve decided not to read myself. I have very specific tastes and interests and I imagine that agents and editors do, too. So when I present my idea and I’m told, “Thanks, but it’s not for me,” I’m disappointed but I really don’t take it personally.
What I do take personally is a rejection after the material has been read. Because in that case, the agent/editor/producer has already shown interest in the idea. It’s my take and writing of said idea that they’re rejecting.
And no, no one ever tells you that they’re passing because as a writer, you’d make a great waiter. It’s a few sentences of form letter; after reviewing the material, they don’t wish to see anything more. Occasionally there’ll be a note at the bottom saying feel free to send anything else you’re working on, and that’s heartening, but only slightly.
I’ve been writing stories since I was very young – I can remember working on a “Little House on the Prairie” fan fiction I called “Light Up the Sky with Firecrackers” (Did they even have firecrackers in the 1800s?) – and in school I was a good enough writer that I could often bullshit my way through papers relying on skill rather than content. This is why I went into PR.
I don’t think you can bullshit your way through a novel or a screenplay.
Self-publishing has really taken off in the past few years. It’s become so legitimate that a few very well-known, well-compensated authors are choosing to leave their publishing houses and go out on their own. After all, that means the money goes directly to them and they don’t have to wait a year for their book to come out.
Self-publishing means there’s no one to stop you. No one to say this idea isn’t right for us, no one to say there’s no market for it, no one to wrinkle their nose and say that no one wants to read about a character like your protagonist.
There’s also no one to say that your writing sucks. (Of course, as I wrote just a few paragraphs ago, no one’s going to say that anyway.)
I’ve read many self-published books this year, and while one or two of them were strong enough that they could have easily come from a major house, most of them had problems. There were issues with plotting, character, and dialogue. And one or two of them flat-out sucked.
I wonder if those writers got any editing help at all. Did they ignore suggestions? Did they really think readers would be interested in a three-page conversation about what the characters had for breakfast? Or maybe it’s me… maybe I’m too picky.
My manuscript is going out to some editors after the holiday. I’ve had three people read it --- two baseball parents and the owner of a book blog. They didn’t think it sucked, so that’s a good thing.
I’m also looking in to self-publishing. If these editors pass, I want everything in place so I can start that process as soon as possible.
And hopefully I don’t suck.
Monday, December 10, 2012
The Next Best Thing
Thanks to Stephen A. North for tagging me in this writer-blog meme, The Next Best Thing. I’m going to New York this week to participate in the New York Pitch Conference, so who knows, maybe the next best thing is me!
What is the working title of your book?
Keeping Score
Where did the idea come from for the book?
My son played travel baseball from the ages of 8-14, so I got a lot of material from that!
What genre does your book fall under?
The chick lit subgenre of momlit.
Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
This would be a wonderful break into showbiz for a 9-year-old boy! For the adults, Amy Adams as my protagonist, and Mark Ruffalo as her love interest.
What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
When her 9-year-old son wanted to play summer travel baseball, Shannon Stevens had no idea the most brutal competition was off the field….
Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
I am still working that out, but I imagine I’ll be self-publishing. I’d like to have it out by Opening Day 2013
How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
Once I got really serious about it – making myself write every weekday – probably about 5 months.
What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
I think it’s similar to Jane Porter’s “Odd Mom Out,” which is also about how parents in upscale communities compete through their kids. Her story centers around a mother and daughter, though, so the nature of the competition is very different.
Who or What inspired you to write this book?
My son!
What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest
If your child competes in any arena, or if you’ve ever wondered how parents get to the point where they’re beating up umpires in parking lots, this book is for you!
What is the working title of your book?
Keeping Score
Where did the idea come from for the book?
My son played travel baseball from the ages of 8-14, so I got a lot of material from that!
What genre does your book fall under?
The chick lit subgenre of momlit.
Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
This would be a wonderful break into showbiz for a 9-year-old boy! For the adults, Amy Adams as my protagonist, and Mark Ruffalo as her love interest.
What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
When her 9-year-old son wanted to play summer travel baseball, Shannon Stevens had no idea the most brutal competition was off the field….
Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
I am still working that out, but I imagine I’ll be self-publishing. I’d like to have it out by Opening Day 2013
How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
Once I got really serious about it – making myself write every weekday – probably about 5 months.
What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
I think it’s similar to Jane Porter’s “Odd Mom Out,” which is also about how parents in upscale communities compete through their kids. Her story centers around a mother and daughter, though, so the nature of the competition is very different.
Who or What inspired you to write this book?
My son!
What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest
If your child competes in any arena, or if you’ve ever wondered how parents get to the point where they’re beating up umpires in parking lots, this book is for you!
Monday, December 3, 2012
Liebster Award
Nominees need to do the following:
When one receives the award, one posts 11 random facts about oneself and answers the 11 questions asked by the person who nominated you.
Pass the award onto 11 other blogs (while making sure one notifies the blogger that one nominated them!) (This is going to be particularly difficult as I only know 3 writers with blogs who haven’t been nominated…)
One writes up 11 NEW questions directed towards YOUR nominees.
One is not allowed to nominate the blog who nominated one’s own blog!
One pastes the award picture into ones blog. (You can Google the image, there are plenty of them!)
11 Random facts about me:
My very first fan fiction was “Little House on the Prairie.” I was in the 3rd grade, so no “50 Shades of Grey” stuff going on there!
I can’t write with any music on, people talking, in public, etc. I need quiet so the voices in my head will talk to me!
I broke my toe in Paris a few years ago, stumbling around in a dark hotel room. My husband enjoys tormenting me with “Ow, my toe!” whenever I get up in the middle of the night.
The L’ouvre is not set up well for visitors in wheelchairs.
My first real job was at McDonald’s. I think today’s cashiers have it way easy, without having to bother with getting people their drinks.
The longest book I ever read was “Gone with the Wind.” It is about 1,066 pages. I know this because I took the book on a car trip and my brother insisted on counting each page out loud. I was in the 6th grade, and he was in the 1st.
I love the “Lord of the Rings” movies but have never read any of the books.
I have found fault with a Shakespeare play.
I wrote my own soap opera in high school. I think I got up to about 30 episodes, then I wrote it in novel form. At some point, I threw all the writing away.
Writers should never throw away anything they’ve ever written.
I am a huge fan of old-time General Hospital (pre-Luke and Laura)
And now for Samantha Stroh Bailey’s questions (Samantha actually had 12 questions; two number fives; I’m electing to only answer the first one):
1. What is the best costume you’ve ever worn? When my son Alex was about 5, he was obsessed with Peter Pan, so that year we went to a Halloween party as Captain Hook (my husband Tom), Tinkerbell (me), and Peter (Alex).
2. What’s the best gift you’ve ever given? Alex got an iPhone in the 6th grade. This was when the first generation had just come out. A little extravagant for an 11-year-old!
3. If you could be invisible for one day, where would you go and what would you do? I’d go to my son’s school and spy on him.
4. Who’s your Hollywood crush? I don’t really crush on actors, but I did have a strong reaction to Brad Pitt in the movie “Troy.”
5. What movie always makes you cry? Terms of Endearment.
6. If you could live in the home of any television series, which would it be? As long as the occupants don’t come with it, the Greyson manor on Revenge.
7. What is something you’ve always wanted to try? Right now it’s paddleboarding.
8. What’s your favorite food? Ice cream.
9. If you won the lottery, what would be the first thing you’d buy? The biggest 3-D TV there is.
10. What’s your favorite song? I change favorites with days of the week. Right now it’s “Some Nights” by Fun.
11. Describe yourself with one adjective. Persistent.
My nominees are Patricia Pooks Burroughs, J.P. Smith, and Stephen A. North. Here are your questions:
1. What is your all-time favorite sports team?
2. Which supernatural creature would you feel most comfortable fighting?
3. What are you too scared to do?
4. What invention do you wish was around when you were a kid?
5. What book written by another author do you wish you had written?
6. What is your favorite city to visit?
7. What is the longest-ever stretch of time you’ve spent writing without a break?
8. If you weren’t a writer, what do you wish you could be?
9. If you had the chance to repeat a year of your life, which one would it be?
10. Did you buy a ticket for the latest big Powerball jackpot?
11. Has blogging, tweeting, etc., helped your book sales?
Monday, November 26, 2012
NaNoWriMo Fail
I am a NaNoWriMo failure.
Okay, maybe failure is too strong a word. But today is November 26th, and instead of closing in on 50,000 words, my Work In Progress (WIP) is a lousy 20,000 words. To be honest, it’s not even that many words. Today I hit “save” at 19,126.
To put that in perspective, some writers were planning on doing 20,000 words this weekend alone.
What did I do this weekend? Well, I didn’t write a single word. Friday night my husband and I took our son to International Plaza, an upscale mall near Tampa airport. Saturday I picked up my car, went to the gym, went out to dinner with family, then watched a movie with my son. Sunday I read the newspapers, edited my son’s paper, dropped him off at the airport, then watched Sunday night TV. Sunday night TV is the best, by the way.
I wonder about those people who did 20K words this, the weekend after Thanksgiving. Did they not have family they wanted to hang out with? Are they more disciplined than I am? Or are they just more in love with their WIP than I am?
I started NaNoWriMo with such high hopes. Not necessarily about getting to 50K in one month, but about my idea itself. Before NaNoWriMo began, I had a general idea about what I wanted to write about, but then right before the month started, it got very specific. I was excited and had no problem reaching my goal word count every day for the first week or so of the month.
So it wasn’t just that I took a trip to Disney World, and it wasn’t just that my son was home for college for nearly an entire week, and I wanted to spend every waking moment with him, not my computer. But somewhere along page 50 or so (I’m not sure where that is in word count), my idea, that had seemed so specific in the beginning, got vaguer and vaguer as I got further into the story.
And rather than thinking in terms of major plot points, I’m only able to think a scene or two ahead. And the things that happen in these scenes aren’t necessarily tied in to what I wanted this book to be about.
The point of NaNoWriMo – the point of writing any first draft – is supposed to be just about getting the words down. You’re not supposed to edit yourself at all. Just keep on typing, even though the conversation you’re writing is the most boring, banal exchange between two fictional people ever known to man.
And yet…
“Measure twice, cut once” is one of my favorite sayings… maybe because my mom really likes to sew. And this kind of writing is the opposite of that advice.
Would you get in the car and just drive if you didn’t know yet where you were going, knowing that you could end up doubling back and driving twice as long?
The conventional wisdom behind the “just write” advice is that editing written words is easier than filling a blank page. But you know something? I don’t think it is.
Maybe because I spent ten years editing articles by people who could not even write a lead, or maybe because I spent an hour wanting to pull my hair out while editing my son’s paper this weekend, but editing – good editing, substantial editing – is harder than writing. Yes, a blank page is scary. But what’s scarier is points that repeat themselves, abrupt changes in tone, opinions without supporting evidence, and paragraphs that have nothing to do with the main point. I’d much rather cut open a vein and bleed a few well-written paragraphs than have to cut, rearrange, and dissemble pages like they were so many dancers on a chorus line.
It is a terrible feeling to be typing out a scene, thinking how much you hate it, thinking about how it’s just going to end up highlighted and deleted in your first round of editing. It’s an even worse feeling to reread that scene and decide it’s not so bad, because that means you’re letting yourself off the hook, patting yourself on the back just for having written something, no matter if it were good or not.
I’m glad I took time off this week, because it gave me a chance to think about what I want to do with my main characters, who they are in terms of the actions they will take rather than the labels and descriptions I’ll put on them.
And if it takes me months to write this book, that’s fine. As long as it doesn’t take me months to edit it.
Okay, maybe failure is too strong a word. But today is November 26th, and instead of closing in on 50,000 words, my Work In Progress (WIP) is a lousy 20,000 words. To be honest, it’s not even that many words. Today I hit “save” at 19,126.
To put that in perspective, some writers were planning on doing 20,000 words this weekend alone.
What did I do this weekend? Well, I didn’t write a single word. Friday night my husband and I took our son to International Plaza, an upscale mall near Tampa airport. Saturday I picked up my car, went to the gym, went out to dinner with family, then watched a movie with my son. Sunday I read the newspapers, edited my son’s paper, dropped him off at the airport, then watched Sunday night TV. Sunday night TV is the best, by the way.
I wonder about those people who did 20K words this, the weekend after Thanksgiving. Did they not have family they wanted to hang out with? Are they more disciplined than I am? Or are they just more in love with their WIP than I am?
I started NaNoWriMo with such high hopes. Not necessarily about getting to 50K in one month, but about my idea itself. Before NaNoWriMo began, I had a general idea about what I wanted to write about, but then right before the month started, it got very specific. I was excited and had no problem reaching my goal word count every day for the first week or so of the month.
So it wasn’t just that I took a trip to Disney World, and it wasn’t just that my son was home for college for nearly an entire week, and I wanted to spend every waking moment with him, not my computer. But somewhere along page 50 or so (I’m not sure where that is in word count), my idea, that had seemed so specific in the beginning, got vaguer and vaguer as I got further into the story.
And rather than thinking in terms of major plot points, I’m only able to think a scene or two ahead. And the things that happen in these scenes aren’t necessarily tied in to what I wanted this book to be about.
The point of NaNoWriMo – the point of writing any first draft – is supposed to be just about getting the words down. You’re not supposed to edit yourself at all. Just keep on typing, even though the conversation you’re writing is the most boring, banal exchange between two fictional people ever known to man.
And yet…
“Measure twice, cut once” is one of my favorite sayings… maybe because my mom really likes to sew. And this kind of writing is the opposite of that advice.
Would you get in the car and just drive if you didn’t know yet where you were going, knowing that you could end up doubling back and driving twice as long?
The conventional wisdom behind the “just write” advice is that editing written words is easier than filling a blank page. But you know something? I don’t think it is.
Maybe because I spent ten years editing articles by people who could not even write a lead, or maybe because I spent an hour wanting to pull my hair out while editing my son’s paper this weekend, but editing – good editing, substantial editing – is harder than writing. Yes, a blank page is scary. But what’s scarier is points that repeat themselves, abrupt changes in tone, opinions without supporting evidence, and paragraphs that have nothing to do with the main point. I’d much rather cut open a vein and bleed a few well-written paragraphs than have to cut, rearrange, and dissemble pages like they were so many dancers on a chorus line.
It is a terrible feeling to be typing out a scene, thinking how much you hate it, thinking about how it’s just going to end up highlighted and deleted in your first round of editing. It’s an even worse feeling to reread that scene and decide it’s not so bad, because that means you’re letting yourself off the hook, patting yourself on the back just for having written something, no matter if it were good or not.
I’m glad I took time off this week, because it gave me a chance to think about what I want to do with my main characters, who they are in terms of the actions they will take rather than the labels and descriptions I’ll put on them.
And if it takes me months to write this book, that’s fine. As long as it doesn’t take me months to edit it.
Monday, November 12, 2012
Watch These Doctor Shows Before They're Canceled
I’ve been addicted to TV since the days when there were only three channels; when you had to turn a knob to change them. (OK, technically there were four if you counted PBS, but that channel usually just brought in snow.) The first show I remember obsessing over was The Addams Family. I believe this was in 1975 and the show was on in syndication in the mornings. I thought it was just the sexiest thing ever the way Gomez would kiss Morticia’s arm when she spoke a word of French. I was seven years old, so my ideas about romance weren’t very sophisticated.
As I got a little older, my obsessions tended to fixate around medical shows. I loved M*A*S*H and General Hospital, which only had in common scenes in operating rooms and blonde women with sharp tongues. Thanks to Hawkeye Pierce, I actually know what an end-to-end anastomosis is, if not how to perform one. If I’d had any talent whatsoever in math and science, I might have gone into medicine rather than trying to make a living peddling words.
My love for TV and medical shows hasn’t changed. And even General Hospital has gone back to its roots. These days I love Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice, and I tried out two new doctor shows – The Mob Doctor and Emily Owens, MD. Unfortunately, both of these new shows are on the verge of cancelation. I can see what the problems are, and I hope the producers step in to provide some new direction before the shows get pulled.
The Mob Doctor. The title says it all. She’s in the mob, and she’s a doctor. Hijinks ensue! Well, maybe not hijinks but certainly enough plot to keep anyone happy. Grace is a resident in Chicago hospital; her boyfriend is a resident there too. She grew up on the wrong side of the city, and she still has its dirt in her hair. When her brother racked up a debt to a mobster he couldn’t pay, Grace stepped in and offered to work off the debt in his place.
This is a concept that should work. From “Hannah Montana” to “Superman” to “Once Upon a Time,” viewers are drawn to stories about characters who live double lives. It gives twice as many settings for plot, and the tension over the possibility of getting caught. Besides, doesn’t everyone secretly wish there were some sort of real life parallel universe, where we could be the superhero or the rock star or the fairy princess?
Or the mobster. Grace’s problem is that her two lives are too close together. The show itself has a grimy, dirty feel; so different than the brightly-lit, fast pace of other medical series. Grace’s dead father was a low-life mobster alcoholic; her brother works for the mob, and so does her high school boyfriend, toward whom she still has feelings. She still lives with her mother in the city rowhouse near the drug dealers and bartenders she went to school with. If she has a secret life, it’s her one at the hospital, not the one on her street.
“The Mob Doctor” should be Grace’s show, told entirely from her point-of-view, but it often slips into mob war scenes, or her brother doing dirty work, or her mob boss trying to romance Grace’s mom. None of these characters are sympathetic or appealing in any way.
Still, this is a show with potential. Grace herself is a compelling character, and her efforts to pacify her boss foreshadow a Grace who takes her own power and perhaps becomes a factor in the mob herself.
But the rest of the show needs to be cleaned up. The women who watch medical dramas about women aren’t going to stick around for mob wars. “The Mob Doctor” needs to remember that “Mob” is the adjective and “Doctor” the noun, not the other way around.
Emily Owens, M.D., has no such problem with gray lighting and grimy streets. The show is as bright and sunny as its blonde star, Mamie Gummer, Meryl Streep’s daughter. Emily’s an intern, and she ends up at the same hospital as her high school rival and her medical school crush. The series premise is that working at a hospital is just like being in high school.
Only, of course, it’s not. The premise is the problem. In high school, it might have seemed like life-or-death if the guy you liked asked out the girl you hated, but it wasn’t. Here, it is. If you put the central line in wrong because you’re too busy making eyes at the nurse, your patient dies. People are sick and dying here, folks! They’ve been in accidents! They have cancer! You look petty and self-absorbed next to them!
The show has been compared to Grey’s Anatomy, but it’s not. Sure, Grey’s started with that awkward thing that happens when your one-night-stand turns out to be your boss, but Meredith was also mired in an original, compelling situation with her mother, famed surgeon Ellis Grey, who was battling Alzheimer’s and had forced her daughter to promise to tell no one. This plot put the life-and-death stakes up close and personal in the protagonist’s life. In addition, all the interns – save Christina, of course – were so clueless and so open about it, you just knew they were going to kill people.
The show Emily Owens resembles more is that 1990s sensation, Ally McBeal. Ally was a clever but ditzy lawyer who ended up in the same law firm as her high school sweetheart Billy and his wife, Georgia. Ally still loved Billy and was worried that she’d never get married and have kids. For some reason, this show caused a pop culture sensation, even ending up on the cover of Time magazine, as if Ally had something major to say about the current state of feminism. Really, though, Ally was nothing more than the opening bookend for the “I want it all but I don’t know how” female dilemma. Had the show gone on – and not jumped the shark with Billy’s death via brain tumor and Ally’s daughter via egg donation – I have no doubt Ally would have ended up married to a lawyer, a stay-at-home mom with two kids in the suburbs, wondering how on earth she got here.
And sadly, I see a similar fate for Emily and her show if she doesn’t take her job as seriously as her social life. Currently she seems like a talented doctor who makes the right calls. Maybe she’ll fall in it and become sympathetic for reasons other than an unfortunate high school nickname.
Emily Owens, M.D. is a bright, fun show. But any show that takes place in the medical field needs some gravitas. Even sitcoms like Scrubs made it clear that the show was playing for keeps.
Until then, The Mob Doctor is on Fox Monday nights, and Emily Owens is on the CW on Tuesdays. Check them out while you still can.
As I got a little older, my obsessions tended to fixate around medical shows. I loved M*A*S*H and General Hospital, which only had in common scenes in operating rooms and blonde women with sharp tongues. Thanks to Hawkeye Pierce, I actually know what an end-to-end anastomosis is, if not how to perform one. If I’d had any talent whatsoever in math and science, I might have gone into medicine rather than trying to make a living peddling words.
My love for TV and medical shows hasn’t changed. And even General Hospital has gone back to its roots. These days I love Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice, and I tried out two new doctor shows – The Mob Doctor and Emily Owens, MD. Unfortunately, both of these new shows are on the verge of cancelation. I can see what the problems are, and I hope the producers step in to provide some new direction before the shows get pulled.
The Mob Doctor. The title says it all. She’s in the mob, and she’s a doctor. Hijinks ensue! Well, maybe not hijinks but certainly enough plot to keep anyone happy. Grace is a resident in Chicago hospital; her boyfriend is a resident there too. She grew up on the wrong side of the city, and she still has its dirt in her hair. When her brother racked up a debt to a mobster he couldn’t pay, Grace stepped in and offered to work off the debt in his place.
This is a concept that should work. From “Hannah Montana” to “Superman” to “Once Upon a Time,” viewers are drawn to stories about characters who live double lives. It gives twice as many settings for plot, and the tension over the possibility of getting caught. Besides, doesn’t everyone secretly wish there were some sort of real life parallel universe, where we could be the superhero or the rock star or the fairy princess?
Or the mobster. Grace’s problem is that her two lives are too close together. The show itself has a grimy, dirty feel; so different than the brightly-lit, fast pace of other medical series. Grace’s dead father was a low-life mobster alcoholic; her brother works for the mob, and so does her high school boyfriend, toward whom she still has feelings. She still lives with her mother in the city rowhouse near the drug dealers and bartenders she went to school with. If she has a secret life, it’s her one at the hospital, not the one on her street.
“The Mob Doctor” should be Grace’s show, told entirely from her point-of-view, but it often slips into mob war scenes, or her brother doing dirty work, or her mob boss trying to romance Grace’s mom. None of these characters are sympathetic or appealing in any way.
Still, this is a show with potential. Grace herself is a compelling character, and her efforts to pacify her boss foreshadow a Grace who takes her own power and perhaps becomes a factor in the mob herself.
But the rest of the show needs to be cleaned up. The women who watch medical dramas about women aren’t going to stick around for mob wars. “The Mob Doctor” needs to remember that “Mob” is the adjective and “Doctor” the noun, not the other way around.
Emily Owens, M.D., has no such problem with gray lighting and grimy streets. The show is as bright and sunny as its blonde star, Mamie Gummer, Meryl Streep’s daughter. Emily’s an intern, and she ends up at the same hospital as her high school rival and her medical school crush. The series premise is that working at a hospital is just like being in high school.
Only, of course, it’s not. The premise is the problem. In high school, it might have seemed like life-or-death if the guy you liked asked out the girl you hated, but it wasn’t. Here, it is. If you put the central line in wrong because you’re too busy making eyes at the nurse, your patient dies. People are sick and dying here, folks! They’ve been in accidents! They have cancer! You look petty and self-absorbed next to them!
The show has been compared to Grey’s Anatomy, but it’s not. Sure, Grey’s started with that awkward thing that happens when your one-night-stand turns out to be your boss, but Meredith was also mired in an original, compelling situation with her mother, famed surgeon Ellis Grey, who was battling Alzheimer’s and had forced her daughter to promise to tell no one. This plot put the life-and-death stakes up close and personal in the protagonist’s life. In addition, all the interns – save Christina, of course – were so clueless and so open about it, you just knew they were going to kill people.
The show Emily Owens resembles more is that 1990s sensation, Ally McBeal. Ally was a clever but ditzy lawyer who ended up in the same law firm as her high school sweetheart Billy and his wife, Georgia. Ally still loved Billy and was worried that she’d never get married and have kids. For some reason, this show caused a pop culture sensation, even ending up on the cover of Time magazine, as if Ally had something major to say about the current state of feminism. Really, though, Ally was nothing more than the opening bookend for the “I want it all but I don’t know how” female dilemma. Had the show gone on – and not jumped the shark with Billy’s death via brain tumor and Ally’s daughter via egg donation – I have no doubt Ally would have ended up married to a lawyer, a stay-at-home mom with two kids in the suburbs, wondering how on earth she got here.
And sadly, I see a similar fate for Emily and her show if she doesn’t take her job as seriously as her social life. Currently she seems like a talented doctor who makes the right calls. Maybe she’ll fall in it and become sympathetic for reasons other than an unfortunate high school nickname.
Emily Owens, M.D. is a bright, fun show. But any show that takes place in the medical field needs some gravitas. Even sitcoms like Scrubs made it clear that the show was playing for keeps.
Until then, The Mob Doctor is on Fox Monday nights, and Emily Owens is on the CW on Tuesdays. Check them out while you still can.
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