Latest Entries »

In General

Filed Under: Corrugated Hardware, Work in Progress by Bryna — 2 Comments
March 3, 2012

I figured if I told myself enough times that I wasn’t having a conversation with a recently deceased guy over coffee and a donut. My brain wasn’t having any, but the repetition helped. Sadly this wasn’t the first encounter we’d had, but he’d admitted to me the day before that he was lonely, and coffee gave him a nice buzz even if he couldn’t drink it any more. Personally, I would have been a lot happier not seeing him at all, but when a guy’s a zombie (not a ghost) and I suppose it’s a loose definition of zombie when you really think about it. The guy just kept walking around after he died. One minute his heart was beating and the next it wasn’t.

This should make him a vampire, we discussed it earlier. After all, if you’re dead and still walking around, that should mean you’re a zombie. At some point you will start to decay. Not this guy. This guy died, he had a heart attack, went to the hospital, was declared dead and got up a couple hours later feeling none the worse for wear. What’s even odder was that he didn’t crave anything. No food, no water, nothing. My mother theorizes that he’s a solid ghost who simply took his body with him. The theory works but only up to the point where the body starts decaying. At this point it’s been a good two years and nothing’s happened.

Okay, so after that rather long discourse on the person I was speaking with…. and I’ll admit the definition of recently deceased is a stretch if he’s been dead for two years. We decided that the only thing to do was to look into it. Enough was enough anyway. I’d been coming to the shop since I’d started working at the bookstore around the corner, and that had been roughly three weeks before he showed up and started talking to me. Why me and not anyone else in the shop? Mostly because I seemed more sympathetic. So, the day we decided, both of us went to the bookstore. Well, really this wasn’t anything new, but this time it was with a little more purpose on his part.

Comment

When in Doubt

Filed Under: 365 Fictional Things to do Before You Die, Communication With Public, Corrugated Hardware, Diary, Work in Progress by Bryna — Leave a comment
March 3, 2012

In movies, it’s always a pleasure to watch something again when you know what’s going to happen. I had this happen to me several days ago when I tuned to watch most of the movie Independence Day. I remember going to see the movie in the theater, since it was one of those. What was fun about watching it now, wasn’t that I knew the  aliens were going to be defeated, but just how well it was thought out, and, for that matter, who was in it*.

Yes, having seen it many times before, at this point I could probably quote a few of the lines in my sleep, but what I found out this time was that I could see the bones of the story, and it didn’t matter. When I was a kid, one of my main fantasies, other than having a meet-cute moment with some cute boy in the woods, was that my life would be like the movies. Things would turn out the way they were meant to turn out. I would have the guy, the good job, and grow up and become someone well known, probably an author, living in a nice apartment in Manhattan. This was planned out because that’s how the movie version of my life was.

Now, as we all know, life is not the movies, and even though I am a writer (and not a published one) my plots tend to move organically, which is a nice way to say that I tend to value character over plot and if there happens to be one, that’s great. So, where am I going with this?

Here’s what I would like to do, this month, I’m going to do some research into the different 365 fictional things to do before you die. I will see what I’ve missed and try to fill that in. I will also start working on the Corrugated Hardware section. After all, there’s still the Valley of the Misplaced Keys to peruse for our erstwhile detective, and a new story I’ve been thinking about tentatively about a girl named Aleeza and her adventures with Cyber Pirates. Whether or not these will come to fruition is beyond me, but at least this time I’m going to try, just like all the other times.

*For those of you who enjoy watching either Chuck, or Parenthood, then watch it to see both a young Adam Baldwin, or, for Parenthood fans, a six year old Mae Whitman.

Comment

A Short Essay on Why I thought one book was fun, but poorly written.

Filed Under: Communication With Public, Corrugated Hardware, Diary by Bryna — Leave a comment
February 8, 2012

In this particular post, I’m going to do a few different things. One, I’m going to write down an idea of a conversation that I want to have between two of my favorite characters, Ward and Andrew. Ward is a vampire, he has been for about 75 years. For the most part he feels no remorse for what he does in order to continue his existence. The reason why he feels any remorse at all is because of Andrew, who is, for lack of a better word, his best friend*. Andrew is also Wards reluctant conscious, since Ward clearly seems to be lacking one.
The reason why they met had to do with Andrew and his girlfriend, to whom he was about to propose. This didn’t work out because Ward turned her into a vampire too, and she decided that Andrew wouldn’t be the right person to live with given the new condition she found herself in. Andrew was rather heart broken, and forced an apology out of Ward, who respected this enough to give one. Something which he’d never found himself doing before.

The second part of the post (although it occurs to me that I’d be better off putting what I’m thinking into a different post all together, is a book review. I know I don’t do many of those, but I read this one book I found on Amazon for kindle, and it’s okay, but relatively flawed, and I wanted to address what I liked and disliked about it. So, I’m going to do this first and then post the review, both here and on Amazon.

So here’s the review first, conversation second, mostly because I’m more interested in writing that right now.

 

In a small foray into the self published author isle (so to speak) in Amazon, I was recommended a book called Hard Days Knight. In it, we get first person narration and a fun introduction to the main character, who first wakes up, tied to a chair, with silver. For a human being, being tied to a chair with silver wouldn’t be much good, but for a vampire, at least in this iteration, he’s weak and can’t free himself. The main character, whose name is Jimmy, starts speaking with the person who’s captured him. How the person has done this isn’t made too clear, but I’ll get to those problems in a bit.

The person who captured Jimmy in the first place is (of course) vehement (at least for a little while) about becoming like Jimmy. He wants to be a vampire too. Since this is first person narrative, we get to read about Jimmy’s musings when it comes to the actuality of being a vampire. It turns out it’s not such a great thing, but he doesn’t really brood about it, (sort of). Why the person wants to be a vampire is something that does intrigue Jimmy though, as he’s learning about it, his friend and partner in private investigation crashes through the roof. During the ensuing confusion Greg and Jimmy learn that really there’s a witch on the loose and she’s intent on killing the person who initially captured Jimmy.  Greg Knight and Jimmy Black are now on the case.

So now to some of the problems with this story. Jimmy isn’t a bad narrator, as first person narrators go, he tends to be a reliable one. The problem is that he tends to be inconsistant when it comes to how he reacts to certain things, and just how other people in the story relate to what’s going on. One of the examples of this is the introduction of the female police detective. When we first meet her she’s a bit of a hard ass. The woman is intent on tracking down the person who is doing awful things around town and disappearing little girls. This is her only objective. She sees the two vampire PI’s as meddlesome and annoying. (To a certain extent, they are.) Then once she learns they are vampires and not hoaxes, she turns on a dime and becomes a world weary cop who accepts their help since it looks like there’s no one else who can. Then, she suddenly becomes useful to the story in another way, which, given her initial introduction, just seems like pure impossibility. Not to mention the relationship which blooms between her and Jimmy. Yes, at the outset the author tries to set it up as inevitable. But Jimmy doesn’t paint himself to be the person she would want to be with. She doesn’t come off as someone who’s going to feature heavily in another story, until she does.

Thus bringing me to the other problem. Plot holes and other inconsistencies. (I would like to point out though, that for the most part, it was a fun read. Not the best out there, but then I don’t think that’s what it was trying to be. It’s trying to be entertaining.) First we have the problem of the Female Detective who’s whatever they need to her to be at the current moment. Then we have the problem of the explanatory chapter. There are several of those, in which we get back story that would have been better served elsewhere and then, perhaps a part where it’s completely removed from the story at hand.

In order to figure what’s going on in the supernatural world, Jimmy feels the need to visit one of the town’s strip clubs. This is because it’s owned by a fallen angel with whom he’s had dealings in the past. Not good dealings mind you, but dealings, because what’s a good PI story without some consorting with lowlifes, right? Sadly, we’re never given much detail on what these dealings are, and the entire scene plays out a little oddly since we have no idea what the relationship of the fallen angel is to Jimmy, or for that matter what this fallen angel is to the local underworld. Nonetheless, at the end of the story, in order to kill off the big nasty that’s trying to kill our heroes, the angel comes to the rescue.

(I won’t go in to too much detail there, let’s just say that it’s important that it happens, but it’s not spelled out as to why the whole thing gets so out of control. I hate to compare this to Jim Butcher, but at least even in his first story with Harry we end up getting a little more plot development or, for that matter, detail.)

Once everything is hunky dory again, the angel then slips into expository mode. He feels it necessary to tell the main characters why he decided to help, even though he’s supposed to be “evil”. We get the whole back story and why he’s on earth in the first place. Sadly, it has nothing to do with the rest of the story, it just serves as a plot device so that another character can take his position for the next time.

I wish I could say, I have written better in my sleep. The sad truth is that while I might have compelling characters and stories in my head, they haven’t really made it out of there. That is to say, if you’re looking for a good fun read where you shouldn’t think too much, then this story is for you.

 

*By the way, if you want to learn a little more about them by reading the story, I think it was posted a long while back under the tag Corrugated Hardware, but I could be wrong.

Tags: , , , , ,
Comment

For the Political Set

Filed Under: Uncategorized by Bryna — Leave a comment
January 16, 2012

Dear Republican Candidates for President,

I am very curious to know if you’ve ever had a chance to look at history and what you’ve made of the current situation in both Europe and the US. To me, having just finished reading a rather fascinating biography of the house, it is clear you don’t quite understand just how close you are to spouting some of the exact same rhetoric that was spouted just 100-200 years ago.
Though I know it’s probably not a possibility it would be great if some one sent you the Jonathan Swift essay, A Modest Proposal. With the knowledge that a few of you might miss some of the more subtle points he’s making within the essay, just to make sure, he is not, in fact, proposing that the English eat babies.
If you’re not sure who he is, or what he was modestly proposing, please feel free to look him up. I’ll wait. Then, if you will, please gather together in one of your more famous debates, and each of you tell me what you think we should do, from your own point of view. No, you will not be allowed to use talking points, nor will you be allowed to speak the party line. Your own ideas, based on what’s gone on in the past, versus what it is like now. Thank you.

Tags: , , , ,
Comment

Observations

Filed Under: Communication With Public, Diary by Bryna — Leave a comment
November 30, 2011

So,

If you have ever worked in the service industry, be it making coffee, taking peoples bags to their rooms, or driving their car to a certain place and parking it, etc… then you know that it is typical, at least in the US, to tip. That is, to give someone who did those things for you, a small sum of cash.

In the US, unless it’s stated in your bill (like at certain restaurants) this is not a mandatory thing. You are not obligated to give the waiter serving you your food money if you don’t wish to. On the other hand, it’s seen as something of a mean and cruel thing to do if you walk away without leaving a little something, even if it’s a dollar. Also, for some doing this, if you expect to get the same service you got the last time without leaving a tip and your waiter remembers you, I’d be careful, or at least check your food.

Why do I mention this? Because at those various different services industry jobs the expectation for tips is different too. If you work at a coffee shop people don’t leave twenty dollar bills in the tip jar unless they aren’t looking at what they took out of their wallet. If you dragged their over packed bags to their room, you don’t expect a twenty, but you might be pleasantly surprised. At a coffee shop more often than not it’s the change made from what they customer already paid that gets put in the jar. For a valet, it’s whatever the patron thinks is appropriate and believes their car is worth.

With all of this being said, as someone who drives trolleys around Boston giving tours for a living, getting a one dollar tip is nothing to scoff at. It’s nice to know people enjoyed the tour and even though they paid quite a bit more than that for their ticket, a dollar is all they want to place in the hat, fine. After all, there are plenty of other people in the trolley (it can hold up to 40 sem-odd people) and at least a few of them will also place a dollar there. What I don’t get, is when they put in change. Yes, they are tourists. Guests in Boston, and not always from around here. But change? Even if it adds up to a dollar, placing coins in a hat only makes sense if I’d been doing the entire tour as a street performance. No one has yet to explain to me the meaning of change in the hat.

Not that I’m complaining, per se. It’s just an odd concept. It’s also a pain in the ass if your hat falls off the dashboard and ends up upside down on the floor. Then what you have is dollars, and a lot of quarters, dimes and nickels all rolling around on the floor. With guests aboard it’s even slightly embarrassing when you have to get up from the seat at a stop and pick up everything. Oh well, if someone can give me a reason, I’ll happily take it. Unless it’s because the people who put change in the hat are just trying to empty their pockets. If that’s the case, then they should try something else for a change.

Comment

Running

Filed Under: Communication With Public, Diary by Bryna — Leave a comment
November 30, 2011

In this particular case, not running from something, but instead, taking jogging up again after a short absence. I stopped jogging regularly last year, because I couldn’t find the time to fit it in. There was lesson planning and teaching and a bunch of other things and I didn’t want to get up any earlier than necessary in order to get to work. So, each day, I let the idea of jogging slide off into the distance with the promise that I would go back to it on the weekend.

Since we all know how promises like that work, weekends themselves became a little busy and sooner rather than later, jogging became a thing of the past. I missed the pounding of the pavement and the feeling of accomplishment. It was overshadowed by the looming fact that I shouldn’t have been teaching first and second graders. Inevitably, my job also became a thing of the past, as did my lovely apartment. (For those of you who are wondering, I lost the apartment because my landlady went into a nursing home and her kids decided to sell the house my apartment was in. This is sad, but not horrific as losing an apartment because you can’t pay the rent.) Jogging still remained one of the lower things on my list to take up. I started a new job, driving trolleys. This job too, did not lend itself to the act of jogging, at least, not every day, unless I was willing to make a change.

It turned out that willingness counted for at least a little, but it didn’t result in jogging more than once or twice a week. This was a far cry from the four to five times a week I’d been doing before. Summer progressed into hot days of exhaustion and trolley driving, worrying about credit cards and rent, and wondering what would happen to my landlady. At least three or four times I tied up the laces of my shoes, closed the apartment door behind me and set out. Autumn came with the news that the sons and daughters of my land lady wanted to sell the house. News of this did not help with motivation.

To put off thinking about it I took my bike out for a ride, or two or three. Jogging was now a thing of the past, an activity I occasionally thought about doing, but never seemed to get around to. My shoes lay on the bottom of a crate next to the door, frowning as I walked past them to get dinner, or visit family. The house was sold, and while I knew the move had to happen, that too, I put off thinking about. It was easier to not think about than it was to think about. Boxes appeared next to the door, taking up space in the narrow hallway. Things started to disappear within them, the shoes, sitting at the bottom of the crate, instead of being used, were thrown unceremoniously into my car and taken back to my parents house.

Motivation struck once more. The space was familiar, and I knew that whatever the streets offered me, I could jog upon them with little problem. At this point though, my legs and my stamina had begun to wither. The shoes weren’t right, they had moldered, become too worn out to use properly and so jogging had to wait.

Finally, this Sunday was the day. I bought a new pair. They weren’t perfect, but they were right and would work for what I needed. Today, I went out, ready for the road. It was wonderful, the cars swept past, the air was warm and the shoes cushioned.

And now, I wish I’d stretched just a little more.

Comment

For the New Folks

Filed Under: Communication With Public, Diary by Bryna — Leave a comment
November 20, 2011

Hello. Welcome to the site, and I hope you’ve been enjoying the backlog of work that I’ve produced, since clearly there really hasn’t been much added over the past several months.

There are several reasons for this. One, I’m really bad at up keep. I can do things for months at a time, and then just drop it. Come to think about this, that’s one of the ways I watch TV shows. The other reason is that due to various other things going on in life, I just didn’t see the point in filling in this space with writing. I know, if I want to be a writer, and grow my ‘platform’ as the folks in the industry are calling it these days, then I really ought to make sure there are people who are getting what I’m writing.

The problem is, I’m completely disorganized. I want to work on my book and I want to do a lot of other things as well. In fact, a very good example for this is the most recent Simpsons episode, where Lisa wants to be a writer. She spends most of her time doing other things, and then, when it comes time to put her words to paper, she gets distracted again. Things get written in fits and starts.

Then there’s the distractions themselves. For a while, about a year an a half, I was part of an A Cappella group. We were pretty good, not Sing-Off material, but good enough to ask for money if we wanted to. The problem with our group was we didn’t have a leader, we had a voting system based on the idea of pure democracy. Let me tell you, it doesn’t work when there are a group of people who don’t want to do what you want to do and will make sure that it never happens. Just look at the current congress.

I moved too. For those of you who have never had this pleasure, then congratulations. For those of you who have, you know just how much of an upheaval it can be, and for someone like me, it wasn’t great. I’m still trying to figure out where I put most of my underwear. They’re in a plastic bag somewhere…

Anyway, all of this is just to let you know I am still working on things, and I am also looking for ideas for the 365 fictional things to do before you die. Since that would be fun to finish and I think I’m up to something like, 103.
If you don’t know I’m also on twitter. I try to post something on that at least once a day, and if you follow me, you’ll know what I’m up to in real life, at least a little.

It’s @fictionalthings if you’re interested.

On to the new day and for those of you in the states, happy thanksgiving.

Comment

Custom Coffins for Sale

Filed Under: Corrugated Hardware, Work in Progress by Bryna — Leave a comment
November 20, 2011

Helan pressed her face up against the glass and smiled. Her breath fogged the clear window, making it difficult to see inside, but it didn’t matter, she wasn’t trying to see anyway. Her cheek felt soft with the pane against it, the sensation both old and new. Peeling her skin from the smooth surface, she kept the smile on her face and twirled a finger through her short auburn hair. “I have to admit, this wasn’t what I thought it was going to be like.”

Ward smiled back at her, letting his fangs show for a moment before hiding them again. “No one ever does.”

“Hmm.” Her hum was deep and sexy, and slightly fake.

Andrew tried very hard to not roll his eyes. The three of them continued down the street, passing by a couple over flowing bars before stopping at one which looked usable enough. Helan tottered for a few more steps before stopping a couple feet ahead of the two men. One of her heels leaned too far to the right before she could correct herself, causing her to look more drunk than she was. “She’s just 21.”

Ward shrugged before catching her too fast for anyone to notice he’d moved. “And she’s a friend, so, we’re showing her a good time.”

“She’s not a friend, she’s the bosses granddaughter, and this is not a good time.” He looked at the girl, who grinned back and gave him a full on smile he didn’t want. It reminded him too much of the change Ward had made with his girlfriend.

“It is for me.”

Andrew didn’t say anything. Helan, before she’d gotten plastered, has given Ward permission to enjoy the night vicariously through her. It wasn’t something either of them thought would be a good idea, but someone, Ward, had said if she wanted to live in a fantasy for one night, he wasn’t going to stop it.

Several people exited the bar, cigarettes in hand. Ward, still holding on to the drunk 21 year old, bummed one off a guy, lighting it quickly before Andrew could say anything. “Think of it this way, that talk we had earlier about feeling guilty, the drunker she is, the less guilt I feel.”

“Oh good.”

Ward didn’t hide his look. If there was one thing he was good at, it was, looks. It was worse than the eye roll. “Have you drunk anything at all? It’s not like we’re driving anywhere.”
Andrew glared back at his friend and slunk into the bar, radiating annoyance.

The cigarette was long finished by the time he came out again, having finished a pint. It hadn’t made much of a difference. Helan had collapsed next to the wall, her legs splayed out in front of her like a little girl. The ill adivsed dress of the evening doing little to protects what was on the ground from seeping cold. Ward stood over her looking satisfied with himself.

“You didn’t.”

“What?”

Making a gesture, Andrew indicated what he was hoping hadn’t happend.

Digust made its way across Wards features before letting them settle back into their normal insuicance. “Good god no. Do you think I even bothered to touch her earlier? What the hell do you take me for?”

“Well, the old man?”

“That was different. Jeez! Andrew, not her, never her.” Both of them stared at the prone figure against the wall. Neither of them wanted to say it, but Ward was going to have to carry her back to her grandmothers place. “I’m not doing it by myself.”

“What about your super vampire strength.”

Ward gave him another look. “You’ve been reading again, haven’t you.”

With the knowledge that any conversation bringing up Ward’s nature involved embarrasment, Andrew shrugged and nodded.

“It’ll give out carrying her two blocks. Besides, with you carrying her, it’ll look like you had a fun night out, with me, it’ll look like I downgraded.”

“She’s not that bad.” They looked down at her again. “We could leave her here.”

The thought of Orthalia learning of this treatment of her granddaughter stopped the thought dead. For a moment they didn’t speak, letting the sounds of the bar wash over them. Andrew wished he’d had more to drink. A lightbuld flickered and died overhead. “I got it.”

“The coffin.”

“Don’t do that!” He paused for a moment to let the admonishment sink in and then thought about which one they were both thinking of. “Well, now we know what the wheels were for, right?”

Ward sighed. “Not this. On the other hand… It could work. It’s big enough.” He smiled, this time genuinely. “Hey, You’re staying here with her though, not me. I entertained all night.”

“Fine.”

“So you’re sure you don’t want to be a vampire?”

“Why?” The answer was obvious, Andrew didn’t want to hear it. “Nevermind, just get the coffin.”

Comment

Day Four (July 19th, 2011)

Filed Under: Diary by Bryna — Leave a comment
July 19, 2011

If I’ve missed a day, I’ll check it later.

Lately I’ve been reading A Game of Thrones, since it’s been very hard to resist given all the press. What’s amazing to me at the current moment is just how much of the beginning the writers and producers of the TV show kept. I can only hope that at some point this happens with the piece I’m working on, although at the rate I’m going this isn’t going to happen for another ten years, if at all.

One of my major problems is that I don’t have anyone really hanging on to read more of it. I’m not beholden to a person when it comes to writing the story. It’s just me and the work. This is fine, but there’s nothing there to say that it should go anywhere after that.

Alright, enough feeling sorry and not getting up off my ass to deal. Starting today I’m going to be working on character biographies and backgrounds, their motivations and why they do what they do. It’s not like they don’t exist, I don’t create them in a vacuum and I certainly can’t claim I’m not influenced by what I read. It’s just that one of the things I’ve realized over this past year is that I make many leaps that most people don’t and assume that they’re right there with me when really they’re still standing on the ledge behind looking baffled. All it takes is to create the bridge between that I can see and they don’t. It’s not because their any less savvy than I, it’s because I know where it’s going, and they don’t. Explaining it just a little bit helps in a big way.

This translates to when I’m teaching as well. I can’t think that the kids I’m speaking to understand my approach to the Torah unless I show them how to question in the most basic terms. Ask the surface questions first. Then go deeper. It’s akin to teaching someone to swim. Throwing them in the deep end before they know what it means to float, let alone anything else just gives you a person to rescue. Yes, they might figure out how to tread water pretty quickly, but that won’t get them back to the side of the pool.

One of the reasons I’m writing this entry, however, has more to do with money than anything else. I’ve got some and I have a full time job, but it’s getting fairly tight and I’m worried. It’s happened before, and I’ve been working hard to keep it from happening again. I know I’ll be okay in the long run, but right now… it’s the other part that’s been stressing me out. On the other hand… I have to admit that it’s nice to only stress about this and not about work. Work, for better or for worse is fun and easy. Despite the small mishap that happened on Saturday everything else has been going really well. I can’t complain.

Well, I can, but I won’t, at least not about that. No, I’ll complain about my other bits of life. Mostly why on earth did I volunteer myself to be president of my A Cappella group? There are twelve people in the group and it’s a lot of fun to sing in, but not everyone gets along and there are some people that just get on other peoples nerves. This is normal for a group of people more than two, (and if you think about it’s it’s pretty normal for two people as well.) The interesting bit is trying to figure out how to make sure everyone doesn’t chafe against each other each time we get together. This means for anything, social or otherwise. Certainly keeping this up is part of the position I volunteered for but as a person who likes to sit back and not take charge I am bad at it if I see something that needs doing. Okay, that’s not true. I like taking charge and making things happen, it’s the personal bits I don’t want to deal with.

This past year I took some time off, mentally speaking. Now I’m back and I want everything to go well. Let’s see if I can keep it up, or if this is only Summer talking and when Winter roles around again if I’ll be able to say the same.

damn.

Bryna

Comment

Day Three (July 12th, 2011)

Filed Under: Diary by Bryna — Leave a comment
July 12, 2011

So, yesterday I bought an iPad. I managed to hold myself back for about three months but yesterday my will ran out. Weirdly enough I was hoping this would not be the case, but now that I have it, I really like it. Now all I have to do is worry about making sure I can pay for it, my rent and my other credit card bills. Isn’t this always the case?

On Thursday I’m meeting with my boss from last year. Originally I wasn’t supposed to keep teaching the sixth grade at that school, since last year just wasn’t the best. It works better if I put it that way instead of another. She and I will discuss what I want to teach this coming year and whether or not the kids will sign up for it. I’m hoping they will, but if they don’t then I’ll have to think of something else.

Right, a little more meat to the messages here. Have you ever felt guilty about buying something you know you probably shouldn’t? Even if it’s for yourself and you’ve been pretty good about other things? I supposed it’s the same way with people who diet all the time. I know I shouldn’t eat the cake, but the cake is sooo good, and I promise I won’t eat anything else bad for me this week. It’s like that, only, actually, it’s almost the same exact thing. The major difference being that you can’t really stop spending money sort of, you can, but…. either way, there’s not a huge amount I’m going to do about it at this point. That’s always been the way I live my life. The major exception to this particular rule is buying tickets to go to Europe. The reason behind that being that I know I can’t afford it at all, whereas, I know with the iPad I’ll have enough to cover it and anything else that may come along within the next two months.

Sigh.

Back to another thing. This morning I had a chance to listen to On Point where they were interviewing George RR Martin. The man is smart and it came across well in the talk. It also gave me some hope, because I know that if I keep plugging away at my own story eventually it’s going to get there. What I need to do now is really make sure I can get a little more in touch with the characters I’m writing about and the places they live in. Right now it’s kind of an amorphous blob and to a certain extent this comes through in the writing. It’s one of the reasons my mother complained that the other story I wrote didn’t make much sense. I’m still tempted to put it on Kindle. Maybe free for the first several hundred people? It’ll take a year for that to happen, so I might as well. Hmmm… Actually, I like this idea.

Okay, I’m off to make my bed and try to decide if I want to watch TV or read.

Bryna

Comment