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Tuesday, September 30, 2008
When technology is the best thing, like, ever
It's half-eleven at night. My writing has not gone well today. I'm bored and I'm cross and I have nothing new to read.
So I just spent £10 at Fictionwise, where I bought New Moon (the sequel to Twilight, Stephenie Meyer), and Uglies (Scott Westerfield). If I could have bought The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins I would have, but it's not out as an ebook.
So now, despite it being half-eleven at night, and all the shops being shut, and me being miles from all the shops even if they were open which they're not, I can now go have a quick shower, get into bed, and - without even turning the light on and disturbing Abstract - read a brand-new book.
My goodness. Ebooks. What's not to love?
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| Friday, September 26, 2008
When technology goes bad
Yesterday morning two of the three computers in the house refused to go online properly. Sparkler was off school, convalescing from the sore throat that's been bugging her for the last week, and I was trying to tear through some work on the main desktop, which is in the kitchen. First she was hoping to go on the laptop and keep me company, but the wireless connection went weird. When this happens it often fixes it to turn the modem and router off, then on. But that would have meant turning off the main desktop, and I just couldn't afford the time. I was proof-reading, and needed to keep a load of stuff open.
So she went up to her computer in her bedroom. And it wouldn't connect. So I left lots of documents open, ran upstairs, ran a diagnosis thing, checked the connections, restarted...and still it wouldn't work. And I really didn't have the time to poke around with it, so we turned it off, she read a book instead, and I charged through some more work.
Then I emailed a bunch of stuff over to my Gmail account, and shut down the desktop so I could do the turning on and off of the modem. Sparkler came downstairs to use the desktop, and I thought I'd go upstairs to try sorting out her computer.
I'd just got it turned on, when Sparkler shouted from downstairs that there was a weird message on the desktop. So I ran downstairs, told the computer what to do (it wanted permission for something, I forget what), ran back upstairs...and her computer was now working perfectly.
As was my laptop.
But it did not make for an efficient morning. And I got no writing done.
Then yesterday evening (ugh, ugh) I discovered that an auto-reminder service I use for work had secretly reset itself, so the reminder messages that normally go to various people as well as me had only been coming to me, and I hadn't realised. I spend quite some time every month inputting details to this reminder service, so for it to not actually do what I needed it to do is extremely frustrating! So then I had to individually email people with apologies, which is the whole point of having a reminder service, that you don't have to individually email people, let alone with apologies.
Then, when I was about to post this complaining blog last night, Blogger had a scheduled downtime so I couldn't. So if the tenses in this post are messed up, and if I seem a little cranky, blame technology.
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| Monday, September 22, 2008
An Amazon order and thinking about Mary Sue
Right this minute, on a grey Monday morning, as I sit here with the remnants of a cold and an ill daughter (possible throat infection) lying on the sitting room sofa, waiting for the doctor to phone me back, the most exciting thing in my life is the Amazon order that was - apparently - dispatched on Friday.
Not that I'm complaining. An Amazon order is, actually, very exciting.
As well as two of the Warrior Cats books for Sparkler (by Erin Hunter, and highly recommended if you have a child who likes cats or adventure or fantasy books), I've ordered:
- Word 2007 for Dummies. I have Office 2007 on the laptop, which is great, because our desktop version of Word is - literally - ten years older (I know. Hey, it works). But - agh! - it's completely different and I'm really quite thrown by the things I use most often not being in the right places. So, because I use Word a lot, and because I hate feeling I'm not using it to its fullest capacity, I plan on learning it inside out and using all the bells and whistles.
- Agnes and the Hitman by Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer. This is a gamble. I liked their last collaboration, Don't Look Down, but I liked what I felt were the Crusie bits much more than the Mayer bits. And I didn't love it like I love Bet Me, Crazy for You and Welcome to Temptation. So I'm thinking I prefer my Crusie undiluted. Also, I don't much like heroes to be professional killers. Call me picky, but a guy who knows how to kill people and doesn't seem to mind doing so - not really my ideal. But still, it's at least half Crusie, so I'm expecting to enjoy it even if it's not a keeper.
- Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. Hah, this is even more of a gamble. I've heard...well, lots of things about this series. And at the moment I don't know whether it's any more justified than the "Harry Potter turns children to witchcraft" thing. Or, indeed, the "JK Rowling is a bad, derivative writer" thing. So, possible Mary Sue heroine, borderline-abusive stalker hero and anti-feminist themes, here I come.
Incidentally, I'm never sure it's fair to call characters Mary Sues when they're in original (rather than fan) fiction. The phrase was originally coined for fan-fiction, to describe an idealised version of the author, inserted into an already existing world, who then outdid the original 'canon' characters. Like, say, if I wrote a fan-fic of Buffy, and had a character who was not only a better slayer than Buffy, but who was also a better witch than Willow, and with whom Angel and Spike fell in love.
But in original fiction, there is no existing cast to upstage. And you want to write about the most interesting character, so they're likely to be bigger/better/more exciting than their supporting cast. Going back to Buffy, in Season One, she outshines everyone, just by virtue of being the Slayer. But quite apart from being the Slayer, she's also prettier, she's braver and kinder, she thinks better under stress. Angel falls for her, Xander falls for her, Owen prefers her over Cordelia. But this isn't because she's a Mary Sue - it's because she's the hero. We're meant to love her best.
And as for Mary Sues being projections of the author - well, all protagonists (in fact, all characters) are going to be in some sense a projection of the author. I don't have access to anyone else's head - all my point-of-view characters are going to owe most of their personalities and thought processes to me. But, because I'm not interesting enough to be a hero or heroine, they're not going to be the ordinary, rural-housewife, brown-haired real version of me: they're going to have magic powers, or be trained in ancient martial arts. And they're going to have perfect skin. Okay, so I don't write it into the narrative, because really, who needs to know? But in my head: perfect skin, all of them.
Mary Sues? Well, by some definitions, yes.
But I'm not the only one. Rumer Godden, Nancy Mitford, Elizabeth von Arnim - they all wrote books with heroines who were - sometimes idealised - versions of themselves. So do we call the heroines of The Greengage Summer, The Pursuit of Love and Vera Mary Sues?
Well no, we don't. Because 'Mary Sue' is not just a criticism, but a damning criticism. If your heroine gets called a Mary Sue it's like a big FAIL stamped on your book. There's a tacit assumption in the writing/reviewing communities that good writers do not write Mary Sues.
But it's a lazy way to criticise a book. It's too sweeping, it carries too many assumptions with it. It doesn't just mean 'author projection', it implies unrealistic, over-idealised, poorly written, irritating, unoriginal, immature...
Writing this post, I'm wondering if the whole thing (apart from being a too-easy, lazy way to criticise a book you didn't like) is like 'showing not telling'. When I was editing, and talking to my authors about this, I used to point out that all writing is 'telling'. The trick is to deceive the reader into forgetting that they're being told, to make them feel as if they're being shown.
Although I still think it's a criticism better left in the world of fan-fic, maybe the Mary Sue thing is the same. Authors can write idealised self-projections all they like; they just have to do it well enough so that no one notices.
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| Friday, September 12, 2008
Friday, thank goodness
This has been the first full week of the new term, and it's gone on forever.
Not in a bad way - I wrote, I did the school run by bike for two days plus got some other exercise, I made an extremely successful blackberry and apple crumble, I did lots and lots of admin for Samhain - but just in a oh-my-goodness-now-I-remember-what-busy-is-like way.
It's midday, I've completed a load of admin stuff and hoovered the sitting room. I need to go into town now, but on my list of things still to do today are:
- writing
- more Samhain admin
- cook dinner
- make a start on sorting out the loft. It's an unreasonable mess, and if I sort it out it can become what it's supposed to be - a workspace/playroom. Right now only the cats can easily get into it cos they climb over all the piles of stuff. I have a massive desk up there, which Abstract built for me, and it would be way useful right now while I work on Cloak of Feathers. I feel it's likely to become a spread-out-everywhere, use-lots-of-paper book. Oh yes, one of those.
Then this weekend we have forms to fill in for when Gloworm starts secondary school (eek - my baby!), some more admin I could do with getting off my plate so I start fresh on Monday, more writing I didn't get done this week (cos of, you know, the extreme busy-ness), and a contest to organise for this blog. I need major help retitling my Red Riding Hood story that's coming out in the Drollerie anthology soon. Start thinking, please!
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| Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Breasts, breasts everywhere, but not a drop to drink
I was going to log on and blog in frustration and fury about yet another author's advice page telling writers that 'passive voice' equates to the verb 'to be' and past continuous tense and past perfect tense and that all these things are bad and shouldn't be used. FYI, all incorrect, all unhelpful, and all will - infuriatingly - be followed and repeated ad nauseam on writers' sites, and will impoverish writers' repertoires and voices and drive editors mad.
But then I read this, and, you know, not so infuriated about the passive voice thing any more:
...the last thing I needed was an argument with a flight attendant about whether or not I really should cover myself up with a blanket while nursing.
from Her Bad Mother
Background: the blog author was travelling back from supporting her sister while her nephew was almost dying of meningitis.
I can't believe this kind of thing happens in 2008. What is wrong with people?
ETA: I should clarify that the title of this post refers to the fact that we're bombarded with images of breasts via TV, film posters, adverts all the time, and yet a woman in her own seat on a plane, using her breasts for their intended purpose, is asked to cover up with a blanket. Pff.
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| Tuesday, September 09, 2008
So, that was rubbish
For a variety of reasons (financial, ecological, health and fitness, for Abstract's convenience), Gloworm and I cycle to school twice a week. Abstract and I need to arrange this in advance, so sometimes it ends up that it's raining on our cycling day, and we can't do anything about it because Abstract has already taken the car.
It was raining today. Which was a bad start.
At the last minute we couldn't find Gloworm's school jumper, bought new for her last week. She'd come home yesterday wearing it, and between then and now it had vanished. In increasing frustration, I searched the sitting room, kitchen, conservatory, three bedrooms, bathroom, dirty laundry basket, dirty laundry pile (yes, I know), and loft. No jumper, so I grabbed Sparkler's school jumper, which she wasn't wearing today, and is at least the right colour. (FYI: Gloworm's jumper turned up this afternoon, in the clean laundry pile. How? Why? Why?)
Then Gloworm's helmet strap was too tight. I broke a nail fiddling with it - why are these things so fiddly and impossible to adjust ever?
Just as we were setting off, Gloworm discovered that her walking trousers, which I'd got her to wear to keep her school trousers dry, were so baggy round the crotch that they sort of hooked onto her saddle and impeded her getting onto the bike. We were out of time so there was nothing to do about that apart from let her eventually struggle onto the saddle.
Halfway down the road, for absolutely no reason in the world, the strap of her bike bag broke, flopped down, caught in the wheel and made her come to a clanking - and slightly scary - halt. I got off my bike, tried to use the broken strap to tie the bag on, found it was too short and used the detachable shoulder strap from my rucksack to tie it on instead.
We set off again, to find that the broken strap (how much do I hate that broken strap?) had somehow made her chain come off. We stoppped again. I knelt down in the road and got my knees wet and my hands covered in chain oil putting it back on again.
We set off again. Halfway to school I noticed Gloworm (tired, wet, uncomfortable and by now late for school) was fighting back tears.
A bit later she realised her waterproof school coat was - yes, you guessed it - not actually all that waterproof.
We eventually got to school. Wet. Frustrated. Miserable. And late. On only the fifth day of the new term.
And in half an hour I have to pick her up and do it all again. It is, at least, no longer raining.
Shopping list:
New bike bag.
New coat OR waterproofing spray to re-waterproof it.
Waterproof trousers.
Something to bribe Gloworm into cycling again tomorrow.
Oh, and because I realised how scarily reduced visibility is when it's raining, and because we can't cycle on the path all the time:
Bicycle lights.
Reflective clothing.
(And yes, I should have thought of those before. Bad mother. Bad. Bad.)
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| Thursday, September 04, 2008
Oh yes, I've still got it
I had my RNA chapter meeting today, which happens at a pub near Harrogate. Afterwards, as Abstract was dealing with the school run etc, I decided to find a quiet corner and get some writing done before I drove back home.
I had to walk past the bar to get to the Ladies before I settled down to my writing. There were three men standing there, having beers. One man was telling the other two a story. I was wearing (yes, you do need this detail) a short denim skirt, black tights and high-heeled black boots.
As I walked past, I was aware that the man had kind of faltered in his storytelling, and I was also aware of gazes on my back (you know how you can just tell when people are looking at you?). Then as I disappeared into the Ladies I heard one of the other men say, "Yeah, you just lost us."
Thirty-five, two kids. Lookin' good, Mrs Howson.
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| Tuesday, September 02, 2008
Boasting with pictures
While I get around to writing about our holiday in more detail, I thought I'd indulge in a little boasting about the latest techno-gadget to find a place in the Howson household.
Background: my granny died in the summer, and a while after her funeral I got a letter saying she'd left me - and the other grandchildren - some money. It hadn't crossed my mind to expect anything - she'd been living in a home for some time, and I assumed all available money had gone to pay for that. Which, goodness knows, was fine with me.
It wasn't a huge amount of money, but it was enough to refurnish a room, or do some more of the house-decorating that's happening so much more slowly than we'd anticipated. Or pay into my pension. Or pay for a long weekend at a spa. Or pay for an adventure holiday for the family. Or...well, any number of other things that would have been good, but that somehow didn't seem specific or long-lasting enough to warrant my legacy being spent on them.
I'd been having wistful thoughts about a laptop for some time. We have two desktops - one family one in the kitchen, and one we bought for Sparkler when she went to secondary school. So a laptop is certainly, by no stretch of the imagination, necessary. But the idea of being able to keep an eye on work emails in the sitting room, or when I'm out, or letting the kids play on the internet in the kitchen while I'm working, well, just so life-enhancing. So after a lot of fantasy shopping (I must have assembled products on the Dell website about twenty times over two weeks!) I made my decision. Granny's legacy was going on one ruby-red, wifi-enabled, nine-cell-battery, with Vista and MS Office 2007, slim shiny Inspiron 1525 laptop.
Like, well, this one:
 And because it's mine, and because I can, the browser isn't just any old IE or IE-lookalike, but the sleek, the fast, the oh-my-goodness-how-much-can-you-customise-this-thing Firefox:
 Pimpzilla, in case you were wondering. With multicoloured tabs.
And so far it's fabulous. It's light, it's fast, the battery life is good, the screen, while not matt, isn't mirror-shiny. Vista is behaving perfectly well, and is full of delightfully useless but oh-so-pretty gadgets and add-ons. My toolbars are shiny translucent red, my desktop is the Aurora Borealis, my screensaver is multicoloured bubbles, and on my sidebar I have a calendar, a clock with a second hand, a mini notepad, a local-weather widget, the phases of the moon (of course it's necessary, what do you mean?), a slideshow of pretty pictures, and - occasionally - an apple from which I can take virtual bites.
The only thing that's made me cross is that the wireless connection is erratic. However, this is apparently due to electric atmospheric disturbance (the weather, the washing machine, the microwave). I may be able to get a more stable connection by using a plug-in antenna for our home wireless network. I plan to try it out with the one we use for Sparkler's computer, and then maybe buy my own.
Finally, it needs a name. It kind of looks like an Erica to me, but I'm not sure. Erica seems like an odd name for a laptop. Some people, of course, might say it's a little odd to name a laptop at all. But given that both my USB sticks have names (Bling and Jellypie) I think my precious ruby-red laptop should join them.Labels: Dell Inspiron 1525, gadgets, laptop
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