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I am Tracy, the oldest and therefore the bossiest of the blogging ladies of Mrs. BG's. Thankfully for my cohorts in creativity, I try to keep my dominant obnoxious personality, aka Lady Nurse Ratched, in check and medicated. From the post title, you can see I am not always successful. Lady Nurse Ratched wants you all to write books. She thinks it will be good for you.
Thursday, I accidentally invited two people who very very much do not enjoy each other's company to an event that had already happened in the past, which does not work on more levels than I have fingers and toes to count, but that's how my brain's been running of late. The neat compartmental divisions I have constructed to handle the multidimensional nature of life have turned into something more like shoji screens than walls and I blame a heads down attempt to write the way Harper Lee was said to have written "To Kill A Mockingbird". All in.
It is the most intense experience I have ever had because it shows you very quickly what you are afraid to think about, feel, experience and tell. It is also much cheaper than therapy and I totally get why Hemingway was a drunk. It's easier to write after a glass of wine. How much easier would it be to write after three glasses or maybe a bottle of bourbon? Oh baby!
Wile E. Coyote GEEN*YUS!!
Not.
(Have I mentioned an addictive personality? Let's call her Absinthe, shall we?)
This razor's edge thing has also been one of the coolest, if scariest, parts of writing a book for me and why I've basically begun a total rewrite. It also explains why no more "parts" have appeared on my personal blog. The story will remain the same, but the telling of it has changed. I now feel like I owe these non-people something more than a simple reporting of events. In part, it feels like eavesdropping on other people's lives but there's also an alternate reality aspect to it and that gets right proper weird. Holodeck anyone?
That's about it. Lady Nurse Ratched is done for now. Wait. I owe you a photo. Let's see. How about the official unofficial writer's union uniform and did you know that the GNU image manipulation program (gimp) comes with a tool that lets you shave your legs?
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| Needed: 1 genetically hip Aussie stylist. now taking applications. |
+JMJ+
ReplyDeleteI used to write a lot of fiction in high school. I kind of stopped sometime in uni, which was when I started blogging. And it has recently occurred to me that the death of one is intimately related to the vibrant life of the other. I mean, I spend all day blogging and calling it writing that I have no time for "real" writing. =(
E. I don't think it matters what you write. The attraction?addiction? is that you're throwing in with something creative. I honestly don't see any difference between writing and any other form of fluid expression.. dancing, painting, acting etc.
ReplyDeleteI see a difference between writing and dancing or acting. You usually can't perform in fuzzy orange slippers and convincingly, digitally shave your legs. Writing wins hands down if you use such criteria.
ReplyDeleteOh, and Aussie stylist is starting a new school year soon, so won't have time for any more clients.
D. One the one hand, I disagree. If La Cage can cover up chin hair and adam's apples...
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, given that, at the moment, I was also Erin go braugh-less, you make a good point. No one is dancing with that sort of madness let on the loose.
and re: My Aussie Stylist, I've really got to get my P.A. on the stick. ANOTHER season missed. *sigh..
ReplyDeleteErin go braugh-less--hahaahahah
ReplyDeleteYou're a whiz with color coordination-- are you sure you need a stylist?!
Can you believe I googled Nurse R? All my life I thought it was Ratchet!!! Duh!!
Lesa,
ReplyDeleteas I told Leslie, it was a wardrobe miracle. They were the ugly slippers on a top of the pile of ugly slippers. As we say in the south, even a blind squirrel will get an acorn every once in a while. ;)
they look snazzy to me-- cute and cozy and comfy! When it gets super cold here, I have to wear sports shoes all day to stay warm.
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, you might be the oldest but three others of us are big sisters too so can give you a run for the money on bossiness!
ReplyDeleteActually, isn't it amazing that we all get on so well considering four of us are big sisters...
+JMJ+
ReplyDeleteTracy, to some extent, I do agree with you. But it's also true that one can't write two things at the same time (except for real life "Little Men Tate" perhaps?), and every blog post I write is a chapter I don't write.
I've just realised that I must sound like the biggest wet blanket ever! I don't mean to rain on anyone's parade here--or even to mix metaphors with unedited abandon. It's just that I've been thinking lately of how much time I spend online, to the point that I can't blog about books as much as I'd like to, because I don't have enough time to read them, because I'm so often online! =P
OH E, me too! I used to read 3-4+ books a week and since blogging I am lucky to read 3-4 a month!! It really bugs me sometimes-- I get wacky if I don't read enough to I really need to manage my online time better.
ReplyDeleteE. no wet blanket, just a perspective. a valid one. Mine is just different.
ReplyDeleteYou know the Gloria Steinam quote, "I do not like to write - I like to have written."
I like to write. So for me, it's the process not the product, which is good because the process is pretty much guaranteeing there won't even BE any product if i don't find a way through that! a meander through wonderland is great, but eventually you want to have more than blisters to show for it.
so yes. to all point, but dang i like playing more than winning
Lesa... you need to find a series of 13 books which each have 7000 pages! it's like a hall pass...you almost never have to read another book again.
ReplyDelete+JMJ+
ReplyDeleteTracy, I guess my problem is that I used to win all the time and wonder where the good old days have gone. LOL!!!
Lesa, I was just thinking that I ought to take a leaf out of your book and start adding members to Shredded Cheddar! But whom to ask??? As you know, my brothers are not interested . . . and my friends either don't get blogging or already have blogs of their own.
Should I get highlights?
ReplyDeleteAHAHAHA! JUST KIDDING!
ReplyDeleteI am personally having complete mental block...even having problems writing notes for the kids and helping with homework...so I am not doing too much-not even wanting to read.
I think I need to decompress for awhile from all the excitement here.
@E - we all have our own blogs...maybe your blogging friends could contribute to yours as well?
Or you may know someone (not a close friend) who has some similar interests and likes writing? Librarian, neighbor, etc?
Oh, and Lesa found us through Delynne on FB...maybe through some social media like that? A friend of a friend?
ReplyDeleteI don't know. I am going to watch the Nanny. And think about my hair.
E. My first question would be how are you defining "win"?
ReplyDeleteAs for blogging, start with guest bloggers ( maybe readers who regularly comment) and see how that goes.
Leslie. Yes. Highlights. Definitely highlights, but be prepared for the princess to want them as well.
+JMJ+
ReplyDeleteBy "win" I mean that I had actually finished a novel (not necessarily a good one, of course, but I gave it to some critical friends who approved of it) and produced a whole bunch of short stories. But I don't do any of that sort of writing now. (Sigh . . .)
Yes, I think I will ask some regular commenters to guest blog. Thanks, Tracy and Lesa!
Yes! Everyone should write, even if it's their life story. Truth can be stranger than fiction. Go ahead, make yourself look good. Add a little here, a little nip and tuck there. You know what Mark Twain said, "I used to remember everything, whether it happened or not."
ReplyDeleteE. ah! ok. got it. a writing schedule? one day blog, one day write something? like I'm able to keep one myself :P
ReplyDeleteKim: ha! do you know how hard it is NOT to make the protagonist turn into your dream self? to say nothing of the appeal of first person. love the quote.. love mark twain in fact.