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Charlotte (10 unread)

• 

  Writing progress

  Posted: April 12th, 2007, 6:46am MST

  Tags:  productivity   [edit]

  I am a third of the way through the new novel and I think it’s going well. Writing my way into it with a vague sense of direction, I reached a quarter done and needed to know more specifics about the ending and, as in all the worst novels, it came to me in a dream. Dun dun duh!
  
  It's not that bad, really. In a break from writing for a few days, my mind tends to turn over stories, synopses, plotlines, scenes in daydreams and sometimes they spill into dreams. Not the usual dream where you're wandering through a lake and then suddenly you're on a beach talking to a turtle, though sometimes they morph into those, these dreams are far more linear and narrative, putting into my dreams what I've been thinking through during the day.
  
  Now over a third of the way through, I have the urge to go back to the beginning and re-write but I must resist it! I just know that if I return to the start I will never make it past this point, and I really need to. This section, between a third and half way, is where I tend to flag and give up and the longing to go back and rewrite is an indication of that. I also feel I need to read more about the history of New York and San Francisco to get more of a sense of where I'm going with it. Reading The Tea Rose and The Winter Rose has been quite inspiring - great stories, a doorstop book that got taken on as a first novel and they cover such a huge span, which proves it can be done very successfully. And I've just found there's another one going to be released! Yay!
  
  I need to read more about the history of New York, 1906-1920, and San Francisco, 1906 - the earthquake in particular. I don't particularly mind whether it's fiction or not; I like reading fiction from the period and about it to get a sense of it, though clearly that's a third hand view and I don't think I'd rely on it for technical information but it should give a feeling of what it's like. If anyone has any suggestions send them my way!
  
  Cross posted to charlotteunsworth.com
• 

  Easter weekend

  Posted: April 12th, 2007, 4:33am MST

  Tags:  family   [edit]

  Apart from the blip, I had a very nice week away. Home was good, and my room now feels like mine - it's one I've never slept in while living there permanently and was redecorated just before christmas so has needed sleeping in - which is a very good thing. Although my mum's talking about moving, so there might not be space for me in future. She has on and off before but I get the impression she's more serious about it this time.
  
  Center Parcs was brilliant, lots of cycling and swimming and tennis though not as much tennis as I'd have liked, and I came back with muscles aching and feeling pleasantly exhausted. I love the pool, especially the outdoor one with the rapids at night. So pretty.
  
  My mum's birthday was also successful although I felt like A Bad Daughter for not getting a cake, though I don't know when I would have and I think she was a bit disappointed nobody did. She enjoyed the rest of it despite the meal debacle. We went to Frankie and bennys, usually a decent chain with good food and service. Sadly not this time - it was atrocious, and I think the first time we've ever wanted to leave a restaurant. We waited an hour for our starters, and then only half of them arrived because the waitress had forgotten to write them down. When we complained it took her twenty minutes to decide to take them away and bring back new with the rest. The rest of the meal came reasonably quickly after that but she and the waitress she drafted in to help her (because seven people is too many!) were just not friendly at all and you got the impression that everything was a trial - how dare we expected warm food to eat together at a restaurant! It wasn't even as if we were being difficult; I thought we were actually very reasonable about the whole thing. If I'd never been to one before, I'd steer clear of the entire chain after that experience. A shame.
  
  Got back early evening yesterday, having passed Sam in Leighton Buzzard going the opposite direction though we didn't manage to wave at each other from our trains :(
• 

  Things I find amusing

  Posted: April 4th, 2007, 4:33am MST

  Tags:    [edit]

  Why Christians shouldn't own cats
  Including the wonderful paragraph:
  'Thou shalt surely kill him; thy hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. And thou shalt stone him to death with stones, because he hath sought to draw thee away from Jehovah thy God, .. And all Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall do no more any such wickedness as this is in the midst of thee.' -Deut. 13:6-11, AS.' Of course, we can take no legal responsibility for anything which results from your voluntary application of your interpretation of such Biblical principles as you may believe that we have brought to your attention.
  Glad there's always ready to put forward a sane argument!!**
  
  
  
  
  ** No comments either denigrating christians as a whole or applauding them as a whole, please. They're not all the same. Some are great. Some are, clearly, wackos. Same goes for every group in society. Except possibly mugss, who manage to combine the two quite effectively.
• 

  Politics

  Posted: April 3rd, 2007, 4:21pm MST

  Tags:    [edit]

  I rarely stray into the political, and everyone is thankful for that I'm sure. My political instincts tend to go with 'why can't people get along?' but watching this Iran/UK hostage situation, I just don't get it.
  
  Portraying them on television - to show how well they're being treated while being kept prisoner? - and releasing letters supposedly written to family doesn't persuade me that you're not holding them against their will. And I think international waters are not particularly well defined - I have no idea if they were in Iraqi or Iranian waters and I don't much care, to be honest. That seems to be the main point: trespass. The 'notes' being passed back and forth strike me as somewhat juvenile. Why can't they get in a room and say ok, we disagree on where they were and why they were there - let's clarify the boundary but we want our people back. Now. No please, no if you don't mind, is it ok if.. We want them back. I can understand how this might play - the well treated hostages in comparison to Guantanmo was one comparison I've seen - let's just understand that Guantanamo is NOT in the UK! Not our prison! What do they possibly expect to gain from keeping these people any longer? And President Bush should shut up and keep out of it - I seriously doubt his disapproval will do us any good in that part of the world.
  
  The story about the grandmother being charged with manslaughter over the little girl's death after being mauled on New Year's Day also tore me - I understand the theory (I don't know what the law is) in charging her, but I thought it was her uncle's dog, and surely she and the family have suffered a great deal already. Then, I can't imagine the CPS are acting entirely without talking to the girl's parents. Obviously I can't know but I would have thought if they massively objected there might be something that could be done.
  
  There just seems to be so much on the news that is negative and tragic. There was this newsround survey a few months ago that suggested there was too much death on the news and I understand what they're saying but when the only positive things the local news - not even national - can find to say is that a tortoise once lost has found its way 200 miles home, you have to wonder. How many wars are there going on in the world today? How many children died of starvation in England, never mind Africa, and how many have been sold into prostitution? Reading through the YSRP files at work is one of the most heartbreaking things and I know it's only the tip of the iceberg to use the cliche, but how do you care? How do you choose what to care about, which issues to work out? Being a good person and treating people well is all very good but it doesn't help the larger problem but how do you make that judgement that this charity is more deserving and helpful than this one, or that child prostitution is a need greater than child starvation? I understand all too well how people can simply focus on making their little bit of the world a safer place and not wanting the rest to encroach upon it. When everything seems this negative, how do you try to make things better?
  
  This ended up somewhere different to where it started out.
• 

  Mmmmm

  Posted: April 2nd, 2007, 4:06am MST

  Tags:  cooking   [edit]

  Brownies were scrumptious :) Cruncy on top and squidgy underneath. A little bit too squidgy when cool; another five minutes might have been better so I shall scribble that into my recipe book as well. Sam said they were too rich for him (for those who've had it he also says that about my fudge icing, though I don't think these were as much) but kept stealing from the pan anyway. I think it's worth cooking the mixture. I shall post recipe if anybody's interested.
  
  I had a fairly productive weekend. Shopping yielded my mum's birthday prsent (needs wrapping before I go home) though I have no clue about phoebe or elliot yet, but they can wait a week or so I guess. On Sunday I wore the Pink Shoes of Spring and went for lunch with Sam, which was lovely, although we should consider getting up before one next weekend I'm here - think we're still on wrong time. The afternoon was spent sorting out my cupboard including all my crafty stuff. I have a lot more fabric than I thought! I can see it all now, anyway, and know what I've got in reasonable quantity which is handy. I've joined the Crafty daisies summer swap which hopefully will be fun though could do with sewing machine. If the people Gesine's found are rubbish it'll take longer but tbh I wasn't going to get it done very soon anyway.
  
  
  Also did some writing, and I have a third of a draft finished :) Yay me. Am setting the very hard goal of getting it finished by the end of June, with a break mid May to complete a synopsis and work on the first chapter for competition submission. Nothing like a deadline to get you going (or started anyway before collapsing in defeat)
• 

  Brownies

  Posted: April 1st, 2007, 12:34pm MST

  Tags:  cooking   [edit]

  I've just tried to make jamie oliver's brownies, as basically the first thing from the recipe books I got for my birthday (I've been busy!) I would very much like to get the dinner parties to return when people get back from easter so might have to try that again :) They are now cooking and if they taste anything like the uncooked mixture I'll be very happy. Of course, if they don't I'll just make the uncooked mixture in future!!
  
  Practical things like this, recipes, sewing patterns etc, always end up covered in scribbled notes about how to make them easier, things the instructions missed out or assumed you knew. In this case it was whether you take chocolate mixture off heat to add the rest to or not. Mixing it with delia's recipe, I've gone for taking it off but it should have said, really. Books like this should have a proofing editor who works through it to check that it can be understood by people who have a tendency to burn toast; though the book doesn't seem aimed at entry level (it does seem quite off putting actually) in its initial instructions it treats the reader like a beginner coook who likes food, which is fine until you get to the recipe instructions.
  
  I shall get out my pencil and make my amendments.
• 

  If this is true....

  Posted: March 31st, 2007, 5:23pm MST

  Tags:    [edit]

  Piercing isn't actually that new - or young. British royalty have had it done – Prince Albert famously had his penis pierced, so that he could tie it to his leg and disguise his bulge when the fashion was for too-tight-for-comfort trousers. Meanwhile, there's hardly a celebrity in existence who hasn't had their navel, nose or nipple done.
  
  From [www.bbc.co.uk]
• 

  Taking things serioulsy

  Posted: March 30th, 2007, 5:02am MST

  Tags:    [edit]

  I need to stop taking throwaway comments so utterly seriously. Just because someone says something doesn't matter doesn't mean they don't think it's important. Or important to me, anyway, given the time spent on it. You can very much tell when I slept badly and/or haven't eaten properly (toaster wasn't working this morning and I didn't have time to sort it or find something else) when I'm far too sensitive to things like this and start thinking, except...it's all the time, with anything I think is important being treated as a sideline.
• 

  Thea Gilmore love

  Posted: March 29th, 2007, 5:53pm MST

  Tags:  music   [edit]

  Thea Gilmore!! Oh my god I love her so much. I am glad I didn't stick around to talk to her because I would have completely embarrassed myself. She is absolutely fantastic; the tour is a more stripped down version (no band, just her and Nigel Stonier) and Becky and I agreed it felt a lot more personal and chatty than the last time we saw her, in the Academy. Songs are beautiful and so amazing and I always just fall in love all over again so much so that I can't say anything in a vaguely critical way. Everyone should love her as much as I do.
  
  I love you like a whisper
  I love you all alone
  I love you like a murder babe
  I'm burying the bones
  I love you like the last shot
  At the bottom of the bottle
  I love you razor valentine
  
  I love you like the dancing dust
  I love you like the static
  I love you like the tarmac
  Loves the kiss of morning traffic
  I love you like the factory smoke
  Wraps it arms around the sky
  I love you razor valentine
  
  Oh I've been moving kind of slow don't you think so
  Oh I've been taming bloody hearts into valentines
  
  I love you like a ruin babe
  I love you like a crime
  I love you like a drunk
  At the sound of closing time
  I love you as the seconds on my tongue
  Are running wild
  I love you razor valentine.
  
  
  [Error: Irreparable invalid markup ('<a http://www.last.fm/music/thea+gilmore</a>') in entry. Owner must fix manually. Raw contents below.]
  
  Thea Gilmore!! Oh my god I love her so much. I am glad I didn't stick around to talk to her because I would have completely embarrassed myself. She is absolutely fantastic; the tour is a more stripped down version (no band, just her and Nigel Stonier) and Becky and I agreed it felt a lot more personal and chatty than the last <a href="http://compsoc.man.ac.uk/~charlotte/gallery/v/TheaGilmore/">time</a> we saw her, in the Academy. Songs are beautiful and so amazing and I always just fall in love all over again so much so that I can't say anything in a vaguely critical way. Everyone should love her as much as I do.
  
  <i>I love you like a whisper
  I love you all alone
  I love you like a murder babe
  I'm burying the bones
  I love you like the last shot
  At the bottom of the bottle
  I love you razor valentine
  
  I love you like the dancing dust
  I love you like the static
  I love you like the tarmac
  Loves the kiss of morning traffic
  I love you like the factory smoke
  Wraps it arms around the sky
  I love you razor valentine
  
  Oh I've been moving kind of slow don't you think so
  Oh I've been taming bloody hearts into valentines
  
  I love you like a ruin babe
  I love you like a crime
  I love you like a drunk
  At the sound of closing time
  I love you as the seconds on my tongue
  Are running wild
  I love you razor valentine.</i>
  
  
  <a href="http://www.last.fm/music/Thea+Gilmore" http://www.last.fm/music/thea+gilmore</a="http://www.last.fm/music/Thea+Gilmore</a">
  
  
  
  The below came from <lj-user="mistful">:
  
  This book reminded me of a dreadful TV show about Romantic Heroes, in which the opinion was expressed that every woman wanted to marry Heathcliff, Mr Rochester or Mr Darcy.
  
  I took offence, both for myself and for my beloved Mr Darcy. I mean, can you imagine them all in a room together?
  
  TV PRESENTER: Boys, would you like to talk about your interest and hobbies?
  ROCHESTER: Well, there’s the compulsive lying. And then there’s the cross-dressing.
  HEATHCLIFF: I enjoy long romantic walks on the moors-
  TV PRESENTER: Oh, that’s nice!
  HEATHCLIFF: And then I like to round off the day by hanging a puppy.
  DARCY: …
  TV PRESENTER: So, do any of you have a special lady?
  ROCHESTER: Well, I may have gotten the syph from my score of mistresses. And I have this illegitimate kid. And I do have a wife, but she’s crazy and in the care of a drunk, so that won’t stick.
  HEATHCLIFF: Oh snap, I have a wife too! I beat her.
  DARCY: I am as yet unmarried, madam.
  TV PRESENTER: Thank God for that… So, uh, what would you consider your greatest, uh, fault?
  ROCHESTER: Some narrow-minded fools frown on tricking defenceless girls into bigamy.
  HEATHCLIFF: So I practise incestuous necrophilia. Don’t be a hater.
  DARCY: Sometimes I’m a little judgemental. And aloof at parties.
  TV PRESENTER: *hides behind Mr Darcy*
  
  Not that Heathcliff and Rochester aren’t fabulous characters. But there are cases in which ‘Watch out, ladies, this one can’t be tamed!’ should contain the explanatory note: ‘Because this one’s rabid.’
• 

  noooo!

  Posted: March 29th, 2007, 5:28am MST

  Tags:  dreaming   [edit]

  As I was falling asleep last night I had this story in my head, perfectly scripted and wonderfully interesting for once. I knew I should have got up to write it down but thought I'd let it play til the end.
  
  I don't remember it now :(