Wow, it's been a while. And in all of that while, nothing really interesting happened, which is probably why I haven't felt like writing a blog post. That is to say, lots of things happened, but they were mostly along the lines of work, meeting with friends, watching movies, etc etc. And I've been reading the same novel (Anna Karenina) for at least two months, so not much to say about that either.
But! There are developments on the musical side of things. Some time ago I wrote about discovering Spotify, and coming to the conclusion that I treated it pretty much the same as any other technology; stick to what you know. But things, they are achanging.
First of all, some big company decided that they would share all The Beatles songs with the rest of the world anyway, which was pretty nice. But more importantly, I've been looking up new music myself. Not really 'by myself' as such, but I've been getting recommendations from others, or hearing songs on commercials, or on the radio (and checking which song they are by using the nifty app SoundHound) and I've added those to my music. And then (this is the magical part) I go to that artist's page, and listen to their other music. Not all of it, of course, but the top 10 songs at least.
Which has led me to discover the following artists:
Ludovico Einaudi: man, he is brilliant. I know nothing about this man, apart from the fact that his song Life was used in a commercial. So I checked him out, and found a treasure trove of beautiful instrumental music, most of it just a piano. My absolute favourite is Nuvole Bianchi, which has almost 40 million listens on Spotify, and is hauntingly beautiful. I'm still trying to find the sheet music, to be able to play it.
John Mayer: I thought this was some guy from the 60s, but apparently he's quite a bit more recent. I heard Heartbreak Warfare on the radio, which I loved, and then I checked out some of his other songs, which were really nice as well. Mellow, but not sleepily so. He can get a bit whiny, but then we skip to:
Modest Mouse: can you believe this band name? Too cute! Anyway, someone recommended Dashboard (which has a very funny video clip too), and then I looked some more on their page, and found out they're the guys from Float On, which was also used in a commercial (sad, how many songs I know mostly from tv ads).
Muse: I've had lots of friends who were into Muse, but somehow I'd never really listened to any songs. Now that I have, I find them a bit too aggressive for what I would normally listen to, but there are times when I like that uptempo shouty stuff, for example when I try to hammer out some minutes for meetings.
I could go on and on (The National, Wolf People, The Raconteurs), but most of them are kind of the same music as I've always loved (Ludovico Eunaudi is like Howard Shore and Philip Glass, and all the other guys are your regular middle of the road band, leaning slightly towards the countryesque). So technically, I haven't really evolved that much, especially when you compare it to the friend who has suddenly decided she's into 'gangster rap'. But still, small steps towards more musical open mindedness.
Monday, 2 May 2016
Monday, 7 March 2016
Morocco
Last week I spent travelling through Morocco. This is not as daring or adventurous as it may sound, because 1) I was with an organised group that took great care of me, and 2) Morocco is not the dangerous country many take it for. It is one of the most colourful, friendly, welcoming and diverse I've ever seen. From snow in the peaks to heat in the desert, from rainy shores to sunny green fields; there is something for everyone.
I'd been planning to go on holiday with a friend for a while, and we were 'going to the sun', as they say here; going someplace with nicer weather than our own. A relaxing beach holiday was out of the question as we both go completely crazy when forced to sit still and do nothing, so a more adventurous plan was quickly hatched; the four imperial cities of Morocco (the other option was Israel, but I really want to take more time for that). After some careful comparisons, there was really only one holiday that could fit both of our schedules and visited all the places we wanted to see. We were a very small group of only six, the other four being ladies of between 55 and 65. Our tour guide was 28. In effect, the three of us were on holiday with four mothers. It was great. We got along surprisingly well, there were no major fights or discussions, and I think everybody had a good time.
And the country itself was great. We visited Casablanca, Rabat, Meknes, Fez, and Marrakesh, and although we did so in only 6 days, I didn't feel rushed or overwhelmed once. This may be because of the carefully balanced trip, but I think it is mainly because we had some great local guides, apart from the one that stayed with us the entire trip.
We saw mosques, mausoleums, mellahs, royal palaces, gates, medinas, souks, tanneries, potteries, and every kind of shop under the sun. We saw high mountains and beautiful valleys, waterfalls and oceans, goat herds and pampered cats, and everything in between. We saw old men in long djellabas on donkey carts, young women at the wheel of a modern car, iPhone clasped to their ears, and everything in between. We had fabulous food, great views, and warm welcomes everywhere. I try to make a point of not visiting countries twice if I still have others on the list, but Morocco is definitely a place I want to return to. It's a small, warm, colourful universe in its own.
Saturday, 20 February 2016
A God in Ruins
It's been a while since I've written anything about books here, but that doesn't mean I haven't been reading them. And the last book I read, A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson, was one of those books which after a few chapters I decided to read really slowly and attentively, because it is great and meaningful and complex and beautiful, and I didn't want to rush through it. Meaning that so far this year, it has been the best book I've read.
A God in Ruins runs parallel to Life after Life, which I'd read and loved a couple of years ago. In that novel, Ursula Todd lives her live again and again, trying to kill Adolf Hitler before he rises to power. It has vivid descriptions of the Blitz, as well as beautiful imagery of the British upper middle class in the twenties and thirties. In this novel, (a 'companion piece', rather than a sequel, according to Kate Atkinson) we follow the life of Teddy Todd, Ursula's younger brother (and one of the more sympathetic characters of Life after Life). It doesn't give any conclusions as to which of Ursula's lives finally became the 'true' one, we just have to see this as one version of reality. In this, Ted becomes a bomber pilot in the War, flying his Halifax deep into German country to bomb industrial areas (at first) and helpless civilians (as the war progresses). But it is about more than just WWII, as several other chapters tell of his life after the war, his marriage, his daughter Viola, and his grandchildren Bertie and Sunny. We don't just follow Ted, but Viola, Bertie, and Sunny as well. They are wildly different characters, each a product of their parents, their upbringing, and the time they live in. Their relationships don't always run smoothly, with the children often being the smarter ones than their parents, but as we (the reader) can look into their heads and see their histories and the decisions that made them who they are, we can sympathise with all of them.
The novel has some wonderful phrases that will stick in my mind for a while. "When the time came people stopped trying to forget the war, and started trying to remember it"; clearly painting the difference between Ted's generation and Viola's; between the people who lived through the war and don't need to remember to make sure something like that never happens again, and those born long after it, who can't really appreciate the sacrifices made by there parents. "Bertie loved her grandfather. Her grandfather loved Bertie. It was the simplest arrangement." closely followed by "Sunny loved his grandfather. His grandfather loved Sunny. It was the most complicated arrangement." Two sets of almost identical phrases, showing the difference in two very complex interpersonal relationships that form the backbone of the book.
Then there are the many literary, cultural, and historical allusions that run through the novel. I'm sure I missed at least half of these, as many are to Paradise Lost and Pilgrim's Progress, and it's been a while since I read those, but the ones I did get brought a smile to my face. And you can easily read it without knowing about the extra layer. Smart little things like; "'Out,' she said, shooing Izzy toward the front door, and again, 'Out' 'Damed spot,' Hugh murmured." will ring a familiar bell, even if you've never read or seen Macbeth.
And in the end, as Kate Atkinson writes in her afterword, the novel really is about fiction, about telling stories, about living in a fictional world or living a version of yourself that you have decided to become. Especially Viola has a tendency to make the world the way she likes it to be, and to point to the fictional actions of others as the cause for her own character and place in life. Which can be a frustrating read, especially when you know Ted's or Bertie's or Sunny's version of the events, but every good book has characters you love to hate. And in the end, you can be the judge. What was real, and what wasn't?
A God in Ruins runs parallel to Life after Life, which I'd read and loved a couple of years ago. In that novel, Ursula Todd lives her live again and again, trying to kill Adolf Hitler before he rises to power. It has vivid descriptions of the Blitz, as well as beautiful imagery of the British upper middle class in the twenties and thirties. In this novel, (a 'companion piece', rather than a sequel, according to Kate Atkinson) we follow the life of Teddy Todd, Ursula's younger brother (and one of the more sympathetic characters of Life after Life). It doesn't give any conclusions as to which of Ursula's lives finally became the 'true' one, we just have to see this as one version of reality. In this, Ted becomes a bomber pilot in the War, flying his Halifax deep into German country to bomb industrial areas (at first) and helpless civilians (as the war progresses). But it is about more than just WWII, as several other chapters tell of his life after the war, his marriage, his daughter Viola, and his grandchildren Bertie and Sunny. We don't just follow Ted, but Viola, Bertie, and Sunny as well. They are wildly different characters, each a product of their parents, their upbringing, and the time they live in. Their relationships don't always run smoothly, with the children often being the smarter ones than their parents, but as we (the reader) can look into their heads and see their histories and the decisions that made them who they are, we can sympathise with all of them.
The novel has some wonderful phrases that will stick in my mind for a while. "When the time came people stopped trying to forget the war, and started trying to remember it"; clearly painting the difference between Ted's generation and Viola's; between the people who lived through the war and don't need to remember to make sure something like that never happens again, and those born long after it, who can't really appreciate the sacrifices made by there parents. "Bertie loved her grandfather. Her grandfather loved Bertie. It was the simplest arrangement." closely followed by "Sunny loved his grandfather. His grandfather loved Sunny. It was the most complicated arrangement." Two sets of almost identical phrases, showing the difference in two very complex interpersonal relationships that form the backbone of the book.
Then there are the many literary, cultural, and historical allusions that run through the novel. I'm sure I missed at least half of these, as many are to Paradise Lost and Pilgrim's Progress, and it's been a while since I read those, but the ones I did get brought a smile to my face. And you can easily read it without knowing about the extra layer. Smart little things like; "'Out,' she said, shooing Izzy toward the front door, and again, 'Out' 'Damed spot,' Hugh murmured." will ring a familiar bell, even if you've never read or seen Macbeth.
And in the end, as Kate Atkinson writes in her afterword, the novel really is about fiction, about telling stories, about living in a fictional world or living a version of yourself that you have decided to become. Especially Viola has a tendency to make the world the way she likes it to be, and to point to the fictional actions of others as the cause for her own character and place in life. Which can be a frustrating read, especially when you know Ted's or Bertie's or Sunny's version of the events, but every good book has characters you love to hate. And in the end, you can be the judge. What was real, and what wasn't?
Tuesday, 9 February 2016
Walklogger
About a year ago, when it was just as grey and rainy and windy as it is now, we (that is to say, me and my colleagues) were all sitting around whining about how much we wished for it to be spring so we could go outside and be active, instead of being inside and being depressed, We all felt bloated from the holidays, but nobody really bothered to do something about that, because we were still in our large comfy winter clothes. But we did feel inactive, and lazy. And then I remembered that someone had once told me that you had to take 10,000 steps each day to be healthy. So we looked online, and although not everybody was in agreement (the argument is still going strong), most people did agree that walking is good for your health, fitness, blood pressure, and what not. So we all decided to try and walk 10,000 steps a day.
Now you have to remember that we all have jobs which involve sitting behind the computer a lot. Or sitting in meetings a lot. Or listening to presentations a lot. And I mean, really a lot. But still, we could give it a shot. So we all downloaded some sort of app to our smartphones to track our steps (those in the possession of an iPhone didn't need to do that, because Apple already automatically registers your movements and probably uses that to some sort of advantage). I chose Walklogger, simply because someone else was also using that and said it was a good app.
I don't know how many steps I took the first day, but I know it was nowhere near 10,000. Turns out, 10,000 steps takes about 1.5 hours of walking, depending on how fast you walk. We were really competitive, sharing walking scores and trying to beat each other to a higher step count, but the only one who ever really made the 10,000 was the one person who already took a walk each morning after breakfast and before work. So we decided to go on lunch walks, instead of eating in the canteen, and that really boosted our step count. Still no 10k, but we were doing good. But then some people had meetings, or it was raining, or there was a nice lunch presentation, and we didn't really take the walks anymore. After about two months, nobody was sharing their step counts anymore, and most people had removed the app from their phone.
But not me. Not that I'm aiming for 10,000 every day, that would be absurdly optimistic. My daily step count aim is 2,000, with at least 3 days of 5,000 steps (Walklogger gives you a bronze medal when you reach 5,000, and a silver at 8,000, and a gold medal at 10,000) every week. Which seems to be a pretty managaeble goal, if I think to take my smartphone with me everytime I walk. In the office, I do take a lot of small walks (150 steps to and from the coffee machine) that are often not counted because I don't have my phone with me. And there are some days when I easily manage 10,000, when I take a walk in the woods or walk to the city centre for some shopping. Then there are other days when I don't even reach 1,000, although usually that's because I've forgotten my phone somewhere. But it does mean that when I can choose between walking or biking, and there is no time constraint, I more often go on foot. Which is a nice change, even though it won't really make me that much healthier in the long run.
So Walklogger works for me, but you can probably use any walk logging app in the store, I haven't tried any of the others. I like the medal system, although it is a bit disappointing that you don't get any extra medals for walking say 15,000 or 20,000 steps (my record high was around 23,000, the day I walked the Great Wall of China). I like how it shows when you were walking, using little graphs that go up when you take more consequetive steps. And it shows you how many steps you took in this month and year. Somehow, Thursday is the day I walk the least, although I have no clue as to why that is.
And it's just fun, collecting the numbers, and batteling against your lazy self to reach those 2,000 steps. As for today, I have exactly 306 steps to go.
Now you have to remember that we all have jobs which involve sitting behind the computer a lot. Or sitting in meetings a lot. Or listening to presentations a lot. And I mean, really a lot. But still, we could give it a shot. So we all downloaded some sort of app to our smartphones to track our steps (those in the possession of an iPhone didn't need to do that, because Apple already automatically registers your movements and probably uses that to some sort of advantage). I chose Walklogger, simply because someone else was also using that and said it was a good app.
I don't know how many steps I took the first day, but I know it was nowhere near 10,000. Turns out, 10,000 steps takes about 1.5 hours of walking, depending on how fast you walk. We were really competitive, sharing walking scores and trying to beat each other to a higher step count, but the only one who ever really made the 10,000 was the one person who already took a walk each morning after breakfast and before work. So we decided to go on lunch walks, instead of eating in the canteen, and that really boosted our step count. Still no 10k, but we were doing good. But then some people had meetings, or it was raining, or there was a nice lunch presentation, and we didn't really take the walks anymore. After about two months, nobody was sharing their step counts anymore, and most people had removed the app from their phone.
But not me. Not that I'm aiming for 10,000 every day, that would be absurdly optimistic. My daily step count aim is 2,000, with at least 3 days of 5,000 steps (Walklogger gives you a bronze medal when you reach 5,000, and a silver at 8,000, and a gold medal at 10,000) every week. Which seems to be a pretty managaeble goal, if I think to take my smartphone with me everytime I walk. In the office, I do take a lot of small walks (150 steps to and from the coffee machine) that are often not counted because I don't have my phone with me. And there are some days when I easily manage 10,000, when I take a walk in the woods or walk to the city centre for some shopping. Then there are other days when I don't even reach 1,000, although usually that's because I've forgotten my phone somewhere. But it does mean that when I can choose between walking or biking, and there is no time constraint, I more often go on foot. Which is a nice change, even though it won't really make me that much healthier in the long run.
So Walklogger works for me, but you can probably use any walk logging app in the store, I haven't tried any of the others. I like the medal system, although it is a bit disappointing that you don't get any extra medals for walking say 15,000 or 20,000 steps (my record high was around 23,000, the day I walked the Great Wall of China). I like how it shows when you were walking, using little graphs that go up when you take more consequetive steps. And it shows you how many steps you took in this month and year. Somehow, Thursday is the day I walk the least, although I have no clue as to why that is.
And it's just fun, collecting the numbers, and batteling against your lazy self to reach those 2,000 steps. As for today, I have exactly 306 steps to go.
Monday, 18 January 2016
Now what?
January and February are officially the 'Now What?' months in NaNoWriMo; months in which you realise that you've written a 50,000 (more or less) word novel, and realise that you actually have to do something with it. Or not, but in NaNo-land, that's not really an option.
So they offer various things you can do in these Now What?-months. Most of these involve connecting you to published authors and other NaNo writers, so you can find support in their stories and suggestions. As mentioned before, I'm not a big partaker of the NaNo group process, so this isn't really for me. But there is one thing I did like, and that is their 'Revision Promise'. It reads as follows:
I, talented author, hereby pledge to edit and revise my manuscript in these, the months following the word storm that was National Novel Writing Month.
By agreeing to this legally binding document, I swear to undertake the unluxurious process of editing the first draft of my novel. I understand that this process can be messy and disheartening, but ultimately just as rewarding as writing it all the first time.
I have replaced all creative implements (pens, pencils, keyboards, touchscreens, quills, and hunks of charcoal) at my workspace with destructive ones (erasers, backspace keys, white-out, and comically large mallets). I will refine and chop sentences, paragraphs, and chapters with impartial ferocity. Above all, I promise to regard my novel with a critical but not cruel eye, for it is a work of my one-and-only imagination and deserves to be made even better.
Sounds good, doesn't it?
So that is what I'm going to do; I will revise what I have written. I could also pledge myself to finish the story (always a difficult thing for me), but there are too many inconsistencies and gaps and badly-written things in the first few chapters for that to work. So first; revision. Let's see what this thing can look like when I spend my time thinking about it, instead of hammering out as many words as possible, as quickly as possible. And if I still like it at the end of the revision, I may even feel inspired to finish it.
But let's take this one step at a time.
So they offer various things you can do in these Now What?-months. Most of these involve connecting you to published authors and other NaNo writers, so you can find support in their stories and suggestions. As mentioned before, I'm not a big partaker of the NaNo group process, so this isn't really for me. But there is one thing I did like, and that is their 'Revision Promise'. It reads as follows:
I, talented author, hereby pledge to edit and revise my manuscript in these, the months following the word storm that was National Novel Writing Month.
By agreeing to this legally binding document, I swear to undertake the unluxurious process of editing the first draft of my novel. I understand that this process can be messy and disheartening, but ultimately just as rewarding as writing it all the first time.
I have replaced all creative implements (pens, pencils, keyboards, touchscreens, quills, and hunks of charcoal) at my workspace with destructive ones (erasers, backspace keys, white-out, and comically large mallets). I will refine and chop sentences, paragraphs, and chapters with impartial ferocity. Above all, I promise to regard my novel with a critical but not cruel eye, for it is a work of my one-and-only imagination and deserves to be made even better.
Sounds good, doesn't it?
So that is what I'm going to do; I will revise what I have written. I could also pledge myself to finish the story (always a difficult thing for me), but there are too many inconsistencies and gaps and badly-written things in the first few chapters for that to work. So first; revision. Let's see what this thing can look like when I spend my time thinking about it, instead of hammering out as many words as possible, as quickly as possible. And if I still like it at the end of the revision, I may even feel inspired to finish it.
But let's take this one step at a time.
The Art of Asking
So one of the books I've finished so far this year is The Art of Asking, by Amanda Palmer. I thought this book was going to be about how Amanda thought she had to be a Strong and Independent Person/Woman and then saw the light and realised that sometimes, it isn't so bad to ask anyone for help, and now she will tell the reader the how and why of things. As it turned out, she realised this in the first 10 pages of the book, and the rest of it was mostly about her dating Neil Gaiman, her breaking up with her record label and discovering crowd funding, and her sleeping on other people's couches while blogging and tweeting and generally sharing every detail of her private life with the whole world. But luckily, in between all that, there were some gems of wisdom and writing.
So who is this Amanda Palmer? I only recently found out that she, and her former band The Dresden Dolls, are not as famous as I'd always thought, so a short recap may be in order. Amanda Palmer is a singer, songwriter, feminist, and the wife of Neil Gaiman. Which is how I first heard of her, because I've been following Neil on his blog for a couple of years now, and at some point, Amanda popped up (they've been married for a while now, and they recently had their first child). I didn't really check her out at that point, but then one of my best friends mentioned that he loves The Dresden Dolls, so I decided to listen to some of their music, and some of their music is really nice. For the most part, it's a bit too loud/shouty/in-your-face for my taste, but a noticeable exception to this rule is Delilah, which is by far my favourite song. Since then, Amanda has gone solo, and released a couple of albums, one of which contains her playing Radiohead songs on her ukulele.
Anyway, Neil had mentioned Amanda's book on his blog, and when I saw it laying around at the house of the aforementioned friend (in Iceland, which meant he had found it worthwhile to drag the thing 3000 km across the sea) I decided I had to read it. So I did. And I was a bit disappointed, as you may have gathered from the first paragraph, because it was all about Amanda Palmer. Amanda Palmer likes talking/writing/blogging/singing/apping about herself a lot. She also doesn't really like any kind of formal structure, so the book is really all over the place, with long and short bits mixed up and jumping in time and adding new people until you get completely confused. But then there are some bits that do make sense, in a novel-writing kind of way, and she mentions that Neil helped her along, so you can see his influence there, I guess. Also, it does tie up nicely in the end, with a sort of happy ending.
But in between all the rambling and the endless descriptions of tours and couches and tour buses, there are some really nice bits. Amanda mentions The Fraud Police, who will at some point come knocking at your door and tell you that it's all been fun and games, but now you really have to stop pretending you can write/sing/make any difference in the world. It's that secret feeling we all have, of being 'found out' some day, of being discovered as a fraud and then cast aside by everybody. The way she described this, felt really real to me. This is about not trusting yourself, or trusting your own talent. Then there is the bit about trusting others, and you don't have to stand on a pedestal as a living statue, or sleep on other people's couches, to experience that other people are, in general, trustworthy. But it's good to realise that sometimes, and the examples she gives are all true and honest and worthwhile. Finally, the theme of the title, asking for help, is connected with both trusting yourself and trusting others. For example, she's had a really hard time accepting money from Neil when she was in a tight spot, because she felt that she had to be able to be independent. Although she asked random people for all kinds of help, asking the ones you love, the ones whose opinion really matters, is the most difficult. And during these parts, I really loved her, and the book, and the message she was carrying out.
But then there were two afterwords by people saying 'you may not believe this, but this is really the way Amanda is! She's not faking it! Believe me, everything in this book, it's very very true!'. Which spoiled the whole thing, because up until that point, I'd never had any doubt that this all was true. But by pointing it out, by having other famous people write an afterword in which they state that the true things you have just read are really true, you're kind of defeating your own point. Because why couldn't we just trust you on that, Amanda?
So who is this Amanda Palmer? I only recently found out that she, and her former band The Dresden Dolls, are not as famous as I'd always thought, so a short recap may be in order. Amanda Palmer is a singer, songwriter, feminist, and the wife of Neil Gaiman. Which is how I first heard of her, because I've been following Neil on his blog for a couple of years now, and at some point, Amanda popped up (they've been married for a while now, and they recently had their first child). I didn't really check her out at that point, but then one of my best friends mentioned that he loves The Dresden Dolls, so I decided to listen to some of their music, and some of their music is really nice. For the most part, it's a bit too loud/shouty/in-your-face for my taste, but a noticeable exception to this rule is Delilah, which is by far my favourite song. Since then, Amanda has gone solo, and released a couple of albums, one of which contains her playing Radiohead songs on her ukulele.
Anyway, Neil had mentioned Amanda's book on his blog, and when I saw it laying around at the house of the aforementioned friend (in Iceland, which meant he had found it worthwhile to drag the thing 3000 km across the sea) I decided I had to read it. So I did. And I was a bit disappointed, as you may have gathered from the first paragraph, because it was all about Amanda Palmer. Amanda Palmer likes talking/writing/blogging/singing/apping about herself a lot. She also doesn't really like any kind of formal structure, so the book is really all over the place, with long and short bits mixed up and jumping in time and adding new people until you get completely confused. But then there are some bits that do make sense, in a novel-writing kind of way, and she mentions that Neil helped her along, so you can see his influence there, I guess. Also, it does tie up nicely in the end, with a sort of happy ending.
But in between all the rambling and the endless descriptions of tours and couches and tour buses, there are some really nice bits. Amanda mentions The Fraud Police, who will at some point come knocking at your door and tell you that it's all been fun and games, but now you really have to stop pretending you can write/sing/make any difference in the world. It's that secret feeling we all have, of being 'found out' some day, of being discovered as a fraud and then cast aside by everybody. The way she described this, felt really real to me. This is about not trusting yourself, or trusting your own talent. Then there is the bit about trusting others, and you don't have to stand on a pedestal as a living statue, or sleep on other people's couches, to experience that other people are, in general, trustworthy. But it's good to realise that sometimes, and the examples she gives are all true and honest and worthwhile. Finally, the theme of the title, asking for help, is connected with both trusting yourself and trusting others. For example, she's had a really hard time accepting money from Neil when she was in a tight spot, because she felt that she had to be able to be independent. Although she asked random people for all kinds of help, asking the ones you love, the ones whose opinion really matters, is the most difficult. And during these parts, I really loved her, and the book, and the message she was carrying out.
But then there were two afterwords by people saying 'you may not believe this, but this is really the way Amanda is! She's not faking it! Believe me, everything in this book, it's very very true!'. Which spoiled the whole thing, because up until that point, I'd never had any doubt that this all was true. But by pointing it out, by having other famous people write an afterword in which they state that the true things you have just read are really true, you're kind of defeating your own point. Because why couldn't we just trust you on that, Amanda?
Sunday, 10 January 2016
Disney to the rescue
In writing tutorials, I've been told again and again; write what you know. It's easier to shape a character that has the same personality traits as yourself, or lives in the same town, or has the same experiences. Look at any writer; many elements in their novels will be in some way or another autobiographical. The familiarity of these settings and experiences makes it easier to process your thoughts into written words.
I've discovered that the same is true for playing the piano.
With my move, my (digital) piano has found a place in the middle of the living room, which means I literally and figuratively cannot really get around it anymore. Which also means I've been playing more than ever, shaping the familiar tunes from more than 10 years ago until they sound like they're supposed to again. But I've also been a bit stuck, with no new pieces to play. I can try and dedicate myself to those pieces from my original books that I didn't really like to begin with, but I'm afraid my motivation will drop below zero when I start to struggle with stuff I don't even think sounds nice.
Cue Walt Disney. Or to be more precise: The New Illustrated Treasury of Disney Songs. For piano, of course. A fellow piano player lend this to me over Christmas, because nothing gives you the proper Christmassy feel like a long-remembered Disney song, and as soon as I'd played a couple of songs I decided I had to hold on to this book for as long as I could. Because when you know what something has to sound like, when you're familiar with the melody and the timings and the lyrics, it's so much easier to play.
I started off just playing the melody, which is right-hand only, and only 1 note at a time. This is pretty easy, and you do recognise the song, but doesn't really give you the feeling you're actually playing the piano. It's like the Christmas songs I used to play on my recorder (that's 'blokfluit' for you Dutchies); officially it's 'music', but it feels like it's neither here nor there. So I put myself to playing the whole right-hand part, which contains those single notes from the melody line, but adds extra notes. This started to sound a lot better, but some notes were really dissonant, and felt wrong. So I tried to add the left-hand part, which is always the difficult bit, and by playing really slowly I've managed to get two songs (Part Of Your World from The Little Mermaid and A Whole New World from Aladdin) to pretty decent quality. These are both films I watched to death when I was a kid, so I know every little thing about them (albeit in Dutch; the English lyrics are so much better, and more logical, than the translated Dutch version), so I know when I'm playing things right. Which makes it so much easier to get to grips with a new song, but also; it makes playing fun again. Which is what it's supposed to be.
With these two songs under my belt, I'm looking for the next contender to start practising: probably something from The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, or The Hunchback of Notre Dame (all 'Disney Renaissance' films, which qualifies me as a proper nineties kid). These are a bit more difficult (I'm really amazed at the depth of these songs; Disney does take children seriously, in the musical sense at least), and will probably be a bit of a challenge, but as they bring back the fun in playing the piano, I really can't wait.
I've discovered that the same is true for playing the piano.
With my move, my (digital) piano has found a place in the middle of the living room, which means I literally and figuratively cannot really get around it anymore. Which also means I've been playing more than ever, shaping the familiar tunes from more than 10 years ago until they sound like they're supposed to again. But I've also been a bit stuck, with no new pieces to play. I can try and dedicate myself to those pieces from my original books that I didn't really like to begin with, but I'm afraid my motivation will drop below zero when I start to struggle with stuff I don't even think sounds nice.
Cue Walt Disney. Or to be more precise: The New Illustrated Treasury of Disney Songs. For piano, of course. A fellow piano player lend this to me over Christmas, because nothing gives you the proper Christmassy feel like a long-remembered Disney song, and as soon as I'd played a couple of songs I decided I had to hold on to this book for as long as I could. Because when you know what something has to sound like, when you're familiar with the melody and the timings and the lyrics, it's so much easier to play.
I started off just playing the melody, which is right-hand only, and only 1 note at a time. This is pretty easy, and you do recognise the song, but doesn't really give you the feeling you're actually playing the piano. It's like the Christmas songs I used to play on my recorder (that's 'blokfluit' for you Dutchies); officially it's 'music', but it feels like it's neither here nor there. So I put myself to playing the whole right-hand part, which contains those single notes from the melody line, but adds extra notes. This started to sound a lot better, but some notes were really dissonant, and felt wrong. So I tried to add the left-hand part, which is always the difficult bit, and by playing really slowly I've managed to get two songs (Part Of Your World from The Little Mermaid and A Whole New World from Aladdin) to pretty decent quality. These are both films I watched to death when I was a kid, so I know every little thing about them (albeit in Dutch; the English lyrics are so much better, and more logical, than the translated Dutch version), so I know when I'm playing things right. Which makes it so much easier to get to grips with a new song, but also; it makes playing fun again. Which is what it's supposed to be.
With these two songs under my belt, I'm looking for the next contender to start practising: probably something from The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, or The Hunchback of Notre Dame (all 'Disney Renaissance' films, which qualifies me as a proper nineties kid). These are a bit more difficult (I'm really amazed at the depth of these songs; Disney does take children seriously, in the musical sense at least), and will probably be a bit of a challenge, but as they bring back the fun in playing the piano, I really can't wait.
Sunday, 3 January 2016
52 Books Challenge - The lists
Now I'm not normally a person for lists or ratings or 'highlights of the past year' or something, but given that I have 41 books which I can group into a couple of meaningful categories, I'm going to give it a go in this instance. These are the things that popped into my head while looking over the books I'd read this year.
Best English novel
1 The Children Act
2 Black Swan Green
3 One Day
Pretty typical, in a year where I'm reading only new novels, that my favourite novels still come from that group of male British authors that I've loved over the years. Must be my style. Also, the only Ian McEwan novel I read all year (and the first novel I read this year) is still a firm number 1. New to this list is of course Dave Nicholls, who I hadn't read before this year, but am now a really big fan of.
Best Dutch novel
1 Tongkat
2 Kom hier dat ik u kus
3 De Aanslag
This was a pretty hard choice between Tongkat and Kom hier dat ik u kus, because they are both beautiful, wonderful novels in their own way. But Tongkat is just so special, I cannot really get my head around it (I will reread it in the near future).
Best non-fiction (whichever language)
1 Dit kan niet waar zijn
2 My Brief History
3 Gratis geld voor iedereen
Three widely divergent books, but all three good in their own way, and all three containing lots of personal notes/touches/stories of the author.
Best short story collection
1 Speaking with the angel
2 The Beautifull Cassandra
3 The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher
I didn't read that many short story collections, and none of them were really brilliant, but still, a top 3. Also, my only Jane Austen reading of this year is in there.
Best WWI/II novel
1 The Narrow Road to the Deep North
2 All Quiet on the Western Front
3 Slaughterhouse 5
As always, I read a lot of War novels this year, and some stand out. The Narrow Road... won the Man Booker for a reason; it is a beautifully written, deeply haunting novel about WWII in Asia. Nr 2 and 3 are classics in the genre, and for a good reason. I've said it before, and I will say it again; if everybody would read these horribly fantastic novels, no one would ever start a war again.
Best comic novel
1 Shades of Grey
2 Funny Girl
3 Starter for Ten
I don't often read funny novels, but when I do, they're usually by Nick Hornby or Jasper Fforde, who find themselves high on this list. And then there's another Dave Nicholls, of course.
Classics (whichever language)
1 The Spy Who Came in From the Cold
2 Brideshead Revisited
3 De Aanslag
Brideshead Revisited and De Aanslag are technically both also WWII novels, but when looking at them as classics, they somehow rank higher than some of the other WW novels. And the John le Carre novel just blew me away - I will definitely read more by him in 2016.
Most disappointing novels
1 The Rosie Effect
2 All the Light we cannot See
3 The Book of Lost Things
Not everything was good. I was really looking forward to The Rosie Effect, because I loved The Rosie Project, but this was one of the most disappointing sequels I've ever read. All the Light we cannot See won the Pullizer, but really, it's such a hyped-up American WWII novel, I couldn't care for it in any way. And The Book of Lost Things is one of the worst fairy tale retellings I've ever read. If you want to read a good one, go for The Sleeper and The Spindle (my only Neil Gaiman novel, which I couldn't fit anywhere else).
And to complete the list craze, not a top 3 but another neat list:
Authors I read more than once
- David Mitchell (3x)
- Dave Nicholls (3x)
- Rutger Bregman (2x)
- John le Carre (2x)
- Harry Mulisch (2x)
- Nick Hornby (2x)
Again, some of my all time favourites are also recurring reads. I could do you a top 3 of Mitchell novels (Black Swan Green, The Bone Clocks, Number9dream) and Dave Nicholls (One Day, A Starter for Ten, Us), but that would be stretching things.
Best English novel
1 The Children Act
2 Black Swan Green
3 One Day
Pretty typical, in a year where I'm reading only new novels, that my favourite novels still come from that group of male British authors that I've loved over the years. Must be my style. Also, the only Ian McEwan novel I read all year (and the first novel I read this year) is still a firm number 1. New to this list is of course Dave Nicholls, who I hadn't read before this year, but am now a really big fan of.
Best Dutch novel
1 Tongkat
2 Kom hier dat ik u kus
3 De Aanslag
This was a pretty hard choice between Tongkat and Kom hier dat ik u kus, because they are both beautiful, wonderful novels in their own way. But Tongkat is just so special, I cannot really get my head around it (I will reread it in the near future).
Best non-fiction (whichever language)
1 Dit kan niet waar zijn
2 My Brief History
3 Gratis geld voor iedereen
Three widely divergent books, but all three good in their own way, and all three containing lots of personal notes/touches/stories of the author.
Best short story collection
1 Speaking with the angel
2 The Beautifull Cassandra
3 The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher
I didn't read that many short story collections, and none of them were really brilliant, but still, a top 3. Also, my only Jane Austen reading of this year is in there.
Best WWI/II novel
1 The Narrow Road to the Deep North
2 All Quiet on the Western Front
3 Slaughterhouse 5
As always, I read a lot of War novels this year, and some stand out. The Narrow Road... won the Man Booker for a reason; it is a beautifully written, deeply haunting novel about WWII in Asia. Nr 2 and 3 are classics in the genre, and for a good reason. I've said it before, and I will say it again; if everybody would read these horribly fantastic novels, no one would ever start a war again.
Best comic novel
1 Shades of Grey
2 Funny Girl
3 Starter for Ten
I don't often read funny novels, but when I do, they're usually by Nick Hornby or Jasper Fforde, who find themselves high on this list. And then there's another Dave Nicholls, of course.
Classics (whichever language)
1 The Spy Who Came in From the Cold
2 Brideshead Revisited
3 De Aanslag
Brideshead Revisited and De Aanslag are technically both also WWII novels, but when looking at them as classics, they somehow rank higher than some of the other WW novels. And the John le Carre novel just blew me away - I will definitely read more by him in 2016.
Most disappointing novels
1 The Rosie Effect
2 All the Light we cannot See
3 The Book of Lost Things
Not everything was good. I was really looking forward to The Rosie Effect, because I loved The Rosie Project, but this was one of the most disappointing sequels I've ever read. All the Light we cannot See won the Pullizer, but really, it's such a hyped-up American WWII novel, I couldn't care for it in any way. And The Book of Lost Things is one of the worst fairy tale retellings I've ever read. If you want to read a good one, go for The Sleeper and The Spindle (my only Neil Gaiman novel, which I couldn't fit anywhere else).
And to complete the list craze, not a top 3 but another neat list:
Authors I read more than once
- David Mitchell (3x)
- Dave Nicholls (3x)
- Rutger Bregman (2x)
- John le Carre (2x)
- Harry Mulisch (2x)
- Nick Hornby (2x)
Again, some of my all time favourites are also recurring reads. I could do you a top 3 of Mitchell novels (Black Swan Green, The Bone Clocks, Number9dream) and Dave Nicholls (One Day, A Starter for Ten, Us), but that would be stretching things.
Thursday, 31 December 2015
52 Books Challenge - December
So we'd already concluded that 52 books this year was out of reach, but for consistency's sake I'm keeping the title.
Anyway, the final books for this year are:
39 Look who's back - Timur Vermes
40 Kleine zeemeermin per ongeluk dood - Helena Hoogenkamp
41 The Bloody Chamber - Angela Carter
41 books in total, that makes 1 above the new goal I'd set myself, and 1 below the answer to everything, so good enough for me.
Again, a mixed bag. Look who's back is a satirical, but mostly very critical novel about Hitler waking up in our modern times and picking up exactly where he left off. Before you know it. he's out there preaching propaganda, but also going against some of the baffeling things of our modern times (why are televisions only showing crappy shows? Why does everything taste so sweet?). If you've seen the film - the novel is nothing like that, the novel is way more intelligent and subtle. It's scary, how sometimes when you're reading, you think 'yes, he's exactly right, why didn't I think of this before? Why aren't we doing anything with/against/for this?' and then realise that it's Hitler's opinion transposed to our times. Which is kinda scary on it's own, but even more so when it makes you wonder whether we're not all little racists/nationalists/fantasists underneath it all. So as a novel, especially a socially critical one, it works really well.
Then there was a very short novel (they call it a chapbook) by someone I actually know, who got published through the Wintertuin collective. It was nice, it was fun, but mostly because I know Helena personally. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone in particular, although of course if she becomes massively famous in a couple of years, they may become collector's items.
And finally, The Bloody Chamber, a retelling of fairy tales, mostly from the female perspective. These days, everybody is retelling fairy tales (Neil Gaiman in particular, but I also can't wait for the new Michael Cunningham collection of fairy tales), but when Angela Carter wrote these, it was still pretty new. I really liked some, because they were cleverly done and gave a possible new angle to a story you know very well, but I felt some were a bit over the top; pulling the whole thing completely out of context to make a point. Also, with the more famous tales, she left out the ending, sort of like 'everybody knows where it goes from here', and I'm not a big fan of open endings. Although it does make for a nice ending to my book list.
So, 41 new novels in a year. It was quite an experience - I've never read only new books for a whole year. There were several moments when I wanted to dive into something I've already read, just because those familiar stories are so much easier and faster to get through. With a new novel, you have to force yourself to pay attention, to read everything carefully.
Going for all new books did make me hesitate to pick some of the larger novels I've been wanting to read for a while, because the Discovery of Heaven experience taught me that one big one can set you back 3 novels in your count. So I've been saving some big ones (Middlemarch, The Count of Monte Cristo, Anna Karenina, The Fountainhead, Vanity Fair) for 2016. And at the moment, I'm reading two wonderful books, Grief is the thing with feathers and The Art of Asking, which I could have raced through to get 42 or even 43 books in 2015, but which I want to read slowly, to really get them.
A few weeks ago, someone posted a visualisation of how many things (pizza slices, visits to the cinema, etc) they'd left for the rest of their lives, taking averages per month or year multiplied by how many months or years they could statistically expect to still have. Given that I'm 30, and my life expectancy is around 80, I have 50 years of reading left. Optimistically, 50 years with 40 books a year makes for 2,000 books in total, This sounds like a lot, but looking at how many books I've probably already read, I'm way more than halfway through. And most years, I won't make the count of 40; if I read the 5 big novels I mentioned above next year, there won't be many others. So with that in mind, I won't be wasting my time rereading something like The Da Vinci Code, but really aim for novels I think will 'contribute' something. Which sounds really heavy, but it's good to think about these things, and make the choices you think are worthwhile.
Next year, I will again try to read only new novels, but I won't make it a hard and fast rule; if I feel like rereading Harry Potter for the tenth time, I'm going to. Because I missed the rereading, and some novels just really need to be reread. Also, I won't be setting myself any goals in numbers, because as I've noticed, it keeps me away from the really big classics that take a lot of time. But most importantly, I will read with my full attention, really getting into these stories. If I'm going to dedicate time to them, which I will, because I still love to read, it's going to be quality time.
And of course, I will keep on writing about the books I've read, because after reading, the next best thing with books is talking about them.
Anyway, the final books for this year are:
39 Look who's back - Timur Vermes
40 Kleine zeemeermin per ongeluk dood - Helena Hoogenkamp
41 The Bloody Chamber - Angela Carter
41 books in total, that makes 1 above the new goal I'd set myself, and 1 below the answer to everything, so good enough for me.
Again, a mixed bag. Look who's back is a satirical, but mostly very critical novel about Hitler waking up in our modern times and picking up exactly where he left off. Before you know it. he's out there preaching propaganda, but also going against some of the baffeling things of our modern times (why are televisions only showing crappy shows? Why does everything taste so sweet?). If you've seen the film - the novel is nothing like that, the novel is way more intelligent and subtle. It's scary, how sometimes when you're reading, you think 'yes, he's exactly right, why didn't I think of this before? Why aren't we doing anything with/against/for this?' and then realise that it's Hitler's opinion transposed to our times. Which is kinda scary on it's own, but even more so when it makes you wonder whether we're not all little racists/nationalists/fantasists underneath it all. So as a novel, especially a socially critical one, it works really well.
Then there was a very short novel (they call it a chapbook) by someone I actually know, who got published through the Wintertuin collective. It was nice, it was fun, but mostly because I know Helena personally. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone in particular, although of course if she becomes massively famous in a couple of years, they may become collector's items.
And finally, The Bloody Chamber, a retelling of fairy tales, mostly from the female perspective. These days, everybody is retelling fairy tales (Neil Gaiman in particular, but I also can't wait for the new Michael Cunningham collection of fairy tales), but when Angela Carter wrote these, it was still pretty new. I really liked some, because they were cleverly done and gave a possible new angle to a story you know very well, but I felt some were a bit over the top; pulling the whole thing completely out of context to make a point. Also, with the more famous tales, she left out the ending, sort of like 'everybody knows where it goes from here', and I'm not a big fan of open endings. Although it does make for a nice ending to my book list.
So, 41 new novels in a year. It was quite an experience - I've never read only new books for a whole year. There were several moments when I wanted to dive into something I've already read, just because those familiar stories are so much easier and faster to get through. With a new novel, you have to force yourself to pay attention, to read everything carefully.
Going for all new books did make me hesitate to pick some of the larger novels I've been wanting to read for a while, because the Discovery of Heaven experience taught me that one big one can set you back 3 novels in your count. So I've been saving some big ones (Middlemarch, The Count of Monte Cristo, Anna Karenina, The Fountainhead, Vanity Fair) for 2016. And at the moment, I'm reading two wonderful books, Grief is the thing with feathers and The Art of Asking, which I could have raced through to get 42 or even 43 books in 2015, but which I want to read slowly, to really get them.
A few weeks ago, someone posted a visualisation of how many things (pizza slices, visits to the cinema, etc) they'd left for the rest of their lives, taking averages per month or year multiplied by how many months or years they could statistically expect to still have. Given that I'm 30, and my life expectancy is around 80, I have 50 years of reading left. Optimistically, 50 years with 40 books a year makes for 2,000 books in total, This sounds like a lot, but looking at how many books I've probably already read, I'm way more than halfway through. And most years, I won't make the count of 40; if I read the 5 big novels I mentioned above next year, there won't be many others. So with that in mind, I won't be wasting my time rereading something like The Da Vinci Code, but really aim for novels I think will 'contribute' something. Which sounds really heavy, but it's good to think about these things, and make the choices you think are worthwhile.
Next year, I will again try to read only new novels, but I won't make it a hard and fast rule; if I feel like rereading Harry Potter for the tenth time, I'm going to. Because I missed the rereading, and some novels just really need to be reread. Also, I won't be setting myself any goals in numbers, because as I've noticed, it keeps me away from the really big classics that take a lot of time. But most importantly, I will read with my full attention, really getting into these stories. If I'm going to dedicate time to them, which I will, because I still love to read, it's going to be quality time.
And of course, I will keep on writing about the books I've read, because after reading, the next best thing with books is talking about them.
Sunday, 13 December 2015
Wordfeud
As you may know by now, I'm not that quick to jump on technological bandwagons of any kind; I was late coming to digital cameras, smartphones, Netflix, and Spotify. So it will come as no surprise that I only recently started playing Wordfeud, more than 800 days after most people discovered it (Wordfeud tells you when people started playing. It's embarrassing). Again, this was not due to lack of encouragement from my surroundings; several colleagues have been bugging me about it for the past few months, and for one new co-worker, it was one of the first questions he asked me, right after 'What is it you do here?'
So, I finally caved, created an account, and set about finding people to play with. This the fun thing about Wordfeud; in contrast to other addictive games, such as Angry Birds and CandyCrush, here you actually play against other people. Which makes it feel less like 'I'm such a loser wasting my time on games', and more of 'look at me being social and interactive'. But which also means you can lose.
Boy, did I lose, the first couple of games. Big time. We're talking 300+ points. And to make it even worse; I wasn't expecting to lose. Because most of my co-workers are beta-y types; mathematics, physics, the hard sciences. Not language-y. Not wordy. So I was expecting it to be easy.
But it isn't. Because Wordfeud is not just about thinking up the best words that will make you play the most letters, and placing these as tactically as possible on the board. It's also about strategy. About planning ahead, about thinking which TL and TW (triple letter and triple word) spaces you're giving to your opponent. About which words can easily be extended into many more points. And even (I found this unbelievable) about counting letters. About knowing which letters are still in the game, and planning ahead so you can use those letters to make a long and high-scoring word at the end, to grab the final victory. Which is not something I'm doing, I'll tell you, but you can. If you're really addicted.
So it was a steep learning curve. My first few games were a disaster; once you're behind by 100 points, it's hard to get even. But in the end, I did manage to win my first game, and from my 6 regular opponents, I've won from 3 (including my boss, which may be slightly embarrassing). But it's not about winning, it's about having fun, and coming up with crazy and inventive words, and trying out what the game will accept and what it won't, and outsmarting the person you're playing against. It has a nice chat function too, which has moved some of my conversations from WhatsApp to Wordfeud.
In the end, it's a shame I didn't discover Wordfeud earlier. But that does give me an excuse for when I lose (again); I'm still learning!
So, I finally caved, created an account, and set about finding people to play with. This the fun thing about Wordfeud; in contrast to other addictive games, such as Angry Birds and CandyCrush, here you actually play against other people. Which makes it feel less like 'I'm such a loser wasting my time on games', and more of 'look at me being social and interactive'. But which also means you can lose.
Boy, did I lose, the first couple of games. Big time. We're talking 300+ points. And to make it even worse; I wasn't expecting to lose. Because most of my co-workers are beta-y types; mathematics, physics, the hard sciences. Not language-y. Not wordy. So I was expecting it to be easy.
But it isn't. Because Wordfeud is not just about thinking up the best words that will make you play the most letters, and placing these as tactically as possible on the board. It's also about strategy. About planning ahead, about thinking which TL and TW (triple letter and triple word) spaces you're giving to your opponent. About which words can easily be extended into many more points. And even (I found this unbelievable) about counting letters. About knowing which letters are still in the game, and planning ahead so you can use those letters to make a long and high-scoring word at the end, to grab the final victory. Which is not something I'm doing, I'll tell you, but you can. If you're really addicted.
So it was a steep learning curve. My first few games were a disaster; once you're behind by 100 points, it's hard to get even. But in the end, I did manage to win my first game, and from my 6 regular opponents, I've won from 3 (including my boss, which may be slightly embarrassing). But it's not about winning, it's about having fun, and coming up with crazy and inventive words, and trying out what the game will accept and what it won't, and outsmarting the person you're playing against. It has a nice chat function too, which has moved some of my conversations from WhatsApp to Wordfeud.
In the end, it's a shame I didn't discover Wordfeud earlier. But that does give me an excuse for when I lose (again); I'm still learning!
Wednesday, 2 December 2015
52 Book Challenge - November
In all that craziness of writing a novel, I completely forgot to tell you about the novels I've read. Which weren't a lot, because I spent all my free time writing, but here goes:
37 In Cold Blood - Truman Capote
38 Kom hier dat ik u kus - Griet Op den Beeck
When I bought the first one, the salesperson told me that it was the best American novel she'd ever read. So the standards were pretty high, and sad to say, In Cold Blood didn't really meet them. I don't know what the best American novel I've ever read is, but this one certainly isn't it. Too factual, too cold, too unimaginative. Mind you, it's a great feat of literature, but not really for me...
The second novel is in Dutch, obviously, or more correctly in Flemish, which I think is a lot prettier and softer than Dutch. The novel is absolutely brilliant, following the life of Mona at three different ages, as she discovers who she is, how she wants to live her life, and with whom. Especially part 1, when she's about 8 years old, is beautifully written. If you're Dutch, and you haven't read it: lezen dat boek!
So as this year has only 29 days left, and I still have 14 books to go, I think we can conclude that I won't be making 52 new books this year. But I've decided to set my standards a little bit lower, and aim for 40 books, which should be possible, now that NaNoWriMo is over. Which gives me something to aim for, but something a bit more realistic than 52!
Sunday, 29 November 2015
NaNo Days 26, 27, 28 & 29: Winner!
I won! I won the fight against no time and deadlines and my Inner Editor and most of all myself, and I wrote a novel (story) of 50,000 words (50,024, to be exact) in one month! Yay me!
So today was the day this was going to happen, because I was only about 4,000 words away, and what started on a Sunday felt right to end on Sunday too. So I wrote 2,000 words, took a break, Skyped with a friend, walked around, read the newspaper, and went back and wrote the remaining 1,700 words. Which actually weren't that bad, those final words. But I had one of my nicer characters to end on, whereas the earlier 2,000 were for the character I dislike the most (and I'm hoping the reader will too) so those felt like more of an accomplishment. And then I validated my novel, and my word count bar became purple, which is the Colour of Victors, and I had a bunch of NaNoWriMo people shout congratulations at me. Which is always great fun.
So what did I do, according to NaNo?
You are incredible. Here's a quick rundown of your accomplishments thus far:
1. You made the surprisingly tough decision to commit to your creativity and write a novel.
2. On November 1, you put pen to paper, leaped, and started something.
3. Every day of this past month, you chose your novel, your voice, and your story. You stayed up late or got up early. You stole minutes here and there. You created time.
Which sounds (and feels) pretty good to me.
Buutttt, of course I'm already looking ahead. The story isn't finished, actually, I'm just a little over halfway. And there's some parts missing. And some parts I want to go back and do over. And other parts that badly need editing. So I'm thinking I will keep this novel hanging around for a while, try to write some more whenever I'm in the mood or can find the time, try to edit some bits, and see where it goes. Because I am feeling pretty good about it, not just about finishing it, but about the thing itself too (which is a NaNo first, for me). Who knows, maybe it will lead somewhere some day. But that's for later, for now, it's time to celebrate (and relax)!
So today was the day this was going to happen, because I was only about 4,000 words away, and what started on a Sunday felt right to end on Sunday too. So I wrote 2,000 words, took a break, Skyped with a friend, walked around, read the newspaper, and went back and wrote the remaining 1,700 words. Which actually weren't that bad, those final words. But I had one of my nicer characters to end on, whereas the earlier 2,000 were for the character I dislike the most (and I'm hoping the reader will too) so those felt like more of an accomplishment. And then I validated my novel, and my word count bar became purple, which is the Colour of Victors, and I had a bunch of NaNoWriMo people shout congratulations at me. Which is always great fun.
So what did I do, according to NaNo?
You are incredible. Here's a quick rundown of your accomplishments thus far:
1. You made the surprisingly tough decision to commit to your creativity and write a novel.
2. On November 1, you put pen to paper, leaped, and started something.
3. Every day of this past month, you chose your novel, your voice, and your story. You stayed up late or got up early. You stole minutes here and there. You created time.
Which sounds (and feels) pretty good to me.
Buutttt, of course I'm already looking ahead. The story isn't finished, actually, I'm just a little over halfway. And there's some parts missing. And some parts I want to go back and do over. And other parts that badly need editing. So I'm thinking I will keep this novel hanging around for a while, try to write some more whenever I'm in the mood or can find the time, try to edit some bits, and see where it goes. Because I am feeling pretty good about it, not just about finishing it, but about the thing itself too (which is a NaNo first, for me). Who knows, maybe it will lead somewhere some day. But that's for later, for now, it's time to celebrate (and relax)!
Wednesday, 25 November 2015
NaNo Days 22, 23, 24 & 25: Burgled
So this was supposed to be this really happy post about how I was ahead, and still going strong, and my writing was getting easier every day, but then I got burgled. Yup. Yesterday, someone got into my house, and took my laptop. And with that laptop, they took about 1,500 freshly written words, which I hadn't backed up to Google Drive yet (luckily, I had backed it up at 37,776 words, which was what I was at on day 22). So my NaNo status says 39,014 (day 23), but in reality, I'm back to 37,776.
While I should be at 41,666 today. A difference I was easily going to overtake, because I was going to write yesterday, and stay ahead, and even had thoughts about maybe finishing early this year. Clearly, this is not to be.
I'm contemplating just copy-pasting the 'stolen' words on the bottom of my document and continuing, but somehow that feels wrong, and it would really mess up the story. So I won't do that, and I will just try to hammer out the 1,500 words I'd already written, and add the 2,500 words I'm behind anyway. Which means 4,000 words in one day. Which is completely crazy, and probably won't happen, but I'll give it a try anyway. This one stupid person with no regard for other people's lives or homes or privacy or stuff won't get me down.
While I should be at 41,666 today. A difference I was easily going to overtake, because I was going to write yesterday, and stay ahead, and even had thoughts about maybe finishing early this year. Clearly, this is not to be.
I'm contemplating just copy-pasting the 'stolen' words on the bottom of my document and continuing, but somehow that feels wrong, and it would really mess up the story. So I won't do that, and I will just try to hammer out the 1,500 words I'd already written, and add the 2,500 words I'm behind anyway. Which means 4,000 words in one day. Which is completely crazy, and probably won't happen, but I'll give it a try anyway. This one stupid person with no regard for other people's lives or homes or privacy or stuff won't get me down.
Saturday, 21 November 2015
NaNo Days 19, 20 & 21: Back in the real world
So the thing with going on holiday for 5 days, is that when you get back, you actually have those 5 days of work waiting for you when you get back. Well, technically 3 days, because the rest of it was during the weekend, but still. Lots of work.
But I still wrote something on Thursday and Friday, but not as much as I'd liked. I was at 32,600 words, where I should be at 33,333 (isn't that the best word count aim ever?). So today, I sat down to get myself back on track, which is 35,000 words. And as I am now at 35,418, we can conclude that I did.
Funnily enough, after forcing myself to write on even though I've already reached the word count I was aiming for, I tend to write the best things. Philosophical observations, great character depth, lots of nice backstory I didn't even know was there. It's as if the writing goes better when the pressure is off, which isn't that surprising, really. And I always think I will be able to tell later when I wrote certain things, but experience has taught me this isn't the case. Which is good, because in the end it all has to blend together into one big story, which simply has rushed and forced bits, and more relaxed and in depth bits. One of which I wrote on a dying laptop at Reykjavik airport, and one of which I wrote just now, at my own kitchen table, in my own time.
But I still wrote something on Thursday and Friday, but not as much as I'd liked. I was at 32,600 words, where I should be at 33,333 (isn't that the best word count aim ever?). So today, I sat down to get myself back on track, which is 35,000 words. And as I am now at 35,418, we can conclude that I did.
Funnily enough, after forcing myself to write on even though I've already reached the word count I was aiming for, I tend to write the best things. Philosophical observations, great character depth, lots of nice backstory I didn't even know was there. It's as if the writing goes better when the pressure is off, which isn't that surprising, really. And I always think I will be able to tell later when I wrote certain things, but experience has taught me this isn't the case. Which is good, because in the end it all has to blend together into one big story, which simply has rushed and forced bits, and more relaxed and in depth bits. One of which I wrote on a dying laptop at Reykjavik airport, and one of which I wrote just now, at my own kitchen table, in my own time.
Wednesday, 18 November 2015
NaNo Days 16, 17 & 18: Falling behind and catching up
So on Monday we took the Golden Circle tour, which is apparently the Thing To Do while in Iceland, and that kept up busy for most of the day. I managed to cram out about 900 words, but that clearly wasn't enough, and I'd officially fallen behind. Yesterday, my last full day in Iceland, I managed only 800 words, in between frantically running around to visit all those things I still needed to visit (didn't manage to see them all. I will have to go back one day. It's a shame). Now I was really lagging, at 27,000 words while I should be at 28,333.
So today, the day I had to get up at 3:15 (Icelandic time) to catch my plane, was the day I was going to catch up. With my poor, six year old laptop whose battery lasts only about 50 minutes, and no power sources at Reykjavik airport, I sought out a quiet spot near my gate, and set to it. 50 minutes later, I was at 28,841 words. How I do this? No idea. Do I like what I've written during those frantic minutes? Not overly much, but I don't really hate it either. Especially the last bit, a kind of philosophical introspective mental murmuring of one of my main characters, was pretty nice to reread.
But the goal was 30,000, so after unpacking and shopping and cooking and showering and cuddling with the cats, I threw another 1200 words out, and I am now officially back on track, at 30,018 words. And both the story and characters are still moving in the general direction I decided for them, which is really nice. NaNoWriMo is all about quantity, and some times I do nothing but type words, even though I don't particularly like the words I'm typing, but most of the time I actually feel pretty good about this years effort. Now I just have to keep on track, and finish the last 2/5ths...
So today, the day I had to get up at 3:15 (Icelandic time) to catch my plane, was the day I was going to catch up. With my poor, six year old laptop whose battery lasts only about 50 minutes, and no power sources at Reykjavik airport, I sought out a quiet spot near my gate, and set to it. 50 minutes later, I was at 28,841 words. How I do this? No idea. Do I like what I've written during those frantic minutes? Not overly much, but I don't really hate it either. Especially the last bit, a kind of philosophical introspective mental murmuring of one of my main characters, was pretty nice to reread.
But the goal was 30,000, so after unpacking and shopping and cooking and showering and cuddling with the cats, I threw another 1200 words out, and I am now officially back on track, at 30,018 words. And both the story and characters are still moving in the general direction I decided for them, which is really nice. NaNoWriMo is all about quantity, and some times I do nothing but type words, even though I don't particularly like the words I'm typing, but most of the time I actually feel pretty good about this years effort. Now I just have to keep on track, and finish the last 2/5ths...
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