Contradictions, or Sleeping Beauty Attacks My Brain

Recently I have been dying to write something. Anything. I've been in a kind of gloomy mood, which is perfect for my 2011 NaNo novel. But there have been 2 major problems. The first is my schedule. Now I know that I could find time to write if I really wanted to, but I haven't. And that is closely related to the second problem. Both WIPs are in the now-I-need-to-figure-out-what's-going-on-here-so-I-can-actually-do-this-rewrite stage. I have the bones of the story, but I really can't write anything until I do some character development, figure out world-building stuff, and other such things. I ponder them in the car. In fact, I had a giant AHA moment just last night. But overall, it's a different kind of creative from the actual writing part and my brain just can't do it at the moment. I think it's too close to the stuff I'm doing for school and teaching.

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Anyhoo. So I've been all gloomy and mopey inside myself. For no reason, just a little blah. Maybe because of the weird weather. But, to quote Polonius, let me be brief. And to quote Clue, TOO LATE.

So I came up with this great first line for a short story, but I couldn't think of anything else, so I shelved that to work on later.

And then I had to read Anne Sexton's Transformations for one of my classes. It's a book of poetry where she retells a bunch of Grimm's fairy tales. And they were pretty interesting, even though I'm generally not a big poetry fan. (I know, an English major that doesn't like poetry OR Jane Austen?! How can this be?!)

Well a tiny little thing in her retelling of Sleeping Beauty got me thinking and the other night I sat down when I should have been doing research and pounded out a rough opening paragraph to a short story.

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I thought the story would match my emotional tone of gloom and sadness, but instead, Miss Sleeping Beauty attacked the page with this saucy, snappy attitude. Guys, she even said "horse poo" right there in the first section.

I'm just as shocked as you guys are. Just. As. Shocked.
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And you know what? It was exactly what I needed to write. It made me feel better about a lot of things. And, I'm just realising, it came right before my revelation about Solo. Whether that's a coincidence or not, I don't know, but I felt all inspired and writer-y again after typing it.

So my advice, which you can take or leave considering I have never published a book and currently have 3 rough drafts waiting for rewrites, is to have fun. Go where your imagination takes you. Sometimes it will provide exactly the break you need to allow you to see something else more clearly.

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Ahem. I may have gone a little overboard with the animal pictures, but really. Aren't they adorable?!

This is Apparently Becoming a Tradition

So, last year I posted the fake people that I have found ... palatable. (it's a long story and a private joke, but yeah.)

So to celebrate Singleness Awareness Day and distract myself from perpetual aloneness (it's really not as pathetic as I'm making it sound) I will make a list in no particular order of tv or movie guys that have made me smile this year.

One of my friends at school kept talking about Downton Abbey so I finally started it. OH. MY. WERD. Totally obsessed with it now. Totally. For many reasons, but Matthew Crawley doesn't hurt :)

I mean, come on! Look at that face :)

I would love to put Castle up here again, but I decided not to duplicate from last year, so I'll add one of the other Castle characters that I love: Ryan. And actually, I just can't talk about Ryan without adding Esposito. These two are so adorable.

Here's a case where character development is everything, because at first I detested Tyler. I wanted to throw him out the window. Then I started to love him and totally ship Tyler/Caroline. And now I'm not sure what I think anymore, but he's certainly not hard on the eyes.

I started watching Robin Hood on Netflix and I have to admit that I totally found Sir Guy WAY more interesting than Robin Hood.

I love Dr. Who, but I'm so far behind :( I still haven't completely bought into Matt Smith, but I adore Rory - honestly, I don't think he's that cute, but his utter devotion to Amy is so freakin' adorable I can't help but love him!

Dad and I have been slowly working our way through the X-Files. So, yes. Fox Mulder

Though I have to wonder what mother names her baby Fox.
I mean. Can you see her in the grocery store?
FOX! You get back here right now!

And I've finally jumped on the Supernatural bandwagon. Dean and Sam? Yes.

This is pretty much how it went:
1st episode: Oh hai Sam. I like you.
2nd episode: Hey Dean. Okay you're not so bad, but Sam is better
3rd epsidoe: Dean you are so adorable with Amy Acker's son and oh hai there!

Okay, I swear that's all the superficiality for today. Have a great Valentine's Day no matter who you're spending it with!

Is Flashing the New Honking?

As a commuter I've noticed a strange new and bothersome trend. This happened both on our family's long drive from New York to North Carolina over Christmas break as well as driving around the highway near my house.

When I do something that annoys another driver (aka only going 6 miles over the speed limit instead of 24) they flash their lights at me. Repeatedly.

Let me give you a for instance.

I'm on a 4 lane highway. There is a semi in front of me that's going just under the speed limit. There's plenty of space so I pull into the left lane to pass. I'm about half way past the truck when we head down a hill so, of course, the truck picks up speed, but not enough for me to get back behind him. Meanwhile a car has come flying down the highway behind me and had to slam on the brakes as he comes up behind me, his nose nearly on my bumper.

Get the picture:

Do you like my fancy diagram?

I pick up a little speed, but I'm really not comfortable going like 80 in a 65 so I'm maintaining speed and slowly creeping ahead on the semi, getting ready to pass it.

So what does the car behind me do? Well, it's certainly not a honking offense. So instead he gets all passive-agressive and starts flashing his lights at me. Over. And over. As if he can't tell that there is a MASSIVE TRUCK NEXT TO ME and I have nowhere to GO.

And his light flashing is so distracting in my rearview mirror that it's making it hard for me to concentrate on passing the truck.

What is up with this?

People. Let's not flash if we wouldn't honk. It's not any better. We all know you really want to just blast your horn. So do it or chill.

Preferably chill.