Friday, February 26, 2010

Friday

Today's post is a little bit of everything, some stuff to do with writing, and other stuff . . . well, not so much.

First, some quotes out of my April 2010 edition of theWriter.

Meg Cabot (best selling offer - 15 million copies and more - Princess Diaries, etc.): I got so many rejection letters . . . If you really love what you do, you should just [do] it. p. 20

Oh, and Meg Cabot doesn't outline (sorry, Lady Glamis). I'll put up her quotes about that sometime next week. : )

Madeleine L'Engle (archive article - best selling author of A Wrinkle in Time - title of article: Focus on Your Story, not Readers): Give yourself the fun of plunging deeply into your story, and having your mind focused on that, and nothing else. p. 24

Trivia: Madeleine L'Engle started A Wrinkle in Time with: It was a dark and stormy night . . .

Oh, yes she did. I love the book, btw, and the entire series which I've read multiple times over and need to read again.


Progress Report: I'm just about done with the rough draft of my current WiP. I should end up in the 50,000 word range, which is my normally word count goal for a rough draft. The word count will expand through the various revision stages as I add more to the story in those revision phases. I have maybe three chapters still to write, maybe four, and should - hopefully - finish up this weekend.

Friday Funny (well, technically it's a Thursday Funny since it happened last night, but I'm sharing it today, so . . . ):

Oh, and this is too funny. I was talking to my mother on Wednesday and the end of the conversation went something like this . . .

Mom: Well, Frank has a birthday tomorrow, doesn't he?

Me: Yes, ma'am.

Mom: Did he get my card?

Me: Not that I know of, but I'll check, I know he got Barb's (my oldest sister) card.

Mom: What do you mean he got Barb's card? She didn't buy her card until Saturday. I mailed mine on Saturday.

My mother was mortally offended that my sister's card for Frank arrived before her card. Go figure. Anyhow, I get home yesterday, grab the mail, and Mom's card to Frank is in the mail. So, I call her up and the conversation goes something like this . . .

Mom: Hello?

Me: Mom, Frank's card arrived today.

Mom: WHAT??!!!!!

Me (Louder and more slowly since Mom is almost 85 and her hearing aids don't always work right): Frank's . . . card . . . arrived . . . today.

Mom (laughing): Oh, that's better than what I thought you said.

Me (almost afraid to ask): What did you think I said?

Mom: I thought you said 'Frank died today'!

OMG, we laughed so hard it wasn't even funny and then, this is the best, I'm still going through the mail and find a brochure to Frank from a funeral home. I told Mom this and we both cackled. Frank wasn't that amused with the story, but the rest of my family was, we were burning up the phone lines last night.


And that's it for this chilly Friday in TN. Have a great weekend.

S

14 comments:

Unknown said...

Happy Birthday Frank! Sorry he died ;)

PS I'm reading A Wrinkle in Time right now. Almost done :)

Unknown said...

Great quotes : ) (and I love that trivia about Madeline L'Engle ... I never knew that : ))

And that conversation depiction was priceless. Have you ever noticed that, when you're having a conversation that turns humorous, random things (like a funeral home ad) show up to just perpetuate things? Life is beautiful : )

Scott said...

Marybeth - I love 'A Wrinkle in Time' - probably the best book in the series, but the others are really good too. I need to re-read Wrinkle, which to me is a bit more sci-fi than the other books in the series. And, Frank is alive and well, and still not too amused about the conversation that I, my mother and sisters find simply hysterical. I guess it's our slightly warped sense of humor. Ha!

KLo - I never knew the trivia about Madeline L'Engle until I read the recent article. Who knew she took such a line and created such a fantastic book? Life is beautiful, and the funeral home ad was the topping on the cake.

Jody Hedlund said...

Your phone conversation with your mother is HILARIOUS!! I loved it! Thanks for giving me a good laugh today! :-)

B.J. Anderson said...

Poor Frank! And thanks for all the nice quotes! I love inspiration from writers.

Scott said...

Jody - my Mom, especially the older she gets, is an absolute hoot. You just never know what she'll say. I'm glad she can make other people laugh as well . . . except poor Frank. Ha!

B.J. - you're welcome. I'm all about quotes, especially the ones that jive with how I do things.

Elana Johnson said...

Is it wrong for me to think it's the cutest thing ever that you said "Yes, ma'am" to your mom?

:) And happy birthday to Frank!

Scott said...

Elana - we were brought up to say 'yes, ma'am, no ma'am, yes, sir, and no, sir'. The habit sort of stuck with me. : )

Davin Malasarn said...

LOL, those conversations with your mom are very funny!

Congrats on your progress, Scott! Good luck finishing!

Tess said...

haha!!!

Love love A Wrinkle in Time. that's a classic.

Robyn Campbell said...

Oh funny. Poor Frank. Sorry about him. He was a great laddy, wasn't he? That was hilarious.

Happy birthday Frank. Yeah, uh, I realize what you must have to go through living with Scott and all. But we all feel for you. HA!

Scott said...

Davin - thanks. My mom's a hoot, especially the older she gets. The filters just don't exist once you've reached a certain age.

Tess - Wrinkle is definitely a classic.

Robyn - yeah, poor Frank. He has it so rough - someone to cook for him, someone to clean (okay he vacuums and does the laundry), someone to make his favorite coconut cake on his birthday!

Michelle D. Argyle said...

Hey, no outlining is cool. I'm down with that - especially for a first draft. :)

Scott said...

Lady Glamis - you know I'm just teasing you about the outlining!!!! Meg Cabot's reasoning was that if she outlined seriously then by the time it got around to the writing she felt like she'd already written the story, and then the excitement was gone. Strange, but true.