Friday, November 5, 2010
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Oh, Snap! George Takei Uses the 'D' Word
The It Gets Better campaign just gets better and better...
And now, George Takei addresses a bully in the form of Arkansas school board member Clint McCance.
And Mr. McCance? You, sir, are no Summer's Eve. I know Summer's Eve, and you, sir, don't even come close. No one feels fresher after being splashed in your Haterade.
Thanks to Jezebel for the link.
And now, George Takei addresses a bully in the form of Arkansas school board member Clint McCance.
And Mr. McCance? You, sir, are no Summer's Eve. I know Summer's Eve, and you, sir, don't even come close. No one feels fresher after being splashed in your Haterade.
Thanks to Jezebel for the link.
Ahoy- hoy!
Hey!
It's been a long time. So much has happened since my last posting. Lindsay Lohan in and out of jail/rehab. T.I. in and out of jail/saving jumpers. The kimchi shortage in South Korea.
But!
I'm back, and will have oh-so-many interesting things to say and share. Trust.
Stay tuned, dear friends.
It's been a long time. So much has happened since my last posting. Lindsay Lohan in and out of jail/rehab. T.I. in and out of jail/saving jumpers. The kimchi shortage in South Korea.
But!
I'm back, and will have oh-so-many interesting things to say and share. Trust.
Stay tuned, dear friends.
Monday, March 1, 2010
How Do You Know...???!???
How do you know if you're a good writer?
It's all so subjective, isn't it?
And I struggle with this question at least... ummm... let's see... every hour.
See, I'm not only a novelist, I'm also a writer at City of Hope, a cancer research institution. My job is to take the hard sciencey like Stat3 genes and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and DNA methylation and such and make it all easy for the ordinary person to understand, prompting them to send in money to support life-saving research. And I often wonder, Did I do my job? Did I really explain what a Nanodrop Spectrophotometer does?
Sometimes, it's easy to tell if I'm good.
My first novel, A Quiet Storm, was published by a big-big publisher.
A potential donor who read my proposal about some devastating disease sent in a big check.
But sometimes, there's silence. A lot of silence. Or rejection. Lots of rejection. And despite past successes, the niggling in the back of your mind becomes more nagging.
You're a hack.
Look at your participles, all dangling like that.
You can't even spell broccoli right the first time.
So. How do you know, right? I suggest asking yourself the following:
1. Can you string sentences together that make sense and offer a clear point of view?
2. Can you improve that sentence, taking suggestions from others, and go beyond what's already on the page to make it shine? In other words, are you open to critique, dear friend?
3. Are you a good reader? A whore of a reader who reads everything and pays attention to how that writer put down words?
4. Are you aware that your writer can always be improved?
5. Have you been professionally validated? Lots of readers, an agent, an editor, a publishing contract, high blog count, something???
6. Do you love the process of writing and even when it's painful, look forward to putting pen to paper or finger to keyboard every day?
If you can say 'yes' to all (or most) of these, I'm thinking you got something goin' on, dear one.
Wonder if Dennis Lehane ever has this problem...
It's all so subjective, isn't it?
And I struggle with this question at least... ummm... let's see... every hour.
See, I'm not only a novelist, I'm also a writer at City of Hope, a cancer research institution. My job is to take the hard sciencey like Stat3 genes and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and DNA methylation and such and make it all easy for the ordinary person to understand, prompting them to send in money to support life-saving research. And I often wonder, Did I do my job? Did I really explain what a Nanodrop Spectrophotometer does?
Sometimes, it's easy to tell if I'm good.
My first novel, A Quiet Storm, was published by a big-big publisher.
A potential donor who read my proposal about some devastating disease sent in a big check.
But sometimes, there's silence. A lot of silence. Or rejection. Lots of rejection. And despite past successes, the niggling in the back of your mind becomes more nagging.
You're a hack.
Look at your participles, all dangling like that.
You can't even spell broccoli right the first time.
So. How do you know, right? I suggest asking yourself the following:
1. Can you string sentences together that make sense and offer a clear point of view?
2. Can you improve that sentence, taking suggestions from others, and go beyond what's already on the page to make it shine? In other words, are you open to critique, dear friend?
3. Are you a good reader? A whore of a reader who reads everything and pays attention to how that writer put down words?
4. Are you aware that your writer can always be improved?
5. Have you been professionally validated? Lots of readers, an agent, an editor, a publishing contract, high blog count, something???
6. Do you love the process of writing and even when it's painful, look forward to putting pen to paper or finger to keyboard every day?
If you can say 'yes' to all (or most) of these, I'm thinking you got something goin' on, dear one.
Wonder if Dennis Lehane ever has this problem...
Thursday, February 18, 2010
A Face to Fall in Love With...
A big 'Hey, thanks for this!' to The Rejectionist for sharing Romance Novel Yourself.
How Did They Know?!
What the name "Rachel" means according to Urban Dictionary...
What does your name mean?
Another gem from Urban Dictionary:
Wordanista: A person who spends their life telling others what is or is not a word, based on what they have read in books.
It's like they're living in my head!
What does your name mean?
Another gem from Urban Dictionary:
Wordanista: A person who spends their life telling others what is or is not a word, based on what they have read in books.
It's like they're living in my head!
Lit-life Ladies
So.
I'm working on a novel right now with a female protagonist that I really like. No, I think I love her. Yeah, I love her a lot.
Why, you ask?
She's fierce and vulnerable, enjoys all good things, insightful and sarcastic, a loner yet enjoys the company of others sometimes, will cry and afraid to cry, overcome some obstacles while avoiding others, and she doesn't take herself too seriously.
I posted earlier about the types of heroines that I love, and when I do, my mind automatically turns to the movies. Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley in the Aliens series, Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor in Terminator, Oprah Winfrey as Sophia in The Color Purple, Frances McDormand as Marge in Fargo, Jodie Foster as Clarice Starling in Silence of the Lambs, and Angela Bassett in totally-everything-she's-ever-been-in, even that sucky sci-fi film, Strange Days.
What about my first love: books?
How about...
Lucky Santangelo from Jackie Collins' Lucky Santangelo series. She's totally gangsta, beautiful and feared. Who can't appreciate that? (Man, I'm so glad my mother never censored my reading as a teen...)
Sula from the eponymous novel by Toni Morrison. She's misunderstood, strong, gives a damn about society's norms, a rabble-rouser.
Katherina from Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew (if you read it as a farce...)
Ramona from Beverly Cleary's Ramona series. One of the first characters I remember as a child. Still have Ramona the Brave I bought at school book fair.
Pippi Longstocking created by Astrid Lindgren. And I must admit, some of those movies from the 70s bleed into this. She outsmarts adults, seems to kinda live alone, tells great stories, can pick up her horse with one hand and has a monkey named Mr. Nilsson.
Who are you favorite literary ladies?
I'm working on a novel right now with a female protagonist that I really like. No, I think I love her. Yeah, I love her a lot.
Why, you ask?
She's fierce and vulnerable, enjoys all good things, insightful and sarcastic, a loner yet enjoys the company of others sometimes, will cry and afraid to cry, overcome some obstacles while avoiding others, and she doesn't take herself too seriously.
I posted earlier about the types of heroines that I love, and when I do, my mind automatically turns to the movies. Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley in the Aliens series, Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor in Terminator, Oprah Winfrey as Sophia in The Color Purple, Frances McDormand as Marge in Fargo, Jodie Foster as Clarice Starling in Silence of the Lambs, and Angela Bassett in totally-everything-she's-ever-been-in, even that sucky sci-fi film, Strange Days.
What about my first love: books?
How about...
Lucky Santangelo from Jackie Collins' Lucky Santangelo series. She's totally gangsta, beautiful and feared. Who can't appreciate that? (Man, I'm so glad my mother never censored my reading as a teen...)
Sula from the eponymous novel by Toni Morrison. She's misunderstood, strong, gives a damn about society's norms, a rabble-rouser.
Katherina from Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew (if you read it as a farce...)
Ramona from Beverly Cleary's Ramona series. One of the first characters I remember as a child. Still have Ramona the Brave I bought at school book fair.
Pippi Longstocking created by Astrid Lindgren. And I must admit, some of those movies from the 70s bleed into this. She outsmarts adults, seems to kinda live alone, tells great stories, can pick up her horse with one hand and has a monkey named Mr. Nilsson.
Who are you favorite literary ladies?
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