What do writers and jocks have in common?

December 8, 2009 at 5:23 pm · Filed under jogging, overthinking, writing

There is no punchline here – just some observations that I have made in my two week initiation to jogging. My sister has always been a runner, and I’ve never quite gotten it until today when I realized runners and writers are a very similar breed.

Here are some notable similarities:

We’d rather be in pajamas. My writer part needs constant coddling. She needs to be kept happy and comfortable, otherwise she is left easily to distraction. Ex., “Look at these shiny buttons!” “This tag is itchy. Itchy. It itches. Tag. Itchy.” It’s easier in pajamas. There are no surprises, temperature and comfort level are easily controlled, one area of excuse is eliminated. And slippers go well with any PJ combo – no need to find the perfect shoe.
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Lessons in cohabitation: Dave’s socks

December 7, 2009 at 6:09 pm · Filed under Boston, life, memories, writing

While undertaking a Great Drawer Reassignment, I just started remembering years ago when Dave and I first moved in together. We were in our wee early twenties, and it was a first for both of us. We both proceeded with trepidation for our own reasons, mine being that I had passed the dorm chic phase of decorating with posters and thumbtacks although I wasn’t so sure Dave was ready to leave this behind. Dave’s fears were more territorial in nature: He didn’t want me messing with his Stuff. It was nothing personal, and I understood this, just a paradoxical “these are my toys, those are yours” way of dealing with a major life change in the direction of Growing Up.

I respected this protective instinct as far as I could, but there were practical matters to consider. For example, public health.
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A reconciliation (soundtrack by Journey)

December 4, 2009 at 3:07 pm · Filed under blogs, inspiration, life, writing

Dear Blog,

It’s not you, it’s me.

I’ve tried coming back to you so many times now, but I swore when I started this thang that I would never apologize for not updating, that this whole bloggy thing was for me and me alone, and I don’t owe anyone any excuses if I slack. But each time I tried to write something new, it felt like a lie of omission. There was an elephant in the room, and until I put two hands on that sucker’s rear and forced him outside, there was no space for true communication.

But I’m ready to come back. So here’s what happened: I got stagefright. Lame, I know. But a lot happened at once. I started getting magazine articles published and people were paying attention, and those interested in my novel manuscript began threatening to Google me! And then there was the whole getting-sick-for-the-entire-summer thing. Vitamin D deficiency is no joke. And I wonder how much longer it has been affecting me than just the past six months.

Then Dave had to go crash on his bike once again. Almost exactly a month after a crash in which he broke both his wrists, this time it was four ribs, a lung, a shoulder, his knees. Nobody wants to get The Phone Call. I got two Phone Calls in as many months. Luckily, he is a quick healer. Unluckily, that means he’s just about ready to get back on a bike and barrel down a mountain at top speed yet again. I have married a man whose career carries with it the risk of the Ultimate Phone Call. But maybe I’m just being dramatic. One hopes.

So blog, here I am to clear the air. There is so much I want to share with you: the things I learned from NaNoWriMo even though I bowed out quite early, my new love/hate relationship with jogging (or “yogging,” if you choose to pronounce it with a “soft j”*), the holidays (which are my favorite!), and the things that come to me in the shower.

Blog, I could go on, but I’d rather let Journey do it for me.

I’m just going to imagine you giving me a nice pat on the shoulder with your 80211 wireless hands and saying, “Welcome back, Buddy. Nice to see you.”

Yours faithfully**, if delinquently,

Linley

* I couldn’t find that scene from Anchorman on YouTube, but I did find this, which is glorious.

** If you insist.

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Notes on NaNoWriMo*

November 4, 2009 at 8:48 pm · Filed under NaNoWriMo, writing

Here are the mantras I have accumulated so far this year.

- Start in the middle. Not necessarily the middle, but not the first line. The first line is going to change later when you know what the book is actually about, so for now, just start telling the story. You can spend hours anally choosing the first ten words of the manuscript later.

- Concentrate on writing pieces for now. You don’t know the story yet, so don’t get bogged down in the how or the why. Just write the scenes in your head. You can always reorganize later. Again, just tell the story. There is time later for fleshing things out or removing the extraneous.

- Messy is OK. Be messy! This is the time to stumble. To let your tongue (or your fingers, as the case may be) trip over words. Sometimes it takes a couple crappy paragraphs to get a groove, and some things that seem true now might not be true later, but for now, get it out and be sloppy about it. You’re at the kids table. Feel free to blow bubbles in your milk and slurp your b’sghettis.

- Think in contrasts. Make your characters contradictory and complex – i.e., human.

- Some days you just can’t win. Life happens, crappy writing happens, the Pats lose sometimes – it is what it is. Don’t get stuck, because tomorrow is another day, and there’s plenty more crap where that came from.

* NaNoWriMo is a challenge to write a novel (50,000 words) in a month.

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Scary lawyers

October 8, 2009 at 7:39 pm · Filed under Uncategorized

I’m on the phone with my sister. I can hear my 2-year-old niece in the background. “Roar! ROAR!” she says.

“What is she doing,” I ask.

“Telling lawyer jokes,” Sister says, matter-of-factly.

“What?”

Niece: “Roar. ROAR!!!”

“She pulled a book off the shelf called the Best Lawyer Jokes Ever, and it has a picture of a scary man on the cover, so she’s making scary sounds.”

Niece: “Mommy, it SCARES me!” Her attention clearly turns back to the book, “ROAR!!!”

This is when I start laughing so hard I cry.

bestlawyerjokes

I kinda want to be this guy for Halloween.

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Undeclared

September 15, 2009 at 3:30 pm · Filed under art, writing

I’ve always wanted to be good at one thing. I can draw, but I was never the best in the class. I used to sing and act, but I wasn’t winning any awards. I never had the embrasure for flute, according to my music teacher, and I started saxophone too late (and with very little enthusiasm – I was a twelve-year-old girl, I wanted to play flute dammit). I admire people who find and embrace that thing they love and focus and practice and make it a part of them.

When I met my best friend in college, she knew she wanted to be a writer. She had known this her whole life. It was part of her, as if it were encoded in her DNA, right there with brown hair and a supreme distrust of the tomato. Everyone in college seemed to be like this, having popped out of wombs some eighteen years earlier already holding microphones or lighting equipment or tattered volumes of Kerouac.

Not me.
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Lord, what fools these writers be!

July 8, 2009 at 1:50 pm · Filed under books, writing

When I was at O’Reilly editing tech books, I remember how exciting it was when a new project landed on my desk. That 500-800 page stack of papers, fastened with rubber bands, made the most satisfying thunk as it hit the Formica. I’d turn away from my computer screen, where I was putting the finishing touches on the previous project that I’d been staring at for weeks, and I’d snap off the elastics and thumb through the new manuscript, still warm from the printer and smelling of fresh ink.

My eyes would feel relief, skimming over the A-heads and sidebars, maybe getting a break from the previous project through the use of a different template or a smaller trim size. The pile of papers were still tidy and solid – not dogeared all over, not yet sullied by red pen marks or the accidental coffee spill. And I couldn’t wait to get started with it.
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Friday five: It’s bad enough I’m allergic to garlic*

June 5, 2009 at 7:23 pm · Filed under books, hilarity, life, pop culture, tv

You know how sometimes there are things EVERYONE likes so much that you’re almost afraid to admit you can’t stand them? I mean, now that college is in my somewhat distant past (10 years! Egad!) I feel less judged about hating Quentin Tarantino movies, thinking funk music is kinda boring, and finding Jack Kerouac to be the most overrated writer ever. But even as an adult, there are some things I have found that admitting a distaste for can stop a conversation dead in its tracks. Here’s a sampling:

1. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving. Tell a person you don’t like this book, and she’ll look at you like you just drowned a puppy. Mostly I think because it is so many people’s FAVORITE book, which leaves me half convinced it’s the only book they’ve ever read.
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Gardenation

June 3, 2009 at 4:32 pm · Filed under gardening

I’ve been planting up a storm around here and holy crap is it hard work. Shoveling, wheelbarrowing, lugging buckets of water and containers of soil, ugh. And two weeks until my next chiropractic appointment! There will be much Taking Of The Advil and Moaning.

I’m going for a new theme in the raised bed this year. In the past, I’ve always had one area that does remarkably well and other areas that fail horribly, leaving bald patches in the soil. I’ve given each plant or seed the space begged for on its little stick or packet, and I’ve catered to its needs meticulously.

Yeah, that’s all out the window this year.
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Bits and pieces…bits and pieces…*

May 13, 2009 at 8:50 pm · Filed under Uncategorized

Step into rando-blog mode with me. We’ll sit here for a spell and I’ll tell you of things that have been going on in my world.

I think I’m experiencing a bit of a tech hangover. I realized this today when, for about the tenth time this week, I typed something into the text box in Twitter and then promptly deleted it, then navigated to Google Reader and didn’t feel like reading anything.
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