surreal land

Huzzah! 25K and counting!

I mentioned earlier that once I stopped trying to make my story make sense the writing got easier? I also discovered that if my narrator is chatty and inquisitive that also seems to get the story moving. *shrug* Metafiction anyone?

Lapine has survived the cavern of fire but my wolf boy just entered an egyptian temple (because he happend to look like the apis bull at the time) under the orders of one of the Morrigan sisters, who oddly enough resembles my foxmaiden, and is now in a Cretan labyrinth trying to figure out how to escape. And dangling girl (who is also named Lu) is about to have a conversation with a giant amber colored tortoise.

See, no sense to it at all.***CV

bunny hop

18, 737 so far today. (Not written just the total so far :) Amazing how much easier writing is when you decide that it doesn't matter if it makes sense or not *g* Lapin has just reached a lake of fire after winessing a rather bizarre game of fydcyll. Poor bunny.

Speaking of bunnies I finished reading Tales From Watership Down today. I also picked up two Peter Sis books and a copy of Fun Dolls (not Bad Dolls) yesterday. Now that I've sorted my yarn from my fabrics I can make some dollies

I suppose I should go rescue Lu before the tree her rope is tied to collapses, and Lapin from sulfur poisoning; and maybe Lena ought not to open that mysterious box she just found, before I start making dollies**CV

EDIT: 20, 037 *whew* If I do 5K everyday, starting tomorrow, I'll make it.

Sprrrr-ite

So I got this new book today. It's called Cute Dolls by Aranzi Alonzo. Now I want to go back and get Bad Dolls. But maybe I should write the 30K first.

I know that Lapine (one of my main characters - what?! you though the Bunny award was just for laughs?) is going on a journey through a labyrinth of death but I still have to figure out who and what he'll meet along the way.

I got ideas of course but I have to fact check a little to make sure that the who and the what are coinciding correctly. Meanwhile I have two girls hanging out on top of an abandoned water wheel, a baby of doom on a moon bridge and two friends just shattered a gazing ball and are telling stories to pass the time.

So you tink I got a plot in there somewhere? *g* **CV

reading 'n writing

Tales from Watership Down, Richard Adams
King of the Middle March (the Arthur Trilogy vol.III), Kevin Crossley-Holland (Interstingly enough another book caught my eye in the shoppe this afternoon and upon reading the plot teaser it struck me as being a reversion of this series. Needless to say I did not purchase it. Is it just me or do most of the current YA books seem to be cut from the same cloth? Have I just been reading too many of the original myths so that now all heroic tales appear poor shadows? There was another book called Irish Tapestry I believe which used the Cattle Raid of Cooley as a premise but was set in modern Chicago -egads maybe it was a great Salmon that set Mrs' O'Learey's barn ablaze!)
Palm of the Hand Stories, Yasunari Kawabata
A Barrel of Laughs a Vale of Tears, Jules Feiffer

On order are two books by Peter Sis:

The Tree of Life (a book about Charles Darwin) and, Three Golden Keys, a story in which the hero returns to his homeland of Pargue and must find three golden keys to complete his journey.
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So far I have 6,500 words. My goal is 10K by weekends end. The only way I see myself doing this is if each of my characters tells a story to pass the time. You know maybe I'm one of those people from that 'ameron era (Decameron, pentameron etc). Could explain why I like the Sargasso Manuscript so much***CV

Edied at 11:20pm: 10, 0038! Now for 5K for each of the next 4 nights and I will be caught up. I can dream*g*

cottontale

So I worked on my story today and plan to do more work on it tonight and tomorrow. While taking a break I found this which is, in a way, related to the literary work in progress.

Your Score: Bunny Lorekeeper

Your Rabbit Mythology score is 81%!

Wow, good work! You really know your bunny mythology. (Might want to check to make sure your ears aren't growing...)

moonrabbit Lorekeeper ****CV

Self directed

One of the groups reached their goal today :) As far as I know they're still writing.
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Apparently two of the students made an apointment with the school head to talk over the fact that some of the adult community members were not living up to what we teach (small things like respect, consideration, etc). Turns out that these two would like to speak to the parents about it.

'Cause it is parents they feel are not following through.

Hmmmm.
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Set two of my group in motion to plot a medieval garden for us. Imagine my surprise when they wanted to edge it with Flax.***CV

Blue meanie

I am mired in exposition. I think my story is not so much in search of a plot as it is in quest of a setting. So far all I know about that bit is an image of a large rolling hill like estate. I did get a more satisfying end to the opening bit though and that feels good.
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Meanwhile, I had to come down on some children today. May I ask why it is okay, young sir, for you to be flippant to me and I not call it as I see it? Hmmmm?

Q:You are here for what reason?
Q:This place is a what?

A: to learn
A: a school

Which means playdates happen on your time not mine.

So much for "I do what I like" as the actual quote is: "I like what I do".***CV

Re-view

On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Ian Fleming (259pp) So I finally realised why I'm picking up these Bond books. It isn't for the stories. It's for the chase scenes. Fleming does good chase scenes. It meads of course that one must read the story to get to the chase but.....If I do not run across the word "dope" again I will not be sad. It must have been out of date even in the original era yes?
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Watership Down, Richard Adams (479pp) What a delightful way to spend ones' weekend: reading the adventures of a migrating group of rabbits. There is somethng so special about having a warm kitty in one's lap while reading, "Can you run? I think not." It also makes me sad that I have no way of viewing the animated version by Don Bluth.

This is going into my stack of two books available to reread at any time (the other being Sunshine).
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M is for Magic, Neil Gaiman A new short story collection based on the premise of Ray Bradbury's R is for Rocket and S is for Space. How do I know? 'Cause Neil says so! This means that there are only two new stories in the collection (to me) but it does have Chivalry and the Price; and it makes me impatient for The Graveyard Book.

I haven't picked up a copy of Interworld yet. Should I?
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Currently reading Last Tales by Isaak Dinesen.*****CV

Message? What message?

I just checked my cell phone and I had five messages and 12 missed calls. See, I haven't been paying attention to it since I got a new watch battery so those messages were from early last month. ooops! I am slowly but surelyleaving the communication age. If it were not for Internet there wouild be no connection at all. (That sounds kind of nice actually).
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The other day one of the kidlets told me her word count from the preceding night. Dude, it took me three nights to get there. I'm sure she's already tripled it by now. Meanwhile other participants are zooming from lunch to their novelling and skipping recess all together.
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As far as reading is concerned I'm almost done with Her Magesty's Service and I started Watership Down. This is my second read through and I'm thinking it might be a good chapter book for the class. Currently we're reading Alice in Wonderland and I'm really having to pay attention to the words. Reading Lewis Carroll aloud when one is not only American but not of the Victorian age is a bit of a sticky wicket. ***CV

check in

In the Light of the Moon, Carolyn McVikar Edwards (172pp) This is a collection of thirteen stories based on various myths from different cultures around that world. The author also includes pesonal experiences and insights before each story. There's a companion volume about the Sun.
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Thunderball, Ian Fleming and K McKlory, J. Wittington (258pp) A literate version of the film. I did find it tended to drag in spots but the underwater scenes are wonderfull.
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Boots and the Seven Leagues, Jane Yolen (159pp) A teenage troll determined to see his favorite band winds up seeking his kidnapped brother instead.
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So I finally started writing for NaNoand of course I am waaay behind where one "should be" near the end of week one. Oh well. If anyone is willing to look at what I have so far and give feedback I'd appreciate it.
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The children set their goals today and have already started writing. Most are doing it in longhand so Isuggested that they count the words per page and then we could tally them at the end of the week. CV

Clocks Back

I picked up the Moomintroll collection today. Thunderball is a slow read. This may be because I have seen the movie and the copyright page says that the book is based on a screen treatment by Fleming and another writer named McKlory. Mind you there is nothing unpleasant about having Sean Connery traipse around in one's imagination but ..... So I started Boots and that Seven Leagues and now I've run into the problem of the "defining" book.

It's one of those stories where the first person narrator presumes that the reader knows nothing about the context of the story and so explains every "new" term. *sigh*

I should be reading the Rachel Carson biography for the book group but that doesn't meet until Tuesday. So many books and yet none to read.

And I haven't started my word count for NaNo yet.

I did get the pilot light lit today though. Heat is nice.

Then the weather was in the upper 70's today.****CV

Newsy news

Thank you Paula for the prezzies:) If I had a digital camera it would be up, so all of you will have to imagine a box of dark chocolate (mine!); a spiral bound note book with lined pages hidden behind a Kincaidian cover waiting to be filled with stories; the Writer's Workshop In a Book book (edited by Alan Cheuse and Lisa Alvarez and yet more candies. Thank you :)
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My co guide and I talked with the children today about NaNo and they seemed pretty excited. One started writing today:

C: "I'm going to write 50K!"

Me: Oh?

C: "Well, me and A. agreed to do 1K but if we make that before the end of the month we're doing 50K"

Me: Uhhuh.

Nothing like reasonable expectations *g*
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I finished From Russia With Love last night and it left me wondering if Ian Fleming felt the same way about Bond as Arthur Conan Doyle was said to have felt about Sherlock Holmes and if that would explain why the story ended that away it did. So I picked up Thunderball and On Her Majesty's Secret Service tonight. I also have Isaak Dinesen's Last Tales, a copy of Bullfinch's Mythology, M is for Magic by Neil Gaiman, Boots and the Seven Leagues, and I saw that the collected Moomintroll comics volume 2 is available.

AND Charles DeLint has a new book coming out in spring called Dingo! AND Nick Cave has a new album due out at the same time!

Kinda makes up for the two really strange guys I've run across this week *shudder* Neither of whom was named Rafe and yet I have met a person of said name this week. Why does that name sound like it was picked out of a gothic book?
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Yes I am doing NANo this month. Why do you ask?******CV