1. I have fallen completely, utterly in love with the new Kate Bush album, 50 Words for Snow. Late to the ball on this one, I know, but I thought it was a Christmas album, and I refuse to even go near those. However, after finding the album on Spotify I thought I’d give it a listen (especially since none of the titles of the tracks seemed Christmasy). It blew my mind. I finished most of the last 100 pages of Persephone with it playing in the background.
2. Somewhere around the third draft of Persephone, I realized that I needed to rethink the whole plot thing. By which I meant that in order to do the rewrite I had to sit down and plot out the whole novel, and then go back through what I’d written and refit it into the plot. Figuring out what happened in the damn book was probably responsible for about 1 year of the rewrite. (The other three I blame on law school.) This last draft only took 8 months, and would have been even shorter if I’d started making myself wake up early and write every day back in August.
3. I’ve had a new novel in my head for a month or so now, waiting patiently for me to plot it out. Which, quite frankly, I’ve been dreading. Part of what I love so much about writing is finding out what happens next. I’ve always been afraid that if I stopped to plot it out, the magic would disappear, that I wouldn’t want to write a story if I already knew the ending.
I couldn’t have been farther from the truth. Over the past few days, I’ve plotted the basic outline of the new novel. I still need to sketch in the scenes, but I know where it starts, I know the crisis points and the resolutions, and I know how it ends. And now that the skeleton is there, I’m even more excited to write it. It’s oddly reminiscent of the moment I discovered the absolute freedom of poetic forms.
4. I baked cupcakes earlier this week, and send a batch to Kat Howard. Judging from her response, I think she liked them! Recipe (which I created my very own self) after the break.
@KatWithSwordYou guys. You guys! @thegirlhaswings SENT ME CUPCAKES. KEY LIME CUPCAKES. THAT SHE BAKED HERSELF. I am the Happiest of Kats.
Found this while I as I was procrastinating by going through my writing folder instead of editing the novel like I should be, and thought it worth putting up.
Peter at 32
2 am – the after
after party – and he’s down
in the Village
with a smile
and a corporate expense account, still dressed
in standard office-wear:
trousers and a Eurotrash
button-down;
“Darling!”
he says
to a girl in a
mini-skirt, air kisses
above
her cheeks, putting
a hand on her ass
and guiding her out to
a cab. He blanks on the directions to his loft
a moment – third
street to the left? – but the cabbie
has a GPS on the dash.
She will leave before
he wakes up,
and he, head pounding, will lie
back against the pillows
and clap.
For the third time in almost five years, I’m cooking dinner for A tonight. Valentine’s dinner, no less. Usually, I’m a firm believer in sticking to what I know. In my case, that’s baking. Cookies, cupcakes, wedding cakes – if it involves a mixer and an oven, I can do it. Cooking, on the other hand, is not my forte. And really, why bother when I live with a professional.
Valentine’s Day, that’s why. See, there are certain holidays which, in the restaurant world, are referred to as “amateurs’ nights”. New Years is a big one, and Mother’s Day as well (brunch in that case). Likewise Valentine’s. In the normal course of things, A and I would have made reservations at a cute little restaurant yesterday or tonight, then happily celebrated the actual holiday from the comfort of our couch.
Superbowl sliders and champagneThe past few days having been decidedly not normal (due mostly to a family member being ill) and A having to work later tonight than we thought, we missed our chance to do the nice Valentine’s dinner a few days early.
I put the odds at us taking a few bites of dinner and then ordering takeout at 50/50.
I saw the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo movie the other weekend. It was phenomenal, much, much better than I had anticipated. (SPOILER ALERT: If you haven’t seen the movie yet but want to, you should probably stop reading here. Ditto if you haven’t read the book, although I think there are enough differences that it won’t matter so much).
Incidentally, I happen to think that this is one of the few (perhaps the only) movies based on a book where you are expected to walk into the theatre with a working knowledge of the characters and the plot. Otherwise, it seems that the viewer would get lost in the tangle of relationships and plotlines. If you saw it and hadn’t read the books first, I’d love to know what you thought.
painted my toenails light green, in honor of springtime
