"Mission Accomplished" (and not in that lame___ "Bush league" way)

We need to take that saying back people. Who's with me?

Why am I so peppy at 11:18 p.m. you ask? Because I just got done writing for the last two and a half hours or so and totally reworked the last scene of that duddy chapter I beat out yesterday and now it's awesome. Rabbit hole, once again, found. That's what I'm talkin' 'bout.

Hubby wishes my keyboard had a silencer. Nothing a couple of earplugs won't fix.
So back. This rocks.

Looking Forward (to finding the rabbit hole again)

Feeling a little Spoon-y today. Scoll down in the player and check out "Something To Look Forward To." Good old Brit Daniels-- "Your mistakes, Your merciless eye, Your Chicago Manual (oh) of Style..."

Wrote yesterday, pretty much all day, but frustratingly missed the rabbit hole. I haven't been good about making sure I'm writing every single day come hell or high water or being swamped with other art "biz." When you get taken out of your story world that's what happens. So probably ninety percent of what happened yesterday will go into the "Cuts" folder, or get revised beyond all recognition, but that's ok. It's all process (and penance).

Good John LeCarre quote today on the Writers on Writing podcast (See literary links)
"The cat sat on his mat is not a story. The cat sat on someone else's mat is."

"Eau Galle"

This was the name of an actual place in Wisconsin I drove by today. I had some art business to attend to over in Eau Claire (Eau -- wouldn't you just know it?). The sculpture pictured left (click on photo for a better look), "Full Bloom", needed a base welded to her feet. She's one of my fav's and lives in the most idyllic setting; in a beautiful perennial garden surrounding a lovely pool, overlooking a pasture of horses bordered by tall pines. It's very gratifying to see a piece being so appreciated and enjoyed by its owners. I look forward to getting the same high from people one day reading my words too.

Trusty Pam accompanied me (we aren't actually a couple, but our husbands let us go out and play pretty often). When we saw the sign for "Eau Galle", all conversation screeched to a halt as we simultaneously burst into bucktoothed goofy grins shouting "Eau Gaulle" repeatedly. (Unrepentant dorks, we also ding our bike bells when riding through tunnels and shout "WEE!" when going downhill...)

No writery things happened today other than in my head, but if you ever get over to Eau CLaire, (Eau my!) check out the Chippewa River State Trail. Nice ride.

"Jinx!"

Once again the kids at stereogum are totally copying me... Click the link for another Michel Gondry story.

Gratutious Foo Posting

The Foo Fighters were formed around ten years ago when Dave Grohl, the drummer from Nirvana, struck out on his own after the death of Curt Cobain. Now I have to admit, I kind of have a thing for them. They win the "band I'd most like to beat at pingpong contest". I really think our coolness to dorkiness quotients match up nicely and we should start hanging out. (My story is chock full of music references including my beloved Foo's.)

This video (youtube wouldn't let it post directly. Just click the link.) isn't nearly as funny without my subtitles and amusing commentary, but it is Michel Gondry (Eternal sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Science of Sleep, and one of the weirdest and most disturbingly hilarious shorts ever starring David Cross (slow Donnie from "Just Shoot Me") as a hunk of Micheal's feces...) and therefore awesome.
(The blond girl in this video is the band's drummer Taylor Hawkins, one of the prettiest dudes I've ever seen.)

Check out the Foo's in the player. There's not a dud in the bunch if you're into straight ahead bangin' rock, and by all means check out Micheal Goundry's amazingly imaginative films (he's also done videos for The White Stripes, Bjork, and others).

Today will be spent querying, writing, tearing voraciously into an awesome new (to me) lit journal I've discovered (look for a review coming soon), and trying to resist giving myself another self-inflicted haircut wound to the head.

Into the great wide open

Both the completed story I'm querying and the one I'm still writing deal with the paranormal. Some of the characters are more comfortable with this than others, reflecting my own feelings. I've had some pretty freaky experiences, and always been fascinated with that other world, but still have a very sceptical side. I'm very conflicted about this. On one hand I have to believe, and do, in that unseen world, but there's a stubborn resistance in me that compulsively analyzes any "cosmic" experiences I have, trying to rationalize them.

Lately I've been experimenting with my dreams, trying to gain insight. I've had many vivid dreams, some seemingly prescient, a couple very trippy out of body ones. The other night I went "in" with the intention of asking for guidance about my writing and had a dream that I was in a workshop with other writers and an agent and her assistant.

When it was my turn to "pitch", it flopped. Even as the words were leaving my mouth I knew it sucked. The agent and assistant took me back to their office and went over my material and gave me advice about how to tweak my query -- not change my story -- but bring some other elements of it forward that would make my pitch more appealing and reveal the true heart of the story. Cosmic intervention? My sceptic and true believer are still duking it out, but I'm revising my query.

Full of Spoon lovin'

Spoon is an Austin Tx band founded by Britt Daniel who writes all the lyrics, and drummer Jim Eno who is responsible for their distinctive sound (via his innovative recording techniques).

Spoon is one of the most literary bands I've heard lately. Brit mixes lines like, "we seek out the taciturn" with "you bought a new bag of pot, so let's make a new start." Smart, but not in your face "look how smart I am" smart.

I am dying to begin editing what I have so far in my new story, but am forcing myself to forge ahead. One of the many things I'll be taking a hard look at is letting my research come through, but not scream, "look at all the research I've done." Smart, but not in your face smart. Keep the story, and characters on center stage. I suppose if I have actually become "smart" about my subject it should be self-evident right?

Enjoy Buster Keaton's antics in this video and check out more Spoon in the playlist. These guys are indie after Electra put out their second album, failed to promote it, then dropped them for low sales figures. Sound like a familiar tune authors? Buy their music if you like it.