(no subject)

Lovely day off yesterday...actually lovely may be an exaggeration considering it was overcast and cold most of the day, sort of like today actually, albeit sunny in the morning (yesterday morning, today looked like rain.) But hey, I relaxed. Had no stresses. And a nice long massage of feet, hands, and back - so all is well, more or less. Today was more stressful - since I was back at work, but doable.

Flirted with a book serial urban fantasy fandom, and quickly backed off. I keep doing this, flirting with new fandoms, then getting annoyed or losing interest and backing off. I'm not quite sure why this didn't happen with the Buffy fandom. It's the only fandom I've ever been able to stay in longer than a couple of months. I'm obviously not a fannish type of person. Obsessive? yes. Compulsive? very. Fannish? not really. I think I may be too critical and analytical to be truly fannish.

Watched Nikita last night - which I rather like. It's very different than the last four versions I've seen and has more female characters. It's not fantastic tv - and Dollhouse was admittedly more convoluted in its thematic/metaphorical structure (also a tad more disturbing and difficult/at times impossible to watch due to its content but that's a whole other discussion), but it's enjoyable. I don't feel the need to analyze or write about it. I watch, I enjoy, I forget.

Am seriously considering subscribing to HBO - it has too many tv shows coming up that I want to watch.
True Blood, Game Change, Game of Thrones, Broadway Empire (started last year), and that play that just aired with Tommy Lee Jones and Samuel L Jackson. Let's face it - HBO is doing the best tv right now. Well HBO, AMC, and Showtime. (In general). I could grab Starz too, but not sure getting Torchwood by itself is worth it - not when I can rent that via Netflix.

Got a reprieve on how long until lease is up - now it's up in May, not April. This I can deal with.
With any luck, I'll find an apartment before the end of March and close before the end of April. Unlikely...but you never know.

In between books at the moment- okay not really. I'm wasting energy re-reading Kim Harrison pot-boilers (because she pulled a Whedon and ret-conned a formerly not-so nice character, turning them into well a potential love interest, and being me, I wanted to see if it tracked, it does and it doesn't. Clearly not a writer that plots ahead, but intuitive - goes with the flow.) Also reading GWTDT still. Yes, it's taking three months...in spurts. I hear it becomes a page-turner eventually.
Has not happened yet.

(no subject)

Watching Raising Hope - and I love this line:

Hi, these are my brother-husbands. We're reverse gender polygamists. (LOL!)

Raising Hope is light satire, with a hint of parody, while Glee is "sharp" satire with a hint of parody.
I think I laugh harder at Raising, except it does admittedly at times...go over the top in the crude department.

Realized something during my two-minute flirtation with another fandom? I can't handle people telling a writer what romance to focus on. It annoys the hell out of me. Don't really mind shipping. That's human. Or speculation. Or folks wanting a character to live happily ever after (not very realistic but I get the desire). But when fans try to persuade the writer to do something. Worries me. I'm a bit of a purist in this - the writer, in my opinion, should write their tale without the audience interacting with them or providing input. I had similar issues with writer's workshops - because 90% of the time the input was not helpful. There's a difference between helping a writer make a story better, a plot tighter, and explaining if it works...and changing the story so that it is one you want to read. That's my problem with fanboards where writer's of the work participate or lurk. The 4th wall crumbles down and you begin to wonder if the writer is writing the tale they see, or one that others see. This may explain why I never hung out at the Bronze Beta or really on Whedonesque. The moment the writer posts on the board, I start backing out. I really don't want that interaction.
It ruins the story for me somehow. I guess I agree with James Joyce who stated when asked what he meant in Ulysses or what his intent was, or to explain his story - that he felt that it was best to let the reader interpret it their own way. The author did his job when he wrote it. Now it's time to let go. He like JD Salinger and Cormac McCarthy did not believe in interacting with fans of their writing - or art, they created it and did not know how it was interpreted. I wonder if that's the better road to go? OTOH - I admit as a writer - I like feedback. I want to know if I accomplished my
aim. But the problem is - reader's often don't interpret the way we want. It's dicey. The internet in some respects has thrown that whole issue into question more than before. Before - writer's only interacted with fans through mail. If at all. Now, fans and writers can interact instantaneously.
Most fantasy/sci-fi, mystery, etc genre writers have blogs, they interact with their fans directly, and keep up contact. It's how they grow their readership. While more literary or mainstream writers don't blog, and don't interact.

There's also the fear of sharing work with people on the blogsphere. Because they are often disappointed. What they think you should write and what you actually write aren't the same thing.

Writing itself isn't that hard, I don't think. I think it's sharing one's writing with others - which is necessary of course. Because that's the whole point of writing - to communicate what is inside our heads and hearts to another. Otherwise why write? Why not just let the story or thought stay inside our heads?