author: Kazuki Takahashi
name: Rebecca
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2008
rating: 5
read at: 2008/01/31
date added: 2008/01/31
shelves: i-own, manga
review:
The Ceremonial Duel gets me every time…
I’m actually going to miss this story (not like I don’t watch bits of the anime from time to time).
author: Kaori Yuki
name: Rebecca
average rating: 4.55
book published: 2004
rating: 5
read at: 2008/01/30
date added: 2008/01/30
shelves: i-own, manga
review:
A satisfying ending to a satisfying series. I’m going to miss it.
(Of course, I’m also going to re-read it somewhere down the road…)
I know, I know. No link post last week. Last weekend was this weird little creature that I never quite managed to get a handle on. I think people around me were practicing for the full moon…and that was not an entirely easy to deal with thing.
This week, on the other hand, I have some links I saved just for today!
Some of my links are pictures, because pictures can be quite happy, inspiring stories in and of themselves.
Then there’s the news that made me sad…
And it wouldn’t be a good link dump without a cool quote!
Have a good week, y’all!
I didn’t realize I’d been ignoring this blog. Sorry about that, guys. If you could see my calendar, you’d understand what’s happened. To catch you up quickly, both of my workplaces were bought this month, and so there’s a lot going on. In one case, it’s coming right as things are starting to get better. In the other…well…for the second time in twice as many months, I may not have a second job for long. My jewelry store is slowly filling with lovely pieces, and it looks like someone might be interested in bugging me to write out my patterns.
The universe also thinks i need several neon signs screaming at me to give writing a real try (as in something other than just narrowly missing freelance jobs). It doesn’t seem to care what I write professionally, just as long as I do. Thankfully, I’ve been working on Dead Bunny‘s first book for the past three weeks or so, and the first draft is coming along quite nicely, even if it’s pointing out huge gaping holes in the blog! (Yikes!)
This update isn’t what actually what brings me by today, though. I thought I’d try out a new feature, and you guys can tell me what you think of it. I used to try to review every book I read in its appropriate Niche, but my time just isn’t conducive to that anymore, so I thought I’d share the list of what I’ve read in the past month.
Toward the end of each month, I’ll try to post what I read that month wit a brief bit on what I thought. I think a book or two might get skipped, but I’ll try my best to not let any fall through the cracks.
author: Jim Butcher
name: Rebecca
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2007
rating: 5
read at: 2008/01/01
date added: 01/26/08
shelves: fantasy, i-own
review:
author: Stephen H. Lekson
name: Rebecca
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1999
rating: 4
read at: 2008/01/01
date added: 2008/01/24
shelves: archaeology, i-own
review:
I grew up in a college prep middle/high school. I had a great education in all of the subjects, but I always did a bit better in English than anything else. I never had trouble writing essays and reports in college and grad school because I had this great training in how to write formally.
Then I started living online. My IMs used to reflect my education. Full sentences. Proper grammar. The works. It earned me a few unkind comments, even from my friends, so I started letting that go. Thankfully, I haven’t slipped into the chaos known as Txtspeak. You can still understand what I’m trying to say.
Someone gave me an online journal, and my formal writing training followed me there. Imagine someone telling you about their day-to-day activities and their opinions in a dry, academic tone. That was me six years ago. (Oh, man, has it really been that long?) That tone followed me into my blogging two years later. Even better, I have a FictionPress account full of novels, character sketches, and a graphic novel script that all reek of this formal academic tone I mastered as a teenager.
Call me crazy, but neither blogging nor fiction should sound stiff. In fact, I’m even starting to believe that nonfiction should have a sense of the person, even if it’s a how-to book.
However, I feel like I can’t shake off the formal tone, despite the fact I’d like to inject more of myself into what I’m writing. I’ve been wrestling with this desire for over a year now. I’ve made plan after plan with myself to fix it, but nothing’s coming.
A new friend reads my journal, and he told me over the weekend that he thought I was a great writer. I thought he meant my fiction, but he meant my journaling. My journaling lacks that stiffness, that formal academic tone that’s driving me crazy. I admitted to him that when I journal, I don’t think I’m writing. I think I’m just venting or sharing something cool or just trying to clear my head. I never think of my journals as writing, which is probably the most preposterous thing in the world.
My journals tell me that I am more than capable of maintaining formal mechanics while letting my rather humorous, sarcastic nature shine through. So, why can’t I get myself to write like that when I feel like I’m actually writing?
There’s a definite pattern to learning anything creative. You start by learning the basic techniques with someone else. That someone else forms your early projects because you’re expected to imitate the given style. For a number of people, imitating is just fine because it means they can worry about getting everything right without having to worry about finding their own vision.
Thankfully, there are those who aren’t happy imitating for long, and soon enough they’re creating an imitation, looking at it through a lens of “What if”, and infusing the next attempt at the technique with their own imagination and inspirations. And they keep doing it, even to their own work.
It’s fine to learn by imitation, but never forget to take a step back from what you’ve made and ask yourself how you can do it differently. Find your own voice and let it shine through each subsequent piece.
(The same goes for just about everything in life. Learn something, and then decide if and how to make it your own. Don’t be afraid to turn your back on something that just doesn’t fit.)
Since working with Google Apps is a bit buggy more often than not, I’ve been trying to find a better way to work online. I keep looking at Zoho, but there’s something about it that just makes me walk away, quickly. I’ve looked into some other online apps that focus just on organizing (I kind of like having my documents online, too, though.), but so few of them organize the way my mind organizes.
I considered moving to an offline PIM, but quickly found that neither the Mozilla productivity apps nor Evolution would let me work the way I want, either.
What is a poor girl to do?
I guess for now I’m stuck cobbling together apps I like (like Todoist) and wishing favorite apps (like EverNote) would either develop on online app or a Linux version, and use Google Apps while I work on finding a suitable replacement.
What you do completely overrides what you say. Always. No exceptions.
Some of my students learn this the hard way. They tell their parents they’re somewhere, get caught somewhere else (and it’s usually a really bad place to be caught), and then can’t figure out why their parents have a hard time believing what they say any more.
One of my fellow teachers has hopefully figured this out, blowing his own credibility more than once now on the strangest mismatch of words and actions I’ve ever seen.
It’s easy to say something. Politicians do it every single day. Most people do it every day, actually. It’s far harder to follow through, to do what you’ve said you’re going to do.
It’s even harder to get your words and your actions to come into agreement when you don’t believe in your words.
Start by being honest with yourself. Is what you’re about to say really in line with your current capabilities, with your beliefs and values? If it’s not, then don’t say it. You’ll earn and keep more people’s respect that way.
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