Books and TV

I don't really have much to talk about today, but I do have some news that was pretty cool. My town is not a town that is known for its readers. The only bookstores we have are a used bookstore, and our Wal-Mart, and slowly but surely, our Wal-Mart has been reducing the book section down to Junie B. Jones, other kids books of that nature, and self help books. But it looks like our Wal-Mart is starting to exand their stock a little more. The other day, I am happy to report, I saw Twilight Fall in the flesh...er...page...along with the book that Lynn Viehl advertised a few days ago -- Death Angel. My only let down was that I couldn't find The Iron Hunt by Marjorie M. Liu. I frantically checked my money supply. I was going to buy them and have SoaM's first book give away, but sadly, I was broke. So, in a few months, I may have a book give away, if by then everyone doesn't already have those books, ha. We'll see, though -- money is looking tighter this semester.

And in other news, I saw the last episode of Death Note the other day -- God bless you, my lovely DVR -- and I have only this to say: HOLY COW!!! AMAZING!!!

That's really all. I'll try to have something cool to post later this week. I'm stewing ideas.

Inspiration

I've been thinking about this post for a while. It's something that I would like to talk about. At first I thought it was only me, but I've talked to several people and they all have this problem.

Inspiration, aka the muse. She's a fickle friend, and one that often leaves you. It's the fire that drives you to write, the passion that makes you love what you do and want to see the thing to the end. Every writer and wanna-be writer knows what I'm talking about. You get that idea and your pulse quickens and you feel your adrenaline surge and you just can't wait to get started.

But, what I've seen happen a lot is the inspiration goes away. Sometimes early on. For those who feel dedication and love and such, sometimes halfway through the book, but eventually it seems that writing becomes a chore...and everybody hates chores so why would you want to write? Let's go watch some Smallville and give the muse a rest. We'll write tomorrow.

Tomorrow you say, geez, man. I still don't want to write. Oh well, I'll go read this book I've been wanting to read and go wash some dishes and tomorrow I'll do a big writing day to make up for what I missed today.

And the next day you don't.

And the next day you don't...

...and eventually you stop writing entirely. That's happened to me more times than I can count. I have a whole ton of stories that I started, but never got around to finishing, some of them I didn't know what I wanted to do with them, some them I knew exactly, but all of them eventually became no fun to write.

I thought it was just me, but one of my college friends was talking to me the other day -- she's a creative writing major -- and she said that she gets like that too.

That's why I've been writing so many random genre stories lately: A Lover Scorned was a kinda noir-ish murder mystery, Silence and Darkness was a horror-ish story, and Detective Sheen is sci-fi, which I've never written before. I've been trying variety to give the muse other flavors and make her want to work, but I still lose interest.

So this is kind of a discussion question for those of you who want to participate, how do you finish things? How do you keep interested long enough to finish the whole project, whether it be a short story or a novel?

Saturday Lolcats

I've decided to add a new feature. The weekends around the blogosphere are somewhat dull. Everyone is spending time with their families, and that leaves the few survivors that are hanging around nothing to read. So for your pure entertainment, I'm going to post on Saturdays. I'm thinking Lolcat Saturdays? They're funny, and they leave you feeling warm and fuzzy. Get it? 'Cause they're cats? Ha ha? ...anyway... >.>;

Happy 4th of July!

To all of you with me in the US, Happy Independence Day! My family and I are having a barbeque and I'll be using some of those awesome recipes I found from the Recipe Round-up. No matter what you're doing, though, I hope you're with people you love.

Pet Scare and Relief

We had a scare recently here at la casa de la Rayburn. Our poor mini-dachshund Jimi Hendrix got sick. (While he bears no actual resemblance to the rocker of the same name I can hug my Jimi Hendrix and roll him around on the floor and play with him. I couldn't have done that with the other one without causing some risque gossip...although my Jimi can't play the guitar as well as the other Jimi either.)

Anyway, we came home a few days ago and poor Jimi was laying on the floor shaking and whining. I was instantly worried, because I was instantly reminded of when my chihuahua Sugar got sick when I was 10. She had cancer and died, and before she died she laid around and shook and yelped.

Luckily, my mom, God bless her, has a clearer head than mine. She immediately knew what it was. She took him into the kitchen and gave Jimi some mineral oil and some medicine and said, "He's constipated. It sometimes happens to dachshunds. Don't worry. He'll be fine." I wasn't so sure.

My heart sank when, the next day, he still laid there yelping and whining. I was getting panicky, but my mom just gave him more medicine and said that he would be fine. Next day, he was perfectly fine. He's been bouncing around for the past couple days as happy as he can be. I'm so glad that he feels better.

Below is a picture of both Jimis. Try to guess which one is mine, :D

Chocolate Drop Cookies

I'm posting this because Barrie Summy is having a cool little Recipe Round-Up for July 4th -- Independence Day here in the US. Check out her blog for other awesome recipes as well. This should be a ton of fun.

This is my mom's fantastic recipe for her "No Bake Drop Cookies." They are so fantastic and rich and yummy...yeah. Enjoy!

2 cups sugar

2 1/2 tbsp. cocoa

1 stick of butter

1/2 cup milk

2 1/2 cups oatmeal (not cooked)

1 tsp vanilla

1. Bring 1st four ingredients to a rolling boil.
   
2. count 90 seconds SLOWLY
   
3. take mixture off fire
   
4. Add vanilla, stir
   
5. add oatmeal, stir really well
   
6. drop teaspoonfuls on buttered or waxed paper
   
7. cool for 30 mins.

Book Plugging

I just realized how out of the loop I was today. I went and visited PBW's blog, and her post reminded me of several books I've been looking forward to reading. So today, to make up for that, I'm just gonna give you guys a little bump and some info about some books that have come out that you should check out.

First on the list is the one that reminded me of the others. Lynn Viehl has a new Darkyn book out -- Twilight Fall. It just came out today. This is the 6th novel of the Darkyn series chronicling the tribe of vampires. The last two Darkyn books released -- Evermore and Night Lost -- appeared at the 12 spot on the New York Times Bestseller list. Lynn has announced that there will only be one more book in the series, and then it will be finished. From what I hear, these books keep getting better and better. If you're into dark fantasy/romance, go check these books out.

Next on the list is a new release by Holly Lisle -- The Ruby Key. This was released on May 1st, and it's the first in her new YA series Moon and Sun. I've been looking forward to this release for a long time. Snippets from her blog have made me foam at the mouth in anticipation, and as soon as I can get my hands on some money (which, sadly, may be a few months) I will buy this and revel in its awesomeness. Definitely pick this one up.

Third on the list is yet another release by Holly Lisle -- Hawkspar. This is the anticipated sequal to the amazing Talyn, and it is #2 in what will hopefully become a series following in the world of Korre. If you remember the splash that Talyn made, you know you can't miss out on this one. Another one that I will pick up as soon as I can, since I devoured Talyn.

And finally, Odd Thomas is back in his quircky, beautifully tragic adventures in two released -- Odd Hours and In Odd We Trust. If you haven't started reading the Odd Thomas series yet, I recommend that you go out and get them now. They are spectacular. Odd has such a sad/hilarious view on the world: to see the tragedy and the comedy in most situations. And he's up to his usual wise-cracking. For a while, the story seems unlike the other Odd books, but by the middle, Dean Koontz cracks open and you see the quick, hilarious, odd ball (ha ha) conversations that you expect from Odd. In Odd We Trust is trying something new. This one is a prequal to the amazing Odd Thomas, but that's not all it does differently. This book is done in a graphic novel manga style, which I can say only makes me want to read it more.


Sorry that the post isn't anything special, but I'm kinda out of it today, and I've got a lot to do to get prepared for the play. I hope you enjoy these recommendations and remember that none of the author's tell me to do this. This is on my own and because I like spreading the word of fellow writers. I remember some contraversy about that a while back and I just want to remind everyone.

Wondrous Wall-E

I got to go see Wall-E yesterday. Fantastic movie. I really had my doubts about it, because none of the commericals really told me anything and I figured it would be very boring. Far from it, it was funny, sweet, heartwarming, and inspiring. I was amazed at the amount of emotion that came across with very little voice acting.

One of my friends had a small complaint that Disney seemed to be making a statement about our society and our environment. I did notice it, but since I can't say that I disagreed with what I noticed, I can't say I was offended. In fact, it's not all that new. We've used the same basic idea of "humans screw up Earth and go live in space" in movies and stories for a long, long time.

One of my friends thought that kids wouldn't enjoy it because there was hardly any talking, but I can say that there were probably 30 kids in the audience last night and all of them were laughing up a storm.

It was a great movie, and supposedly the last of the original ideas that the guys that started the Pixar movies came up with. If you've got kids, it's definitely a movie to take them to see.

...and if by the end of the movie, you want to see the movie that Wall-E watches throughout the movie and you haven't seen it, I suggest picking up Hello Dolly, as well. Great old musical starring Barbera Streisand and Walter Matthou.

________________

In other news, I have my other short story is up at Scribd. It's called Silence and Darkness. The same blah as before, if you read it, and happened to be moved to do so, any feedback would be nice. Most of all, though, enjoy it.

I'd Like to See More

A little known fact about me, I really like musicals. It's something that I've loved ever since I was a kid. Disney had some of the greatest: Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Jungle Book. But it wasn't just animated movies, I loved Mary Poppins, The King and I, and on of my all time favorites to this day is Guys and Dolls, starring Frank Sinatra and Marlon Brando. To me musicals were like listening to a cd with a story attached. Eventually though, they faded out. I mean, even Disney has stopped putting out musicals in favor of 3D team ups with Pixar. (I could go into how I miss the 2D cartoons Disney used to put out, but that's a rant for another post.)

It's been many a year since Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music and Grease, and it seemed musicals were a sort of dead art form. However, they seem to be trickling back into society, much to my joy. With the success of modern musicals like Chicago, Rent, Hairspray, The Phantom of the Opera, the ever amazing Sweeney Todd, and the awesomely hilarious but under appreciated The Producers, it seems Hollywood is trying to bring musicals back.

I hope that the trend continues. Mama Mia! is supposed to be a musical, and I don't know much about it, but I'm tempted to go see it. I'm hoping they'll eventually cave in and make a movie version of Wicked for us poor broke buggers who can't make it to New York to see it on Broadway.

Anyway, I just thought I'd share a little something about me that I don't usually like to admit. You'd be surprised how many weird looks you get for admitting to something like this.

What do you guys think? Do you like musicals? Got a favorite musical? Do you think that musicals should be brought back or left to be admired as a once glorious but now dead artform? Let us know in the comments.

P.S. In other news, I uploaded one of my stories to Scrib'd. A Lover Scorned. If you're reading it and feel the need to share something you liked, hated, felt I could improve on, or anything else, I'd appreciate it, but most of all I hope you enjoy it. This is the link to my page with both my new story and my 1st e-book on there.

Long time.

Hey, long time eh? I've been busy and will probably still be busy. I can't guarantee regular posts or anything, ha ha. But I wanted to give you guys some news. I got another couple of rejection letters. It's not big. But I think that's just about all of them, so I'll probably get them both on Scrib'd very soon. I'm totally not against some constructive criticism if you feel the need to spread the knowledge.

Anyway, in other news, I've been going to rehearsals. The local theater is putting Beauty and the Beast and I'm the Beast. It's been tons of fun. I've never acted in a play before, but I absolutely love acting. It's so much fun to do. If it weren't all but impossible to get into the biz I'd move to California right now and start.

Anyway, I'll try to post those stories soon, hope you guys still check here every once in a while, ha.

P.S. How have things been? Let me know in the comments, it'd be great to hear from you guys.