Lori Sizemore

Don’t miss another post from my Writing blog:

1. Create Your Writing Bible 3/6
2. They Don’t Call It the Sagging Middle for Nothing 3/3
3. Bringing the Sex 2/20
4. A Romance Novel By Any Other Name… 2/11
5. This Isn’t a Game 2/8

There’s this guy and he calls himself The Oatmeal.  No, I don’t know why.  But he’s hilarious.  For instance, he explains how to use a semicolon and he’s correct.  But, it’s also funny enough that you might just remember it.  He also explains why he’d rather be punched in the testicles than call customer service. And 10 reasons to avoid talking on the phone.  And he does it all, and there’s plenty more, with these hilarious cartoons.  So, you should go there, love him, and buy a poster.

And, no, I didn’t get a thing for saying this.  I just love sharing the funny.

Writing is an affliction, a disease of the soul, a rewiring in the head, like Asperger’s or some other form of autism. Like masturbation, it’s an uncontrollable and compulsive urge. It’s an obsession, a need, a drive. It’s not fun, and rewarding, and entertaining. It’s like having a bad movie play in loop in your head, so that your thoughts are either obsessing on words, or obsessing that your words are crap. It’s tortuous and exhausting, and if you could expel it from your possessed soul like an unwanted demon and be happy and content on a salaried wage, most writers would probably, in their darkest moments, do that instead. But they write because they have to, because they feel, like Gloria Steinem, that “writing is the only thing that, when I do it, I don’t feel like I should be doing anything else”.

via Ruth Fowler: You Want My Opinion? Never. Write. Again..

Yeah.  That.

So, I’m netflixing TV shows.  It’s research, honest.  I watch some good TV series, I get this mojo for good writing, it makes me want to write, etc.

Anyway, I just watched the first disc of True Blood which I knew very little about, except that most people raved about how awesome it is.  And, it occurs to me while I’m watching, wasn’t Sookie Stackhouse a character in some novels?  How could they just take that name–it’s pretty unique.  And then I realize, it’s a show based on the novels.  So, now I’m torn.  Great books, great TV, or both?  Will one ruin the other?  I’ve ordered the first book.  I’ll let you know.

Update 3/4/10: So the book is here and I’ve finished the first season.  And I’m kind of not looking forward to the book, because what if it’s just the same thing?  I kind of already know who the killer is.  I won’t spoil it, but… yeah.  But I’ll read it and let you know.

Also, the book may be better, but without the show, I’d never have “heard” Bill say Sookie in that old southern accent of his.  And it sort of defines the show for me.

Update again 3/8/10: I finished the second season.  Very, very good show.  Also: I have a serious crush on Vampire Eric. Serious.

I found Sex and the Single Vampire by Katie MacAlister at the Dollar Store for $1.25! Squee!

One’s To Be Read (TBR) pile can never be too large.  Especially when it’s a favorite author.

Since these are the last episodes of the last season ever, and since I’ve been a loyal viewer for the last five years, enduring both dull flashbacks and funky flash forwards and everything in between, could you do me one small favor?  Could you try, in future episodes, to make the other 41 minutes less of a chore to watch and actually let things happen in the story as opposed to waiting until the last two minutes?  K, thanks.

L.

On changes in the romance genre:

The relationships had also modernized: by the 1990s, it was rare to see a book which featured a man raping his future wife.

via Romance novel – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Yeah, thank goodness those crazy men finally came to their senses.  In the NINETIES.  What the?

I get that this still happens in books.  Not books I read, but, it happens.  I get that some people enjoy this… forced intimacy.  But, damn it, who the hell marries someone who respects and loves them so little they just commit a crime against them?  Who else do they fall in love with?  Their stalkers?  Do they boil a bunny for Valentine’s Day?  How sweet.

But online organization doesn’t have to be complicated. There are many tools for organizing all our stuff, of course, but one of the simplest is the wiki.

We’re all familiar with wikis, of course — Wikipedia being the most famous example, but many other useful wikis abound on the Internet. But one of the most productive forms of wikis is the personal wiki, which you can create at any number of sites.

via 15 Productive Uses for a Wiki – WebWorkerDaily.

I love this idea so much I wanted to share it.  I can see myself creating a Story “Bible”, a mom wiki for my family, a bill wiki.  I’m all over this.  I hope you find it useful, too.

But my daughter had surgery last week and my dad was taken to the hospital by ambulance last night.  I just need a little more time.  Thanks for your patience!

Update:  2/2/2010 Dad’s home from the hospital and my daughter is healing up.  Thanks for your patience.

A great snowstorm took out pretty much all venues of communication for me for the last week.  I’ll be back over the next few days with some posts (especially for the writers).

xoxo