Thursday, February 24, 2011

We have a winner (Sillyness is only the beginning)

In the spirit of the awards season, since the Oscars are coming up soon, I decided I should announce another winner of a Gooseyness Award. I finally, finally got my hands on The Snowman by Raymond Briggs. (Terrwyn nominated it last month : http://gooseyness.blogspot.com/2011/01/i-have-decided-i-have-dallied-enough.html )

It's wonderful, I bet the animated version is beautiful too, but I just read the book so I can only talk about that. This book completely deserves a gooseyness award. It does have simple illustrations, but the fact there are no words, just pictures is charming. Sometimes you don't need words; words just get in the way.

So, I found The Snowman at the library, along with a few other of Raymond Briggs graphic novels. I read Gentleman Jim, a somewhat dark comical story about a man sick of his day job, who gets an idea into his head about becoming a highway robber (you know the type who steal from the rich and give to the poor) and living a life full of romanticized adventure. It doesn't quite work out for him, as he runs into problems with the law and trying to keep a donkey in his backyard. I also found Briggs' The Man, which sounds like an odd name for a book, but I can't imagine what else you'd call it. It was almost a fairy tale about a boy and a man who is seven inches tall. The quote at the beginning captures the essence of the book "After three days, fish and visitors begin to stink" (a Chinese proverb). The book had some amusing moments, capturing how the the boy looks after his small house guest, the difficulties of life when you're that small. It's a book of conversations between the two.  Lastly, I read Briggs' Ethel and Ernest: a true story, an illustrated biography about his parents from the 1920s to 1970s. It was an intimate view of life in England, a family portrait in a very real way, through the struggles of day to day life during the war, the tragedies and a simple triumphs.

I enjoyed them all, though only The Snowman wins the Gooseyness Award, it was by far my favorite.

Part of the rules for the Gooseyness Awards, I believe it was number 5, went as follows:  If the other person isn't familiar with the nominee, then they should try to read, watch, etc in order to decide yay or nay. Actually, that rule may be the most important. The reason behind that rule was when we find a silly person/story/song, etc we needed to share that goofy, glee-inducing person/story/song etc. I'm know I'm always looking for a good story - something that inspires me, thrills me, makes me want to dance or run around outside under the stars. I sometimes think I write because I can't always find stories and somewhere in my subconscious mind I decide, well, if I can't find them I'll just write them myself.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

This is how my brain works (yes I know it's weird)

After I posted Letter 7 something about it bothered me, but I couldn't put my finger on it. What was it? The poems, I realized, the poems were sticking out too much and ruining it. I decided to change it, so I striped the poems from the interior of the letter and just put them on the bottom.

It's a temporary solution. I have no idea what do with with them.

First, let me share with you my thoughts while I was revising Letter 7, they went as follows:

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Today Success. And tomorrow?

Dear friends,

May I present for your reading pleasure --wait a minute . . . . what - what happened to letter # 7?? click here

Oh no, its been completely, and entirely taken over by poetry. When did that happen? Oh my. And it's so distracting. Heaven help us, for Lackcroft and Roe have officially arrived. I hope their scribbling all over the letter doesn't take away from the pleasure of reading Ange's latest misadventures. (And that glaring white background! Really miss webartist, can't you at least make the background tranparent? ...stoney silence --Apparently not.)

Well, enjoy.

Breaking the rules or why I don't understand grammer sometimes.

I just recently finished Salman Rushdie's newest book Luka and the Fire of Life. First, let me say, wow. It is an amazing book, the best I've read this year, in months actually. The book is set in the same world as his previous children's book, Haroun and the Sea of Stories. You must go read these two books immediately, Terrwyn. Haroun and the Sea of Stories is in my top books EVER list. Luka and the Fire of Life will probably join it.

Before I started reading Rushdie's new book I was prepared for a great story, and the possibility I might be reading one of my favorite books ever. That's a lot of expectation to put on a book, not to mention, since Luka and the Fire of Life is sorta a sequel, I'd probably compare it to the first book, Haroun and the Sea of Stories. (See, even the titles of both books are similar.) However, within the first sentence none of that stuff mattered, I dove right into the story and loved every minute of it. This was one of those books I wanted to read and read and never stop - and at the same time I didn't want to read, because I wanted the story to last forever.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Re: Revising and When is it good enough?

I'm starting to hate the endless revisions. I'm feeling really frustrated with them. It's a really terrible attitude to take. I know. I know. So I'm trying to give myself a positive outlook in this post. I will try anyway.

Regarding (or Re:) Revisions. Revising. Rewriting. Reworking.

Writing, and rewriting, it can go on and on and on. What drives me to do this to myself? I found this article about rewriting, called Writers on Rewriting . It has a collection of quotes from different writers about the subject, everyone from Earnest Hemingway, E.B. White, Vladimir Nabokov, Dorothy Parker and many others. It makes me both encouraged and discouraged to read them over.