Get Organized With LifeHacker
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I’m a regular reader of the LifeHacker blog. Can’t remember how I stumbled upon it, but there you go. I was intrigued by a post last week about ways to stay energized.
Last Friday it was unseasonably warm in Minnesota, getting up into the mid 80s. Every one I had contact with that afternoon seemed to be yawning and just plain tired. Even I had to reach for that extra cuppa to me through the afternoon. I attributed it to the weather, akin to the feelings we have during early spring when our thickened blood tries to race through our veins when the weather gets warmer.
This post by LifeHacker is just the thing for such a day. Before reading this post, I had incorporated some of its suggestions not so much to get energized, but to get organized. Exercise in the morning and getting out to do it have done wonders for me. If I accomplish anything, I can at least say I took some exercise.
Then the caffeine bit. I love my morning cup of coffee. During the day though, I switch to tea. I’m one of the lucky ones that could, if I chose, drink a cup of coffee and then go to bed. The advice to take the caffeine down a notch is good for those more sensitive to the effects of caffeine.
An alternative to caffeine that I’ve used in the past is ginkgo biloba. It’s a pleasant lift and no crash afterwards. Ginseng also has a similar effect. Caution though if you are on blood thinners or take ibuprofen regularly. There can be reactions between the two.
The top ten ways to stay energized is a good read with some great advice.
Watch Your Commas and Hyphens — National Punctuation Day, September 24
They have Grandparents Day, Secretary’s Day (or should I say, administrative assistant day), Talk Like a Pirate day, and just about anything else you can think of. So why not a National Punctuation Day?
Since 2004, Jeff Rubin has been giving semi-colons and question marks their due appreciation. No more it’s for its. No more misplaced quotes or apostrophes. Punctuation deserves respect, gosh darn it. Today, it will have its day.
Writing Quote of the Day
“What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure.”
Samuel Johnson, English Poet, Critic and Writer. 1709-1784
My Least Favorite Character
I’ve written about my favorite character. Now it’s time for my least favorite character. Likeableness is easy to conjure. Conjuring the qualities that are repulsive are less easy, not as enjoyable.
I mused about the qualities that I identify least. I thought back to the people, present and past, that I didn’t enjoy. I considered characters in books I’ve read that I didn’t like. How could you not dislike Uriah Heap or Bradley Headstone for that matter? All this musing brought me an image of my least favorite character. His name is Johnny.
Johnny is, as one of my other characters describe, smarmy and smug. He has an aura about him that speaks of a rough, violent past. The vibes tell you not to turn your back on him.
I created my character profiles with WriteWayPro. I added images to my characters to allow me to picture them and more vividly imagine their scenes. Johnny is no exception. To add verisimilitude to my writing, I conjure images of someone that I don’t particularly like. I use my own experiences to write and speak as my other characters would of someone that they disliked.
It’s a bit cathartic, I’ll admit, especially when one of my characters will tell Johnny off. In this way, I’ve made the story Besides that, it’s fun.
9/11 — Not Forgotten
Always in our hearts
The Lazy Writer’s Way To Research an Era
My current work, "Murder To Order", is set in two different periods:
1968 and 1984. Despite having lived through both these time periods, I still
felt the need for era research. I wanted to know what I would know at each of these time periods, what I would feel. Here are tips for getting into another time.
-Use TV
Documentaries of the era give you opportunities to observe people in natural settings. You can view clothes, language, and significant events. The aim of these shows is to immerse you in an era. Check into era documentaries or documentaries about an era. A PBS documentary on the Korean War gave me great insight into one of my characters. Netflix can be a great resource for historical perspectives. Movies of the time period give you some insight into what was done and not during a specific time period. I find it especially helpful for male and female roles. How did they relate to one another? I can rely a bit on my own experience, of course, but a refresher course in the morals of an era can be helpful. Enjoy the ride.
-Wiki the year
Wikipedia will give you a list of top tens, events, and other significant info for any given year. I was able to use it to find obscure information like who was the quarterback for Green Bay in 1984, something I certainly wouldn’t know.
-Year You Were Born Books
These books, meant as a birthday gift, give another perspective of the era by focusing on more mundane info such as the cost of milk, the popular ads, the slang of the day. Again, this is an opportunity to immerse yourself in what was important at the time.
Join a group like CrimeSceneWriters Yahoo Group
This group is very active and truly supportive of other writers. If you have a question about writing in a specific era, someone is sure to know or at least point you in the right direction.
In the end, it’s the journey that counts. Enjoy your stroll into the past.
Picnic At Hanging Rock
A recent blog post from the Kill Zone took me back to a time when I first saw the movie, Picnic at Hanging Rock
Supposedly the movie is pure fiction, but the delicate handling of director, Peter Weir, draws the viewer so into the plot that one can scarcely believe that it’s not real. The movie is well-cast. The main character, Miranda played by Anne-Louise Lambert, is mesmerizing. The movie offers up a bit of sexual tension and Lambert delivers. She is beautiful on set and equally beautifully filmed.
I suppose another aspect of the movie that makes it so compelling is its dreamlike quality. Author, Joan Lindsay, also added to the mystery, never divulging the fiction/non-fiction elements of the story. Posthumously published, the mysterious 18th chapter
The story had the elements writers yearn for: a strong mystery, an enduring plot, memorable characters, a unique setting. I just added “Picnic At Hanging Rock” to the top of my queue at Netflix
src="http://ad.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/show?id=3/HpICi*FIY&bids=78684.10000008&type=3&subid=0"/>
. I’m anxious to see how I view this movie with writer’s eyes.
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