writer’s horoscope

December 2, 2005

From Astrology for Writers, Editors and Filmmakers

aries: Control has been a lesson this past month. Now you know that sometimes letting other people dictate your schedule can have surprise benefits. Who would have thought that you’d learn to take the back seat?

Raine, what’s going on here? What does the universe have against Aries?

FYI, the floor color seems to work. The painter is officially scared of the living room color and I think he’s been sleeping at our house. Which, strangely enough, I don’t mind because it’ll get things moving more quickly.

Writing? Hmmm, guess I’d better do some of that today, because just doing edits is driving me crazy. AM is calling my name and it just won’t let go. And it’s shaping up to be a little bit of a crazy story, but I think I’m just going to go with it and see where it leads me.

Now, you go and procrastinate a little by taking the quiz:

Your 80s Heartthrob Is

John Stamos

Who’s Your 80′s Heartthrob?

Steph T.

Happy Halloween

October 31, 2005

Well, as of this morning, we’re still not sure if the four year old is going to be a chick or a frog for Halloween (I’m still holding out for the frog.) At least I know there will be plenty of candy around for the next few days, which is always a happy thing. And then, tomorrow, NaNoWrimo begins. And yes, I’m invoking that special clause and I’m just going to make sure I write 50K this month of new stuff. It might be on After Midnight or whatever else strikes my interest, but what’s the worst they can do? Un-NaNo me?

Maybe I’ll name it something different. Larissa’s taken to calling me Stephanano (I’ve been calling her Larissawrimo.) So, feel free to join the Stephanano /Larissawrimo show, starting tomorrow. Because really, what do you have to lose?

Now, go procrastinate for a little while. Come tomorrow, we work.

Halloween Horoscope for Aries

You’re a total candy hound who will do anything for a sugar fix.
And to get the most candy, you’ll wear the wildest costume possible.

Costume suggestions: A superhero or famous rock star

Signature Halloween candy: Mini Snickers bars

What’s Your Halloween Horoscope?

Yes, sounds about right.

Steph T.

flashing back

October 21, 2005

So I’m on page 75 on BOL revisions (Nick’s book) and I’ve already added at least 10 pages, handwritten and scrawled all over the back of the hard copy. Putting all of it into the computer is going to be a job in itself, but at least I’m finally making progress.

And if you remember me ~~whining~~ talking about the flashback I’d included in this book, and how I was back and forth about whether to keep the flashback as a flashback or open the book up with the scene taking place in the present moment. This morning, I’ve been working on the flashback scene, fleshing it out, making the impact greater. And I had one of those light bulb moments, like, this is why I wanted the scene to be in flashback in the first place. In fact, I said it out loud, but the four year old didn’t seem that impressed, especially because Elmo doesn’t make great use of flashbacks and backstory.

Moral of story – I started the story where I did for a reason. I needed the backstory as flashback for a reason. My writing instincts knew it, even if I didn’t. And I love it when that happens. Now I just have to keep my fingers crossed that it makes sense to the crit partners.

Okay, I guess I’ve procrastinated long enough – your turn . Quiz nicked from Jaq:

Francis Ford Coppola
Your film will be 57% romantic, 24% comedy, 34% complex plot, and a $ 50 million budget.

Filmography: The Conversation, The Godfather (and Pt. 2 and Pt. 3), Apocolypse Now, Peggy Sue Got Married, Jack, etc. He notoriously went WAY overbudget with Apocolypse Now which sort of maimed his career since. He’s been doing a lot of small films lately which may give your life story an inside track. A high-budget simple romantic drama is best in the hands of this modern master filmmaker.

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:

You scored higher than 72% on action-romance

You scored higher than 8% on humor

You scored higher than 41% on complexity

You scored higher than 96% on budget

Link: The Director Who Films Your Life Test written by bingomosquito on Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

Steph T.

luck, fate & karma vs. persistance

October 2, 2005

Nothing in the world can take the place of persistance. Talent will not; nothing is more commonplace than unsuccessful men with talent. Genuis will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education alone will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistance and Determination alone is omnipotent.
-Calvin Coolidge

I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.
- Thomas Jefferson (1743 – 1826)

Some luck lies in not getting what you thought you wanted but getting what you have, which once you have got it you may be smart enough to see is what you would have wanted had you known.
- Garrison Keillor

You Are Balanced – Believer – Empowered

You feel your life is controlled both externally and internally.
You have a good sense of what you can control and what you should let go.
Depending on the situation, you sometimes try to exert more control.
Other times, you accept things for what they are and go with the flow.

You are a true believer in luck, fate, and karma.
You believe that life is a game of chance – not a game of skill.
You either consider yourself very unlucky or very lucky.
No matter what, you don’t feel like you can change the hand you were dealt.

You have a good deal of power, but you also know the pecking order.
You realize that working the system does get you further.
You know who to defer to and who to control.
When it comes to the game of life, you play things flawlessly.

The Three Dimension Luck and Power Test

Steph T.

color quiz

September 28, 2005

Couldn’t resist. And it is one of my favorite colors.

you are
darkslategray
#2F4F4F

Your dominant hues are green and blue. You’re smart and you know it, and want to use your power to help people and relate to others. Even though you tend to battle with yourself, you solve other people’s conflicts well.

Your saturation level is lower than average – You don’t stress out over things and don’t understand people who do. Finishing projects may sometimes be a challenge, but you schedule time as you see fit and the important things all happen in the end, even if not everyone sees your grand master plan.

Your outlook on life is dark. You’re generally a pessimist and everyone knows it; you’re the one the come to when they don’t want the sunshine blown around, they just want to straight truth. You can miss good things in life if you make up your mind too early though.

the spacefem.com html color quiz

Steph T.

obsolete quiz

September 25, 2005

I’ve got a lot of technology going on around here. Between the computers and the networking and the new BlackBerry, I’m kind of trying to get stuff organized in terms of data, so I don’t lose all my phone numbers and addresses like I did in the Great Palm Pilot Crash of 2005.

Of course, I’m still figuring out how to actually pick up the phone on the BB, so it may take a while before I can begin the data entry. I am happy to report, however, that I’ve figured out how to use the screen saver.

A big part of me misses the paper date book, since I’m a big fan of pen and paper. But it would be ridiculous of me to use both, right?

Anyway, since I do like themes, this quiz fit right in. I like my result – it seems like something a SEAL would use, doesn’t it?

It 's comforting to say that 'practice makes perfect'....
You are ‘Gregg shorthand’. Originally designed to
enable people to write faster, it is also very
useful for writing things which one does not
want other people to read, inasmuch as almost
no one knows shorthand any more.

You know how important it is to do things
efficiently and on time. You also value your
privacy, and (unlike some people) you do not
pretend to be friends with just everyone; that
would be ridiculous. When you do make friends,
you take them seriously, and faithfully keep
what they confide in you to yourself.
Unfortunately, the work which you do (which is
very important, of course) sometimes keeps you
away from social activities, and you are often
lonely. Your problem is that Gregg shorthand
has been obsolete for a long time.

What obsolete skill are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Thanks to Jean over at Rantings & Ravings of an Insane Writer for this one:, She got the same results, and I knew as soon as I read them, that I’d get the same. And I did.

Steph T.

moving forward, then backward

September 19, 2005

I caught up on my revisions today – I was a few days behind and I really want to stay on track for finishing them by September 30th. And then I’ll have to go through for another swipe, mainly to flesh out scenes where I wrote things like, this needs dialogue, or expand sex scene here. But at least most of the writing will have been cleaned up, the repetitiveness taken out. At least I’m still really loving this story. Books are easier to love when they’re finished, I think.

Speaking of finished, (not) I’m still behind my anticipated schedule on BOL (Nick’s story) I’m trying to keep with 8 pages a day, but I don’t really work like that. (see above example and note that, instead of doing 12 pages of revisions per day, I somehow ended up plowing through 80 pages of them without a problem.) So I’m sitting here in the dark with the computer trying to get a little caught up, because I know there’s no way I’m cranking out 33 pages tonight unless there’s a divine intervention that includes a visit from the caffeine gods to shoot some directly into my veins.

I’ve been working on it for an hour and I’ve managed to cut two pages. I’m going in the wrong direction. I hate having to cut, because I don’t like seeing that page count go down, even though I know it’s for the best. And what I’m cutting is Jake’s POV from the story, so yeah, someone’s not going to be happy. But Nick needs more airtime, and so do the subplots, and hey, Jake’s getting his own whole book eventually.

Now, I’m headed to sleep. See the tie-in to the quiz? It’s not just procrastination – it actually brings my blog post full-circle.

(You didn’t buy that at all, did you? Bet you’ll take the quiz anyway…)

What Your Sleeping Position Says

You have a passion for everything – including sleeping.
Outgoing and brash, you tend to still shock those who know you well.
You tend to be selfish. You are the most likely type to hog the covers.
You gravitate toward comfort and don’t like extreme situations.

What Does Your Sleeping Position Say About You?

Oh, and about the Halloween costume for the four year old? My mother brought home two to choose from – one is a chick (it’s really cute) and the other’s a frog. I’m pushing for the frog, secretly laughing because they don’t get the fact that if she goes as the frog, I will have won. You know – SEALs = frogs. HA! How’s that for covert? :smoke:

Steph T.

dreams

August 23, 2005

Some quick notes first:

1. For AOL users who have problems commenting because of my spam settings – if you register, you should be able to comment with no problem. (the links are right under the calendar on the sidebar)
2. Kacey or anyone who uses an RSS feed for this blog, is it working again for you?

Now, onto the day’s topic.

Today’s horoscope for Aries:

The universe works in mysterious ways, and right now it’s trying to get a very important message across to you, but not in the ways you’re used to. In other words, don’t expect a phone call. Listen to your dreams instead.

Dear Universe:
I’d prefer the phone call. If that doesn’t pan out – I’m prepared:

What Your Dreams Mean…

Your dreams seem to show that you’re a bit disturbed… but nothing serious.

You may have a problem you’re trying to work out in your sleep.

Overall, you are very content in your life.

You tend to be a very productive thinker.

Your dreams indicate that you have very conflicted feelings.

You have a very vivid imagination and a rich creative mind.

What Do Your Dreams Mean?

And I’d try and apologize for Jake, but really, there’s no apologizing for him. He kind of lives by the motto – it’s easier to ask forgiveness than permission, and he doesn’t plan on asking for either anytime soon. However, I did find a bit of fallout here this morning. It seems that Bo Black and Gabriel might’ve had a slight brawl over Tessa. However, they seem to have called a truce and and last I saw them, they were playing poker and drinking tequila and beam with Jake and muttering things about damned stubborn women. Tessa and Linda’s muse stayed up late with me, having coffee and gossiping and completely ignoring all the men clamoring for attention (don’t worry, Linda – she’s back home.) I haven’t seen Saint or James or Chris. Nick stopped speaking to me last night when I made him say something sensitive.

I made him ask his heroine if she was hungry. He’d just dragged her halfway across the African continent and I thought it might be nice if he offered her water or a cracker.

Steph T.

naming characters

August 16, 2005

Authors Let Bidders Name Characters:

Next month, Stephen King, Amy Tan, Lemony Snicket, Nora Roberts, Michael Chabon and 11 other best-selling writers will auction the right to name characters in their new novels. The profits will go to the First Amendment Project, whose lawyers have repeatedly gone to court to protect the free speech rights of activists, writers and artists.

This got me thinking how I choose character names. That’s my favorite part of starting any story, and usually, I have the name before I have anything else. I think that’s because I write from character rather than plot – so the character lives with me for a while before I start his or her story. Since I tend toward odd names or nicknames for my characters, the story’s usually built around the name and its backstory. Occasionally I’ve started a story without the hero’s name, but I can only get so far into the first chapter before the character’s bugging me to name him. And then he usually does something in the first chapter that makes me go, ah, okay, that’s your deal. Here’s the perfect name for you. Or I hunt down a baby name book and look for a certain meaning and take the name associated with it.

How do you name your characters? Could you write a story if someone handed you your character’s name?

Your Outrageous Name Is

Sofonda Peters

Outrageous Name Generator

Steph T.

horoscope time

August 13, 2005

Astrology for Writers, Editors and Filmmakers

Aries: aries writers are prolific: lousy spellers but great plot weavers. they want to stand alone so hate co-authoring as a rule. aries, you may have to bend a little on the solo stuff this month.

Daily Horoscope for Aries:

Feeling a tad arrested regarding certain developments lately? Well, sometimes the best thing to do is … wait. Yes, wait. Forcing things to come out a certain way just might make things worse. So practice patience.

I’m seeing a trend here. Bending, waiting, patience…

I counter that with this:

Impatience is the mark of independence not of bondage.
– Marianne Moore

Ha. I feel better now.

Steph T.