Just to elaborate on the photo posted during my last blog entry, I gave birth to a beautiful and mysterious baby boy on 1/3/12. I am currently a stay-at-home-mom, but only for a limited time. I have not written a piece of fiction or poem in like a year, and there was a week or so during my first week home with the baby where I was starting to write down a story idea, but that kind of petered out, so I'm still not feeling like a writer anymore, and when I started this blog it was sort of out of loneliness, but also w/ the hope that I could post my fiction on it and get discovered and published like by random house or harper collins. Recently I've realized how much editing so many of the pieces I considered complete really needs, and I've also been dealing with what a lazy slacker I really am -- thank you nineteen-nineties for that one. When I was in my Master's program I really never did any of the networking etc that would have made it easier for me to do something like become adjunct faculty at some community college, instead of going right back to the clerical job at the office I worked at before getting my Master's (only this time, under more financially unstable terms). I could have tried to connect more with the 'writer's house' there, though the few half-assed attempts I made were discouraging because the activities and journals the group put out were much more geared towards undergrads. I could have student taught somewhere though, so I would have had someone to write a letter of recommendation for me when later trying to get an adjunct faculty position. the only letters of recommendation I can imagine getting from a professional connection would be like "she has intermediate skills in the Microsoft Office Suite" etc.... I sure have half-assed it a lot, and soon I will be 33. I know that my two novels both need work and probably won't hook me a literary agent. I do think that my short stories are strong, like I know that I would enjoy reading them if I weren't me, and I really am surprised at how many rejections I constantly get from literary journals, especially when I'm pretty sure the only people reading those journals are the people whose writing appears in them, and relatives of the editors. there I go with my nineteen-nineties slacker brand of cynicism again. I would like to repackage it as an ennui that lends itself to my physical appearance somehow, or a true blue existentialism.
the baby just fell asleep, my cute little snorer. I'll end this post w/ a brief list of films and books I suggest if you are bored. None of these are my all-time favorites, just recent discoveries that I was pleasantly surprised by.
Books
*anything by EM Forster -- I can't believe it took me so long to discover him. He has an amazing respect for and understanding of women, and his stories are just beautiful.
*Colours by Rose Tremaine -- this book might seem like it's going to be boring at first, it's about a turn of the century man and wife panning for gold in a remote part of New Zealand, but the story is just amazing, I never read anything like it, plot-wise
*If you're interested in adult comix, my favorite comic book Love and Rockets has taken a disappointing turn, format-wise. Since 2008, they only put out one annual, paperback book format issue. That's a whole year of waiting, and if it's a disappointing issue, then that's like a wasted year. This comic book has been around since the early 80's though, and if you start from the beginning, it's such a powerful connection to the characters that develops and they really feel like real people, and a good issue of Love and Rockets sticks to you for days. So I was really happy that the most recent issue, #4, was so good. If you're a lukewarm reader of L&R, buy #4 at least.
Movies
these are recent Netflix-ordered faves of mine
*The Savages -- a brother and sister too smart and neurotic to ever be anything but miserable and bemused with life have to take care of their old dad, who was a dick to them growing up. the dialogue is really good and if you are someone who burdens yourself with useless knowledge acquired at an overpriced university, you will no doubt get a sick pleasure from watching the futile efforts of the protagonists. satisfying ending, though.
*Hamlet 2 -- this actually is one of my all-time favorites. It's one of the funniest comedies ever, and even though it's supposed to be funny, the part when the Gay Men's Choir sings "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" makes me cry.
*Spaced -- this is a short-lived british tv-series, not incredibly recent, from the geniuses behing Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and Paul.
*Please Give -- this is another new favorite. Almost every line is perfect. It might be a chick flick though, I'm not sure. Like, a really smart chick flick. I just feel that it doesn't have much appeal to male viewers, somehow. My husband likes it, but it's a qualified liking, like he knows how much I love it, and he appreciates how good it is, but he could never identify w/ so many of the characters the way I do.
*The Accidental Tourist -- this is a melancholy romantic comedy from the 80's, based on a novel by one of my favorite writers, Anne Tyler. Geena Davis's character in it is so charming and dresses so funny and cool.
tootaloo,
Princess Robin
