Category Archives: Front Yard

Front Yard: How to Get the Writer’s Flow and Keep It!

Posted on by
Reply

front yardFirst, can I squee at the Once Upon a Time season finale? It’s my guilty pleasure, what cantumblr_inline_n5h7s5FpSi1qgf4wj I say, but I loved it.

The Hook and Emma stuff was great. Hook being all jealous of his old self kissing Emma was played so well, for laughs but to also show us how Hook has changed, so much so, he hates the idea of his old self smacking on Emma! Their kiss at the end melted my bones 🙂 I was kinda irritated with how they twisted Regina once again, getting her romance messed up, this time by Emma instead of Snow. I mean, she did jail, and possibly kill Marian, did she not?

I started watching Fringe on Netflix and I’m surprised I haven’t watched it before. I’m only on season one (can’t binge watch too much with my third book to finish). While it definitely has an X-Files vibe, J.J. Abrams (is he like taking over the world of Sci Fi or what?), Orci and Kurtzman have created an original premise with tapping into alternate realities and experimentation on people. And of course, we have Denethor, Steward of Gondor, as Walter (John Noble), and Pacey (Joshua Jackson) as Peter. What more do you need? John Noble is great as the nutty Walter. I definitely like the Altered States aspects and am looking forward to seeing some of the alternate universe stuff.

So The Flow…

I suffer from constant writer’s block and flow issues. A while back, when starting the second book in my necromancer series, I sat down and expelled the first ten pages of the book. It was truly amazing. I have yet to repeat such a feat. Now, the inspired moments tend to produce about two to three pages, but I’m not complaining.

What is the flow? In this podcast from the Accidental Creative, Steven Kotler (link to podcast below) describes it as an optimal state of consciousness where the self vanishes and creativity is amplified. In typing those ten pages, I felt like I was dictating words flashing past my brain. I think many writers would describe the flow in the same way, just dictating. Somehow, when the flow happens, we’ve deactivated the frontal cortex which controls the pesky and sometimes nasty inner critic.

But is the flow something that happens by chance, the ship passing in the night, or can we trigger it somehow? Well, good news. The answer is yes! (according to Kotler) Continue reading →

Front Yard: Everything is Awesome

Posted on by
Reply

front yardMore front yard high jinks by the chickens, yes, now the other chicken has decided to roam. I guess I need to take a new picture.

I’d like to take a moment to remember Harold Ramis. One of the Second City alums, he was involved in some of the greatest comedies ever, either as a writer, actor, or director: Stripes, Animal House, Ghostbusters, Caddyshack, Groundhog Day, Meatballs. Your contributions are noted sir and you will be missed.

Speaking of funny movies, I highly recommend you see the Lego Movie. Very clever, really poignant final act, and cool animation.  And I love the theme song, Everything is Awesome, by Mark Mothersbaugh of Devo fame, sung by Tegan and Sarah. For a movie about a toy, it did a great job poking fun at itself while highlighting what kids like about Lego, the creativity. My favorite Lego character was Benny the retro space guy.

Turned in first round of revisions of Necromancer’s Betrayal, so now to finish Necromancer’s Redemption so I can start writing my second pirate book! The Tucson Book Festival is coming up March 14 and 15 and I’m super psyched for the event and to be attending with a great group of authors.

Stay tuned in March when I announce a fun contest my writer’s group Desert Muses is going to run. A knock off on March Madness, we call it March Man-ness!! We’ll run the contest via our Desert Muses blog.

On to the the random stuff. Been faithfully watching Black Sails. While I can appreciate the slow build up, establishing characters, I was still waiting for those grappling hooks to catch me or anything for that matter. I liked the New Providence scenes, how the port town might have looked, how the pirates lived while it was their haven, and the inner politics of pirate life, yet those moments seemed to drag a bit. Let’s get to the good stuff! Finally, finally, Episode V arrived and the lines caught and hooked me. The tactical sea battle between Flint and Bryson was great. Got to see some ship maneuvering and nautical talk, and left us on a harrowing cliff hanger. Some interesting movement on New Providence. I’m starting to dislike Eleanor. She seems very self righteous and willing to betray anyone even her closest and most trusted ally. And did not appreciate how she treated Vane. A few words on Vane. I didn’t think I’d like him because the real Vane was a pretty brutal pirate, but one of the last hold outs against the British. But I’m loving this Vane more and more. I’d like to see him up one on Eleanor oh and what did he sail off to do at the end!!! I’m also really liking Anne Bonny and Calico Jack. So glad to hear they’ve ordered a second season already because I’m in!

If you haven’t heard of the upcoming new tv show called Penny Dreadful, check this out!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFXHfEqMcis. It looks so cool. I like the dark, gothic feel of the Victorian monster mix. And Eva Green is perfect casting. It premieres in May and I can’t wait.

Instead of a song, I must end with another trailer, this time for the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy movie. Looks like a fun ride. Do I dare say shaping up to be a mashup of Star Wars and Futurama??!! Marvel’s very own space heroes, the Guardians are a unique set of characters, one of my favorites being Rocket Raccoon, voiced by Bradley Cooper. And I really like the casting of Chris Pratt as Peter Quill / Star-Lord. He also voiced Emmett in the Lego Movie. Here’s a link to the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXAB9PQE1CU

The Front Yard

Posted on by
Reply

In attempting to find the right balance between blogging about releases, writing stuff, author guests, I thought I’d include the occasional, general post about stuff and am calling it The Front Yard, because I often have great conversations with my neighbors in our front yard, often after corralling their chicken. (Talk about free range and we get fresh eggs too!) We cover a myriad of topics from life in general to tv and movies because we are for the most part, geeks. Although I surprised my neighbor recently by admitting I had never watched Doctor Who. Even I have limits.

So I chaperoned my son’s kinder class on a school field trip to a local farm. While my voice grew hoarse constantly rounding up my charges, (the second you get one little critter next to you, the next one had taken off), I had lots of fun. We picked vegetables, walked through a corn maze, and, one of my son’s favorite moments, saw the llama poop.

TV: Holy cow. American Horro Story: Coven. I’ve been loving this season. Didn’t watch season one, couldn’t really get into season two (don’t need to see lobotomies and why the serial killer?), but Coven seems to have found the right balance, and Kathy Bates, Jessica Lange, and Angela Bassett??? How can it not rock? I appreciate these actresses even more, because they could totally go the scene chewing route, but while they do dominate their scenes, they know how to tone it down. But last episode’s zombie takedown via chainsaw!!! I wanted to shout. What awesome Evil Dead carnage. It was ridiculous, especially when she split the one zombie in half, vertically. I’m truly curious as to what’s going to happen with Sarah Paulson’s character (Fiona’s daughter) now that she’s blind but can see, and I called Zoe being the Supreme in the first episode 🙂 Can’t wait for next week!

Still trying to fit Marvel Agents of Shield. It’s one of those shows that just doesn’t feel right, like the shirt that’s too tight on the shoulders. I never read the comic, never got into Shield all that much, but have learned enough about Shield from their appearances in the comics I do read. And this tv group does not feel like Shield. They feel like the minor league Shield. And I can’t understand why they aren’t drawing upon the Marvel universe more. Maybe it’s ABC, making the show more wide reaching (read bland), but Whedon can do so much better! While he’s not writing the show, his brother and brother’s wife (I think) are the writers, he is the producer. Who knows? Maybe the Whedon formula is finally wearing out its welcome, or maybe you can’t just paste the Whedon tropes on meh actors and meh writing and expect it to work. We’ll see.

On a more exciting front, Marvel and Netflix announced a deal to bring multiple live-action series featuring Daredevil, Iron Fist, Luke Cage, and Jessica Cage, all in their own shows, leading up to a Defenders mini-series. Now that’s what I’m talking about. I think a Netflix series will be less constrained than a major network show and I find the approach intriguing, not to mention, characters like these will adapt well to the small screen.

Speaking of Marvel, can’t wait to see Thor this weekend. From what I’ve read and seen in trailers, this looks to be wider in scope, more of the nine realms, and a more hands on, grounded approach to the fighting and physical appearance of Asgard. And we get to see Heimdall with his helmet off = Idris Elba! Continue reading →