Point of View

I’ve been reading a lot of Katie MacAlister lately. Two things really stand out in her writing. One, she’s a hoot. And two, her heroines - they’re insecure, they do stupid things, they’re overweight, they make mistakes. In other-words, they’re human.

Despite the reading binge, I’ve been thinking about my writing lately. A lot. I know that thinking isn’t the same as doing, but it’s still progress. At least I think so. Reading good books helps me see what’s wrong with my own writing. I think I’m beginning to read like a writer.

One of the very first short stories I ever wrote started out in the 3rd person point of view. The story was okay, but once I rewrote it in the 1st person POV it was great. It was amazing what a change in the point of view made.

Katie MacAlister writes in the first person. I think that’s another reason I enjoy her books, it’s easier to identify with her heroines.

With that one exception, I have always written in the 3rd person POV. Lately, I’ve been giving POV serious thought. I have considered changing my POV to the 1st person in my writing, but it’s a major step. You are limited to one character, they have to carry the whole story. And if they’re not strong enough, the entire thing comes crashing down. You’re also limited to revealing only the information that that character is privy to - only what they can see or discover, what’s told to them.

Still, it’s worth thinking about. But that’s just my point of view.

For Those Who Care . . .

I blame myself really. Yesterday I made some comment about the rate at which my money vanishes and I got all smug because I was finally treading water (financially speaking). So that bitch Fate had to come along and push me under again.

The root canal went fine, despite having a tooth root "a mile long" and a raging infection (which meant the freezing started coming out before he was done). Because of the infection, the root was badly calcified and is pretty much just floating in place in my jaw.

But he believes it has a good chance of repairing itself. The procedure wasn't as complicated as they thought it would be, I only needed 3 posts instead of 4. Now, one would think that would mean that I wouldn't have to pay as much because the assessment for the insurance was for 4 posts. Enter Fate. I ended up having to pay more than double what I thought I was going to.

And let's not forget I'll have to pay for the permanent filling next week.

And the check up in three months

It's making my head hurt.

And my jaw.

Where's the Advil?

Whiny Wednesday

Is it just me or is this batch of America’s Next Top Model the whiniest ones yet? Some of them are truly above and beyond the call of whine-dom. To my mind it lowers the quality of the whole show. If I wanted to listen to whiny women sniping at each other, I’d pay more attention at work.

And can anyone tell me, what’s with the snow we keep getting dumped on us? This is Spring damn it! We are past both the March Break and Easter. Where’s the grass? The flowers? Yesterday we got another 5 centimeters of snow and there’s rumours of more to come later in the week. At least the snow we got yesterday had the decency to melt today. Grr!

I put my procrastination to good use and put off doing our tax returns for as long as I could. However, I finally sucked it up and did them yesterday and e-filed them today. I don’t know why I hate doing them so much, they’re pretty easy. I guess I’m just afraid of making a mistake and ending up in jail for tax fraud or something.

It’s a good thing I’m getting a refund though. I’m getting a root canal done tomorrow and the insurance is a couple of hundred dollars short of covering it. And it certainly isn’t going to cover getting the permanent filling in a couple of weeks.

C’est la vie. That seems to be the way things always go with money and me. Just when I think I’m getting ahead, something comes along to take all my money away again. Like dental bills. Or vet bills. Or some other kind of bill.

*sigh*

Updates

Unlike some people I could mention (Chippy! Crazynance!) I try and update my blog on a regular basis. I, unlike other people (Chippy! Crazynance!), even feel guilty when I fall behind in my posts.

I was going to update on Friday, but I was so tired and frustrated by the time I got to sit down that I changed my mind. I was one of the lucky ones who had the day off, and I spent pretty much the whole day shuffling books from one shelf to another. Who’s idea was it to organize my books, anyway? Oh. That’s right. Mine. Well, it was a stupid idea. It took forever, and the only one who even cares is me.

Saturday the husband and I drove to London to visit the daughter and the boyfriend. We had a very nice time, culminating in eating way too much at a restaurant. Traffic wasn’t too bad, the weather was cold, but nice and clear (perfect for driving).

Sunday I finished shoveling out the office. It’s looking pretty darn good if I do say so myself. Give me a 12 foot extension cord and a comfy chair to sit in and it would be perfect. We won’t mention the pile of stuff in the spare bedroom. Or in the closet.

You notice I haven’t mentioned the writing pledge I made myself . . . I think I forgot to mention that it doesn’t take effect until today.

Or maybe tomorrow.

I Swear!

No, I'm not talking about the kind of swearing I did when I got pulled over by the cop on the way to Tim Horton's yesterday. I'm talking about swearing an oath to write every day, no matter what.

I'm finding that the longer I go without writing, the harder it is to get back into. It's been a few days since the last time I opened up one of my book documents and the more time that goes by the more effort it seems to get into the writing mind set again.

The only way to fix this is to write every day. It doesn't have to be a lot, and it probably won't at first, just so long as I write something on one of my projects. Blogging and letters don't count.

It helps that I'm feeling a little less pressured by work. My doctor wrote a truly impressive letter that she faxed directly to the head office of the company I work for. They will have no option other than to grant me my accommodation, or lay me off (with a severance package). If they try to give me any more flack I have more than enough ammunition to take it to the Human Rights Commission. And don't think I won't!

Oh, the Humanity!

Normally I don't watch American Idol, mainly 'cause half the fun is making comments about the singing and the cats aren't much for conversation.

Anyway, I wasn't feeling well tonight, and it was pretty much the only thing on, so I watched it. They were having a Beatles theme night, which meant they were all singing Beatles songs.

A couple of them were pretty good - the 17 year old, and the guy with the dreds. However, what was up with the ones who turned the Beatles into Country and Western??? And the chick who sang Yesterday? The liberties she took with that song were just wrong. And worse were the judges who actually liked it. I don't care if she took the song and made it her own, it's not her song. Leave it alone!

So, no more American Idol for me. I'll stick to the Space Channel from now on.

Bookcase Fiasco

Thank God I’m “just a woman”.

Being a woman, if I’d been building my bookcase I’d have used bricks and boards, or something funky to use as supports. When I mentioned this to the husband, who has some kind of an aversion to bricks and boards, he pointed out that it might not be stable enough for the cats to lounge on.

Good point. My next idea was to use long square pieces of wood for supports. Or even better, cut up some of those tree limbs lying around outside for a natural look. I’d drill a hole through the shelves, drill a hole in the top and bottom of each support and use dowels to hold it all together.

At this point, the husband took over. First he bought this thick, hardwood doweling to use as supports. Then, not liking my “who cares what colour it is” attitude, he had to stain the doweling. It took forever to dry, hence the actual construction of the bookcase had to be put off a week.

This weekend he started assembling it, using heavy screws and his beloved electric drill. Much cursing and swearing ensued. Apparently, hardwood is really hard. Over half the screws ended up bent. Then the cordless drill ran out of juice. It was re-charged, only to die completely. MUCH more cursing and swearing.

By this time it is too late to go to a store to get some nails to just nail it together. He wonders why he didn’t think of that before. (Uh, could it be because he likes any excuse to use the drill?) If I’m real lucky, the book case will get finished tonight, which means I won’t really get to fill it until next weekend.

Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate all the work the husband is putting into this. But like I said. Thank God I’m “just a woman”. If I’d done it my way, it would be done by now and I wouldn’t be sitting here updating, I’d be cataloguing the books in my new book case.