fairyrevel

For the past week or so, I've become obsessed with the Granada Sherlock Holmes series, starring Jeremy Brett. I haven't read the stories yet, but you can bet they're in my winter reading plans now!

You may remember Jeremy Brett as Freddy in My Fair Lady.



He looks totally different in Sherlock Holmes. I wouldn't even have recognized him if I hadn't seen My Fair Lady in his profile at IMDb.

Anyway, I'm thoroughly enjoying his performance as Sherlock Holmes in the TV series. I'll do a longer post about it later at Badgerish.Net, but for now I'll just say that his Holmes is eccentric and a touch theatrical, and typical of a genius, unaware that his behavior seems strange to the normal people around him.



logospilgrim, if you haven't seen this series already, I think you especially would enjoy it. I thought of Snape (and because of that, you) often as I watched it. Not having read the stories (yet) Holmes seems to me a misunderstood, complex character who holds himself at a remove from "normal" people, not because he's better than other people (though I think he certainly recognizes his own greatness, hehe) but because he feels inadequate to interact with them.



Jeremy Brett himself was a complex person, diagnosed with manic-depression after the death of his beloved second wife by cancer. He himself died fairly young from heart failure related to scar tissue on his heart valves left by the rheumatic fever he'd contracted as a child.

I'm not that excited about the new movie. I don't really think we need another action hero, and I don't think Holmes needs to be forced into that mold. I especially don't think Holmes and Watson should be "hot". It's just . . . weird, and unnecessary, and ultimately serves to make Sherlock Holmes just like Every Other Action Hero. I've got more to say about that, but I'll leave it for another post.

Okay, I just logged into LJ and it started a big flash ad in the middle of my screen that kept me from going immediately to my account, and I had to wait 3 seconds to click through, and it was singing a Christmas song. I have a free account, and I realize that means ads, and I'm not trying to be impatient or sound like a jerk, but I don't use any other free service that is that intrusive. I click through enough ads and crap all day, and I don't want to deal with that at a site I log into multiple times per day.

Seriously considering alternatives to LJ right now. :/

FlyLady
I think I'm going to do this: FlyLady's Beginner BabySteps.

Mostly because it looks fun, and I'm interested in routines and developing good housekeeping habits. I found this after kiwiria mentioned that FlyLady had posted a testimonial of hers. I'd seen the site before, but I'm really glad to have been pointed back to it again. December is a 31 day month, and today is the 1st, so what better day to begin? :)

Post-NaNoWriMo
Speaking of monthly projects, I'm still planning to take it easy on writing now that NaNoWriMo is over, but I'm staying connected to my story by looking it over later today. I printed it all out, and I plan to write general notes on each page about what I need to change or add to make it come together.

Writing in General
Do you think "Frankenstein's Monster" is a good metaphor for the first draft process?

If so, I'd say my novel is still a lot of parts sitting out on the table, and that I went into the graveyard not knowing whether I was going to create a man or an elephant or a lobster. I've sort of arranged them into some order, but the guy isn't stitched together yet, and he has lobster claws for ears and an elephant trunk where his stomach should be. Maybe you know what I mean.

I think I can get at least 10,000 more words just writing the connective tissue, so to speak. Hopefully I'll get another 20,000 just in plot development/shaping. If I can develop the subplots I started and just sort of had to let flail, maybe I can get the novel up to 75,000 or 80,000 words. 90,000 almost seems too much to hope for. I think 80,000 would be perfect for a story of this type.

Sherlock Holmes
Totally unrelated but . . . I experienced Sherlock Holmes for the first time last night. hoshichan and extrarice and I watched Jeremy Brett in The Sign of Four. Wow, I didn't know what I was missing! Sherlock Holmes is a totally fascinating (and dare I say, amusing) character, and I can't wait to read and see more!

I did it! I finished with 50,154 words, and an ending of sorts. I will probably take a day off, and then start rearranging and editing so that it makes sense. This book is such a mess I expect to do an initial revision just to make it make sense (don't tell the NaNoWriMo powers-that-be, but I'll probably consider such edits as part of the first draft process.)

Hopefully those revisions will stretch it out a bit. Once I've got enough there to make sure I don't forget what I was planning to do with it, I'll probably put it away for a month or two. I'll spend that time just reading for pleasure and doing initial brainstorming for my next project. Not quite sure which one it'll be, but I think it may be something new-ish, since I can't stand to look at most of my ideas anymore. They need a rest.

This book is not my "dream novel"; I'm not totally sold on the setting, and right now I feel like I may just not be cut out to write anything set in a relatively modern era. It may improve upon revision; I'm a lover of rich, complicated worlds and it may just be the fact that the setting is just barely sketched in at this point that's throwing me off.

But I did it!! And I can do it again, whenever I please, and that's what I needed to know. :)

(By "guests" I mean overnight guests who stay for a few days.)

Poll #1490293
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 5

Approximately how often do you have guests in your home?

Just want to find out whether my situation is normal, I guess.

"Everyone should have a hobby, don't you think? Mine is making love."

Can't wait to see this!





I'm biting my nails a little about whether they'll stay true to Patrick McGoohan's themes in the original series, but looks exciting!

I think there are some Mac users on my friends list, so I wanted to point you to the MacHeist nanoBundle, where they're giving away 5 FREE applications, some of them helpful for writers. If 500,000 people download the bundle, they'll unlock a 6th application (so now you see my true nefarious purpose in posting this! Muahaha!)

ShoveBox - Looks like it's for sorting all the odds and ends you need for a writing project (or even blog posts or maybe other projects?) Looking forward to trying this one!

WriteRoom - This is an extremely simple (think DOS) word processor that helpfully blocks out everything else on your screen. I use Scrivener's feature for this, but you can get WriteRoom free (for now) and the simplicity is certainly tempting . . .

Twitterific - A Twitter client so you can tell the world what you're doing—and read your followers Tweets—without logging into the Twitter site.

TinyGrab - A little screencapture app that uploads a selection of what's on your screen to the intertubes so you can quickly link to it via Twitter or similar.

Hordes of Orcs - A think this is for when you need to brainstorm your story or something. ;) A defend-the-castle type game.

Mariner Write - this is the 6th app that gets unlocked when 500,000 people download the bundle. Here's what MacHeist says:

Mariner Write is a fast, streamlined word processor that’s useful for everyone… professional writers, educators, students, casual computer users, and everyone in-between. It has a simple, elegant user interface so that you can create beautiful documents the very first time you start using it.

This is the word processor with perfect balance of features. Too many word processors bog you down with “kitchen sink syndrome”, while others skimp on important features. Not Mariner Write… you get all the tools you need to do the job, without any feature-bloat.

I totally want to try this. I use Scrivener, but sometimes it's confusing, and AppleWorks' interface just bugs me sometimes.

Anyway, sorry for the ad-like post, but I know I have some Mac-using writers on my friends list, and I thought this bundle might be helpful (and besides, I want Mariner Write unlocked! ;) )

Ma.gnolia is back!!

Ma.gnolia is a social bookmarking service that I just loved until it suffered major data loss in the early part of this year. It's been relaunched and now it's invitation-only (to keep growth under control). I tried other services but nothing really compared to Ma.gnolia; it had a beautiful, intuitive user-interface and was more focused on community than other services. It's way better than Delicious, in my opinion (and the tagging is way less stupid—you can actually use commas! Amazing!)

You should request an invite! And friend me! (Woo! I got the username Grace!)

I got an offer for a free sample issue of MaryJanesFarm Magazine yesterday and after looking online to find out more about it, I totally caved. This magazine has my number; it's a women's magazine about farmgirl living— in the country or city—organic farming and self-sufficiency. Here's a video about Mary Jane (she talks a little about the magazine near the end):



I don't really consider myself part of the "Green Movement", and I'm always hesitant to identify myself with any political movement, but self-sufficiency and the freedom to live the way I choose (in my case, doing things the "old-fashioned way") is something I am behind 100%. I can't wait to get my sample issue! I'll tell you all how it is.