Posted by KVTaylor in 
o November passes, and I’m left with one question: where the f#%k did it go? Which leads me to believe it was smart of me to keep away from Nano this year. If I couldn’t find November without it, I would most certainly have lost it with Nanowrimo in the mix. That said, mad respect and congratulations to those of you who made it through this year. May your books find homes that’ll love them as they deserve!
I’ve mostly been busy with holidays and holiday preparations/travel (been to WV most of last week, likely going back very soon. Even have some of my shopping done already, if you can believe it), reading (beta reading and novel reading), and even some little writing when particular characters pipe up and decide it’s their turn. None of this has really been at the computer, which makes a change for me, but isn’t so bad in spite of all I’ve heard.
Reading-wise I’m fairly excited. I hit up a bunch of PG Wodehouse short stories (Tales from the Drones Club), which I’ve nearly finished, but they’re best read a few days apart– brilliantly written, of course, but you know how he has his formulas. Also trying to re-read Ulysses without the month-long breaks between sections this time– which was going very well until I went to the library again last week. Because I picked up Thackeray’s The Memoirs of Barry Lyndon*, and now I can’t put it down. Because, I’m really sorry Joyce, I love the feeling of your prose bouncing around in my head, but I love Thackeray more than life itself. He wins.
(I’m sure Joyce is devastated.)
It’s convinced me that The Resurrectionists really needs some little illustrations, particularly like the one above, to start each chapter. Which of course even if I did sell the thing by some weird stroke of overblown luck, I wouldn’t have any say over anyhow. But without these little fantasies, we would surely go insane.
And apart from some rejections and new projects that have more than canceled each other out to leave me rather happy, that’s all the news. I know, the holidays are so eventful.
*If you’ve never seen the movie Kubrick made out of it, Barry Lyndon, oh god, do it. If you have Netflix you can watch it online. So, so awesome. Hilarious and gorgeous… and not the usual Kubrick fare, for sure.
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Now playing: Air – Sexy Boy
via FoxyTunes
Another Kubrick film I haven’t watched. And I thought I had seen most of them. Also, little illustrations are the best. They might not move a story forward but they give us a hint of what is to come.
I need to see if that’s on Netflix Watch It Now…they have 2 or 3 Kubrick movies there, I think.
The illustration got me thinking. I want my first novel to have a centerfold ; )
November did disappear for me. That NaNo thick really sucks up your time. Lucky my wife took up some of the slack.
Nice illustration. Is the horse really jumping off the stone bridge (got me thinking of the bridge in Rob Roy where Neeson makes his escape from Tim Roth).
Much to early to shop yet…
Jamie, precisely! Plus, it’s a throwback to that whole manuscript illumination with the giant pretty capitals at the beginning. Who doesn’t love that? (Okay, maybe cool people don’t. But I do.)
Jeremy, they do! Or they did last year, because that’s how I saw it. So good!
Nat… wow. You’ve had some good ideas. But I think you just topped them all. The verdict: Yes.
You know, Alan, in the book the horse is sort of jumping past a stone bridge– or something otherwise stupid. Not as dramatic as Rob Roy’s escape (which is awesome), but far more hilarious. Oh Barry, you lovely little scoundrel.
It’s nice of your wife to pick up the slack– I admit my better half had to do a lot of that last year, poor man. This year he’s studying for exams, so it’s a good thing I didn’t have to beg for that again, I reckon!
Also, never too early to shop. I love buying stuff for people. My god.
Kubrick rocks my socks. I want full page plates of engraved prints in Loathesome. That would kick too much @$$.
I refuse to dream small, and now I want chapter illustrations. I don’t think I’ve seen Barry Lyndon. I thought I had, but I’m guessing I was confused with ‘Tom Jones’ as I pictured Albert Finney in the lead role.
Aaron, From what I’ve seen of it, illustrations would OWN in Loathsome. Can you imagine how cool that atmosphere would be when translated like that? Man…
But yes. Kubrick effing rules. “A Clockwork Orange” is still my favorite movie ever!
Cate, I’ll drink to that– dreaming small is for, er, the small-minded. Right! But yeah, there are total similarities with “Tom Jones”, but “Barry Lyndon” is cooler. Also, funnier, if you can believe it. (But I like Thackeray better than Fielding anyhow, so I might be a little biased.)