NaNo 18: The Deep Breath Before the Plunge

Hey, look, I found a way to sneak LOTR into this post! 

So, I wasn't going to post before the event actually started, but I find myself needing to let out some fears before we embark on the mayhem that will be NaNoWriMo 2018. And, if I'm being honest, it's more for myself than anyone else--because I know, deep down, that in less than a week I'm going to be snowed under in a morass of self doubt and sleep deprivation that makes me question why I'm writing in NaNo.

I guess here's my answer now, future self:

You need it.

This is for you. Not for your ego, or your pride, but for your sanity--just like running.

Will you publish anything? Maybe not. Probably not, even, with how allergic you seem to be editing. And that's fine. But you know how much better you feel when you're writing.

It's your outlet for all those hopes and fears, doubts and worries, tensions and joys you accumulate all day. And while you were absolutely right when you signed up for that half marathon that you need to stop staring at your screen so much and enjoy the outdoors and be active, you also can't just ditch the whole creative side of your brain for nearly a year. You've been there. You've done that.

For better or for worse, you like stories. You grew up with them, learned from them, were shaped by them. And now, you need them to come out. It's how you get the tension out. It's how you subconsciously work through problems. It's how you bring to life all those random thoughts that flit through your head over the course of the day, and you feel better for it.

Deep down, you know this.

You also know you work better on a deadline.

Don't tell me you don't--I've seen just about as much of your past as you have. When was the last time you did something early? (Other than your tax return debacle--look how that turned out! <okay, maybe that's not a good example, but I'm sticking to it>)

You need some way to transform all your daily struggles into something you can actually grapple with, and this is the best way I've figured out. (If you find out something else in the next couple of weeks, let me-us?-know, okay? But I doubt it).

So write like the world depends on it, because you never know, it just might. The story world will depend on it, if nothing else.

Don't let your past failures hold you back. Last year was last year. Each day is new (even if you're like my current self and couldn't sleep last night and just decided to restart the day at 5 am and have now been up close to 28 hours straight. Still a new day. Kind of.)

I guess what I'm driving at is just go for it (Just do it is to cliche. And possibly trademarked.) Write. Write for yourself if no one else. The worst that's going to happen is some carpal tunnel.

From one sleep deprived R.M. to her audience (possibly including another sleep-deprived R.M.), good luck and happy writing!

"A Wrinkle in Time" (2018) Part 1

Be forewarned: I'm discussing the recent adaptation of  A Wrinkle in Time. If you've been following the blog for long, you know it's one of my favorite books and things could get messy. But here goes. This article does contain spoilers for both the book and the movie.

Overview
For those of you who don't know, A Wrinkle in Time follows the sci-fi adventures of Meg Murray, a young girl who is out to find her father who went missing in an inter-dimensional/space travel experiment. She's assisted by her younger brother, Charles Wallace, school friend/acquaintance Calvin, and three mysterious women: Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which. Their travels take them to various planets, where the children discover that there is a great evil in the universe which is even now trying to gain control of Earth. Meg and company must rescue her father from a planet that has given into this evil, while also not falling prey to it themselves.

Thoughts on the Movie--Plot
I promise that I really do have some good things to say about the movie. Firstly, the first two thirds of the movie did a good job of sticking to the book's plot and even the last third did a fairly good job of doing so. It was definitely recognizable as A Wrinkle in Time. 

They decided to add a couple small scenes that I felt changed the tune of things a little bit, but overall felt fine. Some were necessary for transporting the setting from the 1960's to the modern day and worked well. Why they decided to change when Mrs. Whatsit enters the story is beyond me, but it didn't hurt anything other than the general flow.

The last third of the movie saw some more significant changes in plot. They got rid of the Aunt Beast plot line, which I felt wasn't a bad choice as far as run time for the movie. Sure, I think there's a lot of thought that went into that bit, and it might not be as bad as Tom Bombadil in Fellowship of the Ring, but it's easy to remove without sacrificing terribly much of the story arc. I think leaving it out did harm Meg's character arc a little, but such is life.

Where the plot really made me unhappy was the plot on Camazotz. It went from being a planet that had been under control of The Black Thing to being The Black Thing/(The) IT itself. It went from this utterly creepy place in the book, filled with grays and a subtle mechanical-ness and off-ness to this gaudy, overwhelming, almost Alice-in-Wonderland place. It didn't feel evil. It utterly lost the chill it had of being a planet under The Black Thing's control--because part of the plot was that was what was about to happen to Earth. Rather, it became this abstract, trippy place that I wouldn't have been sure was evil if the Mrs. W's hadn't pointedly told us that. The use of the Man with the Red Eyes is the primary victim in the portrayal.

Sadly, the climax was a weak point in the movie. Rather than facing IT being pivotal for both Meg and Charles' development as people and the showdown being truly terrifying, I never felt that IT had much of a chance. Also, the voice they used for IT did not do much for me--the creepy, monster-esque voice had nothing on the calculating voice of Charles Wallace as portrayed in the book.


Thoughts--Characters

As far as characters go, they really did a good job with Meg. Overall, she's predictable as the same girl from the book, and I really felt that she was the same character, despite significant differences in appearances. There's always something lost in translation from page to screen, but they did a good job overall of staying true to her character, even if (as mentioned above), they might have done more with her story arc. For how well they did with Meg, I really wanted to like the movie more.

Unfortunately, Meg was the only character they really transferred well. Calvin wasn't terrible, but he felt...flat. You learn virtually nothing about him in the movie and there's not much to make you like him other than the fact that he befriends Meg. He has some tragic backstory about not being able to please his father, but we don't even get much about that. In the book, there's this really endearing scene where he calls home to make sure his mother knows he'll be missing dinner, even though he just gets yelled at by one of his many siblings. It makes you love him, and there's nothing similar in the movie.

Charles Wallace bugged me, though I'm still trying to figure out exactly why. He's explained to be a prodigy, but we don't see much of that. He also doesn't have much of a character arc. In the book, his character development centers around hubris. He doesn't even have much to be proud of, because we don't realize how smart he is.

Now we reach the point where I get onto my soapbox. The main downfall of this movie for me was the portrayal of the Mrs. W's. Mrs. Who transfers fairly well (though they have her quote weird things--give me more Shakespeare!), but then they have her talk without quotes so much that it loses its touch. Sadly, she's the best of the three ladies.

Mrs. Which as portrayed by Oprah does very little for me. In the book, she's mysterious, in the background, and generally elusive. In the movie, they seemed to want Oprah to take the lead. Fine, but they totally got her character wrong. Yes, it's biased, but I'm a book purist. I might have been okay with it if they had offered significant improvement over the novel, but they missed the mystery of her character to balance out the more outgoing two. (And omitted the wordplay of Mrs. Which appearing as a witch, one of many such omissions).

However, the most egregious violation of character was Mrs. Whatsit. Mrs. Whatsit goes from this comforting, warm, outrageous character to a snooty, snobbish, stuck-up prom-queen-esque disaster. (I know, I know, I'm overprotective of the book.) Really, I enjoyed a good portion of the movie, but I could enjoy very little where she was in it.

Join me next week for discussion on the themes and cinematic elements of the movie, as well as for NaNo kickoff!

Did you see the movie/read the book? What did you think? Am I overreacting?

Reflections: Work

Some foolish person somewhere once said, "Choose something you love and you'll never have to work a day in your life."

I don't know where they were working, but I find that a little too good to be true.

You see, when I'm not writing, I'm doing my "real" job as a veterinary technician. And I love it. There's nowhere else I'd rather work, no other team of coworkers I'd rather have, no other job I'd rather do.  It's challenging, rewarding, heartwarming, fun, enjoyable, and (though it sounds terribly cliche) my passion. I can't imagine doing anything else full time, even writing.

But it's work. To steal a quote from the Princess Bride, "Anyone who says differently is selling something."

Even on this week dedicated to  my profession
, where my awesome workplace insists on showering all of us techs with food and coffee and gifts, it's work.

Holding down a Mastiff that's dysphoric and unsure where it's at when it's waking up from anesthesia is work. Pulling up a downed horse using ropes is work. Scooping manure is work. Dragging yourself from your warm bed at 2 AM to go anesthetize a cat that ate a thread is work.

It's not glorious. It's sweaty. Hot. Sometimes miserable. Heartbreaking, when all your effort goes to waste.

You see, we seem to think that work is a bad thing. That putting forth effort, that striving with all our might, that throwing our backs into the ropes, is the worst thing that could happen. That trying to learn the names of 30 different drugs and how they work is torture. Work. It's an ugly word.

But is work really a bad thing? What if we rephrased "work"? What if we chose "strive" instead? Working isn't bad. Drudgery is bad. Working only for the money is rather dismal (and I suspect that's what the author was truly driving toward). Don't get me wrong--you should do something you enjoy, something you're good at, something that gives you purpose. 

But would our goals really give us purpose if we didn't have to strive for them? Give them everything we have? Would our jobs be as rewarding if they came easily to us?

That's the true drudgery we ought to avoid.

So, rather than avoiding work, let's find work that really satisfies. A job to which we can apply our efforts with our whole hearts--whether that's writing or something else entirely.

 Go find something worth putting your soul into, even on days when it feels like really dull work.

NaNo 2018 Intro

I can't believe it's been a year since I've written anything in a WIP. I've...missed it. But I must confess, I fear sitting at my computer November 1st about to engage in the insanity that is NaNoWriMo and finding that my entire ability to write has disappeared.

That being said, I've found that doing things that I fear (because of the possibility of failure) are some of the most rewarding things I've ever done. And also the craziest, but, you know...

Will I write 50k? I don't know. That's a lot. And the years I really set out with 50k in mind tend to be the years I faceplant. Instead, I think I'm going to take my 2016 approach--the last time I won. I'm going to set out to write at least 6 days a week and shoot for a wordcount of 20k. It doesn't have to be a cohesive novel. I'm not going to plan it out. I have a main character, and a concept, and that's about it. We'll see what happens.

How will posting work on the blog? I'm really happy to have posted 3 weeks in a row now. (Wow, my life is getting sad. But we're improving.) I hope to keep it up. I'm thinking I might try some story snippets this year. My story idea is a little disjointed, which might make it good for some snippets.

Anyways, NaNo is about having fun. And if it keeps me busy and gives me a bit to think about other than work, I'll take it.

Even if my novel is essentially about anesthetizing mythical creatures. Because I have no life.

Are you participating in NaNo? What's your story about?

Friday Fiction Fix: Courage

The Short

Courage
Book 1 of The Legacy Chronicles

By: Lauren H. Salisbury

4.5/5 Stars 

What: A slave woman must evade an alien empire to save her son's life.

Recommended to those who like: Sci-fi, Christian, allegory

The Long

*I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review*

It's been a horribly long time since we had a book review on The Book Hound, but I can think of no better book to come back on. Courage is the sort of book that the blog was designed for--imaginative Christian speculative fiction that's written to excellent standards and provokes deep thought in the reader. (Also, I'd like to give a shout-out to Ms. Salisbury for being patient with me for the overly long time it took me to review her book. She's a saint.)

In the future, humans have been enslaved by the powerful Esarelian Empire. In spite of their daily hardships, many of them maintain hope and faith in the God from Old Earth. One such couple is Elias--a man who will fight to the end for his family and their community--and Gilla--who wishes to pass on her strong faith to her children. But before their next child can be born, their world is turned upside down and Gilla must have the courage and faith to protect her son.

The resulting story is imaginative, colorful, and rich with life. Once I finally sat down to read it, I flew through the (digital) pages. While insightful readers will discern quickly what Biblical story the novel parallels, the characters feel like truly living beings with their own motivations, emotions, and thoughts. While the allegorical nature of the plot makes some points predictable, the setting gives the story fresh life and insight.

The story does at points rely on strong telling rather than showing, but I found that the writing overall was of good quality and added to the story. 

The Bottom Line: A great pick for readers who enjoy sci-fi with an allegorical twist, I would recommend Courage to readers who are looking for a relatively quick and enjoyable read with rich characters and intriguing settings.

The 2018 Tolkien Tag

It's Tolkien Week again! To celebrate, I'll be filling out the blog tag from Hamlette over at Edge of the Precipice. (And don't run too far--I've actually got a book review lined up for next Friday!)

1.  What's your favorite Middle-earth story/book?
This one depends entirely on my mood. Ready for something lighthearted? The Hobbit. On a drive or somewhere where I need to gnaw on something for a few hours? The Silmarillion. Feeling dark and upset at the world? The children of Hurin. 

In short, there's a Tolkien for just about every one of my moods.


2.  Do you have a favorite subplot?
I don't know if it counts as a subplot or a book since it came out as its own story, but Of Beren and Luthien out of The Silmarillion is definitely my favorite.
3.  What's your favorite theme in Tolkien's books?  (Can be in one specific story, or overall.)

I really like the idea that history is made up of individual people who do great things (or even seemingly simple things that end up being monumental). It gives me hope for  doing the little things in life.


4.  Do you have a favorite weapon from Middle-earth?
Probably Anduril--it's hard to beat its history. I really wish there were more named bows from Middle-earth, however. 


5.  Would you like to be a hobbit?
Let's see, I like to eat, farming doesn't sound too bad, I'm happy to have a simple life, and I don't mind going barefoot, so...sure!

6.  Do you have a favorite romance/couple?
That's a nearly impossible pick between Beren and Luthien or Faramir and Eowyn. I don't like romance as a general rule, but Tolkien writes dang good romance. 

7.  What's your favorite Middle-earth creature?  (Can be "real" or "imaginary.")
Oliphants! Mostly because Samwise likes them so much.

8.  What character do you look the most like?
Ooh, I don't know that I look much like any character since I cut my hair. We'll go with some hobbit--my love of food shows a little bit.

9.  Are there any books about Middle-earth or Professor Tolkien (but not written by him) you recommend?
I have not actually read any books about either the author or the place, unless you count the works edited by Christopher Tolkien. It's a deficit that I'll have to make up sometime.

10.  List up to ten of your favorite lines/quotations from the Middle-earth books and/or movies.
Alrighty, here we go again! As always, I've tried to avoid duplicating my answers from previous years:

-"What do you mean?" he said. "Do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not; or that you feel good this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?" (Gandalf)

-"In one thing you have not changed, dear friend," said Aragorn: "you still speak in riddles."
"What? In riddles?" said Gandalf. "No! For I was talking aloud to myself. A habit of the old: they choose the wisest person present to speak to; the long explanations needed by the young are wearying." 


-"Begone, foul dwimmerlaik, lord of carrion! Leave the dead in peace!" (Eowyn as Dernhelm)

-"Fool of a Took!" he growled. "This is a serious journey, not a hobbit walking-party. Throw yourself in next time, and then you will be no further nuisance." (Gandalf)

-"What course am I to take?"/ "Towards danger; but not too rashly, nor too straight." 

I hope you enjoyed my answers. Be sure to check out the rest of the festivities going on over at The Edge of the Precipice this week and be sure to stop back in here next week for a sci-fi book review!

Reflections: It Doesn't Get Easier

One of the activities that took part of my time away from writing this spring was training for my first half marathon.

Don't ask me what I was thinking when I signed up for it. I was always the kid in gym class who hated running, and while I've run a 5k most summers for the past few years, I've never called myself a runner. I'm someone who runs, not a runner. (There's a difference. Or at least there was before I hit double digit mileage).

A friend and I decided to sign up to celebrate her college graduation and so I found myself freezing in a picnic shelter on a 15 degree morning in January with about 100 random strangers who were all smiling and getting ready to run. They had a bunch of hi-tech gear and didn't seemed bothered by the cold. There was a guy training for the Boston Marathon, a few retirees who looked like they could kick my butt in just about any sport, and an entire other assortment of strangers who looked like they were born to eat up the mileage.

Meanwhile, I was thinking of my warm car, the fact I had skipped my coffee that morning, and trying not to compare my gear with everyone else's. It consisted of a pair of off-brand sneakers from a local supermarket, discount workout pants that I hadn't tested yet, two old sweatshirts, a homemade wool hat, and a ten year old bargain brand fleece jacket. I was still freezing in spite of the sweat percolating underneath all the layers.

The terror of being there was real. By nature, I'm an introvert--and by introvert, I mean, "can go three days without seeing people and be perfectly fine" and "would rather exile myself to a desert island than have to go to social events".

I found a pace group that I thought I would fit in with (it was the second slowest running group, so it was mostly retirees who were talking about how many marathons they were going to do that year) and tried to smile.

The groups started leaving and I began to trundle down the icy, snow covered park path with the other crazy people. In spite of having been trying to get in shape for the previous couple of months, the cold air felt like it was knifing my lungs and the pace group was a push for me. I spent the last 2.5 miles of my 3 mile run chanting to myself, "Warm shower, hot coffee. Warm shower, hot coffee..."  At the end, I collapsed in my car, turned the heat on full blast, and tried to warm up from my sweat-soaked bargain clothes.

And I had to train to run 10.1 more miles.

It seemed impossible, but I figured I wouldn't judge the effort off of the first run I did. It would get easier, right?

A few months later, each run was still hard. The darn things just kept getting longer! Now I was running 5 miles two evenings a week over still-icy pathways and my weekend mileage was climbing. The first day it was warm, it rained so hard that water was running off my elbows and I had to slog through puddles that came up to my ankles. In spite of the 60 degree temperatures, I was colder than that first run. The next week, I face planted in the middle of a street and bruised my knee so I couldn't run for a week (which really sucked because the weather was finally nice).

Then came the moment I had secretly feared: my longest run to date. When you've only ever run 6 miles, 8 is terrifying. And due to traveling on the weekend, I opted to run it alone. I plugged in my earbuds and tried my best to jam out as I ran through campus--deserted,since all the students were on break. Used to the cold, I had dressed too warmly and I was panting for the last 3 miles, trying to tough it out. I was rewarded by the feeling of euphoric runner's high and I let out a shout of victory when I got back to the car. My knee buckled out from under me and I still grinned. It had finally gotten easier! I was finally enjoying running! I mean, sure, the cotton-dry mouth had sucked, but I had gotten a runner's high. 7 miles in I had belted out the words to "Walking on the Sun" as I came down the home stretch. It was great! I was going to do this!

I stretched out, then climbed in the car. At first, I thought it was just the runner's high wearing off, but the fuzzy feeling in my head could only mean one thing: my blood sugar had bottomed out. Even though it was only a ten mile drive home, I felt terrible and had to fight just to stay focused on the road. I rushed in the house, feeling nauseated and light-headed, hoping I didn't pass out before I could get some sugar in me.

I was out of juice (my go-to pick me up) so I resorted to eating sugar cubes. The fuzzy feeling abated and my ears slowly stopped buzzing and my hands stopped shaking.

And then disaster struck. I ran to the bathroom and vomited up all the sugar cubes I had just eaten.

10 minutes later, my sugar crashed again.

Cue more sugar cubes.

Barfing.

Repeat for two hours.

But wasn't it supposed to get easier? Wasn't running supposed to be easier now than on that first cold morning? Why was it still so hard, even when I just did 2 mile "recovery" runs? (And who decided, "Hey, you know what people training for a half marathon want the day after running insane mileage? More running! Yeah, that's a great idea!" 'Cause I officially don't like that person.)

I seriously doubted my ability to run the race after that night and, if I hadn't been running it with a friend, I'm sure I would have backed out after that night.

The next few runs I went on, I was scared and dispirited. I didn't want every run over 6 miles to feel so miserable--after all, I had a lot of them left. That's when someone mentioned in passing, "You know, it doesn't get easier--you get stronger."

That thought changed my whole training mentality and I'm trying to let it seep into the rest of my life, too.

No matter how bad or good of shape you're in, it still takes effort to run 5 miles. What changes is that you become stronger to get there. The run, the circumstances, don't get any easier. They don't change; you do.

You can draw on all those scraped knees, missed quiz questions, and bad days to become stronger. It won't make it easier when your car breaks down twice within a week of moving while work is a disaster. Rather, you'll be strong enough to handle it (even if there is a little maniacal laughter along the way). And, if you aren't strong enough to handle it, God's still there for you.

Long story short (we'll omit a few more scraped knees and one black toenail), I finished my half marathon with a pained smile on my face and doubled over two steps after the finish line, exhausted, but stronger than I was back in January. And yes, half of my equipment was still from the supermarket, if you're wondering.