Category Archives: life

A Resolute New Year

12 Thursday Jan 2012

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I’m not big on making New Year’s Resolutions. First because if there’s one thing everyone knows about New Year’s Resolutions, it’s they’re a joke. I hate breaking promises, even to myself. Second because I think it’s silly to wait until January 1 to make resolutions. If there’s something in your life you should change, change it now!

But this year, for whatever reason, I ended up with three:

1. Wash dishes within a day of dirtying them. Dishes are my least favorite chore because they always need to be done, and without growing science projects in the sink I must do them promptly. Also, I have very little counter space in which to accumulate them. #1 downfall of this apartment = no dishwasher, in case you were wondering.

2. Write every day. It’s how I wrote my first (terrible) novel when I was fifteen, and it’s how I wrote the novel that landed me my agent, and it’s how I wrote Starting from Here. Even if it’s just a couple of notebook pages or an hour of revisions, write.

This past fall, especially as holiday season began, I fell out of the habit. It’s very easy to go from writing every day to writing almost every day, and from there it’s even easier to write most days and then some days, and pretty soon you’re lucky if you sit down once a week.

So, I’ve been reclaiming my writing time. The biggest step was to start setting my alarm for 6:30 a.m. I’m much better at daily writing in the spring and summer, because my eyelids flip open of their own accord at 5:30. In the fall and winter, I’m more inclined to roll out of bed when the sun seeps into my bedroom at 7:30. The flip side of getting up at 6:30 is that I need to make sure I’m in bed, falling asleep, at 10:30 sharp. No more staying up watching those last twenty minutes of Stephen Fry in America or Dollhouse. They must wait.

3. Moisturize.

(Was that anticlimactic?)

There are other habits I’d like to sustain throughout 2012: go to the dog beach at least once a week with Saffy, get back into crochet and other crafty activities, eat less spaghetti. But for now, these are the three promises I’m willing to make.

The 13 Days of Doctor Who: Must Love Doctor Who

22 Thursday Dec 2011

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13 Days of Doctor Who

It’s Day 11 of the 13 Days of Doctor Who blog hop! Whether you arrived here via Ryann Murphy’s post about the music of Doctor Who or by some other means, welcome. Be sure to comment to be eligible for two fantastic prizes!

Must Love Doctor Who: An Open Letter to Potential Companions

Tenth Doctor looking intenseHey, you: lattegrrl75, k1ttyl0v3r, twizzlerama, reading my profile, deciding whether I’m cute and clever enough to message. You love baking cookies and downhill skiing, hoppy beers and unagi, Amélie and Haruki Murakami, not to mention solving crossword puzzles on rainy Sunday mornings whilst wearing flannel pajamas and fuzzy bunny slippers…but do you love Doctor Who?

I’m sure you’ve gotten an earful of online dating advice. Stick to the positives. Write in actual words rather than LOLZ. Be honest, be funny, and, for the love of Clom, don’t mention your exes. And remember: some Cybermen are best left in the closet.

Eleventh Doctor looking cheekyBut I refuse to conceal my fondness for the Doctor. Why admit something so geeky on my profile? It’s like the Eleventh Doctor and his precious bow ties. He’ll never stop wearing them, insisting, with just a hint of defensiveness, that they’re cool. If you can’t respect my Whovianism, I’ll tell you right now: mutual passion for fish fingers and custard or no, we’re going no-where, no-when.

Now, maybe you haven’t met the Doctor yet. That’s okay. No one is born knowing that 900-year-old, double-hearted, universe-saving Time Lord from Gallifrey. I’d never heard of him before college, when I made a friend who wore a Tom Baker scarf and a Dalek T-shirt, and it was years later that I met the Ninth Doctor and began working my way through the rest of the show.

Sally Sparrow meets a Weeping AngelSo, before you click that button to message me (because, after all, I am extremely cute and clever), watch a few episodes. Try the gripping, creepy, and ultimately joyful duet of “The Empty Child” and “The Doctor Dances,” or “Blink,” a mind-bending, breath-taking thriller. Or perhaps the first episode with the Ninth Doctor, “Rose”—the episode where I first stepped into the TARDIS for myself.

See, Doctor Who fans aren’t merely viewers; they’re the Doctor’s Companions, adventuring through the universe across time and space as surely as Rose and Mickey, Martha and Donna, Amy and Rory. The TARDIS has room aboard for you, too—trust me: it’s bigger on the inside—if you can meet a few simple conditions.

Second Doctor wearing a silly hatStrange people and places should excite you, rather than frighten or bore you. You should enjoy having silly conversations and solving mysteries and pondering big questions. You must not be afraid to be ridiculous. And you should believe people can rise above greed and violence, selfishness and apathy, to create a better universe.

Ninth Doctor and RoseI guess you could say I’m looking not for a companion, but rather for a Companion, in the Whovian sense. It doesn’t matter whether you’re trapped in a banal, soul-sucking job like Rose or Donna, or whether you’ve nearly lost hope of regaining the magic and wonder you experienced as a child, like Amy. What matters is that if the Doctor suddenly appeared in his blue box and unfolded the universe at your feet, you’d go with him. Because that’s what I want: a Companion to have adventures with, across time and space.

So, watch Doctor Who, and ask yourself: are you Companion material? If so, fantastic! Brilliant! Allons-y!

Donna giving the thumbs downBut if not, don’t bother writing, no matter how cute and clever you are. It’ll never happen between us—unless the Daleks have exterminated everyone in the universe but you and me.

And even then, probably not.

Fantastic Prizes!

Grand Prize Drawing

For the grand prize, The Complete Sixth Series on DVD, please leave a comment with your name and email address. You may enter once at every stop on the blog tour for a total of thirteen chances. The grand prize giveaway is limited to the US and Canada, due to regional restrictions on the DVD. Entries will be accepted until midnight CST on December 24th. Erica and Eliza will post the winner on December 25th and notify the winner via email.

ETA: Grand Prize Winner
Erica reports that the grand prize winner is Mrs. S, who commented on Phoebe North’s post about the Doctor as an anti-hero.

Bonus Raffle

Commenters on this post will also be entered to win a signed copy of The Wee Free Men: The Beginning, by Terry Pratchett. This paperback volume collects the first two Tiffany Aching adventures, The Wee Free Men and A Hat Full of Sky, about a gutsy young witch who falls in with a clan of drinkin’, fightin’, stealin’ folk known as the Nac Mac Feegle. If you love Doctor Who, there’s a good chance you’ll enjoy the excitement and humor of Sir Terry’s Disc World. Shipping is limited to USPS. Contest closes at midnight CST on December 27th. I will post the winner on December 28th and notify the winner via email.

ETA: Bonus Raffle Winner
The random number generator has spoken! Saskia is the winner of the bonus raffle.Wee Free Men: The Beginning

Next Stop!

Thanks for stopping by! Be sure to visit Pamala Knight’s blog next for her discussion of Neil Gaiman and the allegory of the TARDIS! And if you’ve missed any stops along the way, consult the blog hop’s Wibbly Wobbly Schedule.

*13 Days of Doctor Who banner by Studio D

Fall Journey

24 Saturday Sep 2011

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Fall can be wrapped up in one word: transition. Transition from hot weather to cold, lush foliage to bare limbs, long days to short.

Arguably we’re in constant transition as the Earth circles the sun, yet winter and summer somehow feel like destinations, as concrete as Breckinridge or the Bahamas. Spring and fall are the journeys between.

Live Monarch

Transitions are exciting. They spark the imagination. Hopes and fears flare as vividly as the leaves of a sugar maple a week past the autumnal equinox.

Everything is certain at the extremes of the year. We are guaranteed sweltering heat and humidity in July, ice, snow, and bitter wind in January. But in spring and fall, each day is a question. Will it be T-shirt or sweatshirt weather? Will I need my sunglasses, umbrella, scarf—or all three? Will today bring green buds to the trees, or will those same leaves, now brittle and brown, finally fall?

Maple Leaf

This fall seems to be full of transitions in my personal life, as well. My supervisor is retiring, and I wonder who will replace her. (I’m not applying for her position, but I’m on the interview committee.) I’m hoping to adopt a dog soon; it’s been four months since Carly died. But when and how will I find the right companion?

Sea Gull

I’m struggling with transitions in my writing, too. This summer I finished a major revision of a “new” project, and now I’m waiting to find out if my editor wants it. It’s hard shifting gears to work on something else. I’m free; I can do anything. The possibilities are tantalizing yet also overwhelming.

Dead Monarch

But today, I put aside my hopes and fears for a while to journey around town and enjoy the fall splendor. To appreciate the “getting there” without worrying about where “there” is.

Yellow Beach Flowers