Onward

Yes, the new character’s not talking is making things difficult and I’m not even writing him yet. But he has very expressive eyes. That should help.

I did write today. 1,497 words of a fanfic I promised my roommate months ago. It was like pulling teeth! :mops sweat: But I did it. I’m going to watch a few eps of the show (Wolf’s Rain) before I edit, though, because I don’t think I have the one character’s voice quite right.

BTW, if you ever want frustrating, try writing a sex scene between two male wolves in human form without A) over-using their names, B) using “his” and “he” until no one knows who is doing what to whom, C) referring to them by hair color (which is different in their true wolf form than in human so it doesn’t seem right) or D) referring to their wolf forms so much that even those who like yaoi will be repulsed by the animal-aspect of it.

Yeesh.

Never made it to work today. Didn’t get to wander the library either, but that’s just as well. I got five books on request; I didn’t need to wander and find more.

I did make it to Curves for my first workout. Yay!

Also didn’t make it to the grocery store. We decided to try having our food delivered. What luxury, eh? But we had a coupon for free delivery, and the store offering it had a good sale on Diet Coke and we must keep Bly caffeinated…we’ll see.

Got attacked in the middle of the night by a brand-new character. While I was fighting him off, his plotbunny got its teeth firmly into my wrist.

Damn. Guess I’m writing an urban fantasy soon.

Must make it to work tomorrow. Or Monday will be Hell.

But I’m too sleepy. Today I came home from work (late) and fell over for two hours. Now, three hours after getting up, I’m still foggy.

However. The first week of school is over. I’ve already put in nine hours of unofficial overtime; a few more and I may be pretty well set for the year. Meaning my piles of work will be at a level a human being can actually accomplish in an eight-hour day.

Still pisses me off that it’s the only way, though. Why can’t I at least get comp-time? Oh, right–because the supervisor foolishly believes the district wouldn’t expect it of me if it weren’t possible. She’s a grown-up, damn it, she should know better. I note her desk is never anywhere close to clear…

Gotta get published.

Seriously. OMFG. School starts tomorrow. Can we please get it the hell together?

Hint for the new administrator: before telling the Screaming Bitch from Hell ™ that you’ll take care of her problem, find out exactly how that can be done. Because I won’t be the one telling her–again–that it can’t be fixed. She used all her Verbally Abuse KD cards last year. She doesn’t get any more.

Clue for the Administrative Team: get on the same page. I can’t read minds, and I don’t get to second-guess you. So if one administrator tells me something, that something is what I do. Another administrator telling me four hours later that we can’t do that is really NOT HELPFUL. At all.

Tidbit for the parents: if you wait until the day before school to register, there is not a chance in hell your student will choose their own classes. 900 pre-registered kids + the 100 that came in last week to enroll = we squeeze your kid in wherever we can.

Buy the Serenity Collector’s Edition. That is all.

This is for me, so I remember.  From a Joss Whedon interview, here.

I’ll have an idea, and then I’ll start to think about what’s behind that, and what would be the big emotional moment, what would be the catch, what would be the thing I’d love to see. It’s usually easier in a situation with a known quantity. For example, Wonder Woman. Like, how do you introduce Wonder Woman? “Oh, that’s cool.” I did Aliens 4. When I first wrote it, it was a 30-page treatment that was completely different from what they shot. It didn’t have Ripley in it. Somebody just said, “We’re interested. Would you write a treatment on spec?” I was like, “It’s Alien. Are you kidding? I’ll carve one on my forehead.” That hurt, so I stopped and used paper. [Laughs.] Paper has worked out great for me since, really. But, I thought to myself, “Okay, I’ve seen three Alien movies. Alien is one of the most important franchises in my mythic history. What haven’t I seen? What are the moments that I go, ‘Okay, that’s new, that’s worse, that’s good, give me that’?”

It’s easy doing that with a script for a TV show. You can feel the characters, you can get to the emotional moment. With a new thing, it’s still part of the process. The most obvious example, and I’ve used it before, is Buffy in the alley. I really thought about it: [Trailer narration voice.] “It’s a bad town to be in, especially at night.” There’s the girl in the alley. “Especially if you’re alone.” And then the monster attacks her and she kills it. “And especially if you’re a vampire.” It was that turnaround, which I hadn’t seen, and which has obviously been seen a million times now, but this was 20 years ago. I wrote that, and it’s in the actual movie. They didn’t use it for the trailer, and the scene isn’t shot exactly how I imagined it. But when I’m thinking of a trailer moment, I’m not just thinking of how I can grab people. That’s my whole philosophy. My entire career is in that trailer moment: The emotional highs of the movie, and the thing you haven’t seen, and the thing you’re longing for. They should all be connected.