Monthly Archives: August 2011

On the importance of community in the arts.

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As you know if you’ve kept up with me over the last month or so, I’ve been meeting with the Consortium on Monday nights. And I’ve wanted to write this blog post for a while, but I figured I should wait until I actually had something to show for it before I launched into gratuitous chatter.

All through college, I took writing classes – creative writing, non-fiction writing, technical writing. If it exists, I probably took a class on it. And through all of those classes, I was able to get feedback on all of my work from both professors and peers. Due to the classroom structure, I was forced to keep writing constantly, to have new work prepared at least once per week, if not more than once.

But I’m going to be completely honest with you.

I’ve been a huge slacker on my writing in the past year. And I’m not going to try to make myself sound less lazy, because I know that’s part of it, but I think a lot of that is that I haven’t had a group to consistently push me and stay on me about writing. I’ve been able to get by with saying that I’m doing some writing, but I don’t really have much to show for that kind of excuse.

Now, however, I have a reason to be writing. I have goals to work toward – real, tangible goals. I want to see my name in print, and that’s happening here.

I’m writing nearly every day, if not every day. It’s not always a lot, but it’s something. My gears are turning, more than they have in a while, and I’m loving it. I’m pushing myself to think more, and I know I say this about every new project – but the project that I’m working on right now is the best and most fully-formed idea I’ve had in a while.

And – here’s the best part – the Consortium is putting out the first edition of its short story collections in ebook form later this fall. We don’t have an exact release date yet, but I’m doing editing work on it and I’m also going to be published in it. Surprise!

Anyway, I’m really excited about it. And it’s going to be super cheap online, so if you don’t buy it and read it, you don’t love me. That’s not true, I’m sure you will still love me. If you don’t, why are you here?

I’ll keep you updated. Don’t worry. And because I’m probably going to be living and breathing this book until it’s done, like a proper writer, you’re probably going to be hearing about it here. Leaking out of my fingers onto the Internet, pretty much.

So that’s what’s going on with my life lately, and that’s why I think community in the arts (especially writing) is important. I didn’t get as in-depth as I could have, but I doubt you’d have wanted to read pages upon pages of my thoughts on that. What are your thoughts on community? Yes? No? Why?

Why I now feel justified in hating Jim Carrey.

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I don’t know if you’ve heard, but Jim Carrey has posted a particularly strange and lecherous vlog directed at Emma Stone. I’m going to post it, and you can watch it, but I just want you to know that you will almost certainly regret watching it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNqnjHrRscs

First, I want to post part of Gabe of Videogum’s reaction, because it pretty much sums up all of my feelings about this, quite succinctly.

Ew. Ew to this whole thing. Put it in jail. Put what in jail? All of it! Put Jim Carrey in jail, just right away. That one doesn’t even get a trial. Then put Hollywood in jail. Then burn the Internet to the ground and sweep its ashes into Whoops Ocean. “But Gabe, the ashes have mixed in with all of the barf and it’s hard to sweep now, we might need a shovel.” So get a shovel. Not my problem. JUST CLEAN IT UP! I will be in the shower, scrubbing my skin until it falls off.”

Not all of you may know this, but I have a very healthy dislike of Jim Carrey. Some might call it hate. I’ve never liked him and he has always creeped me out. I briefly thought I liked the movie Yes Man, and then I realized that I like Zooey Deschanel and I still hate Jim Carrey.

And let’s face it – I grew up in the Age of Jim Carrey! He was a physical-comedy-movie-making mastermind during my childhood. The Mask? The Mask 2? Was there a Mask 3? Probably, but I didn’t see it! Ace Ventura, Pet Detective. Dumb and Dumber. Liar Liar. A Series of Unfortunate Events. Mr. Popper’s Penguins. All movies that I have never seen and I refuse to ever think about seeing. I won’t just not see them – I won’t even think about not seeing them.

I did watch the Grinch remake because I love the original animated version, and I hated it. I’ve even vowed to stop watching The Office if they make him the new boss. Fortunately, that didn’t happen, but I couldn’t have handled him on a regular basis. No thanks. I liked The Truman Show and Horton Hears a Who, but the former is just a classic for many reasons, and the latter isn’t really dependent on him as an actor. I don’t have to see his creepy face, so it’s fine.

There are a lot of people saying that this video is just a joke, and people who think it isn’t need to lighten up, that we don’t “get” Jim Carrey’s humor. And, you know, I think I get Jim Carrey’s humor exactly, and it disgusts me.

He says in the video that it’s a joke, but something about it isn’t a joke. It’s all said in a joking voice, but it’s quite clear that there’s a definite layer of truth underneath everything he said. If he were in his twenties, you bet he’d be asking her out. And let’s be completely honest here – if he thought there was even the slight chance she’d be interested in him, he would go for it. But he recognizes that he’s way too old for her, so instead he made this pervtacular vlog telling her that.

For as much as I dislike him, I recognize that he’s been a pretty wildly successful comedic actor. He’s very famous and he’s done a lot of movies that a lot of people seem to really love. And good for him for succeeding at what he loves.

And now he’s gone and made himself a huge creep by posting this video. And, you know, it doesn’t really tarnish his reputation. He’s known for being a general doofus, and that’s fine, since that’s his desired niche. But he’s put this on Emma Stone – now she has to deal with the publicity of this. She’s going to be asked about this for months, at the very least, when she should be discussing her success and her role as an up-and-coming actress. Instead of being asked hard-hitting questions about her role in The Help, she’s now going to be asked what she thinks of Jim Carrey hitting on her via YouTube. And she doesn’t deserve that. No one deserves that.

There’s really no other explanation for this than he thinks she’s pretty and successful, and he wants her to know that he would like to have a relationship with her, although he knows she would never go for that. I’m not going to trivialize the word rape by using it here, but I want everyone to think about that. He brought this on her, unannounced, and most of the world is disgusted by it. And now she has to deal with the consequences of his actions, while it’s highly unlikely he’ll ever be asked his opinion on this. That’s what life is like for women in a rape culture – if a man does something uninvited and unpleasant to a woman (to put it so lightly), she is immediately questioned and assumed to be at fault, “asking for it” in some way.

And it’s pretty clear that Emma Stone was most definitely not asking for this.

You guys, this is why my dad is the best. He knows things about earthquakes and building houses.

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And my computer totally just incepted me on taking screenshots while I’m using Parallels (I know, just…don’t worry about it), so I’m going to copy/paste his comment on my earthquake post here.

Dad
August 24, 2011 8:15 am

In Oklahoma, it’s not that the ground is too hard for basements but that the water table is too high. Dig down about six feet and seepage begins to fill the area. In recent years waterproofing concrete technology and techniques have improved and more basements are being built that will stand up to the water intrusion. New houses need a basement. Old houses need a state fair storm cellar or safe room.

This guy, he knows stuff.

The two earthquakes I’ve experienced.

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In light of the earthquake that launched a thousand East v West Coasts blood battles this morning, I’ve decided to share with you my two very unexciting experiences with earthquakes.

As I’m sure most people who grew up in Oklahoma can tell you, we are profoundly unprepared for earthquakes. Tornadoes? Got it. Got no basements, but we got preparedness hiding under a mattress in the bathtub down no problem. This always seemed like a fundamental flaw in Oklahoma architecture to me. We’re in the very middle of the self-proclaimed Tornado Alley, but there are no major built-in storm shelters. The ones people buy at the state fair and build in their backyards don’t count here. I’ve been informed that the reason our houses don’t have basements is that the ground is too hard to really dig into and, to grossly misrepresent the details of building a house, it would be hard to dig a basement. I don’t know about you, but I still would prefer to buy a house with a basement when I know that, at any moment between May and September, there is a chance my house could be whisked off to Oz or steamrolled to the ground. Tornadoes are equal opportunity weather – it could happen anywhere to anyone. But I’m getting off-topic.

While we’re massively prepared for tornadoes, we’re massively underprepared for basically any other type of major weather. We had a summer of serious flooding in 2007 (and again in 2008, if memory serves), and since people don’t know what to do, they try to drive into it and end up floating to the side of the interstate. Snow and ice? We’ve had a pretty serious blizzard for at least the past two years now, but because the cold weather storms are so few and far between, there’s no financially sound excuse for investing in a fleet of anti-snow vehicles, for the city or for citizens.

Earthquakes, though, are something we have almost no experience with whatsoever. Or, at least, in the 15 or so years I’ve lived here, I’ve had almost no experience with them. I remember learning in elementary school to sit under a desk or stand in a doorframe if an earthquake should strike, but I’ve never actually had to put that skill to use.

Four years ago when I was on PacRim and in Japan (2007), I lived with a host family and slept in a room on the second floor of their home. I’d wondered if I might experience an earthquake, but didn’t want to expect too much, or for that matter, experience too much. One night, I woke up to a strange feeling – everything was shaking just a little bit. Because it was the middle of the night, I found myself a little confused and overwhelmed. What was happening? After feeling like I was lying in a massage chair for about twenty-seconds-that-felt-like-ten-minutes, I realized it was an earthquake. Obviously it wasn’t a very serious one. Or maybe it was and since I was on the second floor, I missed the real impact. Maybe I’ll never know.

That was my first earthquake. I was glad that I woke up for it, since I tend to sleep through serious weather, and it was fun to talk about on the bus the next morning with Kitty.

My second earthquake was two years ago. I think. Anyway, I was sitting on the couch in my apartment doing some reading for class, and I happened to be in the apartment by myself at the time (a rarity). I remember sitting there, looking up for a second and realizing the ground was shaking. I’ve had this feeling before! I thought, realizing what it was. I immediately tweeted the incident, of course, and watched as tweets from friends and classmates filled my feed. And then, in a matter of seconds, it was over.

And that was it.

For as big of a deal as is made of earthquakes when we’re young (at least in Oklahoma), both experiences were rather underwhelming. Of course I’d rather be underwhelmed than overwhelmed by a natural disaster, but at the same time, I’ve had much more exciting experiences with tornadoes.

Do you have any experiences with earthquakes? Let’s hear them!

Blog Ruts

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I bet when I said I wasn’t going to blog every day that you weren’t expecting me to drop off the face of the earth, right? Surprise! Always coming at you from a different angle. Can you believe August is almost over? Isn’t that just wild?

Well, in my defense, it’s been a busy past few weeks. Started a new job, added a couple of outside activities, started writing more – I would say I’m busier now than I have been for about the past year in school.

In an effort to blog more, though, I’m going to start making a  more concentrated effort to theme my posts. I have a lot of ideas about a wide variety of topics, but I’m not totally sure how I want to focus my blog. Since I never initially stated a real theme, though, it’s been hard to pick one now – and I’m not sure if that’s what I even want to do. I’ve found myself just blogging aimlessly, with no real purpose, and that gets exhausting after a while. I’m ready to find purpose in this blog again, but a different purpose than the original. I’m here, I’ve made Mustard Ampersand fairly synonymous with my own name (at least online), and I think it’s time I start making an Internet presence that I’m proud of.

What kinds of things are you interested in reading about, from me? I hear craft tutorials are a pretty big hit on the Internet, and I could certainly throw some of those together, especially with the new projects I’m working on right now. I do plan to do some posts about topics I’m researching in my writing right now.

I probably need to start getting it together for NaNoWriMo this fall, also. If you’re on NaNo, find me here. I may just cheat and continue work on my current work in progress. Actually, I’m almost positive that’s what I’m going to do. I feel like I’m in a good place with it right now, and I really don’t want to put it aside and replace it with a project that I haven’t even thought of yet. That doesn’t really seem like a sound business decision, does it?

I’m also considering doing more book and movie reviews. Since my book club has met twice now, I’ve been reading a lot more – even outside of the book we’re supposed to read. I think being on Goodreads has done a lot for me in that respect, also. Keeping track of how many books I’m reading has really helped me see that I should be reading more than I am.

Anyway, I know this is a pretty short post and I didn’t say a lot, but there you have it. What do you want to know more about? Do you prefer longer, more text-heavy posts, or shorter posts with more visual content? Or some combination of the two?

And most importantly, throwing this out to bloggers – if you find yourself in a blog rut, how do you get out of it?

In case you were wondering what I’m up to with my writing these days.

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My recent involvement with the Consortium has really got me thinking about my writing. As many of you may know (or maybe not, I guess), I majored in English writing and spent a large percent of my time in undergrad writing fiction. And loving every minute of it.

I’ve written three years of NaNoWriMo and always look forward to the new year, including the website redesign that happens every October. It’s honestly one of the highlights of every year for me, so I guess you can take that however you want to.

And I have a couple of half-complete novels, which is kind of embarrassing, I think. I woke up a few months ago and realized I’m that person with several half-finished novels sitting on her hard drive. I always swore I’d never be that person.

The problem with most of my works in progress, though, is that they either are all plot or all character development. I’ve found that it’s really hard for me to strike a balance between the two.

Also, my novels tend to fall into the following settings:

  • Present day, present world
  • In space
  • In the future, in space
  • In the future, present world
I’m not really a historical fiction kind of person. I love to read it, but writing it is a whole other drama. So, naturally, I stick to the future and space. I guess it’s no wonder I turned to watching Doctor Who, right?

My other problem is that I can’t really decide on a genre for myself. Not that I’m trying to limit myself, but I feel like I should be able to nail down what genre my books are each in. And since I can’t, I’m going to chalk that up to them not being focused enough on a genre to fall under a label. Also a problem, right?

I’m still trying to decide what I’m going to do with these novels I have in progress. I like them, I like the characters, but I don’t know if I like them enough to tackle them again. At least, not without a serious detour to change. When I read them now, it’s pretty obvious that I was extremely unhappy while I wrote them, and that’s not really a time in my life that I want to revisit.

I have been working on something this summer that I think I’m a fan of, though, so I think I’m going to try to work on this for a while before revisiting anything else. It’s different from anything I’ve ever written and features both a plot and characters, so that’s an exciting twist on my usual habits. I’ll try to keep you updated. There isn’t much to go on right now, but know that it involves alternate universes and has a slight steampunk bent to it. And some pretty awesome characters, in my opinion. I’m pretty sure this one has some real staying power, and I’m really, really excited about it.

One thing I am also really grateful to the Consortium for is that they’re giving me a reason to write. You might think it would be easier to write once you’re done with school, but if you don’t have a deadline – man, it’s hard to stay focused. I have a short story due in a week, and I’m more than thrilled about it. Of course I haven’t started yet, because I just found this out last night, but it’s definitely on my to-do list.

And right now I’m creeping on part of my friend Jessie Sanders’ manuscript that I’ve read some before, and I know she can see me looking at it in Google Docs, so I should probably go read some in case she notices.

New Job + New Etsy Listings

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First of all, when did it become August? I don’t think I gave permission for that to happen. It feels like just yesterday that it was March or April, doesn’t it? I guess this is how it goes when you get older. Everyone’s starting to go back to school – my cousin just went up to OSU for recruitment this afternoon – and it’s weird to no longer be that person. Thrilling, but weird.

It’s been a busy past week, and I don’t really have a lot of news. I started a new job in an office, so that’s kept me pretty dang busy all of the weekdays. I really like it so far – I probably won’t talk about it much because that sounds boring, and there are more interesting things to talk about.

One thing I do like about having open evenings and weekends now is that I have a little more free time, which I’ve lately spent crafting and updating my Etsy. I’ve added a lot of new items and made some policy changes, but overall it’s still the same. Here are a few of my new favorite things – pictures are the links.

How can you not love this sweet little Dalek bookmark? I don’t know, if no one buys him this week I may delist and keep him because he’s so cute. Just excuse the Doctor Who nerdness if you don’t know what this is. It’s fine.

This little nest necklace is similar to my others, except it’s about a third of the size, as you can see here.

And, of course, these cutie little owl-stamped gift tags. This whole set didn’t completely turn out, so they’re 50% off. If you want a fully stamped set, on any color cardstock, let me know and I’ll whip some up for you.

Not a whole lot else interesting has happened around here lately. Stay tuned for a cubicle then-and-now post – it’s my first time to decorate a cubicle (hopefully this isn’t a recurring pattern), so I’m kind of excited about it. I’ll keep you posted.