(no subject)

[erastes]

Standish does pretty well in the Preditors and Editors poll. Thanks to all who voted, although I have to say, I don't know anyone else above me, really, so it's probably a "I'm your mate, nominate me!" kind of thing? It's nice not to come bottom, at least.

I took the plunge and joined Library Thing, and am in the process of cataloguing, it will take MONTHS, if I ever finish, so if you want to go and have a good laugh at my Catholic tastes, everything from Madame Bovary to Jill Enjoys Her Ponies to Morte D'Arthur to Spike Milligan, then feel free. I've only done about 100 books so far, but I've added some friends on the strength of it. Nice to see R W Day's "A Strong and Sudden Thaw" on there, (seven owners) and "Standish" is also there but has a mere three. Awwww.

I have just finished reading "Remedy" by Anita Lovric and I hated it - mostly. I didn't mind her style of writing, it was lush enough to keep me writing, and she'd obviously been to these places and researched them, lucky cow - I wish I could have gone to Venice and Rome and Paris when writing Standish. But OMG it was several hundreds of pages of.... NOTHING much.

Look, I like angst. I love angst. I write tons of the stuff, but I have my characters doing stuff while they are angsting. No matter what happens in life, life goes on, and it's the mundane misery of that small fact that makes angsting so horrible. The plot is miniscule, but padded out with so much persiflage that it makes a book of it, literally it could have been Brokeback Mountain sized and still got its point across.

Also I think it was trying to be another "Perfume" and I don't blame it for trying - after all, publishers and editors will snap up what's already popular, if one story is, they reckon, the pale imitation will be too.

However I struggled on to the end, even though I was screaming at the book five chapters from the end to fucking GET ON WITH IT and stop repeating the angst over and over and over and over. It tried to be clever too; perhaps it was years of reading and approving (or not) stories over at hp_literotica, but I recognise the "I'm being clever" signs. Each chapter was prefaced by a patent nostrum recipe which fitted in with the title and the hero's occupation, but I completely - COMPLETELY - failed to see the relevance of either the title or the nostrums by the end. Seemed to me that the only Remedy the heroine needed at the end (I bet you'll never guess) was the redeeming power of LURVE. It just struck me as being far too romance, when the book had been shouting "I'M LITERATCHOOR PLZ TAKE ME SERIOUS!" all the way through. It was like the blond actress who leaves the Soap to do Theatre and ends up trying to make a pop single instead.

Also, far far too much telling. Just endless endless pages of descriptive text and I nearly died of happiness when I got a tiny conversation. And as for the POVS? 1) (heroine) First person, Past Tense. 2) (hero) Third Person Present Tense 2) (hero's ward) First person (diary) Present tense. ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!</>

I've finally started my "Superqueeroes" story, and it's going pretty well, 600 words. There will be the removal of sparkly green lycra, and there will be hurt/comfort. That's all I'm sayin'.

And we've been promised SNOW. Today. We was PROMISED. So where the bloody hell is it? Hmmmm??? *tantrum*

Comments

[catsintheattic.livejournal.com]

Pst...

The cut things don't work when you type them in the rich text window. This window will just ignore html - the bitch!



Yay for writer's success! And again yay for hurt/comfort! *cheers loudly*

Will a handful of confetti make up for the missing snow?

[erastes.livejournal.com]

I post via googledocs when I'm at work, because work has banned LJ posting - and the lj cut used to work on that. I'll have to stop using LJ cuts, and limit myself to shorter posts... sigh.

and no! I want snow!

[catsintheattic.livejournal.com]

Sorry, I didn't want to sound like a know-it-all. :-( Maybe it was just today's bug?

The air smelled like winter today, but so far, we didn't have snow either. This winter has gone to the Bahamas.

NOOOOOO!

[vashtan.livejournal.com]

No snow! Not until I'm home.

Seeing how trains in the UK react to the fear of a single snowfl;ake, I won't manage to get home iof we get more than two snowflakes.

So, pleeez, wait till I'm home, yes?

Thanks. :)

Re: NOOOOOO!

[erastes.livejournal.com]

There is none. And no forecast of any here in the next four days. Grrrr.

And we don't even have 100's of containers on our beaches either.

Life sucks.

[rwday.livejournal.com]

I've had a library thing account for a while - haven't been very good about adding books, though. Mostly what I've got on there is research materials as my original idea was to make it available to people in the SCA who shared interests.

Sorry about the no-show snow. :(

[erastes.livejournal.com]

i clocked up 100 just from memory, and none of them bear any relation to the actual editions I have. I only did over 50 so I could be a Library Thing Author and get the big yellow button. Nice to know that people that we don't know have our books!

:)

[julesjones]

Using the ISBN for your edition rather than title/author usually (not always) pulls the right edition up.

[julesjones]

I'm contemplating the purchase of a Cue Cat, but seeing as I managed to do 595 books (so far) sans scanner, I can probably manage the other bookcases as well.

Apparently we share 16 books. Somehow I'm not surprised at what the 16 are...

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Without looking I bet they are classics and gay porn!

[alankria.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I'm on Library Thing. Alankria, of course.

And yes, I want this snow too. Apparently we'll even be getting it in London, where it won't be snow so much as mush that melts as soon as it hits the ground. But it looks pretty when falling, which is the important thing! At least weak!snow is better than the crazy warm weather we've been having. I'm at my parents' house now, down in Sussex, and there are daffodils and primroses in flower. Which is not. Right.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

it's barmy. there are catkins and cherry blossom around here (norfolk)

I LOVE snow. Of course living somewhere where it's impossible to sledge doesn't help...

LibraryThing

[dubaiyan.livejournal.com]

bah, i wish they wouldn't just allow 200 books on a free a/c.

Re: LibraryThing

[erastes.livejournal.com]

do they? ee! I did't know that. I did over 100 just from memory alone! I don't think I'll pay for one.

[asphodeline.livejournal.com]

Library Thing looks good. I might be tempted to try it too but it'll take a looong time to write up my collection there and it's as weird and wonderful a mix as yours looks to be!

[erastes.livejournal.com]

all of mine was done from memory and from the books nearest to me that i could see, coz i couldn't be bothered to get off my fat arse.

However dubaiyan says you can only log 200 with a free account, which I'll do in another hour!

[julesjones]

It's worth getting off your fat arse and looking at the ISBN, because using that in the search box on the book entry page usually pulls up the right edition.

Yup, 200 books max on the free account. I pulled out my credit card after half an hour, but that was partly because I specifically wanted an off-site catalogue for insurance purposes, and LT was very, very easy to use. However, I have since found a new use -- you can download your catalogue onto a PalmOS device, even a really ancient one like my Palm IIIxe what is dead cheap on eBay, and carry your catalogue on a PDA - and I've already pretty much covered the cost of the account by not buying second copies of books I'd forgotten I already had. PalmThing info here:
http://home.comcast.net/~mmcm/palmthing/readme.html