the rest is silence

If you're wondering why I haven't been around for a while, it's not because I dropped off the face of the earth, I promise.  *sigh*  Life does have this habit of getting in the way, doesn't it?

We've had weddings all summer, most of which Mr Themus and I have been doing the music for, then both of his brothers got engaged in the same month so there were engagement parties and associated busyness due to that.  Then everyone's been going away left, right and center, which means we've been holding down the fort at home, work and church.  Then one of our church members passed away so we were frantically organising the memorial service.  Then Mr Themus and I finally got away on a holiday of our own (to the Lake District, with lots of walking and nice, sunny weather!) and we just got back on Saturday evening, so I've been desperately doing washing and trying to make the house liveable again.  *double sigh*

So I do still exist, I am still around, it's just that life is ridiculously hectic and I don't know when it will calm down.  Mr Themus and I are gaining responsibilities at church and I have two home groups a week that I have homework for, so I'm doing lots of studying at the moment, too.

Novel is totally on pause until I can be bothered to write again.  I haven't decided about NaNo yet this year, but I think I'm going to have to skip it.

And can you believe that it's already October?  Where did the year go?  I'm going to have to start buying Christmas presents soon . . .

Update Summary:
Pages Torn:  11/100k; 3 chaps complete


My task for this week in the dialogue workshop is to rewrite my scene again, this time focusing on the beats between the dialogue (actions, expressions etc.).  I'll go into more detail about what I learned about that next week, as it has quite some potential, I think.

So, I hope you've been resting your body, but let's not let that gorgeous brain get atrophied from too much daytime TV.  It's time for some light entertainment and braincercise:


A little itty bit of maths and some pretty pictures.

And everybody likes majhong.  I think.

Then do you wanna be a rockstar?  Test your dexterity here.

Have fun!

Update summary:
Pages Torn (working title):  10/100k (2 chapters complete)

Yay, I hit the 10k mark!  Only 90 more to go.  :D


This week's workshop exercises are:

To critique the use of dialogue tags and internal monologue in Hemingway's "Hill's Like White Elephants" vs "Mr and Mrs Elliott", and to rewrite my dialogue scene taking into account what I learn through that and the concrit I've received over at fm.  So look out for those.

As threatened, I'm posting my responses to the dialogue workshop exercises.  Under the cut you'll find my critique of Hemingway's "The Three Day Blow'.




I'm afraid that although I am posting the dialogue scene I'll be working on, I'm posting it friends locked because I'm completely and utterly paranoid about characters, plot, entire storyline, lines of exposition and dialogue being stolen by some unscrupulous fellow.  So if you don't see it, it's because I'm paranoid and very protective of my baby.  Sorry.  Hopefully you'll get to see the better version in print in a year or so :D

Update summary:
Pages Torn (working title):  8/100k (2 chapters complete)

Gakked from helen_c

The Big Read reckons that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they've printed. Well let's see.

1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicise those you intend to read (as in the book is bought and sitting on your shelf).
3) Underline the books you LOVE.
4) Strike out the ones you thought SUCKED. 

 

 

Update summary:
Pages Torn (working title):  6/100k (1 chapter complete)
Things learned:  What makes a scene; outlining redux.
Problems encountered:  The art of procrastination and writer's block

Update summary:
Pet project word count:  5/100k (1 chapter complete)
Things learned:  Balancing story and plot; characters in absentia; trusting my instincts
Problems encountered:  Advancing the plot; the dreaded internal editor

This is to be the first of many boring updates on my struggles to write my Pet Project.  Please feel free to not respond to this in any way.  Please also feel free at this point to de-friend me if you only friended me for fiction updates.  I promise I won't take it personally or cry or start an internet flame war against you.  Scout's honour.  *coughs*

P.S.  I totally know that 'writerly' isn't a word.  I just like it, so I'm going to use it anyway and annoy the heck out of everyone :D  And no, I won't be doing that in the Pet Project.

That being said - on with the ranting . . . .



Update summary (for those who want a short version):
Pet project word count:  3/100k
Things learned:  How and why to use outlines; how not to abuse dialogue tags
Problems encountered:  Narrative voice and dialogue choices; naming my creations

Dear Flist,

I'm quitting.  Again.

No, don't panic, I'm not disappearing - I have every intention of sticking around and reviewing everyone's fics and commenting on people's posts, etc. but I'm officially retiring from fanfiction.  Forever 'n' ever.  Basically my fanfic muse died (let us mourn poor Alfred) and I'm just not feeling it any more.  On top of this, my original fiction muse has sprung up new and fresh (we'll hold a christening service for Monsieur Renard at a more appropriate time).

Over the last two years you guys have been endlessly supportive, helpful and encouraging; constantly interested, for some unknown reason, in what I have to say; diligent in giving feedback for even the strangest and most painful of my babies and I am utterly thankful beyond all articulation for the way in which you have helped me to grow in confidance and in skill since I joined your ranks.  So, to everyone, thank you.

I feel now that I want to grow more, to put what I've learned into effect and actively work on improving my writing while working towards publication.  That's right, guys, Themus is going for print.  Whoever would have guessed?

So now I've joined this amazing site, which I have to recommend for anyone who seriously wants to improve their writing - www.fmwriters.com - where published and unpublished alike give workshops, critique submitted works, and join together for weekly writer Think Tanks.  There is so much useful (and frightening) stuff there that I'm sure you could all get a kick out of it.  It's very scary how much I still have to learn, but now I'm beginning to pick up on those bad habits I've got into (like abusing those adverbial attributions and dialogue tags) and I'm being forced to really, truly think about my writing as a professional.  How do I structure my plot?  Should I use third person unified or limited?  Is my character sympathetic?  How will he grow and change throughout the book?  What do I do if a scene doesn't work?  Why can't I think of a darn title?

So I'm definitely sticking around, because I love you guys too much to leave again, but from now on I will only be working on my novel (which, unfortunately, I can't post due to First Publication Rights - although I may give you snippets every now and again!) and maybe some short stories just to keep Monsieur Renard alive and happy.  I will no doubt be posting on the quandaries I face every day trying to decide how to write this darn thing, and of course your input is highly appreciated on that if you choose to give it :D.

I know that last time I quit it was in less than favourable circumstances.  This time it's not because I can't cope, but because I'm ready to move on, to challenge myself, to better myself, to do what you all have so often said that I can do, if only I have the will to do it.  So, with any luck, this will now really become a writing blog.  And perhaps, after a while, I will dare to actually call myself an 'author'.

Still grateful beyond words,
a fledgling ready to fly the nest,
        Themus

I totally just squicked myself.  Squicked myself beyond belief.

I need to write something happy, but I can't, because I'm in a dark mood.  But I can't write any more of that, because I'm thoroughly squicked and need to recover.

This sucks.

I took a bit of artistic license with 'pottery' with this one, but never mind.

Title: Broken Pottery - drabble #4
Author: themus_revenge
Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: No, I don't own them and in my wildest dreams I could make money from this.
Warnings: Language and suggestive themes.

Since I didn't have much time to spam yesterday, I thought I'd continue today and over the weekend.

Title: Broken Pottery - drabble #3
Author: themus_revenge
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: No, I don't own them and in my wildest dreams I could make money from this.
Warnings: Sadness.

Title: Broken Pottery - drabble #2
Author: themus_revenge
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: No, I don't own them and in my wildest dreams I could make money from this.
Warnings: Little bit of violence, nothing terrible.

Hi guys, I feel like spamming with drabbles today, just in the hopes that it will kick Albert the muse into gear.

So here goes - the first of a set of drabbles with the connected theme of 'broken pottery'.

Imaginatively, I'm going to call them the Broken Pottery drabbles!  Great, huh?



Title:  Broken Pottery - drabble #1
Author: themus_revenge
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer:  No, I don't own them and in my wildest dreams I could make money from this.
Warnings:  Alcoholism, otherwise pretty tame.

Come one, come all - I need your help.  If you are a reader of Moving Shadows then you are welcome to reply to this post, even if you're a complete and total lurker :D

So I've been brainstorming for Moving Shadows and I need some ideas.  I have plenty of plot points etc and I know where the story ends up, this isn't about that.  What I need is more important.

I would like you guys (that is, anybody reading this post who cares to spend a few moments writing a sentence or two) to throw prompts at me for what kind of things I can have Ryan and Julie and/or Kaitlin doing together.  I don't want them just stuck in the house watching TV all the time, so any and all ideas for other more interesting places/outings are welcome.  And more interesting ideas of things to do around the house are welcome too.

I already have Julie taking Ryan for hospital check-ups and Kaitlin taking Ryan out to the pier.  The Bullitt will be turning up soon and so will another diabolical character (who will remain unnamed).  But I'd love more ideas of things to do so that I don't just have them sitting round dinner tables.

Do you want them snowboarding in the alps?
Do you want Ryan beating the twins off Kaitlin with only his teeth?
Do you want Julie joining a synchronised swimming team and forcing Ryan to come to practices with her?

Do you want something else?  Comment and tell me your deepest desire for this fic.

I cannot promise that I'll use every idea, but I'll be mighty grateful for anything anyone offers, because my imagination is extremely limited on this subject.

Title: Moving Shadows
Author: themus_revenge
Rating: M
Disclaimer: I don't own the OC, it belongs to Josh Schwartz. I make no money from this. I actually lose money because I snack obsessively while writing. All non-canon Atwood history belongs to me and is, I hope, universal to all of my fics.
Warnings: Very, very AU. Angst. Mentions of some not so happy childhood memories.

Summary: Ryan has amnesia, and there's a mystery which needs solving, at least for him.

A/N:  I hope y'all enjoy this one, because this chapter slayed me.  I found it very, very difficult to get back into the voice for this one, so my apologies if it's not up to snuff.  I honestly did my best.

Title: What Goes Around
Background: Post "The Girlfriend." Angst, AU, and PG rating (so far).
Ground rules: This is a round robin fic. The first person to claim it in a comment writes the next part and posts it as soon as they want or at least by... hopefully next week. The installment can be any length, change style, genre, POV, and go in any direction at all. That's the fun of it! :)
Disclaimer: None of us own any of the characters, unless we invent some original ones. So far, I haven't. The mistakes, however--and I expect there are quite a few in this un-proofread chapter--are all mine.

 

 

*Moans and flails*

Dude I hate Fridays.  They're so much worse than Mondays, I swear.

I'm supposed to be off sick today because I've been running myself ragged all week with the boss being on holiday and I died this morning.

And now I have to go in at five o'clock to get post and check phone messages and cart around televisions and let people in to do a risk assessment of a hall they're hiring when I have no idea which hall it was they hired and I have no way of finding out. 

Then I get to try to drive back out of the city at rush hour in deadlock.

*moans and flails*

Oh and my guitar totally died - the metal bridge, somehow, literally snapped in half.  I know it was old and I rarely used it.  I know it was only a Les Paul copy but it was my baby and there's going to be a grieving period.  I'm trying to use this for the good by convincing hubby that since he now owns four times as many guitars as me that I should get to scrap my cheapy acoustic too and get myself a Simon & Patrick or a Taylor. 

I'll keep working on that - he might go for it.

And I wouldn't even care about that so much if I could actually play his guitars, but I can't because he always has medium gauge strings and I have tiny, double-jointed fingers.  Barre chords just don't happen on his guitars.  If only I knew Kung Fu and had the strength of ten elephants in each finger . . . alas . . . I guess an S&P it has to be.  Something like these little babies.  I like the second one down, what do you think?

Title:  Sloth (Part 5 of the 7 Deadly Sins fic)
Author:  themus_revenge
Rating:  A serious M in later parts, so might as well start now.
Disclaimer:  It all belongs to Josh Schwartz, you know the drill.
Warnings:  AU, some swearing, angst.
Summary:   Seth never stopped Ryan from running away at the beginning of 102 The Model Home.


A/N:  So I've been doing nothing but staring at this thing for the past month now and I honestly cannot bear to re-read it one more time.  I'd get someone else to read it over for me, but I still wouldn't be able to stand looking at it again.  I can't believe that what I thought would be the easiest part actually turned out the most complicated to write.  So I'm just going to bite the bullet and post it.  I'm sincerely sorry if it sucks :(

 . . . for all you law-related flisters out there:

When Ryan is released from Juvie in The Pilot, is he already on probation at that point or has he been released on bail pending the setting up of his probation or what?

*is befuddled*

And I'm assuming nothing else would happen legally until after that weekend and once Ryan was set up in the group home?



What I'm trying to figure out, btw, is if Ryan had run away that weekend (yes, this is for 7DS) would he be guilty of breaking probation, skipping bail, both or neither?  Coz it has to make him guilty of something.

I'm wondering if it's possible to listen to voicemail messages as they're being recorded on a cellphone.  I know that on landlines if you pick up after the BT answerphone has picked up, for example, you can hear the caller leaving the message, and obviously you hear the message being left if your handset has an answerphone function.  Is the same thing possible for cellphones or does answering automatically cut off the voicemail?

I can't even get hubby to call mine so that I can find out, because he's not here right now.

This is open to everyone as I'm assuming cellphones don't work completely differently in the US as they do here. 

I'm also aware that it might depend on the make/model of the phone, but that doesn't really matter as I'm not specifying.

The following is a totally real disclaimer someone found at the bottom of an email:

This e-mail is intended for the named recipient only. If it has come to you in error then something catastrophic has happened. Quick, delete the file and any attachments and lock the doors. In fact, deny everything.

Obviously we don't accept responsibility for the contents of the e-mail, and any opinions written by the author are his alone.

We have tried very hard to make sure this e-mail reaches you in tip-top condition, free of viruses, Trojan horses, Phoenician sheep, Etrurian geese, Assyrian voles and other nasty things too.

No paper was used in the creation of this e-mail, but several billion electrons were diverted from their original destination. Sorry.

If you really need to print this e-mail - please do so, but another species of dolphin will probably become extinct as a result.

(Oh, and I'm feeling much better now, for all those who read my whine report.)

Wow, I don't know what happened there. I didn't realise I'd posted two.

So yes, I was looking at it as the individual suitcase, so apparently luggage is correct.

Thanks everybody for explaining the grammar of the situation - it didn't occur to me that they might be used for slightly different things.  I just kind of assumed that one was American and one was British.