an exercise in percussive maintenance
Tag: writing
Now if that book cover isn’t ominous, I don’t know what is. It doesn’t even need the rows of supersized teeth that were added in the film’s promotional posters and later editions of the novel. The mere idea that there’s something lurking underneath, something you can’t see, something much bigger than you, waiting to snatch you up in its terrible jaws. Continue reading “On unintended consequences and memorable movie music”
If you’ve ever wondered how procrastination works, it apparently involves a monkey. I myself spend many hours every day in the Dark Playground. But I think I might have stumbled upon a strategy that could keep the monkey at bay (cause let’s face it, if you work from home and get paid on a freelance basis you can’t bank on the Panic Monster coming to your rescue). (If you have no idea what I just said you really should click on that link. It’s a much better post than this one.)
I was put onto that brilliant explanation by Timothy Edwards, who reckons the solution is to plan so thoroughly that the monkey doesn’t get a chance to take over. Sounds to me like something that belongs in the Dark Playground. We’ll call it the “Spending All Your Time Making Plans To Spend Your Time More Effectively Merry-Go-Round”.
My idea, on the other hand, is foolproof. I’m going to use a reward-system. See, I have two major things need doing. I need to get on track with my studies, and I need to finish the first draft of my novel. (Okay, I need to start looking at a way of getting paid for counselling as well, and getting clients to counsel (I might have those two in the wrong order) but that’s rather dependant on finishing my degree, so let’s not worry about that just yet.)
Studies and writing. Both things that I actually enjoy if I truly get into them, but both things that I also heavily procrastinate for some very obscure reason. Well, my strategy is to use one as a reward for completing the other. For every five chapters I finish reading for my degree, I’ll allow myself to work on my novel. And for every five thousand words I finish writing, I’ll allow myself to dig into the academics once again.
Sounds like a terrible plan, doesn’t it? So terrible it just might work. Hopefully it will confuse the monkey to such an extent that he’ll forget about Youtube (where I recently discovered the highly entertaining channel, How it should have ended – they remake the endings of popular movies so they make more sense), Facebook (more coming on their acquisition of WhatsApp as soon as I stop procrastinating) and the family tree I’ve started to construct in an attempt to discover my extended family (my grandfather Kokkie was an orphan, so apart from my father’s siblings and their children I have no knowledge of my extended family on his side).
What do you think? Is my plan foolproof or am I merely a fool? Hopefully I at least made you smile 😉
This is not a review. A review, in my mind, seeks to make a balanced evaluation of a (in this case) book, highlighting both strong and weak points and, while it does make a judgement about said book, it leaves the reader to make a choice whether they want to read the book. This is not that. This is a rant about a book that I hate and that I’m probably going to hate for the rest of my life. It doesn’t help that the book is smack-bang in the middle of a series that, up until now, I’ve really enjoyed.
Here’s what happened. Nothing. Seriously. Nothing happens for more than seven-hundred pages (which actually makes a spoiler-warning a bit superfluous, but be warned this post contains significant spoilers regarding the third and fourth books in the Song of Ice and Fire franchise (or the coming fourth season of Game of Thrones for those barbarians among you who only watch the TV show). To skip spoilers, go straight to the last page when you reach the end of this one.)
I’d been taking a break from the books since I finished A Storm of Swords in April last year (the plan was to finish my reading for my Master’s…yeah, that worked out well), but with the fourth season of the TV series looming I reckoned I’d better read the next book so I can stay ahead. (I know the fourth season is still primarily based on book three, but they’ve been weaving in snippets of later books since season three already, as flashbacks don’t work so well on the telly.) I wish I hadn’t.
To start with, over half of the main characters are not even in the book. Mr Martin wrote a nice little note in the back that the book had grown too long and he decided to split it, having one bunch of characters in the one book and the rest of the characters in the next. But he didn’t put any of the interesting characters in this book. Jon Snow, Daenerys, Tyrion and Bran never make an appearance (except the very first chapter from Samwell Tarly’s perspective where Jon Snow makes a quick cameo). And those characters that are there spend most of the book going nowhere and doing nothing.
Continued on Page 2. To avoid spoilers, skip straight to Page 3. Also on Page 3, links to actual reviews on A Feast for Crows.
…in yesterday’s post I announced my New Year’s resolution, namely to start writing letters again. Along with that I made an open call for pen-pals. Yes, you have the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to become pen-pals with someone who is hopefully going to be a famous author one day in the distant future.
Thanks to those who have already responded. You can start watching your mailboxes in a couple of weeks. I’ve decided to leave the form up for another day, so there’s still time for you to get in on this wonderful opportunity. Just click here.
In other news, the wife has also started blogging. The day I met her she was busy drawing. I made a remark about wishing that I could draw and she responded with a very snotty retort that anyone can draw if they just try. I’m not going into all of the detail, but suffice to say that I showed her 😉
Anyway, thanks to the rigours of life she had been drawing and painting less and less and her New Year’s resolution is to draw more. In fact, her resolution is two-fold: draw more and be more thankful.
Out of this resolution was born The Gratitude Calendar. The idea is that every day this year she is going to post a simple sketch of something for which she is thankful. She’ll post other stuff as well, but the calendar is her main project for the year. I think it’s a grand idea and you’d do well to go check it out.
On a side-note, you’ll notice her handle is Kokkelien. That has been her mother’s pet name for her since she was very little. We have no idea where the nickname came from, as it bears no relation to any name in either her immediate or extended family.
Maybe my mom-in-law was prescient as her daughter’s surname is now Kok and the wife and I can make a formidable blogging team as Kokkie and Kokkelien. Funny how life works out sometimes, isn’t it?
Tune in tomorrow when I review the best film of 2014…
No, I’m not a little late. If you check the archives you’ll see last year I also did this only a week after New Year’s. No specific reason. My blog, my rules 😉
But about that resolution…I’ve decided to make just one this year. No mucking about with losing weight or saving more or all that nonsense that never work anyway. This year I’ve decided I want to start writing letters again. Continue reading “On my New Year’s resolution”
if all else fails...use a hammer 