Mother, knitter, writer, teacher…what else does one need to know?
I’m fairly certain I’m going to blow it for the knitting olympics this year too. I even bit off FAR less than last time, but work, once again, reared it’s head. Can’t complain though. Gainful employment is not such a bad thing.
Back to knitting grading papers!
Knitting progress as of last night, 9ish.
OHMAWGAW It’s a DINOSAUR!!!!
Beautifully done touring show!
No Nigel Marvin but you can’t have everything, can you.
Dear Mr. Riordan,
As an educator, a former production and executive assistant in Hollywood, and an aspiring YA novelist I just wanted to send some sympathy your way.
My 9 year old son and I—both fans of your book The Lightning Thief—went to see the new film version of it last Friday.
My 9 year old really loved it—with caveats.
I was willing to go along with the inevitable book-to-film discrepancies for most of the movie. I understand that they are two different (very different) types of media and as such they need to be allowed to approach their audiences in their own particular idiom.
I get that.
I was good with that.
Until Persephone was in Hades.
During the summer.
A smashing good ride (which the movie sometimes was) is nothing in the face of trashing the mythology upon which your entire story is built. I really was stunned. I can understand some of the changes (aging the characters to make their heroism a little more believable even though it removed the coming-of-age-13-ness, cutting much of the mystery you so carefully built, moving entire chunks of story to other locations, taking away Hades’ spectacular monologue from the book was less forgivable…but, you know…they didn’t use a screenplay written by you, did they?). I did appreciate Los Angeles being Hades. And unlike others, I quite liked the three main actors—I thought they were better than could be expected given the often leaden dialogue.
But really? Persephone in Hell in the summer? (Not to mention the other conundrums they created by not following your book more closely.)
It’s a different kind of hell.
The only thing I can hope is that the hubris shown by the movie makers takes a Greek turn and gets all mythological on their… ahem… well… you get my drift.
I loved—LOVED—how you snuck real mythology into your book in such unassuming and clever ways that when my son eventually picks up Ovid or Bullfinch, he’ll feel as though he’s revisiting old friends. I weep for the film-goers who haven’t read your rollicking text, who, when they eventually get around to learning mythology (if they do) will instead find themselves confused because—once again—Hollywood thought them too stupid to understand mythology, or worse, couldn’t find a way to “sell” ancient mythology to modern Tweens.
Seems that the Emperor has no clothes on that one, what with mythology entertaining millions over the past thousands of years.
But what do I know.
I’m just a teacher.
Nonetheless, as teacher, and as a former wage slave in Hollywoodland, I hope you can accept my apology on behalf of the rest of Hollywood. For what it’s worth, they know not what they do*.
Most sincerely,
Heather
* “No One Knows Anything [in Hollywood].”—William Goldman
No memes.
Nothing compelling.
No amazing knitting going on (well…that’s not really true).
Just time to write again.
I found this nifty iPhone app called TripleQuick (from the good people at featherproof books)–it’s a fiction app that lets you read (or submit) 333 word short stories–a story that could be read completely in three iPhone screens (get it? Triple Quick). You can download and read all of these nifty stories, or you can compose one and submit it. If they publish it, it’s an actual publishing credit. They take first time digital publishing rights, you take copyright.
Love it.
Some of the fiction’s pretty nifty too.
I also found–contrary to what I’d been told before…somewhere–that if you’re trying to break into the novel market and get an agent or editor interested in your work, you really should have published some short stories.
That was news.
Long ago, somewhere–somewhere (memory failure) important enough that when I was told this the information obviously stuck–someone told me that writing short stories was a weakness on the part of a writer–not that it was bad to write them (heck no! They are great training grounds for focused, incisive prose) but that it was bad to publish them. Because–the theory went–if you have SS credits under your name it shows you weren’t really dedicated to novel writing.
That and the pay is lousy.
So, I’m over that. I’m all about short stories now while I wait (and wait…and wait…) to hear back from Agentlandia. And I feel better about that.
I’m not surprised, though. I’m like that with my knitting too. Sometimes I order a yarn for a new project, or sometimes I have to wait for a paycheck (or two) before I can buy yarn for a project. And what do I find myself doing?
Knitting.
With whatever’s there. Because I like to knit. Even if it’s not really “going anywhere.”
And I like to write.
And I’m going to work on showing that here a wee bit more often.
Next post includes pictures of all the knitting UFOs and WIPs I’ve got collected.
I think that might actually hurt me.
Originally uploaded by hordover
Nearly two years after the first surgery, here’s the boy’s “new” ear. More pics can be found at the Ear Extravaganza site (see link above).
Mini Blue Moon Skein
Originally uploaded by hordover
Just a little spinning for a short night…color is all munched, though. Really much more purple and much less wine.
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And then she’s all…