Going on Vacation

I leave tomorrow for a week in sunny, unbelievably beautiful Mexico.

And yes, I'm rubbing it in.

I'll have internet access while I'm there, but we'll see how often I'll peel myself away from the pool to write anything. And if my posts sound drunk... well, they just might be.

Hola,
Abby

What I Learned at the Movies

Whether or not they air anything - and it doesn't really matter to me - it will be a tough Oscar race this year. There has been such a wealth of great acting, writing, directing, and cinematography it would be difficult to vote.

Still, there's acting, and then there's Daniel Day-Lewis.




I saw There Will Be Blood last night, and I guess I should recommend it, but I sort of don't. Let me qualify that. I don't recommend it for what is known as "a good time at the movies." I recommend it if you actually like your head split open and all sorts of complicated, scary ideas poured into it without mercy. It's the equivalent of vanilla extract - bearable from a distance, but overpowering if you get too close.

And is Daniel Day-Lewis really human? I mean, are we sure? Maybe we should call some scientists? If so, he's so extraordinarily gifted it's almost terrifying. What does one do with a gift like that? Go make shoes, I guess, which is reportedly what Day-Lewis does between films. If you can watch the final scene of Blood without the smallest bit of awe, then you can't be moved. Myself, I had my hands to my face like a 1950's model doing her "frightened" pose.

And because art is art, as usual I applied what I learned to writing. Here's what this film taught me:

• Stop listening to what everyone says you can and cannot do, what you should and shouldn't do, and make something you believe in.
• Commit. Don't fuck around. Commit.
• Forget timelines. It's okay to take your time if you're making something good. The director hasn't made a film in five years and Day-Lewis only makes movies every once in a while (quoted on imdb: "Nothing happened over the course of making Gangs of New York that made me think, 'Why don't I do this more often?'")
• Say something. It doesn't have to be a big statement, but it has to be there.
• If you've made something that can't be pigeonholed into a single genre or cliche, then you've made something interesting. Turn off your "but what will a publisher think" voice for a little while and see what you come up with.
• The easiest thing to do is give in to your fear. But what are you making if you do that?

If you want these lessons repeated, I recommend a viewing of No Country for Old Men, which will leave any thinking artist in a similar state of awe. My only complaint about this year's crop is the complete male-centredness of the storytelling. We women have to step up to the plate. I mean, the writer of Thelma and Louise is now the director of Mad Money? We must be able to do better than that.

But in the meantime, I'll keep going to the movies. I'm learning a lot there lately.

How to Judge a Writing Contest

I've been judging writing contests lately, for the first time. Partly to satisfy my curiosity on what my fellow wannabes are writing, and partly because after my own less-than-stellar experiences with contests and their judges, I decided to put my money where my mouth is and see if I could do better.

It's been an interesting experience. Some of the stuff I've seen is stellar. Some of it is OK. Some of it.... um, well.

As I slogged my way through my piles I made my own little set of rules.

1. Always, always give examples when you make a point. Think someone's dialogue is hackneyed? Specify which lines. Think there's too much telling, too little showing? Find an example and show what you mean. Does the scene need more description? Tell the writer where you were lost.

2. Keep track of your reactions as a reader. Where did you lose track of who was speaking? Where did you have to backtrack and read a sentence twice? Where were you tempted to skim? Where did you get lost in the action? Specify.

3. Point out good stuff. Even the entry that appears to be written by a grade five student has something good about it. Find it.

4. Go easy on spelling and grammar. Only really, really annoying people who like to prove I'm Better Than You dock precious points for one or two "it's" and "its". Only dock points if you can barely read it - and when you do, see point 1.

5. Remember where you started. When tempted to write "this sucks" or "I'll never get that 45 minutes of my life back", remember the first thing you ever wrote. Sucked, didn't it? Yes. It did.

I might volunteer for a few more contests - I dunno yet. Probably. It's teaching me quite a bit, though it's a lot more time-consuming than I thought it would be. And I need to finish my own stuff... ever.