Monday, October 17, 2005

Random Questions

1. Why do I have to do word verification when I comment on my own blog??
2. Did anyone else hear Sen. McCain's essay on "This I Beleive" on NPR today? Yes, I got weepy eyed when he spoke about the guard in the POW camp on Christmas day.
3. Anyone else getting nervous about the news stories on bird flu? The BBC just ran an interview and I'm ready to check into Biosphere 2
4. How do you stop re-writing something? I'm on draft 7 of a short story - although it seems to want to be something bigger.
5. Anyone know of a good gif animation program? Easy Gif Animator 3 isn't easy.

I just want to mention that I try to cruise by all the blogs under 'people' several times a week. I know I should comment more...I'm gonna work on that. The information over on Snarkaholic about 'citizen journalism' is fascinating. Jill, it sounds like your trip to Vegas has been great. Thumper, I hope the move goes well. Mucho Mojo!! Qplagh, (((hugs))) I need to go see that movie now.

ok, good night now.

6 comments:

Jill said...

Dawno - thanks! You know, it's so funny that you mention citizen journalism just before my name because the sessions I've attended so far here at the SPJ conference were both about it. WWW.J-Lab.com - that's the place to go to learn even more. Great organization connected to the U of Maryland's j-school.

My roomie here is downstairs about to have a one-on-one interview with THE Judith Miller of the NYT! They expect protests outside the hotel today. Should all be fascinating (she's been scheduled to speak her since last year.)

Hope you're well!!

Thumper said...

If you keep re-writing and it feels like there's stuff left unwritten, set it aside for a while. Give it time to work its way out of the back of your brain. Time can give you some perspective, too, and will make editing easier as well.

Paint Shop Pro supposedly has a good animation prgram attached to it. I use PSP but have never attempted to animate anything. 'Cause I'm a wuss...

And thanks, I hope the move goes well, too! We have 20-somethings doing the grunt work, all for just pizza and beer!

Mac said...

Dawno--you can either set it aside, or ask someone you trust to give it a read for you. Stories don't get finished, they just escape...

Tish Grier said...

hey dawno!

I know the feeling about cruising by and commenting more. I was away earlier this week, and, whent that happens, of course I get seriously backed up. there's just so much time one person can spend in front of the computer!

As for re-writes...I can certainly re-write myself into a stupor. Which means changing the style too. It's taken time for me to get comfortable with my voice...that was always my reason for re-writing. And a wicked case of perfectionism. Which is also something I'm vigilant about. So, I think it's a matter of figuring out what the deal is--perfectionism, insecurity, a combination--and then dealing with that. When you're in a re-write, then you can say "wow, am I being a wicked-assed perfectionist or what!"

And, from what I've learned, no matter how perfect we get it, and editor will *always* have a suggestion or two. that's just the way it is :-)

Mark Pettus said...

Dawno,

Sorry, I've been neglecting the blogworld this week, and I just read your post.

I've been suffering through a bout of rewrites myself, although mine were brought on by outside advice. I've decided that I'm suffering from a case of too many cooks spoiling the sauce.

I hope you've saved your earlier versions. Sometimes they look a lot better after two revisions than they did at first reading.

ohdawno said...

Hi Mark, nice to see you here! I do have all my early versions - each one is a separately saved doc. They're not better, just shorter. I decided to write a whole post about it rather than try to answer here in comments - I mean, what are the chances anyone will come back here anyway?? :-)