All Messages
By torontokat on Feb 12, 2011 at 1:17 PM
Sounds like you are creating whole worlds and societies! Very cool!
By torontokat on Feb 3, 2011 at 11:46 PM
All excellent, because they sound like what they mean. I especially like batbrain because of the two B's, and there's something about jellybrain ... maybe because I sort of expect it to become "jellybean" and it turns into something totally different.
By torontokat on Feb 3, 2011 at 11:46 AM
Oh, now that is cool. Are the new words because you're writing fantasy or sci-fi, or are just they new words you like? I used to keep lists of words that I liked (not words I'd created, but just words I was fond of) inside a shoebox lid.
By torontokat on Jan 29, 2011 at 12:30 AM
You know, I think it's awesome that you write so much.
By torontokat on Jan 24, 2011 at 10:01 AM
I know about hedging it down. When I am writing, I just let it flow. Whatever comes out, comes out, til it's finally done. Then I go back later .... sometimes much later, and I try to look at my writing as though it's completely new to me, as though I'm another person. Then I can see what parts to cut out, and the writing is much better. It's really thrilling. It's not like thinking "Oh, I did this wrong," it's more like, "I'm shaping it, making it more clear and beautiful." To me it's like when a director shoots a movie, he shoots much, much more than he needs, and most of it's great stuff. Then later he gets in the editing room and makes such hard choices about getting rid of some of it. And then when he sees the finished movie he thinks wow, I did great! Sometimes the parts I cut out get used in my other writing. That makes me happy.
By torontokat on Jan 21, 2011 at 9:37 AM
Nine books?! Wow! Just keep following those stories where they lead you. You sure have a big imagination!
By torontokat on Jan 21, 2011 at 9:34 AM
Leo sounds so so cute. You know, when I was fifteen I told a friend of mine that I liked dogs much more than cats. (Today I love them both.) My friend said, "What is wrong with you? Cats are funny!" That's when I actually started to pay attention to what they did and to interact with them. Every cat is so unique. It sounds like Leo really loves you.
By torontokat on Jan 2, 2011 at 1:49 PM
Congratulations, Aragog. Great, great work. You sure deserve those presents!
By torontokat on Dec 5, 2010 at 10:20 PM
\Oh, I love domo stuff! What great presents! And as long as you're doing your best, the D is just ... well, it's just there. It will be fantastic if you can get above it but the important thing is to try, and to not get too down on yourself. When I get really down on myself, I can't improve, because I start hating myself, and then my mind stalls because I don't believe I can break through what's stopping me .... Believe me, you're lucky to have so much writing in progress. For some reason I could never write prose stories when I was in high school. But I felt good about stage and radio plays, so I spent hours and hours writing those. ... I kept many of them too. Reading them today still makes me happy. If not finishing really bothers you, you can try forcing yourself to concentrate on just one, but believe me, lots of people would envy you for having all those ideas on the go.
By torontokat on Nov 8, 2010 at 9:28 PM
HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY, ARAGOG. I'm really sorry I missed it. I hope it was a good one even if you're having to wait for those presents. That's pretty hard. My parents didn't give many presents at all, though ... Only when I was a little girl. So I really sympathize and hope you get'em soon. How are the kittehs? Giving you hugs?
By torontokat on Oct 16, 2010 at 6:49 AM
My grades at school were all over the place. Either good or the absolute worst. I got a C minus in math, which is the best grade in math I ever got, and my math teacher put a huge smiley face on my exam and shook my hand on the way out of class. He was wonderful because he realized that it was all about progress, and that I had put more into getting that C-minus than many of the math whizzes who could get an A without even studying. And it was learning to put in the effort that was important. When I look back at school, I think it helped me in life because it taught me to keep trying, and to always do my best. It also taught me that there is a difference between knowledge and wisdom. You can have all kinds of things in your head and spout them off when asked, but still not know about values, or how to treat other people right. There are also all kinds of intelligence that exams at school don't measure. Two more kittehs! I envy you. I will play doodle god -- when I'm brave enough
By torontokat on Oct 6, 2010 at 7:04 AM
Well, Aragog, you are just a lot smarter than I am. No matter how hard I try, I can't complete that game! Of course, I've given myself a rule -- I'm not allowed to write down the solution for each step. That means that every time I do it wrong, I start over and have to remember all the solutions. Now, long, long (long, long, long!) ago in the fourth grade, school administrators were giving me some kind of intelligence test, and I couldn't memorize long strings of things. I couldn't then and I can't now. It's never been my strong point. I'm just amazed that you can do that game!
By torontokat on Aug 12, 2010 at 10:50 AM
Think of the 7 books this way ... you can be in the middle of one, and if you run out of inspiration, you have 6 others calling you. And as for finishing ... you'll probably do it one day without even trying. What a great feeling that will be!
By torontokat on Aug 12, 2010 at 10:47 AM
Yes, I went to drama school, and I think I was a good actress, but you have to be more than good. And you have to be lucky. .. After graduation I did a bit of t.v., commercials, theatre ... I was one of the millions with a tiny career, long gone. It did teach me confidence, though, and that helped me when I moved on to things that made me happier. ... On that quiz, I can't get past #15, with the horse! My brain is teased to death!
By torontokat on Aug 8, 2010 at 11:28 AM
Yes, Hallelujah! ... When I was a child, I fell off my tricycle and had to have stitches on my face. But can you believe my luck? The stitches were right beneath each eyebrow, so no one to this day has ever noticed them. And I began my career as an actress, so you'd think someone would have. No cameraman, and no make-up person ever saw them.
By torontokat on Aug 5, 2010 at 6:04 AM
I broke my foot when I was 21. All casts were made of plaster then, and ask I weighed only 95 pounds, the cast weighed half of what I did!
By torontokat on Jul 22, 2010 at 7:09 AM
Awful! But it sounds like this is the last stage of healing, and you're on the downward slope. Have you ever had to wear a cast? I had one on my leg for two months, and it itched all the time. Infuriating!
By torontokat on Jul 18, 2010 at 9:22 AM
Do you have something to put on it, some kind of salve? I recently had to put bandaids on a foot blister (much less awful than one from a burn) and it drove me crazy...I used those transparent bandaids and they constantly fell off. There just isn't a good adhesive in them. I finally bought some old-fashioned pinkish-brown cloth bandaids with big pads in them. They didn't look great, but they never fell off.
By torontokat on Jul 14, 2010 at 6:01 AM
Burns are awful, and that's a place that really would stop you writing. At least you can store up ideas while you wait for it to heal. I hope it doesn't hurt much longer.
By torontokat on Jul 11, 2010 at 7:33 AM
When I'm trying to write and can't focus, I have to take a deep breath, think about something completely different, and then let the writing idea I had kind of drift back into my thoughts. Or if my thoughts are getting all jammed up I might watch a t.v. show, do the dishes, listen to music... just take my mind off it for a bit.
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