As of today, I got JBU up and running, so I now blog here, there, at iluv2read, and potentially at The Dieline.

Folks, this is what happens when you give your daughter her first computer at age two and a half.

Thanks to my new Netflix subscription (squee!!) I finally watched the movie version of THE KITE RUNNER this weekend, and I loved it. I thought everything (i.e., the controversial rape scene) was handled tastefully, the two young actors were fantastic, and the story was absolutely amazing. For the first half of the movie I nearly forgot I was watching a movie set in Afghanistan, which I had always pictured as a bleak, war-torn desert. (That comes in the second half.) So I really appreciated that in addition to a high-quality story, I got a fresh take on a foreign land and culture. Now I’m definitely motivated to read the book, which has been sitting in my “to read” pile for about three years…

Whenever something excites me like this story did, I Google the sh*t out of it. In my attempt to discover how autobiographical the story really is, I came across this interview with THE KITE RUNNER’s author Khaled Hosseini, and I enjoyed much of what he had to say about the writing process. A couple highlights:

For me it always starts from a very personal, intimate place, about human connections, and then expands from there.

Me too. As a reader/viewer, I enjoy all sorts of stories — action, history, romance, scifi — but as a writer, I have a hard time staying focused and finishing unless I care about the characters and their journey. This means I probably won’t write stories quite as action-packed as Tom Clancy’s or Stephen King’s, but hopefully I can find a good middle ground (like J.K. Rowling did with Harry Potter). Or even Khaled Hosseini, in this case.

Often, as I write, stories are transformed, turn into something altogether different, and I am always surprised by where they end up taking me.

Yaaaay, another point for the non-planners!

“Huh, what?”

Allow me to explain.

The outline vs. let-it-flow debate is a fierce one. I see the pros and cons to each side, and I think I’ve ultimately settled upon a good (copout) answer: it depends on the story. Some need very disciplined direction; they won’t work unless you know exactly where you’re going and more or less how you plan to get there. But others would be stunted by that structured of an approach; they would lose their natural ebb and flow, becoming more of a swimming pool than a sea.

Personally I go for an in-between method that I call connecting-the-dots. I plot out certain points and then just try to write a path from one to the next.

For my first manuscript, THE GOOD DAUGHTERS, I started out with no real plan, just a few very spread out dots. (Not so much “A to B” as “A to Y to Q”…) Then when I made it my senior thesis project, I tried to give it some more structure, plan it out a little better. That helped me stay on track for deliverables to my thesis advisor, definitely, but because I’d switched tacks partway through, the novel didn’t cohere very well. Now that I’ve “finished” it, I find myself extremely daunted by the revision because it’s going to be so. much. work!

For my second manuscript, I’m trying to be a little more strategic. I’ve got an “outline” (i.e., significantly more dots than I had for THE GOOD DAUGHTERS) and I think it’s going to work. But ask me again in six months. We’ll see.

ANYWAY, as I was saying, THE KITE RUNNER movie is quite good, and I highly recommend it to anyone who can take a serious — but ultimately uplifting — story.

Allow me to present a wonderful excerpt from a wonderful post by a wonderful person.

being in a relationship has a state of permanence- can’t i base my falling in love on a moment-by-moment basis? by labeling you “boyfriend” and me “girlfriend, we have placed each other in roles that demand (by rules of society) that we are faithful to our relationship during every moment that we are officially calling ourselves a couple. faithful not just physically, but in everything we do and how everyone describes you as mine and me as yours. i want, instead, to tell you that in this moment, i am in love with you. the next moment doesn’t matter, and the moment before it might not either. i just want you to hold this moment and know how i feel about you right now.

This is Riley’s “Momma, aren’t you supposed to be writing novels right now?” face.

Because the past couple of months have been extremely hectic and stressful for Andy at work–and because I, you know, do stuff–we’ve decided we should take a relaxing vacation together, just the two of us, no animals, no family.

So of course we spent all of last night banging our heads against the walls trying to figure out where to go, how to get there, what to do, and how much it will all cost.

Relaxation, here we come!

Yesterday I nearly ran over a turtle.

I was on my way home from Panera, and he was so small I could hardly see the little guy! I turned my wheel to avoid him, and checked in the rear view to make sure he was okay. He was, but I decided to back up and figure out how to get him out of the road. In the process, I scared and/or annoyed the heck out of some woman behind me. Sorry, woman, but adorable endangered turtle trumps your angry squinty glare.

See for yourself:

Adorable, yes? Endangered, no more! I saved him. I picked him up and put him in my car on the passenger side floor. I am a turtle hero.

When I got home, I let Riley sniff him, and then I set him down on our patio (and took some pictures, obviously). I considered keeping him in our bathtub so Andy could see him (because Andy loves turtles) but then I decided that would be (a) weird, (b) mean, and (c) really, really weird. Instead, I got out Andy’s old Golden Guide reference books and tried to figure out what kind of turtle he was. After comparing him to the pictures on every page (twice) I determined that I had absolutely NO idea what kind of turtle he was.

So now the little guy is now roaming free in my backyard, perhaps enjoying a swim in the creek or a stroll through the tall grasses. And me, I’m still a turtle hero. TURTLE. HERO. That noise you hear? It’s the turtles, singing my praises. Pretty, no?

…

Well, okay, the little guy didn’t exactly pop out of his shell and do a song and dance, but he did give me a gift.

He pooped in my car.

Thanks, little guy.

Between shopping for a casual men’s jacket, going to Discovery Green in the rain, catching up with Barbara (Alex’s Momma #1 and my Momma #2), and spending hours trying (unsuccessfully) to get our sailboat’s motor to start, I unfortunately did not find time to upload any photos on Friday. I am so sorry. Please accept these fireworks as a display of my never ending regret.

“Not good enough!” Andy says. “Actions speak louder than intentions, and you did not meet your deadline. Thus you have failed, and I banish you to that vine-like prison.”

“What vine-like prison?” I ask.

“THAT ONE,” he says, pointing.

“Oh,” I say.

“Wait, this one’s prettier!” my mom chimes in.

“Hey! Whose side are you on?” I ask.

She takes a moment to consider her answer.

“Andy’s,” she finally replies.

“Oh,” I say.

And so it was that I came to be jailed by my mom and boyfriend in a giant red claw. Or something.

Technically this quote is about Aruba, but I think it’s pretty applicable to anyone with a dream.

I came to this place in 1995. I pulled over, looked at the beach and surrounding area. I thought, “I could live here.” It was a goal that took me a long time to accomplish. But all that hard work was worth it. The good things in life are worth waiting for. (You’ve heard that one before, I know, but it is true.) Don’t rush it. Don’t get discouraged. Stay the course, weather the storm, and get where you want to go and take the ones you love with you.

Courtesy of Daniel Putkowski and his blog The Bent Page.

In honor of the new month, I created a new masthead, just like I do… every month. :P

I also decided to archive all the previous mastheads, because I like them, and who knows, maybe someone else will too.

This month’s tagline (”let the poverty begin”) is in honor of my new part-time schedule, which starts in two weeks and means I’ll be earning 40% of my current salary (hence POVERTY) but writing a lot, lot more (read: MORE POVERTY). I’m really excited, but scared sh*tless at the same time.

On a related note, I’m sending my short story The Eraser out to a contest today. Wish me luck?

In a recent radio interview, Dooce talks about how a blog must have soul to attract a loyal fan base. Just like with a TV show or book, the writer of a blog must develop characters that readers care about in order to draw the audience back day after day (or week after week, depending on the frequency of the posts).

I think that’s why I realized after just a couple weeks that my blog couldn’t be merely professional. Not only was it unsatisfying for me to write only about writing or reading, but I can’t imagine that those topics would satiate any normal reader for very long. (Whatever “normal” is.)

So that makes me wonder, who are my characters, and what about them is compelling? Of course, I think my friends and family are interesting — that’s why they’re my friends and family! — but do you? Should you? Have I done enough (or anything) to make them interesting?

I think that’s what I need to be more mindful of in the future, both for this blog and for my fiction writing (which features a slightly different kind of “friends and family”). Even if every post or story doesn’t flow as part of some larger linear stream, there needs to be some sort of narrative that holds it all together. There needs to be something that readers can connect to, follow, remember.

I’m not sure that every blogger puts this kind of thought into what they type into their content management system before hitting “Publish.” I know I usually don’t. But I think that’s part of what makes Dooce so successful, and unique.