Will Ferrell—Your Hero?
June 8, 2009 by A Slice of Orange in category Writing tagged as Abby Gaines, moviesLand of the Lost, the movie, not the TV show I used to watch way back when, opened on the weekend and reportedly bombed. In fact, it’s been called “the first bomb of summer.” Ouch. I’m partly to blame, I guess, as I didn’t go. But it’s on my list of “possibles” so if you saw it, let me know what you think.
However, if it’s any comfort to Will Ferrell, he did benefit financially from me over the weekend, because I rented the DVD of Stranger Than Fiction, a movie he did a couple of years ago with Emma Thompson. He must have made at least a penny in royalties off my rental fee…
Ferrell plays Harold Crick, an IRS agent who starts to hear a voice narrating every action in his tedious life. Turns out he’s a character in a book being written by reclusive author Karen Eiffel (Thompson), though his figuring that out takes up a large part of the movie (the audience is clued in from the start). Bad news for Crick, he’s doomed to die at the end of the book, when he realizes that, it becomes a race against time to save his life just as it starts to get interesting.
I really enjoyed this movie, it was so different and quite unpredictable. And quite unexpected to see Ferrell as a romantic hero (in an unlikely romance with a baker played by the very cute Maggie Gyllenhaal), especially if you’re more used to his Talladega Nights-style of character. I must admit, Ferrell’s not the man I have in my head when I’m writing one of the romantic heroes in my books, but maybe I could rethink that…
Dustin Hoffman played a big part in the movie, too, and of course, he was recently paired up with Thompson in Last Chance Harvey, another movie I really enjoyed. I wonder if acting in Stranger Than Fiction together was what sparked their pairing in Last Chance Harvey?
So, did you see Land of the Lost? Love it, hate it? Got any other Will Ferrell recommendations?
Abby
www.abbygaines.com
Grumbling and Conflicts
June 6, 2009 by Linda O. Johnston in category Pets, Romance & Lots of Suspense by Linda O. Johnston tagged as Berkley Prime Crime, Linda O. Johnston, Silhouette Nocturne
As I mentioned in that posting, I won’t see you at OCC this month. Instead, I’ll be at the California Crime Writers Conference in Pasadena, a joint program between the local Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime chapters.
The Los Angeles Romance Authors meeting, which is usually the third Sunday of the month, was moved to the same weekend, since it otherwise would occur on Father’s Day. That means I’ll miss another meeting I’d like to attend.
I blogged a few days ago for the Mid-Valley Willamette RWA Chapter’s blog site. My theme was my multiple personalities, which I cultivate because of writing in two very different genres: dark paranormal romance and light cozy mysteries. And then there’s my lawyer side.
There are times, like the second weekend of this month, that I wish I didn’t only have multiple personalities, but that I could clone myself, too, and participate in more than one event that I know I’d enjoy.
Okay, I know I’m grumbling. Part of life is having to make choices, and I’ve done so.
But I’m going to miss my romance writers’ meetings, especially this month when my Silhouette Nocturne BACK TO LIFE has been released! It’s definitely a romance, although there’s a mystery to it, too. And a very special K-9 cop heroine who has Valkyrie powers that allow her to bring some people back from the brink of death… people like the really hot SWAT-team member whose life she saves at the beginning. She becomes romantically involved with him, then realizes she might have inadvertently passed some powers along to him, too.
I’ll be at the July OCC meeting before heading to RWA National in Washington, D.C., and hope to sign BACK TO LIFE and my latest Kendra Ballantyne, Pet-Sitter mystery NEVER SAY STY at the meeting.
I won’t be grumbling then!
By the way, today is D-Day. My hugs and kudos to those who were there. My dad landed at Normandy Beach a couple of days later.
Linda O. Johnston
http://www.lindaojohnston.com/
http://www.killerhobbies.blogspot.com/
Linda O. Johnston is the author of 16 romance novels and several novellas, including a Nocturne Bites, with at least one more Nocturne upcoming. She also writes the Kendra Ballantyne, Pet-Sitter mystery series from Berkley Prime Crime.
Chapter Meeting Information for June
June 4, 2009 by A Slice of Orange in category Archives tagged as Chapter Meeting InformationGeneral Meetings are held the second Saturday of the month at the Brea Community Center, 695 E. Madison Way, Brea, CA 92821. For a map and directions, click here.
Meeting fees are $10 for Members and $20 for Non-Members.
Meeting Schedule for June 13, 2009
- 9:30 am: Doors Open / Ask an Author
Volunteer Ask an Author/s for June:
Susan Squires and Jennifer Haymore - 10:30 – 10:45 am: Announcements
Morning Speaker: JENNIFER HAYMORE: Is E-Publishing Right for my Writing Career? - 11:50 – 1:00: Lunch Break (Lunch Orders available)
- 12:45 – 1:00: New Member Orientation
- 12:30 – 1:00: Book signings
- 1:00 – 1:30 pm: General Meeting and Announcements
- Afternoon Speaker: CHRISTIE RIDGWAY: Beyond the Beach: Using Setting to Create Character and Plot
- 3:00 pm: Meeting Adjourns
Attention: OCC Members Attending the Meeting–Monthly Critique Drawings! Volunteer Critique Author for June: Patricia Wright (w/a Patricia Thayer)
Important 2009 Dates to Remember:
- June 15, 2009 – July 11, 2009—Online Class–Is That Hollywood Calling? with Cindy Carroll. For information click HERE
- July 13, 2009–OCC Monthly Meeting (Brea CC)
- July 13, 2009 – Aug 8, 2009—Online Class—Writing Cozy Mysteries with Cheryl Arguile (w/a Emily Brightwell). For information click HERE
- August 8, 2009—OCC Monthly Meeting (Brea CC)
- August 10, 2009 – September 5, 2009—Online Class—Using Body Language and Vocal Gestures to Create More Believable Characters with Bill Edmunds. For information click HERE
- August 22, 2009—OCC Special Event #2: Character and Conflict; Point of View and Dialogue–An all-day workshop with Debra Mullins and Charlotte Lobb. For more details and registration, visit www.occrwa.org.
For current Online Class Schedule and registration information, please visit http://www.occrwa.org/onlineclasses.html.
For more chapter meeting information visit OCC’s website at http://occrwa.org/meetings.htm
The Artist’s Way
May 29, 2009 by A Slice of Orange in category The Artist Way by Gillian Doyle tagged as Artist's Way, Gillian Doyle
“During a drought, the morning pages seem both painful and foolish. They feel like empty gestures — like making breakfast for the lover we know is leaving us anyhow. Hoping against hope that we will someday be creative again, we go through the motions. Our consciousness is parched. We cannot feel so much as a trickle of grace. . . . And yet we write our Morning Pages because we must.” – Julia Cameron, THE ARTIST’S WAY.
It is closing in on midnight. My blog entry here at A Slice of Orange is due to go up in a few minutes. But instead of writing it, I spent the evening at my mother’s bedside, trying to help her comprehend what is going on while her muddled mind repeats the same questions over and over. You see, she thinks she is dying. Maybe she is. My brother and sister-in-law are convinced she is. Though the caregivers and doctors disagree. However, I do believe that a person can will themselves to die . . . or to live.
My eyes are burning. My brain is throbbing. But I can’t stop thinking about my commitment to write this blog. To tell you the truth, it’s the only thing keeping me connected to my writing at this time. I haven’t even been able to keep up with my own Morning Pages. And yet I write my blog because I must.
Is that too much honesty? Shouldn’t I be burning the midnight oil to finish my proposal promised months ago to an agent? I know a writer who came home at 2 A.M. from the ER (after her mother was finally admitted), and sat down to write her daily ten pages. I thought, “Is she insane?” I admire her dedication. But she probably welcomed the chance to escape into her writing and forget about her real world for a while.
Okay-okay, so I AM burning the midnight oil to finish this blog. As much as I would love to escape reality and write a few chapters of fiction, my brain cells are begging for some snooze-time. Though I must admit that, lately, my sleep has been disrupted by the most bizarre and disjointed dreams. I suppose all that unexpressed creativity has to find a release somehow.
I opened this entry with a quote from Julia Cameron about going through a drought. Is this a drought? Not exactly. But I am trying to keep my writing alive, and that’s what is important. Some writers might disagree and consider me a slacker. That’s okay. I’m the tortoise, not the hare.
Oh, one last thing — Check out Dr. Bruce H. Lipton‘s, THE BIOLOGY OF BELIEF: The Science of How We Create Our Lives. I heard his lecture a year ago at a conference. He’s amazing. We really ARE what we believe.
And now I believe I am very tired and I’m going to bed. ‘Nite all!
– Gillian Doyle
http://www.gilliandoyle.blogspot.com/
http://www.gilliandoyle.com/
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