Saturday, June 28, 2008

second wind

It all started with the two pages that my writing partner sent me -- a little filler for our novel involving, of all things, scones. But I loved it. LOVED IT.

Of course, I did a tiny bit of tweeking, added in another line or two and sent it back. And then came the google chat. Most of our chats involve us talking about the novel, how it's going, where it's going, and where we're at. Yesterday's chat was about, of course, scones, and the cookie cookbook that we're planning as a spin-off from our novel. Trust me, it's brilliant.

One of our running jokes (and we have many) involves the movie version of our novel. And everyone plays this game, don't they? The who's-going-to-play-me-in-the-movie-version-of-my-life game. We have the movie version of our novel. Well, one thing led to another and we went from the actress from Amelie playing the main supporting character to changing the nationality of said character to French-Canadian to a dish called poutine (don't ask me to pronounce it), which is basically fries smothered in cheese and gravy to what inspired me to write yet another five pages for the novel using the real conversation from the google chat about the poutine. And once again, we passed the draft back and forth, commenting, adding, tweeking, etc.

We loved it. We've missed it.

But I still watched too much tv this past week, yesterday included. And none of it any good, save the usual favorites. But I also looked at my nonfiction book proposal for the first time in a month, and thought, damn, this is pretty good! The next step is to resume working on the rest of the book.

Tonight is the open mic contest at QRB -- it'll be my first time attending. I'm aiming to win! Stay tuned.

Gratitude abounds. I'm grateful for google chat; for my laptop and internet service; for the joy writing and reading brings me and others; for cookies and scones and ice cream; and for someone with whom to share this all.

5 comments:

Sarah Girrell said...

POO-teen.

love the pics - of the scones and the skyline. ;)

Elisa said...

I *thought* that's how it was pronounced (that's how I was saying it in my head when I read it), but you know, that damn French language... it's not as phonetically literal as Spanish!

Glad you like the pics... I'm getting more "savvy" w/ the bells and whistles, and it's embarrassingly easy.

And I may just have to read *that* scene at the next open mic!

Sarah Girrell said...

HA! surely ye jest. "not as phonetically literal"?? it's neither phonetic nor literal AT ALL!

and *then* there's quebecois...a whole new beast. ;)


if it's any consolation though, my sister said that going from speaking french to speaking spanish was like taking french (known for its understated syllables, measured cadence, and soft, throaty sounds), chewing it around, throwing it up, and spitting it out tongue first.

so really, you're not doing so bad.

(ps, the word verification i have to type in for this comment is "u wroc"....you rock! coincidence? i think not.) ;)

Elisa said...

oh geez, I see another scene coming on... in the cafe, perhaps? Best romance language...

Elisa said...

And here's the biggest laugh of all: NPR's Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me! featured poutine and "quebcois" on their show as part of the quiz segment "Not My Job"!!