Pure genius! Except a few words too many, sorry...

[felis_ultharus]

Well, I just finished a first draft of one of my best short stories ever, and my first really good short story in about six months.

Unfortunately, it's wrist-slittingly depressing, so the chance of getting published in that Air Canada magazine (first prize for the CBC Quebec Short Story contest) is next to nil.

Plus, I discovered that they've further cut the word count. For the Quebec Short Story Contest, it's 1200 words maximum. That isn't even a grocery list. That's a haiku.

I'll try submiting it to the CBC national Short Story Contest, where the maximum is 2500 words. Apparently CBC thinks that English-speaking Canadians outside Quebec have longer attention spans.

Yeah, I know -- it's probably a difference of resources, but it's still frustrating.

Also, I have been almost two-thirds of the way through Roughing it in the Bush for 5 days. Susanna Moodie is officially more boring than than a golf game being commentated on by economists. I'm rereading Prisoner of Azkaban to clear my mental palette.

Comments

Ha!

[em-fish.livejournal.com]

I am also re-reading The Az. You already know I was reading CoS, and when I was finished, I just couldn't stop! It's like a disease, really, a very fun, pleasant disease.

Re: Ha!

[felis-ultharus.livejournal.com]

Harry Potter really is the only thing that got me through last year. It reminded me of why I actually like studying books.

I'm developing a theory that 99% of literary critics are failed writers desirous of exacting revenge on writers. Literary criticism is the intellectual's equivalent of giving someone the finger.

I'm so tired of wading in among that sewage we call post-modernist, post-structuralist, post-essentialist, post-gay, post-feminist, post-interesting, post-enjoyable, post-meaningful, post-worthwhile, post-readable, post-creative, post-anything-but-crap. It's nice to read the work of a person who can write, for a change.

[scottevil.livejournal.com]

I read all six HPs over the past two weeks, at lunch and even at work. I wasn't a fan until quite recently. (Jer's really into it and likes to point out he has the same birthday as Harry.)

I admire how JKR has created a completely fantastical world but is able to write it so matter-of-factly. What really inspires me about her, though, is her success somewhat later in life. I always thought that if I was going to make anything of myself, it would have to be before 30 or else it would be too late. Because of JKR I see that it can happen, and happen spectacularly, regardless of age.

[felis-ultharus.livejournal.com]

They are wonderful. She has such an amazing sense of craft as a writer, especially her talent for plotting.

In my lit classes, the plot-driven novel is considered passé, probably because it's a little unusual. I was kind of sad to hear that my favourite fantasy writer, Ursula LeGuin doesn't like it, but LeGuin's work is very different.

I have to admit I'm quite obsessed with the series, and quite immersed in the geek culture around it, though I rarely bring it up here because half my friends are fans, and the other half are sick of hearing about it :)

[man-dragora.livejournal.com]

"That isn't even a grocery list. That's a haiku."
Loves it.

[felis-ultharus.livejournal.com]

Heh. They shorten it every year. A few years down the road, we're all just going to wind up picking our favourite words out of a dictionary.

I'm not sure whether mine would be zzxjoanw -- a kind of Maori drum -- or floccinaucinihilipilification -- the act of estimating something as worthless :)

[man-dragora.livejournal.com]

floccinaucinihilipilification is one of my FAVOURITE words. We had this game at the summer camp I worked at called "Orthocon". It was the best word game ever. You were given a word and you have to spell and define it. The cards would range from "Truck" to the hardest word you can't imagine.

[scottevil.livejournal.com]

I'm not obsessed with it but I find a lot of the speculation, particularly about Snape, interesting.

Re: Ha!

[melting-penguin.livejournal.com]

Ah, the sheer joy of turning a page to find out what happens next. Or just spending time with a set of characters that have become disturbingly real to you.
And being able to return there again and again and again...(I'm sure I've have read them all many more times before the next one comes out!)

Re: Ha!

[felis-ultharus.livejournal.com]

:)

I'm re-reading the series, too, although much slower. I saw the movies first, so this time, as I go through it, I'm trying to re-imagine the characters as I might have if I'd never seen the movies.

Which is kind of a geeky thing, I guess, but it's always good to give the imagination a workout.

This civilization needs gyms for imagination. We exercise everything except the one thing in our world that's most atrophied.

Re: Ha!

[melting-penguin.livejournal.com]

The trouble is that the casting was so well done that I find some characters impossible to imagine without seeing the faces of the actors. Especially the teachers.

Kudos to you for being able to free yourself!