Y'all may have gathered that i'm not the most tech-savvy person in the world, which is why it's taken me this long to figure out how to create an author page on Facespace:
Rakie Keig - now likeable on Facebook
So if you're "logged on" to the local "interweb", please "like" me. If you do, i promise to stop using bunny ears to highlight my technological failings. Also, facebook sends me lovely emails telling me "so-and-so likes you", which makes me feel about ten years old again.
Thursday, 14 July 2011
Monday, 4 April 2011
Script Frenzy 2011
Script Frenzy is upon us once again, and this year i've decided... not to participate.
this is due to a whole wodge of stuff, mainly me being too busy, with too many unfinished projects on my hands, not enough confidence in my ability to write a decent screenplay, and only half an idea about what i'd write about anyway.
So instead of 100 pages of rubbish screenplay, I've decided to devote April to reading books.
I used to read loads. In fact, i suppose i still read quite a bit, but when i've got other stuff going on in my life, reading seems to be the thing that gets pushed out. Which is not only a shame, but probably quite bad for me - no wonder my head's so stuffy and congested when i've not put anything new into it for so long.
So last week i went through my hefty to-read pile, reaquainted myself with all the forgotten gems i'd bought and then ignored, and now i plan to go thorugh as many of them as possible in April. I'm aiming for 15 by May 1st, which feels like a nice, attainable total.
And the best thing? I feel better already. Reading is one of my top five things in the world ever, and i feel really dumb for neglecting it so often.
this is due to a whole wodge of stuff, mainly me being too busy, with too many unfinished projects on my hands, not enough confidence in my ability to write a decent screenplay, and only half an idea about what i'd write about anyway.
So instead of 100 pages of rubbish screenplay, I've decided to devote April to reading books.
I used to read loads. In fact, i suppose i still read quite a bit, but when i've got other stuff going on in my life, reading seems to be the thing that gets pushed out. Which is not only a shame, but probably quite bad for me - no wonder my head's so stuffy and congested when i've not put anything new into it for so long.
So last week i went through my hefty to-read pile, reaquainted myself with all the forgotten gems i'd bought and then ignored, and now i plan to go thorugh as many of them as possible in April. I'm aiming for 15 by May 1st, which feels like a nice, attainable total.
And the best thing? I feel better already. Reading is one of my top five things in the world ever, and i feel really dumb for neglecting it so often.
Monday, 28 February 2011
Tuesday, 1 February 2011
failing at this posting thing...
again i made a resolution to post more often. Again i fail.
on the plus side, i'm watching The Usual Suspects in belated tribute to the wonderful Pete Postlewaite. Is there anything better than this movie? Okay, maybe there is, but for me this is the movie that defined my teenage years. When Chris McQuarrie won the screenwriting oscar, i woke up everyone in the house with my happy dance. When i had a massive row in the cinema with my then-boyfriend, just as the credits were starting, i let him win because i so did not want to walk out of the movie in a huff. Just listening to the score brings a nostalgic tear to the eye.
also, i've just realised the credits at the start read "Bryan Singer's film", rather than "a film by...". Like he KNEW this was THE film of his career (not to belittle his career before or since, natch). I heart you, movie.
on the plus side, i'm watching The Usual Suspects in belated tribute to the wonderful Pete Postlewaite. Is there anything better than this movie? Okay, maybe there is, but for me this is the movie that defined my teenage years. When Chris McQuarrie won the screenwriting oscar, i woke up everyone in the house with my happy dance. When i had a massive row in the cinema with my then-boyfriend, just as the credits were starting, i let him win because i so did not want to walk out of the movie in a huff. Just listening to the score brings a nostalgic tear to the eye.
also, i've just realised the credits at the start read "Bryan Singer's film", rather than "a film by...". Like he KNEW this was THE film of his career (not to belittle his career before or since, natch). I heart you, movie.
Saturday, 22 January 2011
scream for me, cosa rica
watching Iron Maiden: Flight 666 and am about THIS far -
(holds thumb and forefinger a judicial half-inch apart)
- from jacking everything in and going off to form a rock band.
...Despite the fact that i don't have a musical bone in my body, have been thrown out of bars for my karaoke attempts, am 31 (positively ancient in musical terms), and the closest i've ever gotten to a rock n roll lifestyle is being booted off the tour bus for The Vandals by their terrifying yet petite manager.
Maybe i just wanna hang out on Ed Force One. Goddammit.
(holds thumb and forefinger a judicial half-inch apart)
- from jacking everything in and going off to form a rock band.
...Despite the fact that i don't have a musical bone in my body, have been thrown out of bars for my karaoke attempts, am 31 (positively ancient in musical terms), and the closest i've ever gotten to a rock n roll lifestyle is being booted off the tour bus for The Vandals by their terrifying yet petite manager.
Maybe i just wanna hang out on Ed Force One. Goddammit.
Tuesday, 4 January 2011
there's a mattress in the hallway
not a quote, there just happens to be a mattress in the hallway right now. It was delivered this afternoon, i haven't cleared space for it yet, and i keep forgetting it's there, so it gives me a cheerful surprise every time i go into the hall and walk into it.
anyway, mattresses aside, we seem to have survived another year. I've cheerfully failed at least one of my resolutions, which was to blog on here more often. But i did manage to get married, and i had a book published, and i've gotten a fair number of words written. About 274,000 words in total for the year (I kept a spreadsheet).
in a vague sort of breakdown, of interest to no one but me:
About 60k on my one finished project of the year, Blood of the Ancestors.
About 70k on my NaNoWriMo novel, which STILL ISN'T FINISHED and is beginning to annoy me now.
30k on an unfinished project, The Silver to the City. Once i finally figure out how to make it good, this will be my magnificant sci-fi octopus.
13k on Search and Destroy, most of which was written in 2009 and which, again, came to a staggering halt when i realised it sucks in current form. I think this will be the next thing i work on.
10k on the start of a lone-zombie story called (imaginatively) Loner. It might've been good if it wasn't so boring. Also unfinished. There's maybe a trend developing here.
About 7k on random world building, my first real attempt at world building. I liked it. I shall do more of it from now on.
15k on my stupid sucky ScriptFrenzy script, which sucked and was stupid. I maybe need to revisit it at some point.
About 25k on short stories... maybe four completed stories and one or two broken ones.
Aaaaannnd 20k or so on critting other people's stories (yes, i'm counting that in my word count, nyah).
that doesn't come close to adding up, but trust me, once you factor in a bunch of notes and aborted stories and the like, it does apparently add up to 274,000. Which (according to my quaculations), is something like 750 words a day. Ha! That totally cheered me up. I thought i'd been well lazy this year, but 750 words a day is more or less what i'd been aiming for. Plus i think i edited at least three or four of my novel-length stories to something approaching final polish.
didn't read nearly enough books, didn't reply to enough emails, hardly watched any films, but i did make my word count. And i drank a lot of wine in doing so. At the end of the day, could we want anything more?
anyway, mattresses aside, we seem to have survived another year. I've cheerfully failed at least one of my resolutions, which was to blog on here more often. But i did manage to get married, and i had a book published, and i've gotten a fair number of words written. About 274,000 words in total for the year (I kept a spreadsheet).
in a vague sort of breakdown, of interest to no one but me:
About 60k on my one finished project of the year, Blood of the Ancestors.
About 70k on my NaNoWriMo novel, which STILL ISN'T FINISHED and is beginning to annoy me now.
30k on an unfinished project, The Silver to the City. Once i finally figure out how to make it good, this will be my magnificant sci-fi octopus.
13k on Search and Destroy, most of which was written in 2009 and which, again, came to a staggering halt when i realised it sucks in current form. I think this will be the next thing i work on.
10k on the start of a lone-zombie story called (imaginatively) Loner. It might've been good if it wasn't so boring. Also unfinished. There's maybe a trend developing here.
About 7k on random world building, my first real attempt at world building. I liked it. I shall do more of it from now on.
15k on my stupid sucky ScriptFrenzy script, which sucked and was stupid. I maybe need to revisit it at some point.
About 25k on short stories... maybe four completed stories and one or two broken ones.
Aaaaannnd 20k or so on critting other people's stories (yes, i'm counting that in my word count, nyah).
that doesn't come close to adding up, but trust me, once you factor in a bunch of notes and aborted stories and the like, it does apparently add up to 274,000. Which (according to my quaculations), is something like 750 words a day. Ha! That totally cheered me up. I thought i'd been well lazy this year, but 750 words a day is more or less what i'd been aiming for. Plus i think i edited at least three or four of my novel-length stories to something approaching final polish.
didn't read nearly enough books, didn't reply to enough emails, hardly watched any films, but i did make my word count. And i drank a lot of wine in doing so. At the end of the day, could we want anything more?
Wednesday, 1 December 2010
Victory
NaNoWrimo is done for another year! I managed to complete a few days early, so came in with a final grand total of about 56k words, which i'm moderately happy with. The problem is... i seem to have underestimated the final length of this piece. I was aiming for fifty thousand words in total, but going by my 40 page synopsis (40 notebook pages, it's not as bad as it sounds), I'm about 25 pages through. That is WAY off. I can't believe i underestimated by so much. So the story's not finished last month, and i doubt it's going to be finished this month either.
i know i shouldn't be complaining, since i've got 56k words more than i had at this time a month ago, but still. It irks me more than it should.
But i love Nano. It's one of my favourite times of the year. I love frantic, deadline writing. I've got more done this novemeber than in the past three months combined. And now i've got to start planning for ScriptFrenzy... but i don't like that so much. I completed it this year and it turned out, eh, not so good, Al. The last thirty pages of that story were some of the worst writing i've ever done. In fact, the last ten pages was a flow-of-consciousness drunken discussion between three characters, because i reached the end at 90 pages and COULD NOT find a way to pad out an extra ten pages.
Also i have no idea what i'd do for ScriptFrenzy next year. What the hell would i want to write a screenplay about? It's weird. None of my ideas seem to come in script format.
i know i shouldn't be complaining, since i've got 56k words more than i had at this time a month ago, but still. It irks me more than it should.
But i love Nano. It's one of my favourite times of the year. I love frantic, deadline writing. I've got more done this novemeber than in the past three months combined. And now i've got to start planning for ScriptFrenzy... but i don't like that so much. I completed it this year and it turned out, eh, not so good, Al. The last thirty pages of that story were some of the worst writing i've ever done. In fact, the last ten pages was a flow-of-consciousness drunken discussion between three characters, because i reached the end at 90 pages and COULD NOT find a way to pad out an extra ten pages.
Also i have no idea what i'd do for ScriptFrenzy next year. What the hell would i want to write a screenplay about? It's weird. None of my ideas seem to come in script format.
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