Written last night at dinner…

Marisa — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 21:18:53 +0000

Here I sit at a sports bar. Technically, it is a haven of chicken wings and beer, neither of which I am particularly fond. With the spastic television screens flashing at every angle, each showcasing a different sporting event, and the thumping, over-loud dance music echoing off the walls that is matched in intensity only by the raucous, half-drunk patrons, one must wonder why anyone could NOT understand why Americans have no attention spans. I sit here sipping a glass of water with my quiet-natured husband and scrawl my thoughts in my ever-present book so that I can assure myself that I am indeed still capable of having thoughts. This is one of many reasons why I don’t go to bars. Even though I don’t drink, I always end up with a hangover. It doesn’t take booze or beer for me; merely the ambiance does the trick. All I have to say is that this chicken better be good.

The word of the day is…Editing!

Marisa — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 17:48:48 +0000

So, that novel I was working on? All the way back in November? Yeah. I finished it. I. Finished. It. Are you screaming for joy yet? I am. I finished it in February–all 110,000 words of it. Now, they are not a pretty lot, these 110,000 words. Some are quite homely and many of them are prone to break out in skirmishes between each other when the wrong ones get too close together. Not good. However, I have discussed the problem with each and every one of the 110,000 words and we have decided to work out a compromise so that I don’t get a stress headache every time my eyes wander over them. We have agreed that I shall EDIT them. Edit them ALL. I will appraise each for his or her usefulness and fit and move or REmove accordingly. Thus far I have already shaved 1,100 words off of chapter 1. That’s only like 1%, but by the time I get to chapter 22, we’re getting somewhere significant with this. Do you know what I found out? Not ALL of the words are homely! Some are pretty and nice and help old ladies across the street. I intend to pet those, give them hot chocolate, and tuck them in safely where they belong. I have more scenes to add, several to move and spread out, a couple to rewrite entirely, some to delete entirely, and a whole storyline to lay in as a seam to the two plots that I have going. It’s going to be a lot of work, but I would like to tell you a secret about it: It’s not going to suck! When I’m done–I truly think that it’s not going to suck. That is not to say that it doesn’t right now, but the future is finally bright and shining!

Huzzah!

Is this worth the sleepless nights and the multiple overpriced Moleskine notebooks I filled in the process? YES!

I’ve procrastinated enough. Back to my timeline. Who knew editing was FUN?

*squee*

Consider the Night

Marisa — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 11:55:06 +0000

I generally like to think of myself as a (hopefully) good-natured and (usually) even-tempered kind of person. If I was a horse, I would be the steady sort on which kindly uncles would place children for easy rides around the paddock and afterward they would pat my nose and I would gently lip sugar (sugar is a must!) off their tiny, sticky hands. However, the thing that makes me want to run crazed around the room, foam-flecked and kicking everything into oblivion, is INSOMNIA. (I would like to thank Stephen King for making it a big, red word with raised letters that are coated in a mixture of sulfuric acid and children’s tears. Thanks, Stevie.)

My problem is this. I cannot GO to sleep. I must FALL asleep. My mind generally goes along all day at jaunty clip, getting me through whatever I’m doing with relative clarity and focus. I rather like these happy daylight times. But when the sun sets, it morphs into some evil, werewolf-like thing, ready to seize sleep from my tender grasp with giant gnashing jaws. Suddenly, everything I’ve ever repressed in my entire LIFE comes barreling at me in a slideshow of contemplation, confusion, and worry. I am aware of my tendency to over-think EVERYTHING, so I’ve got a system out to keep the mind-wolf at bay so that I can slip off, ninja-style, into dreamland.

TV. You know how you’ve been told your entire life that TV makes you stupid and rots your brain. All true. I love TV. But, I know the brain-rot theory is absolutely true because the second you put me in front of a rerun of The Golden Girls or my beloved Simpsons, my brain goes completely flat-line. Seriously. Shouting hello in there would bring an echo that would reverberate for miles. This is not to say that TV CAN’T make you think (LOST, anyone?), but, thinking is not necessary. My poor husband, who is of the normal-folk who can just flip off the light and march right into dreamland with waving flags and blaring trumpet, has had to adapt to me crawling in on silent toes, a refugee trailing in on the heels of King of the Hill and Home Improvement.

However. What happens when I wake up in the middle of the night? Oh, you tricky insomnia. You got me. When I had a room to myself, it was no problem to flip on the giant sleeping pill and watch some infomercials (ask me about the Magic Bullet and the Ronco Food Dehydrator. I know LOTS!) until I would be blissfully unconscious again. Now that I’m married, I can’t get away with it. I’ve tried the video iPod with some success, but sleeping in either headphones or earbuds is not recommended. Ouch. Besides, as soon as Boo the Devilcat seems me stirring, she’s in there cooing, drooling, kneading, and begging for me to pet her RIGHT NOW and ALL NIGHT (or ELSE!).

So. Here I am. Victim again of my old foe termination insomnia. What am I doing about it? Whining like an eleven-year-old deemed too young for Twilight. “But all my friends are sleeping! I won’t understand what they’re talking about!”

Good morning, world. Happy to see you.

NOT!

Nanotacular!

Marisa — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 14:36:32 +0000

I finished Nanowrimo! Okay, my novel’s got a looooooong way to go, but I successfully crossed the 50k finish line last night. Woo hooo!

Carrying on…

Marisa — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 23:27:00 +0000

Well, Nanowrimo is rolling right along and I’m way ahead of schedule! My novel is coming along pretty nicely, albeit with some gratuitous word padding and descriptions. I think I like it enough to actually go back and edit after I’m done, instead of becoming phobic of its little icon on my computer desktop like last years. I haven’t really opened that thing since Nano ended last year. Eek!

I’ve still been having some issues with my feet. I’ve been seeing a podiatrist, and I just went for an MRI to see what the heck is going on with my right foot. I’m hoping that it is a fracture and not a ruptured tendon, which would mean surgery. I do not like to have my body parts cut open. Not no way, not no how. We’ll see how it goes! For now, I have an immobilization boot on my right foot. I have named it Charlie. I don’t know why, maybe it’s to endear it to me instead of ripping it off and throwing it out the car window while I’m speeding down the interstate. Still, the boot is better than surgery. Oh yeah. Definitely.

I’m about to start reading March by Geraldine Brooks. It was the 2006 Pulitzer Prize winner and we’re doing it for the store book club. I’m hoping I can get through it by meeting time on Friday, but its a short novel and it shouldn’t be too hard. If only I could stop writing on my own long enough to read it!

Well, with that, I’m going back to jump in to MS Word. I’ll resurface later when it’s time to eat or something. I have band tonight, but the anti-inflammatory meds I’ve been taking make me feel pretty lousy, so I don’t know if I’ll go. We’ll see.

Okay, back to the novel!

An Excerpt

Marisa — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 04:25:18 +0000

I am faithfully typing my fingers to the bone for Nanowrimo, but I just wrote a passage that may not work great in the final draft of this novel, but I thought it made a fine blog entry. Where better to post a blog-like novel excerpt? Just to fill you in on the background, this is a novel about what I know–working in a bookstore. Yes, I have to admit that a lot of the main character’s point of view is very autobiographical. I can’t seem to separate her from myself in many respects, and this passage is as much from my heart as from any fictional character. Anyway, here is the opening of chapter 2:

Where does the soul of a bookstore hide? I cannot put my finger on it. My instincts tell me that a bookstore is like all other retail businesses, out to feed its swollen belly on the ignorance, greed, and jealousy of people with far too much wealth, all the while offering plastic customer service that only gives the well polished illusion that anyone cares. Somehow I know that is not true. What is the difference? Where does it lie, the heart of such a unique business? There is something special about a real bookstore that transcends sales figures and average transaction dollars. Is it merely the notion that it is noble to be the party that transfers and idea made tangible from one mind into the hands of many? Libraries do that and have a much larger claim on the nobility for doing it. Is it because of the company we keep? Our patrons are not all casual shoppers just out to blow their paychecks. Oh, certainly we have those too, and they are welcome. They make up a large portion of the backbone that keeps us afloat. But what of the others? There are people here who come to lay claim to huge piles of conflicting ideas, all for the sake of knowledge and understanding. They pass them on to their friends when they have digested them, saying “You have got to read this!” And they are changed. Just a little bit. Maybe even a lot. So, do we deserve a small crumb of the leftover nobility of the libraries who dish it out for free? Are we in the fraternity that is made up of keepers of the words, protectors of ideas and free speech? Does it count or are we all just cash register jockeys? I can’t believe that. Too many people have dedicated their lives to this industry. So where is the soul of the bookstore? We all know it is there. If we do not know where it is, how can we nurture and protect it? How do we know when it is gone?

I’ve returned!

Marisa — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 13:34:50 +0000

Okay, did that last post actually say July 12? I don’t think so. I think that the blog monster just devoured the rest of my posts and truly doesn’t have a taste for summer. However, being a greedy blog monster) he ate half of it, leaving us only up until July 12. Right? Right? It could happen.

Well, I’ll skip reupdating on the stuff the blog monster got–my time on the high seas battling pirates, the time I watched a guy spontaneously combust, purchasing my own private island where there lives a master breed of dog who run free there and govern themselves, and my very cute new haircut. Sorry, it’s just lost to the ages. Blame the monster, not me!

Now, to more recent goings on. Precious Chris and I went to visit his family in Kentucky for a bit and I got to see some friends and family I hadn’t bumped into in a while. Not to mention I managed to squirrel away some time at Southern Festival of Books, which always makes me a happy camper. On our way to Kentucky, we stopped in Nashville and I was able to drop in on my band director from college and have him show us (including Bella, my dog) around the new music building there. I was JEALOUS! When I was there we had a tacked on band room in front of the old gym, so there would be basketballs and sometimes people bouncing off the walls at any given time. The new digs are great, and so new looking that even though I was in a renovated part of a building that I spent a great deal of time in while I was there, I still couldn’t get my bearings. I’m glad they’re finally doing something for that department–they’ve truly got one of the best teaching staffs anywhere, and its time they were appreciated.

Our time with Chris’s family was really pretty nice. Good food, good company, and pretty smooth sailing over all. Hopefully it won’t be so long before we get to go down there again.

At Southern Festival of Books, I met up with two dear friends that I’ve known since high school, once of which I’ve only conversed with online for the last several years since our paths have gone in opposite directions. Of course as soon as I leave Nashville, he moves there. I think he did it on purpose. Anyway, we went to hear David Wroblewski speak on his unbelievably awesome book, The Story of Edgar Sawtelle and then went to the signing afterward. Mr. Wroblewski was also kind enough to do a video conference for the book club I help run at the store. It went great. He’s a really amazing guy and the book will take your breath away, I promise. Anyway, also at Southern Festival, I got to meet Ann Patchett who I believe is among the best American novelists still writing today. That woman knows how to craft a sentence! It was very satisfying but I have to say that those things are SO much more fun when you have friends to share them with.

The other big thing going on in my life is prepping for NaNoWriMo! (National Novel Writing Month for those out of the loop). It is a literary marathon in which you (I, in this case) are to write a 50,000 word novel from scratch in 30 days. Last year was my first year giving it a go and I actually won! I made 50,000 words on deadline, but the novel still isn’t finished and I haven’t touched it since Dec. 1. I’ll get around to editing it one of these days, but I haven’t felt much like looking at it for a while! This year, since I’m a veteran bookseller, I’m going to write about a veteran bookseller. I know, what a stretch! We’ll see how it goes and if I can go two for two. Yesterday I attended a meetup for fellow Wrimos in town, so it makes it feel like less of a crazy endeavor to know there are other psychos out there typing the keys off their computers just like me. NaNo is really a great challenge, and some really fantastic novels have come out of it. Anyone read Water for Elephants by Sarah Gruen? Yup. Nano novel. Great, too. So, we’ll see how it goes.

Well, I need to start getting prepared to be up for the day. I had a very unfun visit with the podiatrist and suffice it to say that I now have an immobilization boot on my right foot and a wrap/pad thing for my right one. So, walking is not so much fun and requires much planning and deliberation. I think I’m all for laying flat on my back with my laptop until Dec. 1.

Updates, updates, updates

Marisa — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 03:46:01 +0000

Well, since the last time I wrote, there has been much water under the bridge. The concert with the Memphis Symphony trumpeter has come and gone, and it was a blast. Scott Moore is a class act and a mighty fine trumpeter. It was an honor to play beside him, and I might give him a call for some lessons. It made me feel pretty good when he told me he was very surprised when I said I’d never had a private lesson. I’ve still got a long way to go, but that’s a grain of hope, for what its worth.

The church gig with the quintet went well as well. I only hit one major clam at the beginning of Wachet Auf after switching to a cold flugelhorn almost hour into the service without playing. I pretty majorly fracked the first note of the piece, but I recovered and the rest of it hung together, though I kept fearing that my heart was beating louder than I was playing. It all just adds up to a thicker skin though, and that’s definitely what I need when it comes to performing.

In other news, this past week a dear friend came to stay with us for a few days. I was sorry that I didn’t get to spend more time with her since I had to work two of the three she was here, but it was a delight to see her and hopefully she can come back soon. Currently a different friend is staying the night since she had to be in town to correspond with a school here. She stayed with us for a week a while back and was a delightful houseguest. I must say, sometimes people think of house guests as having a reputation for being burdensome, but the people that have come to stay with us here have been the best. Ever. They can sleep on my couch anytime! It’s just great to have old friends around again, even if only for a little while.

I have been trying to catch up on some of the reading I’ve been needing to do. I’ve been working on getting more reviews up on that area of the site. Still, with trying to get caught up with that, I haven’t written on any of my own pieces in a good while. I miss it, but I always just feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day. Speaking of which, I’ve got work tomorrow so I guess I’d better hit the hay if I expect to be awake!

P.S. I have a couple of ideas for Nanowrimo this year. I think I know the one I want to do, but I need to get some outlining done soon if I’m going to have everything I need in time for November. If there’s one thing I learned from last year, having a tentative road map definitely cuts down on all nighters!

Trumpety goodness

Marisa — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 14:16:20 +0000

Some interesting things have been on the horizon of late. First of all, I’m OH-SO-EXCITED because I have a concert this Saturday night with my community band, but I was VERY, VERY freaked out because I was going to be the only first trumpet in an hour-long concert just chock-full of Sousa marches and high notes (John Williams Olympic Fanfare, anyone?). I do NOT have the chops to keep up with that kind of program for that long by myself. So, I’ve been praying for a ringer.

We got a ringer.

A very, very cool ringer.

I get to play beside the freakin’ principal trumpet from the freakin’ Memphis Symphony!!! YYYYAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYY!!! Okay, if you’re not a musiciain, THAT’S A HUGE HONOR! Well, now instead of freaking out about not having the part covered, now I have to freak out about sounding like a sixth grader in front of him, but this is really cool! I may even ask him if he’s accepting students right now. I know I can’t afford it right this minute, but I’ve never had a private lesson and I could really use it. Who better to ask, right? This guy has the most amazing tone. I heard him play a solo at the Doc Severinsen show I went to, and it was pretty incredible. Anyway, for him this is a jolly little evening playing boring marches to keep his chops up in the off-season, but I’m jazzed.

Moving on. Yesterday, Chris and I got to give a preliminary trumpet lesson to the daughter of one of my favorite customers from the store. We loaded up all the trumpets (really, ALL! Phew!) and let her try them out. It was a lot of fun and she’s a great kid. I’m looking forward to getting to work with her further. We gave her a new mouthpiece and her tone improved instantly. It’s amazing what having the right equipment can do. Good ol’ Bach 3C… Chris is getting a pretty good rotation of students these days, and I think it’s really cool to be able to sit in and help where I can. I’m learning as much as the kids! lol

In other music news, our quintet, Second String Brass, has a gig this Sunday at Shady Grove Presbyterian playing for their service. I’m a little nervous because…well, I’m me, but I think it’s going to be a good program. We’re not playing all that much, but it needs to be done well. We’re starting with Gabrieli’s Canzone Prima A 5-1 for the processional, then Bach’s Wachet Auf (Sleepers Wake!-Cantata BWV 140) for the offeratory (one of my very favorite little Bach pieces), and then the recessional will be the third movement of the Ewald Brass Quintet No. 1. A mouthful, but the first one is a regal, full sounding, kind of polyphonic piece, the second one is a pretty and uplifting piece featuring yours truly on flugelhorn for a mellower blend (doesn’t it sound like I’m talking about a new Starbucks coffee? “Now with flugelhorn for a mellower blend…”), then the third is just kind of a jaunty little march. I hope it goes well. Maybe it will breed more playing opportunities for the group. I really like playing with those guys!

In one non-music related note, my good buddy and favorite webgoblin Stacey is working on getting up a site for my journals! I’m hoping to sell a few of these guys to good homes! I love making them, but I think I’ve given one to almost everyone that I know, and selling them is a good way to give them new homes and maybe make a little change in the process. Stay tuned, and I’ll post when the new site is up and running!

Cat on the keyboard

Marisa — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 16:59:56 +0000

So, Boo has decided that she needs to lay across my computer, so typing isn’t as easy as I had planned when starting this blog. We’ll see what we can do, shall we?

More or less, things have been going the same around here. I have been working getting my books into some semblance of order. I will illustrate the need to do so with a little dramatization of an actual event:

So it began when Chris asked me where to find our copy of The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau. I told him, “Oh, it’s on the left bookcase in the bedroom.”
“No, it’s not.”
“Well, try the other one.”
“Nope. Not on the second one.”
“What about the third or fourth?”
“It’s not on any of them.”
“Look in the office,” I answered, getting rather frustrated.
“Which row of books, front or back?”
“How should I know. Don’t forget the stack next to the shelf. Or the ones on my desk. Or the ones in the drawers. Or the filing cabinet.”
He goes to look. “Nope.”
“I don’t know! Can’t you read something else? You’ve just been digging through a mound of books. Nothing interesting?”
“Nope. I’m going to look in the living room shelves.”
“Well, I know it’s not on the one in the dining room, but you might try the one by the couch.”
“Not there either, but did you know we have three copies of The Screwtape Letters?”
“Oh, I think there are some books on top of the refrigerator. Check there, too.”
“Nope. Anywhere else? Are you sure we own this book?”
“Yes, it says so in Librarything.com. Too bad I didn’t put a tag in for where I put it. Look under the bed.”
“Which box?”
“I don’t know. Look in all of them.”
His face fell at the horror of looking through THAT many books piled into THAT many boxes.
“Fine, I’ll look.” I came up with the book out of the first box.
“See, that wasn’t so bad. I told you we don’t have too many books!”
I’m still trying to interpret the look he gave me after I said that.
Anyway, you get the idea. I need to cut the apron strings with some of these books, but I don’t even have a good way to sort them to see what I have to figure out which ones to…place in a new home (I can’t bring myself to say “get rid of”). I did make a little progress toward making more room by boxing up a lot of my psychology and philosophy books from college and taking them to storage. I had a LOT. No wonder college students are so poor! Yeesh! Anyway, I’m in the process of separating them by genre then alphabetizing within. Perhaps I’ll post pics when I’m done…I’m sure to be proud of it!

For now, I guess I’d better get ready to go to work. At the bookstore. With more books.

I think I need a vacation.