Love Scenes
Now Playing: Dangerously in Love - Destiny's Child
Topic: WC - Blogathon
I often wonder about love scenes in movies. When a character is making the love faces when they act out a love scene, how much bravery does that take?

I don't think I could look at myself in a movie making those love faces and be able to have sex again without being self conscious. And the noises, forget it! Something about the privacy that feels invaded even if you're acting, I think. this coming from a woman who writes two blogs. But believe it or not, I haven't written anything that I wouldn't speak about if asked.

Maybe I'll get back to my piece that I started writing hours ago. I can't believe that I'm still doing this.
It looks like it's going to rain...

IFOA Notes 7
Topic: Writing Outings
More notes and quotes from the International Festival of Authors

Janice Galloway
- Sex, death and power are her great themes
- versions of truth
- how something feels
- what hooks into my subconscious
- how you make sense of difficulties
- sending a fishing line down into the subconscius to see what it hooks into
- seeing a different life where the very best is available - It's for you too!
- get into the skin of others to find the bits of dialogue, story
- the dignity of the artist. I have the dignity of art to think of
- helpless fertility
- shouldn't need to know anything about these people when a reader reads the book
- all you need is a pen and yourself to be a writer.

John Ballaban
- 19th century Vietnam women have a strong place

Laura Restrepo
- when death is nearby life becomes more brilliant
- do it now otherwise when you go back it won't be there anymore (going home to a place that is warring)
- dying is not the worse thing that can happen to you, not being free is the worse thing
- the big adventure of living

Erlend Loe
- it happens all the time. someone goes through problems and goes down - gets involved in drugs etc. that's an easy story.
- can he bring some of what he was when he was younger into his current life
- there is no common project anymore... me generation shared sense of community.
- We can build our own religion today as opposed to 50 years ago
- start with self - how I feel, what I have seen then fictionalize it. Where I will stop in my real life, I will let my character delve all the way.
- Being true to the person you were when you were a child of 10 years. Take the best parts of that child and bring it forward
- When it rings true I know I'm on the right path
- respect for the small
- instead of going to the country for peace and to think he sends his character to New York to think and collect his thoughts.

Spell check
Now Playing: Stay in my Corner - the Dells
Topic: WC - Blogathon
I don't know why I have so many problems placing links on my www.blogger.com account. I'll have to figure that one out.

I've become fascinated in the words that are and aren't in spellcheck.

I find it surprising that for one you can't get alternate spellings of words. Americans spell honor and Canadians spell it honour.

Also the words that come up. I can't remember what word it was that the spell check didn't recognize but it gave me the option, Nigger as the correct spelling. Wow, Nigger is in spell check , I thought. And yet no one has thought to put blog in spell check. Not even in the spell check that is within the blog. Bizarre.

My elbows are killing me from resting on my desk. My laptop is too far away from me...

Black hair
Now Playing: D'Angelo
Topic: WC - Blogathon
Still braiding my hair. These days I wear it in an afro, au naturelle.

White women worry about weight and black women worry about their hair.

I've done just about everything with my hair. I used to get it braided in the long braids with natural hair extensions. I used to straighten my hair and get it cut layered and curl it with a curling iron. I always wanted long straight white women's hair where you could go swimming without any fuss. But slowly I came to accept the kind of hair that I have and ultimately love it in it's natural state.

It's a big thing in the black community. The fight against the straight and nappy. Although with the popularity of dreads more and more black women are going with their natural hair and not putting all the products that make it more palatable to look at in a so-called white world.

When you write about a black character especially a woman, you have to write about her hair. A black woman's hair is just as much a character as the woman herself. What are the reasons behind choosing to change her hair or deciding to keep it natural? There is always an underlying story to match that...

Cell Phones
Now Playing: The Winner - Coolio
Topic: WC - Blogathon
Finally got my hair washed... braiding is next...

I've been using my cell phone to time off the 30minutes for my fake blog a thon. I really don't use my cell phone. I have it set to go off as an alarm every 30 minutes in the morning starting at 4am. The first alarm tells me to write, the 2nd alarm tells me to work out and so on until 6am.

In the evening my cell phone reminds me at 5:15pm and 7:15pm R U Writing? From the days when I had a television and would turn that bad boy on as soon as I walked in the door.

Other than that I only have a cell phone for emergencies, if I'm ever stranded somewhere or if I'm running late and need to call the person I'm meeting.

I don't get the need to be on the phone every two seconds. I didn't get it when I was a teenager. A phone was to make plans to see eachother face to face or to have a conversation if we hadn't seen eachother in a long time. But to just sit and chat for hours, it's not really my thing.

At work I do so much talking all day with dealing with the tenants in the office tower and contractors I don't feel the need to talk to people a whole lot outside of work. This would be surprising to the people I work with but I do get talked out. It's the whole thing about having to be on all day at work. I need to recharge...