Archives: October 01, 2005

Bite the Big Apple

Monday, 31 October 2005 06:00 PM

Entry two from an NYC Starbucks -- this time from the one on Broadway at 72nd Street, near my hotel. I'm sitting at the same table as a young man who looks like a Jewish cross between Steve Buscemi and Matthew Broderick, so it's like two celebrity sitings in one. My laptop is cooler than his though.

This is the final day before NaNoWriMo starts. I've got only the vaguest idea of the plot, but I do have the key triggering event: A woman has been stood up for a date. She becomes angry, leaves a nasty messages on his phone and email, then gets a call from the police. He was killed in a car wreck on the way to the date, and they wonder if she knows anything. Things happen from there -- she tries to figure out what happened, it's unclear whether he really is dead, he turns out to have connections to the criminal world, etc. As defined in my list of required novel elements, there will be guns, death, romance, humor, deception, and an ambiguous ending.

What I don't know yet is who this main character will be. It'll be easiest to write if she's like me. I've decided to name her Michelle -- when I was born my parents called me that for about a day. Eventually they changed it; aparently it was the name of one of Dad's old girlfriends and I suspect Mom nixed it. It's still not clear why they named me Cynthia, it's not a family name...but I digress. The point is, this Michelle will be the other-me, who does the things that I shy away from. But she can still have all my neuroses and foibles. Lucky girl!

There will also be a sidekick friend, a mentor on the police force like a youngish cop who perhaps has a crush on our heroine (but that won't be the real romantic interest I think). And an antagonist. I'm assuming at the start that the louse missing date will be the antagonist, but ii think he will turn out not to be the main bad guy. He may even morph into a good guy by the end. Anything can happen!

If you want to check my progress, here's my NaNoWriMo profile page. Be sure also to check in on my Writing Buddies -- great novelists all.

Busting up a Starbucks

Monday, 31 October 2005 12:35 PM

I’m in New York City right now, taking a few days off. A dear friend invited me up, baiting the hook with tickets to a show I wanted to see. How could I refuse?

Yesterday we went to the matinee of Spamalot — ohmygawd! My first ever Broadway show too. We were in serious nosebleed-vertigo-triggering-dust-the-rafters seats, looking down on everyone's bald spots, but it's such a neat theater and the show plays well even up to the ceiling. (BTW, if you're looking for a christmas gift to give me, I so need those vorpal bunny slippers.)

Last night we hopped a subway out to Brooklyn to see Steve Buscemi read something by William S. Burroughs at a bar, but the place was overfull and we couldn’t get in. Still, was interesting to see Brooklyn; we had a couple of beers at a sweet little bar/bistro. Tonight there are Halloween events all over, plus the Steeler game. Tomorrow I hope to get to the MOMA during the day, and of course I'll be starting in earnest on the NaNoWriMo novel. And at night we’re going to see Rufus Wainright and OK Go. Then I have to leave early on Wednesday to get back in PA for Book Boot Camp.

We walked all over town yesterday, with luggage, and I’m sore all over. I would have been happy to pay for a cab, given the suitcase issue in particular, but my dear friend is more thrifty and was wearing more sensible shoes than I was. Later I compounded the problem by getting off the subway on the Upper East Side last night instead of the Upper West Side. It was too late and dark to cut through the park, so I started walking around.... And it's very far to walk around. By the time I realized that I definitely should have taken a cab, I had gotten into a rhythm. So I walked the whole way. It's amazing how many people are out and about late on a Sunday night. Ultimately walking was a fine choice, in that it was a beautiful night and I saw a side of the city I hadn't known before. And fortunately there are plenty of Duane Reades around for me to stock up on blister treatments.

My hotel, the Beacon, is awesome — we got a suite at a discount, and I could pretty much live there forever without trouble. There are no fewer than three spacious closets, plus a kitchenette, living room, and big comfy bed. But right now I’m having fun sitting in a Starbucks on Broadway, watching harried people walk around. These paparazzi types are standing outside, watching a hotel across the way with cameras at the ready. I can’t tell who they’re trying to photo. Until moments ago this gorgeous guy was sitting next to me — he pointed out that he too was carrying a Timbuk2 bag and a Mac Powerbook. But his Powerbook was bigger than mine. Also, he appeared to be truly working, not skimming email and writing blog posts.

Must run -- lunch awaits!

An alcoholic is someone you don't like who drinks as much as you do.

Saturday, 29 October 2005 01:01 PM

Whether you're participating in NaNoWriMo this year or not, please know that November 4, next Saturday, is NaDruWriNi, National Drunken Writing Night. In other words, it's your yearly chance to crack open your favorite beverage, type away madly and lushly, and participate in the long heritage of faculty-impaired writers.

I did this last year and plan to participate again. It'll add an extra element of chaos to my new novel. I note that my tolerance for intemperance beverages drops with each passing year, so I don't know how many hours/drinks I'll be able to put in. But check back in then for live updates -- and then check in the following day to appreciate the aftermath. (Note to self: Purchase extra bourbon within the next week. And a keyboard cover.)

Special note for those who abstain from intoxicating beverage: As others have ably shown, you can enjoy the event without bending your rules. Tune in and see what transpires.

The perfect novel (for me)

Tuesday, 25 October 2005 11:55 PM

My bible for the next month, No Plot, No Problem!, says it's OK to spend a week -- and only a week -- preparing to write my 50,000 word novel in 30 days. The first suggested step is to create a list of what I think makes for a great novel (with the idea that one should write what one loves to read, a theory I've long subscribed to).

I had trouble coming up with a list of my desired novel elements purely from scratch. So first I listed favorite novels.

Novels I Wish I Had Written (a partial list)

• High Fidelity


• Fight Club


• Motherless Brooklyn


• Infinite Jest


• Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell


• the Thursday Next mysteries


• All the King's Men


• Get Shorty


• anything by Raymond Chandler

From this list, I created a second list of elements that occur multiple times in the first list.

What (To Me) Makes a Good Novel

• first-person narration


• a mystery or puzzle


• death/murder


• romance


• sex


• magical elements


• guns


• ambiguous ending


• potential end of the world


• lying/cheating/conning


• a confused protagonist


• multiple, confusing storylines


• misdirection


• subtle humor


• cynical worldview

It shouldn't be surprising that the novel on which I've worked most has almost all of these elements. It is surprising, now, to note that there are currently no guns in it. I'll need to rectify that.

But for now, the important thing is that I know now to include each of these items in my NaNoWriMo 2005 novel.

Love in the Time of Caller-ID: NaNoWriMo 2005

Monday, 24 October 2005 08:00 PM

Are you signed up for NaNoWriMo this year? Of course you are.

NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month, is an annual celebration of writing fiction, although around the second week it feels more like a punishment. Here's the official definition:

What is NaNoWriMo?

National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.

Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over painstaking craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved.
Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It's all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly.

Make no mistake: You will be writing a lot of crap. And that's a good thing. By forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes. To forgo the endless tweaking and editing and just create. To build without tearing down.

As you spend November writing, you can draw comfort from the fact that, all around the world, other National Novel Writing Month participants are going through the same joys and sorrows of producing the Great Frantic Novel. Wrimos meet throughout the month to offer encouragement, commiseration, and -- when the thing is done -- the kind of raucous celebrations that tend to frighten animals and small children.

I have participated twice -- I signed up a third year but barely even started and gave up almost before I began. The two times I applied myself I created completely crappy drafts of novels, just over 50,000 words each. One of these I'm in the midst of improving and revising, the other is waiting in the wings. But as I haven't been writing or revising much of anything for the past year (!!!), I am embarking once again down the WriMo road to create a terrible first draft that I hope to later turn into a masterpiece. Along the way I fully intend to jumpstart my writing, so as to make the other novels come back to life.

I don't want to let myself fail, so I hereby promise to post on this page a brief update every day in November, regarding progress or lack thereof. I'm going to do a small bit of preparation before November -- all approved in the official manual of NaNoWrimo, No Plot, No Problem (written by founder Chris Baty). I'll post about the preparation here too.

So far I have a working title. It's going to change for sure, but let me announce it now anyway so as to make this as official as possible. The working title is Love in the Time of Caller-ID.

(I hope there's no bad portent in the fact that I've not read any Gabriel Garcia Marquez novel through to the bitter end....)

And will you be diving insanely into a new novel too next month? Please let me know and we'll urge each other on.

And don't be telling me that you're not a writer, you can't write a novel. I promise you can. Note that the only excuse I accept for not participating in NaNoWriMo is that you are currently hard at work every day revising some other novel.

The gauntlet is cast at your feet. Pick it up.

Not Quite the Drink of the Week: Copper Cocktail

Friday, 21 October 2005 05:45 PM

In my continuing quest to persuade all and sundry of the "beneficial effects" of the bitter orange liqueur Campari, today I seached for a new (to me) cocktail that employs it. I discovered this item:

Copper Cocktail (via WebTender)

Ingredients:
1 1/2 oz Light rum
1/2 oz Campari
1/2 oz Green Chartreuse
1 splash Angostura bitters
1 wedge Lime

Mixing instructions:
Shake rum, chartreuse, campari, and bitters in ice filled cocktail shaker. Strain into chilled cocktail glass. Squeeze lime and drop into drink.

This cocktail offered particular intrigue for me because I have recently changed from my summer suicide blonde haircolor to light auburn: i.e., my "copper" roots. Ha ha!

Also, I had all the ingredients in stock.

"You keep Green Chartreuse on hand?" you ask. Kinda. It was strongly recommended to me by someone. I've since come to question that someone's taste, but not before I shelled out the cash for one sickly green, sickly sweet bottle of the stuff. And whaddaya know, here arrives a need for it.

(At least it's an amusing bar item. More distressing to me is my stock of light rum. I don't like the stuff, but I sometimes buy it for an anticipated guest who enjoys a Cuban Libre. I'm happy to have a reason to cycle through it.)

Anyway. I mixed up my first-ever Copper Cocktail, straying from the recipe a bit to put in more Campari than Chartreuse, on account of I like the bitter more than the sweet. The resulting beverage: still quite sweet, but unfortunately much too red. Where was the copper I expected?

I tried again, this time following the recipe more carefully. (I should note at this point that I almost never measure the ingredients in a drink. I'm a graduate of the Harvard Bartending School, damn it. I can pour a three-count with my eyes closed, in a deafening din. If only bartending paid better....)

But this second drink was again still more ruby than copper, and super-super sweet.

"Enough," I said. For the third try I pulled out my Pottery Barn-approved drink measuring thingie (it's swank!) and poured the ingredients not into a shaker but straight into my clear cocktail glass, the better to assess the color in progress.

First, the chartreuse.

Second, the Campari, pouring slowly to assess when the color might achieve the proper shade of copper.

With the first drops, the drink turned blood red.

Seeing that a reasonable amount of Campari would overwhelm the cocktail, and knowing I couldn't drink unadulterated Chartreuse, I nearly gave up on the experiment. But then I remembered: bitters are yellow! Maybe they would bring in the so-desired copper effect!

I dumped in the rest of the Campari, shook in a hearty ten dashes of bitters (is there a measurement that equals ten dashes? a 'dosh,' maybe?), then threw the recipe out the window altogether and went back to the liquor cabinet to replace the rum with vodka.

Also, this final time I remembered to squeeze in a lime wedge. The garnish is key.

The resulting drink, which I have consumed and therefore cannot present to you in photo form, looks like a really deep Cosmopolitan and tastes like heavily-spiked Cosmopolitan syrup. Citrus-fruity, sweet and tangy, and red-red-red.

I can't personally condone it, but someone, somewhere, might discover it's the ideal beverage for them.

If you are that someone, I salute you. Cheers!

All them tremendous brunettes

Wednesday, 19 October 2005 04:53 PM

My dear Pittsburghers: Do you have plans for tonight? Can you cancel them? 'Cause the thing you should be doing around 8pm is heading to Mr. Small's Funhouse in Millvale to see Mike Doughty and his band live and in concert.

He used to be the singer/songwriter for Soul Coughing (although apparently he doesn't like people to mention that to him). His solo stuff is less heavily produced than Soul Coughing was -- you can hear the latest album at his website here, and also check out pictures and notes from the current tour on his blog.

I volunteered to watch over his email list signup sheet at the show, so look for me if you go. I'll be the one rocking out hard yet blissfully.

He was indeed the glass / Wherein the noble youth did dress themselves

Monday, 10 October 2005 04:27 PM

Did you miss the Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theatre's production of Henry IV last fall? If so, you missed a damn fine version of a classic play. But you can get an infintesimal taste of the acting from it by watching the new TV series Ghost Whisperer, as it features native Pittsburgher David Conrad as the afore-mentioned ghost whisperer's husband. Throughout the run of Henry IVConrad alternated the roles of Hotspur and Hal with Scott Ferrara -- I saw him portray Hotspur, and he was excellent.

Plus, he is one very hot hottie, and he looks quite a bit better with the wavy hair he has for the TV show than he did with the odd cornrows he wore in Henry IV. (I mean, seriously. Cornrows? In a Shakespeare play? It was silly. Then again, his sleeveless shirt costumes were also silly but more ... how shall I say ... stirring, given the buffness of his physique and all the fancy swordplay. So I supported the wardrobe choices on the whole.)

Actually, I'm not totally advocating watching the show. Watching Jennifer Love Hewitt counsel dead people for an hour every week strikes me as a particularly painful way to spend a Friday night. But maybe if you turn the sound down you can just enjoy the visuals.

Spotting a flood/hurricane damaged vehicle

Monday, 10 October 2005 03:18 PM

A little public service announcement: Before you buy a used vehicle, check it out with this list of Ten tips for spotting a flood-damaged vehicle from the National Automobile Dealers Association.

The used car market is sure to be awash (ha ha!) with retitled vehicles in the coming months and years. Best to be wary.

I'm a big fan of buying used cars but I worry about being fooled by unscrupulous scammers. An article in today's Wall Street Journal ("Beware Flood of Retitled Cars," Joseph B. White, WSJ, Oct 10, 2005) points out that it's possible for someone to retitle even a totalled car in another state, effectively removing the red flags on the title that should warn people about the car. There are efforts underway to compile a list of flood-damaged cars so they can't be resold, but that's likely to be a while away.

Writing getaway

Tuesday, 04 October 2005 11:10 AM

No, I don't mean getting away from your writing, but rather getting away to it. Or for it. Or maybe with it.

How to word a phrase best is only one of the many elements of writing that will come under consideration at the Xtreme Critique Weekend. Spend an intense few days improving your stories, novel, poetry, nonfiction manuscript, or essays. And spend time with other writers in a social, non-competitive atmosphere.

The workshop runs Friday, October 14 to Sunday, October 16. Cost depends on yoru lodging choice. Find out more about the format, leaders, accomodations, and other details at the Fat Plum website.

Register soon, as space is filling up. We're going to have a fantastic time and we'll miss you if you're not there.

Tommy, can you hear me?

Monday, 03 October 2005 02:55 PM

Pete Townsend has created a blog to release a novella in serial form. He's named it The Boy Who Heard Music, and he's up to chapter three so far. So far it has a strong stream-of-consciousness element, sort of like what one might write for NaNoWriMo, with the plot clarity we saw previously in Tommy (i.e. not clear but rather foggy). But it's an interesting experiment and so worth checking out.

Copyright © 2004 – 2007 Cynthia Closkey