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Ups and downs
Apr. 2nd, 2003 09:26 amWow. I just really wanted to say thanks for the strangely profuse outpouring of praise over The Valorous Vampire I've been getting in various places over the past few days (I realize not everyone will see my thanks here, but still). I don't think I've ever had so many sweet compliments and it's just been such a strange and wondrous thing. And comes at a time when I really needed it -- I had a terrible, depressing, demoralizing review at work on Friday, (I'm a horrible person, yadda yadda, same story I've heard all my life, and my wretched boss doesn't even understand that a lot of my attitude is caused by her) and all these nice comments came at just the right time.
It's so funny, too, because I really was afraid it didn't work well, that it wouldn't be enjoyable, or that I didn't write it as well as I try to write my other stuff. But it seems to have worked despite my failings. ;-) It was the hardest thing I've ever written, too -- it needed to have a fictional narrative structure inside the academic structure, because just reading a regular paper would be boring. So I had to figure a way to work that in, which was a challenge. Then I had to come up with a way to do citations, because real academic cites won't work easily in html -- plus, they had to be either humorous or telling, or advance the narrative. And then, because it wasn't hard enough, find a way to make Lydia's interest in Spike work without being overt in a way that a published paper never would.
I just wanted to thank my friend Alex again. If it failed, I didn't want to tar her, but now that it seems to make people happy, I have to thank her publicly again. I was telling her about my idea and she wrote me an abstract that became, with modifications, the opening segement, and she provided me with a last name for Lydia and the incredibly delightful Sanguisugent Symposium. She is the queen of fake academia, which is why I talked to her about it in the first place, and always comes up with wonderful stuff. And thanks to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
merryish again, because she loaned me all those papers and books to help me get over my "I hate academic-speak" hurdles and smooth out my language in places, often hilariously.
So, on to last night's 24 and series finale of The Shield. I actually almost missed all of 24 because it was so boring I would have fallen asleep if I wasn't trying to write. I just do not understand the idea of dragging the story out with that holdup in the convenience store, nor the whole convoluted thing with Jack and that guy. I'm going to have to watch it again because I couldn't focus my attention on it at all.
But The Shield rocked. Poor Danny! Poor Julian (although I had to admit I could see it coming, once we saw those guys getting their notice). I have felt so humiliated over Julian's choices but this is just a horrible denouement to his story... and that his stepson found him is just terrible. The ending was amazing -- seeing everyone's stories contrasted with each other, and the strike team just standing there, realizing how far they've sunk and how ill-gotten their gain was, was amazing. And I cannot wait to see what happens with Claudette. Next season will be killer.
It's so funny, too, because I really was afraid it didn't work well, that it wouldn't be enjoyable, or that I didn't write it as well as I try to write my other stuff. But it seems to have worked despite my failings. ;-) It was the hardest thing I've ever written, too -- it needed to have a fictional narrative structure inside the academic structure, because just reading a regular paper would be boring. So I had to figure a way to work that in, which was a challenge. Then I had to come up with a way to do citations, because real academic cites won't work easily in html -- plus, they had to be either humorous or telling, or advance the narrative. And then, because it wasn't hard enough, find a way to make Lydia's interest in Spike work without being overt in a way that a published paper never would.
I just wanted to thank my friend Alex again. If it failed, I didn't want to tar her, but now that it seems to make people happy, I have to thank her publicly again. I was telling her about my idea and she wrote me an abstract that became, with modifications, the opening segement, and she provided me with a last name for Lydia and the incredibly delightful Sanguisugent Symposium. She is the queen of fake academia, which is why I talked to her about it in the first place, and always comes up with wonderful stuff. And thanks to
merryish again, because she loaned me all those papers and books to help me get over my "I hate academic-speak" hurdles and smooth out my language in places, often hilariously. So, on to last night's 24 and series finale of The Shield. I actually almost missed all of 24 because it was so boring I would have fallen asleep if I wasn't trying to write. I just do not understand the idea of dragging the story out with that holdup in the convenience store, nor the whole convoluted thing with Jack and that guy. I'm going to have to watch it again because I couldn't focus my attention on it at all.
But The Shield rocked. Poor Danny! Poor Julian (although I had to admit I could see it coming, once we saw those guys getting their notice). I have felt so humiliated over Julian's choices but this is just a horrible denouement to his story... and that his stepson found him is just terrible. The ending was amazing -- seeing everyone's stories contrasted with each other, and the strike team just standing there, realizing how far they've sunk and how ill-gotten their gain was, was amazing. And I cannot wait to see what happens with Claudette. Next season will be killer.
