Happy Post Christmas!

Happy Post Christmas everyone! I hope you had a lovely holiday. 

Mine was great. My favorite gift has to be the Lord of the Rings Lego set I was given. It’s awesome! It’s the pirate ship from the Return of the King, I’m still working on putting it together, it’s quite the job. Some might say I’m too old for Legos, but I’m a writer and a Lord  of the Rings fanatic, so never too old! 

My favorite gift I gave was the Christmas story I wrote and recorded for my nieces. This is the second year I’ve done it and I’m hoping to make it a tradition. It was difficult to buckle down and write another story after NaNoWriMo, especially since I’m not quite done with that story yet. But it was worth it. And now I can get back to my NaNo story. My goal is to finish it by the New Year and spend 2014 editing it. Please feel free to give me a kick if I get off track. 

What goals have everyone else set for the coming year? I intend to make it my editing year, while possibly working on a story on the side. But I really want to make editing my focus, because it’s always been a weak area for me. I need to finish stories and then edit them, not finish them and let them collect virtual dust on my computer.

I wish myself and everyone else the best of luck with their new years goals.

Happy New Year

~~Lady of the Pen~~

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‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug’ a Purist’s Review

I liked the “Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug.” I liked it as long as I could pretend that it was in no way, shape, or form, associated with the brilliant light hearted adventure known as “The Hobbit” written by the visionary J.R.R. Tolkien. The second movie resembled the well known and beloved story even less than the original. I would be hard pressed to think of a single scene that was taken directly from the book and not vastly altered. I know I’m prejudice, because I grew up on “The Hobbit” and anyone who messes with it is a blasphemer who is messing with my childhood, but I don’t feel like movie can even measure up to “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy movies. The action sequences quickly become absurd and remind me more of “Pirates of the Caribbean” than “Lord of the Rings.” The orcs are suddenly far more intelligent than they’ve been portrayed, which seems to be a calculated move to suit the needs of the plot. We’ve been introduced to the Jar Jar Binks of Middle Earth and he drives a sleigh pulled by rabbits T_T And the entire feel of the movie is just wrong. It doesn’t capture the spirit of Middle Earth or “The Hobbit.” I can enjoy the movie, for the most part, if I banish its association with Tolkien and Middle Earth all together and consider it some kind of outrageous fan fiction. But I can not accept it as part the tale of the Rings. I think Peter Jackson got too full of himself after the success with “The Lord of the Rings,” and thought he could improve on a brilliant adventure and turn it into an epic. Unfortunately he’s making a fool of himself.
People who haven’t read the book, will likely enjoy the movie well enough, but I’m a purist and as such will complain loudly about this defacement of classic literature.

NaNoWriMo Debriefing

Despite what you probably think–since I haven’t posted a blog in over a month–NaNoWriMo did not kill me, though it tried its darndest. It was tough one and didn’t give me much time to write anything else. But it was super rewarding and I’m quite happy with what I got out of it this year. I see a lot of potential for the story and am actually excited to start editing it instead of wanting hide the story, in the darkest draw I possess, in the vain hope that it will turn into a pretty, rainbow colored, epic that will become the next bestseller, on its own. (Did that sentence make sense to anyone else?…Oh well it was fun to write.) 

I did learn a lot this year and like a good parent I can see the many flaws in my story, but I love it anyway. And it does need a lot of work. I made it to 50,000 words, but I still haven’t quite finished the first draft. Once I do I will get to deal with my inconsistencies and plot holes. 

Wish me luck!

I will try to update the blog more regularly again.

Merry Christmas Season!

~~Lady of the Pen~~