Your Life: The Movie by mintyduck
Who will play you:	Nicole Kidman
Who will play your love interest:	Orlando Bloom
Weeks you will stay in the box office:	23
Song that will play during your love scene:	Guns n Roses - Sweet Child o Mine
Song that will play during your death:	Prince - 1999
Your name:
Created with quill18's MemeGen!

I have to admit to cheating there - I liked the Nicole Kidman answer I got when I used paranoidangel (same name) and the Orlando Bloom answer I got when I used paranoidangel42 (my lj name, since some other bugger got there first).

I realised that yesterday was the last bank holiday until Christmas. Which is depressing. Apart from today and Friday they're my last days off till October (although I'm not here for a third of November, so that's something at least). Unsurprisingly, the weathermen got it wrong. I dread to think how much crap I'll have tomorrow when I go into work and I have to take the Rotaract meeting tonight, which I could really do without. Specially as I have to go and write the minutes afterwards. And I need to re-read the first chapter of LOTR and write a drabble on it. I also have 7 CDs worth of Smallville and West Wing to watch. I could really do with not going to work so I have more time to fit my life in...

On the plus side, there's now a very nice Weatherspoons in Poole, Pirates of the Caribbean was good, Legally Blonde 2 was better than I expected, American Pie 3 wasn't.

So many things to talk about, so little time...

Weight
I don't understand this dieting thing and I suspect I never will. To people trying to lose weight, then good on you and good luck. I certainly couldn't do it, I don't have the willpower. I looked through the Weight Watchers book of food the other day. They didn't have most of the stuff I ate in it and it was so hard to find anything but doing some converting I reckon I eat 17 points a day. You're supposed to eat 22. I should be a stick by now.

The West Wing
Watching the episode on Sunday and the one on Tuesday I ask myself where's all this Josh/Donna coming from? Okay so simultaneously watching season 2 I can understand but why am I reading it? It's a lot like Sam/Jack with the forbidden romance thing. And there are only so many ship cliches I can cope with. I think I've exhausted Jonathan/Martha for a bit, I might have to go back to Clark/Lex (or maybe try Chloe/Lana now that I've seen it). I had an idea for a Smallville fic as well which is a very bad idea given that I don't have the time, haven't seen all the episodes and haven't seen any of the Superman films all the way through. I think I've only seen the odd episode of Lois and Clark all the way through as well.

Stargate
Avenger 2.0 - I liked it. It wasn't perfect but it was good.
Space Race - I thought I dislike it when I heard what it was about (okay, saw the title) and I was right. It would have been nice to have been surprised though.
Birthright - Why am I not surprised that Chris Judge wrote himself a snog?

Red Dwarf
I love Red Dwarf. Series 1 to 6 anyway. I couldn't help thinking about how bad VII and VIII were on the way home. Please let the film be good. When it eventually (ever) gets made.

I keep forgetting how fast the internet is when you're not downloading anything. It'll seem so much faster when I go home this weekend. Not when I'm downloading though .

This poem's been going round my head for a while now and I've finally remembered to look it up. I vaguely remember reading it when I was little, although I didn't know what indispensable meant at the time.

THE INDISPENSABLE PERSON

Sometimes when you're feeling important,
Sometime when your ego's in bloom,
Sometime when you take it for granted
You're the best qualified in the room,

Sometime when you feel that your going
Would leave an unfillable hole,
Just follow these simple directions
And see how they humble your soul.

Take a bucket and fill it with water,
Put your hand in it up to your wrist,
Pull it out and the hole that's remaining
Is a measure of how you'll be missed.

You can splash all you wish when you enter,
You may stir up the water galore,
But stop, and you'll find in no time
It looks quite the same as before.

The moral in this quaint example
Is to do just the best that you can.
Be proud of yourself, but remember...
There's no indispensable person!

I watched an episode of Smallville (Nicodemus) the other day and it reminded me of something. In it, Clark walks in on his parents kissing, embarrassed, he turns round and says 'I didn't see that'. Which is what it's like in real life - you don't want to think about your parents doing that sort of thing. At least when you're old enough to know what it all means. And yet there are so many fan fics I've read where they've had kids quite happy - in fact loving - this sort of thing. Admittedly, the sort of fics I'm talking about tend to involve the Mary Sue kids of two characters the writer ships for. But still. I don't read them any more though.

I can't quite work out how I've ended up reading Josh/Donna West Wing fan fic either. There I was, happily working my way through Clark/Lex stuff. The silliest thing is though - I don't ship for them! I don't ship for any of the characters really. I just want to see all of them, except the Vice Pres who annoys me for some strange reason. I love CJ though, she's cool.

I'm not going to be in for The Bill tonight so I am going to have to tape it and convince myself to watch it before tomorrow's episode. This is bearing in mind I haven't seen Monday's Angel or Spooks yet (Angel I've seen before, plus I don't think it's that good an episode, but the last in the series of Spooks I have no excuse for) and I have five Smallville episodes sitting around waiting for me to watch. The trouble is, there just aren't enough hours in the day. Not least because I need an early night - I've been going to bed late because there just aren't enough hours in the day. I need a day off just to catch up.

I got an e-mail this morning with Star Wars news in it, including a link, the content of which was:

What would you do with a full size ultra-realistic Ewan McGregor doll?

Hmm, now, let me think...

I watched The Bill on UK Gold yesterday and it always amazes me just how much better it used to be. It has reached the point now where I can't watch it without doing something else at the same time, otherwise I get bored. Whereas the older one I could, even though I'd seen it before. I didn't remember whodunnit (as it were) but it was at least all about the crime (and Twiglet looked so young!). There were a couple of crimes in last night's but none in any great detail and we did have to endure Cathy. I think Romani (sp?) has her number though. Which is good, I look forward to her leaving. Now could we just stop this stupid Jim & June stuff now please?

I'd forgotten I set the video for Red Dwarf until it came on last night. So I watched it earlier. It wasn't as if I hadn'd seen it before or could recite the script but it constantly amazes me how good it is. Well, was but let's stick to pre-VII here. It is a comedy so it makes you laugh and makes you feel happier. Always a good thing. It almost makes me want to get all my videos from home and watch them all at one a day or something. I need the DVDs to get cheaper. And the film to be made! Although it seems to be taking on a slightly mythical quality of the Hitch-hiker's film, new Blakes 7 or new Quantum Leap.

The latest Wobblevision has a Liberator made out of mini rolls, which is quite cool.

The Guardian tried to fry an egg in London. I'd love to try it but since apparently the best way to do it is to use the bonnet of a dark coloured car rather than the pavement, I'd need to know someone with a dark car. And be there in the middle of the day when it is hottest as well. There are times when I'm really glad I don't live in London and don't have to use the tube (not looking forward to going two stops tomorrow, but at least it's on the new bit of the Jubilee line which isn't quite so bad).

I have finally got my act together and updated my site. I did so much overtime last week that I've got this afternoon off! Yay for me! I have now also seen every episode of ST:TNG. I had one episode to go so I downloaded it off kazaa. I started at Easter and finished it last night. It was crap although I knew that. Still, never mind. I get to watch an old (and therefore good, at least in comparison to the current ones) episode of The Bill in half an hour.

Writers meme.

Do ideas come in little tiny pinpricks and then get expanded, or do they start great big and scopy and then get refined?
Little tiny pinpricks. Sometimes very tiny. I have only really written short stuff though, so that's probably got something to do with it.

Why do you choose to write in the tenses you do (present tense, or first person POV, or third person) and how do you choose particular styles for particular stories?
Mostly I've done 3rd person (I've only ever done past). Occasionally I'll do 1st, it depends on how much I want to get into that character's head. Having said that, some of my 3rd person stuff is the same persons POV all the way through.

Do you have music that inspires your writing? (That you listen to while writing, or certain songs that remind you of certain characters.)
Not really. Sometimes it'll get you into the mood. If I want to write something sappy, late night love (songs) will do it.

How do you brainstorm what comes next in a story?
Fics usually go round in my head for a while before I put pen to paper (or finger to keyboard). Sometimes I'll just write something down and if I'm not sure about it then I'll leave it, come back to it later and see what I think.

What do you do when you hit a road block?
Write something else. Or ask other people for ideas. Mostly though, I have more than one thing on at a time, so leaving one for a bit and coming back to it later tends to help.

How often do you end up deleting a whole bunch of already-written stuff, and how hard is it to let that stuff go?
If it's first draft then I effectively delete the lot. After that it tends to be smaller bits. I generally have a copy in an earlier draft though in case I want to go back to it or use it for something else.

What if you really, really want to include something but part of you is saying it's not right for that particular story?
Write a different story.

Do you take notes longhand, and if so, when?
Yep. Now I have myself a nifty little notebook from Borders.

Do you use challenges by other people to inspire you?
Yes. Often, in fact. It works when I'm just trying to get into something, I think.

Do you do anything in particular to get you into the right mindset to write a certain character or characters?
Read/watch something they're in a lot. I remember watching The Warrior in order to write Protector. At the moment I'm not sure I could write Farscape because I haven't watched any episodes for a while or read any fic.

Which characters are easiest for you to write, and WHY?
Stargate - I'm in a minority here, but Teal'c. His speech patterns are easy to mimic for a start. And he's fairly easy to understand.
TPM - Yoda, for the speech pattern thing (although that's just fun) and Obi-Wan.
LOTR - Elrond because I can understand where he's coming from. Or that's possibly just because I've read up about him more so than the other characters.

Which ones are hardest, and again, WHY?
Stargate - I haven't tried most of them, but of SG1, I find Sam and Daniel hard to write.
TPM - Anakin. I just don't understand him, not even after reading Jedi Quest.
LOTR - Let's not even go there.

Which characters are most like you emotionally?
I'm not sure any of them are. Or possibly them all a little bit.

How often do you feel like what you're writing is fulfilling some emotional need - ie, when you're writing comfort, is it because you often feel that you don't get it IRL?
I have done that sometimes. I was feeling upset when I wrote the prologue to Life, Love and Consequences.

What about writing smut - do you find it easy, difficult?
Haven't really done that. Can't get my head round it.

Which of your stories is your favorite and WHY? Least favorite?

I have a fondness for Protector because Judith helped me with it, I know it's good. I look at Life, Love and Consequences though and think how much better it would be if I wrote it now. I keep old stuff around though to remind me how much I've improved and so I don't make the same mistakes again.

How do you choose titles for your stories?
With lots of sweat and blood. Sometimes they come to me out of nowhere, often I'll have it finished and it'll sit around for ages waiting for a title while I think about it.

Do you write differently with a cowriter than you do alone? Is it easier or harder?
I don't really write any differently but I do like doing it. I would say easier but I have only done it in person. Easier because you know you can discuss every plot element/character name/whatever and you can both argue your case. And it'll turn out better because of it as well.

Do you write original fic differently from fanfic (if you write it at all)?
In some respects, yes, in that I have to create my own universe (assuming it's not set in this one) and my own characters. Although you have to do that with OCs in fanfic anyway.

When a scene feels forced, what are the first few tricks you try to fix it?
Rewrite it, without looking at the original, so hopefully while I'm partway through something will go different. Or there's the old leave it alone for a while thing again.

Are most of your fixes deletions or additions?
Additions. Left to my own devices I'd write big sections of thoughts or big sections of conversation. I have to go back and put in some description for a start

How long does it usually take you to write a story? How many revisions do you go through?
I have taken a year before. I think my quickest is a few weeks, the longest a few years. The number of revisions depends on how well it's working. The minimum is three before beta'ing. Otherwise it can be seven or eight. I don't always count and my counting system is always consistent, so it's hard to tell.

Do you use beta readers?

Yep. Couldn't live without them. Well, my sister, at least. When I can find a good beta reader that's great but when it comes to grammar my sister is always right.

Ahh, the ever-cynical and sarcastic speechwriter. Gutsy and not afraid to speak up or clash with authority, his dry wit is amusing. But under it all he's just a big teddy bear... and the world's biggest Yankees fan.

:: Which West Wing character are you? ::

Yes, I have watched 25 episodes of The West Wing in a week. In my defense I did buy the season 1 box set because it was cheap. And because I had a virus that isn't even going round. Which is quite impressive even for me. I'm now trying to catch up, update my site and try not to watch the three episodes of Smallville and one of The West Wing I've downloaded.