The work week has kept me pretty busy lately. That brings a certain amount of satisfaction, but it doesn’t make for good blog material. Fortunately, I was able to reblog a couple of good things, and I was up at Story Empire yesterday.
Still, that isn’t the same as fresh content. My daughter is visiting this weekend, and that’s always good. She’s also promised to give my son a haircut and I’m excited about that. He’s starting to look like that creepy girl from The ring. Maybe a member of the Manson Family.
We decided to rent a movie and watch it together last night. We went with ‘Birds Of Prey.’ Color me disappointed at best. Margot Robbie was so good as Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad, I didn’t see how this could miss. It missed. It felt rushed to market to capitalize on the prior success. Characters were under developed and it was kind of a mess. It wasn’t as bad as the second Ghost Rider movie, but it wasn’t good either.
There hasn’t been much writing time available, but I sent out a bit of Lanternfish for critique. I already have one sample back, but will save it until I have them all.
I forced a bit of time today and managed a thousand words of, well, it’s another new project. I was invited to send a short story to an anthology and committed. They like the idea of getting a speculative author to contribute something. These are all going to be murder mysteries.
There is a bit of a time crunch, but not too bad. Fortunately, I already have a private detective that I don’t need to create from scratch. It looks like Jason Fogg is on the case. If you’ve enjoyed Jason from either of the Experimental Notebooks, or Viral Blues, you might want to watch this space for more information as it unfolds.
I’ll probably continue to tap away at it this weekend. Lanternfish and Mrs. Molony are at points where they require more concentration. Right now, I’m still introducing characters and setting up the murder ideas with the Jason story. It’s easier to hack away at, and can be fine tuned later.
I still need to work up my next Story Empire post and get it scheduled. This will bring an end to my Character Archetypes, and I’m sorry to see it go. I may, or may not, do a wrap up post to it later on.
Hope you’re all finding something fun this weekend. Old What’s Her Face give up on finding a puzzle. It seems like everyone else got the idea before she did and there are none to be found.
Yay! Happy to hear you’re working on the mystery. I’m going through proof pages today. Not my most fun thing to do–I always see something I think I could have done better but can’t change at this point. And I’ve been working on plot points for two different books–Jazzi and a new straight mystery–Lux. I’m at the point where everything takes concentration and work. When I push through everything, I’m going to let myself write another short story for fun.
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I need to build some parameters inside the story. That will limit my options and make it easier to bring home. Otherwise, I might plan it for weeks.
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You have more patience than I do:) I’m fussing because I’ve been working on plot points for LUX for three days.
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I didn’t talk about how what I’m building in Lanternfish will influence how the final book comes out. That part has been driving me mad for months.
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I like Jason Fogg, so I’ll stay tuned.
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Hope I can do him justice. Thanks, john.
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Huh, I kind of liked ‘Birds of Prey’. It felt different and risk-taking compared to other superhero movies. I will agree that the rest of the cast seemed to get very little developed. Huntress really got screwed there. Yet, I got the feeling it was written to be entirely from Harley’s point of view. So, things would be a little chaotic considering her mindset. Think I was just happy to have a superhero movie that didn’t feel like a paint by numbers assignment.
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I liked the twisted mindset, and going back and starting over worked for Harley. Some of the rest didn’t work for me.
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I can see that. I think I’m just happy to be entertained at this point.
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I almost wonder what would have happened if they’d asked Tarantino to bring together all those loose plot threads for them.
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There would be a lot more use of the word motherfucker and the n-word. I assume an up in blood and violence. Honestly, I don’t think the tone would have been the same. It would have felt very different.
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You’re probably right. Just a small consultation about bringing all those threads together.
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Which threads were loose? I don’t remember there being too many questions at the end for me.
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There was no resolution over Joker. No lead in to what might happen in their future. Maybe I’m overthinking it all.
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Maybe. Joker wasn’t allowed to be touched because of the other movie. Him showing up would have overshadowed Harley too. So, they left it as them breaking up and nothing more. That way the focus is on her as an individual and not Joker’s moll.
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Reblogged this on Where Genres Collide Traci Kenworth YA Author & Book Blogger for all Genres as well as craft books and commented:
Been a little more active on posts this week. Have a good week!
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Thanks, Traci.
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You’re welcome, Craig!
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No wonder you’ve not been posting much… Looks like you’ve been pretty busy. I’ve been enjoying your character archetypes posts, by the way.
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Those have been fun to assemble. Glad you’re enjoying them.
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I was just thinking I’d like to find a good movie to watch tonight. The last few I’ve tried bombed big time. I have searched Netflix and Amazon Prime. It’s amazing how many poorly made movies there are out there. Sounds like a fun challenge to write a mystery short story. That’s one genre I haven’t tried writing yet. Good luck! It’s good to have family who can cut hair. 🙂 We don’t and we need it badly!
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I think I’m going to let mine grow out until I look like Doc Brown. I find myself re-enjoying a lot of older movies for the same issue you’re having.
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I didn’t expect Birds of Prey to be anything fancy, but I did think it needed to be a bit more grown-up than it turned out to be.
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That a good way to explain it.
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My daughter cut my hair and her fiancé’s recently. She did a good job on both. My son got frustrated and had his dad cut his. Wasn’t as successful, but thankfully, his hair grows fast. It’s not like any of us is going out in public, anyway.
Glad to hear you’re moving along with your projects. I can’t wait to hear more about Jason’s new case.
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Thanks, Staci. Our daughter managed to get her brother’s hair cut while she was here. He looks human again.
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Birds of Prey didn’t appeal to me, and I’ve heard mixed reviews about it. Doubt it will make my list. Viral Blues was my first introduction to Jason, so I’m looking forward to reading more about him.
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Thanks. Hope I can do him justice.
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I haven’t watched Birds of Prey thought about it, but went with Ford vs Ferrari. Sounds like you are getting some work done and getting back to that more now. Have a great week.
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I have high hopes for the coming weekend.
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Yippie Skippy again! You are really a rocker, Craig. Do you ever actually find time to sleep?
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Not much it seems.
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No, you really are!
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Wow! It sounds like despite being busy, you’ve been able to carve time out to write and blog too. I’m going to try to follow your good example 🙂
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Much quieter than I usually am, but I’m making a little progress on a couple of projects.
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