On writing

Cats know how to wake you up

2007-10-28T11:04:00.000-07:00

That's only for those of us who share our lives with a cat. We all know what it means to be waken up by a increasingly persistent cat when the only thing we want is a bit more of sleep.

I've seen her!

2007-10-27T03:14:00.000-07:00

Her name is not Veronica, of course. She's Elle now. But she still has that witty accent that really captures my attention. She's a greyish character we still don't know a enough to determine where her loyalties lie. But what she said sounds like she works for the company Mr. Bennet has already left. We'll see.

At least I'll be seeing more of Kristen Bell

2007-10-07T02:59:00.000-07:00

Or so they say. I won't be able to follow Veronica Mars with her witty comments but she'll be appearing in a TV show I'm also following: Heroes. Not everyteing is lost in the show bussiness. We still have to wait three more weeks to watch her on the screen but either way it's less than months and months till february 2008 for Lost.

I hope they give her a character that fits her, that makes her glow and glitter as she deserves though I'll miss, I'm sure, the Veronica I've known for three seasons. We'll see if she's choosen wisely. She was offered a character on both of my favorite shows and she's chosen Heroes. Let's hope it's the best for her.

My brother went to London and all I got was this lousy T-Shirt

2007-09-24T08:54:00.000-07:00

The funny thing about the T-shirt is not the message, nor that he hasn't been to London but to Manchester. No, the funny thing is that I don't even have a brother. But this is the T-shirt I have worn all summer.

Ted is not my brother, but we act as though we were bro and sis sometimes. He dishevells my hair whenever he sees me and I take his clothes. I love to wear his enormous T-shirts and smell him through the clothes.

The only problem is that Ted lives in the other part of the world. Or maybe it is me that lives on the other part of the world of him. We see each other twice a year, maybe less. When he comes to see his grandma, who happens to be my neighbour. Funny that this little bitch that screams when she sees a kid loves her grandson so much. She even accepts my presence when Ted is home.

Let's see how she reacts to me playing in her garden in two weeks, when Ted is out of my life again and I long for his big long T-shirts.

Harry Potter

2007-08-12T04:36:00.000-07:00

I've finally finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Well it was a bit earlier I did, but I havn't had time to write about it until now. As a matter of fact I bought the book Saturday 21st of July and I finished it during Wednesday afternoon which is quite a record if you take into account I had to do lots of things in the middle: house, job, travelling... But nontheless I managed to get the grip on the book and finish it before anyone could spoil it to me.

The reading was terrific and things happened and happened with no momento to lay it down. Maybe the dullest part is their travelling along the moors, with no clear idea on what to do. But Rowling managed to even make it interesting.

The best of the book is the sense of closure. Almost every character gets it's own moment and finally we know their stories. I can feel how she has kept for herserlf something she imagined 17 years before and admire her for not giving too much but at the same time for giving clues in every book that would advance the story.

Now I am rereading the whole series and enjoying it a lot because I can pick the clues she left before and applaud her cleverness in doing so. I can see how it becomes increasingly dark and observe some forshadowings of what will happen.

The only thing I believe could be better done is the epilogue of the last book. It seems a way to content fans eagarness to know, even obsession as Rowling has said in her interviews. But this obsession won't evade with two or three notes on the survivors. As she has said, she'll need to write and encyclopedia on the potterverse and even with that there still be questions hanging.

I wont' spoil it for anyone. There are many sites telling you all what happens. But my advise would be you go and fetch the book. It's not only plot, it's how it is written where you should learn from her. Go on, enjoy!.

Kidz Chick Lit 1: My name is Astrid

2007-06-09T02:34:00.000-07:00

Mom used to love Pippi Longstockings books when she was yonger. Even now she reads them from time to time. So I’ll have to thank her for not calling me Pippi and just naming me after the writer, although sometimes, only sometimes, I fell Astrid is an even more horrible name. For example, when we have an oral test and my hippy teacher calls us by our name, not by surnames, as they do in normal schools.

My family is still living in the sixties, as they had never gone. They smoke pot, they party like mad and leave the children grow wild. By children I mean me, my brother and sister and some of our daddy’s friends’s children.

Our family lives in a big house in the middle of nowhere that we share with other three families, although sometimes we share it with two or three families more. We have lots of friends that just don’t have a home, they live in caravans and drop by from time to time to visit and stay for a few months.

Of course our house is a mess. What would you expect of a group of hippys that anchor themselves in the past as if the times hadn’t changed at all?. But nontheless I think it’s a nice family to live with. Nicer than my friend’s Sandra family. It's just they drive me crazy somethimes.

Yo-ho, yo-ho! A pirate's life for me!

2007-05-29T10:52:00.000-07:00

We pillage, we plunder, we rifle and loot.
Drink up me 'earties, Yo Ho!
We kidnap and ravage and don't give a hoot.
Drink up me 'earties, Yo Ho!

Yo Ho, Yo Ho! A pirate's life for me.

Of all the three films of Pirates of the Caribbean I have already seen, the first one was the best. But nontheless, the last one was a kind of a laugh. Of course Jack, sorry Captain Jack Sparrow is my so-much favorite character. He's so well constructed, anyone would fall for him inmediatelly. His flaws make him even more lovable than his abilities.

What could I tell you of Captain Jack that is not already known? He's so tame that he becomes funny, he's so crazy that he amazes children and grown ups altogether, but at the same time, he's incredibly believable. Johny Deep is able to act so nicely you almost forget you are in a cinema and begin to smell the salt and the water.

And oooooh Keith Richards as his father is grrrreeeatttt! This film seem to have been a great fun during the filming process. Films like this make me crave for a post in the cinema industry, but my shyness inmediatelly makes me come down to earth and convinces me that literature is a much anonymous world than cinema.

Maybe I should ask for a post as a pirate, not as a writer :).

I can't believe it's true - Farewell to Veronica

2007-05-26T03:59:00.000-07:00

It's impossible. They must be mad or something worse. How can CW end a series such as Veronica Mars in this fashion? Veronica needs a spectacular end, not just a so-so one. So much things need to be clarified: What will happen to overpowered Jake Kane?, who will win the sheriff election?, what will happen while in the FBI internship?, will Veronica finally forgive Logan?, will Dick grow up at last?, will Mac find true love?

And sure, Rob Thomas has lots more ideas than I have for the VM stories. I just wish we could just see all of them. Absolutely. I just can't believe there will never be another new VM episode. It's so sad.

Farewall to Veronica, but also to my beloved Mac, my adored Logan Echols, my funny Dick, my cautious Piz, my beloved Weevil, to sheriff to be Keith... Farewell to all of them and thank you for this years of enjoyment.

An attempt at children's lit

2007-05-05T04:33:00.000-07:00

Maica is my neighbour. She lives next door. But she comes from far away. She left her hometown in Africa when she was a baby but she still remembers her granny and her grandad. They told stories to the children. They laughed. They sang.

Maica’s mom and Maica herself came to live here, in New York. But Maica was no longer happy. She did not tell nor hear stories, she did not sing and she did not laugh any more. She missed the hot sun of Africa. She got cold esaily. And she just hide away when people screamed at her.

I met Maica the day I lost my keys. I was searching for them in the stairs and I found her hidden behind the postboxes. She was shivering, and crying and longing for her granny to sing a song to her. I couldn’t help it, but I fall for her immediatelly.

I sat nexto to her and started sobbing myself. She looked at me astonished and made a timid attempt at a laugh. I smiled and gave her a tissue. While she wipped the tears off her face she told me her story. She didn’t like to be here, but her mom had a very nice job here in New York. She missed the hot sand of her homeland but her mom didin’t. She was happy here earning money and going out for lunch with her new friends.

These long ago days, Maica was a solitary soul here in New York. She didn’t talk much. She was afraid of the neighbourhood, she was afraid of school, she was afraid of anything that souned different from her homeland but she finally loved my cheesecake. I offered her a piece and that was the beginning of our friendship.

Now Maica has grown up. She goes to high school. And you woudn’t tell she is not a genuine New Yorker. She hangs out with her gang. She plays basketball at school. And she has a Brooklyner boyfriend. But she still loves my cheesecake and each Monday, when she smells the owen is on in my apartament, she comes to see me and I offer her the same piece of cheesecake that began our friendship while she sings me one of her African songs.

Re-discovering English Literature

2007-04-29T04:14:00.000-07:00

I've just discovered someone I just can't understand how I could live without before. Jasper Fforde. I have only read one Thursday Next book by this funny I suppose Welsh man and I am really eager for the others.

Turning page after page and wishing the day had more hours I'd spent this last week reading anywhere (on the bus to and from work, on the bed, during breakfast time while my mates talked and talked and talked...). It was amazing because Fforde has a quality I have only found on another British author: Terry Prattchet. They both have the gift to take a part of our culture and turn it into something completely new and really amusing.

In the case of Fforde I have read The Eyre Affaire in which a literary detective, Thursday Next travels to the Jane Eyre book chasing the villain Acheron Hades and finally have the book's end changed. It's amazing how my remembrances of Jane Eyre florished in my mind while reading.

Rob is dead

2007-04-21T04:32:00.000-07:00

Rob just died this morning. He was on his way to work when something so extraordinary happned that he had to stop his walking process just to see it. The girl that walked behind every morning questioned him but he was paralysed.

She saw him go white with fear just the moment before someone stopped his car in front of them and sticking a gun out of the window shot three times. The car raced away without anyone noticing who the driver was or even the license plate.

Rob is dead. All his life has been useless. Someone stopped him just before the moment he was going to be useful for the first time in his life. But nothing is left. Why do I have to talk about him then?

This is just crazy. Let's find alive characters to talk about them. Sorry for the ramblings.

Killing your characters

2007-04-20T00:35:00.000-07:00

After speaking about the new Harry Potter movie and the last book of the series that I'm awaiting so eagerly I started to consider the idea of killing your favorite characters. I know readers normally carver for round endings where everything is solved and they can leave the book with a sense of relieve, imagining life in books as more adventurous but that always ends nicely for the main characters. They end up happily married, or achieving the goals they had previously stated.

I don't know if it would be a sound idea to have evil win over good. I think that this novel, short story or whatever would lack something, the reader would be disappointed but as an exercise is so appaeling to me that I'll try to kill my main character in a short short story. If the idea is somewhat publishable I'll try to post it here.

Till then I leave you with the idea to question yourself. Is it possible to kill your main character and, at the same time, make a novel pleasent to the reader. Let's try and play a bit with language!

Nervous for the new Harry Potter?

2007-04-14T18:09:00.000-07:00

Me yes!

I'm eagerly waiting for the Order of the Phoenix film and of course, for the last book of the series "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" which means I will have to reread the whole series. I can't stand a finale so announced. But at the same time I just want more of Harry and to read the whole story at last.

The problem is this last book will put a full stop to the ongoing story as a way for J.K. Rowling to be free at last to write something else. There's too much people freaking out with her story so as to leave i t open-ended. My theory is that she'll kill Harry and free the world of Voldie. But if Harry lives there will always be the possibility to ask her for an adult Harry story and I don't think she'll want to do it. She's been spending too much time with the same character.

Remember that she is not the only author to kill her characters off. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle did the same to Sherlock Holmes but he hat to eat his hat off and make him come back from the dead. Let's hope someone has an ace or two in his hands.

To begin with, I'm leaving you with this teaser trailer of the film that will be released in two months, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

You wanna know how I lost my virginity? So do I

2007-04-11T01:19:00.000-07:00

Punching, don't you think so? This is one of my favorite lines ever in my everlasting favorite TV show that should be viewed by any teenager or even any adult who has some youth breath inside: Veronica Mars.

I have just discovered Rob Thomas and I feel he is someone we, the ones who aspire to write and publish something, should keep an eye on. He has an inspiring gift for dialogues and plotting, two of the best characteristics a writer should have. Even though I have only seen his TV show I am eager to land my hands on Neptune Noir. If he writes novels as he does write scripts I will be his most faithful fan.

I just hope/praise for this third isn't the last season. It just can't happen. They cannot cancel a show like this and continue with boring series or stupid Pussycats. I just desire there is someone as smart as Veronica and gives her another season just to amuse the quality fans the series has and deserves. Well, really, it deserves a lot more, but, people may be brain affected by the bombarding of too many and too bad TV shows.

Veronica, we want you back!

Beginning

2007-04-10T04:50:00.000-07:00

Just trying to begin a blog in English, to practise my language and improve my skills.

I bow to myself not to tell anyone I know until I feel really comfortable with my words, my sentences and my paragraphs.

My ultimate aim will be recognition and publication, but this appears to be a slippery way to which not everyone has access. Though I now promise to myself that I will disclose my identity whenever my first work is published.

I'll try to be more or less consistent in my practise but I know of my procastination tendencies. If I do overcome them, a great battle will be won.