Wandering around Wonderland

I'm not usually a big fan of film makers who "mess" with my favourite books. I do however make an exception for anyone who has made a film adaptation of Alice (in either Wonderland or Through the Looking Glass). There's something about the Alice books which remain enjoyable, no matter how much they have been messed with. Having said that, to anyone for whom an Alice film, especially the Disney version, is their first introduction to the story, I would urge you to go and read the original books by Lewis Carroll first. At least you will then know that Tweedledum and Tweedledee never set foot in Wonderland or that the Cheshire Cat never sang Jabberwocky. Once you know which characters and poems belong to which book, you can sit back and enjoy all the weird things that film makers do to them. Disney's version in particular, is a bit of a mish mash of the two books, but it's no less enjoyable for that.

I've just ordered a copy of Jonathan Miller's film adaptation from 1966 which I only saw once but it left an impression for being more unusual than some of the more colourful versions such as the one with Fiona Fullerton as Alice or the more recent one with Tina Majorino in the title role. In this latter version, not only do we find those pesky twins back, but there's a whole section from Through the Looking Glass slotted in for some bizarre reason. Don't get me wrong; I liked it - but, what was it doing there? Why not make a whole film of Through the Looking Glass and have done with it?

Looking ahead, I can't wait to see what Tim Burton does with the story, especially since Alan Rickman is lending his voice to the Caterpillar. Unfortunately, this new film wont be released until next year.

Meanwhile, I'll leave you with this, and if I'd been a good girl and stayed away from the internet like I promised, I'd never have stumbled across this little gem:

A strangely mesmerising, hypnotic thingy...

Enjoy!

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Now what is she up to?

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Having resisted the whole Twitter thing for so long, I can't believe how much I've enjoyed it over the last week. There are numerous positives, for example, having a finger on the pulse of many "trends." Being able to follow other Twitterers has been fun and varied. I've also discovered (as an aside) what Google Reader can do having idly subscribed to a few feeds in the past and then forgetting about them. There is of course, one big negative to all of this; it zaps a lot more time than I would otherwise like. So, we're back to the same old same old...

I know I was supposed to have given up procrastination... and I will... tomorrow!

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Humpty's Brick Wall

I don't know about rabbit holes but I seem to have written myself into a bit of a plot hole at the moment. In an attempt to sort this out I've been steadily working my way through the snowflake process. This is helping but I'm beginning to panic again because I'm seeing for the first time what a huge task I have on my hands. Why didn't I go for something simpler? On the other hand, I keep getting those glimpses of the whole story and then, just when I think "That's it!" they've gone again. I had two such moments this morning and it's extremely frustrating.

I'm also conscious that I haven't been very up to date on my blogging. This is just a subtle way to let anyone who's particularly interested know that I haven't slipped off the planet or contracted the swine flu or...

Oh... and I started Twittering this week. Don't ask me why - I just thought "Why not?" If you want to follow me, I'm here.

Right, back to my snowflake.

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Tagged!

I seem to have been tagged by John! Apparently, this is how it works: Display the award. Link back to the person who gave you this award. Nominate at least 7 other blogs. Put those blogs on your blog. Leave a message on the blogs of the people you've nominated. You can only answer in one word.

So here goes:

1. Where is your cell phone? Pocket
2. Where is your significant other? Out
3. Your hair colour? (Dark)blonde
4. Your mother? Kind
5. Your father? Cool
6. Your favourite thing? Children
7. Your dream last night? Surreal
8. Your dream/goal? Published
9. The room you’re in? Study
10. Your hobby? Writing
11. Your fear? Swimming
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Alive
13. Where were you last night? Skeelly
14. What you’re not? Waterbaby
15. One of your wish-list items? Castle
16. Where you grew up? England
17. The last thing you did? Emails
18. What are you wearing? Clothes
19. Your TV? Panasonic
20. Your pet? None
21. Your computer? Acer
22. Your mood? Content
23. Missing someone? Yes
24. Your car? Polo
25. Something you’re not wearing? Ballgown
26. Favourite store? Book
27. Your summer? British
28. Love someone? Indeedy
29. Your favourite colour? Purple
30. When is the last time you laughed? Today
31. Last time you cried? December

And I will tag...

Erm...

SallyQ, Nathan Bransford, Uneducated Man, Magic Wanderer, Womens' Stories, The Raw Deal and Joe...



Have fun.

It's a start!

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Today went reasonably well. Despite the obvious hiccups, I was able to straighten out chapters two and three and I'm pleased enough with the results so far. I had come up with a few ideas on holiday which I managed to put onto the page today for the first time. I also came up with another brainwave re chapter two last night... I even refrained from writing it down until today, keeping it in my head until ready to work with it - so now I know it must have been a good idea because otherwise, I would have forgotten it.

The other challenge I have at the moment is that my better half is now at home. He suggested we go for a walk this afternoon, maybe call in at the tennis club to find out what's what (we played and enjoyed a lot of tennis on holiday). I'm happy with regular walking. I would also be happy to fit in a regular tennis session each week so, in keeping with the usual January stuff, that's another thing I'll have to keep you informed about.

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So... what happened to chapter 3?

...

Simple enough question - not sure what the answer is though. I was reading through the "story so far," as you do when you haven't looked at the thing for a while. When I came to chapter three, I realised straight away that there was a big chunk missing! Was it on an Alphie file waiting to be downloaded? No. Was it on the desktop version? No. Did I, in my attempt to make sure my flash stick back ups were up to date, inadvertently overwrite the updated version with an earlier one? Possibly... Damn! What to do next? Try and remember how that part of the story went I suppose... Grrrr...

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Getting There...

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One more day to go, the kids will be back at school and some semblence of normality can resume. I have the most up to date version of my manuscript copied to a flashstick (or two) and from tomorrow I am relocating to some peace and quiet (hopefully). I've even switched myself off from other distractions and have resolved not to get involved in any new versions. This is it now. This is me taking my life a bit more seriously with a self imposed deadline (Easter) to knock this thing into a publishable state. I'll pop back from time to time with a progress report, not because I assume anyone out there is interested but because I think it would be a good way to keep me on track!

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Happy New Year

...

Yep it's that time again. We came home from Cape Verde on Wednesday and I've been trying to get back into a routine since - never easy at the best of times. You spend a week or so getting used to the hot climate in some far away place, then once used to it, you have to come home to the freezing cold again pretty soon. It's a hard life!

Christmas was lovely. New Year was cold (we were back home by then). Anyway - enough about the silly season; it was escaped - yet again - that's all you need to know!

Far more important is what I'm going to do with this new year now it's here. Hmmm, well I could do what I normally do and start off with a long list of resolutions which I will gradually lose sight of or give up on altogether, slipping into old bad habits... Or, I can take stock of my dwindling life and make the most of what's left of it (which largely boils down to having a long list of resolutions - but ones I will stick to regardless).

Last years list went something like this:

Enjoy life more
Exercise regularly
Be more organised (where have we heard that one before!)
Spend more time with my family
Spend more time with my friends
Work harder
Be more disciplined (ha!)

I don't see anything wrong with this list so I will carry it forward to this year.

My personal daily "To Do" list last year went something like this:

5 pages of screenplay (I think I might have managed 5 pages - in total...)
Carry on with MD edits (I have carried on with these)
Finish GW and sub (well I did finish it - it just didn't get subbed...)
Try an exercise to a prompt or two... (I managed a few of these sporadically - just not daily)
Blog (ahem!)

Perhaps it is a tad unrealistic to attempt to write a screenplay and edit a novel at the same time so I'm going to revise this list to simply take into account the novel for now. I'm also going to remove the specific mention of GW for subbing and generalise by saying I will go through all my shorts over the course of the year and start subbing them.

So, new list:

Continue MD edits
Daily writing exercises (prompted)
Consider revisions to shorts and sub (over the year)
Blog 3+ times weekly!

I will put the screenplay on the back burner for now.


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