A blog for all things personal, informational, educational, and fun. |
Here at my personal blog Thoughts & Things, I share a wide variety of, you guessed it, thoughts and things. Anything that sparks my interest is up for discussion. For those who are uncertain of what that might cover, I'll generally talk about reading, writing, books, movies, music, games, history, current events, and feminism. I talk about my personal emotional and health struggles from time to time. I'm also a big fan of lists. This is the place here at WDC where you can get to know me best, as I talk about the things that interest me, impact me, and amuse me. |
I have not had myself collected and together at all whatsoever for the last several weeks. I have over two thousand unread emails, I just paid off over forty dollars in fines at the library, and I am about to hit 33k on my NaNo project. I don't even know where my hairbrush is, let alone the last time I used it, and my hair has reached Kate Bush circa 1978 levels of chaotic poof. Sick leave agreed with me initially, but it turns out that being sick just doesn't. I have been trying to get my shit together for the last few days. I finger combed my hair. I deleted about 200 useless emails. I started really making progress on my novel again. I actually paid the absurdly high library fine. I've been trying really hard. I am thinking that part of getting my shit together is going to have to include picking my blog back up with more frequency. I did actually start a new project, which is an article of sorts. It focuses on darker aspects of Canadian history, and became far broader than initially intended. It has been a little while since I have done much non-fiction, and it feels good to be doing it again. That said, I am hesitant to start any fiction products while I am still happily working my way through my novel. While I haven't met all the goals I have set for myself lately, and while I feel like being unwell has really been holding me back, I am in the process of getting back on track. I can do this, or something. My last several blog posts haven't been great, but I definitely intend to get back on track, starting with this post. |
In the past year or so, I have dedicated a fair bit of my time to becoming a better activist. I have always had strong opinions about certain areas of social justice and politics, and I have always tried my best (or what I thought was my best). I would educate myself as much as I could, and speak out when I had the opportunity to do so. It has been in the last year-ish that I have become more dedicated to actually trying my best. The world is a terrifying place, and it feels like it has become even more so in the last while. I have dedicated even more time to learning as much as I can, but more time as well to educating those around me. Through social media, through conversation, and through sharing articles and books and news, I have done my best to make others know how I feel, and to make others aware of the situation of the world around them. I attend community events now, I volunteer to help work with children at the library whenever I can, and I fight for what is right even when it's hard. I am continuing to seek ways to support the people in my life, my community, and as far reaching as I can manage. This post isn't so much about what I have done and not done for others to see and judge, but more of a note to myself. I have come a long way, but I have further to go. This blog if from me to me, as a reminder to never stop trying. This is for my own personal accountability. |
I haven't done a great job of keeping up with my blog this week. I definitely feel as though I have been struggling. November tends to be not a great month of the year for me, as my seasonal affective disorder starts to properly affect my moods for the season. I feel like this is just an excuse. I have been trying at making sure that I continue to write as much as possible, although I don't really feel as though I have done so. I was thrown off balance when I didn't have computer access unexpectedly for a few days. It has been hard to get back on track. I feel as though my NaNo project is suffering for it. I am not sure how I feel about the writing itself, and actually getting it on paper feels tiring. Other conflicting ideas have popped into my head, like writing a history book for children. I am trying to stay focused and to get back into my groove, but it's so hard. I know I just have to keep at it. I know that I can do this. I am planning on buckling down. I need to be able to do this. After trying so hard in October at prep, I feel like if I can't finish this, I won't be able to finish any novel. I need to avoid my depression fall back comfort things. They absorb a lot of time and energy, and they distract me from my ultimate goals. I know it will be hard. I am thinking that perhaps writing should become a thing I always do in the morning. I am always more productive throughout the whole day with writing when I do that writing in the morning. I also know that at that point in the day, I haven't had time to get distracted yet. I can do this. I just have to do it. I have to stay focused on the idea of it at all, and I have to keep at it. I need to constantly remind myself what I am capable of right now. |
It is nearly the end of the first week of NaNoWriMo. I feel like I have done fairly well so far. My chapters have ended up being longer than I had anticipated, which is okay. My novel is actually more feminist than I had anticipated too, and that's alright as well. I am drawing close to the end of my second chapter. I have actually managed to stay ahead of the daily word count goal for most of the week. I spent almost the entire weekend gone at our local comic-con (which was amazing), which means my word count wasn't particularly high over the weekend. I knew that was going to happen though, so I got ahead in advance, knowing that any work I did on the weekend would keep me ahead rather than causing me to fall behind. This is the first year I have ever had so much prep done, and I can really feel it. In previous years, I would start to lag a bit by this point. I would be struggling with where I wanted to go, and dragging out scenes into a long and boring mess in order to keep my word count up while I stalled to think of more ideas. Now my scenes are only a long and boring mess because I want them to be! I am still excited to see where my novel is going, and I still feel eager to see my own writing. I do still worry about the quality, especially knowing that a few of the scenes have maybe run a fair bit longer than they really needed to. That said, I have managed not to think too hard about that. The focus is about getting the words out. For the first time ever, I have also participated in word sprints this year. I had no idea these would be so beneficial for me. They really keep me focused on the writing and allow me to get out a higher word count more quickly. While these scenes will likely require a fair bit of editing, I think that I really do benefit more in just having the output right now. NaNoWriMo is about getting your novel finished. Editing is the part that makes your novel good. I think that I may actually finish my first ever novel this year. I have started dozens. I am looking forward to the day I can say that I finished one. I hope that that day is this time next month, and I will work hard to make it so. |
As I am writing this, I am a few hours away from the start of November, and therefore the start of National Novel Writing Month. I have been participating in WDC's October prep month all through, well, the month of October. I actually managed to complete this totally successfully and on time. A day early, even! I have seven different prep documents that have all been added as research to my scrivener file. I set up my outline as my chapter cue cards in the manuscript section to make it as easy as possible to access. I also signed up for the Write-A-Thon here on WDC to help keep myself motivated. I have never completed NaNoWriMo before, and I have never written a complete novel. I write pretty regularly, so I know that I can. I think it's simply lack of prep. I just haven't had enough material to work with during previous years. This year I definitely prepped enough. I think. I hope. I am pretty pleased with how the prep turned out, and I definitely feel like I have gotten to the point where I have more than enough material to work with. Still, I can't help but feel anxious. I feel like my path as a writer is hanging in the balance of this one novel. I know that it isn't. I know that there will be other things I write. I know that there will probably be better things too, as progress is only natural. But I also know that it will take a huge toll on me emotionally and mentally if I end up being unable to finish this, for any reason at all. I am trying to stay focused on the process. Focused on what I need to do and what I want to do. I am trying not to think too hard about what happens if I don't succeed. I am a little afraid to think about what to do if I do succeed, just because I don't want to get my hopes up prematurely. But it isn't hopes, is it? It's hard work. I have been putting that hard work in all through October, and I will continue to put that hard work in all through November. So I try to let myself think about editing it, and about other people reading it, and about what would happen if I could even publish it. Those things are scary too. But those are the things I am working towards. I just have to allow myself to believe I can do this. I can write a novel. Since the prep is done, but November hasn't quite started yet, I feel a bit... thumb-twiddly? Is that a thing? Actually, I don't care. I feel thumb-twiddly. I am trying to distract myself in the meantime. I agreed to write twenty minutes per day for Give It 100, so I figured a blog post expressing my anxiety would fill that nicely in the meantime. I think I will play video games and listen to music for the remaining two hours. Best of luck to everyone else who is participating in NaNo this year! I look forward to using WDC properly during NaNo time this year. |
Just as many writers do, I enjoy reading and I have ever since I was a small child. I remember the works of Shel Silverstein, Robert Munsch, JRR Tolkien, and JK Rowling in particular inspired me to start writing when I was just small. As an adult, my inspirations and influences grow more diverse, and I think that's incredibly important. I've developed a pretty strong opinion on reading as a writer, and I just wanted to share that with anyone who might be interested. As a writer, I feel that one needs to read everything. "Read everything" tends to be a pretty common piece of advice given and received as a writer. Personally, I don't feel that many people take the everything part completely seriously. I think it's important to read advice on writing. Why learn from your mistakes when you can learn from the mistakes of others?Reading all of the traditional (and not-so-traditional) pieces on how to be a good writer (or how not to be a bad writer) can be a genuinely good way to learn new tips and tricks. The more of these you read, the more you can come to see what is genuine advice and what is simply the preference of the person giving you the advice. I think it's important to read non-fiction. This is natural if you are a non-fiction writer, but as a fiction writer it is just as important. When reading advice on writing, you may come across the suggestion that you do research. This ties into that. This can be a matter of reading biographies, science books, historical non-fiction, and so on. Whether you are reading a guide on hand-guns, a book about tailoring in the Victorian era, or a biography of Ivan the Terrible, you can probably find a fact you'll use or a story that will inspire you. I think it's important to read the genre you write. Read it all. I think it's so vital to see what stories are out there, what the market looks like, and which aspects of the genre work best for you. The more you read, the easier it is to pick apart. You can start to see the things you like (aspects you would like to use) and the things you don't like (aspects you want to avoid). You can see what styles suit the genre best, and how the biggest authors in the genre wrote to get where they are. You can take note of different subgenres that exist, and see which one suits you best. Not to mention, this is clearly your favourite genre, making this task not burdensome at all. I think it's important to read books that are not the genre you want to write. This one can be difficult. I think it's so important to keep up with this though. Reading outside of your comfort zone can really open up your mind, and help you develop and expand upon your own style. You can find common things in other genres that you can apply to your genre of comfort to make it unique. You can really compare and contrast what makes different novels fit into different genres. It can help to inspire a new subgenre you may wish to explore (for example a romance writer reading a fantasy novel and deciding to create a fantasy romance work as a result). It can help you decide what really doesn't work for you, and where your boundary lines are drawn. You may discover a whole new genre that you never knew you would like better. I think it's important to read the classics. This really allows you to look at plot devices and writing styles that have stood the test of time. It also allows you to see which trends in those classics did not stand the test of time. It's also a great chance to try to create your own modern version of a classic. I think it's important to read the modern works. How can you write something people will love if you don't know what they love right now? It can be great to see where the writing industry is going. If you're interested in getting published, it can make a huge difference knowing what the current market trends are. In order to be good at something, you have to train for it. Reading is how you train for writing. And if you don't train in different ways, you'll end up with some muscles being a bit weaker than others. |
One particular quote that I have always been found to be exceptionally true, is the following quote from Mark Twain: “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” Experiencing the world at large is one of the best ways to become more educated about the world at large. Travel gives us an understanding of what is out there. We fear what we do not understand, and gaining understanding is the best way to reduce that fear. Sadly, we can't all afford to travel, and many of us who do travel on occasion cannot afford to do so on a regular basis. With this in mind, I wanted to bring up some the ways that we can travel the world even when we do not have the means to leave our hometown. First and foremost is reading. Reading is one of the best ways that we can educate ourselves on the world around us. We can read history books or travel guides, and allow ourselves to get acquainted with the reality of those places. We can read memoirs, journals, autobiographies, biographies, etc, and allow ourselves to get best acquainted with the real lives of other people in the world. Journalism and photojournalism are also a great way to attempt to understand other people and places. For many people, things like Humans of New York has done more to humanise the world around us than any of their resort vacations possibly could. If we don't know what other people experience, how else will we come to understand it? Even reading fictional tales allows us to encounter a fictionalised version of real people, places, histories, and political systems, and allows us to develop a better understanding of those other places and different experiences. As a writer, this is part of why it is important to me to include small truths that I know from my own experiences into my longer fictional works, so that I can share my own experiences with others as part of my own artistic expression. Reading is one of the most obvious ways to learn about other places, but it isn't the only way. Film is also an incredibly important way of travelling without leaving your home. We have the option to watch documentaries, which seems the most blatant way to learn about other places. We can understand the places, the histories, the people, and social and cultural dynamics that we might not otherwise experience. However, just as fictional books allow us opportunities to grow as people, so do fictional films. This becomes more rocky territory, as it is easy to take the latest Hollywood production and believe that harmful untruths are actually factual. This is not what I mean when I say film is a form of travel. One of the most wonderful ways to learn about far away cultures is to experience parts of what those cultures experience. Film is ingrained in many cultures around the world, and seeing what those cultures see is part of experiencing those cultures. There are some areas that people see as being primitive compared to the western world, but that is part of what we as a people need to move past, and many of those cultures have their own film industry. Using my local library, hoopla, my netflix account, vimeo, and youtube, I have come across films from anywhere from New Zealand to South Korea to India to Romania to Iran to Senegal. In the same line of thinking, as part of experiencing another culture without being there, music is a huge part of culture. Music styles, instruments, and lyrics can all be a part of individual cultures, including more spiritual music. Being able to hear what people listen to for fun or for worship, being able to hear what they might hear on the radio, is an incredibly underrated way to experience what far away places are like. Hearing what the spiritual music sounds like can allow you to learn about that spirituality, but also to have a spiritual experience all your own. Hearing the lyrics they sing can allow you to understand what people are going through, as far away music deals with real experiences just as much as local music does. Music can also tell the story of a place's musical history, when you can hear the differences in genre and instrumentation so plainly. Basically, if you can't travel, you can still travel. Your body doesn't have to get anywhere when it's nourishment of the mind you are looking for. Travel can help, and it's a wonderful experience, so I am by no means discouraging going places physically. But learning doesn't end at the body. Learning is in the mind. You can see what another place is like, what other people are like, what other experiences are like, and what other entertainment is like without having to go to those places. If your body can't travel for one reason or another, let your mind do the work for you. |
As a huge fan of Kate Bush's music, I have listened to her entire discography many times over. She has an incredible voice and a magnificent sense of artistry. Her music and video content is all top notch, but as with anything, I do favour some of it over other pieces. I have thrown together this list of her albums, ranked in order from least preferred to most. I will also provide a brief explanation as to why I have ranked them where I have. This will include her studio LPs only. 10. The Director's Cut The Director's Cut is made up of re-recorded tracks from The Sensual World and The Red Shoes. It's a decent enough listen, and it's fun to hear some of the tracks re-imagined in different styles, with a more mature tone. That said, this album essentially feels like a Kate Bush cover album if Kate Bush was the one recording the tracks. I like this well enough, but I don't love it. 9. Lionheart Lionheart has some really solid tracks on it. Bush has some really fantastic early singles on this album. However, this release is comprised of songs that didn't make the cut for The Kick Inside, and it does show. She has admitted herself that she isn't as fond of on this album. It's well worth the listen for the individual tracks, but as a cohesive album it doesn't compare to some of her other releases. 8. Aerial Aerial is a solid album, and I honestly just think I haven't spent enough time with it. The first disc is made up of some excellent individual tracks, including one where she sings a great many of the digits of pi. The second disc makes up a concept album that she performed in its entirety in her 2014 concert series. I feel like this album may eventually rank higher when I get around to spending more time with it. 7. 50 Words For Snow 50 Words For Snow is her most recent album of all new tracks. The maturity displayed in this album stands out from her early releases, but that Kate Bush quirk is present as always. If you ever wanted to hear Stephen Fry read out fifty words for snow set to music, this is the album for you. My personal favourite track on this album is Snowed In At Wheeler Street, a duet with Elton John; this one has actually inspired a rather ambitious story idea that I have been working on for some time. Her teenage son also displays his angelic choirboy voice on this album, and I hope to hear more from this very talented kid. This album makes a really excellent cohesive piece. 6. The Red Shoes The Red Shoes has some of my favourite individual tracks on it. I really enjoy the use of Trio Bulgarka, and you can definitely hear the lush maturity in her voice. Eric Clapton and Prince feature on this album quite well. As a whole, the album is fine, but individual tracks that stand out far more than the work as a whole. The Song of Solomon is probably one of the sexiest songs of all time. Considering this album has a fair bit of pop accessibility, it did a fair bit poorer than some of her other works. 5. The Sensual World The Sensual World is a beautiful piece. It stands together as a cohesive album wonderfully, but still has some stand out tracks. It features the Trio Bulgarka for the first time with incredible success. The title track is another incredibly sexy release, Deeper Understanding was decades ahead of its time lyrically, Rocket's Tail is a phenomenal track with an excellent guitar solo from David Gilmour, and This Woman's Work is perhaps her most beautiful melancholy piano pop ballad. 4. The Kick Inside The Kick Inside actually took a fair bit of time to grow on me. I am rather disappointed in myself for this now. This album is a joyful representation of Bush's youth in the vocals, music, and lyrics. The singles make up some incredibly eccentric but accessible pop tunes, such as Wuthering Heights, Them Heavy People, and The Man With The Child In His Eyes. The other tracks are just as breathtaking however, my favourite of which is probably Moving. Three way tie for #1 numbered in no particular order 3. Hounds of Love Hounds of Love is easily her most popular and accessible album, and with very good reason. The A side has some wonderful pop singles, such as Running Up That Hill, Cloudbusting, and Hounds of Love. Donald Sutherland actually features in the cinematic styled music video for Cloudbusting, which is worth a watch any day of the week. The B side of Hounds of Love is treated as a separate concept album titled The Ninth Wave. This is a masterpiece of art pop, and I could re-listen to it all day. The entire album features Kate Bush at her strongest vocal ability, with incredibly well done arrangements, and perfectly magical lyrics. Hounds of Love is a great first album for almost anyone, as it is incredibly intelligent and well done, but features Bush at her most pop accessible. 2. Never For Ever Never For Ever is Kate Bush at her lyrically weirdest. This is the first album where she really had control over what she was putting out, and it really shows. She still stays in a fairly accessible area musically, although her vocals have improved and matured. The lyrics on this album will likely never not be considered strange. She features tracks from the perspective of a mother whose son's body is being returned to her from the war, from the perspective of a woman who tries to seduce her husband while disguised as another woman, and from the perspective of a fetus during a nuclear holocaust. And those are just the singles. Those are the songs she wanted on the radio! The songs that didn't get released as singles include one about committing revenge killings based on a 60s film and one based on an older film in which a child is possessed by an evil man who causes the governess to have some very confusing feelings towards the child as told from the perspective of the governess. This is a really excellent starting point for weird Kate Bush, as it still has that pop accessibility in the music to go with the quirky lyrics. 1. The Dreaming The Dreaming is actually the first Kate Bush album I ever heard. I bought it on vinyl by pure chance, a random pick off the shelf. This was the first release she had one hundred percent control over, and you can definitely tell. This features Bush at some of her vocally best and musically weirdest music. This has everything from a didgeridoo to donkey braying, and it all works for her incredibly well. The two songs that made me fall in love with her feature on this album as well. Suspended in Gaffa, which has gotten me through some incredibly hard times. And Pull Out The Pin (with David Gilmour on backing vocals), which caught my attention on the first listen as I had terrible speakers for that play-through but still managed to be captivated by her guttural screams of "I love life." This album features some of her most story oriented songs, featuring tales of smuggling, robbery, Houdini, the Vietnam war, and the plight of the Australian aboriginals. The individual tracks are top notch, and it makes a wonderful cohesive whole album. This is a great starting place for someone looking for something unusual and different. |
October is much beloved by many as an unofficial scary movie month. As the leaves begin to fall, the weather begins to cool, and we all prepare for Halloween, it just feels natural to toss on a little something spooky. I mean, not all of us enjoy scary things. My mother hates horror flicks, and I pre-screen anything potentially scary to tell her whether or not she is "allowed" to watch it. We quite literally take her to children's movies for her birthday. She says it's because Children of the Corn traumatised her as a child. I love that woman, but she cannot handle a scare. Our Halloween movies are Hocus Pocus, Halloweentown, and Beetlejuice, and my whole family will enjoy these forever. Besides those that aren't able to watch scary movies or simply don't enjoy scary movies, the rest of us see October as the time of year to get good and scared. I think that means something different for everyone, but generally presents itself in the same vein. I almost always go for a couple of classics throughout the month. I have all of the original Frankenstein, Dracula, and Wolf Man films on DVD, as well as a number of others from that time period as well. This year I saw The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) for the first time ever, and was very impressed. I have also lined up some Hitchcock films I haven't gotten to yet. I also enjoy tossing on the more modern classics, like Carrie, Poltergeist, or Nightmare on Elm Street. I don't really have anything planned from this category. I'll probably watch something I haven't seen as a spur of the moment thing. I'm actually hoping to re-watch a couple I know I enjoyed a lot as a kid, like Silent Hill and The Others, to see how they measure up now that I'm an adult. I have no idea how I'll feel about them, but I figure they will have a bit of nostalgia going for them. I also always enjoy seeing what comes out new during October, as well as what my friends end up watching or recommending. It's always great to see different tastes getting represented. I love this time of year, for so many reasons, and it's always great to have an excuse to binge spooky movies, old and new. I just wish the month was a bit longer so there'd be time for more. |
Here in Canada, this weekend is Thanksgiving. I have four family meals to attend. I have attended three already, and honestly I am getting a little bit sick of Thanksgiving, both physically and mentally. My stomach is done with food, possibly forever. I feel done with my family, probably not forever. I am certainly done with doing things. Dealing with chronic illness and having to actually leave the house multiple times in one weekend is absolutely exhausting. So since I am done with Thanksgiving, I am going to talk about October in general! October is one of the best months of the year. The weather is generally quite lovely. It's cool but not cold, and I feel pretty comfortable. Fall leaves are beautiful. Fall clothes means I get to wear jeans and hoodies, or at least don't have to worry about feeling self-conscious for wearing too little clothing in order to stay cool. October is the month of NaNo prep, which I am having a blast with. The temperature is comfortable enough for me to focus on writing. Seasonal Affective Disorder hasn't kicked my ass yet, so I am still fully productive. October food is top notch. Pumpkin things are delicious, especially pie and tea. Apple cider is a phenomenal drink and easy to get a hold of this time of year. Apples in general are actually in season, which is awesome. I have fond memories of going to pick them myself with my family as a child. I am also a sucker for pie, and the best of these are fall pies like apple and pumpkin. Halloween season is also probably one of the main draws. The decorations are a blast, coming up with a costume is a great creative outlet, and who doesn't like candy? Well, I could honestly take or leave candy, but it's still nice anyway. Horror movie/TV time is also one of the best things to look forward to. I have been on a bit of a superhero kick lately as far as TV goes, but I did watch The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1920) for the first time, and it was a masterpiece of silent german expressionist horror. I have a list of other horror flicks to watch for the first time, a few I would like to re-watch, and some TV shows I plan to dive into. Not to mention, I am also very excited for The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror replays. It isn't halloween to me unless I watch at least three of the THOH episodes. I may be done with Thanksgiving (and I can't even look forward to the remaining Thanksgiving meal tomorrow), but I am certainly not done with Halloween or with fall. |