Tag: help!

feelings

H2O deprivation

abby mumford

water deprivation is a serious thing because it leads to dehydration and crazy brain. i think (unofficially, of course) water deprivation is said to be a particular form of torture.

on new year’s day, the water stopped running at my parents’ house.

it was due to the wire in the well or something technical like that. i, of course, missed the texts from both my mom and sister J warning me of this fact and that perhaps i should take a shower at the friend’s house i was staying at before heading home and so i showed up tired from a late night of new year’s revelry / an early morning wake up call and wanting nothing more than a hot shower.

there’s nothing like beginning the new year with an unclean start.

the power and the internet and the TVs and the fridge still worked, so we were only deprived of running water. it was sort of bizarre to have all amenities except water because usually it’s that the power gets knocked out, taking all forms of modern life with it.

with this water-less hurdle in front of us, mom and dad ran out to the grocery store to pick up more gallons of water and made use of the bathrooms at the grocery store. sister J and bro-in-law T took baby mac shopping and they made sure to use the bathrooms at the outlets. sister E and i traipsed to the neighbor’s house to use their facilities and to borrow two gallons of water (for flushing toilets) because who really borrows cups of sugar? water and working bathrooms are the way we roll.

and later that night, we went out to eat for an early birthday celebration and it was then that my mom revealed my birthday gift.

the 2.5 jug of water.

simple. clean. efficient. funny. timely.

that’s how we roll.

and the birthday cake tasted just as delicious served on paper plates and eaten with plastic utensils.

(in case you were worried, dear reader, the next day, about an hour before i left to return to boston, the well was fixed and so, on the second day of january in 2012, the mumford family experienced the marvel of running water.)

 

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writing

tone deaf

abby mumford

i am extremely tone deaf. i can’t carry a tune (singing or whistling) if my life depended upon it and i definitely can’t tell an A from a B flat or a G minor. (is G minor even a note? or is it a chord?)

anyways, that’s not my point.

my point is: tone as it relates to voice in writing — it’s me, what else would i mean? :)

and see, that right there is what’s bothering me. the :). it’s so hard to properly convey the tone you want in writing, in emailing, and in blogging, and as such, it’s easy to be misread.

case in point.

my intention with that post was to be silly. i mean, look at that drawing! i can’t not giggle, but all of the responses and emails and conversations i had about that post (save one) thought i meant it in a negative way.

and that’s where i’m confused.

is it because my blog’s tone of late has been negative? (sorry about that. i’m working to remedy this.) or is it because you were in a bummer mood when you read it and that colored your perception of it? or is it because i didn’t put in a :)?

i think the :) is a lackadaisical crutch we have ALL been guilty of using. instead of carefully selecting the proper verb (like she skipped, he sauntered, they frolicked), we use tired, but tried and true verbs like (she jogged, he ran, they walked) and add in a :) to convey the proper tone.

but then again, what if i’d put in a :p versus a :D versus a ;)? would it make you laugh harder because you thought i was smiling bigger or winking at you? where does the writer draw the line? with a simple smiley? with no smiley? with bolder word choices? with illustrations?

what about sarcasm? how do you make your words mimic the deadpan expression on your face?

or on your character’s face? how do you establish a character’s identity before he even speaks so that when he does open his mouth, you (as the reader) will immediately know if the tone is sarcastic or serious?

i suppose this is a CHALLENGE ACCEPTED situation and i’m going to have to work harder on my word choices so that emoticons are no longer necessary. you should be able to read “i opened the window, glanced up at the stars, and relaxed in the chair as i waited for the alien invasion” versus “i closed all the shades and crouched behind the couch clutching a baseball bat as i waited for the alien invasion” and know what the intended mood is.

provided i don’t throw in an errant ;) after “i crouched behind the couch,” but then again, sometimes rhyming is just the thing you need to help pass the time until the aliens arrive.

unless they’re the kind of aliens that prey on tone deaf females.

*runs away*

book club

BOOK HUNGRY: life as we knew it

abby mumford

who says you have to be crowded into the living room, kitchen, and/or dining room to hold a book club? we are ladies of the 21st century. we don’t need no stinkin’ couches. so pull up a blog and join in the conversation.

the members of the BOOK HUNGRY are (alphabetically): patty blount, kelly breakey, karla nellenbach, vanessa noble, alyson peterson, cynthia reese, elizabeth ryann, and myself. here’s the deal. we pick a book to read. we discuss via email. we post a review on our individual blogs on the same day (3rd thursday of the month). we link to each other. done. i know, genius. click on each one of their names (above) and it’ll take you to their review. browse. enjoy.

this month’s BOOK HUNGRY selection is: 

LIFE AS WE KNEW IT by susan beth pfeffner


what it’s about from amazon: Miranda’s disbelief turns to fear in a split second when a meteor knocks the moon closer to the earth. How should her family prepare for the future when worldwide tsunamis wipe out the coasts, earthquakes rock the continents, and volcanic ash blocks out the sun? As summer turns to Arctic winter, Miranda, her two brothers, and their mother retreat to the unexpected safe haven of their sunroom, where they subsist on stockpiled food and limited water in the warmth of a wood-burning stove.

Told in journal entries, this is the heart-pounding story of Miranda’s struggle to hold on to the most important resource of all–hope–in an increasingly desperate and unfamiliar world.

my opinion: i first read this book in december of 2009 and i’ve thought about it pretty much every month since. i wouldn’t classify it as a favorite book of mine because as soon as i finished it, i was relieved to be done and i didn’t want to ever read it again. why not? because this book? it is terrifying. not in a scary monster chasing you, things popping up to startle you, but in a way that this. could. happen.

and i don’t know if i’d survive if it did.

(side note: i checked the pantry at least five times while reading this to take stock of the canned goods we had on hand to see if my family could handle the moon shifting out of orbit.)

i willingly chose this book for this month and forced myself to read it again because i was curious to re-read it as a writer and not as a reader. this time around, i was still completely freaked out, but the fact that it wasn’t snowing out certainly helped and looking at it with an analytical eye definitely served to soothe the nerves.

even still, this read left me feeling completely desolate and isolated and creeped out.

this book is so hard to explain because it’s well written and compelling, but not in a good way. you don’t really want to know what happens, but you have to know things get better for everyone, or well, at least for the evans family. and so i kept reading.

(another side note: i love my sleep. there isn’t much that can keep me awake, but this book did. i read until the wee hours of the night hoping and searching for something redeeming even though i already knew how it ended.)

the other interesting thing about this book (besides the situations) is the characters. for one thing, miranda’s attitude is spot on. sure, she can be whiny and self-pitying, but that’s a completely normal attitude for a teenager. it just so happens she now lives in a world that’s absolutely abnormal and so her attitude can sometimes seem off-putting, but yet, still completely age appropriate. the mother was sturdy and consistent. the brothers are strong and reliable. this family survives in a world probably not many of us would want to survive in.

that’s probably why this book still haunts me.

i mean this literally.

various scenes and comments and characters and situations plague my brain and this story hovers over me as if it’s an overbearing mother, which, i’m grateful to have and who would probably save my family if something like this book actually happened.) what was i saying? oh yes, the EMOTIONS and SITUATIONS in this story are raw and honest and scary and true and overwhelming, which is what classifies this as a top notch book in my opinion because any book that can make you feel is one that deserves to be read.

and this book? oh yes, this book makes you feel EVERY SINGLE TERRIFYING AND BORING SECOND.

and, to quote patty from our group’s discussion, “i felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude that this book was fiction.”

ME TOO. oh, me too.

now the real question is, will the other ladies forgive me for making them read something so horrifying (albeit compelling) during a month that’s usually filled with christmas cheer?

next month, we’ll break away from the dark theme of this month + of karla’s usual reading choice as she has us take on AN ABUNDANCE OF KATHERINES by John Green.

//

feelings, writing

NO.

abby mumford

why is it that whenever you’re told you can’t do something, you want to do just that?

i finished the disaster draft of my second novel on november 10 and told myself that in order to gain the proper amount of distance, i wasn’t allowed to open the document for 2-4 weeks (okay, so bria’s actually the one who told me that, but i listened.)

the very next day, the characters flooded my brain saying PICK ME LISTEN TO ME FIX ME and i couldn’t think about anything else but how to make them richer and more believable and more awesome.

in order to compensate for this break from writing, i allowed myself the luxury of reading and yet, when given free rein, suddenly, it didn’t seem as interesting. when i didn’t have to sneak in my reading, it didn’t seem as decadent. there’s something about reading an extra chapter when other deadlines are looming that feels deliciously wrong. (see what a good kid i am? me doing something wrong = reading more.)

ahem.

and now that three weeks have passed and it’s time to return to my manuscript to flesh it out, i’ve discovered the characters are hiding and the plot is non-existent and the necessary edits feel like sliding down a razor blade banister into a barrel of grapefruit juice (i can’t take credit for this analogy. it’s all tawna and it’s all sorts of painful.)

working on my manuscript is the VERY THING i’ve been craving for the past three weeks, but now that i have permission to do so, it’s not enticing.

how do i trick myself into doing what i’m supposed to do?

basically, if you have any suggestions on the best way to do this…

… please enlighten me.