Many thanks to the contributing publishers including PageSage, Martingale Company, Creative Publishing International, Krause Publications, Sterling Publications and Quarry Books. Please visit the Giveaway Sponsors by clicking on the links in the sidebarover there, to the right of this post, right above my Daily Reads!

If you would like to contribute an item to a future daMuse giveaway please send me an email you can find my contact at the top of the sidebar.

Giveaway Summary:

1. There are two separate giveaways, follow the instructions above to enter one or both
2. Participants must have a U.S. shipping address
3. Deadline for both giveaways is Monday December 15, 2008
4. Comments for both giveaways will close at 8pm EST on Monday December 15, 2008
5. Winners will be chosen using a random number generator

Much Love Luck To Everyone.

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You Make Life Sweet
by Erika
I thought this design by Erika, featuring our new Baking Set, was just about one of the sweetest things indeed! She used our Kitchen Chocolate paper to make a square card, and the scallopy edge was done with a border punch by Martha Stewart. She even 3D mounted the sugar tin, AND, the label, too!
Of course, she was also a clever girl to use that sentiment from our wood mount collection, to complete the design! I love how it all works together just beautifully!
Which reminds me . . . its nearly time to begin holiday baking! Homemade goodies to our family and friends is one of my kids favorite traditions (despite their mothers general aversion to the stove). I had no idea how important this particular tradition was to them, until last Christmas, when my daughters h.s. English teacher mentioned Hayley was eagerly anticipating all the yummy things wed be making, and wrapping up in crinkly, crystalline clear cellophane, and pretty ribbon . . .
What holiday traditions do your kids adore.

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The shadows come housed in a the typical KATE frosted glass jar a la the KATE Gel liners. They are about the same size as the liners as well but the jar is square and not round. It's quite a nice style of packaging for the price.

They are worth trying out for yourself as I like them but I'm just not in love with them. If you're deciding between these and other Japanese brand shadows I guarantee you can find something quite a good deal better but price wise this is probably the best you'll get with such a small price tag! The inexpensive price tag, selection of colors, and nice finish to the product all get a raving hooray from me but I won't be Muse Approving them for purchase since I consider the quick dry down an unforgivable problem.

Overall, the product is good depending on which shades you try out but the dry down period definitely creates a problem for me and is a big turn off. I loved the finished results but it does take a bit of work to get the shadow on properly, blended correctly, etc.....

Tried these?

Love 'em?

Want to try 'em?

Tell the Muse!

If anyone is interested I am selling off the white, purple, and pink which have all been used 1x each (still in the boxes) for $12 USD this includes shipping and confirmation within the US anyone who lives abroad I'm extending the offer to $13 USD for first class airmail but sadly no tracking is available on these. Just e-mail me at musings.of.a.muse@gmail.com if you'd like them.

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George Bernard Shaw

What did old GBS mean when he said this? Well, everybody who does a job, especially a specialized and high-paying job, is at great pains to keep their trade secrets to themselves, lest the secrets become widely known and the entire profession is demystified to the point that...anyone can do it. Then the initiated have just lost a good thing.

Lots of people do this. In many professions. I used to work as a professional magician and, man, there's a conspiracy. If you've ever performed a magic trick for an audience you will definitely be thinking "I can't believe they're buyin' this." For about the first dozen times.

But the conspiracy issue, especially the one going on among screenwriters, is the stuff of another newsletter.

Why do I bring this up now?

Last week, I put together a quick list of things that might influence a character's "Voice"...their own unique way of speaking, which sets them apart from all other characters in the script, and from speakers of their own language as well. While I'm sure it's not complete, here it is again:

What will have an influence on a character's use of language?

1. Their job.

2. Their socioeconomic status and educational background.

3. Their cultural and ethnic background.

4. Any other languages they may speak and whether English (I'm assuming most of us are writing in English....) is their first language.

5. Who they're talking to in this specific scene...and what they're talking about.

Let's look at just that first one: Their job.

What's one of the fastest ways for a professional conspiracy to wall out the layman? Create its own language. A specialized lingo. It's own...jargon: the specialized or technical language of a trade, profession, or similar group.

No quicker way to make us outsiders feel dumb than to start speaking your own language that they don't speak -- and no faster way to make us outsiders think that the speaker is smart, inside and in the knowsmarter than we are.

Plumbers...see Volume 14 of the Kinsley Manual (email me if you know what I'm referencing). Doctors: "amytropic lateral sclerosis." Computer technicians: "54 gigs and skuzzy drive"...ok, I'm making most of these up.

Do youthink screenwriters don't have their own jargon? Drop the phrase "slug line" at a party of non-writers or film people and see what happens...

I wrote something set on a moon base once...now we don't have people who live on moon bases just yet, so I either had to make up the language I figured they'd speak, or have them speak plain old Earth-bound English.

But since I've always loved the space program, it didn't seem like too far a stretch that the first moon settlers would have come out of that program --

-- and that comes out of aviation. And those aviation characters are a bunch of can-do, rugged individuals whose very speech pattern, slang and word choice bespeak great bravery and derring-do.

So, I reread The Right Stuff, and every other book I could get on the space program, especially the moon missions.

And boy, did I find a rich world of jargon. "A-OK" comes from the space program. "You are go for launch." And even "blast-off" and "splash down." And the world is rife with cool acronyms too: EVA, SST and a bunch of others where I also don't know what they stand for...

...my point is, I had found my way into these characters and their world that was rich, colorful and fun for me to write as well. And that quickly set them up as cool and heroic...at least for me.

So, if it wasn't obvious...every screenplay takes place in its own world, and every world has its own language. You may co-opt it from our world to a degree, especially where the worlds overlap, as I did in the example above. But be sure to craft it to be specifically the world of your movie ie, in the screenplay above, I had to ask myself: "Moon dwellers were probably astronauts/aviators at one time and that influenced how they talk...but then what happened to their language?"

One caution...and one tip...

Some professions have a jargon so dense that only the initiated speak it - and understand it. It really is a foreign language...in that it contains words we don't understand. You run the risk of losing your audience here, just as much as if you were showing them an unsubtitled film in a language they don't speak or understand. You can't do that...and yet, maybe, you can't have the character speak in layman's terms, he just wouldn't...what do you do?

Have a translator character repeat the line right after get credit for the rich language and teach your audience to use it themselves.

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What is every parents worst nightmare? Kids getting bad grades? They dont make any friends? Not even close. Every parents worst nightmare is that their child will go out to play, and never come home. Now imagine that this actually happened, how could anything be worse than this? How about by having that missing child come home twenty years laterbone by bone. This is the setup behind Carol Os latest thriller Bone by Bone, a wonderfully captivating tale filled with great characters and a clever and engaging mystery.

One day, the sons of Judge Henry Hobbs, Joshua and Oren, go out into the woods to play. That evening though Oren returns alone. Every available resident in the town of Coventry helps search the woods to find little Josh Hobbs, but strangely he is never located. The news ripples through the town like a shockwave. People warmly recollect their memories of Josh; Josh following them around with his camera and snapping candid pictures of the Coventry townsfolk. After a while, Joshs older brother Oren is sent away from Coventry by his father. Not surprisingly, this incident only sparks more speculation and rumor-mongering among the nosy townspeople. What could be worse than having one of your sons disappear? How about having the other one accused of killing him.

Twenty years have passed and after receiving a letter from his fathers housekeeper, Hannah, which hints at his fathers ailing health, Oren returns to Coventry. When he arrives at his fathers door, hes not only startled by the appearance of Hannah, but by what was left at the front door, namely a human bone. Discussing recent events with Hannah, Oren comes to shockingly discover that his brother has been coming home bone by bone for weeks now.

While the family now has confirmation that Joshua is dead, they must suddenly unravel the mystery of who found him, killed him and is now sending him back one bone at a time. Even though the town banded together twenty years earlier to find Josh, not all of them are totally clueless about what happened that fateful day. Oren becomes fixated on discovering who killed his brother and clearing his family. In the process, he discovers that everyone in town has their own dirty little secret to hide and his brother may have paid dearly for photographing some of them.

The storys mystery arc is well-plotted and executed by a masterful hand, producing an extremely captivating read. Carol OConnell does an excellent job of developing the back-story for all the characters, providing a depth to them that makes each character incredibly relatable to the reader. Her fine characterizations had me cheering for the protagonists and despising the villains, and are the reason the novel works so well. I empathized with Orens struggle to uncover the mystery of his brothers disappearance and subsequent gruesome return. And even more, I was engaged by it.

The plot in Bone by Bone is intricate and shrewdly crafted. It contains many blind corners that I never saw coming. The narrative moves quickly, the mystery unfolding or complicating at a rapid pace. Dull moments wont be found here. OConnell sprinkles a little trail of breadcrumbs throughout the story to entice her audience, not enough to spoil the conclusion, but with enough substance to let the reader speculate on possible outcomes. The climax of the book did not disappoint, wrapping everything up beautifully in a stunning conclusion. The only drawback to the novel is that the extremely short story breaks felt schizophrenic since each one changed the focus to a different character. If anything, this made the story harder to follow and get into.

Last Word:
Despite a somewhat schizophrenic nature due to its rapid pacing and intricate storyline, Bone by Bone delivers a bucketful of thrills and chills. Its a story that will pull at your heart strings, while at the same time making you seethe with anger at some of the characters. If youre in the mood for a great mystery with tight plotting and great characterizations and will keep you captivated from the first page to the last, then Carol Os Bone by Bone is a terrific choice.

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Ok, first off let me explain that I thought pigment pressing was going to be some sort of major mess but turns out it's actually quite easy, fuss and mess free! I had zero mess to clean up and didn't get pigments on my fingers or anywhere else thankfully!

What was it horrifying?

The problem with pigment pressing is if you're emotionally attached to your MAC LE pigments and you're planning on pressing them you may be in for a shock at how much product you have to use to get a single press! I had no idea I would have to use SO much pigment! I used MAC Pigment in Mutiny because I sincerely adore this color. I was smart enough to realize when to stop but if I kept going I'd have used up over half of my jar of Mutiny before getting a full press!

Holy cows!

I had no idea that I'd need to use so much pigment to get a full press of shadow from the jar! If you want a full press of a pigment you have to use at least half a jar of pigment or more! See where I am heading with this?

If you're really attached to your pigment in loose form chances are you're going to be upset when using a half a jar of a favorite LE pigment! On top of this the chances of messing the press of the pigment are very real. I was trying to press MAC Pigment in Blue Steel and completely screwed it up! Ahhhh! Imagine taking a very valuable LE pigment and screwing up the press? It would be like going to a funeral.

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Before I start reviewing Deshdrohi, I would like to go into a brief flashback as to why I actually went to watch the film.
The promos of a haggard looking movie called Deshdrohi were troubling all of us since last few months. Right from the first look of those promos, Deshdrohi from every angle looked like terrible C-grade stuff in which nobody seemed interested. But at the same time, the Marathi Vs Non-Marathi issue in Mumbai gained momentum and it acted as the right gasoline for this film starring an actor called KRK (NO he is NOT related to SRK, the King Khan). The promos of Deshdrohi were intelligently aimed at the same issue and somehow this disaster called Deshdrohi became important. Censor Board passed it with few cuts but it was first previewed by Maharashtra Navnirman Sena and finally by some officials of Mumbai Police. Mumbai Police submitted a report to Maharashtra Government on the basis of which Deshdrohis release was halted for 2 months in Maharashtra. This whole scenario added to the curiosity as to what Deshdrohi is all about.
So now when Ive actually watched this film, my first emotions were that of empathy. I actually felt bad for the officials of the Mumbai Police who had to suffer this torture before I did. I think more than the objectionable scenes it was due to the headache that this film gave them that they decided to ban it.
This film doesnt deserve a review.
We will not discuss the story. Its a horrible story told in a horrendous manner enacted by some of the actors who should be banned from acting not just for TWO months but for the rest of their lives.
The hero of Deshdrohi is KRK that stands for a small time actor called Kamal Rashid Khan. Since KRK is also the producer, so he decided to cast HIMSELF as the lead actor. I think by now all of have seen the promos of Deshdrohi so we know whom we are discussing. I can say that infront of KRK, apna Himesh Bhai looks like Al Pacino.
The promos were suggesting that the film is based on the issue of Marathi Vs Non-Marathi but let me tell you that they were absolutely misleading. The film has nothing to do with the issue. Its a noxious cocktail of some of the worst scenes of some of the most awful movies of the eighties.
Just one adviceeven if you have nothin to do this weekend, please do not go near the theatre playing this movie. Just Stay Away.
And I repeat- This film doesnt deserve a review.
0.5/5
source - http://dearcinema.com/deshdrohi-review/
[2]
Deshdrohi (drama)
Cast: Kamal Rashid Khan, Gracy Singh, Manoj Tiwari
Direction: Jagdish Sharma
Critics rating : NR [ Not Rated ]
He calls himself an uttar bharatiya (north Indian) and keeps crying himself hoarse about the second class treatment meted out to him and his fellow uttar bharatiyas by the political class of Maharashtra.
And when no one pays any attention to him, hes such a whiner, anyway he picks up the gun and begins to clear the city of all the deshdrohis (traitors) who happen to be netas of all hue and colour. Some Marathi manoos and some uttar Bharatiyas too, because when it comes to kursi, all netas have just one ideology: gotta hang on to power, by hook or by crook!
Okay, we can understand this film was made to cash in on the topicality. The Raj Thackeray tirade and the Rahul Raj incident are still grabbing headlines. But we cant understand why Mr KRK (Kamal Rashid Khan) dreamt of doing an SRK, specially since he doesnt know the ABC of acting.
Watch him fly through the air and try some shoot-outs with yellow lifters and flared jeans and then ham through homilies on national integration, youll know its time to fly too.
source - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Eow/3714605.

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From a Top Chef conference call with Toms and Pads today, we have the requisite canned answers about how much weight she gains (10 to 15 pounds in six weeks) and general likes and dislikes (Tom's eggs and truffle oil, respectively), but Padma's comment about Moorpark chef Fabio Viviani (the only one singled out) caught our eye: "Hes very gregarious he was fun to have on set I had to really watch myself with Fabio because I would revert into Italian. I spent a lot of time in Italy so I love to speak in Italian I didnt want the other chefs to think I was saying anything that they couldnt hear. Fabio is definitely going to be a personality this season.

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Until recent years, when it came to buying wine, many people assumed that more expensive is more impressive. But, lets face it few can afford a legendary Chateau Margaux for a Tuesday night pasta dinner, at home. Nowadays, Americans are increasingly enjoying the simple luxury of pairing a meal with an interesting wine, without breaking the budget.
Contrary to what many people in the US may believe, there has always been a large selection of affordable wines in European supermarkets and bodegas. In Spain, France or Italy, drinking wine with the main meal of the day is not uncommon, regardless of economic status. When buying meat or vegetables at the market, the consumer may pick up a $3 or $4 bottle to accompany a simple meal.
Charles Shaw wines, which cost a mere $1.99 per bottle, turned the American wine industry upside down since its debut, in 2002. Now celebrating its 5-year anniversary, Two Buck Chuck, as it is affectionately called, is owned by Branco Wines, in Napa Valley. Nephew to wine giant Ernest Gallo, Branco CEO Fred Franzia owns 30 brands of wine, resulting in sales of over $300 million per year. Franzia has publicly stated that he believes no bottle of wine is worth more than $10.
Charles Shaw wine is available exclusively at Trader Joes, which offers a large selection of wines under $20, with many in the $5 8 range. According to a spokesperson for the supermarket chain, Trader Joes buys wine, such as Charles Shaw, directly from the producer. Using this business practice allows for bulk purchase without a middle-man, lowering the cost of presenting products to consumers.
So, how does being less expensive affect the quality of wines stocked on the shelves? All wines carried in Trader Joes pass the companys tasting panel. One manager, who participated in an in-store employee wine tasting, said he preferred Two Buck Chuck over some others in the $13 range. He explains, Every bodys tongue is different. Some customers say its crap but others come in and buy it by the case.
Jeff Zimmitti, owner of Rosso Wine Shop in Glendale, agrees that attitudes in the wine world are changing, A wine connoisseur these days is not just the one chasing older vintage Petrus or La Tache. In fact, the new breed of wine lover is most jazzed by finding that 126-year-old-vine Carignan from Cote de Catalanes for under twenty.
However, Zimmitti encourages someone looking for wine at a good price to check out a neighborhood wine shop. In fact, the home page of the Rosso Wine Shop specifically welcomes the wine enthusiast disenchanted with Trader Joe He explains, Specialty wine shops are the way to go for finding those hidden gems that every wine connoisseur looks for And beyond that, once you have made a connection at a specialty shop, you are likely to open an ongoing dialog, which will lead to many other new discoveries.
Whether you decide to pick up a bottle of an inexpensive vintage from Trader Joes on your way home from work, or spend a little more time discussing options in a wine store, one thing is for sure. Enjoying wine on a regular basis is becoming a more accessible, and more affordable, practice. And, that is something worth toasting.

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Click on last picture for more information

Galaxy, 1977/GXY-5103

Haynes 'Snap Crackle' began his full time professional career in 1945. From 1947 to 1949 he worked with saxophonist Lester Young, and from 1949 to 1952 was a member of saxophonist Charlie Parker's quintet. He also recorded at the time with pianist Bud Powell and saxophonists Wardell Gray, and Stan Getz. From 1953 to 1958 he toured with singer Sarah Vaughan. Haynes went on to work with more experimental musicians, like saxophonists John Coltrane and Eric Dolphy, or pianists Chick Corea and Andrew Hill.

Haynes has recorded or performed with Gary Burton, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Henry Grimes, Christian McBride, Jackie McLean, Pat Metheny, Thelonious Monk, Gerry Mulligan, Art Pepper, Horace Tapscott and many others. He has also led his own groups, some performing under the name Hip Ensemble. His most recent recordings as a leader are Fountain of Youth and Whereas, both of which have been nominated for a Grammy Award. He continues to perform worldwide and is booked well into 2008, 2009...

Mr. Wikipedia

Yes, yes, yes..., but when I recorded this session I was thinking on an Ipod. Really I discovered the Ipod! If I see anybody wearing and Ipod and does not have that album in the f... machine, probably he has not get 'the thing'. You know what I mean.

Mr.

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I agreed to meet my muse at a bullshit bar on the corner of Seward and Willougby in Hollywood, a slum district but that’s just about what I expected. How could I not be surprised to learn that my muse lived on the dark end of the street?
Since I’d never laid eyes on the broad before only heard her voice, shrill and insistent sometimes, silky and bourbon-laced other times – she described herself to me on the telephone.
“You can’t miss me, sugar. Tall. Red dress. Red shoes. Red hat. Red lipstick. I’m well-read, darling.” She laughed and hung up.
I got out of bed, got dressed, and wrote two more pages of my new political manifesto while main-lining a pot of Folgers. The manifesto looks good. It could use a one thousand page trim but the idea is crystallizing. The novel is coming along even better and I decide to pull it up on the computer and have a look at the latest draft – well, the tenth rewrite of the first two-thirds of the latest draft – but then I realize that it’s almost noon and I’m going to be late for my appointment with my muse.
Twenty minutes and ten miles later my piece of shit car carries me to the bar at Seward and Willoughby. When I enter the bar I send an immediate memo to my olfactory glands: Kindly disregard memory of any scents picked up and acquired in the next few moments. They are fleeting and not meant to last.
At the bar I ordered the only thing I knew I could afford: a tall beer on tap, domestic. None of those expensive ales or dark beers, just good old American on tap: Bud, Schlitz, Miller, whatever you got, I’ll drink it, “long as it’s cold and wet” and all that bullshit.
I slide into the booth next to her. She is striking; too classy for this joint, that much is certain upon immediate inspection.
“So …” I fire up a Winston with a cheap Bic and lean my elbows on the table. “What did you want to see me about? You haven’t popped into town in quite some time … I mean, I hear your voice all the time, sure, but this is the first time you’ve ever requested that, you know, we sit down and meet face to face.”
“Is that what you think is happening?” She takes a delicate sip of her martini. Grey Goose. I can smell it from where I’m sitting. “I didn’t request this meeting. You did.”
“I did? I have no memory of that. I could swear I got an e-mail from you ”
She leaned forward, a flash of green in her eyes, and poked her slim index finger in the air emphatically. “The other muse put that idea in your head, whoever the hell she is. How do I know what muses you listen to when I’m not around.

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Here's a quick, fun one from close by here in Chicago. Story goes is that the famous Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern decided to rent out the Field Museum for a formal grad school party. Seems ordinary enough, as museums are regularly rented out for such after hours events. But apparently this is a more rowdy batch of MBAs this year, as the museum and the school's administrators were appalled by their behavior, ranging from smuggling in additional alcohol to vomiting and "passing out in high traffic areas" to even throwing things at the museum's most celebrated icon, Sue the T. Rex skeleton (the latter was denied by the museum but directly addressed by the school in a mass e-mail to all its Kellogg students, so you get to pick what you think really happened). In the end, the museum was forced to shut down the bars early and make a desperate attempt at controlling the ensuing chaos. But, to be fair, these MBAs were just trying to stick it to the university's Dean who closed down their fraternity, chided them for their many semi-nude shenanigans, and is known to be in cahoots with the Field Museum's monocle wearing director, who also hate their youthful guts. And also, isn't this exactly what life is like inside of companies who hire MBAs? We've been to numerous corporate management and sales force parties, so don't you dare try and tell us that it isn't.

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I bought my first television from Vernon Baker in 1965 and packed it along with the rest of my belongings into my 57 Ford when I left Floyd to start college and a career in journalism.
Baker had bought into the business, then called Harris Furniture, two years earlier. His store occupied the building on Locust Street next to the Amoco Station.
The Amoco station is long gone. Soon, Harris Baker Furniture will join the Amoco Station, Rakes Chevrolet, Thomas (later Skyline) Ford and many other businesses in the dust bin of Floyd history. After several months of trying, and failing, to find a buyer for the business, Harris and his wife will sell off the remaining inventory and retire.
I walked the streets of Floyd Wednesday and thought about the many businesses that were once part of the town: Moses Restaurant, Rutrough Drugs, Western Auto, Ben Franklin. My mother and I lived in an apartment over Hobacks Furniture Store on Main Street. Hobacks is gone. So is the building. The employee parking lot for The Bank of Floyd sits in that location.
Sears once had a catalog outlet in the building on Main Street now owned by Baker and occupied by his furniture store. Of course, Sears once had a catalog. No more.
A few long time businesses remain: Farmers Supply, where Janice Yearout-Patton greets customers by their first names; C.W. Harman's Farm Supply Business, Ingram's, Wills Ridge, etc. Turman-Yeatts, the last surving new car dealership in Floyd, is now aprt of the Harvey Automotive empire.
Many of Floyd's newer businesses serve the area's growing artistic and musical community and reflect the changing town: Oddfellas (upscale dining), Cafe del Sol (gourmet coffee), Harvest Moon (health food) and Bell Gallery Garden (photography, arts and crafts) among others. Floyd has more web designers than gas stations.
The Floyd Country Store is a mix of old and new. The new lunch counter brings back memories of Giles Lee Rutrough's lunch counter and soda fountain at his drug store. Locals can grab a bite to eat while tourists buy t-shirts, CDs and yuppified Carhartt clothing. And, of course, there's the Friday Night Jamboree.
Some say change comes slowly to a place like Floyd but our community has changed more in the last four years than it did in the 40 years I was gone. A new public restroom serves visitors (when it is open), wider sidewalks with alcoves give musicians a place to play on Friday nights. Renovated storefronts line both Main and Locust Streets. The Village Green occupies the old Farmers Supermarket location and the Village Square will soon open in the building that once housed Vernon Baker's furniture store -- where I bought my first TV set 43 years ago.

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#You must remember this, a list is still a list...#

I feel that it is time for a list update. You may remember almost a year ago...

*cue wibbly wobbly time going backwards visual effect*

It was the 29th October 2007. Your heroine was wading through Charles Dickens's Bleak House. The chances of her finishing said book were looking slimmer and slimmer every day. Drowning in a sea of Jarndyce and Jarndyce and her dreams haunted by Mrs Dedlock, this blogger was in a sorry state. The outlook was as bleak as the house of Mr Dickens's conjuring.

But soft! What light through yonder window breaks?

The book twas finished and returned to the library from whence it came! Joy broke out and small children were heard to celebrate for Miss G. Licious had completed her troublesome task. The 56th book had been concluded.

*cue fast forwarding fuzzy visual effect*

But now the calendar reads 9th October 2008. What progress has our heroine made? The list now stands at 74 read. The magic three quarter mark beckons and only 400 pages stand between her and it. 400 pages of a 1400 page book. Vikram Seth has certainly set this writer a lofty challenge. But she has learnt from her previous mistakes. She ploughs on through the twisting, turning, twining plot and will not be distracted from her goal. No doubt joy of a hitherto unseen degree shall break forth when she turns the final page of A Suitable Boy.

P.S. You may be interested to know that A Suitable Boy is a much easier read than Bleak House. Just in case you find yourself standing in a library forced to make that decision.

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After every baby, a woman morphs into someone else entirely. Do not be surprised if her spiritual hair turns stark black as soot or red as molten steel. Do not be surprised if that hip she props the newest baby on causes her to feel unnaturally imbalanced so that in public places she follows sudden urges to slam her torso far to the side, trying to pop that crick out of her back. When she listens to music, it's not like it used to be, making her sway and close her eyes all dreamy, but rather it's an invisible crowbar, ripping open a teary fire-hydrant, sudden unrelated fears for your children. Instead of making a grocery list, she'll note the things that could happen: spiders, amoebas, cancer, falling bridges, hippos and tigers (you know, escaped from the zoo), real pirates, whores, cannibals, and the worst - unbelief.

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A track has surfaced online featuring a dubious-sounding collaboration between The Streets and Muse. Links to download the track, titled 'Who Knows Who', have been doing the rounds on various messageboards. "The MP3 floating around on the message boards at the moment is a track we recorded with Mike Skinner a few months ago." "The track was the result of a late night jam session and something we did for a bit of a laugh featuring a blues riff we have been playing live recently upon which Skinner recorded some vocals." It is not intended to be a serious release so we are happy for it to be leaked around unofficially." "Hope you enjoy, Cheers." As previously reported, Matt Bellamy said he would like to create England's answer to Rage Against The Machine with Skinner. Although he said the collaboration would be a "one-off". The collaboration is thought to have occurred after The Streets supported Muse last year during their gigantic Wembley Stadium dates. ‘Who Knows Who’ is thought to appear on The Streets forthcoming album ‘Everything Is Borrowed’, due for the fall of this year. The song features a heavy, crunching Rage Against The Machine-style riff with The Streets' Mike Skinner rapping frenetically over the top. Mike Skinner and Tinmoth's finest are known to be musical buddies outside of recording duty.

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So I did a little math and broke down T.Y. into more manageable chunks. I plan on it being about a 100k novel with one main theme and two subthemes. I figure that the main theme will take 50% of the story leaving another 50 for my two subthemes. The two subthemes are somewhat equally important to each of the two main characters so I divided the rest of the book between the two.
In all, I need 100 scenes at 1000 words each. It doesnt seem like much but it is only my first attempt at writing a novel so I need to start somewhere. I can go back and refine anything when I am done. I still have a little worldbuilding to do and a few more things to iron out so I wont begin writing til probably next week unless I feel creative after working this weekend. I am excited about this story so I might actually work on it this weekend instead of just working at my weekend job.
cheers.

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