You thought you had a louzy job.

Because we all want to be writers, here's some advice.

Most people will tell you there are two kinds of writing advice: Good Advice and Bad Advice. I’m here to tell you they’re the same thing.

Allow me to explain.

Let’s start with that ol’ “Kill Your Adverbs” chestnut. This is Good Advice. Adverbs, more often than not, are redundant. You don’t need to tell me the monkey screamed loudly. Screaming is, by its very nature, loud. Just let the monkey scream. We’ll cover our ears. Adverbs also tend to be evidence of lazy writing. If your context doesn’t reveal the protagonist’s anxiety, simply stating that he’s “pacing anxiously” because that’s what you want readers to imagine him doing will invariably feel like a cheat. “Kill Your Adverbs” is also Bad Advice. Some adverbs are actually quite pleasant, mannered and eager to please. Some writers (maybe you?) know how to wield adverbs in smart, clever ways. If you indiscriminately cut every word ending in “ly” out of adverbial fear, you might just kill your writing voice along with them (not to mention unintentional victims, such as the appropriately ironic, “ally”).

Surely “Show, Don’t Tell” is Good Advice. Right? Absolutely. Showing gives the reader a role to play in the story. Showing makes detectives of readers, providing them with contextual clues that lead them to discovery. There’s nothing more satisfying to a reader than discovery. When you engage readers in the space between the words, you tease them into an intimate relationship with the story. This is a Very Good Thing. Telling, on the other hand, steals the process of discovery. And stealing is a Very Bad Thing. Then again, “Show, Don’t Tell” is also Bad Advice. Simply stated – sometimes telling is exactly what’s needed on the page. It may be a matter of style, or a matter of voice. Perhaps telling is the best way to bring readers up to speed with a character or plot element. Telling isn’t inherently evil, and if you suddenly believe it is because someone on a blog somewhere said so in ALL CAPS, your writing might just suffer.

Let’s talk about prologues. Ugh. “Prologues Are Totally Unnecessary.” They are. You don’t need to tell me what you’re going to say. You don’t need to tell me what happened a hundred years ago. Just get to it. Throw the reader into the middle of the action. (And you can forget the “Famous Author Uses Prologues” argument. Famous Author is already published. You’re not Famous Author.) Besides, we all know that most agents hate prologues. Why shoot yourself in the foot before you even get one in the door? “Prologues Are Totally Unnecessary” is also Bad Advice. Your novel may be ten times better because of a prologue. A prologue might provide exactly the sort of tease or historical context to make the rest of the story shine. If your novel suffers without it, you need one. Cutting it simply because someone told you prologues are bad is a bad idea.

I could go on (even “Love Your Readers” can be bad advice), but I’m sure you get the point. Sometimes good advice is good, sometimes good advice is bad. So how do you know the difference? Well, that’s the trick, isn’t it. Here’s a clue – if your primary goal is to be published, you’re in a precarious position. You’ll be tempted to follow any ALL CAPS advice that claims to increase your chances of publication, whether or not your writing benefits. However, if your primary goal is to become a better writer, you won’t feel quite so much pressure to follow that advice, because you’re still discovering your voice, you’re still sorting through who you are on the page. This takes time, by the way. There may be shortcuts to publication (hey, it happens), but there are no shortcuts to becoming a better writer. There is just writing.

I suppose I should close this post with some kind of summary. Fine. Let’s play with the original statement a bit. Feel free to put this on a t-shirt:

There are two kinds of writing advice: the kind that works for you and the kind that doesn’t. Listen to the former

Advice from:
http://www.noveldoctor.com/?p=3752
Posted by Steve P., ND on Jan 27, 2012 in My Thoughts,

Thanks for this Steve, noted + copied.

.

OHLALA The new Lambretta, now available in the UK

Evan Gruzis

Skull & Univibe

Lux Interior on rock 'n' roll

It's a true kind of folk music, based on the blues.

It separates the squares from the cool people.

Pop music doesn't do that, pop music is for everyone.

Jayne and Joan

Love the lamp hate the fixture?

Here's a trick:

D I Y book page wall paper

I like Jayne. 

Look at the bruise on her leg.
But still, she's darn sexy.

Clumsy but sexy!

* NOTE:
I see this sometimes  in interior blogs and magezines but I think that
PEOPLE WHO CATEGORIZE THEIR BOOKS BY COLOUR ARE NUMBSKULLS

Work Cocoon

Crystal Renn being gorgeous as always

HAAAAATSJOE

"A Perfect Vacuum"
Artist Jeremy Geddes

The amazing Cai Guo-Qiang and his masterpiece "HEAD ON"

Artwork Identification
Head On, Cai Guo-Qiang, 2006. Installation consisting of 99 life-sized replicas of wolves and glass.

Introduction
Cai Guo-Qiang's installation of 99 lifelike replicas of wolves running Head On into a glass wall is a visual allegory for the human condition. Cai's pack of wolves, relentlessly charging forward towards a sudden end, represents the will to heroically press on. It is at the same time both tragic and beautiful.

Descriptive Analysis
99 realistic looking wolves (which are actually constructed from painted sheepskins stuffed with hay and metal wires) appear to be running in a pack through the length of an empty white room, only to crash headfirst into a glass wall and consequently fall to the ground. Outside of a white entryway, about six stray wolves look as though they are casually entering the room where they join more wolves heading in the same direction. Along the length of the wall, the wolves quickly gain momentum and rise in a tight pack into an arc of simulated movement. The wolves are packed closely together, creating the illusion of one long, moving "stream" of wolves. The "stream", suspended above the heads of the viewers, moves toward, and finally crashes forcefully, into a plexiglass wall at the opposite end of the room. The glass panel is only slightly wider than the width of the "stream" of wolves (which appears to be about four to five wolves wide). Their realistic faces are made of plastic, and they each possess marbles for their dark, lifelike eyes. The expressions on the faces of the wolves, as well as the tension in their bodies, contribute further to the illusion that the wolves are running towards something with deliberation; their ears are pressed back and many of the wolves' mouths are open with their teeth bared and tongues hanging out. The compacted, clean arc of wolves (their bodies elongated and stretching to reach the end) approaching the glass panel is juxtaposed with the disorderly wolf bodies that smash into the glass wall and lay beneath it on the floor, limbs and heads twisted (even broken) in unnatural positions, as they begin to pile on top of one another. The juxtaposition of the streamlined running wolves with the broken, crumpled, "lifeless" bodies of the wolves who have met the glass panel head on, is very abrupt.

And here's a picture of the master... 

Text + pictures came from this great website

Selling my stuff

The redder than red loveseat

The glass table i'm sitting at as we speak

I don't like getting rid of my things but this house is too small for one chair that's 129 cm wide. 

Fucking hell, it takes up half my room and I can only seat one person. 

Craziness.

And the dining table... It's cool but when will I ever again feed 6 people at once? 

I don't even have room to hang these people jackets when they come to visit!

Come to think of it, I don't even have 6 plates!

Cape!

Haruki Murakami

“I was always attracted not by some quantifiable, external beauty, but by something deep down, something absolute. Just as some people have a secret love for rainstorms, earthquakes, or blackouts, I liked that certain undefinable something directed my way by members of the opposite sex. For want of a better word, call it magnetism. Like it or not, it’s a kind of power that snares people and reels them in.”

- Haruki Murakami

Life is looking good.

Test results at the hospital were perfect.

Got a raise last week and a bonus today.

The sun is shining.

Goddamndarn!!!

Things I can't do without: 2

How manly can a bag shop be!

Where i'll be this weekend

Eurosonic/Noorderslag Festival

I got a raise!

FINALLY!

5%

Breath taking

*zucht*

Geen verjaardagskado van kindlief dit jaar want 'heb het tasje in de kleedkamer laten staan toen ik een trui ging passen'.
Pubers. 
Echt hè.
Goeie smoes trouwens.

I'm soft as a baby's bottom!

I always find these recipes for homemade beauty products and today I felt like pampering myself.

I turned my tiny shower into a spa by taking a long shower and do an all over scrub with my freshly home made scrub.

It worked out magically and now I'm sitting here behind my laptop with a cup of detox tea, with skin feeling as soft as a baby's bottom.

Try it out yourself, it's fun to make + cheap + smells delicious + when it get's into your mouth by accident it taste lovely and sweet!

2 cups white sugar

1,5 cup brown sugar

2 tea spoons almond extract

1 splash of honey

2 tablespoons of walnut oil

Mix ingredients

Shower + scrub

TADA!

A Dutch one: supermakkelijke recepten die superlekker en supergezond zijn.

VISPAKKETJE
Verdeel dungeschaafde venkel over stukken bakpapier en leg er witvisfilets op. 

Bestrooi met zout en peper. 

Pureer een bosje basilicum met knoflook, citroensap en een flinke scheut olijfolie en verdeel de saus over de vis. 

Vouw de pakketjes dicht en bak ze 12-15 minuten in de oven op 200 ˚C. 

VEGETARISCH PASTAATJE

Kook spaghetti.

Bak ondertussen 3 flinke tenen knoflook in 2 eetlepels goeie olijfolie.

Voeg 2 sjalotjes toe en bak glazig.

Voeg een doosje kleine romatomaatje toe en bak even mee.

Hak verse basilicum over het geheel en voeg zout en peper toe.

Schep over de pasta.

BIEFSTUK

Roerbak plakjes dungesneden biefstuk met knoflook, verse gember en ringetjes chilipeper 1-2 minuten in een wok met hete olie. 

Voeg beetgaar gekookte peultjes en wat taugé toe. 

Breng op smaak met oestersaus en citroensap. 

Strooi er sesamzaad over. 

Lekker met witte rijst of noedels.  

VEGACURRY
Bak in een wok 3-4 eetlepels Indiase currypasta met een uitje en voeg blokjes zoete aardappel, roosjes bloemkool, een blik kikkererwten en een blik gepelde tomatenblokjes toe. 

Laat gaar sudderen en roer op het laatst een flinke hand spinazie en een enkele eetlepel yoghurt erdoor. 

Roasted Lemon Garlic Herb Shrimp
(adapted from Fine Cooking)

1/3 cup olive oil

1 lemon, zested then half cut into thin slices and other half into wedges

3-4 fresh thyme sprigs, leaves removed

sea or kosher salt and fresh black pepper

spaghetti/pasta, couscous or rice for serving

1 pound fresh shrimp, medium-sized, deveined with tails off

5 cloves garlic, minced

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In a 9x13 baking pan combine olive oil, lemon zest and thyme. Season with salt and pepper. Bake in oven for 12 minutes. Meanwhile cook pasta, couscous or rice.

2. Remove pan from oven, add shrimp, garlic and the thin sliced lemons (don't squeeze them), toss to coat with oil mixture. Bake for 8-10 more minutes or until shrimp turn pink and start to curl. Serve over pasta, couscous or rice tossed with extra-virgin olive oil and fresh-squeezed lemon with additional lemon wedges for serving.

Things I can't do without

A good start of the new year

Sooo... Monday January 2, 2012.
Went to the office this morning.
An hour late ´cause hey... January TWO man, I should make it an easy start.
Found the parking lot pretty empty and thought about the lazy bastards that are my co-workers.
Turned out the office was still closed.
That made me feel pretty pretty silly!


So, now I had a whole day off, unexpected!
That's a big fat LIKE!


*goes back making a 'mixed tape' at You Tube.*
Click here to go to my awesome sixties garage mixed tape I made at YouTube