In which I stroll down a musical memory lane

"Here we are once more at the scene of our former triumphs. But where's the Duke?"

Ok, not sure why Patience is running through my head, but it is. Went to the library today to get out some books for my NaNoWriMo thing. Got out a "biography" of Athena. Haven't made it past the creation/birth of Uranus/Birth of Cronus/Birth of Zeus stuff. Woah. That's not like anything I ever read in elementary school. So we'll see if the rest of the book is of any help. Also got out a book I'd read ages ago, but when I read it, the last chapter was missing. I figured I might as well find out what happened. I don't remember much about the book now, but I do remember the bitter disappointment at not finding out how it ends.

Took some walks down memory lane today. Dug up a set of tapes I made when I was in high school. Sheesh. What sappy love songs I listened too. Odd thing was how I still remembered exactly why I taped all the songs I taped. As I listened, I would think "I taped that one because of my crush on Him, I taped that one because my friend had sung it to me at one point and I wanted to learn it, I taped that one because of Him, that one was because of that movie I liked, Oh yeah, that's the one I requested, but they played the wrong song by accident, I taped that one because I didn't turn off the tape in time and I liked the song after it too much..."

Ok, so I found it weird at how quickly all these memories rushed back in, like I'd only made up the tape yesterday. Also felt weird at finding out I really only still liked about a quarter of the songs on it.

Well, been thinking about that novel too. I'm going to steal the plot, good, I don't have to worry about it. My problem might be stealing too many plots. Sometimes when I'm working with myths, I tend to shove too many different things into the same story. I try to tie up too many loose ends, and weave something so complicated I don't really notice that it doesn't hold together properly. So I'm trying to make sure I keep it narrowed down. I'm not playing with the whole of mythology, just the one or two standard stories I want to work off of. Right now it's two. I may narrow it down even farther, and keep it one, but I'll have to see.

Names. I need names for the main characters. I've got the sub, of course. Had that for a while. I need the girl and the boy, though. I have to think carefully about this, because this is a case where the names are going to have to mean more. Then I'll work on what I'm going to make the important setting.

Sad fact: kiddo told me about a book he wants to write. He has an excellent plot. Better than any I've come up with. But we're gonna do NaNoWriMo together, and maybe we'll publish together, too :) Ok, so I can dream, that's ok. I of course intend for each of my books to be bigger than Harry Potter.

And can I take a second to complain about Chasing Vermeer? Ok, I really like what she was trying to do in that book. It's very much the kind of book that tries hard. But I don't think she quite pulled it off. I think there was some sort of thread that needed to run through the book and pull the whole thing together at the end. I personally found that thread totally consipicuous by its absence. But boy, I liked what she was trying to do. Close, but no cigar....

I do read books I like, you know. I'm trying to catch up on all the DWJ I haven't read yet. But I pick apart the stuff I don't like for two reasons: one, it bugs me more and this is about clearing out the underbrush too, remember; and two, I try to learn from it. I do take lessons from books I like, but they are different lessons, and well, you've hit me at a bad time. I still bet I'd love Inkheart if I could only bring myself to read it... It just doesn't feel safe at the moment, though. Isn't that odd? I feel like it will tell me something important that I'm not quite ready to hear.