PAULA WHYMAN

See these helpful tools for working on a novel-in-progress from writer/blogging maven C.M. Mayo. I especially like number 8, using a corkboard to post sections of your work. When I was at VCCA my whole wall was a corkboard, and at one point, I had a hundred pages up there. It was a great way to see how everything flowed and what needed to move where.



While you're at it, scroll down the same page and check out Mayo's previous posts on books on craft and creating, and cures for writer's block.



Going down the ten tools list, I can figure out what I have and what I still need. Let's see, I've got paper clips, tabbed folders, post-its, manuscript box... So I'm done, right?



Wait, you mean now I have to WRITE something?

CuriousDH says I should have omitted the sophomoric song parody in my previous post. But then it wouldn't be, uh, sophomoric.



So I thought I'd do a little sophomoric song parody tribute here. That way it will seem more like a theme. Right?



Here's one that's getting a lot of play in our house at the moment, from CuriousProgeny the Younger:



Dashing through the snow

On a pair of broken skis.

Over the hills we go,

Crashing into trees.



The snow is turning red.

I think I'm almost dead.

I woke up in the hospital

With stitches in my head.



Oh! Jingle bells, Batman smells, etc.



Of course I knew the Batman version, but I don't think I'd ever heard that other part. One of my favorite song parodies was one that my friends and I developed in 7th grade (appropriate...) for "Favorite Things" from The Sound of Music. If only I could remember it. Or probably it's better that I don't.

Is it any surprise that gun sales are up 26% for the three months ending January 31, 2009?



Tactical rifle sales are up 111%, while total revolver sales are up 45% over the same period last year.



Hunting rifle sales are down, however. I will not try to explain that.



It's about personal protection, right? That's where we see guns used again and again in this country--for personal protection. I hear about that all the time, don't you? People saying, lucky I had that gun so I could protect myself from falling home values?



Apparently it has something to do with the old American attachment to the idea of the frontier. Ah, the romance of lighting out for the territories, etc. Brings to mind that famous song trumpeting American individualism and freedom:



This land is my land

And only my land.

If you don't get off

I'll shoot your head off.

Some of you may have heard me wax rhapsodic about the amazingly huge and ugly blue corduroy recliner that was in my studio at VCCA. I spent many productive hours in the cozy chair, editing and reading my revisions. I did not, however, take naps in the chair. I swear. Not once. Ever.



Anyway, I really missed having a chair like that in my home office. As luck would have it, for my birthday, my husband decided/was persuaded that I should get a recliner for my office. I'm sure he thought I'd choose something a little more aesthetically appealing. But, for whatever reason, the most comfortable chair I found in the Lazy-Boy showroom was covered not in stylish leather, but in...blue corduroy. (Was there ever a doubt?)



I'll post a photo when it arrives. I think I'd only be more excited if we were getting a dog.

My short story, "Statute of Limitations," appears in the current issue of Bethesda Magazine. If you live in the DC metro area, the magazine is available in Barnes & Noble, Whole Foods, the public library, and elsewhere. If you don't live in the DC Metro region, you can order a copy of the issue from the publisher. Otherwise, well, I can tell you what happens...