~sigh~

So NaNoWriMo is kind of a bust this year. I couldn't get my story to work with me -- nevermind the fact that I didn't think I wanted to write it in the first place. I got about 9,000 words into it before I dropped the thing. I guess I didn't have enough material to get me through when the murder victim was murdered to when they catch the murderer. And it's even more upsetting because I had such a good time writing those 9,000 words, which ultimately got me nowhere. (Practice makes perfect?)

... So I moved on

In addition to spending lots of time on Photoshop, I got an idea for a short story thanks to a project my dad thought of: three people from the same family, but different generations writing about a common theme and posting their stories on a blog. Sounded like a good idea to me!

And so, the short, non-mystery idea was born. All my other stories have dealt in some way with crime, kidnapping or death (which is all well and good as long as you're standing in the Mystery section at the bookstore!), but this one will have none of that, despite the sort of sinister cover I came up with. In the spirit of not spoiling my story for those of you who will read it on Generations when it's done, I won't tell you what it's about - but I will tell you the group topic has to do with keeping my characters away from home.

1904, here I come!

One of my scene settings is an abandoned subway station in Toronto (pictured above), LITTLE KNOWING that the day after I chose this place, a "secret subway stop" in New York was revealed. While it wouldn't make a good place for my characters to stop, I think I'll be going next time I'm in town. Just take the 6 and stay on past the Brooklyn Bridge stop, and you're freakin' time traveling!

Reading a Movie

Departing slightly from my literary slant.

Just saw the movie New York last night ... starring John Abraham as Sam, Katrina Kaif as Maya, and Philadelpha, PA as New York.  That's right.  Almost every single scene was filmed in downtown Philadelphia, which is fine because if you don't live here, you won't do what I did while watching.  Oh look! There's the Comcast Building!  Oohh, the giant clothespin!!  The Shops at Liberty Place -- I was there this morning!  And so on.  It was a bit distracting from the story, but in a nice way.

I've been looking forward to seeing this movie for almost a year because last year, I read in the paper that a Bollywood movie was going to be shot in downtown Philly, gave the time and place, and so I went to check it out.  There weren't any actors on the street because they were on the roof of one of the high rises -- BUT, there were two hellicoptors hovering between two buildings, which was quite interesting, and I shot my own video of it (remind me to find it and maybe I'll post it here -- found this photo online ... i didn't take this one, but it's very similar to what I got).  Needless to say, when that scene came up in the movie last night, I was beside myself.  I was a building's height away from one of my favorite actors.

Interesting movie -- not sure how much of it was factual and how much was sensationalized, but enough to get you thinking.  I recommend it -- Netflix has it, not sure about your local rental store, since it's foreign.