Reading
Dracula Daily finished this morning. If you hadn’t jumped in on the trend, since Dracula is epistolary in form, Dracula Daily sent out portions of the novel corresponding to days when the characters wrote letters and diary entries. Stoker’s form isn’t entirely chronological. He stays with characters through certain chapters of the novel instead of presenting what is happening to each character on each particular day.
A couple of notes on the experience: This is a reread for me. I’ve probably read Dracula two or three times previously.
This time I noticed the following trend: The male characters decide to leave Mina out of the loop; they don’t want distress her or whatever. Eventually, the male characters will hit a wall because they’re not great at communicating with each other either. Mina then steps in, collates all their information, and puts them on the right track. The novel would probably be a third shorter if the guys stopped “protecting” Mina. I also thought it might be interesting if there was a reworking of Stoker’s novel that is what Mina knows when she knows it. Maybe a project for a rainy day.
I also found it interesting how long things take if you read it as time is supposed to pass. The exciting final chase? That’s a week of time, after several days of “no word about the Czarina Catherine.” It ends up being tense rather than exciting.
Watching
Cabinet of Curiosities was another show/movie I was looking forward to during the Halloween season. I have to admit, I was a little disappointed. Aside from “The Murmuring” (the last episode of the series), none of the stories really hit with me. Most seemed to fall in a crack between creepy Twilight Zone and zinger-ending EC Comics. For a series that went out of its way to produce very good practical effects, the episodes didn’t necessarily highlight those. “The Murmuring” was an old-fashioned mystery haunting. Director Jennifer Kent is so good at using darkness and silence that it all worked perfectly.
Ultimate Frisbee
The team suffered its first lost last Tuesday. By one point! We are occasionally impatient on offense and that hurts us against teams that are more consistent.
I have a bunch of New Year Fest emails to write and answer today.
Writing
The first six days of National Novel Writing Month went well. The draft is at 10K, which is on schedule. I haven’t written yet today. My plan is to write more than par on most weekdays and Saturday and plan on Friday and Sunday being light days.
No new rejections.
Simple Tricks & Nonsense 