Sofa Rambles: Ghosts of TV past

Under the weather the past two days. Spent a good bit of today on the couch watching Joan of Arcadia mini-marathon on Syfy. There are shows that are fun, consistently entertaining, and have some episodes that really stand out as awesome. And then there are the shows that are just stunningly well crafted, make me think, laugh, and occasionally bawl a little. Shows were *everything* just clicks. Vintage West Wing is like that for me. Joan of Arcadia was like that.

Simple premise: This very ordinary girl (bright, sarcastic, bit of an underacheiver) starts having conversations with God, who quotes Bob Dylan and the Beatles, but almost never scripture. I love that God is portrayed as having infinite faces (and very often ones that you would dismiss or overlook), and that what the characters profess to believe (or not) doesn’t automatically make them good or bad people, just human beings.

This show is a study in character and storytelling. Unfortunately, the second half of the second season gets all out of whack (I’m sure due to network tinkering*) and ends on not only an unresolved chord, but a discordant one. You should watch it–but stop with season two through "Friday Night." (Episode 2.8) This episode is heartbreaking, bittersweet, and ends beautifully–painful and hopeful and oddly joyful, against the odds. Just like life.

Anyway. I wonder if this show influenced my writing YA as much as anything else. It wasn’t a YA show, but the protagonist was definitely in that ‘figuring things out’ stage. I think it illustrates why YA literature can have such wide appeal. We’re ALL trying to figure things out, over and over again, at different stages in life. I have the same struggles and questions as Joan, about the world, the divine, and my role and relationship to both. And I love shows and books that explore those questions without dogma or easy, pat answers.

There you go–today’s ruminations from the sofa. You’re welcome.

*JoA wasn’t bringing in the demographic than CBS wanted, so there was substantial inconsistancy and lack of focus, not to mention dumbing down of the characters and plots. This was a show about subjects with no pat answers or clear villains. It was replaced by The Ghost Whisperer.

Back in the Saddle

You may (or may not) have noticed I wasn’t exactly faithful in updating my blog over the last… Okay, well, October. I would like to say I’ve been jetting around the world (I haven’t) or I’ve already completed the next book (I haven’t). But after finishing the rewrites on The Splendor Falls, I needed a bit of a brain break.

Which is not to say I’ve been idle. Just the opposite. I’ve just been busy doing stuff that isn’t active writing. I’m teaching a class next weekend and the North Texas RWA retreat, so I’ve been reading about how to apply the "Hare Brain, Tortoise Mind" philosophy to writing. I’ll probably post more about this in the future, because I was surprised how much this applied to how I think and work creatively.

The upshot, however, is that I’ve been doing stuff that’s not writing this month, so that I can refresh my subconscious. Some people call this "refilling the well." You guys who are doing NaNoWriMo (and I’m unofficially with you–more on that later) will find that after you’ve been outputting a lot, you need to set away occasionally and do something that involves INPUT rather than OUTPUT every now and then.

So here’s what I’ve been doing during my computer/internet break:

1) Sewing. Mostly this involved three(!!) Halloween costumes, but I’ve also made huge strides in a big embroidery I’ve been working on for about two years. (Picture here.)I might be finished with it, if I hadn’t discovered….

2) Mystery Case Files for the NDS. Oh my God. These hidden item games are so addictive, it’s like crack. Big Fish Games has a bazillion of them for PC and Mac, but I like playing this on the DS because I can hold it close to my face. I like to have things that occupy my hands while I watch TV, which I’ve needed more of, because I’ve ALSO discovered…

3) Supernatural on DVD. I’m now addicted to the adventures of Sam and Dean Winchester. I remember why I didn’t start watching this from the beginning. The premise-Hardy Boys meet Kolchek the Night Stalker (or Buffy, if you prefer), is very like the Maggie Quinn: Girl vs. Evil premise (Nancy Drew meets Kolchek). And yet they’re somehow also really different. Anyway. I’m only halfway into the second season (I have, after all, not spent the entire month on the couch… and also Netflicks only sends 3 DVDs at a time), but I’m hooked.

I’ve also read a bunch of books and watched a number of movies, which I’ll post about separately. No sense in overdoing it the first day back!

TV Rambles

Watched Fringe last night. Reeeeeaaaaally liked it. Wasn’t sure I was going to get past the melting people on the airplane (What is it about JJ Abrams and planes?) but ended up completely engrossed. Since Lost lost me after the first season, I feel like I’m taking a chance here. But for now, I’m hooked.

Yes, I know I’m a freak because I don’t like Lost. I also *hate* Desperate Housewives, and I’m sort of ashamed of my brief flirtation with Grey’s Anatomy, like that guy you’re sort of enamored of until you find out that there really isn’t anything interesting underneath the surface charm.

I’m on and off again with House. I liked the first season, then his whole downward spiral got TOO too. But I watched last season in reruns over the summer, and the whole thing with the 30 intern elimination really hooked me back in. I think it really freshened the formula back up, which it needed.

I still haven’t watched last week’s Bones. I’m saving that as a reward to myself when I get my rewrites done. I confess, I watch that show for Bones and Booth. I don’t even care when it doesn’t make sense. I missed Terminator, too, but managed not to record it, either. I’m going to have to download that one.

What am I forgetting. By the way, my friend Candace Havens is blogging about the new TV season. In addition to being the author of fun, sexy books about kick-butt heroines with complicated love lives, she’s also an entertainment reporter. (Which is how I saw the first two episodes of Tru Blood, which I will blog about in a separate post.)

See, this is why I have to get caught up on work. I love the new TV season, when everything has the possibility of being awesome.