The AsCast Jar

Archive for the ‘Life’ Category

Excuse me while I indulge in a little self-therapy.

Hi, I’m Tasty. And I’m in a writing rut.

I’ve updated “Nightmare” twice in the last seven months. I haven’t written a new word for any original stories in 2010.

In 2006, I was a lazy 18-year-old who would write “The High King, the Duchess, and the Secret” when I was supposed to be studying calc or microecon. Once I started writing, I couldn’t stop. I was often ten chapters ahead of posting on ff.net (which is, you know, insane).

In the summer of 2009, I was a recent college grad who hated her sales internship. So instead of cold calling, I finished the second half of “The Changing of the Constellations” in an inspired frenzy. In the fall of 2009, in lieu of applying for jobs (I only applied to two!), I started writing “Nightmare.” I was also spitting out a chapter a day for my original fic, which I managed to finish before I left the country on Christmas Day—130,000 words altogether.

But then January hit, and everything began to change, though I wasn’t aware of it at the time. 

1. I started working full-time.
2. Mr. Bad Romance burst back into my life.

 Work. Suddenly my time was no longer mine. I was on a schedule, no longer staying up until 3:00am in the morning as the mood struck. The fast pace tired me, and though I had my evenings free, I was either too mentally exhausted to write, or too preoccupied with #2—Mr. Bad Romance.

 Details are interesting, but unimportant, regarding Mr. BR. Sufficed to say, having a wild/fluctuating/crazy love life does NOT help writing the way one would think. What’s the point of writing about love triangles if you’re living it? Sure, I’ve had experiences with amor before—“HKDS” didn’t come out of nowhere—but now that life is a full-fledged soap opera, I have no inclination to create more drama in my head.

 Okay. So. Here is where I try to piece together everything I’ve said above and try to fix myself. I know that: 

1. I enjoy writing only when I am NOT supposed to be writing. I know many other Neffers are the same way. When I was supposed to be a student, I was writing “HKDS”; when I was struggling with what I wanted to do with my life, I was writing about Talia’s identity crisis in “COTC.”
2. I write to escape, and when life is more interesting than fiction, I don’t write.
3. I need to learn to manage my time better. Working full-time is absolutely no excuse.

 What’s the bottom line? I don’t know. I’m sure as hell not quitting my job, and wising up and calming down my life would make things boring around here.

 What I do know is, I miss writing. At the very least, it’s a hobby. At best, it’s a future. So either way, I want to need to get back into it.

TBC…

Okay, we all know that the name Kate is synonymous with grammar by now. I’ve made no secret of the fact that, more than anything, I appreciate grammatically sound, well-written stories much more than your average reader does. This being said, I feel compelled to write this:

STOP ABUSING THE APOSTROPHE!

Yes, the poor apostrophe has been abused by those speakers and writers of the English language for years. Next to homophones, homonyms, and generally mis-spelled words, apostrophe abuse is one of the most common things I see done wrong. It’s not just in writing, either: I’ve witnessed professionals who have abused the apostrophe just as badly as a fifth grade student.

So what’s all this about, you wonder? There are a few very simple things which I feel that people ought to be reminded of.

The Cardinal Rules of Apostrophe Usage (or, How to Not Massacre the Poor Apostrophe)

1. Making a word into a plural form DOES NOT require an apostrophe.

If referring to more than one furry domesticated feline, you would say “Cats”. The famous musical by the same name does, in fact, refer to these multiple felines, albeit of the singing and dancing variety. “Cat’s” refers to something which belongs to your furry friend, like a toy, a variety of sustenance, or a person.

2. “Its” and “It’s” are NOT the same word, and are not interchangeable.

“It’s” = “It is.” It is a contraction, a set of words or numbers in which one or more letters or numbers have been omitted (Purdue OWL). It is thus appropriate to write something like “It’s a shame more people don’t know about this site!” If you used “its,” some people in the know may have a tendency to stare at you like a deer that has decided to stand in the middle of the road.  Carnage may occur.

“Its” = the possession of it. It is a pronoun, a word used to replace a noun. Along with its merry cousins he, she, I, they, and others, they are the hands down best masqueraders out there. When you use the pronoun “it,” it is commonly used to refer to a person or object like “this computer,” “my hamster,” “that fire hydrant,” or “the imposing office building.” Although you’re probably saying “But wait, “its” is supposed to be possessive! Why doesn’t it have an apostrophe?”, there is a simple answer: English is just a language full of confusions. “Its,” then, refers to the belonging of an “it.”

Just think: contraction before possession with “it”. Kinda like having a baby.

3. Your teachers didn’t lie to you: you do use the apostrophe + s combination to denote possession. They just didn’t tell you the whole story.

The immortal apostrophe + s combination is indeed used to denote possession: just for singular nouns. “Office,” “snowboard,” “chocolate,” or “James” all qualify as singular nouns. In this case, to refer to something that belonged to any of these persons, places, or things, you would simply add the apostrophe and s. Thus we get “office’s,” “snowboard’s,” “chocolate’s,” and “James’s.” Yes. “James’s.” There’s a lot of controversy about whether or not to use the apostrophe + s combo at the end of a singular name that ends in “s” in the English community. Suffice to say that either “James’s” or “James’” are acceptable.

4. Plural nouns aren’t all that special, they’re just different.

Plural nouns are commonly identified by the “s” on the end. “Bars,” “ostriches,” “orthodontists,” and “the Smiths” are all plural nouns. To make things belong to plural nouns, just tack that apostrophe on to the end of it. For those funky nouns that in their plural form don’t end in a “s” (such as geese or sheep), do the apostrophe + s thing. So, it’s now the sheep’s meadow or the geese’s pond.

5. Although an apostrophe notes possession, don’t use it with a possessive pronoun!

Pronouns can be possessive without the help of their friendly neighborhood apostrophe. Really. Pronouns like “his” “yours” and “her” are all possessive pronouns. Adding an apostrophe is like pinning a real donkey tail on a pin the tail on the donkey game at a kid’s birthday party- it’s just not appropriate. So, don’t do it.

*deep breath* Ah, it’s so good to get this off my chest! I hope this helps a little to clear up some common misconceptions of the use of the apostrophe. If it didn’t… try this: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/621/1/.

Cheers and happy writing!
~Kate

Yesterday, I spent two hours with the delightful rthstewart in the Mall of America.

When ruth and Tasty are in the same building, you are asking for craziness! However, we generally contained ourselves (we did get a few strange looks from nearby tables, but that added to the fun) and had a good time with the Peter, Saedra, and Edmund dolls that she brought for me!

We will try to do a mini-episode of AsCast to chat about our meet-up in early January when…if…I return from the Philippines. Until then, here are some pictures from our time!

Where we met: by the car track at Lego World.

Ruth frees Saedra from her prison.

Making Peter blonde.

Sae and Ed have a beach party. Sexy times in the dunes! (Or on the table in the food court at the MOA.)

Still waiting for Peter to finish getting his hair colored.

One big happy...family?

Ruth checks Twitter to see if anyone has responded to our status updates.

Hey, now! Don't fight, boys!

We offcially confirmed that Edmund does have that a tattoo on his butt, and it does start with an "S."

Ruth and Tasty with Peter, Saedra, and Edmund! One last pic before Ruth had to leave.

Thank you to ruth for the dolls to start my collection! Next up: finding a wine goblet for Saedra. And perhaps a dress too.

Way back in June of 2008, I started writing my very first Narnia fan fiction. I didn’t have any ties at all in the fandom and wasn’t yet working for NFFR. To try and promote my story, I headed over to www.williammoseleyfan.net to post the story on their forums.  I started posting my story, “Awake,” (which is now on hiatus) and people there started reading it…one quite notable name who we now all know as our very own Hev.  She soon began posting her own story there (which is still in progress), “The Gypsy’s Daughter.”  Since she was reading mine, I started reading hers and thought it was SO interesting, with such a distinct style and flair.  I was definitely intrigued by her…a gut feeling, I guess. At first, it was just casual conversation between us, another internet acquaintance, but one who seemed to be quite intelligent and interesting.

In August of 2008, I started working for NFFR as a screener and began to promote the site on the William Moseley Fan forums, making Hev aware of it.  It wasn’t until NFFR started its own forums, less than a year ago now, however, that Hev and I really began to talk a lot.  I got her to come over to NFFR and she began doing graphics for Tasty since she’s such a talented artist.  In February of 2009, I got the idea for AsCast and immediately knew that Hev needed to be on it with Tasty and I – she always offered interesting perspectives because of her background in psychology and just has a beautiful, creative way of seeing the world.  SO, anyway…all of the AsCast girls had our first Skype conversation in mid-March of 2009 and we hit it off. The rest, as they say, is history.

Since that first time, Hev and I have spent a ridiculous amount of time both talking and video chatting on Skype, both about Narnia and just about our everyday lives.  Hours upon hours upon hours…I don’t even know how many.  We knew each other pretty well, I would say, for two people who have never actually met in person.  A few months ago, I mentioned that I’d always wanted to go to Boston (where Hev lives) and she graciously said that if I ever came, I could stay with her.  Soooo, at the beginning of September, I looked up flights, found some cheap ones for my birthday/Halloween weekend…and off I went.

Because Hev and I already talked about all of the things we did in AsCast’s Episode 6.5 (which will be released in a week or so), I won’t go into detail here.  Suffice it to say that I can’t believe that NARNIA brought me such a good friend.  Ruth always calls fandom or internet friends “imaginary;” however, there’s nothing imaginary about Hev.  She’s genuinely a REALLY GREAT friend who I feel privileged and lucky to have met.  She’s honestly one of my favorite people in the entire world – definitely one of the people that I have the most respect for and admire most.

So, anyway – enough being sappy.  If you’d like to hear about all of the things that Hev and I did while I was in Boston, keep a lookout for that extra episode of AsCast which should tide you over until Episode 7 comes out in December. JThanks for reading and listening! Here are some pictures from the trip!

Irish in Salem with the "Bewitched" statue

Hev in Salem

Candlelit ghost tour in Salem

mooooooooooooooook!

Yep, those are wax mustaches.

*Sniff*

It’s a sad day in Irish land. I may have to say goodbye to my beloved car that I got when I was 16 years old. Me, being a dumbass, ran over something that was apparently quite massive in the parking lot of a gas station last week.  It damaged the undercarriage of my car in some way (apparently the whole steering column needs to be replaced?) and I don’t know if it’s worth spending the money on an older car with lots and lots of miles on it.

I get very attached to inanimate objects, however, and my car is no exception. It’s become a part of my personality over the years – everyone knows that I’m the girl that drives around a 1997 red and black Eagle Talon named “Taylor” with a license plate that reads HNSNFN8. (Yes – that does, indeed, mean “Hanson fan.”) I don’t know if I can stand to part with my friendly Taylor Talon. (Also named after a Hanson…)

Anyway, I just wanted to put my sob story out in internet land.

I need to go look at some pretty pictures of AlSkar to make myself feel better. Yum yum.

‘Til next time,

Irish

Back in the day, I used to get paid to babysit people. It was good money! Somewhere around $8-$10 an hour depending on how many kids there were and how old they were.

So who was it that decided that adults should need babysitting too, hmm??

Seriously! There’s a lot of people I know, even those older than me, who I swear require you to BABYSIT them at every turn! Common sense seems to elude a lot of people nowadays. Little things like tipping your waiter, letting someone go ahead of you when they have two items and you have twenty, avoiding the crazy driver on the road- all forgotten! Then there’s just social etiquette. Don’t sound like a complete arse by correcting someone’s grammar to their face, especially when you don’t know them. Don’t discuss controversial issues like politics or religion with a stranger (for the most part). You don’t post something on the internet expecting that nobody will ever see it. *sigh*

People need to grow up. Seriously, I have no problem correcting a kid’s behavior, because for all the times we like to forget it, they are just kids. If you behave like a child, though, and you’re well past that age- well, all I’ve got to say is pay up. I’m not babysitting for free anymore.

/endrant