Yawn-inducing tales of excitement

Hey, I put a Creative Commons stamp at the bottom of my blog. Check it out! Now I can be the one doing the suing for once! Hee, I know it doesn't quite work like that but I can dream. I know it's kind of the "in" (?) thing to do now but it's more of a support thing...not that it's bad to protect some of my shit.

Today I was reading a paragraph I'd written for an upcoming thingamajig (that's what I call them now, damnit) and I realized several things: A) I don't really do settings anymore B) I'm kinda starting to lose my voice and C) Mark Twain is in my head.

A) I don't...do settings. I've noticed lately that unless I'm somewhere in the far off future like my sci-fi thing, I don't really...describe places anymore. I think that's part of what gives some of my stuff that unfinished feel now, it's always so vague as to where I am. What state? What city? What country? I hodgepodge scenery too much--composite places I've been but never saying WHERE the hell my characters are or where the plot takes place. And...that's...kinda important *pause* don'cha think? I think I've been doing it for a while without really realizing it--that's also why it's so damn hard for me to describe places because even I don't know where I am! I'm working on that.

B) I've been being way too hard on myself lately all things considering, and it feels like I'm starting to lose my artistic voice so to speak. I think I got paranoid and just lost my nerve, applying too many "rules" of writing to myself too strictly. And it's fine to experiment but it feels like I've been "experimenting" so much it's not ME anymore. I've actually had this issue before, it usually just turns out that I need a break and some flat soda.

C) You know when you're reading a story--yours or someone else's--and you get that narrator's voice going on in your head? Is it yours? For me, for some reason it's...Mark Twain. Or what I perceive him to sound like anyway. Sometimes its Garrison Keillor (Prairie Home Companion) because he has that kind of smooth, relaxing tone. Even when I'm reading something exciting and action oriented.

Speaking of wish, I wonder if I can get NPR in this room...I kinda miss all the weekend shows.

I'm gonna start using this FreeMind software Dharma Keller recommended to me in another post...I've heard of it before and heard it was good, but I think it was too much of a blow to my awesomeness for me to take *die* Can I get some five year old to beat me with paperbacks? But I have to wait until I have some decent, proper internet *eye rooooll* Ohhh~

By the way, I start tutoring some time between this week and the next. I'll talk more about it in another post because, I assume, it'll be interesting :D