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| 2 October* [message #21290] |
Fri, 02 October 2009 20:27  |
 b_twin_1
Messages: 2596
Registered: September 2008
Location: Victoria, Australia |
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2 October*
I've got a plan so cunning you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel ~ Blackadder
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| Re: 2 October* [message #21312 is a reply to message #21290 ] |
Fri, 02 October 2009 23:32  |
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blondviolinist
Messages: 1070
Registered: October 2008
Location: Midwestern United States |
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Dear Story Council,
If you are going to bother Robin with stories, the *least* you could do is send her a little help before she goes (more) crazy. Pegasus I has a deadline, which you surely knew *before* you sent Robin the memo about this novel actually being *two* novels. Far be it from me to accuse the Story Council of incompetence, but it is becoming apparent that important information is stuck in the pipeline, and needs to be delivered to Robin soon. Like tomorrow, or the day after. Your prompt attention to this matter is greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
Blond Violinist
PS: We, the members of Robin's forum, *like* you bothering Robin with stories. We just don't like you *torturing* her with them.
"Purity of heart is to will one thing." Kirkegaard
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| Re: 2 October* [message #21317 is a reply to message #21290 ] |
Sat, 03 October 2009 12:00 |
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There are already a few bits and pieces I’m having to go back and drop in in a nonchalant sleight-of-hand sort of way so they don’t turn up in the second book like I forgot.
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Out of curiosity, is this The Version they send off to the copyeditor and get all the exciting things done with, like ARCs and so on? Or will your editor read it and give it back to you, giving you a little extra time to slip in these bits and pieces in a nonchalant sleight-of-hand sort of way?
Smooshes!
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| Re: 2 October* [message #21348 is a reply to message #21290 ] |
Sun, 04 October 2009 14:53 |
judith
Messages: 246
Registered: October 2008
Location: United States |
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This is nightmare stuff—like those dreams when you’re on stage and you don’t know your lines. Blondel was trying to tell me that this is my moment, that this is the best part
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Our lives are very much the stories we tell ourselves about the basic facts thereof. You are tormenting yourself with the stories you tell yourself about this part of the piece! Blondel sees this fact clearly and is trying to change your stories.
I read a great (and short) book recently on this very phenomenon called "Be the Hero", about how changing the stories we tell ourselves can change our lives radically. It can seem fraudulent at first: telling ourselves lies. But in many cases, the bare facts don't support either a useful or a paralyzing story, and it's up to us to choose how to flesh them out. What to emphasize and de-emphasize. Whether we habitually give others the benefit of the doubt or assume the worst of them. Whether we assume we are helpless victims of circumstances or do in fact have options for action.
Stage fright was a bigger deal for me when I was younger. I pretty much got over it by being thrown into the deep end of the pool by having to teach classes as a grad student teaching assistant, and learned the hard way about this telling one's self stories thing. I also realized that I didn't have time or energy to worry about other people's perceptions of me at the same time I was working: I had a job to do and such thoughts were as useless and self-indulgent as a cop wondering, "Does this uniform make my butt look big?" at a takedown. It also helped when I added the true fact to my self-told stories that there's a very fine line between excitement and anxiety, and that this moment was very pleasantly exciting. The fighting the anxiety is often WAY worse than the anxiety itself, and by not only accepting but embracing the adrenaline charge, I made use of it.
All of the above is useless, of course, if one isn't prepared for whatever is giving stage-fright, and that's as it should be; one wouldn't want to kill the smoke alarm for real fires, just make sure it doesn't go off when there are no fires, thereby incapacitating the ability to perform.
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| Re: 2 October* [message #21349 is a reply to message #21290 ] |
Sun, 04 October 2009 15:47 |
skating librarian
Messages: 571
Registered: October 2008
Location: Vermont |
Senior Member |
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Sounds like an interesting book ... there have been a very few self help books which did actually help. Sounds like that might be one. I know that I have been interpreting my life story badly for nearly sixty years now.
Stage fright is rarely a problem ... I stay away from stages, as there's not much use for serious gardeners or amateur artists up there. When watching movies credits (rarely, as I don't go to the movies very often) I look at greens keepers, or plant wranglers, and think, that's me. And I could probably steer the set designer straight so you wouldn't get flowers which bloom in wildly different seasons or places all in one impossible garden.
Robin, wish I could think of something to help you get thru Pegasus ... maybe Mom's chocolate sauce? In 3/4 cup of water melt 4 squares of bakers chocolate and 3/4 cup of sugar. When it is all dissolved, simmer two minutes. That's it. Delightful on ice cream, plain cake, a spoon.
"Winning a war is like winning an earthquake" Jeanette Rankin
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| Re: 2 October* [message #21376 is a reply to message #21375 ] |
Mon, 05 October 2009 18:08 |
judith
Messages: 246
Registered: October 2008
Location: United States |
Senior Member |
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| Robin wrote on Mon, 05 October 2009 17:29 |
Remind me to respond to this some time I'm NOT frenziedly trying to finish a novel.
My stage fright is, like so much of my personality, schizophrenic. I can give speeches. I even give them well. I don't *like* it, and I avoid it as much as possible, but I can do it. The trauma is minimal.
What I *can't* do is (apparently) ANY kind of music in any kind of public. Except, of course, ringing bells. I'm curious about the depth of the roots of this myself. But I'll contemplate it LATER. . . .
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It *IS* a fascinating subject. I'm prone to navel-gazing on it myself, so I love to talk about it with others.
For me, at least, music is a lot harder than any other kind of performance because music performance seems to reflect inherently the self. And the voice, of course, is hardest of all, because YOU are the instrument. I still don't like singing in small groups where my voice is easily picked out, even though I can use the tools in the toolbox I mentioned in the previous post to focus on getting the job done.
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| Re: 2 October* [message #21398 is a reply to message #21376 ] |
Tue, 06 October 2009 08:44 |
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blondviolinist
Messages: 1070
Registered: October 2008
Location: Midwestern United States |
Senior Member |
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| judith wrote on Mon, 05 October 2009 18:08 |
For me, at least, music is a lot harder than any other kind of performance because music performance seems to reflect inherently the self. And the voice, of course, is hardest of all, because YOU are the instrument.
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Yes, exactly. A few very arrogant musicians who've been playing/singing since they were three can get away with *not* revealing themselves too much through the music. (Yes, I *do* have names in mind, but the Pollyanna policy seems to apply here.) The rest of us are alarmed by the prospect of revealing that much about ourselves in public. So we give these stilted, uncomfortable performances that are much worse than if we'd forgotten about ourselves and our egos, and simply played the music we love.
"Purity of heart is to will one thing." Kirkegaard
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| Re: 2 October* [message #21410 is a reply to message #21290 ] |
Tue, 06 October 2009 16:52 |
NotLonely
Messages: 164
Registered: October 2008
Location: SA |
Senior Member |
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Stage fright: This may help. (It may even help with the PEGASUS whim-whams at the moment - if so I shall be delighted.
Bend your hand towards you, put your ring finger (of the other hand, of course) on the wrist crease, just inside of the tendon that runs under the littlest finger (we call them pinkies, do you?). Keep your fingers together. Keep your index finger where it falls naturally. Straighten the hand, and then slide your index finger over the tendon to the outside edge of the arm. It will now be between the tendon and the outermose wristbone, possibly slighty on the elbow side. There's a 'notch'. Rub gently without changing the position of your finger - once you find the spot it often helps to use the thumb instead. If it's sharply painful, just hold it steadily; if it feels dull or numb use more vibration.
This point (and by the way massaging the entire wrist and fingertips will help too) opens and relaxes the throat and tongue, deepens breathing, slows the heart rate and calms the mind. When I saw those signs in class the first thing I said was, "stagefright!" and it was, and it helps  (And there are no contra-indications which I rather like when recommending to strangers. It happens so seldom) Here's a link - its Ht 5 on this graphic http://www.yinyanghouse.com/acupuncturepoints/heart_meridian _graphic
Sorry about the wordy explanation, but it's very much easier to explain in person.
Massaging wrists, ankles and fingertips should help you to sleep too, although it's much harder when you work your own points - the placebo/norcebo is so much stronger.
Hope it helps.
*lights candles, hands over soporific finest dark*
Oh and by the way, thank you. "It’s the Little Things that Make You Run Mad with an Axe" is something I'm tempted to put on a t-shirt. Tastefully embroidered, of course
Life always, always finds a way.
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| Re: 2 October* [message #21518 is a reply to message #21450 ] |
Fri, 09 October 2009 15:22 |
NotLonely
Messages: 164
Registered: October 2008
Location: SA |
Senior Member |
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| b_twin_1 wrote on Thu, 08 October 2009 00:26 |
| AJLR wrote on Wed, 07 October 2009 17:06 |
| b_twin_1 wrote on Wed, 07 October 2009 21:24 |
That's tricky?! Naturally the shirt would be a different shade of pink! 
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Oh no! One would then feel rather like an iced fondant cake, surely?
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Not ALL iced fondant cakes are pink.  ]
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/That's/ pink? Oh, well. It took my man years to convince me that eccru was not only not beige or cream, but a colour with a right to a name. On the other hand it might work well on fabric such as that delectable shirt in the photograph. I wanted to caress the screen...
I was thinking along the lines of, um, black. Which is my default setting for clothes of any size* because I'm colour-stupid
*Eventually, black goes with everything - Death, I think in Reaper Man (Terry Pratchett)
Life always, always finds a way.
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| Re: 2 October* [message #21520 is a reply to message #21518 ] |
Fri, 09 October 2009 15:47 |
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| NotLonely wrote on Fri, 09 October 2009 15:22 |
| b_twin_1 wrote on Thu, 08 October 2009 00:26 |
Not ALL iced fondant cakes are pink. :d]
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/That's/ pink? Oh, well. It took my man years to convince me that eccru was not only not beige or cream, but a colour with a right to a name. On the other hand it might work well on fabric such as that delectable shirt in the photograph. I wanted to caress the screen...
I was thinking along the lines of, um, black. Which is my default setting for clothes of any size* because I'm colour-stupid :)
*Eventually, black goes with everything - Death, I think in Reaper Man (Terry Pratchett)
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I think she meant not all iced fondant cakes are pink...such as this one. See how it isn't pink? ;)
[Updated on: Fri, 09 October 2009 15:48]
Smooshes!
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