squirrelhaven (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
squirrelhaven) wrote2007-01-23 04:59 pm
squirrelhaven) wrote2007-01-23 04:59 pm
Name that philosophy!
What religion or philosophy is it that teaches that all people share in a universal soul, as opposed to everybody having separate souls?
I'm sure I've come across that somewhere, but I can't for the life of me remember where. If anyone can identify where it's from, that would be a big help. If you can point me towards some online resource that would let me read more about the basic tenets of the religion/philosophy in question, and how this fits in with them, that'd be even better.
I ask because one of my characters referenced this theory yesterday, and for a while I just sat there stupidly, thinking, "That came from somewhere. I'm sure it did. I couldn't have just made that up, I know I've read it. Right?" Which is all by way of saying that work is going well.
Friday I couldn't get myself to write anything, so I researched and planned the vacation D and I will take in March/April, and then I spent an hour or so brainstorming titles for fictional pop songs and grouping them into albums. (I'd already come up with the album titles a while back.) Because when one is writing a novel about a fictional pop star, one must create a fictional discography, along with album reviews, an assortment of lyrics to quote from, descriptions of videos that make it sound like these videos actually exist, and so forth. Sometimes I cannot believe that I get to do stuff like this and call it work.
Yesterday and today the writing has gone pretty smoothly. I often feel like I'm just talking out of my ass, because what the hell do I know about the music industry? (Answer: more than I used to, because I've read a few books on it, but really not all that much.) Or what it's like to be so famous that paparazzi follow you everywhere? (Answer: only what I've gleaned from reading Defamer and Go Fug Yourself and then extrapolating how much it must suck to have that little privacy.) But when I started working on this book, I very firmly decided that "Write what you know" had gotten too limiting, and I should feel free to write what I didn't know, and trust that research will take me far enough that imagination can cover the rest and I won't sound like an idiot. Or rather, by the time I'm done I won't sound like an idiot, and if my first drafts read like the ravings of a total loser, that's okay because nobody will ever see them.
It's really kind of exciting that this book is challenging me in all new ways, and I'm having to stretch way further for this one than I did with my first book. And the fact that I've just said that tells you that it's a good day. On bad days it sucks that this book is demanding skills and knowledge that I do not have, and it's just really fucking HARD and I want to hide from it. I have more good days than bad ones, though, and the story is slowly building up. And when I can't think of what to write, I get to make up pop lyrics. How cool is that?
I had a nice moment this morning, as I was trying to settle into work and just wasn't in the mood for it yet. I was sitting in my office, wishing I were somewhere else, and then looked around and realized, I'm drinking tea that my sister gave me out of a mug that![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sylvantechie made for me. I'm listening to a mix cd that sigerson and sen_no_ongaku gave me, and there's art on my walls by eeblet and shideem and non-LJ-having friends Greg and Howard, and my only plans for the day involve writing 1000 words of my new book and then making dinner with D. So what the hell am I complaining about? Because if that doesn't describe exactly the life I've always wanted, I can't imagine what does.
I'm sure I've come across that somewhere, but I can't for the life of me remember where. If anyone can identify where it's from, that would be a big help. If you can point me towards some online resource that would let me read more about the basic tenets of the religion/philosophy in question, and how this fits in with them, that'd be even better.
I ask because one of my characters referenced this theory yesterday, and for a while I just sat there stupidly, thinking, "That came from somewhere. I'm sure it did. I couldn't have just made that up, I know I've read it. Right?" Which is all by way of saying that work is going well.
Friday I couldn't get myself to write anything, so I researched and planned the vacation D and I will take in March/April, and then I spent an hour or so brainstorming titles for fictional pop songs and grouping them into albums. (I'd already come up with the album titles a while back.) Because when one is writing a novel about a fictional pop star, one must create a fictional discography, along with album reviews, an assortment of lyrics to quote from, descriptions of videos that make it sound like these videos actually exist, and so forth. Sometimes I cannot believe that I get to do stuff like this and call it work.
Yesterday and today the writing has gone pretty smoothly. I often feel like I'm just talking out of my ass, because what the hell do I know about the music industry? (Answer: more than I used to, because I've read a few books on it, but really not all that much.) Or what it's like to be so famous that paparazzi follow you everywhere? (Answer: only what I've gleaned from reading Defamer and Go Fug Yourself and then extrapolating how much it must suck to have that little privacy.) But when I started working on this book, I very firmly decided that "Write what you know" had gotten too limiting, and I should feel free to write what I didn't know, and trust that research will take me far enough that imagination can cover the rest and I won't sound like an idiot. Or rather, by the time I'm done I won't sound like an idiot, and if my first drafts read like the ravings of a total loser, that's okay because nobody will ever see them.
It's really kind of exciting that this book is challenging me in all new ways, and I'm having to stretch way further for this one than I did with my first book. And the fact that I've just said that tells you that it's a good day. On bad days it sucks that this book is demanding skills and knowledge that I do not have, and it's just really fucking HARD and I want to hide from it. I have more good days than bad ones, though, and the story is slowly building up. And when I can't think of what to write, I get to make up pop lyrics. How cool is that?
I had a nice moment this morning, as I was trying to settle into work and just wasn't in the mood for it yet. I was sitting in my office, wishing I were somewhere else, and then looked around and realized, I'm drinking tea that my sister gave me out of a mug that
sylvantechie made for me. I'm listening to a mix cd that sigerson and sen_no_ongaku gave me, and there's art on my walls by eeblet and shideem and non-LJ-having friends Greg and Howard, and my only plans for the day involve writing 1000 words of my new book and then making dinner with D. So what the hell am I complaining about? Because if that doesn't describe exactly the life I've always wanted, I can't imagine what does.
no subject
what a happy thought.
I'm just glad this picture exists.
no subject