Questing for Dragons, Singing with Elves and Earning Extra Money for the Holidays

Where have I been? For the last three days here…

Easy way to earn some extra money for Christmas presents but the view could've been a bit better. Nowhere near as exciting as losing myself in the world of my stories or the minds of my characters, but the folks at this company were incredibly nice. Some of the conversation I overheard made me feel like I was back in high school and kept a grin on my face as I copy/pasted over and over and over again. Put me behind on my writing schedule and gave me a tremendous appreciation for those of you who work full time jobs and still write. Doubtless I’d have adjusted, but eager to get back to work on my latest project. More word on that in the near future.

Anyone have any ideas or suggestions when it comes to employment strategies for writers? I’m curious (as I’m pretty sure are a number of folks) to hear what others think is the best job for someone who intends to make writing full time a career. 

The Desolation of Smaug…long time delay here, I actually went and saw this at the midnight release at Studio Movie Grill. Holy crap did they do an AMAZING job with that dragon. His voice literally pounds through you, it’s like standing under a waterfall. And he’s FAST, which is an absolutely tremendous refresher from big=slow. There is no doubt that this is an apex predator of Middle Earth and his conversation with Bilbo Baggins is the heart of the movie. Maybe it was the hour I saw it, but the whole thing felt longer than it needed to be and I can’t help but wonder if it would have been better if about 20 minutes or so had been shaved off. Definitely worth a watch though, especially for fellow fantasy lovers. 

What did y'all think about the movie's length? Did they justice to the fire drake that came from the north? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Christmas is Almost Here!

Elf has skyrocketed to the list of top five Christmas movies watched in America, probably because Will Feral does such an amazing job capturing Buddy the Elf’s childlike innocence. His is an incredibly hard act to follow up and the musical gives it it’s all, but like The Desolation of Smaug, I felt it went on just a little too long. The actor who played Buddy’s dad (for the life of me I can’t recall his name and I’m too lazy to look it up, if you know it tell me in the comments) stole the scene whenever he was on. His gruffness was just so wonderfully rough amid all the rest of the performance’s cotton candy fluff he couldn't help but stand out and in the best possible way.