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Welcome to My Official Web Page!

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

You've Got Another Think Coming

Yes, you read that right.

You've got another think coming.

In THE SECRET HISTORY, I had a line that said, "He had another thing coming."

Sounds right, yes? Wrong.

My wonderful editor gave me a new wrinkle for my brain (is that actually backed up by science?) when she pointed out that the saying is actually "another think." Apparently the phrase came from the expression, "If that's what you think, you've got another think coming."

That makes sense to my ear, but "He had another think coming" looks terribly wrong to my eyes. It's also apparently an Americanism which means it probably shouldn't be in a book about the Byzantine Empire.

So I changed it, but now I feel a little smarter knowing the "real" phrase.

Yay!

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Hagia Sophia

 I love the Hagia Sophia. I might have cried both times I've seen it.

The Hagia Sophia (also known as the Church of Holy Wisdom or the Aya Sophia) is one of the most breathtaking structures in the entire world. However, the current building is actually the third incarnation of the church-turned-mosque-turned-museum as the first two were both destroyed during ancient riots.

A lonely remnant of the second church. The sheep represent the 12 Apostles.

The Nika riot of 532 A.D. burned down much of the city of Constantinople (including the Hagia Sophia, Senate, and part of the imperial palace) and resulted in the deaths of 30,000 rebels who wanted to replace Justinian as emperor. After a rousing speech by Theodora (more on that later), Justinian's side won, but his capital was left in ruins. On the bright side, the destruction allowed Justinian and Theodora to rebuild the Hagia Sophia on a much grander scale. 

The central part of the massive interior. Those are people at the bottom, not ants.

Justinian managed to finish his new church in only five years, including the massive dome that was the envy of the world. (Never mind that it collapsed 21 years later and had to be rebuilt). He also filled the interior with marble pillars gathered from the corners of the ancient world and a treasury worth of glittering mosaics.

 A pillar with Theodora or Justinian's monogram. In keeping with their religious beliefs, the Muslims later covered the face of the seraphim in the background, but one has recently been uncovered. 

 Justinian offering the Hagia Sophia and Constantine giving the city of Constantinople to the Virgin and Child.

Standing in the Empress' loge. (Where Theodora would have stood! *swoon*) Notice the beautiful Islamic calligraphy in the background.

The Hagia Sophia remained the largest cathedral in the world for almost a thousand years, and while Justinian and Theodora built several churches, this is the crown jewel of their reign together.

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Mile 6, How I Loathe Thee

Today I tried to kill myself. Again.

In a moment of utter foolishness, I signed up to run a HALF-marathon over Labor Day weekend. (I specify HALF-marathon because training this summer has convinced me of one thing regarding full marathon runners: they are bat-sh*t crazy.)

Today I ran 11 miles. The first five were easy.

Then came Mile 6.

It's a little more than halfway through. The lovely Julie Dao suggested on Twitter that at this point I should have been joined by unicorns and candy. But no...

Instead, Mile 6 ushered in aching hips, sore feet, and the dreaded ankle pain that felt like someone was stabbing through the top of my foot with a butter knife. (I garnered this lovely injury by stepping in a pothole in Greece this summer. And falling very gracefully while teaching any Greek children on the road how to curse colorfully in English.)

So I hobbled along until just before Mile 10 when I was bombarded by a crazy swarm of bees. (No, I'm not making this up.) Then I ran like... well, like there was a swarm of angry bees on my tail.

So, yeah, the middle of long runs sucks. Here's where you can feel free to insert some great analogy for writing the middle of a novel. (Something I'm also quickly approaching that also tends to suck.)

However, I ran 11 miles today so I'm going to go eat a big bowl of peanut-butter chocolate ice cream that's calling my name. It's not candy and a unicorn, but it'll do.