Writer's Blog 2010-01-31

Foundation, Earth, and a Referendum



About two weeks ago I began reading Second Foundation, by Asimov. I was confused. I thought it was just me, my mind does tend to wander, but no - I was reading the books in the wrong order.

So now I know. I've moved on to another Asimov:



And will come back to the trilogy later. This is kind of embarrassing but that's part of what a blog is for.

In other news...

Here in Wales we're have a referendum on giving the Welsh Assembly government more power. I shall most certainly be voting yes to this.

As you may be aware there has recently been a big issue in the UK about student fees, for university, rising. Well, because of the Welsh Assembly it isn't happening in Wales. So for Welsh students this is great news.

Those of you reading this in England this is a sad state of affairs. I wish I could make some suggestion of what could be done. It seems that the Liberal Democrats have proven themselves to be true politicians - they make promises and do the exact opposite. Being kind though they are in government with the Conservatives so I guess there was no choice.

Of course they could have chosen not to join them.

It will be interesting to see if this rise in tuition fees has any effect on university attendance next year.


See you later in the week.

Writer's Blog 2011-01-28

Surfing the internet is like sifting for gold. Not that I've ever sifted for gold. Well recently I've found some gold. A video by Meekakitty.



She's a wonderfully funny and beautiful vlogger. I hope you enjoy this video. As a geek/nerd this gives me great hope!

I'll be back with more stuff in a few days.

Writer's Blog 2010-01-26

I would imagine that most writers buy writing guides. I have many. In this image I'm holding Writing a Novel. It is part of the teach yourself range. At the end of each chapter it has exercises to try. So that is what I'm going to do.

The first chapter deals with planning. I am not a great one for planning. Usually I prefer to make a start and see where the story goes. In the same way that sometimes just playing a game is a better way to learn, rather than reading the rules.

I have a vague idea of where my novel is going. I uploaded some sections of it here but I think that quite a lot has changed since then. I'd rather not upload my plan but I will discuss something else the book talks of and that is why I want to write.

I wish I could say that writing is purely my passion. This is not strictly true. I enjoy some of the process, such as universe creation, but it still feels like a slog. Maybe there is nothing wrong with that. While the act of writing isn't so interesting the telling of the story is. If I had children I would probably be telling them stories of my own creation every evening. Hopefully they would be interested. As I have no one to tell stories to, I write them down. It would be nice if I could make money from this one day. However if I won the lottery, which would be magic considering I don't play, I think I would continue to write and upload them for free.
Making money is simply a factor of life. So when I say I want to make money from this it is a matter of practicality. Of course I could just get a job but that to me seems rather dull.

Part of my reason for writing is also, I'm not sure how to put this, for lack of a better word, copying. I don't mean writing Stellar Conflicts, Star Wars, I mean taking a pick'n'mix of ideas. So maybe you have a story about a vampire hunter but he/she is in the twenty-fourth century. From the excellent Firefly we know that strange genera mixes can work. Sometimes in reading or in watching films I try to guess the plot. Then when I get it wrong I can write that story. More than that though there are times when other works of fiction have ideas that aren't used beyond one episode/chapter. As a writer you can take those on board an make something great.
I have no proof of any connection but TNG had an episode about, what was essentially, a stargate They didn't use beyond that episode, and one of DS9, but for the various Stargate incarnations it is the entire premise.

Short Story 2010-01-22

Gambit


The girl in the park was clearly upset. I wanted to go over there and ask what was wrong. I realised two problems – possibly more.
Firstly I was a stranger and maybe a stranger talking to her was the last thing she wanted.
Secondly she was gorgeous. Her hair was a little wild around her and she wore quirky hippy-ish clothing. I stopped myself because I knew that had she been fatter or older or had I had a girlfriend, I would have walked by. So I asked myself whether I should go up to her.
Could I go over their? It seemed wrong when the thought of a date was so high in my mind. Could I start a casual conversation?
How would I do this? Cheesy lines came to the front of my mind – none would do and by this point my motives were not exactly honourable.
It was worth a try. I was walking that way anyway. As I got closer I saw she was clutching her mobile.
“Bastard,” she said.
I found myself feeling animosity toward the unknown message-sender. Next to her was a book I recognised. It was a way into the the conversation.
“Being a bastard is almost his job by now.”
“What,” she said rubbing her eyes.
I pointed to the book.
“Not that,” she said, “my boyfriend. He dumped me in a text.”
“Bastard,” I said.
She smiled gingerly, “I'm Sally.”
“Lee,” I said.

Dictionary Stories 2010-01-21

Aardvark

An aardvark is an omnivorous mammal. You probably knew that all ready. Some how a definition seemed the right way to begin this post.

There once was an aardvark called Charles,
Who kept all his termites in jars,
But as the termites escaped and began to tickle,
He reflected that he would have been better with pickle.


Okay so I suck at limericks! Better luck next time I guess.

Short Story

Healing Wounds

Denise yawned and checked her watch as the taxi pulled away from the rank. It was 14:02, local time, but 9:02 back home.
“Good flight,” the driver asked.
“I would have preferred to fly myself.”
“Yourself?”
“I'm an air force Captain.”
“Can't place you accent,” the driver said, “Canadian?”
“Well done,” she smiled.
The driver smiled, “Never been good with accents, “heard somewhere it's best to assume Canadian.”
“Never given much thought to it really.”
“I'm Welsh,” the driver said, “Know all about national identity.”
“It's important. And I know I'm in Wales now.”
“Mostly only comes up during sporting events.
“Only ever played hokey myself,” Denise said, “helps to know a martial art for that.”
“Thought that was just for jokes.”
“Not the way I play.”
The driver drummed his fingers on the searing wheel waiting for the lights, “what brings you to this green and pleasant land?”
“Wasn't that England?”
“That's what they want you to think.”
“Seeing my brother,” she said, “I crashed my helicopter recently – life flashed before by eyes – wanted to heal the other type of wound.”
“I saw that on the news. Your a hero.”
“I crashed the damn thing.”
“You got it down safely.”
“True,” she yawned again, “but I just did what any pilot would've done.”

Writer's Blog 2010-01-10

A bad workman always blames his tools. That's the cliché at least. I know a writer is supposed to avoid clichés like plague. Recently though I've discovered that some times tools are to blame.

This is not going to be an epic story. No. This is about pasta. I thought I'd developed a chronic inability to cook pasta. I discovered that it was the oven. I've got a small oven with rings on the top. It takes an age to bring a pan of boiling water to the boil. Now I've got a hob that plugs directly into the wall and suddenly - pasta!

It seemed that on the inefficient hop, with the pasta sitting in water for all that time, meant it just didn't work.

Then I completed the meal with mince, carrots onions and an Iceland cook in sauce. Again this was only a pound but it was very good.

There will be a story here soon. I subscribe to Writing Magazine and have recently not won one of their competitions.

So that'll be up later in the week.

Dictionary Stories 2010-01-09

Zabagkione

The desert was ready. Now all Mavis had to worry about was the pronunciation. She hoped Mr Losi would like it. She placed the zabagkione on the side and turned her attention to the cooker. The bolognese sauce was almost ready. Starting as she meant to go on, should she get the job, she scooped up some of the sauce. Then she carefully poured it on to a tea spoon. As she tasted it she frowned.

The sauce didn't taste bad, in fact it was fine, but it did surprise her. It surprised her that this sauce, which she had spend all afternoon working on, didn't taste that different from what you'd get out of a jar. She wondered if that meant she wasn't cut out to be a cook or that Dolmio was just that good.

This musing didn't last long. There was a knock at the door. Dumping her apron on the side in the kitchen she headed for the door.

She saw Mr Losi and his wife through the frosted glass. The moment of truth would soon arrive. Would she be working in Losi's Italian Restaurant tomorrow?

Writer's Blog 2011-01-06

Writer's need to eat. So on that rather clunky piece of exposition I'm going to start posting pieces on food. This is a good opportunity to post on a regular basis.

I enjoy cooking but sometimes I prefer to cook simpler dishes. Specifically I used a Sharwoods cook in sauce. I used to think that these sauces were pretty bad things. I don't know if I was wrong about that or sauces have just improved. Anyway these sauces are very good. The ingredients are almost the same what I'd use making the dish from scratch. This sauce was very good.

I used this sauce with added onion.

In a separate pan I cooked carrots and peas in rice. Then mixed to the two together at the end. It made a great meal for two over two days.

Oh I should also mention I used chicken instead of the recommended prawns.

I'll be back in a day or two with a dictionary story. In the meantime have a look on Dictionary.com they have some interesting articles both on words and other points of interest.