Spread the word to end the word

My friend Chris has posted a wonderful video on her blog.  About respect.  About caring.  About choosing your words wisely.  Made by high school students.

Go watch.


Spread the word.

My Monday Morning Observations

I had an appointment this morning to have blood drawn.  I waited almost twenty minutes after checking in.  It was good people watching time.

An older lady admired my purse.  She said she just couldn't find something that small.  I told her where I bought mine.  We had a brief discussion about the crazy large purses that are the current style, how you end up putting too much in them and then they're so heavy the strap hurts your shoulder.

The receptionist announced they would be testing the fire alarm shortly.  I hoped the nurse wasn't poking me with a needle when the damn thing went off.  It was my lucky day.  A man came from somewhere in the building, walkie-talkie at his mouth.  He told us again that the alarm would be tested, then pulled the lever and walked back to wherever he'd been.  The alarm started out at a reasonable level, not like the one at work that has me squealing and out of my chair in seconds, hands over ears.  This one slowly got louder.  It reached a point where I had to put my fingers in my ears or go outside.  Then it stopped.

A man came in, tall, strong-looking, wearing tan worker overalls, in his late forties (I overheard his year of birth).  He wanted a note from the doctor so he could stay home from work for two or three days because he was stiff from shoveling snow.  He said he'd called in earlier this morning.  The receptionist found no appointment for him.  He said he didn't need to see the doctor, he just wanted the note.  She informed him he had to see the doctor.  He seemed surprised by that.  She was able to squeeze him in with a just a thirty minute wait.  He reluctantly agreed.  He went to the far side of the waiting room.  I watched him.  Our last shovelable snow fell a week ago.  He didn't move like he was stiff or in pain at all.  Perhaps I'm overly skeptical, but I suspect the forecast of six to twelve inches of snow tomorrow has something to do with his wanting that note.

The nurse came and called my name.  Everything went fine.  I left the office wondering if the doctor gave the man his note.  I went to Egg Harbor for a nice breakfast after my fast.  I had a Tuscan omelette (artichoke, zucchini, spinach and tomato with oregano and melted mozzarella cheese on top).

I'm home, with the laundry going and a pot of coffee brewing.  Next is read a book.

The Inkwell

Starting in December of 2009, my friend Cindy and I co-wrote a novel.  We didn't plan to.  We were having fun creating a story with some very cooperative characters and it sort of got out of hand.  Initially we thought we'd do it for about a month.  It ended up keeping us busy for more like four months.

We were posting on line as we wrote, in a thread in the National Novel Writing Month forums called The Smoking Pen.  That thread is set up for cooperative writing, and in the beginning other people were contributing as well.  When the story grabbed us and wouldn't let go, Cindy (who is known as Dixiegirl in NaNoLand), started a separate thread called The Inkwell.

In 2012, Cindy set up a writing group consisting of folks who met doing NaNoWriMo (The Asylum:  you don't have to be crazy, just committed).  On several occasions, The Inkwell has come up in conversations as an example of this or that.  Many in the group hadn't read it.  I'd say I should post that some time.

Well, that time has come.

I'm posting it.

That's why there's a new tab at the top here on my blog.  The Inkwell tab will always take you to the initial background post, whether there's a new entry or not.  On the right, under Archive, is the list of entries.  They're numbered sequentially and each is roughly 2000 words long.  Thanks to the magic of cookies, after you've read one the color should change and that can help you keep track of what you've seen.

I think the total length is about 70,000 words, so this will take a while.  I posted a lot in the last few days, but I'll slow down now, to probably just one entry per day.

I hope you enjoy our story.  We certainly had a lot of fun writing it.

That Writing Gig

 Here is a Telegraph interview with Richard Thompson in which he was asked how he works on songs (among other things, including playing electric vs acoustic guitars): 

"I write out my songs long hand and notate the music rather than trust electronic devices, which I tend to lose. If it is written down somewhere, then I stand more chance of hanging on to it. If I am in a writing mode, and have a couple of spare weeks, I do office hours every day, especially in America where there is a quiet guest-room at the back of the house with no phone. I start really early in the morning, about 7am, and work until noon. If it's going great, then I keep going, if not then I do something else. There are always distractions and everything intrudes but you figure out how to write wherever you are and whatever you are doing. You know, I have written songs with a baby on my shoulder, screaming in my ear. You learn how to write on the train and on the car. I jot things down. But it's best when I can shut the door and plough through."

My favorite line:  "There are always distractions and everything intrudes but you figure out how to write wherever you are and whatever you are doing."

One of my early fiction instructors strongly emphasized getting away from the desk when we wrote.  Go out into the world.  Write in restaurants, on park benches, at the beach.  The objective was to teach yourself to write anywhere and not link the creative process to any one location.  I followed her advice.  I can't yet write anywhere, but there are many places away from the desk that work for me.  I frequently write on my breaks at work.  It's amazing how much can be done in ten minutes!  Every paragraph written or edited gets you closer to a finished work. 

Soundtrack for this post:  Richard Thompson, "If Love Whispers Your Name" (Dream Attic), "Salford Sunday" and "Stony Ground" (Electric)

A One-sided Conversation

This is another of my SPAMmers' homeworks.  The prompt was "soaked in sadness" and as always the limit was no more than 500 words.

A One-sided Conversation

You'll find it an easy recipe.  A classic.  You probably have most of the ingredients in your cabinet right now, will only have to gather one or two.  Then you'll be on your way to, well, let's use the euphemism of wedded bliss.  Why a euphemism you ask?  I'm old and don't stand with that straightforward modern nonsense.  But you'll get what you want from this one, dearie.  There's a guarantee.  You must call back about how you get on.  

Yes, dearie?  Oh, you don't seem to have any henbane?  None down by the river at all?  Tsk.  What are things coming to.  No, you can't get it from me.  You must collect it fresh during a waxing gibbous.  You thought full?  Someone said that was more powerful?  Youngsters.  Dear, you want growth, and to get that you can't harvest when everything is already at it's maximum, now, can you.  You'll just have to wait.  Do call back. 

There are no proper mandrake roots this time of year?  Have you looked?  Yes?  You have amazed me, you truly have.  One could always find good mandrake anytime it was needed back when ... sorry, you don't want to hear about how things were in the old days. 

You find the bats are diseased and you fear their noses won't work as needed.  All are covered in white fuzz.  You can substitute dried wing, of course.  You have no stock of dried bat wings in storage?  None?  In the past you've always avoided recipes that called for them?  You haven't hunted for bats since you were eight?  Tsk, tsk, dearie.  You young witches certainly ... yes, do call back. 

It didn't work and you want to know about that guarantee.  Did you mix it with his potatoes?  Did you encourage things along?  Are you sure you followed the recipe exactly?  Youngsters often get impatient about some of the more time consuming steps.  Waiting for the proper phase of the moon took longer than you planned, and having to travel for a week to locate healthy bats set you back a bit as well.  But truly, dearie, if you'd had everything at hand the mixture would have been ready to use in a month.  Yes, a month.  Did I leave that part off?  In the old days these things were just understood by all, no need for written down recipes.  You ... ah, you want to know what I left off.  Yes, dearie, of course.  It must be soaked in sadness for a double fortnight or all the rest is just a waste of time. 

Twitter!

I signed up at Twitter back in November.  I mostly only looked at stuff through November and December.  In January I started retweeting more.  I still haven't made many original tweets.  Don't have a whole lot to share with the world, but I really enjoy reading what the little bit of the world I'm following has to share. 

Somehow I acquired six followers.  I'm still figuring out how the Twitter thing works, so I have no idea how some of these people found me.

I added a widget here that links to my Twitter account.  At least it's supposed to.  Let me know if it turns out to be technology fail.  I thought it would have the little blue Twitter bird...

Welcome to anyone new to my blog.  Here it's mostly science and fiction writing, with random stuff I find interesting and occasional rants. 

I don't seem to get many comments. Is it that I'm not leaving opening for you guys?  Are you all shy?  I don't bite, and won't permit nasty comments here in my little corner of the internets.

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you enjoy what I have to say and share.  I'd love to hear from you.