[writing] Progris riport, day 10, The Heart of the Beast
Slightly over two hours’ work, again with no net wordcount gain. More work on the handwritten notes (though I am almost done).
The next step, commencing tomorrow, will be to fold the notes, which run to thirty or so pages in a text file, into the outline at the appropriate points. That will be a complex and novel challenge for me. Should be a lot of fun, too.
Writing time was a bit tough today because I spent the morning doing housework and home maintenance, with an assist from and That both took a lot of time and wore me out. A bit from now I’m off to ‘s birthday party, which pretty much wipes out the evening writing time.
Likewise tomorrow, due to taking to Chinese New Year festivities with various portions of the extended family. Still, I’ll find my two hours at least.
No WIP again, since there were no new words to speak of today.
Tags: Beast, Books, Process, Writing
Posted: 5:24 pm Sat January 31 2009 | Comments(0) |
[child] Today’s video rental picks
‘s video rental picks for today:
- Pippi on the Run (Pippi Longstocking)
- Pippi in the South Seas
- Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
- The Maltese Falcon
Who raised this kid, anyway?
Tags: Child, Funny, Movies
Posted: 2:46 pm Sat January 31 2009 | Comments(1) |
[personal] A bit more on weight and diet
Been a while since I’ve commented on this, so I thought I’d mention a couple of observations. My weight has held in a narrow band between 219 and 224 since mid-December. I seem to have reached a setpoint. Once the weather gets a bit better and I’m able to get off the stationary bike and walk more (or at all), I suspect that will drop down a couple of pounds. In general I’m continuing the same habits that got me down this far (from about 285 in January of 2008), though I have noted that my total food intake has been up a little lately. Need to keep an eye on that.
I also have made clear and unsurprising correlation between my morning weigh-in and the lateness and size of the previous night’s evening meal. When I don’t eat dinner at all, or eat very light, I’ll come in on the low end of the setpoint range. Somewhat more interesting to me, at least, is the correlation between carb intake and my morning weigh-in. If I stay away from bread, chips, etc., that also helps me keep low.
I don’t generally eat late except for social reasons — convention and business travel are a real challenge on that regard. That’s not hard to control. Neither is portion size, really, I just need to be a little more thoughtful and not let my cravings run away with me. Those don’t feel like deprivation or discipline to me, just a matter of paying attention.
But ditching carbs is tough. Carbs hit my happy place the way some people respond to ice cream or chocolate. Garlic bread, pizza, french fries, and so forth. I think if I wanted to drop to 210 or lower, going low(er)-carb/carb-free would probably be the ticket.
That and tune down this lemonade/limeade kick, which is putting a lot of sugar into me. But man, talk about a craving — ever since the cancer I’ve been a monster for citrus fruits, salsa, and lemonade/limeade.
Tags: Cancer, health, Personal
Posted: 5:45 am Sat January 31 2009 | Comments(0) |
[links] Link salad don’t serve your country, don’t serve your king
Campaigners bemoan apostrophe policy — A decision by officials in Birmingham, England, to drop possessive apostrophes from road and street signs has drawn the ire of education campaigners. … John Richards, a retired journalist and founder of the Apostrophe Protection Society, described the policy as “absolute defeatism.” Wait up a second there, bucko. “Apostrophe Protection Society“?
Book Design Primer — We’ve all seen pages where the designer used a different face for every design element. This aesthetic is called “Junior High Yearbook.” I don’t agree with everything here, but it’s interesting reading. I especially disagree with “You can’t judge a book by its cover”, since by definition the cover is what prompts someone to pick up the book on the store shelf or convention table. People in those situations don’t buy books they haven’t picked up and looked at. (Snurched from Scrivener’s Error)
One pen to rule them all, one pen to find them… — (Thanks to .)
Underground Particles Forecast Winter Storms — The headline is misleadingly ordinary. They’re not talking about soil-based ice crystals or something, they’re talking about muons.
New science could help solve climate crisis — Geoengineering, baby. The return of Big Science. (Thanks to .)
?otD: How can we sleep when our beds are burning?
1/30/2009
Body movement: 40 minute ride on the stationary bike
This morning’s weigh-in: 220.6
Currently reading: The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade by Herman Melville
Tags: Books, Culture, Funny, Language, Links, Personal, Publishing, Science
Posted: 5:36 am Sat January 31 2009 | Comments(1) |
[writing] Progris riport, day 9, The Heart of the Beast
Two and a half hours work, no net wordcount. That’s because I spent the whole time closely reviewing more of Jeff VanderMeer‘s handwritten notes, transcribing 20+ pages into a scratch file and working on the detailed outline.
It was an interesting process. I had a couple of fascinating insights that brought the book more firmly into focus. I’m not used to working with so much detail in advance of drafting. So much of my discovery has historically been from within the actual process of writing. it’s kind of like being a real writer for a change!
No WIP tonight, since there were no new words to speak of.
Tags: Beast, Books, Process, Writing
Posted: 6:56 pm Fri January 30 2009 | Comments(0) |
[art] Heron by Moonlight
Painted by me on 1/24/09 at a parent meeting at ‘s school as part of a group exercise.
Tags: Art, Child, Personal
Posted: 4:02 pm Fri January 30 2009 | Comments(0) |
[process] On greebles and telling details
James Gurney talks about greebles on his blog. He defines greebles as “small details used to break up a large form, usually to give a sense of scale or to make an invented object more believable.”
We have greebles in fiction, too. These are superficially similar to “telling details”, but in fact serve almost an inverse function.
A telling detail is a small but very significant element that unpacks fractally into information and assumptions about a character, setting and/or plot. For example, in William Gibson’s Neuromancer the reader realizes that Molly’s mirrorshades are surgically implanted, and begins to sense the manifold implications of a technology and a culture where that’s a reasonable choice.
Greebles are the sorts of things that make a piece of fiction crunchy, textured and interesting, serving as a sort of matte painting behind the foreground action. Vide Gibson, the nearly obsessive use of consumer branding, both realworld and fictional, in Neuromancer. They lend dimensionality to a text, provide incidental verisimilitude, and can both engage and distance us depending on auctorial choice and reader experience, but they aren’t directly engaged in advancing the story.
I keep learning about writing fiction from reading art blogs, but I think Gurney Journey is my favorite.
And as always in these matters, your mileage may vary.
Tags: Process, Writing
Posted: 5:38 am Fri January 30 2009 | Comments(1) |
[links] Link salad wishes it was a fisherman, tumbling on the seas
Science fiction: the genre that dare not speak its name — The Guardian discovers our shame. It’s like I always say, millions of people who won’t touch that science fiction trash read that nice Mr. Crichton’s book about cloned dinosaurs.
SF Signal Mind Meld with Shrewd Writing Advice
Found in Translation: How a Thirteenth-Century Islamic Poet Conquered America — The best-selling poet in America today was born in Afghanistan, practiced a form of Islam that originated in Iraq, and has been dead for 800 years. (Thanks to Bill M.)
Weather sizzles on a planet that kisses its star — Exoplanetary weather, anyone?
More on the remote-controlled beetle — From a slightly more reliable source.
For GOP, a Case of Misshapen Identity — Gosh, destroy the economy, sharply degrade our international diplomatic and military power, corrupt the Constitution, run up the highest deficits in history. GOP, think you might have lost your way just a little? Oh, look! Over there! Liberals!
?otD: What is a hurtling fever train, anyway?
1/30/2009
Body movement: 40 minute ride on the stationary bike
This morning’s weigh-in: 221.6
Currently reading: The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade by Herman Melville
Tags: Culture, Links, Personal, Politics, Science, Writing
Posted: 5:10 am Fri January 30 2009 | Comments(1) |
[writing] Progris riport, day 8, The Heart of the Beast
Odd day today. Two and a half hours of effort, netting about 400 new words on the manuscript. I’ve been going though Jeff’s hand-written material in detail, first all the looseleaf sheets and now the small spiral bound notebook. Most of that is stuff I’ve transcribed as notes into a scratch file, partly to internalize it through retyping, and partly to capture some specific prose elements. Another day like this tomorrow, and maybe Saturday depending on how long the notebook takes me. Then I think I’ll be completely done except for new compostion.
Even in this, a WIP:
The lost-soul wailing rebecs echoing across the crumbing roofs of the western quarters, the lone and mournful note of a desert pipe played by some goatherd down from the hills, the gentle patter of a xylophone being pressed into music by some early-rising drover waiting to greet the first bright sliver of sun.
Benjobi woke from a dream of a desert of skulls; he woke with the taste of blood in his mouth; he woke to the unfamiliar knowledge of snow, a tactile understanding borne in the cold tips of his fingers, in the unfamiliar chill across his body
Tags: Beast, Books, Process, wip, Writing
Posted: 8:40 pm Thu January 29 2009 | Comments(0) |
[links] Link salad foxes the fox
My post yesterday on the anniversary of the Challenger disaster has drawn some sweet and reflective comments
Dicebox: “Don’t Look Back: — This Web comic made me laugh so hard I nearly peed. James Blish’s Cities in Flight by way of 1970s album cover art. And kitsch kitsch kitsch. Danger: do not read with fluids near mouth or keyboard. (Thanks to .)
List of lost figures — Vanishing British geoglyphs. Would also be a good story title.
Zontik Games — Very high end game sets. (Snurched from Interrupting Gelastic Jew.)
Jan. 28, 1938: The Passing of the Silver Comet
US University Shows Radio-controlled Live Beetle — I’m a bit suspicious of this story for several reasons, but just in case, let me make it clear that I, for one, welcome our new cyborg insect overlords. (Snurched from Gizmodo.)
Identifying the Bird, When Not Much Bird Is Left — Avian forensics in aviation disasters. Mmm, snarge. (Thanks to .)
Concussion effect ‘spans decades’ — People concussed in their youth show subtle signs of mental and physical problems even more than 30 years later, say Canadian researchers. This is of interest to me as I experienced significant concussions at age 5 and again at age 16. The second required overnight hospitalization and some ongoing followup. I’ve always had a few odd issues with short term memory. I wonder if those are related to these findings.
?otD: Don’t you know you’re going to shock the monkey?
1/29/2009
Body movement: 40 minute ride on the stationary bike
This morning’s weigh-in: 223.2
Currently reading: The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade by Herman Melville
Tags: Cool, Culture, Funny, Links, Personal, Science
Posted: 5:35 am Thu January 29 2009 | Comments(0) |
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