Writing Hiatus

Much to my annoyance, I could not magically create extra hours in the day, so I'm having to take a couple of weeks off writing my latest book to study. I'll be putting fingers to keyboard again after January 13 (my exam day).

Meanwhile, blogging will continue sporadically as always.

And The New Harry Potter Title Is:

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows


Can't wait to see the cover art.

Back to work (I'm just finishing lunch)

Geek Link: The Global Carbon Project

For those of us who are concerned about the environment (and these days that's most of us who aren't in the pockets of the oil industry) here's a good link with a lot of scientific information about what carbon is, how it works, how it is necessary to life, and how the way we produce it is helping to destroy the planet.

http://www.globalcarbonproject.org/index.htm

Some good stuff here.

And now, back to the dishes (I'm goofing when I should be doing housework). Then I have this writing thing I should do. And at some point I think I'm supposed to sleep.

A Moment of Silence

For one of the voices of my youth.

Dudley Do-Right writer dies

Chris Hayward, a television writer who brought his off-beat sense of humour to the Rocky and Bullwinkle TV show and comedies such as Get Smart and Barney Miller, has died.

Hayward, 81, died of cancer Nov. 20 at his Beverly Hills, Calif., home, his wife Linda said on Sunday.

Hayward is credited with helping create the bumbling Mountie Dudley Do-Right for the Rocky and Bullwinkle show, which debuted on ABC in 1959, then moved to NBC in 1961.

Hayward was part of the animation comedy writing team that developed at the Sunset Boulevard studios of Jay Ward.

Ward's "philosophy was: 'Just write sharp stuff for yourself and the audience will get it.' It was very freeing," said Allan Burns, a Bullwinkle writer who was Hayward's partner.

The show was packed with puns and parodies of classical literature and developed an adult following for the cast of zany characters. Much of that quick wit came from Hayward.

That show used to make me laugh myself silly. Rest in peace, Chris Hayward, and good work.

(Image from http://bullwinkle.toonzone.net/characters-dudley.htm)

Good News About Booze

Brain repairs alcohol damage, scans suggest

Thank goodness. There's hope for us all yet.

Speaking of which, where did that whiskey go...

Geek Link: Good News for Diabetes Sufferers

Latest research on Diabetes. A very cool breakthrough, though not ready for humans yet.

Here's the link:

Canadian scientists reverse diabetes in mice

Meanwhile, writing is proceeding slowly. Got myself stuck but I think I'm almost ready to break out of it. Annoying, but it happens.

So I want to redesign my website...

But I haven't the foggiest idea how to go about it.

I put together the first one using an old version of Dreamweaver given to me by a friend. I was quite pleased with the results, but it is in an out-of-date format (frames, don't ya know) and there is no flash or anything really cool.

Plus, with the book coming out in 2007 (I'm getting chills thinking about it. Really. It's cool) I want to have somewhere interesting for people to land.

So it's off to search for a designer, I guess. I have a concept, sort of an Erik's office-type front page, where every graphic leads you somewhere, but the execution is beyond my current skill levels.

Anyway, that's my blogging for the week. Not much to say except working hard, writing when I can, and getting ready for Christmas (the decorations went up today. The party is tomorrow).

Oh yeah, and here's a link on writing:

http://www.sfwa.org/writing/

And did you hear:

They're digging up St. Paul

(Sort of)

Why am I not surprised?

Via the Vanity Press

What Kind of Reader Are You? Your Result: Obsessive-Compulsive Bookworm You're probably in the final stages of a Ph.D. or otherwise finding a way to make your living out of reading. You are one of the literati. Other people's grammatical mistakes make you insane.
Dedicated Reader
Literate Good Citizen
Book Snob
Non-Reader
Fad Reader
What Kind of Reader Are You? Create Your Own Quiz

Went to Beta

So I thought I'd change the look. The other was feeling a bit dark.

Will be updating the links as soon as I have some more spare time.

(or when I decide to miss another night's sleep)

Canadian Politics: The Liberal Leadership Convention

Stéphane Dion is the new leader of theFederal Liberal party.

Good choice.

I have to admit my original choice was Bob Rae, and not just for his electability. I like what he stood for, and I liked how he handled himself. It was unfortunate that he was knocked out in the third ballot, but these things happen (possibly because he went skinny dipping with Rick Mercer). I believe that, in getting Stéphane Dion, we have the better of two remaining choices.

Dion had several advantages over Michael Ignatieff, not the least of which was the ability to know when to keep his mouth shut. Michael Ignatieff's mouthing off is the reason that the whole "Quebecois as nation" thing got raised in Parliament.

Now, I'm not saying that Ignatieff isn't a smart man, or that he might not make good decisions, but the man has no political experience and that made him a major risk. You do not want someone who has never faced down a press scrum or represented your country in a meeting with other leaders (national, provincial or otherwise) taking the helm at a time when the yahoo we have running the country is doing his best to make us a respected world-wide as the USA.

(Sorry to any American readers, but right now, your country's image on the international scene is crap. Hopefully with the Democratic Party in charge of the House and Senate, things will improve)

We need someone with some experience, with a good head on his shoulders, who knows how to talk to the press and to other leaders. And as for smarts, here's a sum-up of Stéphane Dion from the CBC article I linked to at the beginning of this post:

Married with one daughter, Dion, 51, earned a BA and MA in political science from Laval University before obtaining a doctorate from the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris.

He was recruited by Jean Chrétien to run in the 1996 federal election and was elected in the Quebec riding of Saint-Laurent-Cartierville.

Dion held the post of minister for intergovernmental affairs for seven years but was dropped from cabinet in December 2003, when Paul Martin was sworn in as prime minister. The move was viewed as punishment for his close ties with Chrétien and unpopularity with several prominent Quebec Liberals.

Martin later brought him back into cabinet as environment minister after the Liberals won a minority government in the June 2004 election. In this role, Dion earned high praise for his work chairing the UN Climate Change summit in Montreal in 2005.

He looks to be a well-qualified, well rounded individual, and he has a vision of a Canada with a sustainable economy that will act as a world leader on environmental and human rights issues.

Let's hope he can do it. The Conservatives are really annoying the hell out of me (see previous post).