Authors in the Blogosphere

In case you're wondering what other authors are out here in cyberspaceland, here's a couple of lists.

http://www.authorsblogs.com/index.php

http://www.internetwritingjournal.com/authorblogs/

Have fun.

Stuck at Home

And wouldn't you know it? Right when I need to be at work.

We're working to deadline right now, so of course my daughter is running a fever and I can't find a babysitter. Argh. Still, she's asleep now, so I'm going to see what I can get done. I'm looking through articles to add to our website (www.managemyhome.com) THere's over 1700 of them, and it needs to be done by Friday. Oy veh.


Anyway, enough grousing (for the moment).

Draft Done!

At 1:30 AM this morning, because sleep is for amatuers.

In truth I'm mighty tired, but very happy with myself. Hats off to Briana, my editor, as well, for keeping the project on track. The next step is to take this week to re-read what I've written, make sure it all makes sense and isn't terrible, then put it all together in novel form once again.

After that, the real fun starts.

We have one more draft to do (I wouldn't mind two, but one is what we have time for) before I send it in to my publisher, Dragon Moon Press. After that, it's all about cover art and proofs and trying to coax a review or two out of other authors, if any will be willing.

And that's all the time I have to gloat/moan about it this morning. Nice to get some done. Miles to go before I sleep.

And Speaking of Writing...

Coleridge's archive is going to have a new home.

Did I mention I'm on chapter 29, now? And that I should be working on it right now?

This is called procrastinating!

Back to work.

The Website My Editor Wishes I'd Found...

...before she had to work on the manuscript.

http://www.grammar-monster.com/

Not that my grammar is terrible, but a little reminder never hurts.

Actually with me, I can mostly remember what to do, but I can never remember what anything is called.

Chapter 29 awaits!

(Yes, I got through 28. Took five days, but I found what I wanted. I just hope I won't think it sucks when I read it in the next draft).

Geek Link: Archeology

Very cool discovery in Quebec:

Archeologists discover remains of Jacques Cartier settlement

Not a lot to go on, yet, but very exciting. The oldest European settlement in the Americas north of Mexico.

And for a bit more in depth information on French colonization attempts:

Unsettling disasters: colonizing New France before 1600

Back to work.

(Literally this time. I got to work early and am blogging from my desk before the day begins, which is in two minutes.)

Stuck

Like a hampster in a honeypot. Flailing about in the goo and going nowhere.

I'm on chapter 28. After this, four left, then we're done the draft. It's a small scene but an important one, dealing with the relationship between the hero characters before the final facedown with the villain. it shouldn't be this hard. It's a page at most. Maybe two.

Do you think I can rewrite it?

Argh.

No, really: Argh.

This is day 4 since I got stuck and it's really annoying me.

Anyway, enough whining. I'm going to take another kick at this particular cat and see if I can get it going again.

(And what's with the cruelty to animals theme tonight?)

Back to work.

At Loose Ends

It's heading for midnight, and I should be in bed, but I just... don't... wanna... go.

My wife and child are spending the week at a cottage, which is very nice for them, though apparently everyone has caught a cold. They're still having fun, though.

I've been working and editing all week, and have found myself in the rather strange position of being all caught up. I got tonight's work done in about an hour, and found myself still completely at loose ends. I stayed at the computer for another two hours, had dinner, and here I am again.

And why, you might ask?

Well, it's my own damn fault, really. I bought new speakers for the computer today after work, and have spent most of the evening listening to all that music I put on the computer. It's good music (well, I like it) and it's really nice to hear it properly.

And for the record, I paid for all of it. Downloading is fun but speaking as an artist, infringement of copyright sucks. I know record companies charge to much, but artists still need to get paid. So pay for your downloads!

(all my music came from my CD collection, which reminds me, have to put my Tragically Hip collection on this machine)

Anyway, I should head to bed, but I'm awake and enjoying myself and really don't want to go.

Pity the alarm is going off in six hours.

On the bright side, I've started doing a bit of work on Cold Magics (the sequel to Small Magics) again. Finishing it (it's about half done) is the next major project, and I'm looking forward to writing (instead of editing) once again.

Good night everyone. This time, I am definitely going to bed, and not...

Back to Work.

A Lament for the Green Knight

Over the weekend The Green Knight decided it was time to shut down his blog.

I didn't find out until Monday and you'll find my comment near the bottom. It's succinct and not very erudite and sums up exactly how I feel about it.

The Green Knight was an intelligent, educated blogger who had a gift for clarity and bringing to light complex issues. His analysis of world events, of the behaviours of our leaders, and the forces that drive those events and behaviours was clear, concise and always enlightening. His sense of humour was wonderful, and his taste in art amazing.

Those of us who regularly visited his blog got a taste of it all, and are thankful for it.

Thanks, Green Knight, for sharing part of yourself with all of us. We'll miss you here in the Blogosphere, and hope you're having fun in the real world.

Back to work.

Fun with Words

Because if I didn't think words were fun, I would be an accountant.


http://www.etymonline.com/index.php

Wondered where your favourite words originated? Have a look.

Back to work.

I'm Ahead!

Or at least, I was until I opened the email tonight. But suffice it to say I'm caught up, which is a nice change. My editor and I are steaming along and we'll have a draft done for the end ofthe month. Yay! One down, one to go (because I only have time for one more).

It has been a rough few weeks. Sleep has been at a premium and my wife is getting mighty tired of staring at the back of my head while I'm writing and ignoring everyone else. Then my baby brought home a cold from daycare and guess who she gave it to?

Great to have a kid who loves to share.

Still, I'm caught up, and may actually get some rest in the next couple of days. The addition of the laptop has helped greatly. Being able to go away and work for a few hours last weekend made life much easier. Got two chapters done on Sunday, and have been working steady ever since.

Two geek links:

Article 1: Charles V had Gout

And they figured it out from his severed finger. Anyone know why his finger was severed? Anyway, cool science stuff.

Article 2: Interesting Trenches in India

The possibility of it having to do with ancient astronmy, while still completely speculation at this point, is kind of a cool idea. As the geologist in the article points out, however, it's too early to draw conclusions.


I'm still not ready to blog about Israel, Palestine and Lebanon. There's a lot of bad happening down there, and not a lot of ways any good can come of it. When people start lobbing explosives, bad things happen.

The Green Knight has a good article on it. He, like me, is still not sure what to say.

Hope for peace, for everyone's sake. Healing from this will take generations.

Back to work.

Digging in the Dirt

I haven't had much to say, lately (been editing, been working, been avoiding talking about the Middle East) so I thought I'd send you to someone who has.

http://oldontario.blogspot.com/ is the blog of an archeologist friend of mine who is doing some contract work in what people in Toronto call Northern Ontario, but what is really just middlin' Ontario. Sounds like an interesting dig, and she's starting to find some stuff.

Meanwhile, back to the edit. Six more pages before I sleep.

Maybe.

Back to work.

Good Weekend/Bad Weekend

Good weekend: Now have a laptop (a loan from my mother-in-law) so I'll be able to write on the go and not have to kick my wife and child out of the house one day each weekend. My wife and I saw a fine show starring our friends, The Rude Mechanicals Friday night. My wife's mother came down for a visit on Saturday and had a fun afternoon with her grandchild. I took my daughter to visit my Dad and his wife today and she called them "Nana" and "Poppa" for the first time and we took her swimming in a pool (which she was not at all happy with at first, but began to enjoy towards the end). Also got two chapters edited and am nearly caught up and ready for our next deadline, assuming I get the time to write this week.

Bad Weekend: The kid cried the entire time we were out on Friday, and Saturday night was up from 12:30 AM until 4:30 AM. I got three and a half hours sleep. At Nana and Poppa's house, she refused to let me out of her sight, screaming every time I did something silly like go to the washroom or try to take a nap. I had to caffeinate myself to keep functioning which is why I'm still awake now. I have to get up for work in six hours and I'm still at the computer.

This week I will be very, very tired.

And here's a great archeology link I haven't had a chance to post until now:

http://www.archaeologica.org/

By the way, Nestle just bought Jenny Craig. Anyone else see the irony?

Back to work.

And then to sleep!

Nuances? What Nuances?

Michael Wilson on George Bush on Stephen Harper:

"The president looked right at me and said, 'You know, your prime minister is a very direct man ... I like that because I know what he's saying. I don't like this nuance stuff,'" [Michael] Wilson [Canada's ambassador to Washington] told CBC television on Sunday.

Okay...

So, the President of the United States of America doesn't get nuances, and Stephen Harper apparently doesn't have any.

Frightening? Yes.

Surprising? Not so much.

Back to work.

Long Weekend Round-up

Happy Canada Day (four days late) and Happy Independence day , USA (one day late)!

I was visiting my mother-in-law on the weekend (out of Toronto! Yay!), so no posting got done.
I was very pleased to only have to spend part of the weekend in front of the computer (and displeased that I didn't get what I wanted accomplished). Would rather have been swimming, but the edit must go on and Lake Ontario is bloody cold this time of year (really. I nearly froze my ankles off. I would have gone in deeper, but I was carrying the kid at the time and there's no way I'm exposing her to that).

Speaking of the edit, and of freezing, last week was a week of sticking points. First, a section in Chapter 7 got me completely flummoxed for about a day, then another section in chapter 8. In both cases it wasn't until I was walking to work the next morning that I got the answer, which meant immediately getting to my computer and firing off the idea before I forgot it.

My personal favourite, thought, came on Wednesday. The line was originally, "The watch tower was a dim shape in the distance." Briana, my editor, asked, "What sort of shape?" I thought, good point. No problem, it's a...

a...

Two hours over one word. I must have been tired or something. I ended up quitting in favor of television that night, got the answer on the way to work (again) and emailed it to myself. Sad, really.

Now, as we approach the middle of the first week of July, I've made it through chapter 9, which contains a pivotal conversation and reveal, which meant re-writing nearly the entire chapter so it made sense. All the information was there, sure, but the order was atrocious. Had me confused, and I wrote it.

Fortunately, it's much better now.

So that was my long weekend. Hope yours was good.

Back to work.

The Perfect Wave

Yesterday was the summer solstice (hope you Pagans out there had a good party!) and my boss showed me something very cool.

If you visit the offical US time website, and click on your timezone, it will give you the time where you are. More importantly, it will show you a map of the world, with which areas are currently in daylight, and which ones are in shadow. At the solstice, the shadow forms a perfect sine wave, which will turn into almost a straight line as we move towards the equinox, then a sine wave the other direction as we move to the next solstice.

Neat, huh?

Yeah, I'm a geek, but in a world full of wonders, its the geeks who go looking that see the most.

Back to work.

Oh, look

Not-for-profit health care is better than for-profit

Anyone else out there not surprised?

Good God!

Stephen Harper said something smart.

My favorite quote is:

"It is true that somewhere, in some communities we do find promoters of terror, people who use cultural, religious symbols to perpetrate violent crime. They abhor open societies, pluralist societies, democratic societies, because they advocate the exact opposite: a closed, homogeneous, dogmatic society."

Hmmm. Who does that sound like...

Say, do the Neocons know that you're badmouthing them, Stephen?

Evolution and Anthropology

No, I'm not going to join the debate about Evolution vs. Intelligent Design. I've already picked my side, and it isn't Intelligent Design. If the universe was intelligently designed, George Bush would never have become president, and Stephen Harper would never have become Prime Minister (of course, neither would Paul Martin).

While looking up something entirely different at work, I stumbled across the Anthropology home page of Palomar College in San Marcos, California, which has a couple of very interesting tutorials about anthropology, including the evolution of evolution theory.

So have a look if you like.

Back to work.

A Quick Post

Because I haven't posted in a while. Things are busy. Relatives have been coming to visit so it has been cleaning, entertaining and editing, editing, editing. My editor and I figured out the problem the computer was having with the chapters she was sending, and it has been nose at grindstone ever since.

Having an intersting time with one section. A couple of astute questions from my editor turned a few notes into a major revision of one bit which has improved the section to no end. It also has left me slightly stumped, as it changes some of the motivations for the next bit, and requires some working around to get fixed. I figured it out on my way to work this morning, and just have to remember it for when I get home tonight.

Meanwhile, dwarf dinosaurs here, because sometimes science is neat.

Back to work.