The End Isn’t As Nigh As I Thought

So a funny thing happened on the way to the smack down between Jessica and Anakaron . . .

I find using my lap top to write on kind of problematic at times. The problem being, it connects to the internet. So instead of just pausing to think about the next few words, I’ll start playing solitaire, or bubble shooter, or check my email, or surf around . . . you get the idea.

This is why I prefer using my Alphasmart Neo for heavy duty writing. The Neo is great in that there’s no bells or whistles or internet to distract me so I get lots of writing done. But the downside to the Neo is that it’s hard to go back and make changes.

You only see four lines of text and to scroll back up is a pain in the butt. Plus the only way to delete text (that I know of) is to use the backspace key. There’s no mouse, so you can’t highlight blocks of text to move or delete. The easiest way to make a lot of changes is to upload the file to a document on the lap top and change it there.

I worked on three separate scenes this week, and in each case they kind of wandered off into oblivion. I had to re-write their endings to get them back on track and to do this I’d upload them from the Neo to the lap top to determine where I started to go wrong. Once I figured out where I needed to rewrite, I’d go back to the Neo and start from that point and finish the scene.

So . . . while I only have 3,600 words to show on Blood Ties for the week, I probably wrote about 5,000 and deleted 1,400 of them.

And speaking of deleting . . . I did a lot of deleting when I was researching for last week’s non-fiction post. That’s one of the disadvantages of doing research on the internet. It may be quicker and easier, but there’s just so much information out there. You get pages and pages of data, and then you have to distil it down into just a few paragraphs.

It was almost easier in the old days when you had to get your research from books or magazine articles. Instead of copy/pasting vast amounts of information into a document file, and then going back and deleting all the repetitions, you jotted down pertinent facts, maybe highlighting a photocopy or two.

Yeah, I know. There’s no reason I couldn’t do it that way. And I have a pretty good reference library myself. But the internet’s right at my fingertips and it makes research so much quicker. It’s just the distilling down that’s time consuming.

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Wordage Report

Editing – 0 hours, 0 pages
Maybe this week will be better

Research – 4.5 hours

Blood Ties – 3,612 words
Not bad, but it could have been better

Blog Posts – includes the post for my regular blog, but not the prompt story.
423 (regular blog)+ 946 + 550 = 1,919 words total

Weekly Prompt – 547 words

Total Words – 6,078

New Prompt
The old photos made her conscious of her age, of how much time had passed – and of what an interesting life she’d had.

Goals From Last Week:
Blood Ties is over 100,000 words! And while I had hopes of finishing it last week, The muse just wasn’t co-operating. But I’m getting closer, and that’s the main thing. Right?

Last week’s prompt still didn’t do anything for me, but I found a different prompt that did (as you know if you saw the prompt story. And a truly weird little story it was.

No editing again, big surprise there, and just a little research. I love full moons, hence the Wednesday post about them. And I’ve got enough left over for this week too.

Goals For This Week:
1. Blood Ties, Blood Ties, Blood Ties! I feel like I’m taking one step forward and two steps back, but I swear I’m going to do my best to get this done!
2. It took me a while to find this week’s prompt, so hopefully I’ll feel inspired to write a story using it.
3. Who am I kidding with the editing? But I need to get a jump start on the research for the next non-fiction series.

And there’s what I’ll be up to this week. How about you?

The Natives of Ionesis

Prompt – use this as your first line: The cloud is my true love and my worst enemy.

Oh, I know. You think I’m crazy, don’t you? I see the way you’re looking at me. But you’re forgetting something. We’re here on Ionesis, and here just about everything is sentient.

See that rock over there? That’s the director’s wife. And that slender tree with the blue flowers? That’s the doctor’s assistant.

You can check for hallucinogens in the atmosphere all you want, but you’re not going to find anything. You think we didn’t test the air and the water ourselves? When the planet first started to communicate with us we were a little freaked out. A lot of us retreated back into the ships and wouldn’t set a foot outside again until the biochemists and biologists and the rest of the egg heads ran every test in the book and proved to us we weren’t hallucinating.

How did Cloud and I meet? I was up in the hills, collecting soil samples, and I noticed this cloud following me. Finally, I stopped to confront him and he . . . enveloped me in his essence. We’ve been together pretty much ever since.

The worst enemy thing? Well, you have to remember, even though we have no problem communicating and . . . other things, they’re not human like we are. They don’t think like us. So sometimes they can be a little inappropriate.

Examples? Well, Cloud’s a bit of an exhibitionist. He likes to make love where we might be seen. That’s not really my thing, but he’ll talk me into it by promising to turn opaque so no one can see what we’re doing. But the minute he’s done, he turns transparent again leaving me buck naked in the center of the greenspace or up on the terrace.

Or maybe he’ll decide to levitate us, which is kind of erotic, but he’ll forget that I can’t levitate without him and when he suddenly disappears I’ll end up being dropped several feet. If I’m lucky I just end up bruised, but once or twice I’ve had fractures as well.

Where is this going? Where does any relationship go? We’re already living together, and we’ve just started talking marriage. Of course Cloud doesn’t really understand the concept, but we’re working on it.

Kids? I don’t know. Our scientists are working on it, but so far it’s not genetically possible.

Yes, I know that it is the responsibility of every colonist to procreate, but there are extenuating circumstances here. No, we’re not breaking the contract by choosing unsuitable mates. The contract was already broken by the people who sent us here.

The Colonizing Act states that only worlds that are devoid of sentient life are to be colonized. It’s not our fault Ionesis has sentient life. If the Corporation had been doing its job we would have never made landfall.

You can try to have us removed, but it’s too late. Most of us have already established relationships with the native life forms. Do you really think it’ll be so easy to break the bonds that have been made?

Bring it on. We’ll be waiting for you. And so will the natives of Ionesis.

By the Light of the Moon – Part One

Seeing as tomorrow night is a full moon, I thought this might be a good time to talk about the moon a bit.

Called Luna by the Romans, and Selene or Artemis by the Greeks, it was likely created more than 4.5 billion years ago when a large object collided with the Earth. The impact would have blasted out rocks to orbit around the Earth, which were drawn together and over time melted into one another. As they cooled down, they became the moon.

A Few Interesting Facts About The Moon:

It is 384,400 kilometres from Earth.
Its diameter is 3,476 kilometres.
Its gravitational force causes the rise and fall of the tides of Earth’s oceans.
The moon is moving away from the Earth at the rate of 3.8 cm a year.
You weigh 16.5% less on the moon than you do on Earth.
A total of 382 kilograms of rock samples have been taken from the moon by the Apollo and Luna space programs.
The phases of the moon are caused by the relative positions of the moon, sun, and Earth and occur on a 29.5 day cycle. These phases are:
New Moon
Waxing Crescent Moon
First Quarter Moon
Waxing Gibbous Moon
Full Moon
Waning Gibbous Moon
Last Quarter Moon
Waning Crescent Moon
Crescent is when the moon is less than half illuminated.
Gibbous refers to phases where the moon is more than half illuminated.
Waxing is "growing" or expanding in illumination
Waning is "shrinking" or decreasing in illumination. .

The Harvest Moon is the full moon closest to the autumnal equinox (which September 21). This moon can occur either in September or October. This marks the time of year when crops such as corn, pumpkins, squash, and wild rice are ready to be gathered.

A Blue moon occurs when there are two full moons in a month. The first full moon goes by the name normally assigned to that month’s full moon, but the second one is commonly called a Blue Moon. Blue Moons occur about every 2 ½ years. This year, September’s full moon is the Corn Moon with the first full moon in October being the Harvest Moon and the second full moon being both the Blue Moon and the Hunter’s Moon.

A month is considered to have a Black Moon when there is no full moon at all. This can only occur in the month of February because the month only has 28 (or 29 on a leap year) days. By this definition it only happens once every 19 years. The last Black Moon was in 2014 and the next one is due to occur in 2033.

However, it is also accepted that a Black Moon occurs in a month that has two new moons. These occur approximately every 29 months and the last once was in July, 2019. Rarer still, if you divide the year into seasons there are three new moons to a season, but if there is fourth one, then the third one is considered a Black Moon. This occurs once every 33 months.

Come back next week when I’ll share a bit about the individual months and what their full moon is called.

The End Is Nigh!

That’s right folks, the end of Blood Ties is close at hand. It seems like the closer I get, the faster I write. I put on a burst of words of NaNo proportions this week and all that’s left is the smack down between Jessica and Anakaron, and the denouement.

Well, and the editing of course, but I’m actually looking forward to that. To start the editing process I’ll probably re-read the other two, just to get the same feel. After all, it’s been four years since the last Jessica book and I think in this one I’ve kind of got away from the essence of her personality.

The words for last week are kind of a bittersweet victory. In order to accomplish it I kind of let a couple of other things slide. I cheated on my Wednesday post and I skipped Friday altogether. I did take a look at my prompt, but I was on a roll with Blood Ties and I didn’t think taking time out for the prompt was in anyone’s best interest.

It seems like forever ago that I started this series. Magical Misfire was published in 2013 and I probably started it at least a couple of years before that. It started out as a serial on one of my blogs (now defunct), and let me tell you, if you need a way to force yourself to write, that’s the way to do it. Nothing like a weekly deadline to get the creative juices going.

Jessica’s come a long way since I first thought her up while I was in highschool, and she’s been through more perils than Pauline. I’m almost going to be sad to see her go.

The basement is coming along nicely, but that really had little to do with me, other than helping to pick out the new flooring. The old furniture has been carted away and the new flooring has been laid. All that’s left it to re-furnish it and enjoy.

I made a couple of forays out in to the big scary world last week. I actually walked down to the waterfront to meet up with an old friend where we sat in the shade and had a nice chat. The following night I was down there again, this time to meet up with my poetry group. Seeing as I had to take a chair with me, I did not walk for that one.

I’m sure we made a curious sight, sitting in a circle in the dark, flashlights going on and off as we took turns reading. All that was missing was a camp fire and s’mores.

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

Wordage Report

Editing – 0 hours, 0 pages
This might be a whole different story in the week to come

Research – 2.20 hours

Blood Ties – 7,356 words!
Woot!

Blog Posts – includes the post for my regular blog, but not the prompt story.
590 (regular blog)+ 906 + 583 = 2,079 words total

Weekly Prompt – 0 words

Total Words – 9,435

New Prompt
Use this as your first line: He looked at his phone, turned pale, then quickly left the room. She watched him, smiling.

Goals From Last Week:
Blood Ties is almost at 100,000 words! Can you believe it? That light at the end of the tunnel keeps shining brighter and brighter. Now that Jessica is actually inside the mountain, having failed in her attempt to rescue Howard, she’s going to face the big, bad dark lord. And even if she wins, will that be enough? Only the author knows for sure. Mwahahahaha

I looked at this week’s prompt, seriously I did, but it didn’t really do anything for me and I didn’t want to take the time away from Blood Ties to look for something else.

No editing this week, and no guilt over it either. Maybe I’ll have myself an editing NaNo this year. I can track changes and put all the new words I add to stuff into a separate document to use as my NaNo novel. LOL

So . . . I was actually planning on doing my Wednesday post, but when I looked at my research for the new series I was going to start I got cold feet – there was a lot of information I need to distil and I just didn’t want to take the time away from Blood Ties to do it. So then I did some research on a different topic, thinking it would be easier, but it turned out there wasn’t as much out there as I thought there’d be for it so I just plain gave up.

Goals For This Week:
1. Blood Ties, Blood Ties, Blood Ties! Jessica is about to have her big smack down with Anakaron, but that’s not necessarily the end. There’ll be some serious fall-out to deal with that I’m hoping will give the ending a bit of a twist.
2. New prompt story will depend on how it goes with Blood Ties. And I’ll probably be picking a new prompt, too.
3. Despite the fact the editing is piling up, it too will depend on my progress with Blood Ties. Maybe I should put my editing pile on the front of my desk instead of on the bookcase behind it.

And there’s what I’ll be up to this week. How about you?

A Little Levity

Seeing as I wasn’t prepared to start my new non-fiction series, I was just going skip today’s post altogether. But then I got this in my email and decided to share. We could all use a laugh these days, right?

CANADIAN JOKE #1

After the North American Beer Festival, all the brewery presidents decided to go out for a beer. The guy from Corona sits down and says, 'Hey Senor, I would like the world's best beer, a Corona .' The bartender dusts off a bottle from the shelf and gives it to him.

The guy from Budweiser says, 'I'd like the best beer in the world, give me 'The King Of Beers', a Budweiser.' The bartender gives him one.

The guy from Coors says, 'I'd like the only beer made with Rocky Mountain spring water, give me a Coors.' He gets it.

The guy from Molson Canadian sits down and says, 'Give me a Coke.' The bartender is a little taken aback, but gives him what he ordered. The other brewery presidents look over at him and ask, 'Why aren't you drinking a Molson's?'

The Molson Canadian president replies, 'Well, I figured if you guys aren't drinking beer, neither would I.'

CANADIAN JOKE #2

A Canadian is walking down the street with a case of beer under his arm. His friend Doug stops him and asks, 'Hey Bob! Whacha get the case of beer for?'

'I got it for my wife, eh.' answers Bob.

'Oh!' exclaims Doug, 'Good trade.'

CANADIAN JOKE #3

An American, a Scot and a Canadian were in a terrible car accident. They were all brought to the same emergency room, but all three of them died before they arrived.. Just as they were about to put the toe tag on the American, he stirred and opened his eyes. Astonished, the doctors and nurses present asked him what happened.

'Well,' said the American, 'I remember the crash, and then there was a beautiful light, and then the Canadian and the Scot and I were standing at the gates of heaven. St. Peter approached us and said that we were all too young to die, and said that for a donation of $50, we could return to earth. So of course I pulled out my wallet and gave him the $50, and the next thing I knew I was back here'

'That's amazing!' said the one of the doctors, 'But what happened to the other two?'

'Last I saw them,' replied the American, 'the Scot was haggling over the price and the Canadian was waiting for the government to pay his.'

CANADIAN JOKE #4

Did you hear about the war between Newfoundland and Nova Scotia ?

The Newfies were lobbing hand grenades; the Nova Scotians were pulling the pins and throwing them back.

CANADIAN JOKE #5

In Canada , we have two seasons...six months of winter and six months of poor snowmobiling.

CANADIAN JOKE #6

One day an Englishman, an American, and a Canadian walked into a pub together. They proceeded to each buy a pint of Labatt Blue. Just as they were about to enjoy their beverages, three flies landed in each of their pints.

The Englishman pushed his beer away from him in disgust. The American fished the offending fly out of his beer and continued drinking it as if nothing happened. The Canadian picked the fly out of his drink and started shaking it over the pint, yelling, 'SPIT IT OUT, SPIT IT OUT!'

This ‘N That

It’s late Saturday afternoon as I type this. I’ve been sitting here for the last half hour, staring at the half blank screen (the other half is filled with the actual wordage report) and I feel like I have nothing to say. We had a lot of grey/overcast weather this week which always drains my energy/brain power. But it was offset by the fact it’s turned cool enough for a jacket in the early morning, which I actually enjoy. Fall is my favourite time of year – the sun is still (mostly) shining, but the temperature is bearable.

Anyway, I still don’t feel like I have much to say. When I haven’t been writing I’ve mostly been reading. Nora Roberts has temporarily been replaced by Charles de Lint but you don’t want to read his books too fast or you might miss something so I’m not zipping along like I was.

Blogger pretty much forced me to start using their new version for my posts last week, but they made a couple of changes since the last time and while I’m still not enthusiastic about it, neither do I hate it like I did before. At least I can do what I need to on it.

Facebook, however . . . they keep forcing their new format on me and I keep opting for the old version for 48 hours, but to do that they want to know why I don’t want to embrace the new one so I tell them. In all caps. I know we’ll all be forced to use it eventually, but I’ll whine about it to the bitter end.

In other news . . . we’ve decided to redo the kitchen and the rec room. At the same time. So far the hubby has ripped up the carpet from the rec room and is arranging to have all the garbage/old furniture taken away. And we’ve met with a designer at Home Depot who is unable to use a shoehorn to give us more space in the kitchen, but he did have some good ideas of what/where the new cupboards will work.

It should make for some interesting times ahead, especially since the bulk of the work in the kitchen is slated for November. You know, during NaNo. God help us all.

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

Wordage Report

Editing – 0 hours, 0 pages
I accidentally exited the file without saving the changes I’d made, so I have no clue how much I did. Forgot to time myself too.

Research – 4.15 hours

Blood Ties – 2,712 words
Woot!

Blog Posts – includes the post for my regular blog, but not the prompt story.
450 (regular blog)+ 1,096 + 400 = 1,946 words total

Weekly Prompt – 514 words

Total Words – 5,172

New Prompt
Use this as your first line: He looked at his phone, turned pale, then quickly left the room. She watched him, smiling.

Goals From Last Week:
I set myself a goal last week that (starting Monday) I’d write a minimum of 500 words a day on Blood Ties. I didn’t add any words yesterday because I was busy doing other stuff, but I reached my goal the rest of the week. Which means, my friends, I’m over 2500 words closer to the end!

Once again I waited until Thursday to work on my prompt story and to be quite honest, I don’t know what I think about the story itself. It met all of the requirements from the prompt, other than being over by around 150 words, but it’s a weird little slice of life, even for me.

Man oh man I’m going to have to get my editing rear in gear if I’m going to get my book flood anthology done in time for Christmas and my two books edited by the end of the year. Especially if I’m doing NaNo this year. I hate to mess up my NaNo winning streak, but I didn’t like the changes they made to the website last year and I haven’t been back since so I don’t know what else they’ve done to it. Maybe I’ll do an editing version of NaNo on my own.

Most of the research I did last week was on stuff for the new non-fiction series I’ll be starting this week. It’s a toss-up between two different subjects, both of which I’ll be doing, I just can’t decide which one to do first. Guess you’ll have to come back Wednesday to see which one wins.

Goals For This Week:
1. Blood Ties, Blood Ties, Blood Ties! I’m on the verge of rescuing Howard – Jessica just has to implement her devious plan of action – and then there’s just the goodbyes and we’re done. I had a really good week words-wise last week (knock on wood), let’s see if I can make this one even better.
2. New prompt story. I wanted to get away from The Story Shack so I’m trying one from Writing Exercises and Prompts.
3. I think I might skip the editing this week because it’s time consuming and I want to focus on Blood Ties. Also, I just plain keep forgetting about editing.
4. Same goes for the research this week. I mean, I’ll probably have to do some anyway, but I’m not going to make it a priority.

And there’s what I’ll be up to this week. How about you?

All For Love

Prompt: Write a 300 word story in the epic genre. It's about an old man in love and should include a poster. Also use the sentence 'Thanks for nothing.' Bonus prompt: Civilization has come to an end.

“So then I tell him, I did, "Thanks for nothing." And you know what he did?” Warren didn’t wait for an answer as he picked his way carefully over the rubble, dragging the sled behind him. “He told me it was the least he could do. That’s when I slugged him with the pipe.”

He worked his way over to a likely looking pile of debris, poking at it with the steel rod that doubled as a cane. “I don’t know, Lizzie,” he said, shaking his head. “I’m thinking it might be time to start working a new section. It’s been pretty slim pickings lately.”

Using the rod as a poker, he moved some of the detritus aside. His eyes lit up. “Now that’s what I’m talking about!”

He grasped the aluminum sheet and worked it out from under the wreckage piled on top of it. It was easily three feet by three feet, and hardly dented at all. One side had a poster with the slogan, “Kindness Matters” stuck to it. Warren grinned, it would add a decorative touch to the shelter.

“Couple more like this and I can finish the shelter, Lizzie.”

He spent the rest of the day moving back and forth across the debris field and though he found several pieces worthy of collection, none was as good as his first find of the day.

“I tell you, Lizzie, this sure isn’t the way I expected to spend my retirement,” Warren said as he headed back to the shelter.

The shelter was a work in progress, the third such shelter he’d built since the end of the world. The first had been a pitiful attempt and simply fallen apart. The second had been much more solid, but hadn’t been able to withstand the hurricane force winds that had swept through what was left of the city.

“I promise you, Lizzie. This shelter will be built to last. And it’s only until you’re feeling better. Then we’ll try our luck in the farmlands, just like I promised.”

Warren unloaded the sled and swiped a hand across his forehead. “Looks like it’s going to be another hot one today, Lizzie. What do you say I scrounge us up something to eat?”

He rummaged through the old metal strong box they used for their valuables. “Look what I found,” he said, triumphantly holding up a chocolate bar. “It just happens to be your favourite too. Wanna share?”

Securing the lock again he chuckled. “I didn’t think so. Oh, the things I do for love.”

He tossed the bar to Lizzie where she lay under the half built shelter. It landed on her mummified chest where it teetered for a second before sliding off.

“Don’t eat it all at once,” he advised her, and imagined her smiling at him in return.