Pen and Paper by Quisur at flickr http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
Lyndsey Davis on writing: First, write it down, and then, get it right.
Easy to say. Harder to do. And now I’m in summer. What about August writing? The double entendre intended, am I simply writing in the month of August or writing with a profoundly erudite bent? This blog leans to the former, though I have had my learned moments.
With the summer’s heat and vacation time drawing family activities away from the normal work routines, August creates its own challenge for a writer. Acknowledging my dear friends down under, you can fill in your summer seasonal months where needed.
As computer woes follow me--and have all of my life with a PC--I have emerged from my last series with my less than six months old computer. So they replaced a new hard drive and a new keyboard and speakers.
One would think I use the computer for a battering ram or taken a hammer to it instead of sitting in my zero gravity chair with it on my specially designed laptop table to allow cool circulation.
But the hard drive is in place. Thank God for my external back up drive, cuz the dropbox and Mozy and Norton didn't work. Yes, I used all of them because I've been through this before.
I am learning that the deeper my files, the longer the path and the hard drive won't copy a long path. My inane way of creating relational sub-files is not helpful when it comes to hard drives. So I am trying to find back ups of my files I can'thttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif locate. Yes, I backed up some to disk and some to an obscure email address. It's like hide and seek for adults.
In the meantime, I have also been participating in SavvyAuthor's bootcamp and revision hell, cranking out the word count. Did more than my NaNo last year. Wrote 14,546 words in one day--my all time high. Of course, it was down right silly, when I went back to edit those last sentences written at the end of the day. Gobbledegook I believe is the word for it. :D
I was borrowing laptops and computers where I could. Hit and miss and lacking continuity for signing in. I didn't have all my sign in passwords. I've changed that, too. Prepare for the mishaps. I should've been a boyscout.
Well, I hope this finds you well, and for those that write, may your words slide through your fingertips onto the page in brilliant style. I am sure I won't have any computer woes at least for a few days. LOL
While I'm working on a YA novel (WIP) and taking off time to enter my first Script Frenzy,
I was challenged to write a poem a day for National Poetry Month 2011.
I like poetry. Silly stuff. Good stuff. Rhymes and rhythms. Irregular and regular. So, I started (late to the party of course) but decided to blend my interests. et Voila!
At a virtual write-in for my script My fingers across the keyboard skipped. The pages mounted, literally ripped From my mind and to the page they zipped. I hadn’t meant my first draft to encrypt But at first read I should be closed-lipped. Or dare I say, the fluff needs to be chipped Away so all but the kernel is stripped. In future, I hope to be better equipped And someday good champagne will be sipped When producers, directors, and actors are gripped By the emotions, the action--the thrill of my script.
I am writing my first script, ever. I've read the books, listened to the forums of script writers and plotted my story.
Now, it's time to write. Script Frenzy is 30 days in April, to write 100 pages or more of script. That equates to 3.33 pages a day.
I'm too nervous to wait, so I've written ahead. I'm at 43 pages, only 57 to go, on day four.
So I was excited to read on the Script Frenzy Website the following info about writers who get ahead of the curve:
"The physics of this technique are not completely understood, but it's a scientifically proven fact that writers who manage to get ahead of the page-count curve by the end of the first week of any high-velocity, month-long challenge are 834% more likely to go on to win the event."
Moving on.
I read about Karen Weisner and her multiple year plan for writing, setting down the nuts and bolts in small manageable segments. It was linked from the SavvyAuthors.com site. Impressive. If I could do a fraction, I'd feel prolific.
To honor the 400th anniversary of the King James Authorized Version of the Bible, the Bath Festival will celebrate by having round the clock readers over five days.
This version was King James' reaction to the Geneva Bible and others which did not support the monarchy (some of the margin notes promoted civil disobedience to a king when the scriptures suggested a contrary action to the king’s decree) and involved originally 54, but in actual fact, only 47 completed the translation.
The mandate was to create a readable version.
Translators interpolated and sought to enhance the reading experience by varying word selections when the original texts used the same word repetitively.
There is a lyrical quality to the KJV that has stood the test of time. Hence, despite the archaic way of writing, people will quote from it more often than contemporary versions.
E.g. Psalm 23:1 “The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want,” reads more lyrically than saying, “The Lord is my shepherd and he makes certain I don’t need anything.”
It is not known for certain, but it is suspected that the lyrical quality and unity of style throughout the 66 books came from a single editor, who polished the final version.
Once again, it points to the importance of a great editor.
When I read about Amanda Holden and Chris Hughes' loss of their unborn child, it reminded me of the thousands of grieving people across the world who have lost a precious loved one. This is for each of you.
Sargent Shriver passed away Tuesday, January 18, 2011. As a political force behind the scenes, former Ambassador to France, and Founder of the Peace Corps, calling him heroic is an understatement.
Whether one supports Shriver's politics or not, it is impossible not to acknowledge the profound contribution to the world this patriarch of the Shriver-Kennedy family made.
Sergeant Shriver started the Peace Corps, which provides talented youth a chance to give something to the underprivileged around the world. In addition, among his many contributions to the less advantaged, the more well known are the Job Corps,
Head Start, VISTA and Upward Bound. He served tirelessly to improve the situations of people of color--African Americans and Native Americans, especially.
He married into the famous and political Kennedy family, contributing his clout and influence significantly to the election campaigns of the Kennedys.
His wife was the late Eunice Kennedy Shriver (sister to Jack, Bobby and Ted; mother of Maria Shriver), who started the Special Olympics.
He is also known because his daughter Maria Shriver married Arnold Schwarzenegger, the former body builder-action hero and former governor of California. The Republican governor complimented his father-in-law's great contributions in a testament to the respect carried across party lines.
Sadly, he contracted Alzheimer's in the 1990s, but his phenomenal legacy remains for posterity. He changed American life and impacted the world.
He will be missed by family, friends and the countless nameless citizens of the world whose lives he profoundly affected by his generosity of spirit and high moral character.
May Sargent Shriver rest in peace, alongside his wife of over fifty years who passed away two years earlier. May those loved ones who suffer the loss of this great American hero be comforted.
Nelson Mandela is the latest to be 'killed off' by a fast spreading rumor inaccurately told and re-tweeted by uninformed tweeters.
The truth? Nelson Mandela is alive and fit as is reported by http://bit.ly/fgH8Zb.
Stopping the viral nature of tweeting such items is a bit like spitting into the wind. It blows in your face and is difficult to combat.
It does beg the question about the caliber of retweets. Do people think before retweeting? Even if a best friend tweets something, does it automatically make it true?
Do we as bloggers and tweeters bear any responsibility for accuracy in our tweets?
The Internet has opened the door for all of us to be journalists. This is a good thing. News can be instant and fresh. Our information updated within seconds of an event offers real time knowledge to the world.
But good journalists we've admired and followed over the years such as Walter Cronkite, Edward R. Murrow, Woodward and Bernstein demonstrated the difference in reporting a balanced view.
The skewed view often relayed in the news of today's networks vying for top spot on the TV viewing polls reeks of slanted propaganda--depending which side of the political world you prefer.
So, do we as tweeters wish to follow in the inflammatory and inaccurate portrayal or do we want to hold ourselves to a higher standard?
When I tweet, I seek at least two corroborating sources of repute, not some nameless RT source.
I love to tweet as much as little as the next person, but I vow to keep integrity in my tweets.
Now, I follow people whose views I disagree with. But I want to hear the opposite perspective from the horse's mouth, as it were. It doesn't threaten me to listen to someone with different views.
It offers balance.
Tweet this if you want your tweets to have integrity and honesty. Follow me if you want balance in reporting. I listen to both sides of the issue. I'll report both.
NASA snaps a photo of the Triangulum Galaxy, which is approximately 3 million light years away from earth. It’s about as far as our ‘observable’ tools can take us. They recorded DIBs or Diffuse Interstellar Bands which have been a mystery since 1922 when Mary Lea Heger discovered the absorption features that did not fit the known patterns.
They are much “broader than the normal absorption lines seen in stellar spectra” among the ultraviolet, visible and infrared wavelengths. While the mystery continues, nearly 100 years later, new clues related to the discovery of Carbon 60 (C60) brings some hope for identifying the mystery molecules. Check out Nobel Prize laureate in Chemistry, Sir Harry Kroto, on the relationship of C60 to explaining DIBs.
If you really want to delve into the astronomical study of DIBs take an hour plus seminar with Dr. Farid Salama of NASA Ames and see how the study of these molecules can help us understand the origins of life and the universe. He suggests that there are more carrier molecules than one type (C60) and the debate goes on.
Why is this important? Because it's there. No, seriously, every time scientists discover something that doesn't 'fit' the normal patterns, we learn a little more about who we are and how God brought us into being. God created the Big Bang, but expects us to study creation so we have a clue how much greater God is than we are.
The Creator, who stumps us, time and again, with infinitesimal particles and the infinite expansion of the universe, wants us to know that we are loved and cared for. We can rest in the good hands of One, who hangs the stars in the sky--the Old Testament simplistic explanation of the Big Bang. If God manages the universe, or multiverse, as it may be, and we can't fully understand it, how much easier is it to help us in our every day life?
NASA and improved technology help science narrow the possibilities even as it expands its capabilities of observation.
As a P.S. I loved reading about Mary Lea Heger Shane, the founder of the Lick Observatory, who did her doctorate in 1924...a leader of woman going quietly about her business transforming the world through diligent work.
The Lebanese government under the leadership of Prime Minister Saad Hariri, the son of the assassinated Rafik Hariri, lost its coalition as the Hezbollah walked out. The latter fear the U. N. Tribunal will name names from the Iranian and Syrian backed Hezbollah, even though no indictments have been made.
Lebanon, with its two mountain ranges,
Cedars of Lebanon, verdant valleys and exquisite Mediterranean beaches,
is populated with a mix of Sunni, Shia and Christian (anyone non-Muslim).
It struggles to regain stability after a civil war (1975-1990) and Syrian control (1976-2005) undermined its ability to become the shining star of the Middle East it could be.
After the Syrians left, the assassination of Hariri--a Sunni, who found support from the Christians in his attempts to reduce the Syrian influence in their country--stunned the country. Accused of being behind the assassination, Syria has denied culpability, though the prevailing opinion has supported the claim of its being responsible for the leader’s mysterious suicide bombing death.
The walk-out of the Hezbollah, today, smacks of a temper tantrum and the desire to cripple the fragile peace in Lebanon.
With the U.N. tribunal having investigated the death of Hariri and nearing the time to release their findings, this preemptive strike on the part of Hezbollah is a way to unsettle the country before their community is shown to have orchestrated the killing of Lebanon’s cherished minister.
Lebanon deserves a chance to be its own power, untainted by the Syrian and Iranian influences. For centuries, the Lebanese have demonstrated political savvy and attracted businesses to invest in their country.
Since the civil war, the travel and tourist trade had been increasing, despite the political issues which are fueled by a few who would see Lebanon undermined instead of becoming a strong country with a diversity of people.
Pray for their leaders. Keep them safe from harm’s way. May God guide them to do right. Pray for the U.N. Tribunal that they might discern the truth and not give in to pressures by interest groups. Pray for the Middle East.
