Something Random

Recently I received an email from Susan Kane (thecontemplativecat) bringing my attention to Melynda Fleury's new book Just Nonsense. I had not heard about it before, and Melynda's blog Crazy World was new to me--but the story is that last Friday, March 2nd, she underwent eye surgery. Elisa, Fishducky, and Joshua banded together and created this book . . .

. . . from her blog posts to raise funds for medical and other expenses. As it's for a good cause, I thought I'd spread the word. There are more details HERE.

Links to purchase:
Paperback: http://dft.ba/-JustNonsense
Kindle: http://dft.ba/-JustNonsenseKindle
Smashwords (multiple formats): http://dft.ba/-JustNonsenseSmashwords


-----The Golden Eagle

Some Things People Have Said

Here's a list:

"There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in their home."

{President and founder of Digital Equipment Kenneth Olsen, 1977.}

(Good heavens. You mean that I've been following a dying trend . . . ?)

"Nuclear-powered vacuum cleaners will probably be a reality in 10 years."

{President of vacuum company Lewyt Alexander Lewyt, 1957.}

(I want a nuclear-powered vacuum cleaner, 'cause that sounds like the ultimate dust-attacker. Apparently, they're quite overdue.)

"With over 50 foreign cars already on sale here, the Japanese auto industry isn't likely to carve out a big slice of the U.S. market."

{Business Week magazine, 1968.}

(And Toyota, Subaru, Suzuki, Mazda, Nissan, Mitsubishi are . . . what, Antarctic?)

"Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value."

{French military strategist, future World War I Commander Marshal Ferdinand Foch, 1911.}

(Too bad the rest of the world didn't think so . . .)

"[Man will never reach the moon] regardless of all future scientific advances."

{Inventor of the audion tube and father of radio Dr. Lee De Forest, 1967.}

(What about women?)

"[Television] won't be able to hold on to any market it captures after the first six months. People will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night."

{Head of 20th Century-Fox Darryl F. Zanuck, 1946.}

(Billions of people must be bored out of their minds, then.)

"This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us."

{Western Union Internal Memo, 1876.}

(Email, right?)

"The Earth is the center of the universe."

{Ptolemy, 2nd Century.}

(And the USA is the center of the Earth.

Just kidding about that. Really. It's not. It's important, but not the center.)

"Nothing of importance happened today."

{King George III of England, July 4th 1776.}


(Nothing like, you know, the colonies declaring their independence from under good ol' George's rule?)

"Everything that can be invented has been invented."

{U.S. Commissioner of Patents, Charles H. Duell, 1899.}

(Then where were all the patents for computers and whatnot? Don't tell me the U.S. Patent Office has been holding out on us since 1899 . . .)

"These Google guys, they want to be billionaires and rock stars and go to conferences and all that. Let us see if they still want to run the business in two to three years."

{CEO of Microsoft Bill Gates, 2003.}

(Rock stars? You can become a rock star by starting up an Internet search provider? I'm there.)


Got anything to add? Any stupid/funny quotes you know of?

-----The Golden Eagle

October is Still Here

Halfway through the month or so and 19 posts later, I've still managed to keep it up for NaBloWriMo!

Congrats to the others who are participating with me! I've seen consistent posts through October--let's keep it up, all! Type, type, type!

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I'm supposed to write a backstory piece of one of my characters. I haven't written a thing, and consequently the document is titled CURRENTLY UNTITLED AND PRETTY DARN UNWRITTEN.

Eloquent, right? I figured CAPS whenever I turn on the computer would get my attention . . . sadly though, my inspiration seems to have decided I'm not worth the effort. But I'll get something done--it's just that if I write down a particular character's past, then it's full of spoilers. Another person's history takes place in a military academy. Other people don't remember their history, and even if they did, it wouldn't make much of a story.

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I hate sloppy first drafts. I know, I know, I see in a lot of places "Don't worry about your first draft!" and to just write, (Zemanta is offering my an article that says "Get the damn thing done!") but if I don't edit/revise as I go, I end up stuck, with too many loose ends, impossible situations, and just general chaos--and I don't like the feeling. Kenneth Oppel (who is one of my favorite authors) actually suggests editing/revising the draft if you get writers' block, which I think is excellent advice. It's works for me, anyway.

Sort of. I've been working on my first draft for over a year now, and it still is not finished. I love writing it, don't get me wrong, but I tend to be astonished (and maybe a tad envious) when people say "I wrote this in _____ months!" because it's certainly taking me longer than that.


Do you think writing the first draft as fast as possible is the best idea, or do you like editing as you go along?

(Chopper rattling the windows right now--and pounding the eardrums. Very annoying. Might be some planes up there, too. Although, it's not all bad. There are helicopters in my story, believe me, so I guess it's just a another writing experience, eh?)

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Fall has almost definitely set in now. The heater is on, (boo--do you know how much oil that takes?) and the days are brisk. I love brisk, and windy too. There's a lot of wind these days, and it finally cleared up after half a week of rain; it's sunny, the trees are orange, and the sky is blue. Huzzah!

Another aspect to fall is the winter squash--my mom got some for free where she works and I can smell it baking right now. It smells better than it tastes, I'm afraid. I don't like squash, generally--I've never liked pumpkin, hubbard tastes blah (despite what the people at the senior center state), I'm not a fan of acorn. But zucchini can be okay.

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I'm done with the miscellany! I think . . . yes, that's it. Have a great Sunday, everyone!


-----The Golden Eagle

Flood Watch, Writer Things, and Coffee

I can believe it. It's been raining, raining, raining, pouring, dripping, sopping, and splishing all day long.

I realize that the last word isn't actually a word. Except I'm a writer--I've got creative license, right? Well. I say, very splishingishly, that writer's have the creative license to create new words.

But there is a lot of water. The street's sort of flooded and the gutters on the neighbor's house are pouring water. It's been dark, gloomy, and wet all day, but I'm content. I'm usually in a content mood when it's raining, and also because I've been successful editing-wise.

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Have any of you seen THIS POST? Or, THIS POST?

Yes? No?

Well, the second makes me laugh. Actually, the first makes me laugh because seriously, folks? If you're going to date a writer you should expect a whole different can of beans.

I don't actively lock myself up in my room or anything and write like some people do, (do you?) but I do tend to get crabby/irritable/fussy when my writing's not going right. And "writer's will remind you that money doesn't matter so much"? Ahem. A lot of writers go into the business because they're broke. I'll let you decide for yourself whether the other points are true. :D

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NaBloWriMo starts tomorrow! Hooray! I'm excited about this. It just seems like it's going to be fun, you know? Well, maybe I'm just overexcited. I already post pretty often . . . maybe it's the fact I won't be alone this time. :)

If you haven't joined yet, my armies are still waiting around for the next victim. (AKA you.)

*ahem*

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I never really liked coffee. I am repelled by the scent of coffee, especially really strong stuff; I like the smell of Barnes & Noble (one of my favorite smells) but I don't like just coffee. How do people drink it? HOW?

But apparently people do. At least according to a recent survey done by Careerbuilder and Dunkin Donuts. (I've never been to Dunkin Donuts--or Starbucks, for that matter.)

Huh. Oh, well. I plan on being a scientist; I'll just have to be a non-coffee-drinker one.

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End of September everyone! Can you believe it? Another month has disappeared. I think this month has gone rather well for me, since I got some stuff done . . .

What about you?

-----The Golden Eagle

The First Day of Fall!

Huzzah! 

(Image found online.)

I love autumn. It's cool, the trees are colorful around here, people are back to school, I love the way the air smells, I love brilliantly blue skies, and I also love the holidays that come with this time of the year. I also like this day in particular, because it means the days and the nights are exactly the same length. Isn't that an interesting thing? That the night and the day balance each other out?

Are you looking forward to fall? Hopeful about anything to come?

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I've also been tagged, so here are the questions, rules, my answers, and the list of people I'm tagging:

Your favorite thing about September:

Why September? By the time fall starts it's almost over. But I do like the sense of beginnings and endings.

What you wear in September:

Shirt, (long or short sleeved) pants, (capris or long pants, depending on the temperature) sweater/sweatshirt/sweatjacket, (light or heavy, again depending on the temp) sneakers, (preferably running or walking style) and I almost always have my hair in a ponytail. I don't like wearing by hair down.

Activity you do in September:

Write.

Your idea of how a fairy would dress:

Okay, this is probably from reading too much Fantasy/Paranormal, but I think of fairies as being tall, skinny, cruel-looking, and back-stabbing creatures that wear either tight jeans and sweaters or long gowns/medieval dress.

Your idea of how an elf would dress:

Ditto, although I usually associate them with a being a little less back-stabbing than a fairy, a little taller, and living in the trees or wearing lots of green clothes.

Your favorite tree:

Sumac!

Your favorite September color (orange, yellow, red, gold, brown, etc.):

Gold. That's one of the major things I like about autumn. I'm not obsessed with gold or anything! I just like it when leaves are that color. I don't like the metal.

Your favorite feeling in fall:

Breathing in cold air and crunching leaves. There's something satisfactory about crunching leaves.

And this tag involves adding another question, so . . .

Are you less or more cheerful in the fall as opposed to in the spring?

More, probably. :)


I tag everyone. Yes, this means YOU, but only if you want to do it.

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You know those things that aren't particularly funny but you find amusing despite it all? Well, severely bruising (possibly breaking) my second toe for 2010 did that for me. Especially since the irony of it all is the first toe I broke back in January just finished healing and I have a dance class later today. I was half-snorting half-grimacing after I banged it. :P

*****

My writing has been, for lack of a better word, flopping. I don't know why. I've tried plenty of stuff, closing my eyes, listening to music, arguing with the characters, revising my outline, but I think I'm just going to have to edit (I've got loads of editing to do) and see if anything strikes me while I'm doing it. Garrar. It's frustrating, since I've got ideas bouncing around (they're more like slogging around by now, though) in my head and I HATE writing ahead of where I left off. It throws everything out of balance for me, so I try and stick to writing everything out chronologically.

A final note: I have 87 followers! That is . . . very surprising and very gratifiying. Thank you, my lovely followers, readers, and whoever else is looking at this blog! I do appreciate it. :)

-----The Golden Eagle

Soap and Education Are Not as Sudden as a Massacre But are More Deadly in the Long Run*

I really don't like starting off posts that are more personal than book reviews and/or posts with a theme. Like, what do I start off the darned thing with--me, writing, stuff I'm doing 'round the blogosphere, or just some random fact? I usually go with the random fact option . . . but today I'm going to start off with the fact that my characters just turned a year old today!

You're probably thinking: HUH? but you see, I started writing my current story exactly a year ago. I think it was a year ago; for some reason this date reminds me of something. I know I started it in September sometime. Not all of my characters have reached a year yet; I only introduced some a few months ago when I was rewriting.

But Combat Chief Neodvisni (I didn't know his last name at the outset--I should have since that's what everyone calls him) and Esperanza, (no last name anyway), the two main characters in the story have been in my mind almost every day for the past year.

Question here: how often do YOU think about your characters? I do a lot. Like daily.

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Guess what? I signed up for Alex J. Cavanaugh's Top Ten TV Shows Blogfest set for September 20th. I don't watch any TV beyond PBS (I'm not kidding!) but I since I love a bunch that they show I decided to put my name up there. I only have tomorrow to write it though since I put it off--panic attack! I'm going to have to make up that list pretty fast. :P But I don't mind--go sign up yourself!

I'm also participating in Alex, Jennifer Daiker, and Elana Johnson's Great Blogging Experiment. I love that title. I'm really going to hit the blogging world on September 24th to see what everyone thinks is the best way to write compelling characters. Again--SIGN UP.

Watch out for my posts, too! :)

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The trees are starting to change here. They're turning orange, yellow, red, fading to brown . . . it's pretty, but it's also getting colder to point where I need a jacket. I don't like wearing jackets--anything bulky just gets on my nerves. The temperatures are dropping at night and in the day, 80s are unlikely and 60s are common, it's been in the 40s . . . but I love fall. It's my favorite season.

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I know I was going to say something else but I can't remember it now . . . hrrrmm. What was it? Eh. Never mind. I'll think of it tomorrow and probably forget it again . . . you know, it seems like whenever I start writing my posts the thoughts I had fly out the window. It's same with my story--the computer seems to dash everything I had in mind.

Ah well. I usually wing it successfully enough. Don't you think?

Here's a random fact I just noticed: I have a total of 458 tags.

458!? I don't use that many very often! I'm glad I don't have one of the lists of all the tags I have. It would take up the whole sidebar. I have such things as "Angels and Demons" "American Experience" "iPod" "Kenneth Feinberg" and all sorts of miscellany. Including "Zippidy-do-dah".

*****

Oh, hey, I just realized PBS is showing Victor Borge.

VICTOR BORGE. THAT GUY IS HILARIOUS. It's too bad he died. It's the Falling Leaves one--ever seen it? LOL.

*****

*Mark Twain quotation

-----The Golden Eagle