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The good morning, good night thread

Started by Ed, October 22, 2007, 03:49:05 AM

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neilmarr

I've just been reading John Grant's *Dragons of Manhattan*, a superb book that was spoiled to some extent for me because  a main character is named Deepa Kandaswami (a mutual pal in India). And because Deepa, who's a professional reviewer, is also the contributor of one of the back cover review puffs, I thought this character name even more of an error. I think that unnecessarily including the name of someone who might be known to the reader is a bad move. It destroys that carefully crafted suspension of disbelief. I think John (Geoff will be meeting him soon at the UK FanCon), who's a highly experienced author with about 60 best sellers to his name and a mantlepiece sagging under the weight of Hugos and other awards, should have resisted this temptation. There are plenty good names in the phone book. Neil

Ed

#556
Hmm - strange thing to do, isn't it? I'm always wary about choosing character names that sound familiar. The first novel I wrote featured an MC whose name was Charles Stone, which isn't so bad until you know I started off by shortening Charles to Chuck as his childhood name. Now there's a kid you wouldn't want hanging around by your greenhouse. ::) It was many thousands of words into the book and after writing many flashbacks that I realised my mistake.
Planning is an unnatural process - it is much more fun to do something.  The nicest thing about not planning is that failure comes as a complete surprise, rather than being preceded by a period of worry and depression. [Sir John Harvey-Jones]

Ed

Just received confirmation from www.ralan.com that our competition listing has gone live. That guy really is a star for all the work he puts into that site. What a pro :afro:
Planning is an unnatural process - it is much more fun to do something.  The nicest thing about not planning is that failure comes as a complete surprise, rather than being preceded by a period of worry and depression. [Sir John Harvey-Jones]

SamLeeFreak

Well, the Olympics are over and now I don't know what to do with myself! I spent two weeks wrapped up in it, especially gymnastics and diving. Now regular TV seems so...dull. I miss rooting for China. Especially the men  :azn: Oh, how I love those divers.

delboy

Yeah, I really enjoyed the Olympics, too. More than usual. The cycling and the rowing were great! But all of it was great - I felt privileged to the witness the 100m and 200m - what amazing performances. What happened was I had a fortnight off work, and through accident rather than design, this coincided with the games. The weather also conspired to be so bad that thoughts of going away for a few days were scuppered, and then - by dint of the dog - I was up at seven most mornings so was able to have a few quiet hours in front of the TV before the rest of the house (all on school hols) rose.

I also managed to do more writing in the last two week sthan in the last two months put together. I could get used to not working!

Alas, tomorrow it's back to the grind. I have a whole new set of resolutions around not working so hard (or, at least, so long) and not getting quite so stressed (the day before I left I had a meeting with my boss and it wasn't good and the resulting stress lasted well into the first week of my leave...) but I suspect that such resolutions will have been blown clean out of the water by lunchtime tomorrow.

Grrrr.

Del
"If you want to write, write it. That's the first rule. And send it in, and send it in to someone who can publish it or get it published. Don't send it to me. Don't show it to your spouse, or your significant other, or your parents, or somebody. They're not going to publish it."

Robert B. Parker

Ed

Urgh - I feel your pain, Del. I've got my accountant coming at ten tomorrow, then I've got to go and put in a tender for some work and probably negotiate for it (which I really hate doing), then I've got the dentist to look forward to in the afternoon, followed by having my ears syringed at the doctors the following day. In amongst all that I'm also expected to do some work ::)

What do you do for a living, Del? Is there any way to delegate some of your workload? It all sounds very stressful. If you're anything like me, you keep a civil tongue as the shit's unfolding and then brood about it for evermore. I envy those people who can just switch off and not think about things that are bothering them. I'm not one of them. I wonder if it's a skill a person can learn? :scratch:
Planning is an unnatural process - it is much more fun to do something.  The nicest thing about not planning is that failure comes as a complete surprise, rather than being preceded by a period of worry and depression. [Sir John Harvey-Jones]

Geoff_N

Afternoon all. I'm packing for my Isle of Man holiday next week.

Umbrella, kagool, towels are all needed according to the rain-every-day forecast. Nevertheless, I have ordered a push-bike hire to cycle the famous TT course in both directions :)

The rain will probably not be so bad as to stop the family hiking the glens and experiencing the face-lashing as we walk the coastal paths! However, gentle warm dry evening strolls are unlikely so I'll have a chance to catch up on my reading. I have acquired some of the books folks suggested for Ed on his hols - hah. And a few review copies to read.

If I am silent next week, think dry wind for me please.

Geoff

Ed

I hope you have a good hols, Geoff. Re the books - I must get on and write a few reviews. I think you would probably like Space Captain Smith, from what I've read of it so far. It's made me laugh a few times and inwardly smile most of the time. Moab isn't gripping me, and I'm finding it quite boring to read, actually - many similarities between this and The Liar, which IMO is the better book. World War Z was pretty good, but a tad samey by the end - it lacked dramatic tension because of the format, I think. It was OK, but ultimately left me wondering why I had read it all.

Of the books I've read over the past year or so, I would recommend Cell by Stephen King, and The Taking by Dean Koontz. Those are the two that have stayed in my mind as entertaining reads, anyway. :smiley:

Had my ear syringed yesterday - boy was that loud. I think the machine must have had fresh batteries in it or something, because it felt for all the world like the nurse had rammed a road drill in my ear. I was again completely deaf in it for about half an hour afterwards, until I felt a drizzle of warm water escape from my lughole, and now I can hear a pin drop at a hundred paces.

The accountant told me how much tax I have to pay for the year, which put him in my bad books straight away. He told me I shouldn't shoot the messanger, to which I replied I had always prefered the use of poison over firearms. He seemed strangely reluctant to drink any more tea afterwards. :scratch: The damn government have closed all the juicy little tax breaks we used to get as self employed people, so I can no longer claim tax relief on the purchase price of my car, and a bunch of other things I was hoping to write off :/
Planning is an unnatural process - it is much more fun to do something.  The nicest thing about not planning is that failure comes as a complete surprise, rather than being preceded by a period of worry and depression. [Sir John Harvey-Jones]

Ed

Forgot to mention yesterday - my wife's friend's mother died while we and they were on (a separate) holiday, so when she turned on her phone at the luggage carousel, the first message she heard was somebody informing her of her mother's unexpected death. She hasn't been allowed to see the body until now, though she's been back for over a week by this point. The undertakers told her because her mother was a large woman they had to order a bespoke coffin for her and it hadn't arrived yet, hence no viewing. Anyhoo. Not wanting to be on her own, she decided to accompany her husband to Birmingham and back in his lorry on the night shift. They get to Birmingham, pick up the load, at which point he stands back and says, "Hang on - what's that on the top tier? It looks like a..." he walked around the truck a dozen times before he plucked up the courage to get in and tell his wife they, on the first time she had ever accompanied him, were carrying a bespoke oversized coffin addressed to the undertakers her mother was at. What are the chances of that happening? :huh: 

Anyway, a day later and the undertakers ring to say she can view the body, and she begs my wife to accompany her. My wife knew the woman's mother well, and is the daughter's best friend, so she agreed, though it was the very last thing on earth she wanted to do. I warned her that after being dead for over two weeks she wouldn't look anything like herself, but she said she and her friend were not in the least bit prepared for what they saw - she said she looked thirty years older, and her face had almost imploded. Thing is, after two weeks you're well on your way, I suppose. I'm guessing they'll both have nightmares about it. It's sad how events conspired to make the whole thing so harrowing.
Planning is an unnatural process - it is much more fun to do something.  The nicest thing about not planning is that failure comes as a complete surprise, rather than being preceded by a period of worry and depression. [Sir John Harvey-Jones]

JonP

Quote from: Ed on August 28, 2008, 10:25:18 AMSpace Captain Smith

In case you want to read more, Book 2 ("God Emperor of Didcot") hits the shops next week. I have also been privileged to hear some of the material from the as-yet-unnamed Book 3 recently, and Toby's showing no signs at all of running out of steam.

Geoff_N

For our holiday next week in the Isle of Man, I've packed books, laptop, cycling gear, hiking boots, hiking and cycling shirts, shorts, socks and a kagool, and maps. I add a few vegan food ingredients.

"There, finished!" I said, off to make a cup of tea.

Then my wife shouted: " You idiot. You've forgotten to add any 'normal' clothes at all!"

Geoff

Ed

Thanks for the heads-up, Jon. :smiley:

On the home front: Got a few days work coming up, starting tomorrow - it's going to come hard because I haven't done a decent day's work since before I went on my hols, and that was around the 6th of August. We're into September now :grin:
Planning is an unnatural process - it is much more fun to do something.  The nicest thing about not planning is that failure comes as a complete surprise, rather than being preceded by a period of worry and depression. [Sir John Harvey-Jones]

Ed



Apples, apples, everywhere - we've got tons of them here. I was going to pick a load more tonight, but typically - a weather front has come in and it's now blowing a hooley and peeing with rain, which means most of the ripe apples will hit the deck, get bruised, and will not be fit to keep for any length of time ::)

So... that was the summer, that was... ::)
Planning is an unnatural process - it is much more fun to do something.  The nicest thing about not planning is that failure comes as a complete surprise, rather than being preceded by a period of worry and depression. [Sir John Harvey-Jones]

PaulH

No wonder they say an apple a day keeps the doctor away - he'd be too bloody frightened to come near! What is that? A Golden Deadlicious?

Ed

Quote from: PaulH on September 01, 2008, 05:34:50 PM
No wonder they say an apple a day keeps the doctor away - he'd be too bloody frightened to come near! What is that? A Golden Deadlicious?

No, I think it's a Bramley Stoker :scratch:

Guaranteed to keep the kids away from the fruit bowl. Actually, I was thinking I might make a few of these as toffee apples for the kids at halloween. I reckon they'd be a hit :afro:
Planning is an unnatural process - it is much more fun to do something.  The nicest thing about not planning is that failure comes as a complete surprise, rather than being preceded by a period of worry and depression. [Sir John Harvey-Jones]