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The good morning, good night thread

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

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marc_chagall


Geoff_N


Rev. Austin

Hey folks! I have not forsaken you haha! It's been quite some time since I last popped in so I thought I'd drop by and say hello  :cheesy: my writing's taken a bit of a dive in the last year, as I've been concentrating on a (now defunct) radio show and (trying to) re-establish a previous musical persona. Oooo! Oh, and I'm also getting married to a Texan and moving to Australia  :grin: busybusybusy! I have, however, had a story published in the last month or so in an anthology of sea-themed horror, called surprisingly enough, THE SEA. Mine's about a family falling apart in the aftermath of a terrible storm that either woke up or was caused by some ancient aquatic creature. I'm also considering dipping my toes into the murky waters of self-publishing for the first time with something utterly ridiculous - a story about a washed-up action hero trapped in an underwater resort filled with Nazi sharks. It's called SHARKPUNCHER and is really, really stupid. In a good way, I hope!  ::)

And that's HOW for NOW! Hope you're all doing well!  :afro:
facebook.com/waynegoodchildishaunted
Stay in touch! I don't mean that in a pervy way.

Ed

Hi Rev :afro: Thanks for dropping-in. Sounds like everything is going really well for you -- I'm glad. You deserve it.

I've just returned from my hols in Tenerife. Yeesh, it was hot. Got my big fat all-inclusive belly to show for it, and that's about all. The hotel tellies only had one English speaking channel, which was Sky News, so the upshot is the whole family know more about current afairs than ever before, and I've read five novels in two weeks, which is some kind of record for me. My wife read six -- she read one of them in a single day. I said to her, "Do you realise how depressing that would be for the author to hear?" It probably took the poor sod a year to write it, edit it, etc., not to mention trying to get it published, only to have somebody polish it off in a day  :idiot:
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

We often read more in places where there's either no TV or mostly non-English channels.

We took a web-free week in a Peak District cottage this week. I read a paper book - real hardback review copy; it was like a blast from the past even though a contemporary novel. Then a sign of the times in that I not only read two novels on the Kindle and Aldiko apps on a tablet but a graphic comic horror mag series, Transmetropolitan using a Comix app. Most of that was 'forced' on me by the SFF Book Group I belong to. Not read comics on the tablet before - easy to do too.

I'm looking now for a publisher for the infant books I'm writing. Initially just for my grandkids, other writers reckon my quirky scifi-ish slant on life would appeal to non-family. The publisher would need to upgrade my rough sketchy illustrations. I've subbed a couple to Whiskey Wee Press, an imprint of Whiskey Creek Press but it will be months before I hear so I'm not waiting.

marc_chagall

Congrats on the forthcoming nuptials, Rev!  :afro:

Geoff_N

From me too, Rev. Enjoy a wicked wedding and best of luck in the Self Publishing game. Let us know links etc.

delboy

Nice to hear from everyone! Sounds like you're all pressing forward with life, which is good to hear.

I've just had a week off - my summer hols. It rained. Didn't go anywhere as I had three gigs with three different bands. Done more gigs this year than I've done in any of the previous ten. It's strange because at the beginning of the year I didn't have a band. I think by the time the year's out I'll have done gigs with seven different ensembles.

I got a bit stuck with the second draft of the sci-fi thriller last month around the 35k mark. Couldn't manage to figure out how to get from A to C as B didn't exist. Decided to bypass the issue for now, write poorly, and worry about it later!

I've also been getting into a bit of photography, which some of you may have seen on Facebook. Thoroughly enjoying the instant gratification of it compared with slaving over a novel for a year or a guitar part for months.

Cheers
Derek

"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

Geoff_N

I enjoyed my cycle ride today, taking books to friends in Malpas and around 50 miles altogether. This pales, however, to my son's cycling day. He entered his first race - a tough Welsh etape from Bangor-on-Dee doing a figure of 8 course of 86 miles that included Horseshoe Pass and The Shelf. 2000 metres accumulated height. He raised money for the Willow Foundation, a charity providing special treats and days out for young cancer sufferers - like Rob's wife last year. Luckily it looks like the treatment worked well for her. I'd dead proud of Rob. He didn't win the race but he probably had the heaviest bike and cheapest clothes and yet came before 1000 of the 2075 competitors. Made me glow.

desertwomble

Quote from: Geoff_N on September 14, 2014, 05:19:01 PM
I enjoyed my cycle ride today, taking books to friends in Malpas and around 50 miles altogether. This pales, however, to my son's cycling day. He entered his first race - a tough Welsh etape from Bangor-on-Dee doing a figure of 8 course of 86 miles that included Horseshoe Pass and The Shelf. 2000 metres accumulated height. He raised money for the Willow Foundation, a charity providing special treats and days out for young cancer sufferers - like Rob's wife last year. Luckily it looks like the treatment worked well for her. I'd dead proud of Rob. He didn't win the race but he probably had the heaviest bike and cheapest clothes and yet came before 1000 of the 2075 competitors. Made me glow.

Will you be investing in the male version of the Colombian cycling team kit, Goeff - I hear it comes with a codpiece?

https://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/blogs/blazin-saddles/women-s-cycling-team-s-kit-causes-quite-a-stir-134614755.html

DW :cheesy:
http://chaucers-uncle.weebly.com/

www.paulfreeman.weebly.com
 
Read my most recent winning Global Short Story Competition entry:
http://www.inscribemedia.co.uk/assets/october-ebook.pdf

Geoff_N

#4585
Probably not, although all of us males' padded cycling shorts consist of a codpiece ;)

I blogged about yesterdays race with photos etc http://geoffnelder.wordpress.com/2014/09/15/momentous-day-father-son/

Ed

Looking pretty dead around here, huh? :/
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]

elay2433

QuoteLooking pretty dead around here, huh?

A far cry from several years back when the Halloween comp was running about this time. I still love this place though, and will always pop in from time to time to see what's going on.  :afro:

Speaking of Halloween, I'm prepping. Anyone else?

Not sure if it's just because things are so busy, or because of the unseasonably warm weather and drought here in California, but it doesn't quite feel like autumn yet.

Gonna try and shock that good-halloween-season-feeling into my bones this weekend by dragging all the skeletons out of the closet and transforming the banal appearance of my slightly-neglected-suburban-front-yard into something that will inspire nightmares.

Just finished a new scarecrow too. It stands about twelve feet tall with a wingspan nearly as long. The silhouette behind it is created by the cornfield where it now resides. These pictures don't really do it justice, but here they are anyway.




Ed

Wow -- that looks great :afro:

Here in the UK we don't celebrate Halloween to the extent you do in the US. We keep a bowl of sweets handy by the front door for the kids, but if they're anything like I was when I was a trick or treating little kid they're probably fed up that they don't get money instead. We used to make a few quid at Halloween just in time to buy fireworks for bonfire night (Guy Fawkes night) on November the 5th. That and dragging around the scarecrow we had made in a home made go-cart with pram wheels on each corner, shouting, "Penny for the Guy!" when you really meant 50p for the Guy. Ah, those were the days :smiley:

Did you hear about the near miss a couple of weeks ago with the Scottish referendum? I was surprised at how I felt about it. I don't think anybody in the rest of Britain realised how serious it was at the time it was first broached. I get the feeling the politicians were caught napping too. There was a big panic right at the end. If Scotland had left the UK it wouldn't have been much of a United Kingdom any more, and 'Britain' would have ceased to exist. That would have been really weird. Talk about having the rug pulled out from under you :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]

elay2433

Thanks, Ed. Looks a little better in the daylight.

I'd never heard of bonfire night. Looked it up. Seems we used to celebrate it here (called Pope day though) until the American Revolution. I've got a fire-pit in the backyard and we do bonfires around this time of year. One on the autumn equinox (where I burn out some of the branches and busted fence boards that have accumulated through the year), and then again on New Years eve when it's time to burn the Christmas tree.





Are there a lot of fires lit that night, or is it mostly fireworks and what not?

I did watch the referendum a bit. It didn't pop up on the radar over here (for me at least) until a little before the voting had begun. And it disappeared nearly as quickly, probably because of the way it turned out. I imagine it'd still be big news if it had gone the other way.