14October2009
Posted by Greg under: Writing.
From Italian piloto, from Old Italian pedota, from Medieval Greek πηδώτης (pēdōtēs), “‘helmsman, steersman’”), from Ancient Greek πηδόν (pēdon), “‘blade of an oar, oar’”)
3. (nautical) A person who knows well the depths and currents of a harbor or coastal area, who is hired by a vessel to help navigate the harbor or coast.
14October2009
Posted by Greg under: Pix; Writing.
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of — wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there,
I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air. . . .
Up, up the long, delirious burning blue
I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or ever eagle flew —
And, while with silent, lifting mind I’ve trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.
— John Gillespie Magee, Jr
2October2009
Posted by Greg under: Writing.
It (the tone of Winnie-the-Pooh) is the predominant tone of The Lord of the Rings and Watership Down and it is the main reason why these books, like many similar ones in the past, are successful. It is the tone of many forgotten British and American bestsellers, well-remembered children’s books, like The Wind in the Willows,
-Michael Moorcock, “Epic Pooh“.
When it began to grow dark, Acuática, with an air of excitement and mystery, summoned them back into the chamber, stood each of them up alongside of his little heap, and proceeded to dress them up for the coming expedition. He was very earnest and thorough-going about it, and the affair took quite a long time. First, there was a belt to go round each of the company, and then a sword to be stuck into each belt, and then a cutlass on the other side to balance it. Then a pair of pistols, a sherrif’s truncheon, several sets of handcuffs, some bandages and sticking-plaster, and a flask and a sandwich-case. Grevling laughed good-humouredly and said, “All right, Acuática! It amuses you and it doesn’t hurt me. I’m going to do all I’ve got to do with this here stick.” But Acuática only said, “Please, Grevling. You know I shouldn’t like you to blame me afterwards and say I had forgotten anything!”
When all was quite ready, Grevling took a dark lantern in one paw, grasped his great stick with the other, and said, “Now then, follow me! The moles first, ‘cos I’m very pleased with them; Acuática next; then Kanin and Ratatos. Bufo last. And look here, Bufo! Don’t you chatter so much as usual, or you’ll be sent back, as sure as fate!”
Grevling had hardly spoken these words, when there came a great noise: a rolling Boom that seemed to come from depths far below, and to tremble in the stone at their feet. They sprang towards the door in alarm. Doom, doom it rolled again, as if huge hands were turning the very caverns into a vast drum. Then there came an echoing blast: a great horn was blown in the hall, and answering horns and harsh cries were heard further off. There was a hurrying sound on many feet.
“They are coming!” cried Ratatos.
“We cannot get out,” said Kanin.
Another harsh horn-call and shrill cries rang out. Feet were coming down the corridor. “Ooo-ray-oo-ray-oo-ray-ooray!” they heard.
“What a time they’re having!” said Grevling.
27September2009
Posted by Greg under: Writing.
Probably too many things at once.
My new solution to tracking all my various things: Shortcuts and coloured labels on my desktop. There’s a lot of files because some of these are just idea dumps.
25September2009
Posted by Greg under: Writing.
I’ve been thinking a lot about keeping track of writing projects and ideas in general. I write almost exclusively in Scrivener on my Mac and note ideas in Google Docs when out and about. I also have various notebooks and scraps of paper.
One the problems I have as a writer is that I have too many ideas. In order to get them out of my head and stop distracting me from the writing at hand I need somewhere to put them where they are easy to find and manage.
Gaiman, Jones et al. “Calliope” in Sandman no. 17.
Scrivener posits itself as not only a writing program, but a project management application. While it has many, many fine aspects as a writing tool it is quite weak on the project management side. I think it might be down to differing views on what project management actually is. Scrivener is very good at managing all the various bits of research, drafts and so forth relating to a single project but contains no interface for managing the various projects one creates with the program. Even when you click “open an existing project”, all that does is take you to the standard file opening dialog in Finder.
It might be my background in archival control and information management, but I really really want something that keeps track all the stories, scripts and novels I’m either currently writing, thinking about writing, editing or archiving after completion. I guess I’m talking metadata here. I’ve being trying to find some kind of adjunct to Scrivener to cover what I see as the missing elements, but nothing really seems to suit either in functionality or budget. I might have to buy Bento and start making a database… For now: a Google Docs spreadsheet.
Or a card catalog.
10August2009
Posted by Greg under: Music.
Run fast for your mother run fast for your father
Run for your children and your sisters and brothers
Leave all your love and your loving behind you
Can’t carry it with you if you want to survive
The dog days are over
the dog days are done
22July2009
Posted by Greg under: Thinkin'.
Any story that hangs on the clinical psychosis that is the “everything happens for a reason” mentality should be taken out behind the woodshed. It could be illustrated by Jesus Christ himself using ink distilled from Kahlil Gibran’s tears, and it would still deserve a horrible demise.
16June2009
Posted by Greg under: Music.
Look at this special edition! Look at it!
There’s only a thousand of them… from here:
