Tag Archives: Finn

Sunday 17th June, 2012

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  June 17, 2012 - 21:24 | Site Diary
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Well, I guess you may notice a few changes around here. And I owe anyone who wandered in here in the last three or four days an apology for constantly meddling with the site design. What happened? Well, just my usual “here’s a good example of how not to do it”.

For the last two, or maybe even three, years, I’ve been using the Graphene wordpress theme [External Link]. If you follow the link, you will notice that it doesn’t really match up with the way the site used to look. That’s because I tinkered quite a lot with the underlying stylesheet and some of the functions. Because I do these things in my half-a**ed manner, I didn’t bother with a child theme. Where there have been updates, I just copied and pasted code over. Up to last week.

On Thursday evening I thought “You know what? I’ll do this properly. I’ll make a child theme and update Graphene to the latest version and it will all be perfect.”

My current answer to that involves swearing. There was something about the way the parent Graphine stuff was put together and / or the way I put together my child theme alterations that meant the changes that can be made in the WordPress GUI (the casual customisations) overrode almost all of my child theme. On Saturday, I gave up fighting the set-up and called it a day. I probably should have asked the developer for help (he’s probably a lovely person and it was probably a simple fix) but I decided I’d had enough. I’m now eleven years away from my computer science degree and I have no interest in working to keep up my skills.

So, after much playing around and trying on new themes for size, I’ve landed on the current one. This is the free Platform theme from PageLines [External Link] and all the modifications in layout and colour have been achieved with the WordPress GUI (yay!). Which means I won’t have to tinker with CSS and php. It’s far from perfect and I’m missing a few things extra to what you can see:

  • I’d like a Google+ link button up there with my Facebook and Twitter links.
  • I’d like links to work in the front page / archive pages.
  • I’d like in post images to show in excerpts.
  • I’d like a slider again so I can promote the online fiction, just in case you guys are actually paying attention to the fact that I, you know, write.
  • I’d like to be able to do different types of post.

But, I have my two columns, my excerpts on the front page and archive pages (you have no idea how few themes do that, comparatively speaking), the chance to use promotional boxes (see the bottom of the page) and it’s free. Also, I could do all of the stylistic modification without messing around with child themes and in other people’s coding and formatting. If I were to do that, I’d probably find a way to get everything I wanted. I could even get some plug-ins to patch a few of these things up. But, frankly, I can’t be bothered. After all, I just spent about fifteen hours over four days sorting out this much.

So, what else is there to tell you? There have been a few tweaks to the contents. I’ve added a “The Pack” page for the dogs with Finn’s page now being a child of that. Rosie’s (child) page will appear this week. The Gens was getting back up and running, right up until I got distracted by the website. We find out tomorrow evening if I can pick it back up again where I left off. I didn’t get any more weeding done but I did get that door waxed.

I’ve been good and took my dad out for a Father’s Day lunch – along with my sister (who’s birthday is soon, so “Happy Birthday!” and my niece – and then out to see Snow White and the Huntsman. My short review: it was never quite as good a movie as it could have been, the controversies / logic flaws (dwarves stand in for dwarves played by taller actors, women must be pure or damaged, lack of religion) were fairly obvious, and there’s a strong Princess Mononoke [IMDB: External Link] influence. Oh, and it has Chris Hemsworth in it, who is quickly becoming a new crush.

Sunday 27th May, 2012

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  May 27, 2012 - 20:45 | Site Diary
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Well, you may have noticed the Strong Women: Perverted By Choice post go up on Wednesday. (And if not, why not?) As I’ve seen The Avengers (Avengers Assemble, here) recently, I rely heavily on it for examples so avoid the post if you don’t want to know what happens. Not that I deliberately set out to spoil things but, you know, examples of character strength here.

It’s another one of those weeks with not much to show for it. I’ve done a bit on The Gens, which suggests that big idea is back up and running and otherwise been waiting to hear back from attempts at short story rehoming.

On the good side, there should be a few non-site-diary updates over the next month. I’ve got some notes for another language-orientated post and, in a fortnight, Rosie comes home. So, expect to see a shuffle around with Finn’s page and a new page for Rosie soon! (To avoid jinxing their meeting, I won’t be putting it up until at least a week after Rosie’s come home.)

Sunday 29th April, 2012

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  April 29, 2012 - 14:47 | Site Diary
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Introducing Rosie

Another week of not much done. Except for watching the rain – sometimes outdoors (work) and sometimes from behind windows wishing it were good enough to go for a proper dog walk. Walking in the rain and getting both Finn and I all clarted up (i.e. muddy) isn’t really an option. I did, however, make another weekend visit to my sister’s. I love my sister dearly but we all know the main motivation. Your clue is to the left. Rosie, whom my niece is determined to turn into a Pink Princess and whom Finn is likely to convert into another Hellhound, is now six weeks old and a champion napper. She can sleep anywhere and in any position.

Other than cuteness, not much to report. I’m working on a beta reading of a friend of a friend’s work and concentrating on it’s kind of interfered with my own writing. Or, perhaps more honestly, I don’t really feel like working on my own stuff at the moment. When I’ve got the reading out the way, I’ll warm up on a blog post on language (hopefully sometime this week or next) and then get back into some fiction ideas. I think the Gens idea has run away and decided not to come back but I have other projects I wanted to get back to and a few newer, smaller ideas I should probably work on if I expect to submit them to the anthologies whose submission requests prodded them into life.

Monday 6th February, 2012

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  February 6, 2012 - 17:04 | Site Diary
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Late again. I got a bit caught up with Wales’ victory on Sunday [BBC Sport article: External Link]. I was a bundle of nerves before hand and not much use to man nor beast afterwards. It was one of the most entertaining, nail-biting games I’ve seen (I type, as if I remember further back than five minutes ago) and was definitely the best of the weekend, despite two sin-binnings.

Further six nations round up: France beat Italy (but Italy look like they have the form to bloody some noses this season) and England beat Scotland (and it’s unlikely the Scots will ever hear the end of it).

In other news, we had a little bit of snow on Saturday afternoon and evening:

Finn in the snow

Extra points if you can also spot the ball

About 5 centimetres (2 inches in old money) with deeper drifts in places. Finn spent our Sunday walk checking out how well his camouflage works or rolling in it. To my disgust, I didn’t manage to get any photos of him with all four paws in the air and looking like a numpty. He was too quick at getting back on his feet when he saw the mobile phone come out. Has he finally worked out that photos are usually intended as blackmail material?

Sunday 25th September, 2011

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  September 25, 2011 - 10:33 | Site Diary
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Trying not to write equals a website rebuild.

Guess what? I found myself a distraction from writing. I’ve mentioned a few times that I’m not a hundred percent happy with the way the current site handles comments so I thought I’d have a look, while I have time, at a few other options. And, as these things do, looking turned into playing turned into “Hey! Next week, I have a new site to put online!” The change over will happen next Sunday. I’m currently making sure it has all the basic information and I’ll gradually be working my way through all the archived entries – from all previous incarnations of the site – and putting as much as is usable into the new site.

I guess that shows my tendency to single-minded obsession over new ideas nicely as I really haven’t done much else. Walk the dog, go to work, work on some Welsh with SaySomethingInWelsh [External Link]. Sometimes I’ve done a few combinations thereof. Sorry, boss, but while I was doing that data work? Also listening to Welsh lessons. Finn doesn’t need apologies, he already knows I’m insane as I have a history of talking to thin air while walking him (he doesn’t understand phones). It has also kept me from charging into redrafting 25 Ways to Kill A Werewolf. Or picking up something else that would turn into a real, long-term distraction.

Sunday 18th September, 2011

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  September 18, 2011 - 20:46 | Site Diary
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Trying not to write.

I’ve said before, and I’ll say it again, that if I don’t write I tend to go a bit screwy. Basically, I need to be working on something mentally absorbing. This can be problematic when I’m going through something else that dominates my mental space, often work related, attempting to organise something to do with my existing interests, or a new interest as I tend to be obsessive about them for the first fortnight. It can also conflict with itself.

In order for that paragraph to make some sense, you may need to look up my friend, Dylan Fox’s, latest post on the writing process as it happens to him [External Link]. I realised two things while reading it:

  1. Sometimes Foxie and I think so alike that I wonder if we were separated at birth. (He’s also just a few days younger than me and interested in almost all the same things. I’m not sure how we’re going to get around the two sets of parents, though.)
  2. I’m getting to the stage of my writing career / way of life that editing something works just as well for my mental health as the initial writing / drafting. However, the need to off-load stories from my brainspace comes before the need to polish them off, if only because it’s something my brain keeps trying to do.

So, yeah, my redrafting of 25 Ways to Kill A Werewolf is being kept in a holding pattern while another friend finishes of some notes for me. I find the basics I already have from him challenging as it’s pushing me and my characters in directions I hadn’t written (not where I wanted to go in the initial drafts). The characters themselves appear to be torn between “none of your damned business what happened off-page / between events” and “we tried to tell you but you didn’t listen”. As they are flawed beings, like their creator, I’m going to say the latter stand is down to 20:20 hindsight. They didn’t care that much when I was writing their stories down, either, they just think it’d be a cool thing to do now. In other words, he’s offered me mentally absorbing problems and, after a few days of turning it over in my head, I’m just about ready to charge off in search of solutions. Except I can’t, because I’m still waiting for the in-depth notes. And my brain, desperate to get into something, has started looking for other challenges.

Unfortunately, I can’t occupy myself with dog walking, at least not this weekend, as Finn has injured himself (not seriously) and is under house-arrest until I’m sure the cut has started to heal and he won’t just keep re-opening it and making it dirty. On the good side, I’ve managed to focus on other things just enough to have a serious clean out in (part of) the house. If I keep this up, it might even be considered habitable by other people in a month of so. A Granted Wish (last mentioned on 22nd May, 2011) has been trying to muscle in while I’m killing time. I think I have the story arc better mapped out, now, but I’m not sure how many words it’s going to take up and don’t want to get distracted from 25 Ways for too long. I’m currently trying to step sideways from A Granted Wish by looking at some ideas I’ve had written down that are from the same world as 25 Ways but I keep trying to pull in the characters from the book when they’re not supposed to be there!

Oh, well. Guess I’ll have to wait and see what the week brings (aside from Finn’s birthday).

Sunday 21st August, 2011

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  August 21, 2011 - 20:38 | Site Diary
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Time for a change of pace. Changes to genealogy, swords and writing.

So. Genealogy. Been a while. Which is kind of the point of this week’s diary. It’s highly unlikely I’m going to get back into my family history any time soon, so I’m taking down the family pages next week. This is just advance warning to anyone who may come this way and an excuse to extend my thank-yous to the genealogy community. And, guys, you have been great. You have been endlessly helpful, endlessly communicative with someone who has struggled to keep up with you, endlessly patient with my mistakes.

While I know that the people we research do not go anywhere, and don’t resent being abandoned, I figured the best thing to do was to take down the section because the way the data is put together does change. For those who have never done any family history research, it’s hard to explain the thrill of putting together what is effectively a four dimensional jigsaw puzzle – that probably doesn’t have a “right” way of being put together based on the amount of information available. There’s definitely no picture on the box. Even the first hand data you think you know, like your own parents and siblings, can be sadly mistaken in the wrong circumstances (just watch a Jeremy Kyle show for about 5 seconds). Basically, as I’m not reviewing the information I display on this site or doing further research, it’s being left behind, an outdated snapshot. I’ve been told I have been spreading misinformation a couple of times over the decade or so, and warned to watch out for it, but I’m not putting in the time. Which means what is held on this site could effectively be a lie and I wouldn’t know it.

So, again, thank you to everyone who has helped me in the questing years, provided me with transcriptions, advice, leads, maps. I apologise for those times when my own help hasn’t been of the same calibre and “bless you” to those for whom it has. If anyone would like copies of my data, please GET IN TOUCH and we’ll work it out from there.

In the swords section, I’ve started putting up events. Some of these I’ll be attending, some I can’t go to for whatever reason. I’m simply putting them up here so that you can see what’s going on and get them a bit more publicity. Speaking of publicity, don’t forget to visit the shared SSS website [External Link]. If you’re interested in historical fencing and near either, please drop us a line. Correct contact details for the SSS Sheffield club are avaiable through the official website.

And my main time sink (outside of work and Finn): writing. I have four sections to go until the end of Arthur on the Wall, or Part I of The Three Guineveres, assuming no extra bits and pieces needed by characters. I know I need to go back and rewrite at least a couple of them, though. That said, I expect to be finishing off draft one by the end of the month. Then I need to farm it out to check it’s worth carrying on with the other two parts. (Any victims willing volunteers?) Then it’s back to 25 Ways to Kill a Werewolf and redrafting.

Sunday 7th August, 2011

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  August 7, 2011 - 20:36 | Site Diary
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Same old same old.

Let’s start with the reminder about the new shared SSS website [External Link]. The information for the Durham and Sheffield chapters are up and running. If you’re interested in historical fencing and near either, please drop us a line.

Yes, these means I haven’t really done much this week. Just the usual work, write and walk the dog. The main writing project is still Part I of The Three Guineveres – with no interruptions from short stories, this week! Battle ten has gone and the action is working its wa up to battle eleven. The Shhh! project didn’t pass through to the next stage of the competition and I’m not sure what to do with it from now. But that goes with all of the “secret” projects because they’re all in areas totally outside of my usual speculative fiction area. If it can be called “usual” when I’m barely published!

Right, off to go read through The Bull of Essylt. See you next week.

Sunday 3rd July, 2011

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  July 3, 2011 - 20:24 | Site Diary
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A new story posted, a few other writing tweaks, and being on niece-sitting detail.

Grey and Purple Pendant

Grey and Purple Pendant by Sam Jackson

The heating is still being sorted out, so Monday is to be another “Bring your dog to work day”. Finn seems to be getting a bit bored of office work, though, and refuses to lie down quietly. No change there, then.

My big sister went off to see Neil Diamond in concert this weekend, leaving me nominally in charge of my niece. I am not sure this is the organisational structure in reality, what with there being a household of one irresponsible adult, one five-year-old child and two dogs. Jen is at least kind enough to not comment on my lack of ability with the guitar when I practice. Alternatively, she’s learnt how to tune the sound out. Sam returns later today in time for us all to go to Dad’s / Granpa’s (depends on which member of the household we’re giving his relationship to) for dinner. Incidentally, Sam also has an Etsy shop [Sam's Hut: External Link] that sells dangly earrings. She will also be at the Howden Infants’ School fair / fete thing a week next Saturday (in other words, Saturday 16th July) selling some lovely items like the pendant to the right of the screen that aren’t listed on etsy.

On to the writing updates!

  • The story now up on site is On Angels’ Wings. It was mentioned a while back. I wrote it in response to a piece by Dylan Fox, which is unfortunately still sitting on his hard-drive. I hope he does something with it as it’s a good story.
  • You may also notice an extra person on the Writing Friends page. Noel Gayle is a friend of mine through Twitter [Tadbo's account: External Link]. He’s kind enough to be one of my beta readers for 25 Ways To Kill A Werewolf.

In terms of wordage and current projects, I’ve got about halfway through the seventh battle in The Three Guineveres. I’m also considering changing the framing device – not that it’ll make much difference to anyone but me and my sounding board. It means rewriting the first couple of sections and should otherwise run through as written at the moment but it will make the second and third parts fit more smoothly. I have to sort out and send in the Shhh! project this week. It’s a snail-mail thing and I want to make sure it meets the competition deadline. oh, and I need to read through and redraft the “sort of noir science fiction thing” I keep mentioning.

Monday 27th June, 2011

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  June 27, 2011 - 20:15 | Site Diary
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Alt.Fiction [External Link] has been and gone for another year and I’m having my central heating fixed during a mini heatwave.

Although the forecast indicates the heatwave will be ending tomorrow, while the central heating work will continue over the rest of the week. I have explained carefully to Finn that this will be “Bring your dog to work” week, not “Let your dog eat the plumber” week.

The heatwave sprung up on the second day (Sunday) of Alt.Fiction. It wasn’t particularly cold on the first day, but it wasn’t the almost thirty degrees centigrade it hit by the end of the Sunday. Although I’m sure that Adele of Un:Bound [External Link], who was stuck in the podcasting suite for almost the entire weekend (she was let out for good behaviour at lunch time – for about half an hour – and at the end of the day), will say otherwise. That was one hot and stuffy room usually crowded with an audience. Made up of those people smart enough to realise the podcasts were allowed audiences. I was not one of those until Sunday.

Pretending to play the guitar and genealogy obviously haven’t progressed since the last update (although I now have a stack of TABERNERs to check over and possibly add to the online data. It would be nice to say I have something to show for my writing work. However, the work has mostly been of the mental exercise variety (got to love workshops that get you thinking about your WIP, whether intended to be applied so directly or not). I did manage to rattle off the first draft of the “sort of noir science fiction thing” I mentioned last week and that is now with my alpha reader, Dylan Fox. The shhh! project is awaiting feedback and I have, oddly enough, received some more – and very comprehensive – feedback on 25 Ways to Kill A Werewolf. The good news is it looks like the latter might even get to second draft stage! So, back to The Three Guineveres and the seventh battle!