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Sunday 29th September, 2013

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I’m at the end of my week off. There are a number of parts of my brain that are currently begging me not to make me go back. Unfortunately, I think I’m going to be able to ignore the voices in my head…

In writing news, I’ve effectively finished the first draft of A Pack Of Lies. I finished the last chapter on Friday and next weekend I shall be stitching them together and making sure I’ve mentioned the things I thought I needed to and that there’s something vaguely resembling a flow. I have a handful of victimsbeta readers picked out so, after next Sunday, it’s all up to how fast they can read.

On a related note (it involves werewolves), my Twitter friend Margrét Helgadóttir [External Link] asked me to do a guest blog – which can be found here: [External Link]. It’s very flattering to have been asked to do a guest blog by a writer whose short stories I admire. And Margrét is also a fellow member of the Fox Spirit Books [External Link] Skulk. One of her stories is in the Piracy Fox Pocket. If you follow the “Stories” link on her website, you can find some more reading material.

And now for the Hellhound related stuff that you guys probably don’t want to hear but I feel the need to say.

It was Finn’s birthday on Monday and long walks were had. There’s blurry photo of the same now in Finn’s gallery. On Wednesday, he went in to the Vets’ to have a lump removed. The lump had been there for a couple of weeks and the appointment was booked the week previous when it hadn’t responded to anti-inflammatories. The lump itself didn’t really bother him but, if nothing else, the only way to find out what it was for sure was removal. Anyway, he’s had stitches and was bandaged up until yesterday – and then he got the traditional “Cone of Shame” to keep him from licking the airing stitches.

Finn sitting on the stairs wearing a cone

Finn Thomas and The Cone Of Shame

After being a bit freaked out by having plastic apparently conspiring to stop him go through doors and up steps, I let Finn move on to the slightly more reasonable “Sock Of Mild Embarrassment” (item name changed due to Ruth Booth / @RuthMidget [External Link]).

And that’s pretty much the end of what is definite and now we’re on to the “awaiting biopsy results” bit. From the way the lump was situated, it couldn’t all be removed. The words used by my friendly vet on Wednesday were “tendrils” (indicating the lump / growth) and “tendons” (indicating why the hell no-one in their right mind would dig deeply). From the look and growth, it’s likely that Finn has rhabdomyosarcomas – or soft tissue cancer. This is due to muscle cells becoming cancerous and doesn’t respond to things like chemotherapy well. On the plus side, it’s highly unlikely that this cancer will ever spread in such a way that it’ll affect Finn’s life span. The lump will probably grow back – it’s a question of how quickly and whether it bothers him. If it does bother him, we will have the dubious pleasure of finding out whether three legs are as bouncy as four.

(But I’m still a wibbling wreck on the inside because “my baby has cancer”.)

Sunday 22nd September, 2013

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So, as promised, an attempt at heroic fantasy: Broken Bear. Those of you who keep track of these things may realise that Broken Bear was once accepted by Ricasso Press for an anthology. However, Ricasso Press fell through at some point and I’ve had difficulty finding a suitable home for Broken Bear since. I hope you enjoy it anyway and please let me know what you think!

Assuming things go according to plan with the A Pack Of Lies writing, I may be finishing the first draft this week or next week. I have about 12,000 words to go and this week is booked off work. There’s a chance I will get distracted, though, so I can’t promise anything.

Part of the distraction being, of course, that it’s Finn‘s birthday tomorrow. He will be seven years old and, as my similarly aged niece now has school and plenty of friends to distract her, he’s now too old for dress-up birthday parties. (He’s doing a victory lap as I type. Really.) So we shall be going for a drive and a long walk somewhere a little bit different – but not too far away because I need to get back to the writing at some point tomorrow! There may also be blueberry muffins with candles, as is traditional. Either way, I shall attempt to get an all action photo for his page.

Sunday 17th June, 2012

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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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.