That was the week that was
So, the last week of January went by in the same kind of blur as the previous three. I don't even really know what happened this week - but it feels like it was Monday this morning and now it's Friday.
The weather has been pretty miserable for most of the week. Yesterday, the sky went black at about 9.15am and then threw rain, hail and snow at the world for a couple of hours. Luckily, I thought I had to be in work by 9am so I was indoors. Normally, I would have been about half way between home and work at that time, on foot! By the time I went outside again - about 12pm - the sky was blue and the pavements were wet but otherwise clear. Crazy weather.
I wrote a response to the Blackships Books prompt about charisma - wrote a backstory piece for Uncle that he managed to wriggle out of. I swear, one day I'm going to pin him down. And I wrote a response to my own challenge to the folks at St Bride's to write a 700 word story entitled 'Telling'. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.
I'm speaking again at St Bride's in a couple of weeks - twice in two months! There's no stopping me, now. This time I'm speaking about my memories of being a member of St Bride's but the main point is to get the congregation sharing their memories. There's only me and Joyce who are the 'old gang' - people who were there before Guy arrived. All the rest are 'newbies' - but they're all so important. Without them, there wouldn't be a St Bride's.
I made my first attempt at writing out what I want to say and then read it aloud - and I cried at the end. So, it looks like it'll be an emotional one :D So, I've come to realise that if I'm speaking on something that is directly connected to me (my writing, my memories) I can write a half-decent 'sermon' (they aren't sermons but I'm not sure what else to call them) - if I'm speaking about someone else's ideas, it all goes to pot.
Yup - I'm the world's greatest narcissist *sigh*
Spent last night and tonight watching some of series 2 of Six Feet Under. I loved that programme so much when it was first on - 15 years ago. Can't believe it's that old! Most of it holds up pretty well but the younger sister's computer screen was huge and someone was watching a video tape. But everyone has a mobile phone and the sister was chatting on-line on the computer. I've never had a very good handle on technology - what came out when - so it's actually a pretty good yard stick. 15 years ago, mobile phones and on-line chatting were common but video tapes were too :D
Played a bit more of The Wolf Among Us. It's... interesting... I think that's what I think of it. But I really have to be in the right mood to play it. The combat is pretty brutal but there isn't much of it. The concept - fairy tale characters (Fables) living in a modern city - is a good one and the comic book art graphics are something a bit different. It reminds me a bit of Hotel Dusk - which I should probably play again, thinking about it.
Reading-wise, I've finished His Dark Materials and I'm on to Pride and Prejudice. I'm not a fan of Pullman the person but His Dark Materials has real depth. Except that 'adulthood' = sexual maturity not life experience. I hadn't noticed it before. He criticises the Church for wanting to keep people ignorant but the moment of 'salvation' is two young people snogging. Of course, they then have to make a very adult decision about their future - the future of the multiverse - but in the end, it's about sex.
Anyway, just as The Wolf Among Us is the antidote to Ni No Kuni, Pride and Prejudice is the antidote to His Dark Materials. Although, of course, there is a very real sense in which it is also about sex! It's just that Jane Austen would never have described it like that.
So, next week I make a serious start on editing The Curse of Mannerley Manor. I think I'm going to take a copy of the manuscript and maybe start by just hacking it around until things are in pretty much the right order. Then I'll add in the bits that need to be added in. Then try and smooth the whole thing.
We'll see.
OK, LJ, thanks for listening. See you next week!
The weather has been pretty miserable for most of the week. Yesterday, the sky went black at about 9.15am and then threw rain, hail and snow at the world for a couple of hours. Luckily, I thought I had to be in work by 9am so I was indoors. Normally, I would have been about half way between home and work at that time, on foot! By the time I went outside again - about 12pm - the sky was blue and the pavements were wet but otherwise clear. Crazy weather.
I wrote a response to the Blackships Books prompt about charisma - wrote a backstory piece for Uncle that he managed to wriggle out of. I swear, one day I'm going to pin him down. And I wrote a response to my own challenge to the folks at St Bride's to write a 700 word story entitled 'Telling'. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.
I'm speaking again at St Bride's in a couple of weeks - twice in two months! There's no stopping me, now. This time I'm speaking about my memories of being a member of St Bride's but the main point is to get the congregation sharing their memories. There's only me and Joyce who are the 'old gang' - people who were there before Guy arrived. All the rest are 'newbies' - but they're all so important. Without them, there wouldn't be a St Bride's.
I made my first attempt at writing out what I want to say and then read it aloud - and I cried at the end. So, it looks like it'll be an emotional one :D So, I've come to realise that if I'm speaking on something that is directly connected to me (my writing, my memories) I can write a half-decent 'sermon' (they aren't sermons but I'm not sure what else to call them) - if I'm speaking about someone else's ideas, it all goes to pot.
Yup - I'm the world's greatest narcissist *sigh*
Spent last night and tonight watching some of series 2 of Six Feet Under. I loved that programme so much when it was first on - 15 years ago. Can't believe it's that old! Most of it holds up pretty well but the younger sister's computer screen was huge and someone was watching a video tape. But everyone has a mobile phone and the sister was chatting on-line on the computer. I've never had a very good handle on technology - what came out when - so it's actually a pretty good yard stick. 15 years ago, mobile phones and on-line chatting were common but video tapes were too :D
Played a bit more of The Wolf Among Us. It's... interesting... I think that's what I think of it. But I really have to be in the right mood to play it. The combat is pretty brutal but there isn't much of it. The concept - fairy tale characters (Fables) living in a modern city - is a good one and the comic book art graphics are something a bit different. It reminds me a bit of Hotel Dusk - which I should probably play again, thinking about it.
Reading-wise, I've finished His Dark Materials and I'm on to Pride and Prejudice. I'm not a fan of Pullman the person but His Dark Materials has real depth. Except that 'adulthood' = sexual maturity not life experience. I hadn't noticed it before. He criticises the Church for wanting to keep people ignorant but the moment of 'salvation' is two young people snogging. Of course, they then have to make a very adult decision about their future - the future of the multiverse - but in the end, it's about sex.
Anyway, just as The Wolf Among Us is the antidote to Ni No Kuni, Pride and Prejudice is the antidote to His Dark Materials. Although, of course, there is a very real sense in which it is also about sex! It's just that Jane Austen would never have described it like that.
So, next week I make a serious start on editing The Curse of Mannerley Manor. I think I'm going to take a copy of the manuscript and maybe start by just hacking it around until things are in pretty much the right order. Then I'll add in the bits that need to be added in. Then try and smooth the whole thing.
We'll see.
OK, LJ, thanks for listening. See you next week!