S.L. Viehl's Blog, page 2
May 13, 2018
Wishing You
Happy Mother's Day from Paperback Writer.
May 1, 2018
Checking In
Just a note to let everyone know I'm fine. Now that it's over I can tell you that my laser surgery on both eyes also went very well, and restored the vision I had lost again in my left eye. After I got my sight back I joked to my guy that I wasn't entirely in the clear. I never have anything great happen without something bad coming right after it. Sure enough, a week after my surgery I was robbed. All they took was the $26.00 in cash I had in my wallet, and they didn't hurt me, so I consider myself very lucky. It could have been a lot worse. Thank you, Universe.
I'm going to take a little more time away from the internet to process everything, do some sewing and get back to my regular work schedule. Thanks to everyone who has been e-mailing; I really appreciate you checking up on me. I will be working on replies this week.
See you when I'm fully recovered.
April 4, 2018
On Hiatus
The bird and I are going to take some time off and unplug to deal with that personal stuff, catch up on work and otherwise get things sorted. No worries now, I'll be fine. See you in a few weeks.
April 2, 2018
Work Time Ten
Ten Things to Help You Time Your Work Sessions
This aquarium timer from Onlineclock.net provides a nice fish tank backdrop. The alarm when the coundown ends is like a digital alarm clock.
For a guided, one-minute exercise workout, try e.gg.timer.com's morning warm-up timer (always check with your doctor first if you have a condition that could be aggravated by exercise.)
Want to use Google Search as an online timer? Here's how.
OnlineMeditationTimer.com provides a timed sessions with a nice background chime for your contemplation.
You can set the Online Stopwatch to countdown any time interval you'd like. It ends with a ringing bell sound like an old alarm clock. The site also offers a bunch of different timers.
Onlinetimers.com has a variety of pre-programmed times you can use in addition to customizing your own; the alarm sounds like a low-volume digital alarm clock.
Pomodoro is what I personally use during my writing sessions to remind me to stop, get up, stretch, etc. It silently runs for 25 minutes, then sounds a alarm (I use the Brrrrrrring option) to remind you to take a five minute break. After four such intervals gives you a 15 minute break.
Want a little fun with your timer? This robot-race timer is cute.
For the multitaskers, Timer-tab.com offers countdown, alarm clock and stopwatch timers
Set the Vclock timer to countdown your session and pick your own alarm sound (I liked the wind chimes.)
This aquarium timer from Onlineclock.net provides a nice fish tank backdrop. The alarm when the coundown ends is like a digital alarm clock.
For a guided, one-minute exercise workout, try e.gg.timer.com's morning warm-up timer (always check with your doctor first if you have a condition that could be aggravated by exercise.)
Want to use Google Search as an online timer? Here's how.
OnlineMeditationTimer.com provides a timed sessions with a nice background chime for your contemplation.
You can set the Online Stopwatch to countdown any time interval you'd like. It ends with a ringing bell sound like an old alarm clock. The site also offers a bunch of different timers.
Onlinetimers.com has a variety of pre-programmed times you can use in addition to customizing your own; the alarm sounds like a low-volume digital alarm clock.
Pomodoro is what I personally use during my writing sessions to remind me to stop, get up, stretch, etc. It silently runs for 25 minutes, then sounds a alarm (I use the Brrrrrrring option) to remind you to take a five minute break. After four such intervals gives you a 15 minute break.
Want a little fun with your timer? This robot-race timer is cute.
For the multitaskers, Timer-tab.com offers countdown, alarm clock and stopwatch timers
Set the Vclock timer to countdown your session and pick your own alarm sound (I liked the wind chimes.)
April 1, 2018
March 30, 2018
Stranger Than Fiction
Inspiration for stories come from innumerable sources, but I find most of mine in the real world. I especially love the unsolved mysteries of history, as they can be a wonderful focus for the imagination. Unsolved puzzles and indecipherable relics are my favorites, because there are no answers, only questions. I've talked about my fascination with and theories about The Voynich manuscript and how to use other mysterious finds as story starters; today let's look at another one:
People have been bickering over the origins of the Dighton Rock for centuries. Discovered in the Taunton River in Massachusetts, this big rock has enduring intrigue written all over it. Cotton Mather talked about the mystery it presented back in 1690; others have attributed it to the ancient Spaniards, Phoenicians, and Vikings. It may even date back to 1502 or so. Since it's a forty-ton boulder covered with enigmatic and potentially untranslatable petroglyphs, that debate will likely continue.
Chiseling images in stone is not an easy task. Someone spent considerable time creating the glyphs on this rock. Before you ponder what it means, consider why the artist would go to all that trouble. Does the Dighton Rock offer an ominous warning, such as "Everyone who follows the river beyond this point dies badly" or could it be graffiti along the lines of "For a good time, visit the village around the next bend."
I see a horse, a fish, three people and four X's in the rock's image. It also looks a bit like a map to me. I could easily write a story about seven wandering medieval soldiers in a strange land, four of whom died in a skirmish with the locals. Since the survivors are left with only one horse, the dead are buried by the river along with a fabulous paranormal treasure they were transporting. The other three miss their ship's sailing and are marooned in this new land where their treasure is now worthless. They make friends with the locals and join their tribe (or lose another skirmish), and the treasure is forgotten.
Now fast-forward to modern times: the last descendant of the survivors decides to investigate and comes to examine the glyphs, and discovers the four dead guys didn't stay dead? Competes with another survivor to find the treasure? Finds the treasure and is transformed by it? Lots of possibilities.
What story could this rock help you tell?
People have been bickering over the origins of the Dighton Rock for centuries. Discovered in the Taunton River in Massachusetts, this big rock has enduring intrigue written all over it. Cotton Mather talked about the mystery it presented back in 1690; others have attributed it to the ancient Spaniards, Phoenicians, and Vikings. It may even date back to 1502 or so. Since it's a forty-ton boulder covered with enigmatic and potentially untranslatable petroglyphs, that debate will likely continue.
Chiseling images in stone is not an easy task. Someone spent considerable time creating the glyphs on this rock. Before you ponder what it means, consider why the artist would go to all that trouble. Does the Dighton Rock offer an ominous warning, such as "Everyone who follows the river beyond this point dies badly" or could it be graffiti along the lines of "For a good time, visit the village around the next bend."
I see a horse, a fish, three people and four X's in the rock's image. It also looks a bit like a map to me. I could easily write a story about seven wandering medieval soldiers in a strange land, four of whom died in a skirmish with the locals. Since the survivors are left with only one horse, the dead are buried by the river along with a fabulous paranormal treasure they were transporting. The other three miss their ship's sailing and are marooned in this new land where their treasure is now worthless. They make friends with the locals and join their tribe (or lose another skirmish), and the treasure is forgotten.
Now fast-forward to modern times: the last descendant of the survivors decides to investigate and comes to examine the glyphs, and discovers the four dead guys didn't stay dead? Competes with another survivor to find the treasure? Finds the treasure and is transformed by it? Lots of possibilities.
What story could this rock help you tell?
March 28, 2018
March 26, 2018
More Freebies
I found these free pics and over 700K more at Freepik.com, which allows you to download any of them without strings. All you're asked to do is provide a photo credit line, which they provide already coded for your web site or blog. There is a daily limit (five images, I think) if you use the site as a guest, but if you register for a free user account you can get at more.
Image Credits:
Roses: Designed by Freepik
Clock: City image created by Www.slon.pics - Freepik.com
Mask: Designed by Freepik
March 23, 2018
Couple of Freebies
Freeware caution: always scan free downloads of anything for bugs and other threats before dumping the programs into your hard drive.
The Hemingway Editor is an app to help improve the quality and clarity of your writing; it not only counts your words and grades their readibility, but highlights problem words or phrases that are difficult to read, are written in passive voice, contain adverbs, etc.
Still in development but very interesting, Manuskript writing freeware offers an outliner to help you organize your story ideas and elements, a mode where you can write without distractions, and a novel assistant that uses the Snowflake method of outlining and plotting to tackle story development.
The Hemingway Editor is an app to help improve the quality and clarity of your writing; it not only counts your words and grades their readibility, but highlights problem words or phrases that are difficult to read, are written in passive voice, contain adverbs, etc.
Still in development but very interesting, Manuskript writing freeware offers an outliner to help you organize your story ideas and elements, a mode where you can write without distractions, and a novel assistant that uses the Snowflake method of outlining and plotting to tackle story development.
March 21, 2018
Pic Testing
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