Roderick T. Macdonald's Blog, page 7
August 16, 2024
Alien: Romulus Instant Reaction
Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! Not a Tuesday? I just had to write and share this instantly, with little in the way of self-editing in order to provide a raw reaction. It’s not short. I still ended up thinking about things not related to the movie as I talked, but here it is …
August 13, 2024
The Dog Days of Summer Redux
Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! The dog days of summer are again ended. I wrote about that last year, and what a sweet summer child I was, thinking I would be done with rewrites in 4-6 weeks with grammar checks and proofing to follow. Well, a mere year later, those stages are done. …
August 6, 2024
Memorial for a Friend
I attended a memorial service for Loleen Ballinger this past weekend. Loleen was someone I met through pool. She was on the first league team I played in, and the last, and most of the teams in between. From the first day I knew her, I understood she had breathing issues as she was irritated …
July 30, 2024
Done, in more ways than One
Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! How many times can a book be finished? Many many times. Given that, I have finished making the final proofing corrections. So from my perspective the book is done. I will still read it again, because the last thing I did was a specific word check, and as …
July 23, 2024
The Distraction of Ideas and the Need for Careful Construction
Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! Final proofing progress now 63%. Getting there. This meant sadly that my self-directed learning has slowed considerably, but hey ho, progress on the book comes first. I did find time to flesh out some more ideas for the next book, writing down what has been percolating in my …
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July 16, 2024
Progress and Star Trek
Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! 19% of the way through updating my manuscript for the last time. Not long now, and I’m extremely ready to be finished with it. Having said that, I’m very pleased with this last pass – final improvements have been made. This is why writers can tinker forever – …
July 9, 2024
Finding Voice in a Language Neglected: the Long Road Towards Mastery of Scots
Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! I have recently experienced an epiphany. I’ve always written fantasy. Soon # 3 will be out, (my proof of a printed version is complete, and many benefits to the text have been obtained by that tactile appraisal of the text) and again, like the first two I have …
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July 2, 2024
Alien Obsession on Display
Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! The new Alien movie is coming. Alien: Romulus. I have watched the teaser trailer, which was awesome, a few times, and the full trailer once. And one dude reviewing the full trailer, because YouTube keeps you watching. I was excited after the teaser. The full trailer gives me …
June 26, 2024
The streak is broken… Long Live the Streak!
Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! Well, I let a Tuesday slip by me at last without a blog produced! It was as inevitable as rain. In Scotland. But I have to say it was a surprise to me. I mean I thought I was going to write one at least twice yesterday, and …
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June 18, 2024
Escape Velocity Achieved, New World Sighted.
Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! I did not remain in editing hell, my friends, though I am grateful I visited, because I fixed two small issues that came out on the multiple repeated passes I made as I chased some words and phrases through the text. In short controlled bursts. One would have …
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