Stuart Aken's Blog, page 285

But it'll be Worth it, Won't it?

Having spent the last few days on some domestic labours, I am slowly getting back into the groove of writing. There was the turning bay we had designed for the front garden; a necessity for the future when our daughter, now at university, will no doubt want her own car and somewhere to park it. That little job, requiring the laying of 31 edging stones and 3 tons of gravel, we have now completed.
Then I decided to redecorate and re-organise my study, having been encamped in here for 11 years without change. I've got the new carpet down, the painting all done and the furniture repositioned. Today, I put back the shelves that live two walls and started returning the books to these. But, it struck me that i had lost track of what books I have, so I decided to catalogue them as I was re-shelving them. It's an interesting and worthwhile task as I've discovered books I'd forgotten I had and haven't yet read, and others I have read but had forgotten. So far, I've catalogued just under 300, so a few more to go before the job is done.
Many of you will be aware that I have suffered from ME/CFS for the past 8 years or so, and may be surprised by the amount of physical work I'm doing now. Well, I've suspected that I 'd shrugged off the condition for the past few months, but, having been caught out twice previously only to discover the problem returned with a vengeance, I thought I'd give it a while before I started to test myself. Following the past three weeks, with much physical activity and a week's holiday walking in hilly country, I'm now convinced I have finally defeated the beast. It's a great feeling, as you can imagine. But I've aged 8 years and lost a good deal of strength and fitness along the way, so I need to start a programme of exercise to regain my former physical condition.
But it's truly wonderful to be free of the many symptoms I suffered over those years. I aim to make the best of the years ahead. And, as a start to that, I'm going to join the NaNoWriMo  and attempt to write a popular novel during the month of November. Watch this space for my progress. For those unfamiliar with this challenge, the idea is to write the first 50,000 words of a novel during the month of November.
So, wish me luck and join me here as I detail my progress.

Pic: Wandering way; a public footpath outside Driffield, East Yorkshire.
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Stuart's Daily Word Spot: Pathetic

Pathetic: adjective - bringing about an effect onthe emotions; moving, stirring; causing pity or sadness; full of pathos; arisingfrom or expressing strong emotion; passionate, earnest; miserably inadequate,feeble, useless (colloquially); in pathetic fallacy - the assignment of humanemotions or responses to inanimate things or animals in art and literature.
'When he was accused offraudulently claiming expenses to which he wasn't entitled, the politician madesome pathetic excuse about his lack of awareness of the rules.'
Jodie turned her back onthe man beside her. 'You're a pathetic excuse for a man, John. I don't know whyI let you take me in like that. Now, get out of my bed and don't ever comeback.'
Pathetic Fallacy:'Old Man Willow weptcopious tears, swelling the stream into which his roots spread, as hecontemplated the swan's sorry loss of his lifetime partner to the carelesslydiscarded fishing tackle left by an angler.'
Pic|: Trout stream in Driffield, East Yorkshire.

Author Interview with Sarah Baethge.

Hello Sarah, pleasetell us about you, as a writer.
I have always liked Science-fiction and Fantasy, andwrite primarily to entertain myself. I admit this does result in the creationof many things that I never finish when I see that they take too much personalknowledge I am not willing to share in order to be fully understood, but Ifigure that if I could not be a fan of my own work, there is little point inspending the amount of time required so I feel like my story is fully told.
Your latest book is 'TheSpeed of Darkness'; perhaps you'd you give us some insight into it in a fewsentences?'The Speed of Darkness' –my combination of Sci-fi andwerewolves. The first book I've ever written fully enough that I was comfortablewith pointing to a spot and saying: The End.
Excerpt-   Sam closedand locked his door. With clear disgust on his face, he addressed Nigel.  "Nice," he said sarcastically. "Nice to knowyou could have just gotten away easily when I jumped in to help you." Nigel fidgeteduncomfortably as he tried to keep himself from meeting Sam's gaze, "It doesn'twork like-""You certainly wereable to do it at will just now!" Sam yelled, stomping up to him."But Bart-", Nigelbegan, gesturing as he spoke."Your psycho friends!"Sam thundered in anger as he raised his hands above his head. "Thanks! Can'tforget those two freaks are now after me too. All because I didn't want to juststand by and watch them cut up some little fruit like you on tape!"Now I find out that'swhat you wanted." With a sickened look he folded his arms and stepped away fromNigel, who simply looked confused."What..?" Nigel calledafter Sam, as he looked helplessly at the back of the other man, "I neverwant-""Oh, come on," Sam saidderisively, turning around and grabbing Nigel's shoulder. "Why would someone,who can –FOR REAL- just zip away, stand around and wait for his buddies come at him with a knife for avideo?" Nigel finally met Sam'seyes and said, (as if it explained everything)"Bart had a flashlight."

How did you come towrite this particular book?
A couple of silly ideas knocking around in my head started to buildthemselves into a story; as I wasn't doing much else at the time, I wrote itdown until I got sick of it and filed it away for 2-3 years. When I pulled itback out and read it again, I liked it just as much as ever.
Do you have afavourite character from the book? If so, who and why this particular one?
I like Nigel Hunter, my mad scientist who startedexperimenting on himself when others refuse to let him test on animals anymore. When I was trying to decide how he would react to different situations, Ilet him do what I would like to do, but wouldn't really dare to.
Where can people buyyour books?
Both are here:http://beta.iwritereadrate.com/books/search-results/?author=baethgeand you can get 1 chapter of the other FREE.http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Sarah+Baethge&x=0&y=0
What qualities does awriter need to be successful?
Imagination and determination
What's your workingmethod?
Do nothing until after lunch, Relax on weekends;don't get trapped within your own book.Finish EVERYTHING.Don't ever delete anything; just file it away where you canget back to it when you're no longer sick of it.Yes, I realize the last two rules are currently eating up waytoo much space on my computer, but hey :P my crazy laptop has a multi-gigabytehard-drive.
What's the singlebiggest mistake made by beginner writers?
Deleting anything. There is nothing worse than suddenlyhaving the idea to fix where your story flagged out, to only find it's nolonger on your computer when you go to fix it.
To what extent aregrammar and spelling important in writing?
If you don't write correctly, others will have adifficult time trying to determine what you mean.
How much do yourevise your MS before sending it off?
I go through it as many times as it takes for me to beable to go through it without making any changes at all.
As a writer ofSci-fi, to what extent do you think genre is useful in the publishing world?
You have to know the name of the genre that your intendedaudience will look for or you might prevent your future fans from ever findingyour work.
Many authors seemarketing as a bind. What's your opinion on this, and how do you deal with it?
I'm somewhat iffy on this, I know that without somemarketing no one will ever find my work; but because I'm so attached to what Iwrite, I  would almost rather have thatno one ever see it before I am tempted to change it for the sake of boostingsales.
What sort ofdisplacement activities keep you from writing?
Reading, movies, and video games
What support, if any,do you receive from family and friends, writing group, or dedicatedprofessionals?
As I am not working any 'real' job I live with my dad andstepmother. I receive emotional support from my mother, grandfather, 2 sisters,brother, stepsister, and a good sized list of friends and family online.
Is presentation ofthe MS as important as agents and publishers suggest?
Save a couple random short stories I'm only self-published, soI wouldn't actually know.
How long does it takeyou to write a novel?
The actual writing is probably only a couple of months,but to let the ideas accumulate might take years.
Who or what inspiresyour writing?
Artwork, real life, TVBasically anything andeverything
If there's a singleaspect of writing you find frustrating, what is it?
Pace; if I stick to writing too much I start to hate it,if I take too much time off I lose the flow and cant continue what I wasworking on.
Is there a particularfeature of writing that you really enjoy?
I like having the control to make exactly what I want tohappen, it's why much of what I write becomes too silly or embarrassing to everfinish.
Do you believecreative writing is a natural gift or an acquired skill?
I think it is a common natural talent that must bepracticed to enhance to a worthwhile skill level like running or swimming.
What are you writingnow?
I have a couple of modern-fantasy ideas chasing eachother round my head, but the question has startled them into hiding to thepoint where I'm at a loss to describe what the story's even about. Won't have acharacter named Sam though. I've had far too many of those.
Do you have a websiteor blog where readers can visit?
Closest thing I have toa website is here: https://profiles.google.com/u/0/doUreallyWant2seeyou can get to my blogoff of there
Given unlimitedresources, where would you do your writing?Right at my desk where I'm sitting right now... Somewherenew would just distract me, prevent me from writing at all.
Where do you actuallywrite?
A little desk in the corner of my room on a happy little 15acre donkey ranch in central Texas. Within easy screaming distance of thecockatiel that has something to say about everything I do...

Stuart's Daily Word Spot: Verbal or oral?

Image via Wikipedia
Verbal or oral?Verbal: adjective- of someone - dealing with or using words, especially in contrast to things orrealities; using a lot of words; talkative, verbose; articulate; of orpertaining to words; consisting or composed of words; of the nature of a word; inGrammar -  derived from a verb, of thenature of a verb.
Oral: adjective - performedwith or by the mouth as the organ of eating and drinking; in Medication - takenby mouth; involving such administration; uttered or communicated in spokenwords; conducted by word of mouth; spoken, verbal; delivered or transmittedverbally; of or pertaining to the mouth, as a body part; sexual activity wherethe genitals of one partner are stimulated by the mouth of the other,cunnilingus and fellatio; in Psychoanalysis – relating to a supposed stage ofinfantile psychosexual development, where the mouth is the main focus of energyand feeling.
As you can see, Verbal  canrefer to both written and spoken communication, but oral is moreuseful for distinguishing the spoken word from the written.
'Thepress secretary produced a verbal statement from the politician, in which heattempted to explain, in as many polysyllabic words as he could devise, the stepsthat had led to his fraudulent expenses claims.'
'Standingon the steps of the cathedral, the bishop made an oral declaration of hisintent to root out child abuse by priests, which had been endemic in the parishprior to his appointment.'
'Stanleyand Joyce were so committed to oral sex that they rarely achieved orgasm anyother way and therefore found it impossible to become parents.' 

Stuart's Daily Word Spot: Oats

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Oats: noun -  the grains of hardycereal plant, Avena sativa, used as food for people in the form of porridge oroat cakes, etc., and for animals, especially horses; the plant as a crop; variouswild grasses related to or resembling the cultivated oat; sexual gratification (slang).
'Salina brought her ponyinto the stable from the cold and fed him a bag of oats as she brushed hisshaggy coat.'
'Geoffrey had always hopedto sow some wild oats with Sarah and now, as she performed her slow striptease,it looked as though he might get his way at last.'

Stuart's Daily Word Spot: Upwind or downwind?

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Upwind or downwind?Upwind: adverb - against the direction of the wind, into the wind.Downwind: adverb - in the same direction as the wind.'Gill and Sandra ran for coverinto the woods, keeping upwind of the wolf pack so they were less likely toleave a trail of their delicious scent in the air to tempt them.'
'In cities, the poorer quartersare always downwind of the prevailing winds, so they lie in the way of thesmells generated by sewage works, tanneries and other noxious fumes ofcivilisation.'

Interviewed on Another Blog

For a change, I'm the subject of an interview on another blog. Here's the link: http://indiebookblogger.blogspot.com/2011/10/interview-with-stuart-aken-author-of.html

Stuart's Daily Word Spot: Naff

Naff: adjective - lacking in taste or style, unfashionable; faulty or poorquality.
'Geordie described his stunningmodel girlfriend's garish new outfit as the most naff dress he'd ever seen.'
'The operating system onBill's new computer was so naff, he threw the whole thing out of the window indisgust and frustration.'
Pic: Trees on a drovers' track, Yorkshire Dales.

Stuart's Daily Word Spot: Downstream or upstream?

Image via Wikipedia
Downstream or upstream?Downstream: adverb - in the direction in which thewater flows in a stream or river.Upstream: adverb - contrary to the direction of flowof a river or stream, further up or along a moving body of water.
If you have troubleremembering these two, just use the analogy of stairs. Water always flows down,never up. So: as you climb up the stairs, so you go 'upstream', towardthe source of the river in the hills.
'It's much easier to swimor paddle a boat downstream, as you follow the flow toward the sea.'
'If you intend to drinkfrom a stream, it's probably best to make sure there isn't a dead sheep lyingin the current upstream.'

Stuart's Daily Word Spot: Macerate

Image via Wikipedia
Macerate: verb – make softer by soaking in aliquid; erode or separate soft parts of something, by steeping; make somethinggrow thinner or waste away, especially through fasting; to fret, vex or worry.
'Facing the pressures ofthe catwalk, the fashion model used diet and exercise to macerate her already lean figure,and, although her sponsors could see it was harming her, they did nothing toprevent it.'


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