Stuart Aken's Blog, page 318

Edit; a Brief Input

Last night, of course, was dance class, which went well but left me a bit knackered.
Tonight, other things have intervened, so I've simply amalgamated three sections into a loosely formed chapter, but done no more for the moment, due to weariness.
Tomorrow is my writing group evening, where I'll read a short story for feedback. So, it won't be until Thursday that I get back to the real work, unfortunately.

The picture shows the deserted mediaeval village of Wharram Percy; a few miles from my home.

Stuart's Daily Word Spot: Ugar

Image via Wikipedia
Ugar:  noun - a pre-Phoenician Semitic language first discovered at the site of Ugarit; a god of vegetation, possibly Canaanite: adjective - pertaining to the language.
'When speaking of Ugar, the famous archaeologist wondered whether first there was Ugarit and then Ugar, or the other way round: which spawned which, was the question.'
'Bow down and worship Ugar the benevolent, or else he'll make sure your crops don't flourish; such, apparently, is the nature of these gods.'

Stuart's Daily Word Spot: Tabby

Image via Wikipedia
Tabby: noun - elderly spinster, spiteful or ill-natured female gossip; an attractive young woman or girl; concrete made of lime, shells, gravel, and stones which dries very hard; a pyralid moth of the genera Aglossa and Epizeuxis, with greyish-brown forewings clouded with a darker colour. Adjective - cat of a brownish, tawny, or grey colour, marked with darker parallel stripes or streaks; brindled.
'There; see? That's the tabby I was speaking of. What, that bad tempered old crone? No, the pretty young girl, of course.'
'Shiela dangled coloured thread from her fingers, tweaking it up and down to make her tabby cat jump and writhe as she tried to catch it.'

Edit: Some Further Work Done

A slightly more productive day. The last already completed chapter of book 2, Ch17, is now ready after several significant changes. Onto page 168 now and what remains before the fresh writing, are a set of linked sections that need to be merged into chapters. I'm writing the novel from the points of view of eight major characters, as there are three story threads intertwined through the narrative.
Also managed to select and make brief edits on 14 stories for an anthology of romantic stories I'm working on. There'll be 12 in the book, so I have a choice and can exclude a couple that possibly don't quite fit the theme of 'gentle love story'.
Valerie and I went for a new walk this morning, taking us through fields before we turned back to the edge of the town and returned home. I've added a few pics from the walk to my Facebook profile album 'My Homeland'. One of them reproduced here, for visual interest.
And now that's it for me for tonight. Tomorrow, of course, is dance class, so unlikely to edit until Tuesday.

Stuart's Daily Word Spot: Setting

Image via Wikipedia
Setting: noun -  The way or position in which something is fixed or placed; the way a machine or device is set to operate; the way a gem is mounted, the frame or bed of such a gem; the arrangement of hoops and pegs in Croquet; a person or thing's surroundings; a time or place in which a story, play, scene, is shown as happening, the scenery or staging for such; how a poem or form of words is set to music; the finishing coat of plaster on a wall; cutlery, crockery, glasses, needed to set a place for someone at table; the sinking of a celestial object on the horizon, the direction where this occurs, the fall of night or darkness; becoming hard, or stiff, solidification, coagulation.
'Prince Charming was eager to ensure that the setting for his proposal to Cinderella was as perfect as he could devise it.'
'When the blonde saw the number of diamonds clustered in the setting on the ring the rich man offered, she complied at once with his every wish.'
'Esmeralda sought the entire states for the perfect setting in which to place the final act of her play, but was defeated when the setting concrete of her foundation failed to release her unwisely placed feet.'

Edit; Only One Chapter

Not been the most productive of days, which is probably down to too much of the red stuff last night - I'm not able to shrug it off as I used to.
Still, I have completed Ch16 of book 2 and done some bits and bobs of file maintenance for the novel, getting everything in place and organised. Also, see the blog below, did some work on the Writing Contests page; quite a time consuming process, that.
But I think I'm ready now to relax for the rest of the evening.

Writing Contests

A quick note to let my regular readers know I've just updated the Writing Contests page. It now also contains information linking to poetry contests as well as the usual short stories and novels. There are currently 95 links there, so, if you're interested in writing for prizes, pay a visit to the Writing Contest tab above and see if anything there takes your fancy.

Stuart's Daily Word Spot: Radha

Image via Wikipedia
From time to time, I'm inserting in this spot the name of one of the millions of gods worshipped, feared, revered or loathed by devotees of the myriad religions around the Earth. Many people believe theirs is the only god, but I hope to show them that their god is just one of a huge pantheon and foster some tolerance.
Radha: noun – Radha is a Hindu goddess who is a favoured mistress of Krsna. In the poetry of Vidyapati she is considered a cosmic queen. In one of the many creation myths, Krsna apparently divides himself in two; one part becoming Radha. (I see this as an interesting version of the creation god invested with the very human concept that a major deity must somehow be a sexual being and therefore there must be a female counterpart for any male god. The reality, of course, is that if god does exist, it is likely to be a force or power beyond our understanding and to have no gender at all.) Radha is considered by some as the personification of emotional love and, in some sects, she symbolises the yearning of the human soul for union with Krsna.

Edit Progressing Slowly

Image via WikipediaThis morning, I managed to complete all the corrections to the printed MS, which means I finished on Ch15 at page 148 of book 2. There are now a few chapters that are ready to be edited and checked for consistency and structure. Once those are done, I'll be able to start the new writing.
I've spent a good part of today updating my data base of Writing Contest details ( see the Writing Contest tab above). I've managed to add a few new details to the page on here, but have now run out of time, so I'll add the rest tomorrow. If you're interested in writing contests as either a fiction writer or a poet, there is something there for you. Take a look.
Also spent some time setting up a new record playing system, after clearing the old one away to make the necessary space. Guess what? The new one doesn't work! It's one of those devices that's supposed to allow you to copy vinyls onto CD and, since I have a large number of LPs I can't currently listen to, i thought it would be a good idea. But, once I got the thing unpacked and located, I turned it on and none of the buttons worked. I called the helpline and now await a response so i can use the thing. Wish me luck.
For now, Good night.

Stuart's Daily Word Spot: Quack

Image via Wikipedia
Quack: noun – someone who pretends medical skill or knowledge; anyone who claims knowledge or skill they do not have; a charlatan; slang for a doctor, physician or surgeon; couch grass; the sound made by a duck; verb – to make a sound like a duck; to practice a pretended skill.
'That so-called holistic therapist is nothing but a quack, pedalling his hair-brained ideas and robbing the credulous of their hard-earned money.'
'In the idyllic silence surrounding Robert and Jennifer, making love alfresco, the sudden quack from the pond sent their heightened senses into overdrive so that they burst out laughing and shook so violently that they came simultaneously; a quack, from that day forward, always made them horny.'