Stuart Aken's Blog, page 322

Edit, Edit and More Edit.

Last night's TV marathon kept me up until the early hours, and, after all that sitting, we felt the need for a bit of movement and fresh air, so took a short walk. Home and in bed just before 03.30, so up rather late this morning.
Nevertheless, I've corrected another 5 chaps of book 1 and edited another 2 of book 2. All still going well, I'm both pleased and surprised to report.
More blog posts done and scheduled. Emails answered, social networks commented on and Valerie helped with her bowls stuff on the laptop.
Now it's time for some R & R. Kate is out for the night at a friend's, nearer the coast, so she can take some sunrise pictures tomorrow - let's hope the sky is friendly to her.

Stuart's Daily Word Spot: Dacoit

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Dacoit: noun – Hindi = ḍakait, from ḍākā gang-robbery; a member of an Indian or Myanmar gang of armed robbers: verb -  to rob as a dacoit.
'Did you know Ajeet was a dacoit, when you sent him into the bank with his friends to withdraw some cash for you?'
'I did, but I never expected he'd dacoit the bank and pull a gun on the poor teller.'
Sometimes, I like to throw in an unusual word; just to keep you on your toes.

Edit Going Well

Image by Red Nose Day 2009 via FlickrAn interesting and, in some ways, productive day. Chapter 4 of the new book 2 is now done, with some small additions to reflect its new position in the scheme of things. Book 1 is now up to chapter 16 with the alterations and corrections to the text.

The buddleia is trimmed back, the hedge bordering the south western side of the garden is tamed. And both will now give better displays when spring comes into its own. Two of the four borders are now free of their weeds and a couple of plants that were in unsuitable spots have been transplanted to better locations.

Tonight, in the UK, is Red Nose Day, a celebration of comedy on the TV, run to raise money for charitable organisations here and in Africa. Its a biennial event, alternating with Comic Relief, which does the same sort of thing exclusively for children's charities. For me, these are two nights when I must participate and watch. There is  mix of pathos and comedy and a great deal of money is generally raised for good causes, so I shall sign off now and spend the evening in front of the box with my family.

Stuart's Daily Word Spot: Cabbage

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Cabbage: noun -  head made by the leaves of the plant, Brassica oleracea, served as a green vegetable, a plant of this species; my cabbage  - trans from French mon chou - my dear, my darling; a person of little intelligence; someone without interests or ambition; a person reduced by illness to an inactive state, a 'vegetable'.
'Come on, Jemima, eat up your cabbage; it'll put hairs on your chest.'
'Come into my arms, my little cabbage, and let me transport you to heaven with my embrace.'
'That Ronald's a right cabbage; solid bone between his ears.'
'I'm sorry, Mrs Jones, but the accident has caused such severe brain injuries that, should your husband live, he'll be no more than a cabbage.'

Editing Update, Late!

Image by stuartaken via FlickrEvents  (unspecified, and therefore subject to your personal speculation) prevented me from making this update last night, so, penitently, I fill the gap this morning.
I managed another two full chapters of what is now book 2, so chapter 4 awaits me there. Still going well, and in need of only minor tweaks to accommodate the fact that these were originally chapters 55 and 56 of the first book.
Also managed to do the tying corrections of more chapters of the first book, so I'm now ready to correct chapter 11 of that.
Today, weather permitting, I must venture into the garden armed with the secateurs to remove last year's growth from the buddleia (for the non-gardeners, this is known as the 'butterfly bush'), so that it will sprout more growth this year and attract more of those colourful insects.
Those of you who follow this blog will be aware that I often use pictures to illustrate these posts. They come, mostly, from an add-on called Zemanta. I was puzzled why this always seems to suggest pictures of Harley Davidson motorbikes when I do the edit topic. Then, somewhat belatedly, the penny dropped: 'chapters', of course, is a reference to the old Hell's Angels. Mystery solved.
This time, however, a picture from my own collection, showing part of the back garden (which, I think you Americans will call a 'yard'?).

Ronnie Dauber, Author Interview.

SA: Tell us a little bit about yourself.
RD:  I'm a freelance writer and author and I live in Ontario, Canada with my family. I've been writing short stories and poetry all my life, winning my first poetry award when I was 12 years old for a regional contest about President Kennedy. I remained actively writing while raising my seven children, and when my youngest was old enough, I returned to full time college to earn my diploma in Business Admin and Common Law. I became a certified Court Reporter and enjoyed my legal career until I sustained injuries in a car accident and was forced to retire early. When I was able, I returned to college and earned three diplomas in writing literature for children and adults. Since then, I've enjoyed the time I've spent writing stories and I have many creations just waiting to get down on paper.
SA:  Tell us about your current book, Web Secrets, in a few sentences.
RD:  Web Secrets is an adult suspense/thriller, set in present day New York City. It's about a young bride, Madison Richards, who investigates a personal issue and ends up tangled in a web of lies and deceit. As her family and friends begin to disappear, she has no one left to turn to except a friend in cyber space, and that's when she discovers that she is the target of a psychopath killer.
SA:  How did you come to write this particular book?
RD: I have watched many movies and read a lot of books over the years, and as well I have a creative imagination. So putting them together often results in potential stories like this one that bounce around in my mind. Once I had the main conflict figured out, the rest came easy.
SA: Who is your favourite character in your novel?
RD:  My favourite character is my protagonist, Madison. She is an innocent young woman who had to grow up in a hurry and overcome some of her inner fears, and she did it under stressful circumstances. Yet, these circumstances didn't change her beautiful sweet character.
SA: How can people buy your books?
RD: Web Secrets, along with my other novel, is available at Barnes & Noble and at Amazon as a hardcopy, as well as in the Kindle Book Store as an e-book. It's also available at Lebrary.com and at Smashwords in several digital formats.
SA: What qualities do you believe make a successful writer?
RD: I think writers all possess different qualities in their own way but in general, I think that a creative mind blended with realistic facts and trained writing skills make a successful writer. Being creative allows the story to expand and become full and interesting, and having realistic facts makes it believable – unless you're writing in the future or another genre like fantasy. Trained writing skills are useful so that the story can be polished and flow easily.
SA:   What do you believe are the most common mistakes that new writers make?
           RD:  I've read many first chapters of books from beginner writers and the repeated mistake that I see is they are writing their creation in their own words, but they have little knowledge of proper wording, format, dialogue or grammar, and they aren't writing with an easy flow. They have a desire to write - and that's good – but like any other profession, writers need to learn how to develop the skills into what is a good and acceptable manuscript that bears the quality and acceptance that professional publishers are looking for. This is what gives their book the quality to stand out from the others,  and yet it's the one detail that many writers are bypassing.
SA: To what extent are grammar and spelling important to a writer?
      RD: Grammar and spelling to a writer are crucial in producing a quality novel because it's one of the keys that denote a professional and quality written manuscript. But having said that, it's interesting to note that even books written by famous authors might have the odd typo. The difference between that author and an aspiring author is that their name often is what sells their book and followers will buy it anyway, whereas the new author is still at the stage where they're proving that they can write, and typos can work against their credibility.
SA: How much revision of your MS do you do before you send it off?
     RD: I spend more time revising than I do writing the original manuscript. I revise as I go along and since I know that most things should be introduced to the reader in the first few chapters, when I think of something different later on in the story that I know will work well, I go back and make a mention of it somewhere. This keeps the story flowing and prevents it from having unknown objects pulled out of a hat, so to speak, which makes the story less believable.

SA: Do you have support, either from family and friends or a writing group?
           RD:  I'm fortunate to have a very supportive husband who really believes that I have talent and who encourages me to write. My family is also supportive and they look forward to each new book debut. I'm a member of LinkedIn and I've joined several groups where I'm able to keep up-to-date with the writing profession and stay in the now with the business.
SA: Is presentation of the MS important to agents and publishers?
      RD: Yes, presentation of the MS is everything because it's the "first impression" that reveals the writer's qualities. This is important when writers want to prove to publishers that their work is worthy of being viewed by them. 
SA:  How long does it normally take you to write a book?
           RD: It doesn't take me long to plan the story once my creative thoughts get going, and so getting it on paper would normally be done very quickly. Unfortunately, I'm not able to sit for long periods of time at my desk due to my injuries from the car accident and so what should only take a month to get onto paper can take me several months. This is very frustrating but on the other hand, I now have several books in my mind just waiting to get on paper.
SA:  Who or what inspires you?
           RD: I was taught in college to observe every little thing around me because many details in a story can be inspired from them. And so inevitably, everything I see has some part in my creations. My first book, Mudslide, was really inspired by my two sons. One went white water rafting and fell into the river and was caught under the rapids, and the other went on a portage hike where it stormed so much that they spent the entire hike trekking through mud. It didn't take me long to put these two incidents together with my imagination and my own memories of hiking to create an interesting adventure novel for teens.
SA:  Is there any aspect of writing that you really enjoy?
           RD:  I really enjoy living through my protagonists, especially in the Survival Series. They are able to live and experience some really amazing events and since I have control over them, I can make anything happen that I want to happen and still survive.

SA:  Do you think writing is a natural gift or an acquired skill?
           RD: I think having the ability to write is a combination of both. You need the natural gift of imagination in order to create a story that is complete and that fulfills the reader's needs, because without it you'll miss a lot of detail or complacency that gives the story its value. But developing your writing skills is also important because you need to know how to write these creative thoughts in a format and with composition that gives it quality.
SA:  What advice would you give to writers still hoping to be published?
           RD: I would tell writers that the publishing world is changing and that self publishing is an acceptable means to get their book out there. There are actually two key issues that I would advise. One would be to have their manuscript edited by a professional copy editor to ensure that it meets the requirements of a quality manuscript, and the second would be to research the avenues of self-publishing thoroughly via discussions in writing forums and at sites like Editors and Predators, so they can know which ones are good.
SA: What are you writing now?
           RD: Currently, I'm a little more than halfway through the second book – Fire Storm - in the Survival Series. This series is a collection of young adult action-packed outdoor adventures involving four teens that always find themselves at the right place but at the wrong time. Their fun times always put them in a race against time as they become quests of rescue and survival.
SA: Do you have a website or a blog that readers can visit?
           RD: I have a professional blog at www.ronniedauberauthor.com that not only profiles my life as a writer, but links to blogs on my books, as well as books from other great authors. I also have a Face Book page called Ronnie Dauber – author, and I'm also on Twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/RonnieDauber. I invite everyone to please join me there.
For my review of Ronnie's book, Web Secrets, please visit Goodreads via this link.

Stuart's Daily Word Spot: Babel

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Babel: noun – Babel was the city and tower where, according to the Bible (Genesis 11), all the confusion of different tongues took place: a confusion of sounds, meaningless noise; a scene of confusion, noisy assembly; a high structure, visionary project: adjective - confused, turbulent; lofty, visionary.
'When the lights went out in King's Cross Station, the resultant confusion caused a Babel from the many confounded and bewildered passengers caught there.'
'The reflected sunlight, contrasting with the deep shadows of the bazaar, caused a riot of colour, dazzling the eye with its Babel patchwork.'

Stuart's Daily Word Spot: Abate

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Abate: verb - in law, make a nuisance or action stop; become null and void; bring down a person physically, socially, or mentally; depress, humble; fall; curtail, deprive of; reduce in size, amount, or value; lessen in force or intensity; moderate, diminish; take away part of something, deduct; beat down.
'I shall abate Master Cromwell and make him eat his words for the damage he has done to our land and monarchy.'
'Flood defences that are better constructed, might abate the waters next time we have torrential rains and save the town from a repeat of the destruction caused by the last deluge.'

And the Edit Goes On

Image by catface3 via FlickrNothing done yesterday, as I had a long day at work; most of it with my ear glued to the phone, answering questions about rates bills. Also, our dance class in the evening, when we were put through the basics of, amongst others, the Viennese Waltz; not recommended for those who suffer from any form of dizziness.
This evening, I wanted to write and post the review of The Alchemist (see below). So, having dealt with the 69 emails awaiting my return from work, I thought the rest of my time would be better spent doing the typing corrections to the MS for the first book. Managed to complete 4 more chapters of that and now time for rest in preparation for tomorrow at the office and then an evening in Hornsea with my writing group.
Still, 4 chapters of corrections was a worthwhile contribution, I think.

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, Reviewed

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This parable, and best-selling inspirational novel, is written in a deceptively simple style.Santiago, the hero of the piece, takes a journey of self-discovery from his homeland of Andalusia, via Tangiers, to the pyramids of Egypt. On the way, he learns many lessons about life, himself and the nature of spirituality.As a passionate agnostic, I have a built-in suspicion of organised religion or anything that defines God by naming a being that must be beyond our comprehension. So, the references to Allah and to various religious groupings could easily have prejudiced me against the book. That they didn't, is testament to Coelho's ability to express his ideas in a way that is difficult to rage against. In fact, reading this work has caused me to re-examine my outright opposition to religious organisations to the extent that I can now view them as a way for some people to embrace the idea of a superior power and a connectedness of all things in the universe. And to accept them on that level only.There is a complexity and philosophical depth to the arguments presented in this simple tale, which I suspect will be read on a number of different levels depending on the reader's attitude to matters spiritual. The ideas about love, far deeper and more universal than the romantic love of so much popular fiction, I found so close to my own as to resonate strongly with me. That the author is a catholic should have made it difficult for me to empathise, but his faith never really got in the way of the ideas he tries to convey here. There is no attempt to convert or to suggest that one set of religious beliefs is any better than any other. The elements of fantasy and innocence in the story will make it an unlikely tale for the cynical and those for whom romance is something to be avoided. But those with open minds may find something surprising here. I know I will find the ideas returning to me long after I have put the book away. An interesting reading experience, but one which has not made me eager to try other books by the same author. So, I find myself oddly ambivalent about it; a mixture of admiration and doubt. I suspect the fact that I've come across many of the ideas before in The Secret, which turned out to be a great disappointment, has made me a little sceptical of the content.