Caitlin McColl's Blog, page 8
April 9, 2011
Suggestions
I'm sitting here reading ebooks on my laptop and all of a sudden, a thought struck me and I thought I should post on here and ask all of you lovely people who follow me if you have any suggestions/thoughts/ideas of what you'd like me to post about?
Do you have any writing topics you'd like me to blog about? or perhaps maybe some book reviews? or any other kind of suggestion relating to writing, reading or books?
Is there anything you'd like me to put as one of my Polls of the Week? I have a couple lined up, but can always use more POW ideas!
So if you have any thoughts/ideas/suggestions about what you'd like to see on this blog, please feel free to comment below, or to contact me here.
Thanks and enjoy your Saturday!
Do you have any writing topics you'd like me to blog about? or perhaps maybe some book reviews? or any other kind of suggestion relating to writing, reading or books?
Is there anything you'd like me to put as one of my Polls of the Week? I have a couple lined up, but can always use more POW ideas!
So if you have any thoughts/ideas/suggestions about what you'd like to see on this blog, please feel free to comment below, or to contact me here.
Thanks and enjoy your Saturday!
April 8, 2011
April Autism Awareness Month - a new graphic novel
April is Autism Awareness Month. I know a few people who have relatives or family members that are on the Autistic Spectrum and I know that people's awareness of Autism is probably not as high as other conditions with campaigns promoting awareness. So it is nice to see that autism is being mentioned in a totally different sphere, where it will hopefully bring more awareness about it to more people - As a graphic novel!
The amazingly talented artist, Sarah Ellerton, author and artist of the great webcomic/graphic novel, The Phoenix Requiem has teamed up with David A. Rodriguez, writer of graphic novels Shadowgirls and Starweather: Immortal to bring you Finding Gossamyr. Click on the link to find out more about the story, and why it relates to autism (I don't want to try and re-hash their blurb about the story, so you can read it for yourselves).
Finding Gossamyr is to be released next year in 2012!
The amazingly talented artist, Sarah Ellerton, author and artist of the great webcomic/graphic novel, The Phoenix Requiem has teamed up with David A. Rodriguez, writer of graphic novels Shadowgirls and Starweather: Immortal to bring you Finding Gossamyr. Click on the link to find out more about the story, and why it relates to autism (I don't want to try and re-hash their blurb about the story, so you can read it for yourselves).
Finding Gossamyr is to be released next year in 2012!
April 5, 2011
Not-so-web comics
Awhile ago, I wrote about all the webcomics I've recently discovered and really enjoy. But its not only online comics that I've been reading! My husband and I have started to get into actual comics. But not your stereotypical Marvel superhero Batman or Superman, but more...unique comics.
Here is a list of links to some of the comics I've got into lately.
Twilight Guardian
Mystery Society
American Vampire
Stephen King's The Dark Tower series
Victorian Undead series (involving Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula, vs. Zombies, and vs. Jekyll and Hyde)
Ruse
Sherlock Holmes Year One
The Trial Of Sherlock Holmes
The Complete Dracula
And if you haven't gathered by now, and from previous posts, i'm quite a fan of Mr. Sherlock Holmes!
Here is a list of links to some of the comics I've got into lately.
Twilight Guardian
Mystery Society
American Vampire
Stephen King's The Dark Tower series
Victorian Undead series (involving Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula, vs. Zombies, and vs. Jekyll and Hyde)
Ruse
Sherlock Holmes Year One
The Trial Of Sherlock Holmes
The Complete Dracula
And if you haven't gathered by now, and from previous posts, i'm quite a fan of Mr. Sherlock Holmes!
April 3, 2011
POW #7 (of Villains and Poetry)
Wow, Sunday just snuck up on me this week! Where did the week go?! I don't know, but i'm surprised that 1) it's April already and 2) it's Monday tomorrow. Boo hoo.
So, first onto my poll of the week. My stories usually have a 'good guy' and a 'bad guy' - as most stories usually do in some format - whether the bad guy is an actual person, or a force in the story that acts against the 'good guys'. In my stories, the bad guy usually is an actual bad guy. Well, maybe not bad, maybe just mis-understood. So my Poll of the Week is asking you about my villain in The Clockwork Universe. Of course, you don't really know anything about him, but your answers to this poll may help me shape and understand him as a character.
Should my villain be tragic?(surveys)
In other writing news, i'm in the process of re-doing a book of poetry that I had a few copies published a few years ago for friends and family (only because the format I did it in was really expensive). Now i'm re-working my poetry book in a different format and hope to have it available for sale on my CreateSpace E-Store! I'm very excited about it. I'll post again once I have my book of poetry, Of Concrete and Glass available for sale - which should be fairly soon, once I have my new cover designed for it!
So, first onto my poll of the week. My stories usually have a 'good guy' and a 'bad guy' - as most stories usually do in some format - whether the bad guy is an actual person, or a force in the story that acts against the 'good guys'. In my stories, the bad guy usually is an actual bad guy. Well, maybe not bad, maybe just mis-understood. So my Poll of the Week is asking you about my villain in The Clockwork Universe. Of course, you don't really know anything about him, but your answers to this poll may help me shape and understand him as a character.
Should my villain be tragic?(surveys)
In other writing news, i'm in the process of re-doing a book of poetry that I had a few copies published a few years ago for friends and family (only because the format I did it in was really expensive). Now i'm re-working my poetry book in a different format and hope to have it available for sale on my CreateSpace E-Store! I'm very excited about it. I'll post again once I have my book of poetry, Of Concrete and Glass available for sale - which should be fairly soon, once I have my new cover designed for it!
April 1, 2011
Write For Japan - Please Help!
On 11th March 2011, an 9.0 magnitude earthquake hit Japan, followed by tsunamis. The whole world has seen images of things happening in Japan, and we decided that we want to do something about this.
But who is 'we'? We are a group of 34 writers from around the globe who want to raise money and help make a difference to those affected by the Japanese earthquake and tsunamis.
And how are we going to do this? By doing what we do best – writing. We are writing short stories in our project 'Write for Japan' which will be collectively published in eBook and paperback format. All of the profits raised by our book will go to the Red Cross (both in the UK and the US).
Thank you for your support, as together, we can make a difference.
Buy Write For Japan in paperback for only $10.56 HERE
Buy Write For Japan as an E-Book for only $3.99 HERE
Buy Write For Japan for the Amazon Kindle for only $4.60 HERE
And if you buy it, you'll get to read my short story Ex Cineribus Resurge that is just one of the 34 amazing short stories in the anthology!
But who is 'we'? We are a group of 34 writers from around the globe who want to raise money and help make a difference to those affected by the Japanese earthquake and tsunamis.
And how are we going to do this? By doing what we do best – writing. We are writing short stories in our project 'Write for Japan' which will be collectively published in eBook and paperback format. All of the profits raised by our book will go to the Red Cross (both in the UK and the US).
Thank you for your support, as together, we can make a difference.
Buy Write For Japan in paperback for only $10.56 HERE
Buy Write For Japan as an E-Book for only $3.99 HERE
Buy Write For Japan for the Amazon Kindle for only $4.60 HERE
And if you buy it, you'll get to read my short story Ex Cineribus Resurge that is just one of the 34 amazing short stories in the anthology!
(Happy?) April Fool's Day!
Ugh. Today is the day that those of us who aren't the prankster and practical joker type are most wary of. But it is the day that the jokesters of this world revel in as an excuse to act foolish and make others look silly, embarrased or humiliated, and they can get away with it by just saying two simple words: April Fool's!
Today, on this most informal of 'holidays' you should remember to keep one eye open and look over your shoulder. And of course, don't believe everything you hear! Thankfully, I'm well past my highschool years, and don't think i'll have any pranks played on me (don't even think about it!).
Since today is April 1st, it started me wondering about the origins of this strange day and how it came about, and it seems like their may be a literary connection! The first reference to April 1st comes in Chaucer's 'Canterbury Tales' in the 'Nun's Priest's Tale'. And in 1539, Flemish poet Eduard de Dene wrote of a nobleman who sent his servants on foolish errands on the 1st of April.
And understandably, due to the long history of April Fools and its pranks and hoaxes, lots of people are wary that real news (reported in newspapers and on the TV) is in fact real, and often think they are hoaxes. From Wikipedia, here is a list of Real news released on April 1st throughout the years that many thought (and some still do!) were hoaxes.
The April 1, 1946Aleutian Island earthquake tsunami that killed 165 people in Hawaii and Alaska resulted in the creation of a tsunami warning system, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre, established in 1949 for Pacific Ocean countries. The tsunami in question is known in Hawaii as the "April Fools' Day Tsunami" due to people drowning because of the assumptions that the warnings were an April Fools' prank. The death of King George II of Greece was on April 1, 1947. The AMC Gremlin was first introduced on April 1, 1970. In 1979, Iran declared April 1 its national Republic Day. Thirty-one years on, this continues to be mistaken for a joke. On April 1, 1984, singer Marvin Gaye was shot and killed by his father. Originally, people assumed that it was a fake news story, especially considering the bizarre aspect of the father being the murderer. On April 1, 1991, news emerged that David Icke, the British sports reporter, had announced that he was the son of God and that the world was about to end in an apocalypse. Not surprisingly, many people took the reports as an April Fool. Icke has, however, continued to expound his views. On April 1, 1993, NASCAR Winston Cup Series Champion Alan Kulwicki was killed in a plane crash involving Hooters of America executives in Blountville, Tennessee near the Tri-Cities Airport. The party were travelling to the Food City 500 qualifying scheduled for the next day. The suicide death of Deathrock legend Rozz Williams was on April 1, 1998. On April 1, 1999, the Canadian Northwest Territories was split, and the territory now known as Nunavut came to be. Gmail's April 1, 2004 launch was widely believed to be a prank, as Google traditionally perpetrates April Fools' Day hoaxes each April 1, and the announced 1GB online storage was at the time vastly more than existing online email services (see Google's hoaxes.) Another Google-related event that turned out not to be a hoax occurred on April 1, 2007, when employees at Google's New York City office were alerted that a ball python kept in an engineer's cubicle had escaped and was on the loose. An internal e-mail acknowledged that "the timing…could not be more awkward" but that the snake's escape was in fact an actual occurrence and not a prank. On April 1, 2008, it was reported that UEFA would require the Swedish fast food chain Max to close their restaurant at the Borås Arena during the European Under-21 Football Championship due to a conflict with official sponsor McDonald's and a requirement that only official sponsors may operate around the arena. The arena was later replaced as a tournament site. On April 1, 2008, Persch announced that the GNOME desktop web browser Epiphany would be switched from Mozilla's Gecko engine to the WebKit engine used by Safari and KDE's equivalent application Konqueror. Also, on April 1, 2009, a Virus/Worm called Conficker was released in December 2008 but reports about its spread to millions of computers, releasing personal info and deleting files came out on April 1st. This was supposed to be a joke, but random computers throughout America were hit. Before this happened, news media like NBC, Fox News, ABC and CBS told the viewers to install firewalls and updates to their Windows computers before it hit. On April 1, 2011, word of Betty White to host a prank show called Betty White's Off Their Rockers hit the news.[84] Do you have a prank or hoax that you've played on someone (or had played on you?) on April Fools that you'd like to share? If so, please comment!
Today, on this most informal of 'holidays' you should remember to keep one eye open and look over your shoulder. And of course, don't believe everything you hear! Thankfully, I'm well past my highschool years, and don't think i'll have any pranks played on me (don't even think about it!).
Since today is April 1st, it started me wondering about the origins of this strange day and how it came about, and it seems like their may be a literary connection! The first reference to April 1st comes in Chaucer's 'Canterbury Tales' in the 'Nun's Priest's Tale'. And in 1539, Flemish poet Eduard de Dene wrote of a nobleman who sent his servants on foolish errands on the 1st of April.
And understandably, due to the long history of April Fools and its pranks and hoaxes, lots of people are wary that real news (reported in newspapers and on the TV) is in fact real, and often think they are hoaxes. From Wikipedia, here is a list of Real news released on April 1st throughout the years that many thought (and some still do!) were hoaxes.
The April 1, 1946Aleutian Island earthquake tsunami that killed 165 people in Hawaii and Alaska resulted in the creation of a tsunami warning system, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre, established in 1949 for Pacific Ocean countries. The tsunami in question is known in Hawaii as the "April Fools' Day Tsunami" due to people drowning because of the assumptions that the warnings were an April Fools' prank. The death of King George II of Greece was on April 1, 1947. The AMC Gremlin was first introduced on April 1, 1970. In 1979, Iran declared April 1 its national Republic Day. Thirty-one years on, this continues to be mistaken for a joke. On April 1, 1984, singer Marvin Gaye was shot and killed by his father. Originally, people assumed that it was a fake news story, especially considering the bizarre aspect of the father being the murderer. On April 1, 1991, news emerged that David Icke, the British sports reporter, had announced that he was the son of God and that the world was about to end in an apocalypse. Not surprisingly, many people took the reports as an April Fool. Icke has, however, continued to expound his views. On April 1, 1993, NASCAR Winston Cup Series Champion Alan Kulwicki was killed in a plane crash involving Hooters of America executives in Blountville, Tennessee near the Tri-Cities Airport. The party were travelling to the Food City 500 qualifying scheduled for the next day. The suicide death of Deathrock legend Rozz Williams was on April 1, 1998. On April 1, 1999, the Canadian Northwest Territories was split, and the territory now known as Nunavut came to be. Gmail's April 1, 2004 launch was widely believed to be a prank, as Google traditionally perpetrates April Fools' Day hoaxes each April 1, and the announced 1GB online storage was at the time vastly more than existing online email services (see Google's hoaxes.) Another Google-related event that turned out not to be a hoax occurred on April 1, 2007, when employees at Google's New York City office were alerted that a ball python kept in an engineer's cubicle had escaped and was on the loose. An internal e-mail acknowledged that "the timing…could not be more awkward" but that the snake's escape was in fact an actual occurrence and not a prank. On April 1, 2008, it was reported that UEFA would require the Swedish fast food chain Max to close their restaurant at the Borås Arena during the European Under-21 Football Championship due to a conflict with official sponsor McDonald's and a requirement that only official sponsors may operate around the arena. The arena was later replaced as a tournament site. On April 1, 2008, Persch announced that the GNOME desktop web browser Epiphany would be switched from Mozilla's Gecko engine to the WebKit engine used by Safari and KDE's equivalent application Konqueror. Also, on April 1, 2009, a Virus/Worm called Conficker was released in December 2008 but reports about its spread to millions of computers, releasing personal info and deleting files came out on April 1st. This was supposed to be a joke, but random computers throughout America were hit. Before this happened, news media like NBC, Fox News, ABC and CBS told the viewers to install firewalls and updates to their Windows computers before it hit. On April 1, 2011, word of Betty White to host a prank show called Betty White's Off Their Rockers hit the news.[84] Do you have a prank or hoax that you've played on someone (or had played on you?) on April Fools that you'd like to share? If so, please comment!
March 6, 2011
NaNoWriMo and The Clockwork Universe
Starting November 1st 2011, I hope to be blogging daily with updates about the writing of The Clockwork Universe that I will be doing during NaNoWriMo (that's National Novel Writing Month).
I'll post here all the good and bad, the times when the writing is going well, and when (hopefully if!) i'm stuck and struggling - i'll write about it all here - about how the characters are doing, how many words i've written...generally about how NaNoWriMo, and my novel writing during the 30 days, is going!
So stay tuned!
I'll post here all the good and bad, the times when the writing is going well, and when (hopefully if!) i'm stuck and struggling - i'll write about it all here - about how the characters are doing, how many words i've written...generally about how NaNoWriMo, and my novel writing during the 30 days, is going!
So stay tuned!
