Colleen Anderson's Blog, page 51

Writing: News & The Rannu Competition

I've finally received my issue of Evolve and the reviews continue to roll in. It's interesting how reviewers pick different favorites. I'm not mentioned in one but I am in the other and my story continues to intrigue and disturb, as I intended. Overall, it's getting good reviews. Following are two more reviews.

http://roverarts.com/2010/05/stretching-the-vampiric-envelope/

However, there are also some stories that will stand out and sparkle, that come across as an exceptionally new take on...

The Cornucopia List

If you happen to be reading this (why, even if you're not), tell me what you think of my blog. Should I change anything, add or delete something? There are other designs and I've been using this one for two years. But perhaps I should tweak it or rearrange elements.

But it's now time for the Cornucopia List for this week, listing five things for which I am grateful, or that are beautiful, but in some way positive, to negate the dire aspects of weekly media and the state of the world.

Writing: How to Ignore Women

Here we go again. You'd think a few people might learn by now. And perhaps these fellows truly believe the greatest writers that ever lived or live are all men. But you would think that if they include the very first and the very latest there might even be one woman? Albeit a list of the Top Ten SF Writers of all time is a pretty small list, but still.

Who are Shaun Nichols and Iain Thomson that they would be experts on SF writers? Well, they are techy geeks guys, which by definition makes...

Judging the Book by the Cover

On my "About Colleen" page I allow comments but do not approve them for viewing. I had to laugh at the very long comment I received in which I was told that I don't take "good enough care of yourself and your career" with my hair going every which way. I was told I look a bit "balmy" but I'm not even sure what that means. Is that British slang? So let's start with my image, which coincidentally I was going to change but I just can't now. My hair is in what we call here in North America an...

The Cornucopia List

Bridge in Trim Ireland

In the continuing effort to battle bad news and dire prophecies of the future about rising prices and taxes and population, wars, defects, ill will and political rivalries, I have my second installment of the Cornucopia List.

I will be continuing the list once a week with five items, ever expanding it and making me more of a shiny happy person. It will encompass everything inner and outer, physical and spiritual, visceral and ephemeral that I cherish in my life. Here are ...

The Ease of Automated Answering Systems

With the advent of computers people said, it will cut down on paper usage, we'll have far less need. As we all know, this was not the case and in many ways paper consumption has increased with the ease of being able to print pages off of a computer screen. Not to mention all those businesses that archive in paper because the computer might crash and wipe out sensitive, even insensitive information.

Everything is automated now. A mechanic can't seem to troubleshoot a car by listening to it and ...

Big Nose, Little Nose, Young Nose, Blue Nose

Noses. Where would we be without them? Well, we would breathe through slits in our faces, and if it was the norm, it wouldn't look unusual. Otherwise, I'm sure we'd be horrified. Noses are so big a thing to the human face that there are names for the different styles of nose. And Tycho Brahe, the most famous astronomer of his day (16th century) was known to have lost the tip of his nose, from the bridge on, in a duel. To counteract the effects of a gaping hole, he constructed a realistic...

Five Things To Be Grateful For: the Cornucopia List

Yeah, I know it's bad grammar and should say, "Five things for which to be grateful," but pretend you're listening to me talk, where we tend to use more slang and colloquialisms.

I think I might try this once a week for a while, listing things that are shiny and happy. After all, with buffoons and tyrants in positions of power and the news reporting the dire events everyday it's much better to list some positive aspects of life to counteract the darkness. It's harder because we're told more...

Being Cool in School

It's been a while since high school, which I attended in Calgary and included grades 10-12. We had junior high schools for grades 7-9, and I attended grades 1-12 in one very large city block. In some cases I saw the same kids for twelve years, even if we weren't friends. The schools were large and there were hundreds of kids.

It was common to know your homeroom classmates and some of the students from other classes, especially if you took an elective that mixed the classes. And sometimes...

Writing Update: March/April

I've been busy working on a couple of stories…still…always. Rewriting a couple after some constructive rejections. And still researching my biblical Mary Magdalene story. I'm writing as I research but I have about seven books by my bed on the Dead Sea scrolls, Christ and Caeser, the Gnostic Gospels, the Gospel of Mary, etc. You'd think I was entering the church. I find it very fascinating stuff, the history of the Christian church and the bizarre and sometimes malicious and frequently...