C.M. Simpson's Blog, page 115

New Release—Dreams of the Serpent

Dreams of the Serpent , a short science-fiction story about alien contact and negotiation, released today on Smashwords, and will soon be available on Amazon, DriveThruFiction, and via Smashwords and Draft2Digital distribution.



When the contract’s done, and you’re fleeing for your life, the company’s supposed to be on your side, right? Am I right? So, you tell me what happens when the company understands the contract wrong, and you get stuck somewhere you really don’t wanta be. You tell me how I’m gonna make it back to the stars.
A short science fiction story set in the Odyssey universe.

Ingress Round-Up March 2018

I had a quiet Ingress month, partly because PokemonGo ran several events, and partly because I was focused on finding the discipline I needed to achieve the writing and publishing goals I have.
Medal Milestones:
This month, I achieved the Onyx Translator medal:


Mission Milestones:
Oops. None to report.
Results for March Goals:

FAIL: Platinum Recon—I lost sight of this goal, and have not been doing regular recon activity for the last month. I’ll add this to April’s goals.FAIL: Complete one more mission mosaic—I lost sight of this goal, after one attempt at a mission mosaic, that had to be aborted due to building works that put a portal in the first mission of the series out of hackable range… and then I forgot completely to put time aside for another one as I focused on my writing goals.SUCCESS: Onyx Translator:achieved during normal play.

Goals for April:  Achieve the Platinum Recon milestone;
Complete two more mission mosaicsReach the 60,000 resonator mark in Builder.

30 Days of Writing—Day 5

Of all the options, I chose this one. The others… well, some I can’t imagine, and some are too close to home—and I have reached an age where my responses to the questions aren’t going to change. When I was a child, however, the early morning when we lived in remoter parts invited exploration, before the sun and the heat of the day made being outside intolerable.

Exercise 5: With Age, Comes Wisdom
Two sentences on how I respond to waking up early.
I lie there, having reached out quickly and shut off the alarm on my mobile, hoping it hasn’t disturbed the sleep of my husband, or the child that’s snuck into my bed—again. Gathering my thoughts on what needs to be done, what I will write, and the order each task must be undertaken, I close my eyes, knowing I won’t return to sleep, but will be up in three, two, one...

Two sentences on how I responded to waking up early as a child.
The air is cool and the light is grey, and I might see a kangaroo! Creeping outside, I race to explore the world that waits, given mystery by the early morn, hoping to be back in time for breakfast.
Two sentences on how I think I will respond to waking up early in 15 years’ time and the experiences that have shaped my perspective and responses.
I lie there, having reached out quickly and shut off the alarm on my mobile, knowing it has woken my husband, but that he will drift back to sleep. Gathering my thoughts on what needs to be done, and what I will write, and the order for each task that needs to be completed, I slide quietly out of bed to face the day.

Shapers? My child will have grown and become independent, but getting up early will probably be just as important to me in the future as it is now. I will still write, and there will still be tasks that need to be done, and I doubt my husband’s sleeping habits will change.

30 Days of Writing—Day 4

The final 30 Days of Writing Activity I completed first thing this morning, was the activity for yesterday. I think this one is also going to double up as my second flash fiction piece for the day.
Activity 4: Choose Your Own Adventure
It’s morning, early by some standards, and I’m sitting at my desk with a cup of coffee set carefully between my forearms as I type. One careless move, and it’ll be everywhere. Outside, the roars of the trolls have died away, as the big monsters seeking shelter in the world beyond the bridge—and I don’t mean in the park on the other side, although that’s one of their favourite hunting grounds; I mean that they pass under the bridge and through a portal to the Other Lands.Outside the window, I can see the ornamental whatever-they-ares, bare of fruit and with their leaves turning yellow at the top. Soon I will have nothing but bare branches to protect me from the curious gazes of strangers using the walking path beyond. Soon, I will be able to see into the communal space where the trolls hunt, and then I'll be able to emerge and deal with them earlier.Today, though? Today, I’m going to enjoy my coffee, read my email, and potter quietly around the house. I still haven’t healed from the last time I tangled with one of the Other Lands’ nasties, and the doctor’s orders to take it easy. I can do that. There’s a stack of movies and a pile of books all waiting for me to go curl up on the couch.Oh, yeah. The trolls are asleep. There’s nothing in the email that says I need to go out, today, and I can hear the birds calling in the early light of what is going to be a thirty-degree day. It’s a perfect day for staying home and relaxing.Just as I’m thinking that, movement catches my eye, and I glance up and out the big, glass double doors in front of me. Fantastic! I think, and not in a good way, because the elf that’s ridden out from under the bridge is someone I know, and the last person I wanted to see today… or any other, for that matter.And he’s got an invitation to my house. I gave him that, one day, when he needed to save my life. Funny how things like that can change your mind.I watch him ride up to the back fence, and lead his mount in over the iron drawbridge and through my back gate. I'm still staring at the back door when he arrives. He catches the scent of coffee, and his eyes light up, making my heart do a slow flip.Honestly, I wish it would make up its mind. There was a time when I hated him, but now... well, I'm still making up my mind.“Pot’s on the bench,” I tell him, and he frowns at me, but I’ve taught him that human males make their own goddamn coffee, and that he can do the same, lord or not - or he can go without.“The healer wants to check your wounds,” he says, and then adds, “and I need you to be seen at my side.”I sigh, and shut down my computer. So much for taking a day off. Duty always calls: If not in this world, then in the one next door.

PokemonGo Missions: Day 6

Day 6 (April 5th):

More walking, and my back is feeling much better. I started the day with the following missions left to do - and was very relieved to spin up a new Field Research task.


It was quickly completed, and I scored my sixth sticker. The next stop replaced task.


By the end of the day, I had found, and almost completed, a third Field Reserch task, but, in spite of catching innumerable Rattatas, Pidgeys, and Whismurs, along with a couple of Taillows and Zigzagoons, I had yet to come across one. I had also seen only one ghost-type, outside a raid, and that one appeared at a time when I had an errand to run.

All in all Day 5 saw no progress on the fifth part of the Special Missions since I'd lost my third ghost-type raid on Day 4. On the upside, I had seen three Skitty in the scanner: one when I had no balls and no way to get any in time, one that was at a stop I could not reach due to errands, and one that disappeared before I could reach the stop it was at. Oh well, maybe tomorrow...

30 Days of Writing: Day 3—Eye of the Tiger

From the second day’s activity for Shut Up& Write’s 30 Days of Writing, I rolled straight into Day 3’s activity, and had to take a minute to contemplate the problem. I write in first person in a number of my books, and in a lot of my flash fiction, but I’ve never really deliberately sat down to write a journal entry, and not from the perspective of an animal… so I bent the exercise, a little bit, using a third person narrative to set up the journal entry, and then adding a tiny twist.
Day 3 Activity: Eye of the Tiger
Temperance eyed the world with a jaundiced eye. She felt sad, neglected, and homeless, and that last was even though she had a home. As she lay on the path leading to the back gate, enjoying the morning sun, she composed a journal entry for the day:
Today, I woke up and looked for private place to pee. I was never meant to be a completely outside pet, but my people don’t quite get it. It took some time for me to find the right spot, out of sight, with soil soft enough to dig. It’s embarrassing having to do your business in the open.Anyway, once that was done, I trotted around the yard a few times, inspecting the fences, but not getting close enough to touch—those suckers bite! The Master likes to see me doing that. He thinks I’m ‘guarding the house’. In reality, I’m looking for a potential escape route.
By the time I’ve done my morning patrol, the people are out of bed, and I can hear them moving inside the house. This is the time they bring me breakfast, if they care to remember. Today, they were forgetful, and my belly is wondering if they’ll notice if I eat the strawberries in the garden, or dig up a couple of carrots.
I’d rather break into the house and see what I can pull out of the cupboards. I wonder what my chances are that they’ll leave the door unlocked, again.
While I listen to the car pulling out of the drive, I lie in the warmest patch I can find: the path leading from the house to the back gate. One day, one, or the other will be left just the tiniest bit open, and I’ll be out of here… one day.
And then it’s back to the ship, and so far out of here they won’t ever be able to catch up.Any advice for my People?
Sentient life-forms come in many shapes and sizes. And the sooner your race grows up enough to realise that, the better—or some of us are going to come down there and kick your furry asses.

The First Quarter’s Publishing

I started this year with the decision I would make this writing and publishing thing a full-time effort to see what it looked like. I'm still not sure I've got the hang of it, but I'm closer than I was to understanding what I need to do. It's the end of the third quarter, and I'm not making a fortune... more like enough to buy a coffee a week, but early days, right? Here's a very quick look back at what I've published in the last three months:

January:





















February:



March:

30 Days of Writing: Day 2—A Rose by Any Other Name

In the name of catching up, I moved straight from Day 1’s activity to Day 2’s activity. As I said, these activities have started out as relatively simple exercises. They are, however, useful and educational, no matter how long you have been writing.

Day 2’s activity, for instance, looked simple at first glance, but it taught me the value of occasionally testing assumed skills, and working at them. The exercise itself didn’t take very long, even using the timer to ensure I worked at synonyms for two minutes apiece. It was educational, though: I’m going to have to work on expanding my vocabulary, or, perhaps, be more aware of the words I most commonly use when I write.
Activity 2: A Rose by Any Other Name
Warm-Up Exercise
Walk: stroll, meander, wander, hike, move, step, saunter, stagger, limp, shuffle, stride, head
Exercise Proper
Said: answered queried, questioned, demanded, reported, interrupted, interjected, replied, whined, snarled, roared, shouted, yelled, ejaculated, whimpered, asked, called, grumbled, whispered, responded, Work: succeed, labour, struggle, try, persist, ‘do the job’, ‘do it’, Angry: enraged, irritated, annoyed, outraged, ‘in a foul mood’, ‘pissed off’, pissed, ‘put out’,Look: glance, stare, expression, ‘check out’, observe, ‘followed with his eyes’, admire, view, scan, scout, explore, investigate, search,Sad: depressed, down, miserable, ‘in a black mood’, weepy, grieving, teary, unhappy, subdued, mourning, ‘sense of loss’, adrift, devastated.

30 Days of Writing: Day 1—Jibba Jabba

I’m still acclimatising to getting 5k per day down on paper—and trying to balance the daily poems and flash while making up the ground I lost in the last two weeks to a sore back. I’m getting better at the balance, but I’m still catching up, and there are days when I don’t get to everything.
So far, I’ve been cutting the writing activities from Shut Up & Write’s 30 Days of Writing, but there’s also the flash and poetry, which take a hit, when I’m scrambling for time. The two things I’m refusing to compromise are the 5k on one project, and two half-hours slots of walking. If I don’t get fitter, my back will go, again, and I can’t afford that… not to mention the fact that it hurts, and I’m not fond of pain.
Anyway, this morning, I caught up on the 30Days of Writing activities. These have started out fairly simply, but they’re getting more complex as days go on. Day 1’s warm-up activity was to write the first word that popped into my head, and then follow it with a second, and then a third, and so on, until I came up with a phrase. I followed each step, and, when it said phrase, my brain provided one. And then it decided to give me a sentence straight up, for the activity, thus cutting it a bit short, but that’s okay. It looks like I have a nice first couple of lines of poetry to work with later.
Here are the results of Activity 1: Jibba Jabba
Warm-Up: Jibba Jabba Beansbeans, turdbeans, turd, caterpillarbeans, turd, caterpillar, bananaBeans, turd, caterpillar, banana, castleI’ll see you in the world below.
Activity 1: Jibba Jabba I’ll see you in the world belowsaid the age-old Romeo.

PokemonGo Missions: Day 4

So, the missions continue - and they get a little harder to achieve each day - but they're still fun, and they still give my walks purpose, meaning I walk for longer and am getting fitter. All good stuff.

DAY 4 (April 3rd):

Day 4 started with the following missions waiting to be completed (and you'll notice I got rid of that Excellent Throw requirement because I've only thrown about three of those in the last two years - ironic, because the next throw I made was, indeed, Excellent; we live and learn):


So, it took an hour to earn the next sticker, instead of five minutes, but it was worth it... and I learned something new - if you just can't catch your reward pokemon, and you run out of balls, the reward stays in your scanner until you can. I am so very grateful for that.


then, because I'd see only one Skitty, only one Swablu and only one Meowth in over a fortnight, I ditched those Field Research missions, too. The next two missions promised to be another experiment in whether or not working towards one goal counted for the duplicate.


I was not so pleased to see the return of the quest to catch the currently scarce Meowths and Skitties. The interesting thing was that having a completed but not collected task did not mean you did not get a third task to do. I liked that, too. By the end of the day, I had four Field Research Tasks - one that had been completed, and three that needed completion - and I had made progress towards, but not completed stage 5 of the "A Mythical Discovery" series.