C.M. Simpson's Blog, page 152

Ingress: The Via Lux Adventure Medal—Day 12

Well, sometimes real life has to take precedence, so the house and yard have been tidied and inspected, and the sick child looked after, but Monday, I was out and about again. This time it was to walk up a small mountain for the next mission in delta284’s Explore Canberra mission series—and then to walk back down the mountain for another mission exploring some of the parts of the Australian War Memorial I’d never really stopped to visit. Again, I was astounded by the beauty and thought put into this place, where our dead and history are honoured… I’ll be going back, again.

These are the badges.
 

















They really don’t do the Memorial any justice, so I took a few pictures to give folks a better idea.


 










































This incredible place tries to ensure that none are forgotten, and we should do the same.
I will post on the walk up Mount Ainslie, another day.You’ll notice I’ve changed the layout of the progress report. It now makes more sense, since this challenge really started on September 1, and I didn’t get started until September 4
Via Lux Progress:Days 1-3: 0 unique portals visitedDay 4: 5 unique portals visited and 1 mission completed (5/300)Day 5: 30 uniques visited and 1 mission completed (35/300)Day 6: 2 unique portals visited and 0 missions completed (37/300)Days 7-11: 0 unique portals visited (37/300)Day 12:  114 unique portals visited and 2 missions completed (151/300)TOTAL: 151/300
Tomorrow, I will be trying to finish this series, and to maybe add a few more uniques before the real world claims my attention for the rest of the week. 
Tomorrow, it will be time to move, again.

Writing Ramblings: Where do I Find Poetry Inspiration?

Some of you are asking where I get the inspiration to write one poem a day, every day, or, as in recent times, 10 poems in one sitting? To be honest, I don’t know.

I think poetry comes from within, but I also think poetry is an expression of subconscious observance and emotion, no matter how conscientiously you write and design your piece. Most days, I sit at my computer, and say: “I have to write the poems, now.” If I don’t get a starting line in my head, I do a search on “poetry types” and pick a web site.
Most web sites list poetry types with what defines them. I just follow the site’s examples, in order, to decide what type of poem I should be writing, and then I write the first part line that comes into my head. This has become easier with practice.
Of course, there are days when I need a bit of extra help, so I pick a genre like fantasy, or science fiction, or dark. Other days I’ll pick a topic like ‘trolls’, ‘mermaids’, ‘werewolves’, ‘vampires’, or ‘starships’, and move from there.
In the week, or so, when writing my poetry, I referenced the following sites for inspiration:

Saturday, September 3: http://www.creative-writing-now.com/how-to-write-poetry.htmlMonday, September 5: https://www.youngwriters.co.uk/glossary-poetry-types(acrostic to limerick)Tuesday, September 6: https://www.youngwriters.co.uk/glossary-poetry-types(ottava rima to haiku)Wednesday, September 7: https://www.youngwriters.co.uk/glossary-poetry-types(kennings to Shakespearean sonnet)Thursday, September 8: https://www.youngwriters.co.uk/glossary-poetry-types(tanka to triolet)Saturday, September 10: https://www.youngwriters.co.uk/glossary-poetry-types(ballade to diamante) Sunday, September 11: https://www.youngwriters.co.uk/glossary-poetry-types (epigram to ode)

Progress Report: Week ending September 10, 2016

Another busy week. I tried to increase my walking while term break was on, but a house inspection in the first week slowed that down as we worked to overcome the effects of a wet winter on the garden, and I realised just how far behind I’d fallen in my writing. Round that out with a child and a fever, and I achieved less than I wanted, but still a lot more than I expected. I used to strive for 10,000 words a week, and fail. This week, I made that. It’s pretty cool. Next week, I’ll try to do it again.
 
Overview
New words produced: 11,205Old words revised: 0/0Outlines and Notes: 0Works completed: 1 poetry collection (57,000 words); 49 shorter works (for inclusion in 3 longer works) Works revised: 0Covers created: 0Works published: 0Works submitted: 0Competitions Entered: 0Bloggery: 2,280University Prep and Assignments: 0
Story-A-Week Catch-Up Challenge Update
This week’s focus was on catching up the poetry and flash fiction, so no progress was made on the short stories this week.
Publishing Tasks
Created 6 blog posts for this blog
New Arrivals
The following pieces arrived last week and were completed:
Poem788—Seasons in the Pixies’ Forest: this urban fantasy sestina was inspired by Canberra spring weather.Poem789—Dragonships Ahoy: a first-letter acrostic about starships catching solar winds;Poem790—Santa’s Homecoming: a last-letter acrostic about Santa’s return to the North Pole;Poem791—Space Exploration Recruitment: an end-line acrostic that makes a comment about corporate recruitment;Poem792—An Unfortunate Intrusion: an iambic poem about an encounter in a cave;Poem793—The Bakery Abandoned: an iambic poem with a partial rhyme that is a ghost story;Poem794—The Dawn-Bird Survivor: an echo poem transcribing an interview with someone who survived an encounter with the dawn birds from “Don’t Wake the Dawn Birds”.Poem795—A Dark Encounter: a free verse horror poem about an unexpected urban encounterPoem796—Ode to Christmas Evolution: an irregular limerick about the evolution of Christmas from its origins to present day;Poem796—The Girl From the Moon: a limerick about a girl from the moon in the Lunar Wolves setting.Poem797—The Rescue of the Dragon Heir: a series of ottava rima verses about a dragon-human pact and promises kept;Poem798—A Comet in the Dark: a renga-style poem about star travel;Poem799—The Troll: a haiku about a troll;Poem800—An Awkward Visitor: an English sonnet about a dragon’s not-so-opportune place of rest;Poem801—The Medilo Nightmare: an Italian-style sonnet set in the world of Medilo;Poem802 —The Sky’s Limit: a tetractys meant to inspire;Poem803—Star-Found Love: a double tetractys about finding love among the stars;Poem804—The Medilo Most Unkind: a ballad-style poem about the dangers of the Medilo swamp;Poem805—Seeking Safety: a simple cinquain about sending ships into space:Poem806—Parent’s Lost: a near ballad about xenobiologists in the Medilo;Poem807—The Signting: a series of haiku about a beast of legend;Poem808—The Dragon: a Kennings poem about … dragons;Poem809—Upon the Hill: a lyric-style poem about a frightening encounter in a storm;Poem810—Your Trust in Me: a pantoum exploring how a queen might feel having to unexpectedly rule when her king is lost;Poem811—Riddle Me a Starship: a riddle about a starship;Poem813—Invasion Force: a pair of tanka verses describing an invasion fleet’s arrival;Poem814—A Triolet of Trolls: a triolet poem about the ongoing battle between mankind and trolls in the Otherworld setting;Poem815—Upon the Turning Earth: a ballade-style poem about leaving and returning, and of hope;Poem816—The Calling Suns: a diamante poem about stars;FF570—More Precious than Faberge: a science fiction, near future, fantasy blend flash fiction about the discoveries that might lie beneath our very feet;FF571—New Companions: a short fantasy piece about the risks people take to find their own dragon;FF572—The Six-Year-Old’s Surprise: is a piece of flash science fiction about the lengths Odyssey will go to in order to see their assets protected;FF573—The Wolves of Lunar 10:  a piece of science fiction flash about a group of colonising werewolves from Lunar 1;FF574—Footsteps in the Dark: a piece of flash urban horror about what might cause footsteps in the dark;FF575—The Unwelcome Fiance: a piece of urban fantasy flash fiction about elves and trolls;FF576—The Metragoran Moon:  a piece of science fiction flash about a disputed moon;FF577—Anubis Redefined: a piece of historical fantasy flash about a stubborn pharaoh;FF578—Infiltration: a piece of flash science fiction about an undercover agent at the end of a mission;FF579—Live Free: a piece of science fiction flash set on the world of Aquapearl, home to the lizardine;FF580—Leaving Town: a piece of science fiction flash about finding a new life;FF581—An Awkward Interview: a piece of science fiction about finding the right person for the job;FF582—Job Security: a piece of science fiction flash about finding safety;FF583—The Recruitment Process: a piece of science fiction flash about Odyssey’s selection process for new recruits;FF584— Say Hi to the Unicorns : a piece of urban flash fantasy set in the world of pixie dust smuggling;FF585— Bird Friend : a piece of urban flash fantasy about night owls and elves;FF586— Trying for Obscurity : a piece of science fiction about the infamous trying to retire;FF587—The Hunted and the Hunter: a piece of fantasy flash about trying to obtain a new mount;FF588—The Crab Gauntlet: fantasy flash on the dangers of deliveries in a fantasy world;FF589—The Learning Curve: an urban fantasy flash on learning policing

Ingress Fitness: Tips for a Hopeful Guardian

Last week, I talked about a couple of Ingress badges: the Trekker and the Guardian. Of the two, the Guardian is hardest to get at its highest level. I think I managed to get to Silver once, and Gold twice before losing the portals that earned me those levels. To get to Black is incredibly hard.





















The only tips I can think of for those of you looking to take a portal to 150 days are these:

It's best to choose a portal a long way away from civilisation. Even small towns can be home to Ingress agents. Also be aware of holiday destinations. If they are popular, they may not be the best place to situate a hopeful guardian.It's best if the portal is in a space that has restricted hours. Many National Parks in Australia, for example, close between 5 p.m. and 9 a.m. No nightwalkers (players who like to do their ingressing at night, away from the heat) are likely to take down the portal between those hours.It's best if the portal is located early on a walking trail where people don't expect there to be any portals, or very late into a walk when people are just wanting to get back to their campsite or car, and are less likely to stop to take down something well defended.It's best if the portal is well defended. That means getting it to more than level 5, which means teamwork and cooperating. Maybe take along a few friends and get them to help you by adding level 7 or 8 resonators, and turrets, force amps or strong shields. If it's a long walk with lots of other portals, you can do the same for them. If you come across a portal belonging to your team, you can boost its strength, as some players did for me, recently. Without their help, I'm not sure I would have kept the portal for the full 150 days. Ingress can be played on your own, and in your own time, but it is still a team game in this respect.Don't link or field from this portal, as that's bound to draw attention to it. Face it, what ingress agent worth their salt can resist taking down a field or link put up by the opposing team?Don't brag about your portal until the days are done. Don't talk about it. Don't drop hints about it. It is the portal you have when you don't have a portal.Make sure your Agent Profile (under Device in your scanner) is set to "Make agent stats private." This makes it hard for agents of the opposing team to see if you have an active Guardian portal, since the days don't show, and can't be checked to see if they are increasing. There *are* players who seek out Guardian portals and take them down. This is especially important if you are an active agent, who makes a pain of themselves to the opposing team, and who has gained a dedicated following of opponents who make it a point to take back what you have captured.It helps if the portal you are hoping to be a Guardian for, is in an area of dodgy phone reception. This limits the number of other players who can get their scanners to work in the area, and thus limits the number of attacks that can be made on the portal.Remember to recharge the portal regularly. Check in on it, in the morning and in the evening, and sometimes during the day, but don't let its health rule your life. If a capture is going to happen, there will be very little you can do about it. Just make sure the portal is fully charged, at all times, and hope for the best.Also, remember that  no portal can ever be yours. You might be trying to get your badge, but the game goes on. Trying for Guardian does not give you the right to claim a portal as solely yours, not even for 150 days. If it is captured, it's nothing personal, it's just the game. Find another portal, and try again. Many players look after multiple portals they hope will one day earn them the Guardian badge, and this is in case one is captured before the badge comes through. You would be advised to do the same.IMPORTANT: NONE of these tips guarantee you will be able to guard a portal for the requisite 150 days you need in order to gain you Black Guardian, but they will help improve your chances of doing so.


Finally, good luck. You're going to need lots of it.
And, now, it's time to move.

Ingress: The Via Lux Adventure Medal—Day 3

Sorry, no location pictures—and no badge pictures for today. I had to visit the tax agent, because it’s really time to get that done, in Australia, and then we were busy getting the yard in shape for the annual house inspection that renters go through, here. I now have two lovely garden beds, a mowed lawn, trimmed trees and bushes, and four mulch buckets starting to make dirt from scratch. A pretty good day’s work, but not much Ingress. Despite that, and despite visiting places I’ve already been, I still managed to hack some portals, and two of them were one’s I’d missed. So, slow start, but a win, in spite of it.

Via Lux Progress:Day 1: 5 uniques visitedDay 2: 30 uniques visitedDay 3: 2 uniques visitedTOTAL: 37
P.S. The scanner has had an update, and there are voices on my scanner… Why are there voices on my scanner? And what do they mean?
 It is definitely time to move.

Ingress Walking: A Mission by the Lake

I know it should be pokemon, but, for a couple of weeks, now, I’ve been trying to complete a mission series. Missions earn you badges, and mission series badges usually form pictures, in a mosaic kind of way. Missions give you walking routes, so that you can take yourself exploring while you're getting fit, and missions give you an added purpose for being where you're being and going where you're going. They make exercising easier, and, yes, more fun.
I’ll talk more about my current mission series later, but, today, I thought I’d take you for a stroll by Lake Burley Griffin, for Part 10 of the Explore Canberra mission series designed by Enlightened agent, delta284. 
 Here’s what the badge looks like:



If you’re on foot, this mission is best done from the Carillon portal, as you can catch a bus to the next mission location in the series not far from the stop at the other end. To get to the National Carillon start point, you can either walk down from the city, or catch a bus that travels to a stop on Constitution Avenue just past Anzac Parade, and then walk. Action has a handy “Trip Planner” function that can suggest a route and a bus.


The mission, itself, takes a half hour or more to complete, depending how distracted you get by other nearby portals, or by capturing, linking and fielding, as you go.
This day I chose to walk from the city. It was Sunday, sunny and not too cold – absolutely beautiful!First stop is the National Carillon on Aspen Island. It’s beautiful, see?



After you’ve hacked this portal, head back up the hill towards the line of flags. This is the National Police Memorial of Australia. It is stunning. You need to view the waypoint on your scanner, but there is a portal, there, as well. When you are in range, touch the orange tear drop to open up more information about it. Then touch the back arrow to return to your scanner. You can also hack the portal, but it won’t count towards completing the mission. It will count towards your Explorer’s badge, though.



Head back down the hill towards the Carillon, and then follow the path right. This will take you to a very large anchor—the HMAS Canberra Memorial. This memorial commemorates the sinking of the HMAS Canberra at the Battle of Savo Island in 1942. You have to hack this portal.


There are public toilets near this portal. I don’t recall seeing any others along the mission route, although there are others in the gardens.
Your next stop is the Merchant Navy Memorial, which recognises the Merchant Navy which contributed to efforts in both world wars. It is beautiful, especially in spring, when the cherry blossoms are out. You need to hack this portal.


Following the path along the lake shore, you will pass a point called the R.G. Menzies walk. On the day I walked this mission, the Canberra Times Fun Run was on, so I couldn’t get a clear picture. I did get close enough to hack it without trouble, though.
Keep following the lake around, until you come to a small cottage. This is Blundells’ Cottage. Once home to a bullock driver, named George Blundell, it has stood for over 150 years. It was being repaired on the day I visited, so I didn’t go inside.

Choose a path that follows close to the lake shore. This particular day, I chose one that was a little away from the water, rather than right along it, due to the number of runners and walkers, so I didn’t get a shop of the memorial plaque for Gallipoli Reach. I did, however, take a nice shot of this pumping station, also dedicated to Gallipoli Reach, and I was able to get close enough to make the hack for the mission.

The next portal you encounter as you continue along the lake shore, is the statue of this handsome dude—Sir Robert Menzies. He has been, so far, Australia’s longest serving prime minister, and led the country during World War II. You can have your photograph taken with him, if you like, but don’t forget to complete the mission hack before moving along.

Crossing the weir, continue along the lake front until you see a flagpole on the slope of a small hill overlooking the lake. This is the flagpole presented to Australia by the Canadians in 1957. If you’re here on July 1, you will see the Canadian flag flying from the top instead of the Australian flag. The portal here is called “Canadians Ahoy”. Don’t forget to complete the mission hack as you go past.
After passing the flagpole, continue to walk until you see what looks like a world globe made of wire. This is the Captain Cook Memorial Globe. It is part of the Captain James and Cook Memorial, the other half of which is the water jet that shoots out of the lake in a direct line with the globe, hence why this portal is called “Captain Cook Memorial Jet Canb”. It is your last hacking point in this mission. Don't forget to rate the mission when it asks.

If you are doing this mission as part of a series, and you want to get straight into the next part, follow the path slightly right until you reach Commonwealth Avenue. Do not go under the bridge, or cross the road, but go up to the road and walk back to the bus stop on the side you finished the mission on. From here you can catch a #1 or #2 bus to the Australian National Mint, which is where the next part of this series is located.  And happy hunting! Now, go; it’s time to move.

Ingress: The Via Lux Adventure Medal—Day 2

Sorry, no location pictures; I did these missions, so I could get back to writing as quickly as possible. Mission Badges as follows:




Via Lux Progress to Date: Day 1: 5 uniques visitedDay 2: 30 uniques visited TOTAL: 35

 P.S. It's also important to note that there could be hackable uniques accessible from the bus.
Either way, it's time to move.

Ingress: The Via Lux Adventure Medal—Intro and Day 1

Every year, Niantic hosts gatherings called Anomalies, where agents from both sides gather to progress the Ingress story-line. Usually, these gatherings take place in large cities a very long away from Australia… although in 2016, part of an Anomaly was hosted in Sydney, with an accompanying mission day. Still, Australia is a big country, and Sydney, although close, was still four hours and several days I couldn’t take off from family and university away, so I didn’t make it. Anomalies come with badges to celebrate participation, and, when they are hard to get to, it can be a bit discouraging, but you accept it and enjoy the game you can play. So, you can imagine my surprise, when Niantic announced a medal for the latest anomaly that could be played anywhere in the world. It really made me feel part of the game, again.
This medal was still going to be a challenge, though: Find, visit and hack 300 portals you haven’t visited before. I’ve been fairly thorough in getting to the portals around where I study and live, so this meant a little bit of journeying for me—but not as challenging as it would be for some of the players who’d been playing much, much longer. To make it just a little more difficult, the challenge started when I was in the middle of a mission series, which I’d already taken far too long to complete. I couldn’t just dump it, when I’d finally reached a point in the semester when I could complete it, now, could I?
So, what could I do?
I took a look at the next few sets of missions, and realised they would take me to portals I’d never visited, and, as a bonus to that, each set of mission portals was surrounded by a bunch of others that weren’t on the mission. I love multi-tasking. Score!
Now, I could really get started.
While the mission started on September 1, the weather and some loose university ends meant I didn’t really get rolling until the 4th, when I undertook Part 10 of the mission series, along the shores of Lake Burley Griffin. To be honest, I didn’t expect to come across any portals I hadn’t visited yet, because I’d already done a mission series in the area, but I was wrong.
I found five! Now, five isn’t a lot when you have 300, but it’s still more than zero. With this very, very slow start, I was on the board.
Only 295 to go.
That’s just under 12 new portals to be hacked each day for the rest of the month.

Writing Ramble: On New Writers and Established Hazards

On Saturday, I found David Gaughran on Twitter, and I followed him, and he voiced a bunch of things that concern me – and that should concern every writer. And David is not alone. He’s not barking mad. He’s not some starry-eyed idealist. He just cares. He cares that new authors are coming into an industry that does not have their best interests at heart, an industry that will squeeze that author for every drop of profit, and then not care if they can pay their bills or not.
But that’s the way things are. DavidGaughran is not alone. Joe Konrath, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, and Dean WesleySmith are among a host of established authors who are writing about the rights and wrongs of the industry, who warn of agents who represent their own interests and not the author’s, who warn of publishing companies – and we are talking respected publishing companies, who used to at least appear to look after their writers, not just a fly-by-night scammers; no, we are talking established pillars of publishing taking on the habits of scammers and telling new authors that this is the way business is done, and you have to live with it.
These writers are not trying to scare new writers; they are not “protecting their patch” from newcomers or potential rivals – they don’t need to. These writers are already making a living from their writing, and they’re doing it wholly, or partially, outside traditional channels, away from the path that new writers are told is the only way to go.
As more horror stories emerge about the way writers are being treated by publishing, about contracts that buy the rights of a book for its copyright, but which don’t promise to keep the book in print and available for the life of its copyright, new writers are struggling with confusion and uncertainty.
Are the stories, true? they wonder. Surely that story’s just sour grapes from a writer who wasn’t good enough to be published? Surely the publisher pays fairly. Surely, an established writer with 30 or so books under their belt is making a living from their traditionally published work.
And it doesn’t matter how many stories they hear to the opposite, new writers have attended writers’ groups; they have gone to writing seminars; they have listened to ‘experienced’ and ‘successful’ writers who speak at conferences; they rarely go on-line and take a long, hardlook at the industry from multiple angles. And they usually ignore writers who have chosen the independent path as being failures, and not ‘good enough’ to be picked up by a ‘real’ publisher.
The only problem with this approach is, of course, that most writers in a writing group are after a contract; they want the legitimisation that recognition from an established publisher brings; they don’t feel fit to judge their own work, or that they have the right to say it’s good enough to sell. Most writers who believe enough in themselves to write their book, don’t believe enough in themselves, or their book, to publish it without someone else saying it’s good enough – and that has to stop.
The only reason that publishers get away with contracts that take all of a work’s rights for the lifetime of the contract, the only reason they get away with refusing to keep that work in print for the same time, or for refusing to offer time-limited contracts with a built-in reversion of rights, is that writers don’t believe enough in themselves, or their work, or their readers, to independently publish, or to fight for a fairer contract. Until that changes, the publishing industry has no reason to change.
It is time that writers realised that publishers need writers, much more than writers need someone to do the publishing for them. It’s time writers realised that they can work cooperatively to ensure quality, that the market has enough room for their work, and the works of others, that readers can read faster than writers can write, and one writer is never enough. It is time writers stopped trying to outbid each other in obtaining unfair contracts for limited spaces in a publisher’s release schedule, and it is time that writers stopped supporting the myths that are undermining their ability to make a living from their work.
Want to know more?
You could do worse than starting here:
https://davidgaughran.wordpress.com/http://jakonrath.blogspot.com.au/http://kriswrites.com/http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/http://www.thepassivevoice.com/New to writing? Do yourself a favour, and check out your options.

Progress Report: Fortnight Ending September 3, 2016

A very busy fortnight, with five assessments due, and a three-day conference so I did not get as much done as I’ve hoped. I’ve reached the mid-term break, and started writing again, but there is a house inspection due this week, so house cleaning and gardening must take a priority. I must also pay closer attention to my exercise program. Still, the writing is progressing.
Overview (Week ending 27-08/Week ending 03-09)
New words produced: 780/6,877Old words revised: 0/0Outlines and Notes: 0/0Works completed:  2 (1 assignment; 1 for inclusion in a larger collection)/26 (1 assignment; 25 for inclusion in 2 larger collections)Works revised: 0/0Covers created: 0/0Works published: 0/0Works submitted: 0/0Competition Entries: 0/0Bloggery: 1,570/1,967University Prep and Assignments: 5,047/1,560

Story-A-Week Catch-Up Challenge Update
No progress as assignments and catch-up on the poetry and flash fiction collections took precedence.
Stepping Up
Commences this week. Languages will rotate through Russian, Chinese and Indonesian over three days, with one language focussed on each day of the 3-day cycle
Publishing Tasks
Created 5 blog posts for this blogCreated 0 blog post for the C.M. Simpson Publishing blog;Created 0 blog post for the C.M. Simpson Art and Photography blog;Updated titles listing to separate short stories from flash fiction.
New Arrivals
The following pieces arrived last week and were completed:
FF560—Chitter JittersFF561—Escape PlansFF562—Homecoming TrollsFF563—Butterfly MediationFF564—The RescueFF565—Escape from Bluebirds MineFF566—Draconic RecruitmentFF567—Rough Day at the OfficeFF568—FarewellsFF569—Raiders at DuskPoem771—The Candle in the WindowPoem772—Moon BurnPoem773—Man Among the StarsPoem774—The Calling MistPoem775—Mermaid SalvationPoem776—Aftermath of RaidersPoem777—The Planet BurnedPoem778—Salvation in the DreamingPoem779—Ode to Angela CarterPoem780—Stranger from the StarsPoem781—Of Bridges, Kinfolk and the ElvesPoem782—The Goodbye SongPoem783—Colonial ExilesPoem784—Sky WomanPoem785—Dragon DawnPoem786—No Welcome for the KingsPoem787—The Skyborne Remind

The following pieces arrived last week and are awaiting completion:
Chapbook31A-32A: wheelchair storiesChapbook33A: series ideaNonFiction11A—I could tell you, but then…YANovel29: fantasy