C.M. Simpson's Blog, page 185

Progress Report: Week 1, May 2014

So, this week I learned why four nights of midnight in a row were not good for you – even when you sleep an hour or two later than usual, and especially when you get up at 5 a.m. the next day for your day job. Let’s just say that doing that is a bad idea, and doing it while still recovering from the flu is an even worse idea. In order to avoid falling completely over with the flu – again, I had to go to bed earlier all week. And I had to study for a couple of mini-tests. Not a lot of writing got done this week, and none of it made it onto the computer, so I have a little bit of notebook work to go through, and some ideas that are crying out for development.On the up side, I am feeling a lot better, although still run-down and still with some flu symptoms. The study is almost back under control, and I’m looking to getting my writing flowing smoothly—no catch-up until mid-semester break.OverviewNew words produced: 0Old words revised: 0Works completed: 0Works revised: 0Covers created: 0 Works published: 0Works submitted: 0Competitions Entered: 0Publishing TasksNil publishing tasks completed this week.New ArrivalsNew ideas arrived this week, but have yet to be written down.

New Cover: C.M. Simpson: Short Stories and Poems from 2013, Volume 1

This is the new cover for the first volume of this year's collection of works created or prepared for publication in 2013.




Rather than just repeat the covers of the published short stories for a quilt-like effect (as I did last year), I decided I wanted a background and just a few of the elements from the other covers, and to do that, I needed a background that would allow me to tie the covers of the two volumes together.

Usually, I go to Dreamstime, but I had seen a photograph on Facebook by Greta van der Rol. It encapsulated what I had in mind. My only regret is that I couldn't show more of it, but you can find the whole photograph, here.

Covers from the short stories incorporated in this collection are as follows. As you can see, not every story could be represented.

Covers Created in April 2014

I created the following covers in April 2014:

To be released: 21 June 2014
To be released: 28 June 2014



















To be released 4 October 2014

Australian Birds: The Aussie Galah (Eolophus roseicapillus)

In addition to the sulphur-crested cockatoos, we had a flock of galahs come to enjoy the fruit on the backyard trees. It makes a change from seeing them grazing on grass seeds.


Of course, not everyone had the hang of landing.


Those trees can be tricky to perch on, don't ya know?


Even when you manage to get set down, there's still the delicate balancing act.


Before the serious business of feeding and grooming can be undertaken.

Blogs Read in April 2013

Keeping tabs on the industry is very important. Watching trends and garnering opinion and advice with with to feed our own decisions is vital to making a living at this profession. As such, I made a specific effort to actually do some reading this month. Here are the blogs I found helpful or articles I found inspirational.
Craft of Writinghttp://jakonrath.blogspot.com.au/2014/03/guest-post-by-chris-eboch.htmlhttp://project-middle-grade-mayhem.blogspot.com.au/2013/04/middle-grade-plot-maps-by-lee-wardlaw.htmlhttp://project-middle-grade-mayhem.blogspot.com.au/2013/11/revision-technique-book-mapping-by.htmlhttp://mollyblaisdell.blogspot.com.au/2013/05/blooming-plot.html Publishinghttp://kriswrites.com/2014/04/16/the-business-rusch-generational-divide/ https://twitter.com/ChuckWendig/status/456809435353350144http://jakonrath.blogspot.com.au/2014/04/guest-post-by-dale-t-phillips-and-vlad-v.html http://jakonrath.blogspot.com.au/2014/03/no-one-knows.htmlhttp://jakonrath.blogspot.com.au/2014/04/a-wake-up-call-for-tracy-hickman.htmlhttp://www.trhickman.com/wake-up-call-five-years-ago/http://project-middle-grade-mayhem.blogspot.com.au/2013/03/author-choices-traditional-self.htmlhttp://www.digitalbookworld.com/2013/the-future-of-childrens-books/http://robertjcrane.blogspot.com.au/2014/02/how-to-make-living-as-indie-author.htmlhttp://robertjcrane.blogspot.com.au/2014/03/publication-schedule-2014.htmlhttp://www.kboards.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=she8c6d0muifae6k0d0shk2j76&topic=124433.0http://jakonrath.blogspot.com.au/2014/03/heres-what-i-know.htmlhttp://jakonrath.blogspot.com.au/2014/03/identity-and-writer.htmlWriting World http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-04-17/mayo-dear-columnists-romance-fiction-is-not-your-bitch/5396672http://jakonrath.blogspot.com.au/2011/04/are-you-dense.html For Inspiration http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26969150http://www.industrytap.com/norwegian-engineer-creating-creepy-transformer-like-robots/19478More Writers' Blogshttp://www.krisbock.com/blog.htm http://letsschmooze.blogspot.com.au/http://project-middle-grade-mayhem.blogspot.com.au/http://robertjcrane.blogspot.com.au/

The Cinquain Challenge: Form 7—The Garland Cinquain

This week, we’re looking at yet another form of cinquain—the Garland Cinquain. Again, it uses either a Crapsey Form 1 or a Crapsey Form 2 as a base, but this time it consists of six separate cinquain verses. The first five verses stand alone, but are linked by the poetical theme. The sixth verse is made up of lines from the verses that came before it, usually taking its first line from the first verse, the second line from the second verse, the third line from the third verse and so on.
For those of you who are new to this series, a cinquain is a five-line poem that has a set number of syllables (or word types) per line. Sometimes the title of a cinquain acts as a sixth line. Cinquains were invented by Adelaide Crapsey was an American poet who was inspired by the rules of Japanese poetry to create her own poetical form, the cinquain.
Here’s an example, originally written for a poetry collection set to come out later this year:

Death of Dreaming

Written on April 1, 2014, this garland cinquain is about the darker things of life.

Troll kinFrom the dark comeSlide from shadows and nightSnatching their prey from shadowed lightNightmares
NightmaresIn darkness comeFleeing he new-born dayTreading our sleep when we seek restGoblins
GoblinsKnife-edged crueltyTrait’rous beasts of the nightBut able to emerge at dayHunters
HuntersStalking our dreamsSnaring our peace and restStealing the dreams of a lifetimeHopeless
HopelessWe toss and turnFighting them in our sleepAlone, we try to defeat themOur fears
Troll kinIn darkness comeTrait’rous beasts of the nightStealing the dreams of a lifetimeOur fears
Why don’t you give it a try? Try writing at least one reverse cinquain for each day of the week. They don’t take a lot of time, but they can be a bit tricky. Here’s one way you might want to approach them:Decide on a topic;Think of words, phrases, feelings and ideas that relate to your topic and work out the order you want to express those things in;Work out how to express each idea in the right number of syllables for the line it’s on;Write your cinquain;Check there are the right number of syllables on each line; andCentre the poem on your page. Or you can just write them as you go, letting inspiration take you where it will, but remember to check your syllables and centre your poem at the end.Enjoy!

Progress Report: Week 4, April 2014

You would have thought that, with two long weekends and a short work week, I would have gotten more writing done, but no. Instead, I completed one assignment and almost completed a second, and then I spent most of the week revising for another set of tests. On Saturday, I rewarded myself with a day of writing administration, trying to catch up on all those little tasks indies need to get done. Almost through; I have only got two collections to edit, format and upload, and two collections to finish, and then I go chasing up my writers to see where they are on their projects. You’d have thought one of us taking up a degree was bad enough, but we had to do it all together <sigh>. Who’da thought?
Anyway, no time for moaning. I’m still fighting off a cold and it’s way past naptime. Have a good week, all.OverviewNew words produced: 17,723Old words revised: 0Works completed: 1 (assignment)Works revised: 0Covers created: 3 (1 of 5 formats complete for each)Works published: 0Works submitted: 0Competitions Entered: 0Publishing TasksCreated 6 blog posts for this blog;Created 33 blog posts for the C.M. Simpson Publishing blog;Created 3 blog posts for the art and photography blog;Created 3 book covers
New ArrivalsNil new ideas written up for this week.

Progress Report: Week 3, April 2014

A week of recovering from being sick, and then studying to catch up - that was the week before last. This week was more study, an assignment and a half, and... you guessed it... more study. Next week, I have some tests. This week's progress report will be out shortly.
OverviewNew words produced: 2,840Old words revised: 2,274Works completed: 0Works revised: 0Covers created: 0Works published: 0Works submitted: 0Competitions Entered: 1Tier 1 Tasks
Annual 13: Added 2,274 wordsAnnual 14: Added 2,840 words
Tier 4 Tasks
ChapBook21A: Added 83 words;ShortStory270: Added 556 words;
Publishing Tasks
Created 1 blog posts for this blog;
New Arrivals

The following ideas arrived this week:

Chapbook21A: about a cute dog and a promise;ShortStory260—Thistledown’s Question: a piece of flash science fiction about a colony;ShortStory261—Pranksters: a piece of flash science fiction about another aspect of colony life;ShortStory262—Invader’s Demise: a piece of flash science fiction about colony life;ShortStory263—Lightning Shows a Crystalline Heart: a piece of flash science fiction about another world;ShortStory264—The Stormlight of Gradenbach: a piece of flash science fiction about industrial espionage;ShortStory265—Battle Encoded: a piece of flash science fiction about defending against an invasion;ShortStory266—Satushka and the Swarm: a piece of flash science fiction about another world;ShortStory267—Korran Flies: a piece of flash fantasy fiction about dragons;ShortStory268—Tears in the Night: a piece of flash science fiction crime;ShortStory269—Reeshak Retrieval: a piece of flash science fiction about farming on another world;ShortStory270: about a princess whose choices are limited;


The following ideas were rediscovered, edited and assigned a code in my writing register:

Poem342—A Housewife-Author in the Nineties: as per title;Poem343—Bard Song: a song about a song;Poem343—Honing the Art: about writing;Poem344—Hostage Drama: about a hostage drama on the news;Poem345—Judge Under Protection: inspired by a news report about a judge under police protection;Poem346—Many Hats, Many Faces: a contemplation of the different roles we play in life;Poem347—Nightmares: about nightmares;Poem348—Nightmares from Reality: about the origins of nightmares;Poem349—On Writing Poetry: as per title;Poem350—The News-Hour Threat: social comment on the news;Poem351—The Timor-Leste Question: a poem inspired by a news report about Timor-Leste in 1994;Poem352—Traffic Lights and Tram Stop: a poem inspired by the stupidity of humans at a tram stop;Poem353—Train Drivers: a poem inspired by listening to announcements at a station;Poem354—True Life and the Tram: a poem inspired by tram travel;Poem355—Word Play: a poem about the craft and inspiration of writing;Poem356—Word Weaver: a poem about a storyteller;Poem357—Writer’s Dilemma: a poem about being a writer;Poem358—Yesterday’s Poem: a comment on writing poetry to demand;

Australian Spiders: Orange-Legged Swift Spider (Supunna picta, family Corinnidae)

So, this 1-inch/3-centimetre long spider was sitting on my kitchen wall - probably trying to get out of the rain. It's not deadly, with a bite that can cause mild local pain, redness and swelling. I've also seen it called a 'bug-mimicking swift spider', 'wasp-mimicking spider', and 'tribal mask spider'.




When they move, they're rather difficult to photograph.



Sites used to find out what spider this was include:
http://www.sciencentre.qm.qld.gov.au/...

The Cinquain Challenge: Form 6—The Crown Cinquain

This week, we’re looking at yet another form of cinquain—the Crown Cinquain. Again, it uses either a Crapsey Form 1 or a Crapsey Form 2 as a base, but this time it has five cinquain verses linked together to form a single large poem that is 25-lines long.
For those of you who are new to this series, a cinquain is a five-line poem that has a set number of syllables (or word types) per line. Sometimes the title of a cinquain acts as a sixth line. Cinquains were invented by Adelaide Crapsey was an American poet who was inspired by the rules of Japanese poetry to create her own poetical form, the cinquain.
Here’s an example, inspired by thoughts of a magical world:
The feyGlittering brightForm gems on ancient treesBrightening the forest giantsGlowingShadowsFlee from their lightFlee from their laughter,The gleam of their smiles, their laughterTheir swordsThe woodsAre protectedDefended by fiercenessThat terrifies despite its sizeAn inchA footThree feet at mostCapricious, but loyalCaring for their homes, their treasuresTheir joysThey danceTo celebrateTo mark another dayTo mark the seasons, the solsticeFairies
If you tilt the poem on its side, you can see why it is called a crown.
Why don’t you give it a try? Try writing at least one reverse cinquain for each day of the week. They don’t take a lot of time, but they can be a bit tricky. Here’s one way you might want to approach them:Decide on a topic;Think of words, phrases, feelings and ideas that relate to your topic and work out the order you want to express those things in;Work out how to express each idea in the right number of syllables for the line it’s on;Write your cinquain;Check there are the right number of syllables on each line; andCentre the poem on your page. Or you can just write them as you go, letting inspiration take you where it will, but remember to check your syllables and centre your poem at the end.Enjoy!