12 October
There’s an old saying that goes along the lines of there being a book in
every one of us. That may be so, but there isn’t a writer in every one of us,
or is there? Perhaps some folks just don’t think about becoming a writer;
perhaps others think they couldn’t be a writer. There may be those who would
love to try it but are afraid of rejection ridicule, or perhaps not being good
enough to be compared to likes of the current top line writers. I felt a bit of
that a couple of years ago over my Fred Copper books. They are set in Cambridge;
my fear was that they would be judged as just being cheap copies of the Morse
books that are set in Oxford. I soon overcame that one when Simon Whaley put my
mind at ease when I ask him about it, so thanks Simon.
On the opposite end of the scale there are others who think writing is easy,
that they could bang out a new book every year. What these folks don’t realise
is the actual amount of work involved in produce each book, let alone one a
year. In a way, they are right, it can be easy to write. I wonder how many
manage to finish NANOWRIMO every November, and that is just 50,00 words in 30
days, just shy of 1700 words a day. What isn’t easy is the editing, the proof reading
and once published the need to market your work, both to an agent or a publisher.
That is when the hard work begins.
An easier way might be to self-publish. However, there are some serious
scams out there waiting to catch out unwary writers. There’s also the ‘vanity
publishers’ who promise is the world, charge the earth for it and do nothing or
next to nothing for it. So then, I have begun my subscription to Writing Magazine again and the first
copy carries the story of Adam Croft, a self-taught writer-self publisher who
has sold £1millions worth books. Now he is a man I want to read about and learn
from.
If at any time you meet someone who claims to be a writer but then says
they do it because they love writing and are not worried about making it to the
top, then they are telling porkies. We all secretly hope to become as well known
as the current top list of writers. However, to get there you need and enormous
amount of luck, as well as a book that a publisher is will to take a chance on and
run with. The chances of that happening when you are pounding out a new one
very twelve months, only to find out later that they are all very similar.
That is something I have realised with my writing I’m sad to say, at
least, in one aspect. I made a note about it last week to make sure I change
one part of the story line in Bristol
Fashion. I hope to do that later, if I can think up a way of getting the story
back on track. I have two ideas spinning at the back of mind, so I should be
able to do so. And so it goes on …
Right now I’m not at all happy with the new Fred Copper I’m part way
through. It feels weak to me, and if I feel that, how what will others thing of
it? That one needs a through re-write I’m afraid. There are elements of it that
are fine and will remain in the re-write, but there’s a lot of crap in there
too. Even when I take the crap out, they won’t be ditched, oh no, they will be
pasted into a new document where they will sit and wait for a more suitable
place for them.
Yesterday I had my B12 and Flu jab. Our GP is now giving out a survey
form for us to fill out a week after having the flu jab. It’s about any side affects
you might fell after getting it, although the nurse was pretty quick to add
that they were not expecting anyone to have them.
So, today’s photo …
It’s not all boy’s toys.
Today’s funny …
Customer: Could I have a puppy
for my son please?
Pet Shop Assistant: Sorry sir, we don't do swops.
11 October
Our central heating is on, or at least it is come 8pm. We don’t actually
need it for the living room seeing as it’s a steady 25o, but for the
bedroom where last night it was down to 20o, and very chilly it felt
too. We turn it down when we got through though, but this morning the radiator
was warm when we got up. Anyway, I saw 3am before I dropped off, well, that was
the time I last remember looking at the clock; while waiting I had to get up to
pee twice. For some reason I was back in the army again, in the guards this
time.
The RSM was doing a walk round inspection while I was bulling boots, and
boy did they need some work. So there I was doing my boots and we heard a
helicopter flying around. We went to have a look and the cameras on the chopper
were pointing away from towards a road where thousands of guards in full dress
uniform were forming up for a parade. By which time I needed to pee again, but
now there was queue outside all the toilets, even those in the barracks. I was
getting really desperate at that point, which was when I woke up – needing to
pee badly. Me n me dreams … … …
Going to be and getting up is now taking me ages these days, or at least,
that’s how it feels. Twice a day I have to rub double base gel into my feet.
From the time get up to go through it takes me ten minutes to get into bed,
simple because of that gel I have to use. Getting up is just as bad, another ten
minutes, including going for a pee. That’s 20 minutes gone every day, and for
what? Not listening to people when they told me I needed to lose weight, that’s
what!
Did you see the news yesterday about one section of the religion of peace
attacking another section while they attended a funeral? If they are that to
each other, what chance does the West have of living in peace with them?
Remember Lawrence of Arabia? His main task was to bring the warring tribes of Arabs
together to help in the fight against the Turks. The region is at war with itself,
only this time its along interpretation of the Koran and Islam. One thing they
all seem to be agreed on though, is a hatred of all things Western, even if
they do like our weapons systems.
We have been working our way through our Game of Thrones DVDs again, and it occurred to me just how good
looking those child actors are. Thinking about it I came to realise that
Hollywood rarely chooses ugly or really fat kids unless the script calls for
one. So it’s not just the modelling industry that pushes a particular body image,
Hollywood has been doing it for years before the modelling agencies began.
It’s not just with the kids though is it? Look at the adult actors and
see how they are shown as perfect people. There’s been a few acceptations, Leo
McKern, Richard Griffiths are two such. But do you remember Broderick Crawford
in his TV cop show Highway Patrol? Perfection doesn’t always get the parts,
think of Jaws and his girls friend in Moonraker? The play on that is the
difference between the tall guy and small girl. It worked though, so why don’t
we see more non-perfect, or perhaps I should say, normal people in films and
telly shows? It’s all down to money really, no matter how you cut it. The money
men want pretty and won’t pay for ugly, at least not these day.
Today’s photo then …
Rhino-plated butt.
Today’s funny …
There's this drunk guy who
decides that he wants to go fishing. He packs up all his tackle and sets out in
search of a suitable spot.
Eventually, he stumbles across a huge area of ice and decides that he'll give
it a go. Taking out a saw from his tackle box, he starts to saw a whole.
Suddenly, a loud voice booms out at him, "There's no fish in here."
The drunk looks all around him but can't see anyone. He decides to ignore the
voice and carries on sawing.
Again, the voice booms out, "I've told you once, there's no fish in
here!" He looks up again but there's still no sign of anyone so he returns
to his task.
"Stop it!" shouts the now very angry sounding voice, "You'd
better pack up your stuff and get out of here or there'll be trouble."
"Who are you" shouts the drunk guy, "you don't scare me!"
"Look," replies the voice, "I'm the manager of this Ice
Rink!"
10 October
I’ve made a booboo again; my B12 injection is due on the 12th and
I forgot to book it until this morning. It seems we are not to let it go over
the due date so I’m now getting it done tomorrow at 5.15pm tomorrow, I didn’t
fancy 8.15 am at all. Next bookable GP appointment is the 24th, good
job I’m not dying ten hey. In truth though, we are happy with the service we
get there overall, even if I do moan and chunter about it.
Short story writing is something that I read about quite often in how-to
articles, which is fine for writers of short stories, however, I don’t write
short stories. Well, I have written one and it’s sat on me hard drive doing
nothing. Sometime ago I mentioned that I had registered for a free OU course, Start Writing Fiction, today is the
start of week 2, and so far, it’s not a bad course at all. In one section it I
was reading comments from other learners and one of them was on about distractions.
Oh yes, I know all about those, so I pointed out that I could have been actually
writing instead of reading that course.
Now then, extend that a wee bit please, I could be writing instead of
doing this, but there again, this is writing isn’t it? I know full well that if
I stopped this and turned to Bristol
Fashion instead of this, I would guilty for leaving it. When I watch telly,
I think about the reading I could be doing, or the writing I could be doing …
and so on. It’s all called procrastination. What I don’t want to do is to pick
up yet another excuse to get on with my novel writing, and that is why I don’t
write short stories my friends.
Last night I began reading the last Peter James book I bought, and the
last one of his I needed to complete his list. It’s called Billionaire. So far we have a horrendous car smash on the M4 caused
by a Porsche driver who is also an ex-bankrupted City banker; he is now back on
top of his game, but is ordered to sell all his clients stocks of gold between
certain times. There’s a gun boat on patrol in the Persian Gulf which finds a dhow
with four dead Israeli sailors on it, along with 15 nuclear mines ready to
plant.
This is James’s third novel and is did about as well as his first two,
his words, not mine. James claims it’s all down to timing really, it wasn’t the
right time for those books to sell. I have a feeling Billionaire might actually be right one time now. We have anger
over greedy bankers that haven’t been addressed yet, and the current problems
within the Gulf regions over the religion of peace. Yes, Mr James, give this
one a big push right now.
I wonder how many Brits actually sat up and watched the Punch and Judy
show on telly at 1am this morning. I didn’t, life’s far too short for that and
I needed my sleep to be write this morning. It seems that the GOP are at long
last realising that they have made a mistake in choice of candidate for living
in the big white house. It seems they are in as much turmoil and out own Labour
Party, even if they are on the opposite ends of the political spectrum. I
couldn’t make this stuff for one of novels folks, I really couldn’t.
Today’s photo …
I love this flower.
Today’s funny …
How many politically correct
people does it take to change a light bulb?
None. "Why should we impose our values on the light bulb? If it wishes to
be a light bulb of no light, we should respect its uniqueness and
individuality."
9 October
One of the totally pointless debates That I have heard over the years is
the one as to which sense I would miss the most, deafness or sightless. It’s
one of those silly things that crop up every so often that really do make me
wonder about the stability of questioner. Last night it came to me again in Writing Mag from of a letter penned by a
deaf writer. The writer explained how cut off she is, how hard it is doing
research for her work, of her frustration at times when she is spoken to and can’t
reply properly.
It took me back to 1996 and the OU summer School I did for An Arts Foundation Course. Our group had
both a deaf man, Arthur and a recently blind man, David. Of the two it was
Arthur I felt most sorry for. Even in the quite of a class room he had great
difficult in hearing what was being said. When we got to the bar the noise
level was so high he was really struggling with it. I was too so I could see
his point.
In her conclusion then, the letter writer said that following the advice we
all receive that we should write about what we know, she turned to her deafness
and now writes about her deafness, in both fact and fiction. Well done her, I thought, is there something in there for me to write
about? I am sure there is and I will follow it up later. But hang on a sec …
What about the ‘glass half full, half empty viewpoint? For me it all
depends on whether you trying to fill or empty the damned glass. However, what
about the usual why of asking that question and link to a disability in some
way? Now there’s another novel way to follow up on later. Of course, there’s
nothing new it, there’s never anything new in writing.
Robert Galbriath (JK Rowling) writes about his hero Cormoran Strike, an
ex-RMP officer who lost part of his leg in action in Afghanistan. What makes it
new the way Strike is drawn and how he gets on his new life as a private
detective. For me Strike is the sort of guy who is always looking to keep his
pint of Doombar full while he enjoys drinking it. That’s fine, but mine would
be a pint of Pedigree, not Doombar, not that I drink any booze these days.
Going back to that summer school (now called residential schools – ye gods,
more PC crap!), Arthur was certainly feeling isolated while David was the centre
of attraction for the ladies in the group. That self-same isolation effects so
many disabled people who are not able to join in with the normality life around
them but continue to keep trying.
At that point Team GB return home with the largest number of medals from
the Paralympics it has ever won, and thoughtless people, mainly younger people
I hasten to add, point to their success and say that if they can do why can’t
they do the same. They ignore that the person they are speaking to is a 50-year-old
who lost both legs in a car smash when a drunk driver crossed the double white lines
on a tight left hand bend. Not that they would know that, or even take the
trouble to find out. All they are concerned about is their pointing out that
the young Olympians can do it, why can’t you.
Today’s photo …
An example of disability isolation.
Today’s funny …
Knock, Knock. Who's there?
Carrie.
Carrie who?
Carrie me home please, I'm very tired.
8 October
Another health warning yesterday on Facebook. It won’t be long before
there will be another warning about waking up in the morning. This latest one
was from The Diabetes Mag, another group I’ve been following. This one is that
drinking fluorinated water has been linked by maths to a risk if diabetes. I
have a feeling that I will be unfollowing that group before long. The idea is
find support and information, not to be concerned as to ‘what now’ every time
you see one of their posts.
Not that I take all these things seriously anyway, I wouldn’t get up at
all if I did. The old mad-cow disease one frightened the population to death,
and for what? Nowhere near the figures predicted to get CJD from eating beef
seem to have done so. As for us, we weren’t eating all much beef anyway, and
still aren’t really, to concern us. I have a vague theory that all these meaty
warnings come from the veggie industry in the hope that we will all become vegetarians.
Can’t see it winning though. Enough of that lot …
We Brits are never satisfied with the weather are we? When it’s turned
chilly come evening time we say we’ll leave getting the stuff out of the car
until tomorrow when its warmer. When it’s warmer we say we’ll leave it until
the sun goes down when its cooler. For Jan and me it usually means it gets left
until we remember again, or find we need what we were going to bring in from
the car. There is a reason for this little side-track …
Streetlife is another social media I read these days. One day earlier
this week one I read a request from a member asking for pointers on carrying
her camera. The lady’s problem is that due to ill health she can’t carry
anything around her neck, so she asked if there was another way of doing so. I
found this on Amazon … https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fotga-holdster-Shoulder-Adjustable-Panasonic/dp/B00UXA3BJO/ref=sr_1_4?s=electronics-accessories&ie=UTF8&qid=1475920330&sr=1-4&keywords=shoulder+harness+for+cameras The lady was very pleased with it and has
order one. However …
That got me think about our binos seeing we haven’t used them so far this
year. So we’ve hunted the flat out and can’t find them, Jan even went out to the
car and looked in there, no binos. Then it struck me that there is extra
storage under the boot floor, somewhere Jan didn’t think to look, Now we are
waiting to the sun to come and raise the temp… Actually, we’re not doing that
at all, one of us will go out later and have a look. The reason I was thinking
about them is that we have at least one spare shoulder harness, cos I’m not keep
on using one.
I thought that we night be able to give the lady the spare one. Ah well,
too late now. The thing is, if I can encourage anyone to go out and take
photos, I will do. I was sat in in a hide at Cley in Norfolk one day and there
was a young lad and his mum sat beside me and he was asking me what sort of
birds were out in front of us. Of course I helped him., I’m not so sure I would
have done if his mum wasn’t there though. Anyway, we had just bought ourselves two
new field guides, so I gave the mum the old one so she could give it to the
lad. He was ecstatic, and another young birder joins the clan. Why not? Now harm
was there.
Today’s photo …
A couple of wigeon.
Today’s funny …
What award does the dentist of
the year get?
A little plaque.
7 October
There used to be a very tall tree out back here. Tree surgeons are there
again this morning working on it, that’s three days of work to get the thing
down. From the look of it in leaf, it was a magnificent tree. However, the council
‘tree officer’ (dear oh dear oh dear …) said it was dead in the middle of the
trunk and may be likely to topple at any time. It was same story with the
larger conifer that was near to it. Peace will come to where we again in a
short while once they have finished and cleared away.
That free writing course from the OU is working out quite well, even if
so far I already do what they recommend. I’m not overly concerned by that
seeing that most OU courses start of easy but become harder as they go on. It’s
clear from the comments made so far on each section that I am not the only
current writer doing the course. We are not however, allowed to post links to
own work. I was going say, ‘Sadly,’ but as it is I have enough reading to keep
me going for months ahead. Speaking of which …
For Reading Addicts (http://forreadingaddicts.co.uk/
their home page), on FaceBook is one of the nicer, friendlier little groups on
there. They regularly post book reviews from group members, me included, in
fact I penned quite a few of them. I do read them all and some of them recommend
books I would like to have a read of, but as I have just said, I months’ worth,
if not years’ worth of reading sitting there waiting as it is.
So the questions coming to mind are, ‘Where shall I store them, when
shall get to read them?’ In paperback I’ve reading HP5, next will be Billionaire by Peter James, a book I
bought less than a month ago while at the market. That means that the Peter
Boyd book that has been at the bottom of my TBR list for years now, is put back
even further. There 37 books in that part of the pile beside my bed, and there’s
even more of the bookcases. Then of course there a new books released by my
favourite writers too.
My kindle app on me Samsung tablet is in the same sorry state I’m afraid.
I’m currently reading Synchronicity War 3,
next up will be #3 of the Spartacus books by fellow Dorktowner Robert
Southworth. That means that the others are being pushed further down the line. On
the carousel there are around 60+, in the library there are more than I can
count. On top of that there are two monthly mags I have on subscription, as
well as Which? and one from the
British heart foundation that comes through every so often. Throw in all I do
here on-line, perhaps you can see I have enough to read as it is. And don’t
forget my writing time too … … …
And so to a photo …
A mess of flowers.
Today’s funny …
An idiot took a photograph of his
son to the photo store. 'I wonder,' he said, 'could you enlarge this for me?'
'Yes, certainly,' the assistant replied. 'And would it be possible for you to
take his hat off for me?' 'Well, I'm sure we could do something. Yes, we could
touch it up for you.' 'Oh, that's fine.' 'Tell me,' said the assistant, 'which
side does your son part his hair?'
The idiot smiled. 'Oh, come on now. You'll see that when you take his hat off.'
6 October
A new law comes into effect this morning, meaning that the bain of
motorway driving, middle lane hoggers can now expect a £100 fine and three
points of their licence. Sounds great he? But hold on there folks, there are so
few cops on the motorways these, mainly down to huge budget cuts, meaning
motorway cops have been moved to other tasks. So who will police this new law? While
talking about mobile phone use and while driving, West Midlands police said
that the same cuts have meant there are fewer cops to be deploy. That means
that those caught on that one alone has dropped drastically. How can we seriously
expect this new one to be any different? We can’t. And don’t expect things to
get any easier now that Trust me May is the prime muppet, it won’t.
We are sat waiting for the bailiffs to show up at Sam’s door and throw
them out on the streets. Once that happens the council can help them. The main
problem is to arrange to get the three kids into school. Kile goes to Etone,
around a half mile walk from here; Billy goes to one Hartshil, while Vicky goes
to one in Camphill. We could help out with Kile but apparently that is not
allowed because they have to remain together to qualify for a three bedroom
house.
Their first move will be into B&B somewhere, but that can be anywhere
at all. From there they may be moved to anywhere they can get for them. A woman
in London was offered a place in Brum, with no account being taken of the kids
schooling needs. In theory they could refuse what is offered. In practice,
refusal would put them at the bottom of the list again. That is why so many
people are accepting properties that are far below standards for a healthy family
life.
No thought is given for the local situation either. That property in Brum
for instance; why wasn’t snapped up by the local housing office for a local
family? By taking it they would have prevented a local family from having it.
In that case the woman did refuse the offer, not just because of her child’s
schooling issue, it would have meant giving up her job. See, there’s no
planning behind these things. The government says, ‘Do this,’ and the
departments have to get and do it, no matter what effect it has on its clients.
And it doesn’t end there folks, oh no. If she had accepted the house and
in doing so voluntary left her job, then she would class as refusing to work
and would be sanctioned, which means no benefit of any kind for around six
weeks. How can that be fair? What was Trust Me May warbling about in Brum
yesterday? Something about a Britain for everyone? All well and good, but hang
on, there’s a condition attached to it.
It will be a Britain for everyone if they are happy to work hard. So what
happens to those who can’t work for various reasons? What about pensioners who
have already worked hard and are now living on the same promise made years ago,
a promise that is now being broken and toss aside. Don’t believe anything they
say my friends, not a bloody word of it!
Sadly though, there is no-one suitable to replace the tories is there?
Liberals paid the price for their betray of the public by forming a government
with Daft Dave. Labour is yet again tearing itself apart, just as in the 1980s.
It will be years before they are ready to take part again. None of the minor parties
are large enough to make inroads at all, and we, the long suffering people of
Britain, will have to grin and bare it as usual.
Today’s photo …
Muppet Central.
Today’s funny …
What do you call a very
intelligent monster?
Frank Einstein.
