It has been over a week since my last post. As you’ve probably guessed this is my excuses post. This time I at least have a bit more of an excuse than usual. I now have an improved situation at work. That is rather an archaic term isn’t it? Well I’ve been watching the series Dickensian – as such I may have taken on the lexicon of the series.
I can’t be the only one that this happens to. If its Dickens then I might speak in this fashion, if its TNG then I’ll tell people to make it so, and if it’s Stargate SG-1 I’ll tell them ‘You have a go.’
If I ever become a manager I’d probably annoy everyone – I’d probably end up speaking like Captain Picard, or General Hammond, though to look like them I’d need to loose a lot of hair.
I am now full time and so have less time to write. Hopefully I also have less time to get my flat in to a mess. (That statement might hold more water if I wasn’t sitting in a messy living room from sorting 28 years worth of accumulated papers)
I do have two blog posts in draft. I have other, non-blog related, drafts too. It is the nature of being a writer which is why I tell you to avoid it.
Well not really. I talked before about why I write. And if it is a compulsion for you as it is for me then not doing it is impossible.
More posts coming soon.
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I just wanted to say that I have checked this post. I really have. Unfortunately my particular combination of dyslexia and dyspraxia makes it really hard for me to spot typos. Please enjoy and I’ll try not to make too many errors.
For me, in those seventeen days, I have utterly failed to go to the gym. So that’s one thing that hasn’t changed.
Writing though is going well. My long worked on novel is finally all coming together. The key, it seems, was to have a narrator. She is able to pull the threads together and tell the story. Plus she can act as an author surrogate and speak in a more colloquial fashion.
Today is Sunday and I have the day off. Outside my window it’s so misty I can hardly see the tops of the mountains. It may be 1339 here but I haven’t been up long. Last night I didn’t sleep well and on waking it took a while to get out of bed.
This is ramble in case you hadn’t noticed.
I’ve set myself the task of reading 52 books this year. So far I’ve read: Gaslight Carnival, The Hobbit, and The Five Orange Pips. The Hobbit I actually listened to and the other two are short stories but I’m still counting them. 52 books should be doable.
The version of The Hobbit I listened to was read by Rob Inglis and it was excellent. I remember being bored by the book when I was younger but this time it was very good.
I’m keeping up with leaning Welsh though I’m not sure how much of it is sinking in. I can’t write it here as I only know how to say it. Also if I can’t handle English gamma and spelling do you really think I could handle it for Welsh?
Yesterday I didn’t leave the flat, and may not again today, that’s okay though. I will create worlds, play Mario Kart, and try and tidy up a bit.
This is a strange post I know. I’d make it a poem if I knew how. Maybe that is something to work on.
I received notification of not having won a short story competition the other day. It’s the taking part that counts though. Someone read it which is good. It means I have something to submit to another magazine.
Hope your year is going well and I’ll be back soon.
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I just wanted to say that I have checked this post. I really have. Unfortunately my particular combination of dyslexia and dyspraxia makes it really hard for me to spot typos. Please enjoy and I’ll try not to make too many errors.
Alan Rickman died yesterday. I wanted to say a few words here in tribute to him.
It is the role of Severus Snape that I know him for most. He was fantastic in all eight of the Harry Potter films. I would also like to mention Alexander Dane – Galaxy Quest is one of my favorite films.
Rickman was one of those actors with a wonderfully distinctive voice. We’ll be able to hear it again when his final film, Alice Through the Looking Glass, is released in May.
There isn’t really much else to say…
By Grabthar’s Hammer, you shall be avenged remembered!
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I just wanted to say that I have checked this post. I really have. Unfortunately my particular combination of dyslexia and dyspraxia makes it really hard for me to spot typos. Please enjoy and I’ll try not to make too many errors.
This little fella sits atop my monitor. It came from an event at the RWCMD in which I discussed my writing goals. While I might dream of being a writer for Doctor Who, if I could only get my script beaten into shape, I set a more realistic goal of earning a living by writing by 2020.
As you can see this is the classic five year plan. In five years Captain Kirk set of to explore the galaxy – I am one year into this, well almost, and have made no progress.
I do think I’m generally happier though – so that is at least something.
I live alone and could be said to be the classic single man. Basically my flat can often be a mess. I maintain it’s the goblins but nobody believes me. I’ve been off work this week and the flat is looking good – even good enough for mum to come round.
With a tidy flat it’s a little easier to focus on writing. Otherwise I end up looking at the disaster area of the kitchen and have to clean all day. So yes this will be the year where things happen.
If you’ve found this blog interesting please tell your friends. I really want to try and grow it – and if you’re a blogger who has managed to grow yours I’d love any quick tips you may have in how to bring more people here.
Thank you for reading.
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I just wanted to say that I have checked this post. I really have. Unfortunately my particular combination of dyslexia and dyspraxia makes it really hard for me to spot typos. Please enjoy and I’ll try not to make too many errors.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is the second book in the series. This post is a little overdue, I finished reading it back in November, but here it is finally…
Seven things about Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.
Imagine what people in our world would do with this capability. Actually don’t because I’m going to tell you and its… disturbing.
This comes to mind…
You wouldn’t need an invasive paparazzi trying to snap nude shots. Instead they’d just try and get hold of a few hairs, make up the potion, make some poor schlub in the office drink it, and then take photographs of them.
Not to mention what the porn industry would do. They’d acquire, which covers stealing or buying, hairs from celebrities and make sex tapes.
Now we know Hermione is an exceptional witch – but if the best at Hogwarts can make a successful polyjuice potion what does that mean for later life in the wizerding world.
I can imagine people giving gifts of their hair. You want to see someone naked? Well if you ask them nicely maybe they’ll give you a few hairs…
Have I thought too much about this? Quite possibly. And this is only covering Rule 34.
How would you guard against Polyjuice in banks and other secure places?
It is things like this that can be very interesting when reading a book or watching a film. The thinking of ‘if this then that’ – it can be easily missed. What I’m saying is that some things go hand in hand. Every technology we have has probably been misused at some point. It would surely be the same for magical spells. They are still human after all.
Two
Hogwarts Continues to be a Death Trap
I know I said this before but it needs repeating. In this book we have a massive snake in the castle!
This time its more forgivable, as nobody ‘good’ has brought this to the school. Nevertheless if I was a parent of a Hogwarts student I’d be considering another school.
Remember at the end of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone it is mentioned that the whole school knows about the incident with the stone – for some reason the risks at Hogwarts are accepted by everyone.
It should be obvious to everyone that Lockhart is an idiot. Okay maybe not everyone but certainly to Dumbledore.
The fact that Dumbledore allows Lockhart to teach at Hogwarts almost makes you believe that he must have lost a bet or something.
Answers on a postcard please.
Four
How big are the Hogwart’s Pipes?
This might be down to how it was shown in the film but the idea that the snake travels through the school through the pipes has always bothered me. The snake looks far too big, to me at least, to be getting around through the pipes.
Five
Was the Chamber too big?
This chamber has remained hidden for over a thousand years. I’m not really sure how. How would it stay hidden?
I know that comparing technology and magic doesn’t really work but again I’m forced to wonder if technology could have found it. That’s why I wonder if it was too big. A smaller space could’ve been missed but missing such a large space seems a little strange.
Six
Magical Limitations
“Mr Weasley took Harry’s glasses, gave them a tap of his wand and returned them, good as new.” [Loc 720 – Kindle Edition]
Just think for a few seconds what that spell is doing. The smashed glass reconnecting. Couldn’t Harry have the magical equivalent of contact lenses? That’s got to be easier than some of the tings that magic does in these books – doesn’t it?
Seven
The Floo Network and Magical Mishaps?
This one is admittedly a little subjective and I maybe clutching at straws. Sometimes clutching at straws is interesting – with the exception of when you’re cleaning out the Guinea pig cage.
Harry has never used the Floo network before. He’s naturally scared and misspeaks so he ends up in Borgin and Burkes – [To conveniently overhear something important but that’s another matter.] and emerges bruised. Now as I’m writing this I’m actually reconsidering this point. This could be a case of GIGO but it seems strange to me that this could happen. That a mispronunciation could lead to injury. At least google asks you ‘Did you mean…? It makes me wonder what would happy if they’d been going to the leisure centre and had had an American visitor. The word is pronounced differently in America – in British English it rhymes with pleasure.
Since magic doesn’t exist it is up to each author to determine how it works in their universe. In Harry Potter, as said above in point six, it seems to have strange limitations. It makes me wonder how new spells are devised and developed. Technology is the only reasonable parallel we have – which is obviously not perfect.
Maybe magic isn’t that different from technology. Things can go wrong no matter who’s at the controls, or saying the spell, and sometimes strange things happen.
I once watched a DVD where the blue and red had been switched, it took a while to notice, and we all know about how to fix an N64 carriage.
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I just wanted to say that I have checked this post. I really have. Unfortunately my particular combination of dyslexia and dyspraxia makes it really hard for me to spot typos. Please enjoy and I’ll try not to make too many errors.
That is rather an archaic term isn’t it? Well I’ve been watching the series Dickensian – as such I may have taken on the lexicon of the series.
Unstable Orbit 