2015-03-22 · 18:00

It’s Not What You Think

Since the beginning of the year I’ve been learning Welsh. It is slow progress but my aim is to be fluent in five years. I’ve started listing to Meinir Gwilym, a Welsh singer, to start to expose myself to the language.

My father introduced me to the work of Meinir Gwilym over a decade ago. It’s interesting listing to music in a language you don’t know well. I recognise a word or two here and there but mostly I’m left to guess what it all means.

One song, Cachu Ar y Walia, sounds like a typical Eurovision song. You know the type arms in the air waving from side-to-side.

Well, as you can see from the video, the actual translation is ‘There’s shit on the walls.’ Since ‘cachu’ hasn’t resisted in my mind as a swear word its easy to find myself muttering the song while at work. Fortunately I’m also rather self conscious so would never actually be singing above a whisper.

I think I once sang a Klingon drinking song while wiping tables.

Okay maybe more than once.

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2015-03-15 · 18:00

Mother’s Day

In the UK today is Mother’s Day.

Mother’s day is something of an ‘invented’ holiday. Like Valentine’s Day it no doubt has people who see it as overly commercialised and perhaps a little sappy. However just because something is recent isn’t any reason to devalue it

Naturally I’m writing this ahead of time. Today I will be at my parent’s house. My brother, his wife, and I will prepare a meal. It’s always a treat for mum when she doesn’t have to cook.

Mother’s Day and Father’s Day are important. It is a cliche but parents do so much for their children that it is important to acknowledge that. And its just nice to spend time with family sometimes.

This did get a little sappy didn’t it?

I hope that you have/have had a wonderful Mother’s day. Either as the mother or as the son or daughter. Do you have any family traditions on Mother’s Day?

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2015-03-08 · 18:00

Jo Graves 1916-2015

My grandmother died a fortnight ago and I wanted to remember her here. Her funeral was on Monday. It was a lovely service with family members talking of their memories of her. This is what I wrote:

Jo Graves 1916-2015It is hard to imagine the world of Grandma‘s birth. Ninety-eight years is an incredible expanse of time. Just thirteen years before she was born was the first powered flight – and just last year a probe landed on a comet millions of miles away.

​Grandma lived through two world wars.​ She told me once about rationing which included things like saucepans. Her mother was
able to get her a full set of pans when she married, ​by rejoining the queue several times in different disguises.

Once, when heading to grandma‘s house, we had terrible trouble locking mum and dad’s front door. It took us ages. Eventually the problem was revealed – grandma had been using the wrong key.

Many years ago, while on holiday in Bodmin, Mum and Grandma shared in a little conspiracy. Aware that ​Richard and I were not finding ​the walk much ​fun they told us that just around the corner there was a little tea room. ​Whereas, in fact, ​neither of them knew if there was one on that path​. Then, just round the corner, we found a lovely little place on a hill. We had ice creams.

Then, w​hen we got back to where we were staying, there was a red van waiting for us selling fish and chips.

 I think that ‘tea rooms’ sums up my memories of Grandma. Wherever we were going, from Tesco to one tourist attraction or another, finding the tea room was always top priority.
***
The Image used in this post was taken by my father, O-Dzin Tridral, you can find him at: https://www.polaroidblipfoto.com/tridral/entries

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2015-03-01 · 18:00

Make It Stop!

If you’ve ever seen an author interviewed I can almost guarantee one question they will be asked. They will be asked: ‘Where do you get your ideas?’

I can’t seem to find a source for this but one answer I’ve come across is: ‘The problem is not coming up with ideas – the problem is making them stop!’

While this is not a problem I’ve had in abundance it certainly something to which I can relate. With so much going on from articles, anecdotes, Facebook status,  and even mash-ups the possibilities are endless. That last one is of particular interest as a pitch for a new idea is ofter couched as a connection between two already awesome things: It’s Star Trek meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer – for instance.

When I see something interesting I bookmark it. I’ve got lots of bookmarked tabs with little snippets of things. Some might become short stories, some blog posts, and some as little more than just showing you that they exist.

Of course there are still times when the ideas don’t flow. This seems just ridiculous when you consider that the internet gives us access to the sum of all human knowledge.

Generally though ideas are easy. This brings me to another point. Ideas do not make a film (or novel ect)…

Some people seem to reckon that having an idea is doing most of the work. They tell you the idea and expect equal credit in making into an idea. They are wrong. They are very wrong.

While ideas for stories are always welcome they are a small part of the creative process. Take ER for instance. The premise of that show is simple. We can explore the doings of: doctors, nurses, administration staff, and the rest. We also have the opportunity to have episodic stories as patient’s lives intersect with the hospital.

To write the story…

I would need to know about: hearts, livers, kidneys, lungs, arms, legs, heads, brains, hospital procedures, legal procedures, administrative procedures, stethoscopes, recovery times, cancer, emphysema, measles, meningitis, hospital acronyms, and exactly what it would look like having your arm severed by a helicopter – must be why they call them choppers.

Yes, ideas are nice but they are only the beginning.

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2015-02-28 · 18:50

Leonard Nimoy 1931-2015

Leonard Nimoy died yesterday. I wanted in my own small way to pay tribute to him

I was born in 1987 so ‘my’ Star Trek series was Deep Space Nine. I have of course seen the original series too. Although it looks a little dated, both in terms of effects and cultural attitudes,  it still stands out as an excellent series.

I always felt that Mr. Spock was a, to use exactly the right word, fascinating character. That of course was a lot to do with Leonard Nimoy. He came up with the Vulcan salute and suggested the finger touching, in The Enterprise Incident, as an alien alternative to kissing. This gave Spock a wonderful mystique. He was a wonderful character. I wasn’t born until eighteen years after the cancellation of Star Trek but Spock is still more iconic to me than any other character in any of the series.

I never got to meet Leonard Nimoy and always hoped I would.

In interviews it is obvious that he was a very thoughtful man both as an actor and a human being. In one interview he describes hearing Spock in his head – helping him to come to better ways of dealing with a problem.

Nimoy was aware of his condition before his death.  Earlier this year he tweeted:

“I quit smoking 30 yrs ago. Not soon enough. I have COPD. Grandpa says, quit now!! LLAP”

I’d like to echo that. I know many people who smoke and it saddens me to see it. I’ve never smoked but I understand that quitting is a difficult thing to do.

Leonard  Nimoy did live a long and prosperous life but, like Andreas Katsulas, died sooner than he might have due to a smoking related condition.

Like Leonard Nimoy says: ‘Quit now.’

In closing it only remains for me to say: Live Long and Prosper.

….

 

And quit smoking.

 

Please.

 

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2015-02-22 · 18:00

Pass it Forward

On Friday the 13th of February I went to Lush.  20150218_204033I love going into Lush. They have lots of great products and their staff are always very knowledgeable. I will also admit the staff tend to be attractive.

Lush have good ethical policies. In writing this though I’ve realised that that is not unique as there is an EU ban on animal testing on cosmetics.  Nevertheless I really  enjoy Lush’s products and the mingling smells of the shop.

On this instance I was shopping for someone else. I assume you can work out, from the date, what I was shopping for. I bought a bath bomb, a floating flower, and a knot wrap for it all.

Now comes the time of embarrassment. I’d asked for the products to be wrapped up but when I got home I discovered something else in the bag. My first assumption was that the lady had only wrapped one of my items. After examining the knot wrap I discovered I’d been given something extra. Specifically it was a tisty-tosty. With it was the card you can see on the right. Like I said I’m embarrassed. I’d been given this extra something and my first thought was that some mistake had been made.

I must compliment the staff for their slight of hand. I didn’t notice her pick up the tisty-tosty or write her message to me on the back of the card. All I knew was that I’d asked not to have a bag and they gave me one anyway. I discovered this extra bomb when I was on the train.

With that sentence this post has been flagged by the FBI, CIA, MI5, and MDF or whoever.

The funny thing is that I’ve been living in a house without heating or hot water for the last few weeks. My dear old boiler died before Christmas and I’ve finally been able to get a new one. This meant no baths and no showers just a normal wash using a kettle. Well using water from a kettle actually.

So it was great timing to have a bomb for my bath.

I love the idea of pay (pass) it forward and should think of something to do. I did make a charitable donation afterwards, I was ambushed by one of the street people, so maybe that counts.

What’s your favorite Lush product?

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2015-02-15 · 18:00

Days

As you may have noticed there was no post last week. I wish I could give you some grand reason for this. There isn’t one. I could give you some excuses I suppose.

Last Saturday I went to my parents house for dinner, I finally had a Saturday evening off, and we played Bohnanza. This is a rather strange game with anthropomorphised beans. A good game though.

On Sunday we went for lunch. A proper Sunday lunch which I haven’t had in a very long time, with the exception of Christmas dinner I suppose, it was good food. Then in the evening I had to go into work for just an hour for a meeting – a pointless meeting – aren’t they always.

Those are the excuses but there is another story.

I had a bad day.

Looking back at my diary the bad day was actually Monday – I’d planned on the post being just a day late. I just didn’t feel like doing anything. Do you ever get days like that? I’m sure we all do. I slept for a long time and just watched Voyager.

Sometimes you just need to do nothing.

Speaking of my diary I’m still keeping up with it. The idea was to think of a happy thing for each day. I am doing that but also keeping a general record of what is going on. Some days my happiness for the day is seeing a particular person smile.

A smile is probably the first thing I notice about someone – a smile and eyes too.

***

Yesterday was Valentine’s Day. I like Valentine’s day. Some people see it as overly commercial and generally silly. They may be correct but I still like it. It is an opportunity to show someone you care. Maybe if you’re in a relationship it matters less but if not it seems like the perfect opportunity to approach someone. If nothing else its nice to be nice. I know nice is a bad word for a writer to use but sometimes it works.

People can go over board with romantic gestures – but why would anyone have a problem receiving a card or chocolates or something. I’m assuming of course that we’re talking about two people who get on and not Gul Dukat giving a dress to Major Kira or something.

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2015-02-01 · 23:22

Short Stories and Shoe Horns

I’ve written a story. That is a rather redundant statement as I am a writer but its true.

Specifically I’ve written a story for a competition and I’m not sure its any good.

I’ve used a character I’ve used before and written a story for the competition. The competition simple asked for a story based around a provided opening line. I may have shoe horned an existing idea into place. It kind of fits. The story works. i.e: the protagonist has a problem, she discusses that problem, and comes up with a solution.

That is the basis of almost any story. The problem is it covers everything from walking in to Mordor to walking to the shops to buy an apple…

…

Problem: I’m hungry

Solution: Get food.

Once upon a time I was hungry and their was no food in the house. I got up off my lazy butt and went to the shops. I bought food. Several of the chocolate bars did not survive the journey home.

…

That is a story outline but unless you’re having to battle a dragon to get to the shop its not going to do too well.

There is something to be said for submitting anything and every thing. The simple act of writing can be an idea generation machine. So maybe I will. The entrance fee is £3 and the prize is £250. Which isn’t too bad really. Is there a point submitting when there isn’t much of a chance of winning? I’m not sure I have an answer to that.

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2015-01-25 · 21:59

Cardiff Farmers Market

Today was a day off. Having Sunday’s off is still quite rare and I went out – that is also quite rare.

I went to Cardiff Farmers Market. Its well wroth a look if you’re ever in Cardiff. I had a lovely burger and some excellent onion bhajis from Kimi Catering.

I met my parents at the market and afterwards we walked down to the bay.

Sometimes its nice to do simple things – like this post – its also nice to relax.

Only eighty-nine words this week but more coming soon.

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2015-01-18 · 18:00

It’s Time for Plan B

The other day I downloaded Scrivener. Scrivener is creative writing software. It is designed to bring a story all the way from idea to finished product. Its early days yet but I have high hopes that this will be useful.

The main feature I’ve used thus far is the cork board. Essential you write ideas in little boxes, these could be paragraph or chapter summaries, to get the overview of the story. You can then rearrange them to get a clear idea of the story in a simple form. This is invaluable if writing a novel as its easy to get lost in the hundreds of pages a novel can be.

Scrivener offers a 30 day free trial. What is great about this is that it is a true thirty days. i.e it’s thirty days of actual use so if you used it once a week it will last 30 weeks.

I should declare that this isn’t sponsored. There are many other creative writing programs out there. You could probably get more or less the same effect with a spreadsheet. Though a spreadsheet is not designed with this idea in mind.

I have no idea how many restarts I’ve had of my novel. It has been time for plan B for a long time. Time to plan and write the novel out in two hundred sentences before making it a 100,000 words or so. I used to think planning was boring – maybe it is – its also essential.

___

O’Neill:”It’s time for plan B.”
Carter: “We have a plan B?”
O’Neill: “No, but it’s time for one.”

Stargate SG-1 – Orpheus.

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