Former Ramblings of an Insane, Lesbian, Book Writing Crip
Okay, just so I understand it too:
Now, we all understand? I think even I do. A little.
I decided I needed to back up and do some ‘world building’ of BG3, formerly known as BG2. (just go with it, a’right??)
The good news is that I will be using most of what I’ve already done for the other BGs. The town and community is still the same, as are some of the characters.
The bad news is that I am not sure just what to research and/or record. I did the MCs’ family background and physical characteristics. Their careers are rather cut and dry so nothing to really do there. If I had an actual PLOT I might know more about where it is going.
With BG1, I came up with a detailed list of fix-it things for Kelly to do. Maybe I need a detailed list of auto stuff for Harri to do. Not too difficult, would also provide good background for some of the scenes.
I am going to avoid them going out to dinner too often, which is one of the few things about BG1 that bothers me. They are always eating! The Redwall (by Brian Jacques) books seem to be doing the same, with descriptions of their foods in great detail, much to the reader’s dietary dismay. I was always hungry after reading a few chapters…
Where was I? Yes, world building. Maybe instead of world build, I need to do some plot build. Nah, that’d not make much sense, now would it??
From Everyday Mind – 366 Reflections on the Buddhist Path
“Beings are owners of their actions…heirs of their actions; they originate from their actions, are bound to their actions, have their actions as their refuge. It is action that distinguishes beings as inferior and superior.”
– Culakammavibhanga Sutta, in The Middle Length Discourse of the Buddah, trans. by Bhikkhu Bodhi
Or, as a professor I once knew said: “Behavior is action. Since we are always in action, therefore we are always behaving”.
What would it be like
never knowing the feeling
of brain matter pounding on bone?
rhythm of heart beat
wanting out
or wanting in?
I’d use a hammer to let it out
if I thought it would leave
I’d use a saw to let it in
if I thought it would be fix it
How much does it take
until the brain explodes?
How much does it take
before the vessels just pop
like too tight balloons?
Sounds gross, doesn’t it?
Blood and brains and muscles too tight
combine to stop my world.
I only wanted to read a book.
I only wanted to bend my head.
I only wanted to sleep.
Now I can do none of them.
Now I can do nothing
But look for the hammer
And sharpen the saw.
Authorities Overwhelmed
In an effort to overcome the continuing criticism that he is unsupportive and in fact dismissive of Israel, one of America’s closest allies today, President Bush, announced that he is converting to Judaism in the hope that this will demonstrate his affinity and empathy with the Israeli people.
Authorities have been unable to handle the millions of applicants who volunteered to be the mohel.
(mohel)
…it is not very quiet out there.
Cassini, the craft circling Saturn, has recorded some of the many sounds Saturn produces using the Radio and Plasma Wave Science (RPWS) instrument onboard.
The eerie sounds recording is especially interesting.
I got these links from a news article from Science Daily.
Another site, Space Weather Sounds, has a vast selection of sounds, mostly from auroras.
As I look over the NASA site, which is vast by the way, I found myself thinking of fictional space flight. How in Science Fiction and some Fantasy space travel is commonplace. We writers are free to make accidents and tragedies a part of the past.
For the most part, not many SF worlds have rockets or space ships that actually take off from ground. Most of them are docked in space and travelers and cargo are taken there by shuttle craft. Few ever crash or fail or have accidents.
That may be a good thing. It leads the reader into the belief that someday it will all be safe and fail-proof. That space travel is within reach. That people can get on board a shuttle craft and take off from the ground, going out into space to board a craft that can take them across the galaxy. Getting on board a shuttle craft is just as boring and allegedly simple as boarding an airplane today.
Commercial space flights are sooner than we thought. Passengers won’t go anywhere, just up and back down. But thousands, including myself, would pay a lot of money just for that. As we became civilized, our industrial lights blocked out more and more of the stars. I want to see them, without the artificial lighting. I want to see what our ancestors saw.
Sometimes a novel will have some poor fellow who is making their first flight. They almost always get sick. Or get headaches.
Space Shuttle Discovery successfully launched from the pad in Florida.
I watched as the air filled with a light orange cloud and the vehicle was freed from the ground, fighting gravity.
I watched as the two booster rockets successfully detached, swinging away in unison, so perfect and clean.
I watched as the speedometer reached an astonishing 17,000 miles per hour and the tank seperated – successfully. For the first time, we could see it detach, see the underbelly of Discovery slide away. It was beautiful. It was frightening.
The crew of Discovery were most likely scared shitless yet thrilled beyond compare. I am sure that the names of the Columbia crew were filtering through their minds, as they were so many others, including my own. I am also sure that the crew of the Challenger were also on their minds, the crew that never even made it to orbit.
The Discovery crew includes:
The Columbia crew of STS-107 were:
The Challenger crew of STS-51L were:
The irony is: Shuttle Discovery was also the first orbiter to fly after the Challenger accident.
112 missions have been flown since the Shuttle Program began. There have been 5 Shuttles, also known as Orbiters, used in those flights. The Enterprise was for test vehicle purposes only and was never designed to enter space.
Columbia – The first shuttle into space in April 1981, the Columbia flew 28 missions before she and her crew were lost during re-entry on January 16th, 2003.
Challenger – arrived at Kennedy Space Center in July 1982, taking off for space less than a year later in April of ’83. The Challenger and her crew were lost on Jan. 28, 1986, 73 seconds after liftoff on her 10th flight.
Discovery – arrived at Kennedy in November of 1983. Her first flight was in August of ’84. She has had 30 flights, not including her lift-off today.
Altantis – arrived at Kennedy in April 1985. Her first flight was just a few months later in Oct. of ’85. The Atlantis has 26 flights to date.
Endeavor – arrived at Kennedy in May 1991 and had its first flight exactly a year later in May ’92. The Endeavor has 19 flights to date.
…I did get some decent writing today on BG3.
Not much, just a little over 1K but I feel the need to get that much every day I can, ya know?
I still have the headache, although at least now I can open my eyes. I guess I had the nerve to use my neck too much yesterday. What was it Frank said in “Rocky Horror”? We can take care of the cause, but not the symptoms? Not that it has anything to do with what I am doing but for some reason, it popped into me brain.
Counts so far:
Those are the only three I am actively working on. Centric is more like in a constant world-build stage.
…I managed to get some writing in tonight.
I hung out at the FM Chat room for a bit as I wrote. I worked on BG3 and stared the rewrite/edit of The Graced (TG). Yeah, yeah, I know, I used the dreaded edit word again. But this one is different. I have not put myself on any time line so I can be more relaxed with it. TG, the first part of a trilogy, is short (under 70K) at the moment, but it has plenty o’ room for expansion.
I guess I got maybe 1500 words today, not sure. BG3 is up to over 10,800 words now. It is still going good. If I do good with Bella Books with BG1, then it needs to keep below 80K. Not too hard to do with this series.
I didn’t feel too good today so I was a slug. Our dryer had a heart attack (it is, afterall, over 12 years old) and I can’t order the parts until Friday. The noise had been getting worse until it sounded like it was, well, it was very loud. I’ve known what the problem was, I just didn’t want to take the dryer apart.
Since it is a stacked unit, it won’t be easy. The drum is supposed to come out from the top, but I don’t see how. Oh the fun of home ownership, eh? All of this is stuff I am collecting information on to use for one of my projects, UHauls.