Current

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From The Desk of Liz Ensley:

7,172 / 10,000 (71.7%)

Only roughly 3k more for two days, just slightly less than that. Think I can do it? ;-)

I signed for 10k more for JunNoStringMo, the Stringing Words site WriMo. This is in addition to the 20k for Script Frenzy. Sanity is overrated.

Fwd: [Swain's World] Link Posted!

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Elizabeth Anne Ensley
Date: May 24, 2007 10:14 AM
Subject: [Swain's World] Link Posted!
To: swains_world@ya ...

      I found an informative link that can help with both Valhoor and Radulf Manors, since they are both of a similar (or even the same basic) design. Britain Express has a page on Medieval Manors in England. That should be a great help, in setting the story's stage.
      Whee! Moving right along, now...
      I think the Radulf Manor is based on the architecture of Valhoor Manor. It's newer, so there are fewer ghosts running around. Still, it gives me a clearer mental image of my stage.

Quote from page:

By the early 15th century the fortified manor house had run its course. The more settled conditions of the period meant that defense was no longer the highest priority, and more time and energy was spent creating structures with comfort in mind. The drawbridge gave way to a fixed bridge over the moat, and the gatehouse became more elaborately decorative; a grand entry way rather than a forbidding barrier. The upper floor of the gatehouse was often used as a chapel.

      I have not decided on any sort of religion for he world yet, unlike for TLGM. Still, I would say that it is progressing splendidly.

__._,_.___

"Wars don't grow on trees, you know."

--
Elizabeth Anne Ensley
It is rare for a moose to kidnap a bank president.
- Janet Elaine Smith
BANK ROLL: A MAX STRYKER MYSTERY

Brain: an apparatus with which we think we think.
_ Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914)

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From The Desk of Liz Ensley:

Mary E Tyler's Writing Tools: Word Frequency Analyzer

Defrag Accomplished, Finally

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From The Desk of Liz Ensley:

I found a beta called SmartDefrag2. Thank Ghu, since the one that used to be on my system disappeared! It seriously needed a good defrag. Clusty helped, a lot. I searched defrag-shareware-freeware. These were the search parameters. It was on the first page. ;-) Maybe my system will not be quite so slow, now, and I can actually get some writing done without the page constantly loading, or whatever delay that little hourglass figure does that makes me lose blocks of text because I don't notice when it comes up and the set memory only functions for just so many characters...

Cleromancy

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From The Desk of Liz Ensley:

Cleromancy, or fortune-telling using dice... I posted some information to LinksAPlenty-Pagan because I needed as much information as I could get for one story (which is currently on the back burner as I return to the one I was supposed to be working on, but put aside in 2004 for that one). It's a rather interesting little thing. Also, if you are undecided in which direction that your story could go, flipping a coin, rolling the dice or reading Tarot cards is as good as any other method.

Random Update Friday 19 May 2007

I saw Dr. Zucker two days ago. Saw Dr. Deshrage yesterday. Some bone density loss prescribed calcium supplements with vitamin D twice a day. Had a prescription for it, that my insurance didn't cover, but got it. I also had a prescription for some scalp ointment that the insurance did cover. I hope I remember to joke with Doctor Deshrage about that, when I see him in three weeks. He made it a point to make sure that I had a prescription for the ointment that the insurance would cover, but not for the calcium supplements. ;-) His prescription was for 500, and Rose gave me the 600s, but they're pretty much the same thing, so I'm going to finish the ones she gave me before I start in on that one, since I'll probably take them for the rest of my life.

Getting to the appointment was fun, too. I was on the wrong side of the street, and one guy said not to worry, the bus driver would take a break at the train station and be back, but I knew the driver took his break by Dunkin Donuts. I walked several blocks to my appointment. I'm still feeling it today. When I got in, I was only five minutes late, which wasn't bad. Then, I get back to see the nurse, and she asks me, on a scale of one to ten, what my pain level is. I told her not to ask, since I'd just walked up. My back was completely killing me, and my legs, especially the one--aaugh! Anyway, the doctor had me ask the nurse for a sheet, and that's how I found out that I can go to a place on Sunrise Highway in Patchogue that should take my insurance for the prescription for glasses that I have. I'm also supposed to make an appointment with a vascular surgeon. Circulation devastation, I suppose.

Anyway, I had appointments two days in a row, and the doctor wants me to see the dietitian for a diverticulitis "food plan". They had a cancellation, so I have a one thirty appointment today. Otherwise, I'd have to wait until June. May as well get it all over with, right? I also go back on Saturday because they gave me a TB test (they apparently lost the results of the one they gave me, six months ago--busy office, I don't blame them!) and I have to be in there on Saturday at 11 AM for them to read the results.

Terror tells me that John's father is going to help her find a good used car, he's had some experience in that sort of thing. She only wants to work at 7-11 long enough to save up for a year's worth of auto insurance, then quit and look for something else, since she will have her license and a car (with insurance). She had enough money left over from financial aid for a cheap used car, so the insurance is her big point. This is what she told me. Carrie (John and Carrie are two of her friends from Suffolk, and they are both in the anime club with her) has a good lead on reasonably priced insurance. She only pays a bit over a thousand per year for hers. Terror did some research into it, enough to be reasonably sure that it's a pretty good price for her. She's not working in the Fall anyway, since she'll be back in school.

I miss Walter and Rich. They drove the Center Moriches / Riverhead bus run, and you could set your watch by them. Sometimes, you're lucky if your bus gets to where it's supposed to be to pick you up, a half hour or so late. There's lots more people taking the buses, and then you have people who take awhile loading, so it's understandable.

Have you ever had one of those times when your writing stalled, perhaps because you started at the wrong place in time? It happens to me quite a bit. I went to an earlier point in my story and started writing again. I'm in MayNoWriMo, signed up for 10k, and stalled at around 3k. I think I found the real starting point, though, since I started again yesterday. Have ot change a couple of character names that I already started writing, but that will not be hard. They were set within the parameter of the story, and it's still early enough that it can be rectified.

A Second Excerpt from PARASITIC SANDS

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From The Desk of Liz Ensley:

AZRAEL’S COVE
by Paul Harris
(another story from PARASITIC SANDS, with permission from the author)

     I blushed as they gave me a brief round of applause and then whirled round as I heard it echoed from my rear. The rest of the men, the ones who had made it onto the beach first time around, had gathered silently behind me. If I’d been starting to forget that all the men in front of me were dead, the walking corpses I was faced with now were a horrible reminder. The better ones bore only the odd bullet hole from a sniper’s rifle or a burst of machine gun fire. But the majority of them had obviously been through so much more and hadn’t quite been remade whole. There were arms and legs at odd angles, or even back to front. I averted my eyes swiftly from one poor chap whose head was on back to front.
     “Sorry about the state of them, sir.” Sergeant MacDonald said. I was about to reply that I was sure they couldn’t help their appearance when he carried on. “Less than half of them having weapons, I mean. A lot of their gear got destroyed when they were killed.”
     I managed an understanding nod, even as I wished MacDonald had phrased it a little less straightforwardly. My eyes drifted back to the poor fellow with the reversed head. Randomly I wondered what he would do if anyone gave the order, ‘about face’, and I had to bite my lip to avoid bursting out in hysterical laughter. Sergeant MacDonald must have seen where my problem lay and decided to do something about it.
      “Private McCoist.” The words were spoken in the low growl that only NCOs have ever mastered. “If you can’t get your head on straight, at least go and stand at the back. You’re turning the Captain’s stomach.” I watched in fascinated horror as McCoist tried to twist his head round to face front, failed, gave a salute to the back of his head and fell out to trot round to the back. How he could move without falling over was beyond me, but McCoist seemed to be managing. I forced my gaze off him and addressed the assemblage.
     “Men of the King’s Own Scottish Borderers, we came here with a job to do. Our objective was to secure a beachhead and link up with the airborne troops inland. Circumstances have left us stranded here,” I paused as someone muttered ‘I told you we couldn’t trust the bloody navy’ and a ripple of laughter went through the men, “but that does not alter our mission. We need to get across the beach, up the cliffs and through the enemy. Are you with me?”
     “Sir, yes sir.” Came back the answer, sotto voce.

MayNo Daily 500, Update #4

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From The Desk of Liz Ensley:

3,168 / 10,000 (31.7%)

Included in the count is my bible, since the reference will help with the story. That's the writers bible, or rather, my story bible.

You Can Write A Lot Of Story, Based On A Little Idea.

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From The Desk of Liz Ensley:

I have tried plotting out a novel, but the characters always get in the way of the action. *snicker* Not always, but it is not the same thing as when writing a short story, where you often deal with one simple idea and run with it. I think that is why they tell you to expect to change your outline several times while writing.
   Take April Fools. I knew what I wanted to write, but the words would not come, so I had to resort to an analysis of the story I wanted to tell. I don't know if anyone else has this particular problem but, when planning a novel, I have a tendency to overplot. It seems that I did the same thing with my ideas for this novel. There was a little too much happening, with the different characters and the conception, for one book to do the story proper credit.
   The idea became one for a trilogy. Fine: but the words still were not coming. I had written a few scenes, but nothing major, nothing that really sparked for me. When I analyzed the best of these scenes, I realized I needed a minor character as a foil to help add interest to it, one that could interact with my character and, perhaps, make the story a little less—boring, is the word that I am inclined to use, though I do not know if that properly expresses the feeling behind it. It was an okay scene, but it had the potential to be so much more than that. There was a missing element that I could not place my finger on.
   Finally, I hit on it. A talking staff. But what were the reasons behind the talking staff? That was a bit of a puzzle.
   In a nutshell, with what I learned about the character, and how he had come to this stage (and you will note that the staff is no longer an "it"), he's not only become the alpha character of the trilogy, but also adds the proper impetus for the story. The idea, generated by all this brainstorming, had been born, and had won out.