More excitement!
I received another video review. This one is about Department of Temporal Adjustment.
She says it’s fun to read!
I began writing on a new book this morning. It’s a novel for kids and has an outline, but no title yet. Not even a working title.
When I’m trying to figure out new characters I often let them have a conversation. Conversations reveal so much. Then I write down the conversation and use it to build upon.
These characters are preteen boys in the 1920s who are getting ready for a backyard campout.
Here’s the conversation:
1,237.
4,381.
Numbers, just numbers. Or so it would appear.
But each of those numbers represents something important to me.
54,357 is hours spent in front of my computer, sometimes so deep in thought that my house could have fallen down around me and I would not have noticed.
54,357 is a labor of love.
54,357 is my attempt to make the world a better place.
54,357 is laughter and learning to stand up for yourself.
54,357 is heartbreak and hope.
54,357 is the word count of Gray Zone.
54,357 is a finished book.
1,237 and 4,381, on the other hand, represent beginnings.
1,237 is a new kid’s book, a fantasy novel related to the Behold the Eye trilogy, but not a continuation of it.
1,237 is the chance to enter an entirely new world.
1,237 is looking forward to losing myself for hours as I build that world.
1,237 is meeting new characters and making them real.
1,237 is just an outline, but it is an outline that I can use to build something wonderful.
4,381 is a second Department of Temporal Adjustment book.
4,381 is delving into the intricacies of time travel.
4,381 is exploring history, and figuring out which events most effected our present.
4,381 is recreating our world in a different way.
4,381 is the outline and summary of chapters. A very good beginning indeed.
54,357.
1,237.
4,381.
Digits strung together to form a number.
Or are they more?
I want to share an interesting tidbit about Gray Zone.
That’s the how it began. If you’re wondering why, well, that is an entirely different post.
When I opened the email I almost jumped for joy, I was so happy.
I had been waiting, for what seemed like forever, for Department of Temporal Adjustment to be made available on Amazon in the Kindle format.
And now it’s there!
I think I’ll reread it. Only this time, I’ll read it as an ebook.
I have two books in the works currently (I’m not including Gray Zone, since it’s finished), and one of them is connected to DTA. It probably wouldn’t hurt to remind myself of the ins and outs of the story.
I just got a great video and I wanted to share it.
It was done by Annabel and Sarah, and it’s about Behold the Eye: Braumaru.
Enjoy!
It is fantastic!
Bullies have been around for as long as anyone
can remember. We’ve all seen them. They are the
biggest, baddest kids on the playground and everyone knows to stay out of their way.
But there is a new breed of bully in town, one that is unseen and virtually invisible. A sneaky breed that hides a cruel streak that drives the bullying behavior behind a screen name. A breed that pummels a victim with negativity much more brutally than the old style bully could with his fists.
These cyberbullies do it partly because it is so easy. It takes very little effort to snap an embarrassing picture with a phone and post it, spread a rumor via twitter, or send an abusive text.
From the bully’s point-of-view it’s little different than a game. None of it is really real. It all happens in the no man’s land that is the digital world. And the digital world is, after all, simply a fairy tale land made up of wispy clouds of data.
Besides, the bully is safely hidden behind a mask. No one knows who contributed that comment or posted that humiliating picture, so as far as the bully’s is concerned, there’s no reason for guilt.
But the victim’s point-of-view is quite different since she can never escape the bully’s insulting taunts. And instead of an embarrassing moment dying a natural death, it goes viral. Suddenly everybody knows about it. Life becomes a misery.
And stays that way. Zombie-data lives on forever on the Internet. Rude comments, insulting tweets, and mortifying pictures never truly die, they just keep coming back over, and over, and over again. There is no escape.
This is the world that we live in, but it doesn’t have to be this way.
Our first task to to make everyone understand that the digital world IS a part of our world. What goes on in that crazy, mixed up place doesn’t stay there.
It is what Gray Zone is all about.
Ridiculosity is a noun that means something that is silly, funny, or absurd.
Worthy of ridicule.
It is a good word, for as far as it goes.
The problem is that it doesn’t go far enough. It isn’t ridiculous enough to mean something that is the ultimate of ridiculousness.
For that we need a new word. A word that represents a new era in which people have found a way to be more ridiculous than in any other era.
Yes, people, we now live in the Era of Extreme Ridiculosity (the EER for short). An era that was invented by the Media (although named by me), nurtured by the Internet, and given a huge injection of growth serum by smart phones with cameras.
So I would like to propose a new word that was created by my husband.
He thought long and hard for this word. He wanted it to portray the true flavor of what it is to be ridiculous while still appearing normal enough to be plausible.
Drum roll please….
The new word is:
Ridiculosilo is the low comedy of ridiculous. It is supreme ridiculousness. It defines the ultimate amount of ridiculosity.
It’s an extremely good word. Quite appropriate for the EER, don’t you think?
Use it well and use it often.
I usually don’t have guest bloggers. But sometimes a message comes along that is worth sharing.
My husband spent more than twenty years serving in the military. The well-being of veterans is very important to me.
So without further ado, I would like to share this post written by Emily Walsh, Community Outreach Blogger for the Mesothelioma Cancer Alliance.
In many ways, military life is different than civilian life. Since most veterans enter service shortly after they leave home, many do not learn the skills they need to keep themselves healthy. Adjusting to an unstructured life can be difficult for many, and veterans may need help from friends or family members to adjust appropriately. Here are some of the ways in
which friends and family members can help veterans make the adjustment to civilian life.
Make health a structured activity
One of the best ways to help veterans is to help them structure their lives. Many aspects of health can be greatly aided by structured routines. For example, setting aside particular times for cooking and preparing meals can help veterans eat healthy. In addition, viewing
exercise as a requirement instead of an optional activity may help as well. One problem many veterans face is not adjusting their eating habits after leaving the service; military personnel burn many calories during the day, and those who keep eating the same amount of food while reducing their physical activity will likely put on a significant amount of weight. Structure can help.
Regular medical examinations
Veterans are often trained to quietly suffer their pains, and many are reluctant to rely on doctors when their health may be at risk. Friends and family members can encourage veterans to see their doctors on a regular basis and be honest about any problems they are experiencing. Those who are suffering from cancer, for example, have much better survival
odds if their cancer is detected early. Unfortunately, some veterans may have come into contact with as asbestos during their service, and asbestos has been conclusively linked to the dangerous cancer mesothelioma. By stressing the importance of making medical examinations part of their lives, veterans can increase their odds of surviving illnesses.
Building support networks
Veterans rely on others who serve with them while the service, but some become isolated upon leaving the military. Unfortunately, this can lead to isolation and difficulty in making new friends. By encouraging veterans to reach out to others and to build a support network,
it may be possible to stave off the likelihood of mental illness while giving veterans a group of friends they can rely on if they need help.
