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 |   Maybe meandering, possibly peripatetic and indisputably irregular. |
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So here it is.. a blog. Repository of some of my present musings and interests. Sometimes things pop into my head that should probably stay there - it is possible I shall share at least some of them here. (Naturally I shall filter out the ones about my sordid obsession with the culinary dark arts, one has to protect the innocent!) Please feel free not to take this too seriously, much of it could wind up being snippets of things that amuse me. Yesterday I came up with this: Few politicians can be considered first class, but not a few are number twos. What can I do with it? Nothing springs to mind, except perhaps blog it. Perhaps in some other life I'm a failed stand-up comedian. I have the beginnings of an idea to introduce another player into the Mr Moonlight story, a nice visual has occurred to me, and a summoning gone wrong seems appropriate. When I finish up here I shall literally put pen to paper. I find writing at least initially longhand helps my ideas flow. When I type up what I've written, I give it a first revision at the same time, and as a bare minimum check my spellings and grammar . I do want to keep tabs on my current reading here. I usually have several books on the go at the same time. Currently I am working through 'Pyramids' by Terry Pratchett. I reread Pratchett's books over and over - usually at work where they provide much needed amusement whilst I eat breakfast. 'The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle', by Stuart Turton was loaned to me by a friend who shares a love of murder mysteries, (especially Agatha Christie's works). It is a new take on the genre and very very clever. The protagonist occupies different bodies - a selection of the guests at the house where Evelyn is murdered. Each day he spends in a different guest, and he has been tasked with discovering the murderer - or maybe saving Evelyn from actually being murdered, it is hard to tell. The book twists and turns and is quite intriguing. 'New Science - Principles of the new science concerning the common nature of nations' is an English translation by David Marsh of 'La Scienza Nuova' by Giambattista Vico, published in 1725. Not far into this yet, I had to find a copy of the frontispiece online, as it wasn't included in the Kindle edition. The first part of the book explains the idea - and uses a detailed description of the frontispiece to convey this. So being without it would have made things somewhat harder. 'The Complete Works of Michael De Montaigne' is again a translation, this time by Donald M. Frame. Montaigne's Essays are famous, I kept reading about them, so treated myself to a nice hardbound copy to dip into - usually just before bedtime. So there we have it - a blog entry - enjoy! (whispers almost inaudibly 'Bon Appétit). |
| Someone has nominated my portfolio for the Quills, (in the best new portfolio category) I have my suspicions, and thank you whoever you are, much appreciated. The Great Groundhog Merit Badge Giveaway has been an astonishing success, though I couldn't possibly have committed to giving away so many badges without (considerable) help from Schnujo is Prepping 5 Novels   and Richard ~ Less Mummy Like!  . Their generosity has been amazing, and I'm keen that it should be fully acknowledged. I have been planning to do the giveaway for weeks, and am thrilled that folk seem to like getting free merit badges. Why didn't I see that coming?  January has been a fairly busy month. Usually the shop sales drop as new year kicks in - people go on diets, and feel the pinch from Christmas spending. For whatever reason, that hasn't happened this year. This is good news, but I've also been trying to get the accounts up to date, so I haven't had much energy for writing. I'm hoping this will change as we move into February. I definitely want to get back to doing reviews as well. |
| Beware of stereotypoes. Ever wondered where new words come from? They are sometimes created by authors and poets. On a related note, would an infrequent and vague collection of herbs be somethymes? I hope ideas burst upon your unsuspecting minds. Today at work I started sniggering. One of my staff, who knows me well, looked at me and invited me to explain. (She also writes and I am working on her posting on WDC). I had seen/imagined a mugger demanding an old man's wallet, which elicited the reply, "My wallet? Oh yes..." as he reached into his coat, "I keep it here, right next to the large knife I carry." as he draws a knife that wouldn't shame Paul Hogan. I'm going to post what I've written of the Air Hobos, and see how it is received, before writing any more of it. I suspect writing a sustained comedic piece is actually rather difficult. I am planning a Groundhog Day giveaway of Merit Badges in February, and am looking forwards to it a great deal. |
| Ever had one of those mornings where your Snap, Crackle and Pop sounds like a Michael Bay movie? No me either. Reaching out a bottle of the good stuff I took a swig and swilled it around my mouth. As usual it grabbed me by the throat and made me feel freshly squeezed. God I love orange juice. I used to think I was a lady killer, till a friend explained that women stating that they would rather jump off a cliff than spend time with me doesn't mean that at all. I was going to add that I'm silver tongued, but I'd probably get banned, so I won't. I tried being one of those stalkers that you hear about in the news. Much harder than I thought, I bought a bunch of flowers, cut all the heads off and arranged them in a vase. I couldn't see what all the fuss is about, they looked really boring. In the Wild Wild WDC, you're only as good as your last merit badges. The last two I got were for Horror, and Dark Poetry! Yeah, that's how badass I am. Speaking of cereal, for no reason at all this morning I was remembering Mr Burns looking thoughtfully at a box of Count Chocula and reflecting that the character looked a bit like him. This led me to recall Crusty the Clown's horror when he swallowed one of his "Crusty-O's'. Idly I wondered if anyone would be interested in the fact that the Simpsons has at least twice used cereal to comedic effect. Following a conversation with a fellow writer this morning, I was considering a discussion to debate the advantages and disadvantages of Batch Silliness versus Free Range Silliness. This in turn reminded me that I plan to write about a wig farmer at some point, (Down on Barnett Farm). On my mind at the moment is whether to continue with a piece I have begun about Aeronautical Hoboes. It started well enough, but I am wondering if the humour is sufficient to sustain it further. As a serious point, which I do occasionally make, I wonder how other writers deal with things they have part written and then decide is not really working. Do you park it, and hope inspiration will strike in the future? Or perhaps persevere and finish it anyway? Having used the Materials in October preparation for MaNoWriMo, I am convinced that I could breath new life into some of my abandoned projects. There would be if nothing else a satisfaction gained from actually completing a few of them, even if they are never published. I am planning to use a really detailed examination of a poem by Northern Lights  to try and compose a poem for the Poetic Traditions Poetry Contest this month. I have gotten as far as working out some themes I would like to braid together, so we will see what I can make of them, (a sonnet hopefully). I came across the examination via a Read and Review, and was deeply impressed.
Bit of a plug for myself, I have submitted a flash fiction for the Weekly Screams Contest, I am really hoping that others will also enter, so here is the link:
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| I think that one of the best things about the Internet is YouTube. The reason I think this is I love music, all sorts of music, from all sorts of genres and several different countries. YouTube allows me to hear things that rarely or never get played on UK radio, and besides I like music videos too. I was a little surprised last week when the BBC named 'Wet Leg' as an up and coming band for 2022, I already have bought 3 of their MP3s. For some reason amazon wants me to pay £8.00 a month for 'unlimited music'. They don't seem to notice that I am a dinosaur, I actually buy music, and I pretty much always spend more than £8 every month, it isn't hard when one album alone costs more. Back to YouTube. I can find old friends, things I haven't heard in years. There is a reason I call myself Adherennium by the way, I have an excellent memory. I'm sorry, what was I talking about? Oh yes, memory. Old adverts, musical intros to shows, records my parents played, the music on the radio at my grandparents, I remember them all. But as well as loving deeply the music of my past, I also love to listen to music that is new to me, and since the rise of YouTube, I've been able to listen to music from Russia (I have an album by a group who's name I cannot pronounce and who's lyrics are in a language I don't speak, it is brilliant); from France, several rather wonderful artists from France; Japanese Metal bands; A Norwegian singer/songwriter of extraordinary ability, you get the picture. I'd swamp this blog with links if I thought anyone wanted to listen, but I suspect I'm doing well if I'm even read. (ooh my cynicism is showing). Okay one link, just one. This is my most recent purchase: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45D9NiOimt8 |
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). I mostly reject that. I'm eating rice with an egg this morning but Pannya just brought me chocolate milk from 7/11 (bless him; I really don't need it).
