Nearly every year I take the time to watch the EuroVision in the hopes of seeing some act that stands out amongst the national representatives. This year I was saw several that I thought had that little extra oomph, but the one that grabbed my attention the most was the Armenian entry Inga & Anush with their song Nor Par, otherwise known as Jan Jan. The song is catch, as is the dance that goes with it. Feel free to watch the official video clip below:
Earlier today, I posted 10 writing prompts from the Seventh Sanctum Story Generator. This time around, I am using the same generator, but have used the Modern setting. Below I've posted another 10 writing prompts for you:
1. This is a mockumentary. The story is about an incoherent linguist who has a crush on a veterinarian. It takes place in a port city in Norway. The crux of the story involves someone discovering a report about themselves.
2. The story is about a linguist who has a mysterious admirer: a conceited movie reviewer. It takes place in a port city in Finland. The critical element of the story is a kidnapping. Drug smuggling plays a major role in this story.
3. This is a mystery story. The story is about an acrobatic priestess who is constantly opposing an airline pilot. It starts in a small city in the Arctic. The issue of gay rights plays a major role in the story.
4. This is a deconstruction of a classic legend. The story is about media technicians. It starts in a manufacturing city in the Arctic. World hunger plays a major role in this story.
5. This is a story about confusion and the oddities of the human condition. The story is about a heroine, an ugly theologian, and a sleazy spy who was once married to an awestruck gambler. It starts in a village in Cuba. The critical element of the story is a repentance. The internet plays a major part in the story.
6. The story is about a CIO who is obsessed with a mean-spirited priest. It takes place in a tourist town. The story climaxes with someone questioning authority.
7. This is a tale about deliverance. The story is about a snide talk show host. It takes place in a funeral home in a large city. The story climaxes with an eavesdropping. Archaeology versus respecting native cultures plays a major role in this story.
8. This is an escape-from-prison story with a focus on nihilism. The story is about a weak-willed thief who has a mysterious admirier: a coach. It starts in a synagogue in Buenos Aries. The story climaxes with a door being opened. The effect of globalization on culture plays a major role in this story.
9. This is a study-in-contrasts piece with an emphasis on overcoming obstacles. The story is about a peaceful construction worker who is in debt to a chemist. It takes place in a condominium in Vancouver. The internet plays a major part in the story.
10. The story is about a park ranger. It takes place in a port city in Switzerland. The story begins with a robbery.
Kudos to Steven Savage for creating the wonderful prompts found at the Seventh Sanctum website.
In the spirit of sharing, I've decided to start posting randomly generated writing prompts for you the reader. For today's list, I've generated 10 fantasy plots using the Seventh Sanctum Story Generator. I am sure that some of these plots will get the cogs moving.
1. This is a tale about romance and people's tenancy to be dishonest. The story is about a gladiator who is constantly annoyed by a poet. It takes place in a village. The story begins with a tragedy.
2. This is an epic about questing. The story is about a knight. It takes place on our world after a disaster brought about the return of magic. A magical accident plays an important role.
3. This is a rags-to-riches story with an undercurrent about responsibility and how people are a lot alike. The story is about a conjurer who has a legendary Grimoire. It takes place in a solar system of magical space travel. The story ends with the discovery of a lost item.
4. The story is about a nun and a combative druid. It takes place in a frozen nation on a prairie world artificially created by magic. The destruction of a magical artifact plays an important role.
5. The story is about an ambassador, a knight, a hunter, and a bloodthirsty magician. It starts in a fiery police state in a magical universe. A new kind of magic is evolving in the story.
6. The story is about a kind king, a selfish wizard, an addled heroine, and a prince who is in love with a champion. It takes place in a cursed land. The crux of the story involves smuggling.
7. The story is about an ethical gladiator, a plain rascal, and an aloof shaman. It takes place in a castle in a colony. The critical element of the story is an intimidation. Recovering magical artifacts and knowledge is a major part of the story.
8. This is a road-trip story with an undercurrent about jealousy and how the invention of man can destroy him. The story is about a wizard who was once married to a fisherman. It takes place in a village on a shadowy world of forbidden magic. The story begins with a death and ends with an adoration.
9. This is an odd-couple-teams-up tale. The story is about a driven businessperson who must work with a predictable mentor. It starts on our world in a magical age. Magic is fading in power, and that plays an important role in the story.
10. This is a road trip tale with an undercurrent about xenophobia. The story is about a conjurer who is best friends with a smart watchman. It starts in an impoverished kingdom. The critical element of the story is a war.
Kudos to Steven Savage for creating the wonderful prompts found at the Seventh Sanctum website.
In response to recent success doing freewrite exercises over Twitter, I have decided to share the exercise with you, so that you can try it out for yourself. For those of you that are unaware, a freewrite is a no-holds barred writing exercise where you write anything that comes to mind, no matter what it is. The idea is to write with no inhibitions and no restrictions to stifle creativity.
One of the beautiful things about the freewrite is that you can easily modify your workspace to direct your energy, or leave it as is. The ability to customize your own freewrite experience also gives you the chance to try out new methods for spurring creativity and can be added into your normal writing routine to break things up a bit.
1. Allot Time: Set aside a time when your writing will not be disturbed. This can be a lose period, or a timed session. (I've been shooting for 30 minute bursts of late, which seems to work well.) Don't chicken out at the last minute either. You must dedicate yourself to the activity otherwise you won't get as much reward from doing it.
2. Prepare Your Writing Area: Preparing an area for the purposes of maximizing your writing output is different from writer to writer, so you should create a spot that makes you feel comfortable. This should sponsor a safe environment for you to work in (ergonomics)which includes good posture & lighting, as well as removing any items that might cause you undue annoyance or harm (e.g. power cables).
If you are using a desk chair, which most people will be during this exercise & writing in general, then make sure that it is safe to use. After all, it is difficult to write when you have a broken tail bone. Obviously you need to keep good posture when you're actually writing, and this will help keep you alert and free from drowsiness or lack of blood flow. Note also that even a typically well-lit room that offers lots of natural lighting can be darkened due to cloud cover, so keep another light source at the ready, just in case.
3. Reduce Distractions: Switch off any electronic devices (e.g. TV or Radio) or computer programs (e.g. Solitaire) that you believe will create a distraction for you while writing. Shut down ALL web-pages. Take your phone off of the hook if need be. Make sure that you are hydrated and have gone to the toilet before starting the session. Aware loved ones of this so that they won't interrupt you unless it is an emergency.
4. Added Extras: If you want to direct your creative energy, then feel free to add a variety of different audio & visual stimuli around your workplace. This can range from posters to ambient sounds, and postcards of far-off places to music. I'd also recommend posting quotes on a wall so that you simply have to look up to read it. If you feel so inclined then create a montage of images and a playlist as well. The key thing is to make your writing accessible while you are looking at your imagery or switching between audio with minimal work on your part.
5. Write: Open up your word processor document or bring out the stationary and start writing. If you are doing a timed exercise, then set your alarm, but if you feel like continuing after the timer goes off then keep on going - use that energy while you still have some momentum.
6. Journal: Make sure that you journal your thoughts, feelings, results (e.g. wordcount) and general information about the freewrite, as well as take down details of what stimuli (or lack thereof) you used during the exercise. Keeping a Journal of these details will enable you to further customize your writing sessions, as it will enable you to identify areas that did and did not help the creative process.
For those that are using the timed method, I highly recommend yTimer, a program that allows you to set alarms for certain times, software created by talented author & programmer, Simon Haynes. There are numerous e-journals and Diary programs as well, though these may not be as useful as a spreadsheet that you can customize.
In following weeks I will be producing a writing journal spreadsheet if anybody is interested. If you want me to let you know when its available then why not subscribe to the newsletter on the Writing Tools page, and I'll send out an alert when the spreadsheet goes live. If you'd like to be involved in joint freewrites with yours truly, then follow me over twitter as well (@keikomushi) being sure to let me know that it would interest you, or you can start your own group activity.
Best of luck with your writing endeavors!
Some of you might be wondering what I've been up to in recent weeks of apparent inactivity. Well, a lot actually.
1. I learned that I would need to move further north soon, which means house-hunting, and in this case we will be going into a co-ownership deal with another friend that work in the area that my hubby is being forcibly transferred to. Its a huge deal which brings with it a bunch of opportunities as well as responsibilities.
2. I've been doing some major networking with some people over twitter and GMail. This relates to establishing more interest in ebooks, audiobooks and podcast fiction in Australia, as well as getting some attention for some well-deserved writers. It basically equated to sending out numerous emails, waiting for replies, chatting over Twitter, eating lots of junk food, drinking plenty of soda, then waiting for people to making contact with each other in a fashion similar to placing small animals in a bag and shaking it slightly to stir things up a bit. :-D
3. I've begun recording the first book in the Universal Warrior series for the talented author Avery K. Tingle, a saga that began as a webserial around Christmas time. It features, Angels, Demons, and other supernatural creatures engaged in a war that is currently leading to the creation of Archangels. Exciting stuff, and I only hope that I am doing the story justice.
4. I've been working on improving my writing habits so that I make it easier to put hand to keyboard.
5. General work on improving my attitude towards different aspects of my life has also been a large focus of my life as well, because I know that I've been lacking attentiveness in recent times. I feel the burden that has weighed me down for some time now, being lifted from my wearing shoulders the more that I work on this area, and with this comes renewed strength and will.
6. I've been spending a lot of my time playing on the Wii, as well as trying to improving my spin-bowling for cricket, a sport that completely baffles my husband.
That's it apart from apart from suffering from a bout of Zombie-ism, which I was later cured by James Melzer.
After a recent search for information on the elusive Japanese Tanuki, I found the following amusing advertisement for a Japanese Construction company, Anabuki Construction, featuring Red and a host of forest creatures, including the very cheeky Tanuki. I
Warning: Adult concepts, sudden growth of breasts on forest creatures (might be a result of chemicals the company is using for construction) and incidence of large comic testicles.
So, you have joined a community that resolves around discussing speculative fiction and are looking for a neat picture to use as an avatar. This blog entry is more a seed for discussion and link exchange rather than a comprehensive how-to of finding avatar art online.
1) First Impression: - The first thing that you should decide on is what you want others to see every time that you post, because that picture can make for a huge difference to how others perceive you. Sure you'll be posting real text, but more likely than not the first thing that people see as they are lurking around the website is your picture. What is the first impression that you want to make?
2) Intellectual Rights: - The next thing to consider is copyright. A lot of art is copyrighted so unless you are willing to be caught using art illegally then you'll have to find some art that you have the legal rights to use as your picture. Some artists allow personal use and avatar use of their work, but you will have to do some reading to be sure that they , and if they don't then you will have to contact the artist for permission. There are numerous websites that offer libraries of royalty free photos and art but some of the files cost money to download or have the annoying watermark removed. There are a number of websites popping up of late that offer public domain or attribution-only image files.
3) Decisions, Decisions, Decisions: - Now that you've done some groundwork, you will have to decide on which image reflects your personality. This can be challenging, and you might find it useful to change your page theme to suit your avatar and vice versa.
Those steps are simple enough, but you're sure to be wanting some links. I don't have a lot to offer to begin with but I will add some notes about them to clarify what you'll likely expect from visiting said website. This list will be expanding as more people send links this way.
Burning Well: - Burning Well offers Public Domain photos for free download, and you can also upload your own. The database is easy to use, and the subsections are easy to navigate. You can expect pictures of landscapes, flora, fauna, objects. It is not the prettiest site but it does have a lot of nice pictures on offer.
Free Photo Bank: - This site houses a collection similar to that of Burning Well, but the pictures are released under a Creative Commons Attribution-only license. This collection seems to feature more animals, which means more cats and dogs. Don't forget to cite the user that uploaded the photo though, just to be on the safe side.
Wikimedia: - This is a search-able database of high quality photos and artwork offered under several different licenses - GFDL, Public Domain, & CC: Share-alike 3.0. You'll also find sound and video files on this website, perfect for adding to your profile or as media for posts. Wikimedia is useful for finding diagrams, nature and urban scenes. You'll likely find pictures of public figures as well.
Its a small list to begin with, but if you have some image editing software you'll be able to customize the look of your avatar to meet your needs. Make sure that the particular license allows you to do so though, as you don't want to be doing something you shouldn't.
Feel free to chime in with your own links, but be sure to write a description along with the hyperlink including usage rights.
I did some free-writing today, and posted the resulting piece of writing in the Writing Samples section under SAL35-XJ7. It is the first chapter of what feels like a bigger piece of writing. I'll try to work on it regularly, posting on the website so that I can get some comments regarding the content. I'll try to add some movie reviews in the next few days, as well as some book reviews so that that site actually offers content, rather than the same regurgitated stuff. I'll keep you posted, and don't hesitate to bug me if I begin to slack off again. :D
For as long as I can remember, I have had a passion for the strange English sport of Cricket. As one of the favorite pastimes for many Australian households, I can remember mucking around in the backyard with my brothers, playing our own brand of Cricket. As the only girl in the family that has an ongoing love of Cricket, my interest has been renewed, and in the strangest of ways.
Although I love the sport, I never did grow to appreciate what is referred to as Test Matches. Test Matches were originally four-day games, now five-day matches, where the teams have to bat twice (called innings), trying to chase the run tally set, and amassing a large total to give a decent run tally for the opposition. Due to the nature of the game, the result often ends in a draw due to time running out, rather than either team being bowled out before the end of the end of the fifth and final day, called stumps. It has, for many years, been boring though there has been a number of developments in world cricket.
I was stunned at how the recent Test Match series between Australia and South Africa panned out. On the first day of the first test I dared to watch, and what began as a mild curiosity, left me gripping my office chair. Australia, number one in the world for many years, was finally being given competition by the Proteas, the second raked team. Sure, it might seem like that would make sense, but in recent years other teams have had trouble finding players of the high caliber of our national team, for a variety of reasons, including lack of development for the junior players, poor promotion of the sport, and lack of incentives to play the game. So, South Africa comes in and takes the first two games, showing that they can give Australia a run for their money. And two days ago the last day of the third test left me a little shell-shocked, because it showed that in spite of how tired both teams were, both had a lot of fight left. In the end, the injured Proteas captain, Graeme Smith shed a plaster cast covering a broken pinky finger and brought the team within ten balls of a draw before he was bowled by the very talented Mitchell Johnson. It was a thrill ride that will linger in the annals of sports history for decades to follow.
The next development was far across the sea and in the home of the sport - England. Over the last few months there has been lots of trouble within the ranks of the English Cricket team. A fued between the captain, Kevin Petersen, and the coach, I forget what his name was..., has lead to the coach lossing his job and the captain giving up his position. Now Andrew Strauss has been given the position as skipper of this embattled team. It is odd hearing about the progression of stupidity of a team that I once respected, a fued that has tarnished their image for years to come. It doesn't surprise me that Kevin Petersen would be in the midst of the turmoil though, having left South Africa for fear of being discriminated against in favor of previously underpriveleged minority players. He was throwing blame around when he should have been focusing on improving his cricketing skills so as to reduce the chances of losing his position in the side. The coach is a mystery, however, and about all that I know about the man is gleaned by what might be inaccurate news reports and commentary based off of falsities. So, I am not sure how this development will affect the quality of play from the team leading up to the Ashes in Winter, though I hope that the team will be settled by the time that the Australian team heads over to England months from now.
There has been a lot of talk about the role that T20 matches will play in the years to come, I just know that the even shorter format of the game is kick-*ss! The state teams have had a decent series, many of the outstanding players replacing the likes of injured paceman, Brett Lee and dropped batsman, Matthew Hayden. It is sad to see some of these guys out of the upcoming Australia Vs South Africa T20 series, but it makes way for some new faces in the side, and that will make for some entertainment. I expect to see great bowling, big hits down the ground, and energetic fielding.
The One-day series doesn't excite me as much as the T20 series, but it is still less frustrating than the average Test Match. For years it was the only alternate to Test Cricket, and was a draw-card for larger audiences because of the intensity of the game. But although one-day matches are great entertainment, six-hours can be a bit of a challenge for kids to sit through. So, when you have as short an attention span as yours trully, you'd prefer the even shorter format, which is found in T20, where games run between two-and-a-half and three hours a piece. I will still sit through a ond-dayer, but will probably have less enjoyment than seeing T20 on the new plasma.
So, in conclusion, Test Matches can be enjoyable if you a real competition on your hand; T20 is cool; and One-day matches are entertaining, but not as cool as T20.
With one day to go, I am no going to win NaNoWriMo. Though I am disappointed that I didn't complete the allocated wordcount, I am not going to mope around the house like I did in 2005. Instead, I am going to consider what I did achieve, which is a lot more than I have done in recent time.
I have worked on my plotting skills, character development and world creation. I have created tools that will help with the creation of fiction in not-so-distant future. I have also seen how disruptive some of my habits are for my overall progress. So, all in all, NaNoWriMo has been a steep relearning of skills rusty from plenty of online gaming.
I have decided to participate in NaBloPoMo in December. This means that I have to post a blog entry every day. I was thinking of doing reviews of a bunch of stuff, including software and movies. I'll probably throw in music reviews as well. This will be more than enough content to keep the peeps following the blog entertained. If you have some recommendations then send them this way.
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