I’m very proud to be a member of this group, and excited about our new anthology, which I was privileged not only to contribute to (“The Frog and the Unicorn”), but to edit and publish.

Here’s our story:

In mid-2011, eight members of the Saucy Ink writers group (http://saucyink.net) decided to create a short-story anthology, with “unicorns” as the unifying theme. This collection is the result of that project. These are definitely not the unicorns of fairytales (although there is at least one fairytale here). Rather, they are good, evil, chaotic, and calm. And while unicorns are the theme, they aren’t always the central characters—but they are always significant.

THE ALABASTER QUEEN: The Protector has performed her duties for eons, without knowing or remembering quite why she does so, and now she has waking dreams she has with one of her Protected. At times disturbing; at others, uplifting, this story epitomizes the “differentness” of the stories in this collection.

THE FROG AND THE UNICORN: If we’re going to have unicorns, we need a fairytale, don’t we? True love, evil magic, and a beautiful princess: all the classic elements in anything but a classic tale.

PUREHEART: What happens when a unicorn breaks the taboos of her kind? What happens when a being of purity succumbs to the appeal of another whose soul is pure, but allows a dark evil to spring forth? Discover the answers in this hauntingly beautiful story.

ENTRAPMENT: There seems to be a recurring theme in unicorn lore regarding the link between unicorns and virgins. This story just might be the key to understanding that link. Who are you or I, to dispute it?

AUTHENTICITY: Bound on one hand by a treaty that obliges his kingdom to care for an enemy’s unicorn as an honored guest, and on the other by the deep and abiding love for his queen, King Jeho is rather stuck on the horn of a dilemma. Can he fairly balance his love and his duty?

THICKER THAN WATER: A murder mystery involving an old god, demigods, and blood. Remember: there are unicorns, and then there are…unicorns.

WHAT YOU WISH FOR: All Daivik ever wanted was to be a powerful mage—a Master: to have the respect of his peers, the admiration of those below him.

THE TAXIDERMIST: The Hunter is growing old—dying, in fact. But when a young girl intrudes into his life, he is forced to decide, quickly, whether she is what she seems, and whether he can be again what he once was

On Sale Now – Saucy Chronicles I: The Unicorns is a post from: Kestrel's Aerie

 

Alie and her dolphin

Last Thursday, Mrs. Kestrel and I flew down to Tampa, where we’ll be through October 4. We’re here to celebrate our granddaughter Alison’s seventh birthday on Wednesday, and to help move Alie’s playroom upstairs, and convert the current playroom into a nursery. Originally, we had planned a to be in Tampa a week, followed by a week of “real” vacation further down Florida’s Gulf Coast. Those plans were modified with the Mother’s Day announcement that we were expecting another grandchild around Christmas.

So, we flew down on Thursday, spent Friday pretty much goofing off (Alie was in school, of course, and Eric was working), then on Saturday, packed swimsuits and sunglasses and headed to SeaWorld’s Discovery Cove, in Orlando.

It’s a pretty great place, a saltwater lagoon dug into the land near Orlando. We all thought the layout was outstanding, although a few people we overheard didn’t feel the same.There are different packages available, depending on whether or not you want to interact with dolphins, and whether you want the use of a private cabana for the day. Since this was a special event for Alie’s birthday, she and her dad added the dolphin swim, and we also got a cabana. The cabana had a locker and refrigerator, which was kept stocked with plenty of beverages—soft drinks, juice, and beer—and snacks (chips, cookies, trail mix, granola bars) throughout the day by Camilo, who was very personable, and provided outstanding service. While not everyone may want to pay the extra cost for the cabana, it worked out well for our family. The locker was huge, and gave us plenty of room for bags and backpacks, hats, purses, what-have-you.

In fact, one of the hallmarks of our day-long visit was the universal five-star service throughout the resort, from check-in, through greeters who showed us to our cabana and gave us an overview of the resort, to the dolphin trainers, as well as lifeguards and service staff. Everyone we met made a point of helping to make our day a very special one.

Regardless of the package you get, one price covers everything for the day: parking, drinks—including (pretty much unlimited) beer and cocktails, snacks, meals (both breakfast and lunch are served, cafeteria-style, with plenty of shaded outdoor seating), Panama Jack sunblock, Crabtree & Evelyn bath products in the showers, all the towels you need, wetsuits or wetsuit vests (required if you go in the water) . . . in other words, everything except your bathing suit and sunglasses (and if you need to, you can purchase those on site, at fairly reasonable prices). They also provide a mask and snorkel—and you get to keep the snorkel!

Eric and Alie got to interact with a dolphin about an hour after we arrived (which gave us just enough time to get the lay of the land, and put our stuff in the cabana). Diane, Janet, and I were able to observe from a nearby vantage point, and we got plenty of pictures and video. The dolphin interaction starts with a short introductory briefing and video: all told, about 15 minutes. Even those of us who weren’t going in the water with the dolphins were welcome to attend. Then, a short walk took us to the dolphin bays. Each group was about ten people, with a trainer and still and video photographers.¹

Alie with Dixie the dolphin. Her dad is on the far right.

The trainer introduced the dolphin and provided some information about the dolphin pods living at Discovery Cove. Participants were able to pet and, of course, kiss the dolphin. They also got a short swim with the dolphin, which Eric described as “fast!”

Eric and Diane had purchased a birthday package for Alie, so the last event of their interaction was for Dixie (the dolphin) to bring Alie a small buoy with “Happy 7th Birthday, Alison!” printed on it in permanent marker. However, Dixie decided that rather than give up the buoy to Alison, she wanted to play with it. After a few minutes, though (and, fortunately, just as their time was up), the dolphin found something else to entertain her, and Alie got her buoy, as well as a pretty cool bag of swag, including a stuffed toy dolphin, a tee-shirt, and a waterproof camera.

By then it was around 11:30, so we decided to have lunch. There was quite a nice selection, including coconut chicken curry, pulled pork sandwiches, hamburgers, salads, fresh fruit, and pretty tasty desserts. (I recommend the carrot cake, although the cheesecake was pretty good, too.)

After lunch, we donned our provided wetsuit vests, masks, and snorkels, and explored the lagoon and reef. We petted rays, and swam among thousands of tropical fish. There were quite a few more fish, in a much smaller area, than we’d seen while snorkeling in Hawai’i. ²

Alie, of course, had a blast taking underwater pictures with her camera. After about 45 minutes, we decided to take a break and rest a bit in the cabana. We then ambled over to the Lazy River, which is a freshwater river that flows through the aviary, and is a nice easy float trip (using buoyant “noodles”) that lasts between twenty and thirty minutes. We then explored the aviary on foot, and Alie had birds eating out of her hand…literally! Of course, we hadn’t brought cameras with us. Oh, well.

After another short stay in the cabana (and a margarita, or maybe two), we headed back into the lagoon. This second time we went snorkeling, Alie suddenly turned into a fish! Even her dad, who has done a couple triathlons, had trouble keeping up with her sudden changes in direction. We’d gotten a floatation vest for her, in addition to the wetsuit vest, so she was able to swim without tiring at all.

We finally got out of the water about 5:15 (the water is emptied of people at 5:30), and showered and changed. We picked up pizzas on the way home, and pretty much collapsed after a very full, very fun day. If you’re planning a vacation to central Florida, I highly recommend a day at Discovery Cove.

A Day at Discovery Cove is a post from: Kestrel's Aerie

 

Instead, I am going to share some of my early observations, questions, and what-not about Google Plus, that I’ve made over the past eight or nine days. If I’m in one or more of your G+ circles, chances are you’ve seen some or all of these. There may also be the occasional (well, at least one that I know of) observation that was posted on G+, but isn’t actually related to G+. I’ll save that/those for the end. So without further ado…

On Google Chat

Sometimes, I/you/we just want to chat (IM-style). I know there are 3rd-party chat clients out there: I use two of them. But wouldn’t it be nice if Google Chat enabled tabs if you’re having more than one conversation? (It does happen.) I grok Huddle, and Hangouts, but I’d still like those who want to talk to me, one-on-one, to be able to do so through Gmail Chat or Google Chat, and keep ‘em in one window. Am I asking too much?

Add Google’s +1 Button to Your Blog

I did it; it’s pretty easy. Here’s how:

Plugin: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-plus-one/screenshots/

PHP Script: http://www.google.com/webmasters/+1/button/

Because I use Headway theme, I opted for the script, since adding php scripts to the header or footer (I used the footer) is pretty easy.

Beginner’s Guide to Google Plus (TL;DR: You don’t need one.)

Gina Trapani, the most-followed woman on Google+, is a programmer and Google fangirl (and I mean that in the most complimentary fashion). She wrote the best guide for Google Wave, a year or so ago. However, when asked if she intended to write a companion guide for G+, she answered, ”There’s no need.” Another G+ user, Nat Williams, had this to say:

GUIDE TO GOOGLE+ IF YOU’RE ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE WHO SAY; I’ve got a Google+ account but now I don’t know what to do/how to use it.

First off: Seriously? Really?
But I’ve seen this sentiment enough to feel like a handy how-to guide may assist people. So without any further delay…

POINT ONE: Google+ is a social networking tool and website, made by Google. If you are having difficulty with this concept, perhaps the “internet” as an entity just isn’t for you yet. But in brief, the goal of G+ is to connect, share and interact with other people. Pretty simple, huh?

POINT TWO: This is an opt-in beta. This isn’t the finalised product. It’s not complete. They’re allowing access so that we, the users, can assist in the development process. So use it, try stuff out, push it around, see what it can do, see if you can break it. You see stuff you like? Don’t like? Think should be included? Doesn’t work? Then let Google know. That’s why there’s a “Feedback” option, after all. If you’re here, and wondering where all your friends are or not using any of the features or providing any feedback, then perhaps you don’t really need an account yet. Double that sentiment if you only wanted/got an account because it seemed like the cool thing to do this week. And if you’re using the G+ beta as a spammer, you really are missing the point.

THAT’S IT. THAT’S ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW AS A BEGINNER’S GUIDE. SERIOUSLY.

So if you ever feel the urge to open your mouth or flex your two keyboard fingers to opine “I’m in Google+ but I don’t get it”, this is for you. Really. It’s not that difficult.

General Comments, Questions, and Feedback I’ve Submitted

Is there a way to tell which members of your many (or few) circles are online? GChat almost works, except it doesn’t, really.

In 5 nine days, I’ve “+1′d” way more than I clicked a Facebook “Like” button in over 2 years.

A couple things I’ve sent feedback to Google, for G+:

• Allow shift+Enter for Comments/Edit Comments.
• Reduce post thread synopses to just a couple lines, to preclude scrolling forever to get to the “more” button

Folks, the reason G+ exists is to share. So, for the love of kittens, put something in your Profile! Please?

One thing I really like about G+ is that as I scroll through Notifications, I can comment directly in that dropdown, without having to go to the original post!

As easy as G+ makes it to share photos from my phone (via the Android Google+ app), I may just have to start using it a lot more. Just wish the Droid X’s phone were as good as the one in, say, iPhone 4. But it’s better than the iPod Touch 4g. (To clarify, the Droid X takes great pictures in daylight/bright lighting conditions; it’s not so good in low-light situations.) There is an option in the mobile app to automagically upload photos to your Google account; however, they aren’t shared until you explicitly share them.

A Couple Places for Useful Information on Google+

Google+ Info—Unofficial information about Google+. Tips, tricks, how-to, et cetera.

Welcome to Google+—A collaborative (120+ people!) Google Document that is practically a G+ Wiki.

Shorten your Google Plus ID

G+ ID Shortener—Your Google+ ID is a 20-digit number. Now maybe some of you have no trouble remembering strings of twenty random digits, but I (and a lot of others) do. gplus.to is an unofficial site that will shorten your G+ ID to gplus.to/YouPickIt. Google will probably come up with an “official” one at some point, but until then, this does the trick.

A Tip on Curating Circles

This tip was originally shared by Pavan Desikan, who works at Google, on Gmail and Google+:

When you get a notification that a random stranger has added you to a circle, do not feel compelled to create a circle for “Random strangers” and add them to it. It is okay to ignore the notification. They are only going to be able to see your public posts.

Your circles should contain people who you know, not necessarily all the people who know you.

Put Googlers in Your Circles

A list of Google employees on Google+—Here is a list of Google employees, including its founders, so pick a few whose interests or areas of concentration interest you, and keep in touch with Google. Folks, these people DO want you to encircle them, read their posts, ask them questions. So DO IT!

The level of engagement and interaction by Google employees during this field test has been nothing short of phenomenal, and by that I mean phenomenally excellent. We all know there are glitches in beta tests (which, in truth, is what the current field test is). But I think it’s going above and beyond when one of the devs posts a public apology on a weekend when something happens that might have negatively impacted some users.

Add Google Plus to you Search Engines

If you’re using Chrome (no idea if/how this works for other browsers) you can also add G+ to your search engines:

• Preferences > Basic > Scroll down to Search > Manage Search Engines
• Search Engine: Google+ Posts
• Keyword: post
• URL: {google:baseURL}search?q=site:plus.google.com inurl:posts/* %s

Then, make this your default search engine so it jumps up with Google, Bing, and Yahoo!, then revert to your normal default.

Hangouts and Headsets

I’d love to take part in, or host, Hangouts. But I have a problem: No matter what magic I try to invoke, the Settings options won’t let me change my mic at all, and even when I select my headset for the Speakers option, saving my changes reverts everything to defaults.

Is anyone else able to use a headset? (I’m using an iMac, and the settings dropdowns clearly show my two different headsets, as well as, of course, the default input/output devices.)

And Finally…

My youngest son, who turned 30 a few weeks ago, shared a Gizmodo article on Google Reader: “Why Google+? Your Parents Can’t Find You There.” His comment in GReader cracked me up: “Umm…my dad was the first person I know who had G+, so…no.” 

I should note that while I’m in at least one of his circles, I haven’t seen him post anything on G+. You don’t suppose he’s excluding me, do you? *grins*

Perspective

Fifty years ago, I wanted to be the first man to walk on Mars. Fifty years ago, that idea didn’t seem quite as farfetched as it is today. I mean, we were going to send a man to the moon, and safely return him to earth, before the decade’s end. Mars in another forty years certainly seemed doable.

Well, it’s been almost 39 years since a human being last stood on an extraterrestrial body. Mankind hasn’t left low-earth orbit since. And last Friday, the United States launched its last manned space flight for…how long? Did I watch the last US space launch of my lifetime?

Some Observations on Google Plus is a post from: Kestrel's Aerie

 

I know I’ve been away (from the blog) for awhile. I’ve been keeping myself occupied in other ways, though:

• Item: I converted my homebuilt desk into a permanent standing desk. See all the before-and-afters here.
• Item: I bought a PS3 (happy August birthday from my wife) so I could watch MLB.TV (happy early Father’s Day). Yay for getting to listen to Vin Scully again this year!
• Item: With the PS3, I also bought Tiger Woods PGA 12, “The Masters”; Dragon Age: Origins (Ultimate Edition); and Dragon Age 2. I’ve spent a lot of time playing the first two.
• Item: I’ve read all of Spider Robinson’s “Callahan” books (among other reading).^{1, 2}

Missing item: Any mention of progress on Obsidian Throne. But of course, that’s why I’m here!

On Monday this week, I finally started writing again. I have been wrestling with rewriting the opening chapter, primarily to make it more compelling, and to give Connor, my protagonist, a more “believable” (in quotes because this is, after all, a fantasy) reason for leaving his home. If you’ve been following these updates, you may recall I rewrote Chapter 1 already. That rewrite satisfied the criteria of being more believable, but it failed the “is this more satisfying?” test. Failed horribly. Even after doing an exercise Tami suggested, I was only able to upgrade it from “horrible fail” to “bad fail.” In short, I didn’t like it.

So I spent days/nights/weeks pondering how to get the story started with the same sense of excitement I’d had in the original iteration. And of course I continued to read blogs—too numerous to mention here—that repeated this advice: “What’s the worst thing that can happen to your character? DO IT!” I considered. What was the worst thing that could happen to Connor? Well, at the beginning of the story, the only other person in his life was his sister Liara, and since she’s a major character in the book, chapter one didn’t seem to be a good place to kill her off.

Wait…why is Liara the only other person in Connor’s life? What happened to his mother?³ Inconveniently, I’d killed her off two years before the beginning of the book. This point is mentioned, perhaps ad nauseum, throughout the book: “Connor’s mother this,” and “My mother that…” And a lightbulb came on above my head (which really disturbed my wife and the cats when it happened around 3 a.m. one morning).

My epiphany, of course, was to make Connor’s mother’s disappearance the trigger for everything that comes after. I have almost four thousand words of the new Chapter One written (in first draft form, which means there is some clunkiness to be cleaned up later). It explains why Tanaya (Connor’s mother) is gone; it provides some backstory; and it creates more work for me. Because now I have to go find all the places where I talk about Tanaya’s illness and subsequent death, and delete or revise those mentions.

I also have to somehow resolve Tanaya’s situation, and as yet I don’t know exactly how that will work. I’m leaning strongly toward having her die (actually, get killed), because it ties up that loose end while giving Connor additional impetus to continue his quest. It also makes the entire situation much more personal for Liara, so she has her own agenda now, rather than following Connor just because she’s his sister.

I don’t really believe I was suffering writer’s block, so much as I was plot-blocked. Once I decided I could abandon some preexisting conditions, the words flowed easily. An unfortunate byproduct, however (and I realize this happens with every second draft), was that I lost at least one dramatic scene, and perhaps more. Not only was the soon-to-be deleted scene dramatic, it was also one of my favorites. That part sucks. But hey: Now the challenge is to write another scene just as (or more) dramatic, that I’ll love even more!

Right?

WIP Update 6: Easter is a time for new beginnings, right? is a post from: Kestrel's Aerie

 

Last Sunday, I read Gina Trapani’s account of why and how she switched to a standing desk. Some of you know I built myself a new desk this past summer, and I’ve toyed with the idea of creating some form of standing desk. With Gina’s article as catalyst, I immediately took a standalone shelf, placed it on my desk, and put my keyboard and mouse on it. That was pretty comfortable, but I still had the issue of raising the iMac and second monitor to a suitable height.

The How

After a bit of online research, I found some items at Target that should work for both monitors and my keyboard/mouse. However, instead of ordering online, I finally braved the elements and drove over to Target on Thursday. I was able to find what I wanted, and although not exactly what I’d scouted out at target.com, they were only half the cost of the online solutions. After a few minutes to assemble, I ended up with this:

My desk, converted to a standing desk.

I realize the picture is a bit cluttered, so allow me to describe what you’re looking at. (Sorry about the distracting photo of Minnie Mouse on the iMac: that’s what my screensaver happened to pop up as I snapped the shot.)

The iMac (right) and Dell monitor (left) are perched on identical shelves, which are 24″W x 11.5″ H x 11.5″ D. They are made of wood composite and simply screw together with two screws at the ends of each shelf. The keyboard and mouse (and Hawaiian Islands coffee mug) are on a shelf that is identical, except it’s 31″ wide.

While that setup worked alright last night, this morning I realized as I was typing, that my wrists were bent at an uncomfortable angle, so I went out to the garage and grabbed some scrap decking material, left over from another summer project. Raising the keyboard shelf about two and a half inches made it just about perfect. (I should mention that the shelves I was looking at online were 15″ high, so they’d have been perfect, at least for the keyboard and mouse. They might have been a bit high for the iMac, since it’s at a fixed height.)

The Why and the What For

My reasons for moving to the standing desk are pretty much the same as Gina’s: I spend most of my day (and evening) at my computer. That means most of time, my butt is planted in a (fairly comfortable) chair. And I don’t get a lot of exercise that way. I figured the worst that could happen by standing would be sore feet. But I also reasoned that my circulation would improve (it has: despite the cold weather we’ve had, I don’t have cold feet or knees when I go to bed), and even if I stood perfectly still, I’d still expend more calories than by sitting.

In reality, I find myself moving quite a bit, even if I’m doing nothing more than shifting from one foot to the other. Yes, my feet do get tired, and wearing good shoes is much more comfortable than just standing in stocking feet. I’ve also ordered an anti-fatigue mat from Amazon, but it’s out of stock, so no telling when that will arrive. However, when I have music playing, I find myself swaying a bit in time to the music (no, you are not going to get a video of that; sorry!). But the single most salient benefit I’ve discovered is that my lower back doesn’t ache anymore at the end of the day.

It turns out that when I sit, I tend to lean (or slouch) to my left side. So, when I go to bed, there’s a bit of a strain many nights. Except for the very first night after standing all day, my back has been completely pain-free. Huzzah! Now, I will admit that my feet do get rather sore. I also figured out why that is. While most people spend maybe eight or nine hours at their desks, I get to my computer around nine in the morning, and I’m generally in front of it for the better part of the next twelve hours, whether reading, writing, or playing.

That’s way too much time to be on one’s feet in a day. So today, I figured out that I could sit in my nice leather chair and use my laptop for some of my writing and reading, thereby saving the wear on my feet and legs. As a side benefit, I can also watch television more easily, since my chair is directly in front of the TV in my office. (Generally, however, I don’t care for the added distraction of the television when I’m on the computer.)

The Bottom Line

Do I think I’ll stick to this new regimen? Absolutely. If worst comes to worst, I can easily move my keyboard and mouse, and till my monitor, so I can sit down for a bit at the desktop, if necessary. But for the most part, I’m really enjoying the comfort of computing while standing.

Would I recommend the switch to others? Unreservedly, assuming you don’t have any overriding medical issues that might be exacerbated by prolonged standing.¹ (And no, I did not consult with a doctor before embarking on this endeavor. It it makes you feel better to do so, by all means do it!)

Does anyone else have experience with standing desks, to share with us? Any questions you have that I failed to answer? Let me know in the comments!

My Experience With A Standing Desk is a post from: Kestrel's Aerie

 

Or, I could look at 2011 as the first year of a new decade, and simply reflect on what I accomplished—and what I failed to accomplish— in 2010.¹ If you were to bother to go back to a post of a year ago, I set a lot of goals for myself. I stayed on track for most of those for several months. Then, as often happens, Life intervened, Procrastination reared its ugly head, and OoohShiny! made its recurring appearance. Those three harpies can be hard to combat, and I’m weak. So, I didn’t accomplish nearly as much as I had hoped.

One accomplishment I am rather happy about, however, was that I successfully completed National Novel Writing Month. And that success is one I intend to build on in the coming year. Taking a page out of Authoress’ book (well, her blog, actually!), I am declaring 2011 as My Year to Complete Writing and Editing My First Novel. Keep in mind (for those of you not so familiar with NaNoWriMo), the objective of the November exercise is to write 50,000 words. And I can argue that what I wrote has a beginning, middle, and ending. On the other hand, I’m not very happy with the ending, and the other two parts need a lot of work as well. So, I intend to flesh out the novel to about 80,000 words, write a real ending, and make it something I’m not hesitant to share with anyone. Of course, I also intend to keep you posted, through this blog, on the progress.

I expect I’ll also do some WoW blogging: I’ve agreed to help out Lassirra at Dungeon Play as a part-time editor, and I may contribute the occasional article there as well.

Speaking of editing, I will continue my “hobby” as a copyeditor, and I expect to start working on Volume 2 of Choose “any day now.”² I’m also hoping to do some other copyediting throughout the year, as time permits.

Finally, Mrs. Kestrel and I will be doing some traveling in 2011. While all our other plans are still jelling, we’re definitely heading to New Zealand for three weeks on Super Bowl Sunday (I might get to watch it at my brother-in-law’s in Los Angeles, as we wait for our 11 p.m. flight to Melbourne Auckland).

How about you? What’s your major goal (or resolution, if you’re into those) for 2011? I’d love to have you share in the comments!

So Long, 2010…Welcome, 2011! is a post from: Kestrel's Aerie

 

Election Day

First, we had an election. I was pretty disillusioned with both major party candidates for our state’s lone seat in the House of Representatives, so I was somewhat mollified to find an Independent candidate listed. Surprisingly, about  eight percent of the voters in that election were equally disillusioned: That’s a pretty big vote for a third-party candidate in South Dakota. As for the rest of the election…my disillusionment hasn’t changed much.

NaNoWriMo

Then, of course, there is National Novel Writing Month. You can read more about that in the immediately preceding article. However, I’m very happy, and proud, to be able to say I successfully completed the challenge of writing a 50,000-word novel very early (2:30) Thanksgiving morning. As I write this, I still want to add one more chapter to more effectively wrap up the story (for now).

And then comes the really fun part: editing. I already know there are several fairly significant changes to be made (for example, the MC’s best friend will be his (slightly) older sister); a villain will change from a stranger to someone the MC knows; a couple plot holes need filling), and there is a lot of dialogue that probably needs to be changed to narrative. I have a deadline of February 1, 2011, to have a readable second (third? who knows) draft, since that is the day several of us will be exchanging NaNo manuscripts. I should have plenty to read on my flight to New Zealand later that month.

I would be seriously remiss if I didn’t acknowledge my two alpha readers, who were emailed every one of twenty-nine “episodes” and unfailingly continued to encourage me by wanting to know when they’d get the next installment. Amazingly, both of them also want to be beta readers. (I guess they must be thinking, “This can’t get any worse, can it?”)

Florida

Of course, right smack in the middle of NaNo (well, not exactly the middle, alright?), we went down to Florida. I had much too short a visit with the wonderful Arleen Barros (known to many of you as Bre), her husband Luis, and eight-month-old Alejandro Jesus (AJ). Then I spent the next ten days at my son’s new home in Tampa: Mrs. Kestrel and I babysat our granddaughter for a few days, while Mom & Dad drove down to Key West to celebrate their tenth wedding anniversary. While we were there, Eric and I managed to get some father-son bonding at a Tampa Bay Lightning hockey game and watched the home team beat up on the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs. (No, they didn’t literally beat up on them: very little hockey fighting in that game.)

Once we were home again, I really went into overdrive on the NaNo novel. I had a very good support group, including @tami_moore, @krizzlybear, @pikestaff, @maziltov, @TedtheThird, @Dechion, and @ladygypsy. I also was able to recruit @pinkpixiechick and @rhoelyn into our pen party at the Saucy Wenches Forums. (If you’re a writer looking for a place to hang out, come on in! We don’t bite, and there is always a carafe of coffee and a pot of tea to keep you warm on these cold fall and winter days.)

Thanksgiving

And of course, we celebrated Thanksgiving. Son Scott came over for dinner, and we were able to talk to the other sons as well. Scott and I bored his mother almost to tears with our dinner talk about World of Warcraft’s “Shattering” event.

WoW Events

But before The Shattering, there was Pilgrim’s Bounty. I was able to complete the meta-achievement on Falconer with no trouble. Also, I was able to get a couple upgrades for him from the instance bosses during the Elemental Invasion event.

And then the world was torn asunder! I have to give props to Blizzard for what I believe was the smoothest major patch ever. Sure, the realms were down well past the projected return of 11 a.m. Pacific time, but there was one update of 5 p.m. PST, and Blizz beat that by an hour. Once I logged in, there was virtually no lag, no hiccups, and I’ve been exploring and questing all over the place, all week, with no issues.¹

The redone Shadowfang Keep and Deadmines are a lot of fun, and the mechanic of locating instance quest-givers inside the instance is genius. Falconer’s Gilneas reputation is already halfway through Honored, and I’m hoping to be at least Revered by December 7.

Finally, Kestrel was fortunate enough to add Skoll to his stable of pets, joining Gondria. My second hunter, Sparverius, also tamed Gondria.

And Finally…

Early in the month, I received an email that I thought might be a scam. However, it turned out to be a long-lost friend from my days of playing Shadow of Yserbius!² We’ve enjoyed catching up with each other and renewing our friendship—just one more thing to be thankful for this month!

So yes, November’s been a busy, hectic, rewarding, fun month. I can’t wait to see what December brings: World of Warcraft – Cataclysm, return to Florida for Christmas with all three sons present, Universal Studios trip (including the new Harry Potter theme park), and some serious rewriting. Maybe I’ll even find time for a blog post or two.

What a Month! is a post from: Kestrel's Aerie

 

As I write this on Saturday morning, I’m about forty-eight hours away from embarking on a month-long voyage of discovery—about me, as a serious writer. That’s right, National Novel Writing Month is upon us, and I’ll be taking part. (But if you’re even a semi-regular reader, you knew that!)

To add to that “distraction,” I’ll be leaving home on Friday, November 5, to travel first to Miami to meet that Saucy Wench, the wonderfully talented Arleen Barros and her family. The following evening, I fly up to Tampa to spend the ensuing ten days at my son’s home, babysitting the granddaughter for several of those days while Mom and Dad head to Key West to celebrate their tenth wedding anniversary.

Consequentially, new articles at the Aerie will probably be even scarcer than they have been, of late. However, I’m hoping to get at least a couple things done, as I meet my daily writing goals. I’m also seriously considering returning to the blog’s roots, and writing more about World of Warcraft. Specifically, I want to write about Enhancement Shamans, since they (we?) appear to be underrepresented in the WoW blogosphere.

I also intend to occasionally write about grammar and usage, as well as the craft of writing, but those missives will occur on an irregular basis, as situations arise that pique my interest.

So hang in there, Dear Readers, and wish me luck (and nimble typing fingers) as I forge through November. In the meantime, Happy Halloween!

NaNo Cometh…and the Blog Sleepeth is a post from: Kestrel's Aerie

 

Every Monday, I document the happenings of the past week. The original (and still primary) intent is to track my progress in meeting my writing goals. Increasingly, I’ve been discussing more than just writing. For example, I’m a sports nut, so occasionally I’ll throw in a sports tidbit. I may talk about World of Warcraft, do-it-yourself projects, travel, food, or beer and wine. I think potpourri fits very well. *grins*

Writing

Weekly Word Count

My weekly goal is 2,000 words. I use an Excel spreadsheet to track all my work by category (blog post, copyediting work, creative writing) and item. So all I need to do is add up the “words” column and I’m good to go. Blog posts and creative writing count full credit. Copyediting for other writers is counted at ten percent of the starting word count for the document; style sheets for that copyediting will count twenty-five percent. Editing my own work, if and when I get to that point, will count fifty percent of the starting word count. This week’s word count: 3,337.

• Blog Post: “Weekly Wrap-Up: June 21,” 788 words
• “Flamingo,” short story, 402 words
• “Street of Hope,” short story, 1246 words
• “Anticipation,” short story, 941 words

So yeah…a good week, lots of creativity. Lots of encouragement and support from my writer’s group as well!

I intend to keep publishing stories here, but I may not always put them on the front page. However, I always appreciate feedback and suggestions on what to present, and how to present it. (And if anyone would like to comment on the fiction, by all means do!)

Potpourri

2010 FIFA World Cup™

The United States made a good run, winning our group without a loss, and coming back once again after surrendering an early goal in our second-round match against Ghana. But the African team looked more fit, overall, through the entire 120 minutes of the match. Unfortunately, the officiating throughout the competition, while generally good, has been horrible when it’s been bad. As my youngest son quipped on Twitter, we had to score three goals to get one that actually counted.

While I believe Germany thoroughly outplayed England on Saturday, the apparent goal by England, which would have leveled the score at two goals each, was not seen by the assistant referee (although television cameras showed it clearly), and therefore not allowed. It would have been the second English score within less than half a minute, and unquestionably would have changed the entire flavor of the match, including strategy on both sides. Who can say what the result might have been?¹

Yet FIFA still resists the use of goal-line technology in its most important tournaments. All other major (and many minor) sports in the world use technological means to back up human officials. Why not the most popular sport in the world?² I don’t want to see more officials on the pitch. I suppose there would have to be one in the press box to alert the field referee to check a replay. And I’m not advocating extensive use of replay; for example, I can’t see using it on offside calls (although perhaps to determine whether an offside attacker scored). But a ball that drops more than the diameter of the ball behind the goal line, and is not called a goal? That needs to be fixed.

Back to the World Cup itself, Netherlands beat Slovakia today to advance. The Dutch are my sleeper pick to win the Cup, but Argentina looked strong in beating Mexico last night, and the Germans clearly looked overpowering in their victory over England. Brazil plays later tonight against Chile. I truly believe the champion will come from among Argentina, Brazil, Germany, or Netherlands. Obviously, Spain is also a contender, but they really haven’t shown me anything yet. Perhaps they’re saving it for the later rounds. There are still two exciting weeks left in the competition, and I can’t wait to see how matters develop.

College World Series

UCLA and USC to play for National Championship! Well, maybe not the USC that is UCLA’s crosstown rival. In this case, it’s the University of South Carolina Gamecocks who will battle the Bruins of UCLA in a best-of-three series that begins tonight in Omaha’s famed Rosenblatt Stadium. UCLA has 106 NCAA championships—more than any other university or college. Yet not one of those is in baseball. Here’s hoping we get our first this week!

Not About Sports

The power went out this morning about 8:30 or so…just as I hit the power switch on the iMac to boot it up. Well, crap. But, since I’d decided to go for a walk at some point today, decided earlier in the morning, before it got above 80F, would be a good time. So I invited Mrs. Kestrel to join me, and we stepped out into full sunshine and about 75 degrees. We took our (well, my) normal path (the path she takes with a neighbor and neighbor’s dog is different from mine), but as we got to the bottom of the hill, Mrs. K suggested we take the newly-constructed walking path that circles down through some oaks and along a bit of Rapid Creek. Neither of us had taken that path before (it’s only been completed a few weeks), and we really enjoyed it.

The path is crushed rock, well-compacted, and the grove of oaks provides lots of shade. The creek is up quite a bit, and flowing well—not something you want to send the dog off into, that’s for sure! It added maybe ten minutes to the walk, and will probably become a permanent part of my forays.

Earlier this morning, my wife surprised me with freshly made cinnamon rolls! YUM! (Another reason why the walk needed to happen. *grin*) A former coworker had given her some sourdough starter (which isn’t especially sour, but makes great bread!) after her return from Italy, so we’ve been enjoying the bread made from that. Last week saw a combination of wheat and white flours, which made a delicious wheat bread, and this morning brought out the cinnamon rolls. The dough is not quite as sweet, perhaps, as the dough we usually use for the rolls, but one of my observations on the bread is that it’s a lot more sweet than sour. So I, at least, proclaimed the rolls a hit!

Since we had no power when I ate breakfast, I missed my coffee. However, on the return from our walk, I had a second roll, accompanied this time by herbal iced tea (raspberry zinger, I believe). Power had returned, but I was a bit too warm to want to brew coffee. Instead, we closed up the house and turned on the air conditioner in anticipation of highs in the mid- to upper-90s from Tuesday through Saturday, at least. And while it is only supposed to reach mid-80s today, we reasoned that it would be easier to keep the house cool by starting the A/C now, rather than trying to cool it off later (and believe me, our upper floor gets a lot hotter in the late afternoon and evening).

And now, it’s just about time for Brazil–Chile to kick off, so I think I’ll grab a bit of lunch (crab and pasta salad) and settle in for the game. Have a great week, everyone!

Weekly Wrap-Up: June 28 is a post from: Kestrel's Aerie

 

Every Monday, I document the happenings of the past week. The original (and still primary) intent is to track my progress in meeting my writing goals. Increasingly, I’ve been discussing more than just writing. For example, I’m a sports nut, so occasionally I’ll throw in a sports tidbit. I may talk about World of Warcraft, do-it-yourself projects, travel, food, or beer and wine. I think potpourri fits very well. *grins*

Writing

Weekly Word Count

My weekly goal is 2,000 words. I use an Excel spreadsheet to track all my work by category (blog post, copyediting work, creative writing) and item. So all I need to do is add up the “words” column and I’m good to go. Blog posts and creative writing count full credit. Copyediting for other writers is counted at ten percent of the starting word count for the document; style sheets for that copyediting will count twenty-five percent. Editing my own work, if and when I get to that point, will count fifty percent of the starting word count. This week’s word count: 3,039.

• Blog Post: “Weekly Wrap-Up: June 14,” 807 words
• Blog Post: “Eight Chrome Extensions I Can’t Live Without,” 1,280 words
• Short Story: “The People,” 952 words. This story will probably be posted here on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Writing Group

Last week, I lamented about the creativity flame flickering. It got rekindled in a pretty big way when some friends and I (kick-started by Breana FullOfAwesome) (yes, that really is her name!) started a Google Wave where we talked about writing, among other things. That has ballooned into at least three Waves now, with writing prompts, short stories, critiquing, and wishful thinking. We start a new Wave each day, and it’s actually a pretty effective chat room, as well. But I think we’re also starting to realize some of the benefits Wave can offer to collaborators. Since we’re constantly egging each other on, it’s hard not to want to write more!

Potpourri

World of Warcraft

With the advent of the Midsummer Fire Festival in-game, I will be working on the last achievement I need to get my first 310-speed mount, the Violet Proto-Drake. With luck, I’ll have it tonight. Otherwise, tomorrow or Thursday.

Sports

FIFA World Cup

Even if you aren’t a sports fan, you’d have to be a real hermit (in which case, you wouldn’t be here!) not to be aware of the World Cup, which began on June 11 and will end on July 11. If nothing else, you’ve surely heard of the vuvuzelas—the plastic horns that are a fixture at South African sporting events. (I remember them, in fact, from my college days, but they weren’t very popular, and were simply called “plastic horns.”)

I’ve been watching as many games as possible, recording the morning matches on my DVR for watching at a more reasonable hour…like, after breakfast. And of course I was glued to the (live) broadcast of the USA–Slovenia game on Friday, which ended in a 2–2 draw after the referee disallowed what would have been the winning goal for the USA side. However, we can still move into the knockout round with a victory over Algeria Wednesday morning, which we should be able to do. However, as Spain found out when they were defeated 1-0 by Switzerland last week, just because you’re a better side doesn’t mean you’ll win.

U.S. Open at Pebble Beach

Of course I watched the Open over the weekend, and enjoyed it immensely. I was really surprised to not see one of the big names—Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els—not assert himself on Sunday (especially after Tiger’s charge on Saturday). Instead, 30-year old Graeme McDowell of Northern Ireland, the 36-hole leader and in second place at the start of the final round, hung tough to win his first major championship. It was hard not to root for such a likeable, self-effacing young man, and indeed, between him and the Frenchman, Gregory Havret, who finished second, there was a lot to be happy about.

Men’s College World Series

My alma mater, UCLA, is in the CWS for the first time since…well, practically forever. After beating arch-nemesis Cal State–Fullerton earlier in the month to advance, the Bruins recorded their first-ever victory in a CWS game, trouncing Florida 11-3. They play again tonight, and I just hope they can keep the magic flowing!

Happy Anniversary!

To me! And to my bride of 36 years (on Tuesday the 22nd)! To celebrate, I went to our local chocolatier and picked up 36 handmade truffles. That should keep me out of the doghouse until at least, oh, I dunno…Thursday?

To any of you wondering what the secret is to a marriage as long as ours…learn how to say “Yes, dear” and sound like you mean it! *grin*

Weekly Wrap-Up: June 21 is a post from: Kestrel's Aerie