See you in a month!
I'm going on holiday so I won't be back for the rest of July, and most of August. :)
Monday 21 July 2008
Saturday 12 July 2008
Saturday Scribes- Communication
Okay, well this week, my brain wasn't functioning too well when I received the prompt of 'communication'. So I decided to clear it slightly by working through my thoughts on communication and turning it into a general musing on the world. So here it is; my thoughts of communication.
Communication
“If you speak to a man in a language he understands, it goes to his head. If you speak to a man in his own language, it goes to his heart.” Nelson Mandela.
I could give a hundred and one quotes on communication, and more specifically on language. Stop and think. What would your life be without communication? Imagine a world where there are no computers. That means no forums, no chat rooms and no emails. Imagine how silent the world would become. You wouldn’t be able to find like minded people who appreciate the same things as you from half way across the world. I wouldn’t be talking to you now. I wouldn’t know people from America, Canada, Israel, Germany, Australia… I would only know people from my local area; and that is a terrifying and dull prospect. Without computers so many methods of communication would be lost.
Then imagine if the telephone had never been invented: that you couldn’t pick up your mobile and text a friend. We’d lose a whole new language: text speak. Well it may b English but it aint nuffin like it reali. Maybe that wouldn’t be such a loss. Or maybe I am just a cynic, unable to see what the mobile has done for us: how easy it has made communication. Imagine life without it. We’d still be using carrier pigeons and messenger boys.
But imagine if we couldn’t write. There’d be no letters and no notes for pigeons to carry. But deeper than that, there would be no more stories written down for our enjoyment. There would be no great works of fiction: Shakespeare, Dickens, Austen, Tolkien… none of these would exist. On a smaller level I couldn’t leave a note tacked to the fridge telling my brother that he needed to buy some more milk. And if we can’t write, then we cannot read; and we lose one of life’s greatest pleasures. Writing and reading is to be treasured, and if there were no communicating, then we’d lose something of far more value than diamond and pearls.
Still, we would be able to talk, right? But what if we couldn’t? What if, millions of years ago, we’d neglected our vocal chords and remained silent? Then all oral tradition would be lost; all past, present and future. What if all the languages in the world no longer existed? What if over night everyone lost their voice and silence reigned? And what of body language: the most primitive form of communication. What if we were frozen? What if you couldn’t tell the difference between a smile and a frown?
Truly, if you imagine a world without communication, you imagine … nothing at all.
Humans need communication to survive. So what’s stopping us? Communicate; be it through speaking, writing, texting or touching. More than love, power and happiness, communication is important. For who can love without communicating? Who can be in power without communication? And who can be happy when they are nothing?
Communication. It’s more than just emails; it’s more than just talking; it’s more than just writing. Communication is everything.
Communication
“If you speak to a man in a language he understands, it goes to his head. If you speak to a man in his own language, it goes to his heart.” Nelson Mandela.
I could give a hundred and one quotes on communication, and more specifically on language. Stop and think. What would your life be without communication? Imagine a world where there are no computers. That means no forums, no chat rooms and no emails. Imagine how silent the world would become. You wouldn’t be able to find like minded people who appreciate the same things as you from half way across the world. I wouldn’t be talking to you now. I wouldn’t know people from America, Canada, Israel, Germany, Australia… I would only know people from my local area; and that is a terrifying and dull prospect. Without computers so many methods of communication would be lost.
Then imagine if the telephone had never been invented: that you couldn’t pick up your mobile and text a friend. We’d lose a whole new language: text speak. Well it may b English but it aint nuffin like it reali. Maybe that wouldn’t be such a loss. Or maybe I am just a cynic, unable to see what the mobile has done for us: how easy it has made communication. Imagine life without it. We’d still be using carrier pigeons and messenger boys.
But imagine if we couldn’t write. There’d be no letters and no notes for pigeons to carry. But deeper than that, there would be no more stories written down for our enjoyment. There would be no great works of fiction: Shakespeare, Dickens, Austen, Tolkien… none of these would exist. On a smaller level I couldn’t leave a note tacked to the fridge telling my brother that he needed to buy some more milk. And if we can’t write, then we cannot read; and we lose one of life’s greatest pleasures. Writing and reading is to be treasured, and if there were no communicating, then we’d lose something of far more value than diamond and pearls.
Still, we would be able to talk, right? But what if we couldn’t? What if, millions of years ago, we’d neglected our vocal chords and remained silent? Then all oral tradition would be lost; all past, present and future. What if all the languages in the world no longer existed? What if over night everyone lost their voice and silence reigned? And what of body language: the most primitive form of communication. What if we were frozen? What if you couldn’t tell the difference between a smile and a frown?
Truly, if you imagine a world without communication, you imagine … nothing at all.
Humans need communication to survive. So what’s stopping us? Communicate; be it through speaking, writing, texting or touching. More than love, power and happiness, communication is important. For who can love without communicating? Who can be in power without communication? And who can be happy when they are nothing?
Communication. It’s more than just emails; it’s more than just talking; it’s more than just writing. Communication is everything.
Just a quick update :)
Well I'll be updating properly later on today with a new snippet of story for Saturday Scribes, but for now, this is an update on my week.
Not much happened :p
I helped decorate my brothers room, went to Alton Towers themepark and got rained on all day, and went to town with my cousin.
My word count for July currently stands at 12,913 words, and I've started a new novel idea up. It involves Vampires :D
And that's about it for this update. A snip shall be up later.
Not much happened :p
I helped decorate my brothers room, went to Alton Towers themepark and got rained on all day, and went to town with my cousin.
My word count for July currently stands at 12,913 words, and I've started a new novel idea up. It involves Vampires :D
And that's about it for this update. A snip shall be up later.
Friday 4 July 2008
July, SoCNoC and a prompt...
So, it's July :)
I reached my 50,000 word goal for June, so managed to win both SoCNoC and StringMo. My goal for this month is smaller: 20,000 words :p
Fishcat on Stringing Words gave a link out to "Saturday Scribes" which is a weekly prompt site where you get the prompt on Friday and have until Saturday to write something and post it. So I decided to give it ago.
Here is my effort for this week. I will say here that this is an entirely new direction for me. This is the first "short" piece of prose I've written in a long time (several years) and that my usual genre is Fantasy. This... umm... style, is new ground, and as such, my writing possibly isn't up to par.
And I shall put an adult content notice on this, in case some young children are reading who still giggle at nakedness :)
Landscape
We are art.
You lie there, half covered in scarlet silken sheets your head thrown back, adorable in sleep. Your hair fans across the pillow, the curls falling about you in a halo of blonde. When you breathe the hair across your face moves in and out; as waves upon a beach. In and out, in and out. I can see the surf breaking now, the children screaming with delight as they paddle in the cold waters, and as they lose themselves to the ecstasy of the waves, I lose myself to the beauty of your body.
Your neck is the famous white cliffs of Dover, your breasts hills in the landscape. Your back dips down to create a valley, and as you sleep I trail my fingers down the curvature of your spine. You are so many things to me. You are a goddess, beauty incarnate, and you are mine.
We are lovers.
One of your hands is clasped to your rounded stomach. You hold new life in your hands. The landscape around us gives us what we need to survive, and you are giving yourself to our child. The art of self sacrifice. This child changes everything we have.
We will need to extend the house; to change the landscape around us to fit our new needs. And this child will change us too. Stretch marks will come, along with tired rings around our eyes and short tempers. Short fights and vents of frustration mixing with out of control hormones.
It is so worth it.
I move behind you, spooning my body around yours. My hands wrap around your still sleeping form and cradle you and the child. I touch the tightly stretched skin across your stomach and wait with baited breath to see if the child will kick, hitting out at his prison of flesh. This morning, nothing stirs. I close my eyes and wish for a boy. I know you wish for a girl. You want to name it Charlotte, or Peter. I prefer Juliet, or Lysander. You laughed at me for that, mocking my love of Literature. It was the first difference of opinion in our child’s life. I know there will be many more.
Together, we are poetry. We are lovers. But more than that, we are landscape. We are the support system for our child, the only world that they will know for many years before they are ready to take those final steps away from us. More than hills, mountains, valleys, seas and lakes, we are the landscape that you will come to see and love.
I reached my 50,000 word goal for June, so managed to win both SoCNoC and StringMo. My goal for this month is smaller: 20,000 words :p
Fishcat on Stringing Words gave a link out to "Saturday Scribes" which is a weekly prompt site where you get the prompt on Friday and have until Saturday to write something and post it. So I decided to give it ago.
Here is my effort for this week. I will say here that this is an entirely new direction for me. This is the first "short" piece of prose I've written in a long time (several years) and that my usual genre is Fantasy. This... umm... style, is new ground, and as such, my writing possibly isn't up to par.
And I shall put an adult content notice on this, in case some young children are reading who still giggle at nakedness :)
Landscape
We are art.
You lie there, half covered in scarlet silken sheets your head thrown back, adorable in sleep. Your hair fans across the pillow, the curls falling about you in a halo of blonde. When you breathe the hair across your face moves in and out; as waves upon a beach. In and out, in and out. I can see the surf breaking now, the children screaming with delight as they paddle in the cold waters, and as they lose themselves to the ecstasy of the waves, I lose myself to the beauty of your body.
Your neck is the famous white cliffs of Dover, your breasts hills in the landscape. Your back dips down to create a valley, and as you sleep I trail my fingers down the curvature of your spine. You are so many things to me. You are a goddess, beauty incarnate, and you are mine.
We are lovers.
One of your hands is clasped to your rounded stomach. You hold new life in your hands. The landscape around us gives us what we need to survive, and you are giving yourself to our child. The art of self sacrifice. This child changes everything we have.
We will need to extend the house; to change the landscape around us to fit our new needs. And this child will change us too. Stretch marks will come, along with tired rings around our eyes and short tempers. Short fights and vents of frustration mixing with out of control hormones.
It is so worth it.
I move behind you, spooning my body around yours. My hands wrap around your still sleeping form and cradle you and the child. I touch the tightly stretched skin across your stomach and wait with baited breath to see if the child will kick, hitting out at his prison of flesh. This morning, nothing stirs. I close my eyes and wish for a boy. I know you wish for a girl. You want to name it Charlotte, or Peter. I prefer Juliet, or Lysander. You laughed at me for that, mocking my love of Literature. It was the first difference of opinion in our child’s life. I know there will be many more.
Together, we are poetry. We are lovers. But more than that, we are landscape. We are the support system for our child, the only world that they will know for many years before they are ready to take those final steps away from us. More than hills, mountains, valleys, seas and lakes, we are the landscape that you will come to see and love.
Saturday 21 June 2008
Ooops
Wow, almost forgot about my blog! See this is why I'm bad at Myspace and the like, because I forget to check, and end up not logging on for days/weeks/months at a time.
So, an update on everything then really.
Life: life is good right now. As I said in my last post, my exams are now over and I'm taking the time off to enjoy myself. My prom was last night; I'll put some pictures up soon! I had a great night and everyone looked lovely.
My parents have gone on a weekend break with my little brother, leaving me and my older brother here. That means late night filmathons, eating too many sweets and no internet curfew! Yay!
Writing: Blimey, where do I start?
37,464 words written for SoCNoC and StringMo. Only... 12,500 odd left to go. Wooo!
And as well as that, I've had several plot bunnies hit me at once for different stories. Two posts ago I spoke of my idea for the paranormal romance. Several posts below that I mentioned the idea of 'Syringe Fuelled Adrenaline.' Since then, both of these ideas have been forming nicely in my head, along with two old ideas that have risen from their early graves to come back to haunt me. Both are fantasy, and both are demanding attention. However, I am determined to finish my June idea first, before I go crazy and start four more new stories.
Hope any body else reading is having a good time this June!
So, an update on everything then really.
Life: life is good right now. As I said in my last post, my exams are now over and I'm taking the time off to enjoy myself. My prom was last night; I'll put some pictures up soon! I had a great night and everyone looked lovely.
My parents have gone on a weekend break with my little brother, leaving me and my older brother here. That means late night filmathons, eating too many sweets and no internet curfew! Yay!
Writing: Blimey, where do I start?
37,464 words written for SoCNoC and StringMo. Only... 12,500 odd left to go. Wooo!
And as well as that, I've had several plot bunnies hit me at once for different stories. Two posts ago I spoke of my idea for the paranormal romance. Several posts below that I mentioned the idea of 'Syringe Fuelled Adrenaline.' Since then, both of these ideas have been forming nicely in my head, along with two old ideas that have risen from their early graves to come back to haunt me. Both are fantasy, and both are demanding attention. However, I am determined to finish my June idea first, before I go crazy and start four more new stories.
Hope any body else reading is having a good time this June!
Friday 13 June 2008
No more exams = freedom!
I had my final exam today, woo. I'm free of the damn things until November! :D
Which means I now have 12 weeks of total freedom, to do whatever I like. Naturally, I've celebrated this fact by... writing, lol.
25,561/50,000
I am over half way for this month! Whoa, when did that happen? I'm ahead of schedule, which is ace, and I've had a great time in the last couple of days. (Concerts mainly; been to two in the last week)
So, after this weekend, where I'm packed full (Race for life, work and a meet up) I plan to relax, and start to organise myself slightly. Tidy my room, wipe my computer, organise my stories, that kind of thing. For the next week, I'm taking it easy. :D
Which means I now have 12 weeks of total freedom, to do whatever I like. Naturally, I've celebrated this fact by... writing, lol.
25,561/50,000
I am over half way for this month! Whoa, when did that happen? I'm ahead of schedule, which is ace, and I've had a great time in the last couple of days. (Concerts mainly; been to two in the last week)
So, after this weekend, where I'm packed full (Race for life, work and a meet up) I plan to relax, and start to organise myself slightly. Tidy my room, wipe my computer, organise my stories, that kind of thing. For the next week, I'm taking it easy. :D
Thursday 5 June 2008
Ghost, Exams and Wrist Ache
I have somehow managed to... damage my wrists. It feels like I've jarred them, but I don't remember doing it. How weird. It hurts slightly to type, but I've taken pain killers and I managed to write my daily quota for SoCNoC and StringMo.
11,982/50,000 words.
My English exam today was kind of easy. The first section was all right, but I disliked the poem we had to analyse. Section two was easy. "Describe your dream world." I was in heaven. Forty-five minutes later I didn't want to stop. I may type up a version of it at some point and keep it as a little short story or something, I don't know.
I also found this poem, by the talented musician by Emilie Autumn, and it sparked off my muse. After SoCNoc, I may try my hand at some kind of paranormal romance inspired by it! :O
Ghost,
Did you know sometimes it frightens me
when you say my name and I can't see you
will you ever learn to materialize before you speak
impetuous boy, if that's what you really are
how many centuries since you've climbed a balcony
or do you do this every night with someone else
you tell me that you never leave
and I am almost afraid to believe it
why is it me you've chosen to follow
did you like the way I look when I am sleeping
was my hair more fun to tangle
are my dreams more entertaining
do you laugh when I'm complaining that I'm all alone
where were you when I searched the sea
for a friend to talk to me
in a year where will you be
is it enough for you to steal into my mind
filling up my page with music written in my hand
you know I'll take the credit for I must have made you come to me somehow
but please try to close the curtains when you leave at night
or I'll have to find someone to stay and warm me
will you always attend my midnight tea parties
as long as I set your place
if one day your sugar sits untouched
will you have gone forever
would you miss me in a thousand years
when you will dry another's tears
but you say you'll never leave me
and I wonder if you'll have the decency
to pass through my wall to the next room
while I dress for dinner
but when I'm stuck in conversation
with stuffed shirts whose adoration
hurts my ears, where are you then
can't you cut in when I dance with other men
it's too late not to interfere with my life
you've already made me a most unsuitable wife
for any man who wants to be the first his bride has slept with
and you can't just fly into people's bedrooms
then expect them to calmly wave goodbye
you've changed the course of history
and didn't even try
where are you now
standing behind me
taking my hand
come and remind me
who you are
have you traveled far
are you made of stardust too
are the angels after you
tell me what I am to do
but until then I'll save your side of the bed
just come and sing me to sleep
11,982/50,000 words.
My English exam today was kind of easy. The first section was all right, but I disliked the poem we had to analyse. Section two was easy. "Describe your dream world." I was in heaven. Forty-five minutes later I didn't want to stop. I may type up a version of it at some point and keep it as a little short story or something, I don't know.
I also found this poem, by the talented musician by Emilie Autumn, and it sparked off my muse. After SoCNoc, I may try my hand at some kind of paranormal romance inspired by it! :O
Ghost,
Did you know sometimes it frightens me
when you say my name and I can't see you
will you ever learn to materialize before you speak
impetuous boy, if that's what you really are
how many centuries since you've climbed a balcony
or do you do this every night with someone else
you tell me that you never leave
and I am almost afraid to believe it
why is it me you've chosen to follow
did you like the way I look when I am sleeping
was my hair more fun to tangle
are my dreams more entertaining
do you laugh when I'm complaining that I'm all alone
where were you when I searched the sea
for a friend to talk to me
in a year where will you be
is it enough for you to steal into my mind
filling up my page with music written in my hand
you know I'll take the credit for I must have made you come to me somehow
but please try to close the curtains when you leave at night
or I'll have to find someone to stay and warm me
will you always attend my midnight tea parties
as long as I set your place
if one day your sugar sits untouched
will you have gone forever
would you miss me in a thousand years
when you will dry another's tears
but you say you'll never leave me
and I wonder if you'll have the decency
to pass through my wall to the next room
while I dress for dinner
but when I'm stuck in conversation
with stuffed shirts whose adoration
hurts my ears, where are you then
can't you cut in when I dance with other men
it's too late not to interfere with my life
you've already made me a most unsuitable wife
for any man who wants to be the first his bride has slept with
and you can't just fly into people's bedrooms
then expect them to calmly wave goodbye
you've changed the course of history
and didn't even try
where are you now
standing behind me
taking my hand
come and remind me
who you are
have you traveled far
are you made of stardust too
are the angels after you
tell me what I am to do
but until then I'll save your side of the bed
just come and sing me to sleep
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