Quote by verbal
Loved it, actually, until they started charging.
I tried Evernote but found it wasn't quite what I was after at the time. I found MS OneNote was more capable then. Maybe that's changed. Samsung has a fairly basic note-taking app that you can sync using their cloud but app support outside of Samsung devices (i.e. Android) is minimal to non-existent.
Good morning! Welcome to last week of Spring! Yep, Friday is the Summer Solstice. And it's getting summer-y around here, with a humidex today of 31 on an absolute temp of 26 (Celsius of course).
I've put on some Fire-Roasted Biker Blend. That's "biker" as in people riding bicycles, not men in leather on "hogs".
Teawise, there's Irish Breakfast and Creamy Oolong.
I washed up the pitchers to make fresh iced tea and lemonade. Stocked up the sodas, too.
Quote by gillianleeza
It's been another stressful week, of course. My Aunt passed away under hospice care. It isn't easy to process things these days. My dad's situation keeps getting weirder and more distressing as time goes on; it's exhausting.
Vibes and condolences. Never rains but it pours, they say, and you seem to have been pouring for months now.
Quote by gillianleeza
Hopefully, the jellyfish will stay away until late in the summer.
Eek, yes. I have yet to encounter those in the wild and would rather not.
Trying a new writing tool. I adopted software called Obsidian as my note-taking/organizing software since OneNote isn't available on Linux unless you're able to use the web interface. It stores notes as individual files in a language called Markdown in a folder structure called a vault. And I realized that given this structure, I should be able to just write my stories, at least at the draft stage, right in Obsidian. If I'm submitting them professionally, then I can move them to LibreOffice for final formatting and saving to Word or PDF format. If I'm sharing them here, then I can just copy and paste into the story editor. Costs me US$4 a month to use their cloud to sync across devices (there is an Android version that I use on my phone) but that's manageable given it is otherwise free for personal use.
Quote by verbal
I didn't get arrested. It was fun! Hot af though, and I am exhausted. Protesting is hard work.
I have heard that from the kids, too, since they have been involved in Gaza protests here in Canada.
Quote by ladysharon
My kid is on the honor roll at school, and she's going to the third grade.
Congrats, Mom. Smart kids generally come by it honestly, whether through genetics or parenting (usually a bit of both, I find).
Quote by ladysharon
I am writing my first novel
I went back to a project that I shelved a while ago and if I can figure out where the story goes, it has novella or novel potential. We shall see. I am not sure I have the time and energy for it right now but with my retirement probably put off until 2027 now (due to taking on managing a major project at my employer), maybe I will have to find it.
Got the next great space opera or romantasy novel burning a hole in your hard drive? Don't have an agent? Feat not, these publishers of speculative fiction take direct submissions, though you need to check a publisher's website to see when they are open for submissions. Speculative fiction, for those unfamiliar with the term, is a modern blanket term for science fiction, fantasy, horror, and various stories that don't quite fit neatly into any of those but nonetheless have a "speculative" element to them.
» 35 Publishers that Accept Direct Submissions of Speculative Fiction
Quote by verbal
Anyone interested in bailing me out of jail on Saturday?
Do take care. My son's been in some demonstrations (over Gaza) but this being Canada, they tend to be a bit milder. Hope all goes well. And sorry, but I'm not sure a Canadian can even post bail down there. I'll send good vibes, though. Maybe an American member could run a Gofundme?? 😉
And glad to hear your daughter's recovery is still progressing.
Quote by verbal
Ape, I think you have a similar ability to write real humans, with real interactions and emotions. Naturalistic fiction is your wheelhouse.
So I keep hearing on that other site we all frequent. We'll see. I am trying to avoid that site's usual topic and get back to writing something I can share more widely but not sure which of my several storylines to try.
Quote by WriterGirl
Anyone else wonder what kind of writer you should be? I’m pretty sure I’m done with the kind of stuff I’ve tried to write for the last 6 years, but not sure which direction to go or who my reader group is. Maybe just my cat.
LOL. I still think I'm a fantasy and horror writer (maybe split the difference and call it dark fantasy or dark speculative fiction or something) but I seem to be doing a lot of naturalistic fiction anymore so who knows? Maybe I'm just a dude who likes to write and isn't too fussy about what comes out of his keyboard.
Quote by WriterGirl
Thanks, he can message now. Not sure what the issue was. I better ask though. I’ve been telling peeps it was free here.
Just tried signing up one of my dummy test emails and there's no sign of any change so I'm starting to think I dreamt it. My current account does show as "Platinum" though while the dummy account (which I promptly deleted so it wouldn't be seen as a sock) was "member". But I am "Platinum" elsewhere so not sure if that pertains to here or somehow leaked over as sometimes happens.
Warm, somewhat muggy day here. First real summer-y weather but seems like it's not lasting long. Getting settled into my new office office (vs. home office) and, lest I not have mentioned it before, I HAVE A WINDOW!!! Now I can see the outside world from both my offices!!!
Anyhow, good night, folks. See ya!
Quote by WriterGirl
Hey, this site is still free to join, isn’t it? An author has come over from the other site and every time he tries to send a message or reply, he gets message the he needs to upgrade.
There was some talk of a membership of some kind but all existing members were grandfathered in. Not sure where that ultimately landed, though. Ask Molly, I guess.
No AI was involved in making today's coffee, even I feel a bit robotic at times. Apparently the big musical at the Tony awards this weekend was about robots in love. It's a Korean show, originally, so continuing their push into North American entertainment and media.
For coffee, let's have some Don Rey's Private Reserve from Las Chicas. Teas? Hmmm. How about Darjeeling Organic and Black Currant. I've washed and refilled the lemonade and iced tea pitchers. Sodas are stocked up. Happy New Week, folks!!
Quote by gillianleeza
I was excited to see that a new adaptation of Salem's Lot was made, and I recently watched it on HBO Max. It wasn't very good.
I have heard of it. I am a fan of the Tobe Hooper mini-series. Scared me something fierce when I made the mistake of watching some of it while babysitting late at night. Which tells you how old it is given that was probably high school and I'm now more than 40 years out of high school. And I love the novel. One of my favourite Kings given that my peak King reading coincided with my fascination with vampires.
I am very impressed with King. He is still going strong at 77, pumping out new fiction and keeping a finger on the pulse of various media adaptations of his work. And his son Joe (under the pen name of Joe Hill) is possibly even better than him. He has spawned the first family of horror, I would say.
Oo, that's tough. I like both, really. Probably give a slight edge to lobster but it also depends where I am. On my first trip to China to visit/meet my in-laws I swear I had at least half a dozen different varieties of crab. But when my wife lived in Halifax, a walk to a seafood market to get fresh lobster was the thing (though she always mixed up a Chinese crab dip for it).
Watch the movie first or read the novel first?
Quote by WriterGirl
Action was hard because I’m not really an action writer.
Action is hard period nowadays. I find I get these cinematic images of action scenes in my head but, dang, it's hard to make that sing on paper. I think the pulp writers had it easier with action scenes because they only had a decade or two of movies to compete with, not close to a century, so they were drawing on literary sources for inspiration, not visual ones.
Forget baseball. We Canucks actually have a team in Stanley Cup for the second year in a row. In fact, its a rematch of last year, with the Edmonton Oilers taking on the Florida Panthers. Last year Florida won in the end but Edmonton took them to the full seven games. This year, with the whole Trump dissing Canada thing, there's some hefty emotional stakes up here. Edmonton took game 1 4-3 on home ice.
Quote by gillianleeza
I've got to figure out what is eating my basil.
Not me. I swear. 😜
Quote by gillianleeza
I can't imagine a summer in VA without AC.
Southern Ontario is getting there, too, though a lot of that is humidity from being tucked in between three large lakes (Huron, Erie, Ontario). But even the temps are getting bad. We hit 32-33 at least once every summer now whereas when I was younger, 30-31 was getting crazy.
Good morning. Did a refresh on the coffee and tea. Cold drinks look good and sound like some of us need them.
Toying around more than serious writing right now but we shall see.
Later, alligators.
Okay, I think you all know where I get this stuff so I'll drop the name from the titles now. June themed calls are the usual mixed bag. Birds, cryptids, queer mecha vs. kaiju, best dressed, Mina Harker (the character from Dracula), essays on modern love (the NYT of all places), and more. See if something catches your interest.
Quote by verbal
Avoiding editing the novel today.
I really need to get something new going. I'm just kind of flailing around again. Finished a draft for another site that was sitting idle and I'll probably post it soon. Realized the ending that I kept dancing around really was the right one. Might need to split it, though. It's quite long for me.
Quote by verbal
Daughter is doing very well.
Good to hear. Hope that continues.
