Morning all.

So, a big chunk of plot fell into my lap this weekend, due to strange happenings in Canada: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/30/mystery-brain-disorder-baffles-canadian-medicine

Anybody know anything about this? It is specific to the Acadia peninsula, and there’s a Reddit thread involving blue algae causing dementia and ALS type symptoms. Creepy, scary stuff.

This is the way the world ends.

What a cheery thought to ring in the new year with.

Good thing we caught that play of Cinderella a few weeks back - Covid has shut down that production, and all others in town. Sigh.

Time to get to it. A coffee and one of Sara’s tasty cookies!

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Well, my first contribution is a piece of advice. I was complaining to my writing group about how difficult outlining and plotting a novel was. Someone in my group said this: Let the first draft be your outline. Their point, I think, was not to slow your forward motion too much. Tell yourself the story in the first draft. Learn how to tell it to the reader in the second draft. Anyway, it's freed me up quite a bit.

This works great for short stories, I think, but a novel-length work, especially one requiring a lot of world-building, seems to me to require some advanced preparation. If you want the world to be consistently developed and coherent, I don't think making it all up as you go makes sense. For instance, you can certainly make up magic spells and effects on the go, but you want the underlying magic system worked out or you end up with inconsistencies in power level or capability and sf/f readers are great at picking up on that sort of inconsistency (sf moreso than fantasy, I suppose).

Oh, it's certainly not "make it up as you go along," you need to know the rules of the world, and the direction things are going. I'm talking more about a chapter level outline, where you know in advance what happens in every chapter. Right now I know the world and generally where everything goes, but I'm outlining 10-ish chapter at a time, since I'm not good enough to see any further ahead. When I'm done, I'll tighten and cut and polish that draft, with a full outline in hand for my second try.

Here's a new tool, though I haven't tried these yet. It a list of sentence rewriters, useful mostly to avoid the passive voice, in my experience. Just shows you various options on playing with the structure of a sentence. https://www.jarvis.ai/blog/sentence-rewriter?fbclid=IwAR2kS8pygQOa6-8RCXx41r_NPabWurMxnk_jmstOnRVQh7k6HT3w4lNTljA

Sounds like a number of us have had experiences with dementia. What a cruel fucking disease (pardon the language). It can go through a person, and a family, like a buzzsaw. My heart is with you Ping, and you too, Writergirl and Red.

WriterGirl, I used to look into my wife's eyes, at the tail end of things, and try to discern what was left of her personality from those beautiful brilliant blue eyes. Like looking into another universe.

So, yeah, I'll follow Voltaire's dictum and tend to my own garden. Today, I am outlining the next twelve chapters of the book, so I will know how I am beginning the new year. We'll have a little champagne, a little smoke, and settle quietly into 2022.

Peace everyone. And let's hope for a 2022 that isn't quite as terrifying as the last two years.

A coffee and a peace-shaped cookie please.

Quote by gillianleeza

I watched Matrix Resurrections on HBO Max. It was entertaining, but a lot of it was just rehashed from the original movie. I'm still confused about many things in all the Matrix movies. A large portion of the film was devoted to extended fight scenes. They get too repetitive and don't add a lot to the movie. They could have cut out at least twenty minutes, in my opinion.

They could have cut an HOUR of fighting from that movie. Jeez. It's endless. I respect how original the original was, but this was the same old ideas and the same old fight scenes.

Station Eleven is next on my watch list. Talia rarely does sci-fi, so I'm on my own for this one.

Quote by gillianleeza

A belated Merry Christmas to everyone. I hope it was a good one. Had everyone over for Christmas Eve. It was lovely until the next morning when my mother informed me my dad had a "cold." Long story, but six members, including myself, so far, of my family, have tested positive for Covid. Thankfully everyone is vaccinated, and symptoms appear to be mild so far. It has messed up New Year's plans for all the younger family members. Sigh, I am so sick of this virus. At least quarantine is not as long. I've had time to binge Succession. Not sure why. Every character in that show is an awful person. Thanks, Ping.

Here's hoping the New Year will be better.

Sorry for the Covid explosion at your house, though I am at least glad it was mild. We had a stomach bug pass through right after Christmas, but it bypassed Talia and me.

I finished the new Matrix last night. Eh. It has some moments, and I LOVED the first one. But the ideas aren't really that new anymore. The most intriguing ides in it is that the whole thing is a metaphor for the trans-gender experience.

About to start season two of Succession. Yes, Gill, everyone is unlikeable. Although Shiv has my sympathy, so far. God, I love that character name.

Anyway. Three day weekend begins at 5!

Coffee and a 2022-shaped cookie please!

I like seeing the Ghost of Bill haunting us from the title! Hi Bill!

No Talia Wednesday, when the men are men and the cats are scared.

Sorry, channeling an old joke involving sheep there.

Same ol, same ol. Write, exercise, eat, chill, sleep, repeat. I can't complain. We're deep in the Christmas/New Year's haze. Another three day weekend looms, as does a Spaulding Gray marathon (Swimming to Cambodia/Monster in a Box). We have absolutely no plans for New Years, but we never do. Glug some champagne, celebrate quietly. :)

And hey, speaking of one man Broadway shows, Eric Bogosian in on Succession now! I saw him in Drinking in America, back in the day. Brilliant guy.

A coffee, a Pim's and a candy cane cookie please.

Well, my first contribution is a piece of advice. I was complaining to my writing group about how difficult outlining and plotting a novel was. Someone in my group said this: Let the first draft be your outline. Their point, I think, was not to slow your forward motion too much. Tell yourself the story in the first draft. Learn how to tell it to the reader in the second draft. Anyway, it's freed me up quite a bit.

Those Pim's things look pretty tasty.

Glad to see Rump is up and about, haunting us. Anyone hear from Roland?

Back on the horse. Did a thousand yesterday, and I know what I'm writing today. Beyond that, who knows? I have a guiding piece of new advice lately, but I'll put it on the writing group thread.

I built a little cardboard house for the cats. Needless to say, they're scared sh!tless of it.

Cold sunny day here today. No errands. Let's see if I can go 24 hours without leaving the house.

A coffee and a Pim's cookie please.

Quote by Ping

Comedy-Disaster. That’s how Netflix described it. At the very least, it was highly entertaining. It has a little of everything. But Jennifer Lawrence. Wow. She more than holds her own. She dominates the screen. Some amazing performances. Not the best movie, but very, very far from worst. The juxtaposition of metaphor is…I don’t know. I don’t have the words. It just saddens me.

I really liked this too. The comedy gets a little overly broad, particularly when dealing with Meryl Streep's president, but it's angry and powerful and moving and funny. And Jennifer Lawrence in total nerd mode is pure fantasy for the likes of me. Seriously dig those bangs. She can do NO wrong.

Good morning everyone. I hope you all had a fine holiday. Ours was chill but cool. Good books, a couple Spaulding Gray DVDs, a remote control dinosaur, a glass globe with the solar system inside. What more could a 12-year-old boy want?

Lots of good leftover Mexican food too! An entire chicken enchilada casserole awaits!

Haven't written for a full week. Feeling a little rusty. The only thing to do is dive in, I guess.

Congrats on the sewing machine Sara, and thanks for the cookies. Coffee and a sugar cookie please!

How would we share work? There's no file share capability here. I'm open to this...

Really not making this up: On Boxing Day, I am picking the best 3 boxes and making a cat maze/gym/condo to play in.

Actually, first I am delivering some Pepto and OJ to my youngest and her boyfriend, who apparently got either food poisoning and a stomach bug during Christmas. Then, Big Cat Fun!

My fave present of Christmas is a hard-to-find DVD of Spaulding Gray's Monster in a Box. He was a performance artist best known for Swimming to Cambodia. and I'm a big fan (he died several year ago). That's our watch tonight. We watched Don't Look Up last night and quite enjoyed it.

Coffee and a cookie please! Sara, my request for cookies is, a cat shaped cookie!

The zombie novel is getting there Vi. My counts for the year: 80k of short story, 40k of novel. A little less than I expected, but still respectable. Your cake-tabulous Christmas Eve sounds delightful. Our day is DEEPLY chill. Making Mexican food for tomorrow, T busy with sopapilla cheesecake, me busy with white chili (chicken and green chilies). I think our meals today will be plopping random crap on chips for ersatz nachos.

And tonight, we’ll build the cats’ Christmas present—a cat tower—and watch Elf. I’ll video call my daughter to read ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas. Then we’ll snuggle up and wait for Santa (not a euphemism).

So, thanks for all the cookies Sara, and for the use of your name in the zombie novel. Thanks for all the fine words and excellent stories this year Violet. Thanks for more fine words and the occasional brewing of coffee, Ape. Thanks for the insane technicolor cartoon nightmares Ping. Thanks for the bear stories James. Thanks for the updates on your life and parents, Gill - my heart goes out to you for all your caretaking. And thanks for your artistic work in dance and theater and words, Larry. Thanks for being friends and colleagues and comrades in writing, Red, Roland, Elizabeth, Elyse, Sugarcube, and, last but never least, Bill, the Original Rumpilator, who gave us this oasis (and others) so many years ago.

Merry Christmas everyone!

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Battlestar Galactica and Star Trek

In both cases, the operative question is, which one?

I have never watched nuBSG all the way through so can't really put it on and the old series had too many clunkers (e.g. their string of episodes that were just ripoffs of old movie plots) to be more than a nostalgic favorite at this point. Though the few good episodes are really good and the cast was pretty solid.

Star Trek, I am fond of the original but TNG and DS9 are probably the two best in terms of story and writing.

Battlestar Galactica, the remake.

Star Trek the original.

Twilight Zone the original.

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I am trying to recover from being ill and is inspiring me to write a horror story about it. Thank you to the kind gentlemen above. (((thank you))))

Trying best to stay positive and to getting better.

From what you have said you are surely working hard to be positive. Be well.

Thank you.

I don't have much to say except sad things and I won't. Too bad I don't care for Holiday things. I am already in uncharted waters.

Sad things are fine for the holidays. I spend a great deal of my Christmas talking to the ghosts of folks who are no longer here. Hang in there, and enjoy the coming days the best way you can.

A horror story about being ill sounds like a great idea!

Get better! Be well!

Quote by Violet_the_Verbose

It's nice to finally have time with my partner, but also not so nice to find myself bogged down and busy with work and everything that needs to get done before the New Year. Looking forward to keeping it low key. Getting out all the blankets, making a cake together, and lots of hot chocolate to keep the cold at bay. Hard to find time to write and finish stories. I mostly just want to chill (read: hibernate) and light some atmospheric candles as the short days of Winter continue.

Hope everyone here is able to find something to enjoy for themselves or find something to enjoy giving over the next few weeks.

Keeping it low key has been the key to our Christmas being chill and peaceful this year. Enjoy baking and eating cake with your partner. I'm making chicken enchiladas today! And I'm blowing off writing until after the fat man comes down the chimney.

Happy birthday drunk Ping! I didn't know! Looking forward to hearing of your drunk projectile vomiting at a booth in Denny's! International incident!

Chores to do, food to cook - I'll see you all soon. Enjoy the season!

A coffee and a cookie please!

Quote by Violet_the_Verbose
Adventure Time

Okay, I may finally try and watch this.

I'm adding Battlestar Galactica and Star Trek and Twilight Zone to my list.

Ooh, good lists!

Mary Tyler Moore (we’re rewatching it now)

Cheers

Seinfeld

Friends

Scrubs

Justified

Sopranos

Six Feet Under

Game of Thrones

Breaking Bad

ER

X Files

Larry Sanders Show

The West Wing

Mystery Science Theater 3000

Long day, and it’s barely noon. I’d love a mug of the strongest thing you’ve got, even though I suspect that is only coffee. A cookie would be a nice addition.

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Hi peeps

4 sleeps til SANTA Claus comes:worship:

Pouring myself a cup of hot chocolate with a double handful of mini marshmallows in my favorite reindeer coffee mug and grabbing a couple of Christmas cookies and settling down in my favorite chair

No one has said a peep about all the Christmas decorations I put up

CHRISTMAS COOKIES tomorrow today got away from me

Giving the adorable critters fresh water and treats

Stay safe everyone

I LOVE the Christmas decorations you put up, and I look forward to tomorrow’s CHRISTMAS COOKIES!

I’ll have some cider and a Reindeer cookie please.

We're really digging Succession. Sadly, I'm scared to read ANYTHING about it, since I have to avoid two seasons worth of spoilers until I'm caught up.

Finished The Shrink Next Door. Very good, and Paul Rudd is excellent - best thing I've ever seen him do. He really disappears inside the character - every other time I've seen him he's playing versions of himself (I assume). Talia is listening to the podcast.

One more episode of The Outsider to go. Slow but well done.

Pingu, I think my advice was that "a bad writer blaming the reader is like a bad lover blaming his partner." But a good take on writing. I'm really finding that critique groups are helping me too, as you said. You have to find the right fit: a group that challenges you but doesn't break you. That's true of so many things. But I've found it very helpful. Not just for the feedback, but the support and comradery. Much like this place. Writing can be a lonely business.

I hope everyone is well. Still trying to wake up. I think today is the only day I'll write this week. Christmas is approaching quickly!

Coffee and many, many cookies please.

Termination Shock, by Neal Stevenson. Climate change sci-fi. He’s one of my absolute faves.

On deck: Megan Abbot’s The Turnout. She’s one of my absolute faves too.

Quote by AaronArcher

Unfortunately, no one seems to have much interest in discussing writing.

Dude, I will discuss writing until the cows come home! Watcha got?

Hit the snooze button only once this morning. It's a Christmas miracle!

Not much going on. No Talia Friday. Wah. We are going to a play tomorrow, one of T's faves: Cinderella. Wash the dishes, Cinderelly, mop the floor, Cinderelly! It should be fun.

A coffee and a banana chocolate cookie please.

They’re talking about rebooting Six Feet Under on HBO. Grrr. It would make irrelevant perhaps the greatest finale in television history. The show was a little uneven, but when it worked (as in the finale) it was perfect.

I gotta get that booster. We were all over the original shots, but we've been lax on the booster.

Nice day out, and my youngest's birthday! It'll be a chill but fun affair. I'm pushing for Thai food. We may well end up with pizza.

Not much else going on. Only hit the snooze button once this morning. Progress!

A giant coffee and one of those FABU cookies from Sara.

Nice cookies, Sara! (Not a euphemism.)

Hit the snooze button twice AGAIN today. I don't know what is wrong with me. Still, got my words in, got a birthday cake for my youngest, and survived the INSANE wind of earlier today.

Christmas shopping and Christmas prep is DONE. Gonna relax into the holidays from here no in.

I'll take a coffee and one of those delish cookies.

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I have submitted The Nurses. Probably not happen though. 🙄

Good luck. They mention something about providing a critique, so at the very least you might get some good feedback.

I got nothin, though.

Coffee stat! Cookies too! I can't wake up. Wah. Hit the snooze alarm TWICE!

Writing a little today, but lots of chores and lunch with youngest, so I won't get much done. And tonight listening to a video horror reading that has some friends of mine in it.

Nothing else to say, my brain isn't working. Should be a chill day. Everyone enjoy the season!