Plotting...

Slowly and surely they drew their plans against us*. I've done very little work of an evening, there is no denying it. I think I need my holiday which, luckily, arrives next week. The plot for Terra Exitus is moving along but I'm struggling with the fact I can let go of some of the original ideas I had, despite not being able to make them fit the narrative. Obviously, this will have to happen but I'll need bits to replace them. And, as happened with The Beatle Man, making one bit of plot work tends to kick other bits out of shape. At least I'm doing that in advance this time, not as I typed.

Although this time, it is almost more of clash of themes. I have a strong idea of the central theme, but the only plot that makes sense just now, doesn't quite fit with that. So changes are required. (By lucky hap, I think I just worked out how as I typed this! Thankyou pointless rambling!)

So, its nearly time to sit down and start writing. And there is an odd feeling. When I did this before, I had no idea if I could write a whole book. I've done that now (good or bad, rejected or otherwise). But still, I sit down now with more belief and crucially, with the challenge being to make it good, not just to see if I can make it to the end. As I discovered before, however long it takes, that's the easy bit.

* I must re-read that.

Electronically Tagged

It has been brought to my attention that I have been 'tagged'. Seems to be some devilish Web 2.0 nonsense that I really shouldn't darken my door with but, since I am devoid of creativity, I will allow it. (Although it does seem a little ridiculous). Although finding 8 people to spread this onto will be a little tricky...finding 8 people I'm prepared to admit that I do this kind of thing to is even harder...

These are the rules:

1. We have to post these rules before we give you the facts.
2. Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write in their own blog about their eight things and include these rules in the post.
4. At the end of your post, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they're tagged, and to read your blog.

So, my 8 things:

1. I once ate cheese toasties in the Board Room of the largest company in India. I was very hungry at the time. They were great.
2. I once won a copy of 'Beaky and the Egg Snatchers' for the ZX Spectrum in a magazine. There were 100 winners and my name was printed first.
3. I support Manchester United, my name is on the pavement outside the ground and I attended my first match at Old Trafford while still in the womb. (And I still get tears in my eyes whenever I see the goals against Bayern in 1999.)
4. I once sold George Takei 3 postcards. They cost 45p. He said "Is that a 50? I'm not familiar with you currency." I kept my pants dry. Just.
5. I was so good at the original Monaco GP arcade game that I could run the score off the top of the scoreboard.
6. I've had a novel rejected by a publisher. Therefore I am now 'proper'.
7. I really don't like needles, but had two inoculations this week and the nurse said I was 'very brave'.
8. I'm a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. Thought I should have at least one sensible one. They'll be very proud if they read this.

I don't have 8 people to tag so, sorry, I'm going to fail to perpetuate this tomfoolery. Does that mean I'm out of Fight Club now? Good, I was a bit worried that I might be Meat Loaf's character anyway.

Even more photo usage

Described by Stuart as a lazy man's blog content, some more photo usage. I like to think of it as more of a thankyou for people who have taken the time to let me know how/where they have used my photos. So, with that, here are some more:

• Feeling healthy?
• Feeling Web 2.0?
• Every home needs a lock
• In an Annual Report
• The Norwegians like starfruit

Also, got a very nice email to say that my Robin picture was being used on the cover of a BBC CD:

A big thankyou to Nancy Rynes who is going to be using some of my photos for reference for her paintings.

There are a whole lot of my photos being used in a few articles on DoNowDo too.

Another 80's New Romantic Band Reforms

Equus posing for the camera before comeback gig

Well I thought it was funny.

The Life of a...

Busy doing nothing, working the whole day through. Which is the problem I suppose. Still, after a brief pause to well, laze about, I'm off and running with the Terra Exitus plan. I've still not convinced Stuart that it is worth writing, but I'm ploughing on anyway. I want to see if I can get it into a shape that I really believe in enough to dedicate at least a year or more to complete. Thing is, I know from the small amount I have tried, it will be pretty tough to write in the style I want it. But that is probably the most attractive thing about it. I have proved (to myself at least) that I can complete a competent novel. That's not to say it will ever get published (by anyone other than me) but for the next one I know I need to stretch again and try to get something with more of a hook. And, as it happens, something a lot more downbeat.

In other news:

• Much excitement on the Beatle Man front. Received my first rejection from those lovely people at Snowbooks. I still think they are great. It was an important rite of passage. Roll on for the next one!
• Not forgetting my esteemed commission to write on Stuart's blog.
• I have started a plan for a book of children's poetry.
• Just got an email to ask if I would like to supply photos as reference to an excellent US painter, which is nice.
• Think I'm heading back to Mumbai soon, which will be great. Its going to be quite busy though, so I may be frustrated on the photo front.

One final note to mark the passing of my beloved Renault Laguna. Someone ran into the back of it and it didn't even look scratched. The people fixing it had other ideas and the insurance company wrote it off. Swines. Now I need a new car and its very tedious.

Just nosey...

As my reader will know, I have a website LazyWebTools that hosts a number of small tools, the most used of which is a simple and free Automatic Page Refresher. I check out the website hits every now and then and, for the most part, it is gamers and the like.

For a while now, one web address has always stood out among these and today I noticed that it is by far the greatest user of the tool. The hit comes from:

"Government of the District of Columbia, Washington, District of Columbia, United States"

There have been maybe 20-30 hits from there today (a Sunday) alone. I'm just nosey. What is part of the US Government using it for? And why so many hits, are there a lot of users? I'd love to know. Just being nosey.

Addendum 19/07/2006: I'm pleased to say that the refresher is being used by the good people of the Washington DC Fire Department to monitor incoming alerts. A very noble purpose.