As some of you are aware Thursday afternoon at my day job I injured myself. It was a 190 degree burn to palm side of my right hand. It only lasted a few seconds. I think I spent more time swearing. Immediately I put it under cold water several times and when I got home it went straight into a bowl of ice. Unfortunately this was my writing hand.
Now two days later after doing a simple pin test it seems the three fingers I burnt are only burnt by a layer or two however my thumb is a little worse off, I still cannot quite bend it and certainly cannot use it for opening bottles or using a pen, even pressing a button on the tv remote hurts. The thumb still throbs and will take time to heal properly. I'll probably end up with a scar by its just another one to add to the list I guess.
All this makes one thankful for computers. If I could have chosen I would have wished it had been my left hand because I can type one handed with only my right hand if need be.
My point today is this, if you cook something don't expect people to know it or the tray it was cooked in/on is hot especially if you arent supposed to be cooking. Leave a sign of some kind, for me at work its putting the gloves on top of the trolley that the hot trays are racked up on; at home I tell people. It doesn't take two seconds to think of safety and it doesn't take two seconds to get burnt. Think first! Think safe!
31 March 2012
27 March 2012
Stamp me silly...
Today we Brits recieved some shocking news, the price of a stamp is due to go up by almost 50% to 60 pence per stamp. Granted 60p per stamp for a letter is not too bad but that depends on the number of letters you have to send. For companies this is going to be costly. Sure I hear you saying we live in a world with email and alternate means of communication. So lets look at this from a writers perspective shall we:
Not all publishers accept email queries and submissions, some still prefer the old snail mail.
With this in mind plus the number of submissions and queries writers send out this is going to be costly not to mention that each mailing would have to be weighed meaning use of more than one stamp sending the cost soaring sky high. This would quite possibly limit many writers in how many submissions/queries they can make each month when compared against the current price of living, the state of the economy and the fact that there are over 2 million people in the UK currently out of work.
Is this going to cause problems for writers? I would say quite possibly, though one would hope not.
Not all publishers accept email queries and submissions, some still prefer the old snail mail.
With this in mind plus the number of submissions and queries writers send out this is going to be costly not to mention that each mailing would have to be weighed meaning use of more than one stamp sending the cost soaring sky high. This would quite possibly limit many writers in how many submissions/queries they can make each month when compared against the current price of living, the state of the economy and the fact that there are over 2 million people in the UK currently out of work.
Is this going to cause problems for writers? I would say quite possibly, though one would hope not.
25 March 2012
Spring has sprung
Its that time of year again. Spring has sprung and winter seems like a distant memory. The birds are finally leaving their nests, the bee's are back and the blossom is just starting to bloom. The sun is out and the windows are open. That means its time for a clear out.
Yes its time to clean everything, to evaluate what we have and decide what we want to get rid of, whether it be to a charity shop, to sell, or simply toss in the bin.
For me that also means it is time to turn rooms around, to go through the desk and the books... did I forget to mention that on my last count I had just over 300 books, oh yes I have 2 bookcases full of both fiction and non-fiction reference books and encyclopedias, plus ebooks in my email.
Usually I'll re-assign groupings to my books these are usually wicca/spiritualism, mythology/archaeology, writing/dictionaries, encyclopedias, ancient egypt, freemasonary and fiction.
This is also the time that I re-discover in old note books poems, articles and either story ideas or notes.
Anything to do with writing does not get thrown out, it gets carefully evaluated and either put back in the desk cupboard or on top to be used and worked.
Old photography magazines have been torn apart as I removed any images I liked or found interesting and inspiring. I'll put together a sort of scrap book of inspiration oneday.
Pens get checked...yes pens I do still also write by hand and I have a habit of collecting ones which write well. I'm sure many of you are the same.
Even the laptop gets a clear out too - saving many items to disc or stick and deleting those that are nothing important. And then finally the disc cleanup and defrag.
I'm almost done. Yesterday I cleared the desk and done some bits, re-discovered an article, a story idea and some notes. The laptop was sorted a few days ago. Today I cleaned, found some poetry, looked in some notebooks which made me smile and found a possible story idea and yes tore out the photo's I liked.
Next weekend its the bookcases turn to get raided, cleaned and put back correctly.
Then its back to full working mode.
They do say a clean and tidy room means a clean and tidy mind. I know this to be true, spring is always when I back in the flow of things and get large amounts of work done, but is it the same for you?
Yes its time to clean everything, to evaluate what we have and decide what we want to get rid of, whether it be to a charity shop, to sell, or simply toss in the bin.
For me that also means it is time to turn rooms around, to go through the desk and the books... did I forget to mention that on my last count I had just over 300 books, oh yes I have 2 bookcases full of both fiction and non-fiction reference books and encyclopedias, plus ebooks in my email.
Usually I'll re-assign groupings to my books these are usually wicca/spiritualism, mythology/archaeology, writing/dictionaries, encyclopedias, ancient egypt, freemasonary and fiction.
This is also the time that I re-discover in old note books poems, articles and either story ideas or notes.
Anything to do with writing does not get thrown out, it gets carefully evaluated and either put back in the desk cupboard or on top to be used and worked.
Old photography magazines have been torn apart as I removed any images I liked or found interesting and inspiring. I'll put together a sort of scrap book of inspiration oneday.
Pens get checked...yes pens I do still also write by hand and I have a habit of collecting ones which write well. I'm sure many of you are the same.
Even the laptop gets a clear out too - saving many items to disc or stick and deleting those that are nothing important. And then finally the disc cleanup and defrag.
I'm almost done. Yesterday I cleared the desk and done some bits, re-discovered an article, a story idea and some notes. The laptop was sorted a few days ago. Today I cleaned, found some poetry, looked in some notebooks which made me smile and found a possible story idea and yes tore out the photo's I liked.
Next weekend its the bookcases turn to get raided, cleaned and put back correctly.
Then its back to full working mode.
They do say a clean and tidy room means a clean and tidy mind. I know this to be true, spring is always when I back in the flow of things and get large amounts of work done, but is it the same for you?
18 March 2012
Do I or Dont I...
I'm not sure if its the same for other writers but once in a while I get two or three voices in my head.
One voice says "you know what you've got over 100 poems, what are you afraid of? just publish them already... only you can do this!"
The second voice says "what the hell are you thinking!"
Then a third voice pops up questioning "do I do them as one book, 2 books, 3 books, split into genre, what?"
And then follows that sick feeling in your gut when you just can't decide what to do.
I already know what cover I want, it was a pic I took a couple of years back inside a cathedral of a statue of a scholar reading made of what looks like marble and is just absolutely amazing. I thought it fitted quite well. As for the title I chose, it was quite a long one, after one of the poems I wrote and because in my experience poetry comes from our emotions, from who we are, what we think and what we feel.
I'm sure this sickening feeling is the same thing thats holding me back from actually getting my photography out there and just going ahead and opening my cafepress / zazzle stores. Its not so much a feeling of getting my writing and images out there, because people have seen them back when I avidly posted on myspace, no, my fear has a name and a face, a job and is capable of making you feel like an ant going against a God. My fear is the taxman. In a sense its funny really of all the things to fear and not fear, of all the ones I have, I fear a man and some paperwork.
Its times like this I wish I knew some British authors who've taken the step in the last year or so.
Sometimes as stated above I think I should just go ahead and just do it, others not so much.
One voice says "you know what you've got over 100 poems, what are you afraid of? just publish them already... only you can do this!"
The second voice says "what the hell are you thinking!"
Then a third voice pops up questioning "do I do them as one book, 2 books, 3 books, split into genre, what?"
And then follows that sick feeling in your gut when you just can't decide what to do.
I already know what cover I want, it was a pic I took a couple of years back inside a cathedral of a statue of a scholar reading made of what looks like marble and is just absolutely amazing. I thought it fitted quite well. As for the title I chose, it was quite a long one, after one of the poems I wrote and because in my experience poetry comes from our emotions, from who we are, what we think and what we feel.
I'm sure this sickening feeling is the same thing thats holding me back from actually getting my photography out there and just going ahead and opening my cafepress / zazzle stores. Its not so much a feeling of getting my writing and images out there, because people have seen them back when I avidly posted on myspace, no, my fear has a name and a face, a job and is capable of making you feel like an ant going against a God. My fear is the taxman. In a sense its funny really of all the things to fear and not fear, of all the ones I have, I fear a man and some paperwork.
Its times like this I wish I knew some British authors who've taken the step in the last year or so.
Sometimes as stated above I think I should just go ahead and just do it, others not so much.
17 March 2012
Kitty Wants Fresh Water
Meet Tigger, rescue, approx 7 months old, he has a few quirks one of which is fresh water straight from the tap. This is also my first video and was filmed using my mobile phone.
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