An On-line Conversation.

For those out there with no baby siblings and those without elder siblings, here is a small sample of what it's like, via on-line communication. Bear in mind that the philosphic question posed at the begining was not direct at yours truly, and yet I felt it necessary to add my two cents worth...

From Broken, the Live Journal of Dead Robin

Dead Robin: Did you know that thesaurus isn't in the thesaurus? what if you bought one to look up what it is?

Me: Of course thesaurus isn't in a thesaurus. There's only one word that means thesaurus. Do you even know what a thesaurus is for?

DR: they have "related words" as well, you know, such as lexicon or somethin.

Me: A lexicon is a dictionary!! It says so in the dictionary and thesaurus! Goof.

Sad, innit?

A Writer's Advice

I probably should be the very last person to give advice. However, several thoughts hit me, and, as I needed to return to a semi reoccuring presence on my own Blog, I thought I'd share.

The first thought is, of course, the old saw, "Write what you know." Couple that with "Know everything" and you've got something.

The second comes from either Gene Wolf or James Blish, I can't remember which: Whenever thinking of who should be the main character of the story, think "Who does it hurt?" Who suffers the most during the course of the story? Who has the most to lose? That's who the story is about.

(Obviously there are stories that don't quite mesh with this, but I think it would work as a rule of thumb.)

Finally, God alone knows from where this thought came from. Perhaps another writer, perhaps my muse Gwen (assuming she's done napping or doing whatever she does with her time). "Write every story as if it is your last." This is your final work. This is what you want to be remembered for. It doesn't matter if you just wrote King Lear, what you are on is the most important thing you've ever done.

(Perhaps that's my problem. Perhaps I should be saying "This is trash! Who cares!"

(Or perhaps it should be a little of both...)

Anyway, that's what I was thinking about. More later. Hopefully.

Fun and Games with Spell Check!

What's wrong with this sentence?

He made it to the way station before the fish twinged in his stomach again.

According to the spell check on Microsoft Work 8 (and, in fairness, Blogger's own spell check), "twinged" isn't a word. "Twinge" is, but not "twinged."

Now, giving the spell check the benefit of the doubt, I looked up the word. Lo and behold, I was right and it was wrong. "Twinged" was a word. Maybe not used right in the sentence, but it is a word.

As a brief aside, there is something sad about me being right in spelling. I have never been the best speller. In fact, Eye always xpect too c my posts two luk lik thiz, rather than the halfway readable stuff I actually do come out with.

Anyway, that's not the point of this post. The point is that the dictionary I used was Work's own dictionary. How hard would it have been to copy a list of words from the dictionary and put it in your spell check?

God, I love working with computers.

Sithless

Well that turned out to be a banner weekend! I am well on my way to being one of the few people in America who hasn't seen Revenge of the Sith. It was a near thing, too, as I had tickets to see it Saturday and was weakening... But sleep came first and foremost, I'm afraid.

The films getting great reviews, the net buzzes with good word, my parents and one of my brothers seemed to have enjoyed it... and I can't work up the energy to give a damn. That's what comes of producing two installments worth of dreck, I guess.

Oh, I'll see it. When it comes out on DVD. Or on cable. Or on network TV. But in theaters...

Well...

We did get a new IMAX in my city, and if it came there...

Maybe.

From the Welltun Cares Dictionary

Frustration - frus·tra·tion - noun - having not one but two scenes for a novel appear so fiercely in your head that it brings tears to the eyes, making you eager to write them down, only to come home and stare at an empty screen as not one damn word comes to you.

see also irritation, depression, impotence, and bad blog entry.

Livin' in the Dead Zone

I have absolutely zero to say, and may well keep saying it for the next few days. Oh, I've tried to say something, tried to pick up where I left off, but so far, nothing.

Oh well. What can you do?

May

I never realized it before, but May is a pretty busy month for the Waters family. Why I didn't know this, I can't say. Probably because I don't pay that much attention to things.

In May my family celebrates at least four birthdays (both brothers, my Aunt, and my grandfather). Then there is Mother's day. All of these are packed fairly close together. I just have my baby brother's birthday left to screw up deal with.

On top of the usual course of events is a bit of sadness. This year, earlier last week, in fact, we lost my Great Uncle Vern. My head isn't always the best for collecting dates... But I think he was ninety or so. For the majority of his life he was as spry as could be. In his advanced years, he flew an ultralight. At eighty (give or take) he fell out of a tree he was climbing and I seem to think he broke a collar bone. More recently, he suffered at least one stroke which pretty much took him out of things.

Note a lot of vagueness. I wasn't exactly close with Vern. I'm not the most outgoing of human beings, and that little failing has probably cost me a chance of knowing a very interesting man a little better.

Such is life.