Dog Poem at Every Day Poets

I've got a poem up at Every Day Poets today! It's a light-hearted poem, so no sadness warnings this time:

The Dog's Complaint

I have a strong urge to post relevant lolcats, but I'm resisting.

Ben Nevis and Beyond (Photos)

In the tradition of 'what is an easy thing to post about when I've just got home and I'm braindead?', here are a few photographs of Scotland. I was staying in Fort William, a small town near Ben Nevis (the tallest mountain in the UK). There were many hills and lakes.



I call these fluffies. I'll figure out what they really are by the time I put the photo in my Nothing. But they'll always be fluffies to me. It's like a fairytale flower. There were fields of them, in all their fluffy glory.



Because some have grumbled about lack of photos of me, here's one of me on top of Ben Nevis. Yes, I'm wearing a bandit mask. I figured it'd be a possible career option to pay for writing*.



Though the family joked it could be my author trademark to only have photos showing the upper part of my face, it's actually because the ones showing all of me didn't come out very well.

We also went on the Hogwarts Express! In a manner of speaking. I went on 'The Jacobite' service, run by West Coast Railway. This train company is the one that provided the steam train for the Harry Potter movies. The route was also used for some scenes in the films.



More photos should appear on my website at some point. I also have a video in the making, as I took a few wildlife videos (including a seagull chick, from a pair who decided the railway line was a great place to put a nest).


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* Or I was wearing it because the air was cold. You can decide.

I'm Gone (Till Mid-June)

I'm going to Scotland...

In light of news stories about people tweeting their awayness and getting burgled, I'll add this doesn't mean all my family is away. Don't try to burglarise them! The lights are on because someone is home.

For everyone else, I won't have 'net access. I'm here for a few more hours after posting this. Then the blog will be sleeping, comments will wait to be moderated and so on. You're welcome to leave comments for when I get back.

I'll try and remember my phone, so I will be able to tweet. I don't get @replies on my phone though*, so it'll be a one way conversation (but at least you'll know I'm alive).

See you soon with scenic photos. I'm also taking some reading books and my notebook computer, so I might get some writerly stuff done.


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* Not my fault. There were issues with UK phone companies not wanting to cut Twitter a deal on delivering replies.

Who Are Book Recommendations For?

A recurring joke in comedies is the person who buys unsuitable birthday presents. They'll give something they want, but the birthday boy/girl will hate (sometimes in the hope of ending up with the discarded present). Whether due to lack of empathy or selfishness, the result is the same: the present will be a disappointment.

The same thing happens with book recommendations. Many people wanting recommendations give a set of criteria. It could be as broad as a genre or as narrow as a specific element in the story. Whatever it is, the asker has decided that's what they want. The logical thing would be to give it to them.

Yet time and again, some people recommend the same few books in response to every request. It doesn't matter if it matches the criteria or not (and they won't warn the asker if the books don't match). Some examples I've seen are recommending...

• ...a mainstream young adult book to someone looking for adult fantasy.
• ...a book with a sad ending to someone who wanted happy endings.
• ...a book with a rape scene to someone looking for books without sexual content for their child.
• ...a fantasy without dragons to someone looking for dragon stories.
• ...a book with a ground-based main character, when asked for books where the main character could fly.

That's not to say your favourites can't be offered as a recommendation, but they need to be filtered based on the criteria given. A cat story is not a suitable offering when someone wants a dog story.

The way to avoid being that kind of recommender is to stop and ask: why am I recommending this? Is it because it's your favourite book and you couldn't possibly imagine someone hating it, despite not matching the criteria? If so, don't recommend it.

Is it because they wanted books about dogs and this one is about wolves? If so, you might recommend it with a note that it's about wolves instead of dogs. There's no harm in recommending something that's close, but not quite, as long as you explain it. Give the asker enough information to decide whether it's close enough to what they wanted.

Is it because it meets the criteria? If so, recommend it! You can't guarantee that the asker will like it, but at least you've tried to give them what they wanted.

...and for those asking for recommendations (especially if it is for a child and you want to avoid certain content), be wary of what you receive. Some people are guaranteed to give you a disappointing present.

Cleaning out a Cockroach Tank

Time spent cleaning tank: 10 minutes.
Time spent removing cockroach from tank in order to clean: 20 minutes.

He would not move. He clung to the side of the tank so I couldn't lift him. Sensible cockroaches lay on the soil (allowing them to be scooped up), but not this one.

I tried my usual trick of prodding him till he walks onto a piece of card in front of him. He's getting wise to this, and simply squished up his back end without moving the front.

Eventually, I managed to get him to walk forward, one slow step at a time. Once on the card, he promptly trundled onto my hand and went for an explore. I've learnt before that he'll only go on my hand after he's lost the I-want-to-stay-in-the-tank-sleeping battle. I suppose once the battle is lost, he doesn't see any reason to hold a grudge.

Once the cleaning was done, I had no problem getting him back in the tank. The new tank met with his approval and he snuggled up under his new cardboard house.



At least I only have to clean the tank once every six months... a single cockroach doesn't make a whole lot of mess.