Goals for 2010 - On Quirkiness

The Year in Waffle

This was a year of some change for me, as I gave up my job early in the year. I've been a lot happier since (and it meant I had time to enjoy Christmas this year... I like having time to decorate and bake stuff*).

Writing wise, I've been productive. I have more submissions out right now than ever before (about 10-15), as I'm not constantly trunking stuff for being terrible. I'm also getting fewer 'this story needs work' rejections and sold a few things.

But there are also bad sides. I'm increasing getting 'this is too strange/quirky/different' rejections. Unlike the bad writing rejections, this is more fundamental. It's about the way I think. I've increasingly realised that when people say they want diversity, they almost always mean in relation to race or sexuality. Neurological diversity need not apply.

It's a tricky one, as I can't really fix the fact I think differently. It's not something that could be cured (and arguably, if you did so, what you'd be doing is putting another person in my place with thought processes you found easier to cope with). I can only hope I manage to break through the barrier at some point.

Last Year's Goals

- Read one book published in 2009.

The book I selected to read was Silver Phoenix by Cindy Pon. I haven't finished it yet. But all is not lost, because I did finish Ars Memoriae by Beth Bernobich. Goal complete!

- Get a story accepted by a professional market.
- Finish and submit 24 new short stories in the year (two a month).

I wrote 23 things, so I got close to the numbers. No professional acceptances yet, but I still sold a few things (two stories and two poems). Overall, I consider this a success as the goals achieved what they were intended to do (to get me finishing and sending off more stuff).

- Send the first query for Cockroach, or otherwise find representation.
- Buy a bear trap.

Cockroach (a novel) isn't ready still. I'm getting there. Slowly. With a lot of teeth pulling. The fact I'm more comfortable with flash fiction shows, but I'm determined to get a novel finished somehow.

Obviously, I don't need the bear trap until I query.

- Seed a flower meadow in the front garden.

We had some successes this year. The cornflowers and cowslips grew. We also have a full covering of wild meadow grass now. I'm hoping more species of flower will take next year, now that the soil is improving.

- Go dragon hunting in Switzerland.

This didn't happen, due to exchange rate issues. We went to Scotland instead. Fewer dragons. More lake monsters. I consider that a win.

Next Year's Goals

- Read one book published in 2010.

It worked last year...

- Write more short stories of approximately 3000 words (or more).

I tend to write shorterly short. I could do with some more longer stories.

- Finish Cockroach and send queries.

Because eventually I'll be able to take it off the goals list.

- Complete my Second Life gallery.

I'm currently working on a writing/art gallery in Second Life. Imagine my website as a building, and you'll get the idea. It's a big project though and it'd be easy to slack and not finish it.


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* Which is funny, because I don't actually like cooking. I dislike timing everything (and time divisions generally), the hassle, the wondering if the oven will behave.

I do like is eating the cooked stuff afterwards. And the left over uncooked cake mix. Breaking eggs is also pretty nifty. They make that crinkle-plop sound. But the rest, not so much.

Snowman at Every Day Poets

'Tis the season. Or not. This is actually a spring poem (despite the name). But still, it has snow! It has... not much happiness. That's odd really, because I find snowmen inherently funny. Maybe I'll write a funny snowman poem next year.

Poem Link: Snowman

Orange Season: On Food Seasonality

In the past in the UK, fruit and vegetables were seasonal*. They still are as far as the farmers/gatherers go. As far as the modern shopper goes, very few planty items are seasonal** because the food comes from all over the world.

This means the old idea of having an orange for Christmas doesn't mean a whole lot. You can have oranges any time of year. You can have most kinds of fruit at Christmas, even if it's something that was only previously available in summer.

Some fruit and veg has survived tradition. Dried fruit and nuts are still more popular at Christmas, despite being available all year and not so essential (they made sense at a time when most fresh fruit wouldn't last that long... now, not so much).

But deep down, I think people like seasonal food. Even in areas without seasons, a traditional community wouldn't have the same food available every day. People just aren't built to keep eating the same meal.

Food companies have realised this too. Sweets, cakes and tasty treats have taken over the seasonal throne. My family have chocolate oranges for Christmas, because that's when they're mainly available. Some sorts of cake only become available in the winter (yule logs, stollen and matured fruit cakes/fruit puddings).

Outside of the winter holiday connections, some chocolate bars are released for a limited time every-now-and-then.

So in a blow for food seasonality, I baked some things for the family's winter*** present. I made rocks cakes, lemon slices and date slices****. Admire my not very elegant (yet practical) presentation of the edibles:



They lasted about two days. That's a short food season indeed.


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* This post could also apply to other places with seasons, a winter season and a holiday in winter. And perhaps beyond that. I don't know though, because I don't live in those places. So feel free to share your similar tales of foody seasonality (or sporadicness of availability, if you live somewhere without seasons).

** A few exceptions are things where one area produces the best. The UK has a very good climate for strawberries. You can get non-UK strawberries here all year round, but they don't compare to those produced during the British strawberry season.

There are also some varieties of things that are a bit niche. Some apple varieties are only grown on a small scale, so you do rely on the seasons.

*** We're mixed-religion. Which leads to me wishing people a merry winter. I get some looks at that, but if Christmas can be merry, so can winter.

**** A few baking notes for the cooks out there:

Rock Cakes: Are the 'rich rock buns' recipe in Cookery in Colour: A Picture Encyclopedia for Every Occasion***** edited by Marguerite Patten. Only with glace cherries instead of candied peel. This is a recipe the family has used for ages, but it's the first time I've cooked them.

Lemon and Date Slices: Are 'lemon bars' and 'sticky date bars' from 500 Cookies by Philippa Vanstone. This is a new book and the first time I've used it. I'd say the recipes need slightly larger quantities for the tin size and needed longer cooking times. Overall, they worked well though. Only 498 recipes to go...

***** They don't make titles like that anymore. This was published in 1960, when being in colour was a major feature (and most of the pictures were black and white anyway).

The Hidden Costs of TrueTwit

This post is about a new Twitter service, but the principles can apply to other social networks.

TrueTwit is a Twitter tool that messages anyone who follows you. It asks them to click a link and prove they're a person (via a CAPTCHA system). The claim is it cuts down on the number of bots following.

When I'm hit with one of these, I do the obvious thing - I unfollow the person again.

Why? A number of reasons:

1. Auto-DMs (direct messages) are impersonal. I'd rather get no message. No message is real. It means you're a busy person, or you're shy or you don't like to say anything when you have nothing to say. All of those are fine. I'm a quiet person too. Automated spam? Not fine.
2. Links are suspect. Twitter has a lot of hacking going on from clicking on links sent in tweets or DMs. I'm cautious of all links sent via DM. No exceptions (especially not for links sent by a bot).
3. You're using a bot to send me a message to check if I'm a bot. I don't want to follow a bot either. I followed you because I thought you were a real person, not a person who'd send me automated bot messages.
4. I'm dyslexic. I'm good at reading and writing words in context, but my letter recognition skills are poor when it isn't in context. CAPTCHA tests would say I'm a bot, because I consistently fail them.
5. You're not going to visit my profile and see what sort of person I am. You're relying on the bot test. Considering I checked out your profile before I added you, this isn't exactly an equal relationship. I might as well shrug my shoulders and move on now.

The advocates of this idea point out it reduces bot followers. That may be, but it also reduces your number of real followers. Bear in mind that it won't put off people using their Twitter account for marketing. The people it'll put off are your average users - the ones who thought you looked like an interesting person.

I hope this kind of system doesn't become a trend. Increasingly elaborate systems to check realness are a barrier to socialising. By using them, you're filtering out the very people you wanted to keep.

Review of Ars Memoriae by Beth Bernobich

This is a book tour post for Ars Memoriae, a novella by Beth Bernobich. In this tour, the book does the travelling, not the author. I looked after it for a bit and you can too, if you meet the following criteria.

1. You have a blog and you're not afraid to use it.
2. You're willing to read the book.
3. You'll photograph* the book somewhere... in your home, on a rollercoaster, by your pet cat. Somewhere.
4. You'll post a review, and your book photograph, to your blog.
5. You send it along to the first person who replies to you, as long as they're willing to review/photograph/pass it on.

Interested? Too late! Fairyhedgehog replied first... but if she changes her mind, it'll go through remaining comments in order.

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Prologue

The book arrived during forty days and forty nights of rain. I wasn't sure we'd get out to see anything, as I didn't want him to get all crinkly. In the meantime, I read him instead.

The Story

The story opens with a man considering the arbitrary nature of time divisions. I'm all for that. He turns out to be a detective in an alternate history setting. One having nasty visions about alternate timelines.

Political hijinks ensue, and he's sent off on a mission for the queen (whilst trying not to be a crazy person with the visions).

And the rest of the plot is secret!

As you might be able to tell, I'd never get a job writing plot summaries on the back of books**. But that aside...

I liked the Victorian feel to the writing, as well as the mystery plot. The interactions between the political factions came across realistically.

I would have liked to know more about the whole time aspect of the story. It felt like there was more going on, given the nature of the differences between the alternate visions and the actual timeline. They were important differences, rather than whether Pickles the cat chose tuna or chicken for his tea (there isn't a cat in the book).

Overall, it was a good book. It also has a nifty cover, as you'll see.

Epilogue

I suggested to the family we ought to take the book to the seaside. It turned out to be a cold and overcast day, so there wasn't a whole lot of sandcastle building. I did take some shots in the town centre (which is right by the sea).

This shot*** shows Victorian shop buildings and the ruins of a Norman castle on the hilltop. The view has some claim to fame as Disney used it in their advertising in 2007 (they showed the street transforming into a Disney place****).



You can't beat statues and chocolate. This is the cricketer statue (if you ever visit Hastings, look around the nearby buildings to find the ball he's hit). In the background, a chocolate shop and Christmas decorations.



All done, I wrapped him back up in the bubblewrap. I resisted popping all the bubbles, which is quite a feat. It wouldn't be quite so paddingish if I had popped them.


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* I should probably note, people are only expected to take one picture. I have more because I do.

** Nor as a book reviewer, but I'll make up for it with photos!

*** The hand is not mine. This was just a hand I borrowed for the occasion.

**** A shot from the Disney campaign is shown here. They had a sunnier day, being Disney. And a less ruiny castle.