Kreativ Blogger

I've been tagged by fellow writer, Teresa Cypher, over at Dreamers, Lovers, and Star Voyagers.

According to the Kreativ Blogger rules, I need to:

1. Thank the blogger who nominated me for the award, and provide a link back to their blog.

2. List 7 things about myself that the readers might find interesting.

3. Tag 7 other bloggers, providing links to their blogs, and letting them know.

So, thank you again, Teresa.

Now, seven random things about me. The interest factor you'll have to judge for yourself:

1. I enjoy building things. I built a tree fort, a tire swing, and a pirate ship in the back yard.

2. I can't tolerate the skin that forms on custard or hot milky drinks. The texture just creeps me out big time.

3. I have drawn and painted from the moment I could hold a pencil, but I only started writing a few years ago.

4. I am highly introverted, don't do well in crowds or parties, yet I love performing to an audience. After overcoming my initial terror of public speaking many years ago, I enjoy making presentations or facilitating meetings.

5. My wife and I got married in our living room, and did our own catering for a family reception on our lawn.

6. I have trouble picking a favorite anything - color, food, movie. I have many favorites of each, but they each become favorite in turn depending on mood and context, so to pick one over another would not seem right. It's like asking an astronomer which is the brightest star in the sky ... are you talking about visible light? Infra red? Radio? Gamma? The answer depends on the filter you apply.

7. I have just become a Canadian citizen ... in case you didn't know :)

Now to pass on the award to seven new victims:

Jean Davis, at Discarded Darlings. As well as being an inventive writer, Jean is amazingly creative and finds energy for all sorts of nifty craft projects.

Unikorna, at Why I Wake Up Every Day. A passionate lady with a stunningly visual blog and a no-nonsense attitude to life.

Gary, at Klahanie. Funny and irreverent, with whole families of wee folk inhabiting the bottom of his garden.

Katie, at Creepy Query Girl. Many highly creative ways to look at the writing process, with a refreshing hint of randomness thrown in.

Mynx, at Lizard Happy. Funny and artistic and is about to embark on the 30 Days of Creativity challenge. Pop over and wish her luck.

Lily Tequila, at Wishbone Soup Cures Everything. Has a way of describing the most mundane things in a way that brings them new life and new perspectives.

Super Earthling. The epitome of blogging creativity. 'Nuff said.

Tag time part 2

This is the second meme I got tagged with recently, this time by the lovely Lindsey, at Jesse Said Yes.

The rules of this meme are:

1. Go to page 77 of your current MS/WIP

2. Go to line 7

3. Copy down the next 7 lines, sentences, or paragraphs, and post them as they’re written.

4. Tag 7 authors

5. Let them know

As I mentioned in part 1, these memes have done the rounds so much it looks like everyone is abandoning attempts to pass them on. So, as before, if you're a follower, and if you haven't already been tagged, and if you feel like giving it a go, then consider yourself tagged!

Because my current WIP is still lying on the operating table, with bits spread out over a dozen Word files, finding page 77 was a bit of a challenge. So I went back to the most recent version where I have it all packed together neatly into one document in standard formatting.

Here is my excerpt from Ghosts of Innocence, where Shayla faces three opponents and unexpectedly finds them reduced to one ally:

There was a blur of movement and a soft hissing sound. Two heads thumped to the floor followed by two crumpling bodies.

Weasel grinned at Shayla, who had stepped smartly back to avoid the arcs of blood. She glimpsed a cold line of blue fire winking out as Weasel sheathed his knife. A shimmerblade. That was how he'd managed to behead the two of them so effortlessly.

"They were getting too curious for comfort." Weasel spoke for the first time. Shayla was taken aback by his voice, rich and firm, and completely at odds with his raggedy appearance.

Tag time part 1

There's a couple of popular memes doing the rounds right now, and they've both snuck into the quarantine zone surrounding The Bald Patch. I've seen both of these pop up on so many of the blogs I visit that there can't be many people left to tag, so I'm going to cheat and say if you're a follower, and if you haven't already been tagged, and if you feel like giving it a go, then consider yourself tagged!

I got a double dose of this first one: eleven random questions.

First, Jen Burke at Jen's Bookshelf posed the following:

1. What is the one book you couldn’t live without?

What a stinker of a question to start off with, Jen! To pick any one book would do a disservice to all the rest. But if I had to pick one, I think it would be Codex Seraphinianus, because it's just the weirdest, most unique book I've ever come across.

2. What can you see out your window at the moment?

Darkness!

3. What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever eaten?

The dish that was billed as "sweet and sour pork" served up at dinner on my third day at university. All us newbies wondered why none of the second and third year students bothered with dinner that day. We soon learned!

4. What fictional character would you most like to marry?

Probably Eowyn, from LOTR. Any gal who can stand up to a Nazgul has my vote.

5. If ever a fictional villain was going to win, who would you want it to be?

Shylock. I think he got a raw deal.

6. How many types of cheese can you name off the top of your head?

I just rattled off fourteen before I started running out of ideas, but I bet I could name a lot more if I wrote them down.

7. If you didn’t want to be a writer, what would you want to be?

An architect.

8. Can you play a musical instrument?

Not really. I am teaching myself a few tunes on the piano. Actually, as it's an electric keyboard with lots of settings, I guess I could say I can play at least fifty instruments, couldn't I?

9. Do you own a Kindle or a Nook or any sort of e-reader?

No.

10. If you do, how many books do you have on it?

Not applicable.

11. You just got published. In a glowing review, someone calls you “the next [insert famous author name here]”. Which famous author has to watch their back now you’re on the scene?

Frank Herbert.

Then Melissa, at Melissa's Imaginarium tagged me with the following:

1. Do you experience road rage or commuter rage if you don't own a car?

Sure. Ever been cut off when you're riding a bike?

2. What do you do when you're rolling along in an argument and realize you're wrong?

I try not to get into those kinds of arguments in the first place! Although I do have some strong views, I am quite content to be proved wrong and to learn something new. I find the best way to avoid digging myself into a hole like this is to go in with questions rather than statements, in a spirit of exploration. I do, however, make a strong distinction between facts, which I could be wrong about, and beliefs or preferences, which by definition are not open to challenge.

3. Cookies or cookie dough?

Cookies.

4. Movie quote that best sums up your current situation.

If I take one more step, it'll be the farthest away from home I've ever been. (Sam Gamgee, LOTR)

5. What pet peeve drives you homicide crazy?

People not pulling their weight. Especially so-called "celebrity" socialites who add nothing of any worth to the world.

6. What was the most outrageous lie you ever told that someone believed?

After a student riot between neighboring colleges at university, I had to answer some questions by the Dean. My room at that time overlooked the street, and he asked if I'd seen any flour or water bombs being thrown from our side of the street. I said, "No," despite the fact that I had been one of the ones doing the throwing!

7. What guilty pleasure movie or CD people would be shocked you own?

I don't think I own anything that would shock anyone. Does that shock you?

8. When was the last time you went to the movies alone and what did you see?

You have got to be kidding me! I can't remember that far back! Let's see, it might have been Star Wars, or Monty Python and the Holy Grail, both back in the 70s.

9. What item did you have to have, but had huge buyer's remorse after purchase?

Practically every pair of pants I've bought in the past few years, where I kid myself that my waist hasn't grown that much yet, only to be proved wrong after wearing them to work for a day.

10. Favorite condiment

Mustard.

11. If you could bar none get away with it, would you have some illegal fun?

No. My hyperactive guilt centre would get in the way.

And now, if anyone wants to play, please leave a note in the comments so I can visit and see your answers, and here's my 11 questions:

1. What was your favorite movie of 2011?

2. If you had to spend the rest of your life on another planet, what single item from Earth would you take with you?

3. Sweet or savory?

4. Do you ever get so mad at a book that you throw it against the wall?

5. Mathematics: art or science?

6. What is your favorite animal?

7. What is the longest you've ever been without taking a bath or a shower?

8. What profession would you like to consign to the pit of oblivion?

9. When did you last go for a cycle ride?

10. If you are a writer, have you ever written someone from real life into one of your stories?

11. Are there any pieces of music that can bring tears to your eyes?

Belated awards

I have a couple of awards that I've been holding on to for a few weeks now. Bad Botanist!

First off, Gary's owner, Penny the Jack Russell and Modest Internet Star, at Klahanie handed me the Friendly Blogger Award. I am honoured to be considered a friend by such a fine canine blogger.

Then, Saloma at About Amish passed on the Tell Me About Yourself tag. Saloma gives fascinating insights about her life amongst the Amish people of Ohio.

Thank you Gary/Penny and Saloma.

Now, according to the rules of that second tag...seven things about myself:

1. I don't have a favourite food. There are lots of things I like, but it depends far too much on the mood of the moment.

2. I only started creative writing a few years ago. Before then, the whole idea was utterly alien to me. If you'd told me ten years ago that I would one day be seriously seeking representation for a completed novel, I'd have laughed at you.

3. If I do finally get a book published, the idea of *takes deep breath and screws up face* ...marketing...fills me with deep dread bordering on paralytic terror.

4. Despite its logic and rigour, I believe that mathematics is an art, not a science. Few sights, words, or pieces of music can rival the sheer beauty of an elegantly-expressed proof or concept. Furthermore, I believe that the pursuit of mathematics is an adventure of discovery rather than creation. The deep linkages between one branch of mathematics and another, the truths and theorems, have always been there like diamonds deep underground waiting to be uncovered. The creative element we bring is in the lenses through which we choose to view the mathematical landscape. I know many people will vehemently disagree with me on these beliefs.

5. I am a cat person. I know we have a menagerie, but the other animals all belong to other family members. Cats are the only animals I would be likely to have as pets for myself.

6. I am highly "face blind". If I meet you for the first time, there's not a hope in hell that I'll recognise you again the following day. I will have a strong sense that I should know you, but it takes several meetings, preferably in a variety of settings, before I could see you in the street and be confident that I knew who you were. Even then, my chances of putting a name to the face are remote until I get to know you well.

7. I love blogging awards but I dread the act of passing them on. It always feels like two close friends asking me to tell which one is my "best" friend, and that for every one I nominate, there's many fine blogger friends that I feel I have slighted by omission.

So, this time I'm ducking the problem and issuing an open invitation: anyone who follows me, and who either feels friendly or who wants to talk about themselves, please claim one of these awards. Please leave a comment with a link back to your blog so we know who you are.

The Link Award

It's time for more bloggerly tag games. Both Unikorna at Why I Wake Up Every Day, and Laila at Untroubled Kingdom, have passed on to me the 7x7 Link Award. Many thanks, ladies.

Here, I have to nominate my most interesting and successful posts in a number of specific categories.

Now, some of these had me scratching my bald patch for inspiration, but I've had a go...


The most beautiful post: Right off I'm struggling. I don't think I do beautiful posts as such. Only in the sense that the brat screaming in the supermarket aisle is beautiful in the eyes of its mother. But I picked A surprise around every corner, because it was an account of a beautiful day out.

The most popular post: This one was easy, courtesy of Blogger statistics. Cogitus Interruptus.

The most controversial post: Another tricky one, because I don't really court controversy. But Never mind the matter/anti-matter photomultiplier - just give me warp speed! did trigger a bit of writerly discussion.

The most helpful post: Tricky for another reason, because I am always trying to be helpful. I thought about something from the writers' toolkit series, but finally settled on Whatever you want curry, because it wraps an almost endless variety of dishes into one simple recipe.

The most surprisingly successful post: How to write compelling characters. This was my first blogfest, and the response just blew me away.

The most underrated post: Again...so many to choose from! But I liked Homo Imbecilicus for its silliness and wished more people had seen it.

Finally, the most pride-worthy post: This was easy. It's my very first blog post, Welcome to my world. I am proud of it because it was a big step outside my comfort zone, when I had no idea (or expectation, really) of anyone else ever actually reading anything of mine.

Now I have to pass this award on to some more deserving bloggers. So, in no particular order, and looking for people I've not tagged recently, and please forgive me if you've already been tagged with this one...

Gary at Klahanie
Heather at Little Red Henry
Lindsey at Jesse Said Yes
J. Andrew Jansen at...J. Andrew Jansen
Mooderino at Moody Writing

Please check out all the awesome blogs in these links.

Liebsterised

The lovely Laila Knight at Untroubled Kingdom has passed me the Liebster Blog award. The idea of this award is to spread bloggerly love to some deserving bloggers with fewer than 200 followers.

I have to thank and link back to the sender - done - and nominate a few people to tag in return.

So, in no particular order, I hereby Liebsterise the following:

Steph at Across the Border
Elizabeth at Devious Diversions
Unikorna at Why I Wake up Every Day
Saloma at About Amish
Mysti at Unwritten

Fair Dinkum award

I knew there was something nagging at the back of my mind.

I had a drastic clear-out of my inbox at work and sent responses and groveling apologies to many people whose requests had lain buried for weeks waiting to be rescued. But I suddenly remembered things at home that have been waiting for attention too.

Many weeks ago, the delightful Stefanie, at Across the Border, handed me the Fair Dinkum award.

Now I need to return suitable abject groveling for tardiness above and beyond the call of duty, and respond to the requirements of said award, namely...

To reveal five things about myself:

1. I seem to be the odd one out in the writing world. Most people I come across in critique forums and blogs have been making up stories since they could say "story arc". But not me. I disliked writing. I excelled at mathematics because it involved no writing. Then one day an idea for a story popped into my head and I started trying to write.

I'm still trying.

Here's the really funny part. I enjoy writing when I know what it is I want to write, but I still have huge difficulty making up stories.

2. I paint and draw as well as write. I've done that since I could hold a pencil.

3. I have lots of favourite foods. Curry, pasta, pizza, bacon sandwiches, maltesers. I love variety.

4. I studied mathematics at Oxford University.

5. My kids drive me crazy half the time, but I couldn't imagine life without them.

Bling, bling!

OK, please accept my apologies, I've got a couple of awards that I've been tardy in acknowledging. Real Life is intruding way too much at the moment to devote this the attention it requires, but I do need at least to acknowledge the generous donors, so here goes...

First, there is the Cherry On Top award, from the delightful Lettuce Head.

Then there is the Versatile Blogger award, awarded independently both by the highly inventive Elena Solodow, and by the soft-spoken and ladylike Sam at Rot Du Jour. Please don't pepper-spray me, Sam!

So, there are a couple of rules with these awards. For the Cherry On Top award, I'm supposed to share one thing I'd change about my past.

One thing I would change is the time I wasted trying to be like other people. It took me many years to realise that other people might see me very differently from how I see myself, and with that realisation came a huge crisis of self-confidence. All of a sudden, I had no idea who "I" was any more. So, like a drowning man clutching at any flotsam that drifted by, I started rather randomly trying to emulate things that I thought were "cool" in other people.

It took me many more years to decide that it didn't matter how other people see me. I am who I am, and I have as much right to be me as anyone else. If anyone doesn't like it, they can take the proverbial long walk off a short pier.

And for the Versatile Blogger, I'm supposed to share seven things about myself.

1. See above (you can tell I'm pressed for time!)

2. I used to hate writing. How the heck I ever thought of trying to write novels I cannot now remember.

3. I used to hide behind the couch whenever the Daleks appeared on Dr Who. This was in the days when they first appeared on TV.

4. I hated all forms of physical activity when I was at school, and then promptly took up as much sport as I could cram into my life at University.

5. I have always loved drawing and painting. My mind is bursting with images that I want to share with people. I think writing is actually an extension of this, a way of pulling people even deeper into those imagined scenes than I ever could through a purely visual depiction.

6. I would love to be able to play a musical instrument.

7. I was personally invited, many years ago, by the Speaker of the House of Commons at that time to visit Westminster, see Prime Minister's Question Time, and visit him for a brief (he was a very busy man, which makes this all the more awesome) chat in his huge office overlooking the Thames.

OK, this has taken way too long. I've been really good this week at redressing the imbalance between blogging and writing, and I don't want to regress, so I'm going to cheat for the next part. I am passing on these awards to anyone out there following me who cares to comment and claim them. Because if you're following and commenting, you're awesome by definition, so choose one. Take your pick.

An award

Many thanks to Gary for passing me the "One Lovely Blog" award.

Gary is another expat, but in the opposite direction. Native of British Columbia, now living in England. Good luck over there, Gary. I recommend you check out his blog, and his surreal sense of humour.

In turn, I need to pass on the award to some of the many fine blogs that I know about. I'm limiting myself to five, and not putting a lot of science into this, so please don't feel put out if I miss you. Also I know this award is well-established in the blogging community, so I apologise if you've already received it. Hey! It gives you a chance to pass on to someone new if you were spoiled for choice first time around.

So, in no particular order, I declare the following Lovely Blogs:

Saloma (About Amish) - with some inspirational views on life and freedom.

David (The Bimillennial Man) - Mr Gadget, with some astute observations on the world at large. David, I know you don't care for tags and awards, but I wanted to acknowledge your blog anyway.

Jean (Discarded Darlings) - and her office full of characters giving her hell as she tries to focus on writing. But watch out for the cyborg attack weasels!

Laura Pauling - with her insightful views on writing.

Jan (Tartitude) - from the land of pith and zest.

And Happy Thanksgiving, Canada!

Tag follow-up

When I tagged Stella Telleria recently, she responded admirably with seven great gadgets and then passed on a new challenge to four other bloggers. The challenge she set was so interesting that I couldn't resist posting my own list even though I don't need to.

So, here are my seven most fascinating characters. These are mostly drawn from Ghosts, because, unlike Jean Davis, I don't have a long list of stories to refer to.

1. Shayla Carver, badass assassin and thoroughly mixed-up kid, hell-bent on tit-for-tat revenge for the destruction of her home planet. In Ghosts she is working under so many layers of deception that she has to keep reminding herself who she is supposed to be at any given moment. And she doesn't always get it right. Luckily for the two billion people on the Imperial home world she is not quite as hardened as she likes to think. But it takes a while for the long-repressed voice of compassion to be heard. I like Shayla because she's fun to write about.

2. Mabbwendig ap Terlion, a.k.a. Mad Mabb. Head of the Imperial domestic household. A diminutive bully, she tries to make Shayla's life hell when she infiltrates the Imperial hierarchy. Although we only see her bullying side in Ghosts, when I started "interviewing" her (see here for a post on character interviews) I discovered that her real driver is a fanatical devotion to millennia of tradition, and a withering disdain for anyone who doesn't measure up to the highest standards of duty.

3. Fleur Trixmin, the Bitch in the Basement. Imperial Chief of Intelligence. Petite, elfin, playful as a cat with a mouse. Her superficially irreverent manner masks a psychopathic sadism. Favourite quote: "I've made grown men, battle-hardened soldiers, weep with nothing more than the raising of an eyebrow."

4. Ivan Skamensis, the Emperor's uncle. Sly political manipulator and powerful opponent, he favours Imperial rule in the tradition of his mother - "It takes strength, and an iron grip, to keep all those worlds under control." He is the one truly responsible, behind the scenes, for the destruction of Shayla's home many years ago. And, no, he didn't bat an eyelid at the thought of killing 100 million people. That was just another day in the business of government.

5. Finn Probey, master assassin for the Family Firenzi. When we first meet him he is undercover in a terrorist group as an unkempt and slightly comical mute called "Weasel". His part there is characterised by a hobbit's obsession with food, and a supernatural ability to "get the job done", whatever "the job" might be. Subsequently he mentors Shayla on the next stage of her mission, unaware of her personal agenda.

6. Tiamat, from Electrons' Breath, is an emergent machine intelligence lurking at the heart of the Internet. With all transportation, industrial plant, and farm machinery under computer control in the late 21st century, practically everything, even your apartment's air conditioning, has lethal potential in Tiamat's virtual hands. Although Tiamat is the antagonist in this story, she is not truly evil. She is simply doing what all forms of life do to survive and propagate - i.e. whatever it takes.

7. Charles Hawthorne, university professor from Electrons' Breath. Not exactly antisocial, he has a daughter and grandchild, but has little time for other people and doesn't suffer fools gladly. All he wants is a quiet life in academia and a future for his family in a world ravaged by climate change. Rarely travels and has a visceral revulsion of immersive online worlds. Both limitations are tested when he stumbles on the reality behind Tiamat and flees for his life.

Tagged - seven awesome things

I've been tagged (again) by Jean Davis to ponder seven most interesting ways a character has died in a novel I've written or read.

Now, the way Jean worded this tag left me feeling duty-bound to find seven interesting deaths from my own world, given how overpopulated it is and how Shayla (amongst others) has been working hard to rectify that situation.

So here, from Ghosts of Innocence, in strict order of (dis)appearance, and ignoring ordinary boring deaths from simple stabbing or shooting or poisoning, I offer the following:

1. Lots of people: Crashing from space in a crippled starship.

2. "Tiger" and "Raven": Beheaded cleanly by a shimmerblade, which is a knife with a vibrating crytsalline edge that can shear effortlessly through anything short of military-grade vehicle armour. I don't think either of them knew what hit them. Final thoughts probably along the lines of "that's odd, why is the floor flying towards my face?"

3. Italo di Flavio of Tinturn: A scapegoat for the crashing starship episode, executed in public by being lowered into a circle of incandescent plasma.

4. Lord Jerve Jamboro: Trapped in the wreckage of his crashed airbike and eaten alive by a hunting pack of flightless, predatory birds. No sympathy there given that he had, not long previously, been directing same birds to hunt down fleeing prisoners.

5. Brandt Carver: Shot through the heart by his own sister, in order to spare him an agonising death when he is accidentally (and irreversibly) poisoned by one of Shayla's own darts.

And, just to show that the tradition endures, from chapter 1 of The Ashes of Home:

6. Assassin #1: In hand-to-hand combat with Shayla, hanging upside down from the eaves of a building in an artificial grav field, steps outside the field, loses his balance, and plunges to his death.

7. Assassin #2: Accidentally incinerated by her own thermal grenade while trying to take out Shayla. Silly woman, she should have known that was never going to end well.

Now I have to tag four people in turn. So...
Cathy Chance
Stella Telleria
Charmaine Clancy
Lexi Revellian

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to tell us about the seven most awesome gadgets or pieces of technology you've either written or read about. And Stella, no, foam missile guns don't count.

Have fun! And please accept my apologies if you've already been tagged with this one. I did look first, honest.

Award time

A little while ago I posted about character names, and set off a small train of discussion (not yet finished) here and in a writer's forum I belong to. Jean Davis at Discarded Darlings passed on the Over The Top Award to me. You can find out why here.


According to the rules of this award, I must answer these questions with one word.

Your cell phone: Battered
Your hair: Vanishing
Your mother: Tidy
Your father: Clever
Your favorite food: Curry
Your dream last night: Forgotten
Your favorite drink: Beer
Your dream goal: Appreciated
What room are you in: Study
Your hobby: Creativity
Your fear: Blindness
Where do you see yourself in six years: Published :-)
Where were you last night: Partying
Something you aren't: Patient
Muffins: Chocolate
Wish list item: Relaxation
Where did you grow up: Guernsey
Last thing you did: Eat
What are you wearing: T-shirt
Your TV: Off
Your pets: Many
Your friends: Select
Your life: Busy
Your mood: Thoughtful
Missing someone: Childhood
Vehicle: Sporty
Something you aren't wearing: Frown
Your favorite store: Bookstore
Your favorite color: Blue
When was the last time you laughed: Earlier
Last time you cried: January
Your best friend: Wife
One place you go to over and over: Imagination
Facebook: Que?
Favorite place to eat: Home

And I am handing the award on to David Batista at The Bimillennial Man, for shooting around 600 photos in just a few days in Paris.