valdary

01:43 pm: Saturday Smut!
( You are about to view content that may only be appropriate for adults. )

10:40 pm: Children in Need
Neil Gaiman twittered this link to how Pudsey saved a life http://users.livejournal.com/_tonylee_/445009.html


Don't forget to donate to Children in Need

12:49 pm: State Opening of Parliament
The Queen's pages of honour looked cute in their ridiculous official uniform, especially one little red head, the lads must feel embarrassed by their frills and britches, but maybe they like being allowed to carry swords?

In the early eighties I worked for the civil service and helped keep textile accounts. The building I worked in stored the silk velvet the peers robes are made of. The velvet is much more lightweight than it looks. It ripples over your fingers like water. It cost £30 back in the eighties, I hate to think how much it would cost now. Seriously gorgeous though.

Duke of Edinburgh looked fit and well and the Queen arrived in white velvet cloak before changing it for the long robe the pages had to carry.

I wrote a twoem on twitter

Glittering on her throne,
Reading puppet words is her fate.
Seeming powerless and yet,
The symbol carries weight.

04:15 pm: Xmas Craft Fayre Sat 14 Severn Hospice Telford 11am
If you come to the Xmas Fayre you might be able to get this beautiful knitted handbag by Nan or some of Truly Scrumptious' Boxing Day Chutney

01:33 pm: Jim in the Morning Twitterverse Overlord for Shropshire!



After some discussion in my twitter stream about BBC Radio Shropshire presenter Jim Hawkins aka @jiminthemorning being Twitter Overlord for Shropshire I've cartooned him in his Overlord robes

His favourite tags are;

#TOHOD which stands for Thump of Head on Desk
#HOTH which stands for Hats off to Humanity

10:51 pm: I was digging in some old files and found the first two pages of a story I was writing.

It makes no sense to me whatsoever.

I don't know what it was supposed to be about, I can't remember what was going to happen.

Its just two pages of rubbish dialogue with a boy, a girl, a toddler and a frog clock that blows bubbles.

I think that one is past recycling.

08:41 pm: I've Got Nothing!
But we can find something to give Children In Need


Great dancing Pudsey! http://bit.ly/9LHQA fun Children in Need fundraising song from Chartjackers


Lets see if we can get this song into the UK charts and raise money to help Children in Need

If you buy this song from outside the UK it won't count towards the chart ranking but the money WILL still help the children

03:06 pm: Awesome new toy for artists
A new printer and range of inks http://bit.ly/3pwBd2 I know lots of artists who will want to play with this one when it becomes available,

04:28 pm: Bonfire night
Don't forget to check no hedgehogs in your bonfire before you light it.

Make sure your pets are safely indoors with TV or radio on to drown out the bangs and whistles.

Make sure your sausages and burgers are cooked properly, on cold November nights barbecue isn't always the most efficient cooking method.

Supervise the kids with those sparklers, and whoever is in charge of letting off the fireworks doesn't get a beer until there are no fireworks left, OK?

Don't forget to tell the kids what a terrific job they did making the Guy

Have a fun and safe Bonfire Night

02:30 pm: No-nanowrimo support group
Either you are already writing so many words a month that you can't fit in another project,
or these enthusiastic gung ho writers just make you feel totally inadequate.

You are not alone!

Whether you are uninspired, a slacker, or just snowed under!

Be gentle on yourself and sign up for the No-nanowrimo support group.

11:59 am: #twoems, very short poems I've recently posted on Twitter
Sunday morning cup of tea,
Bacon and eggs or kedgeree.
Lazy morning nowhere to go,
Listening to the radio.


Saving money is now on trend,
Get finances out of a slump.
Granny can teach you "make do and mend",
And keep stuff out of the dump.


A potter in a silly hat,
On Newsnight said important that,
Artists love their art not fame,
Just chasing cash is rather lame.


Hands bruised carving a turnip light,
scorched smell when candle was too bright,
When did pumpkins seduce the night?


Sewing, painting, threading.
Secrets give the heart a lift.
Furtive wrapping, plotting to hide,
Each Yuletide gift.


In the longer night,
When frost begins to bite.
Put on woolley pulleys,
Then snuggle together,
By fire and candle light.


Must remember by Monday night to write a poem for Tony,
Maybe for fun I'll tell the tale of Seanan's zombie pony.


The artists with the greatest skill,
No-one can tell,
It's only the artists with good PR,
That can sell.


Over the skies of Shropshire,
Flies a mysterious ufo,
A satellite or a Chinese lantern?
The point is, we don't know.


Sunshine on Autumn leaves,
Mug of tea hot and sweet,
@BBCShropshire on the radio,
Makes a contented tweet.


I wrap darkness round me like a duvet,
Time to sleep.
Tired aches sinking away through mattress,
Breathing deep.
Welcome dreams.


Golden tint on fallen leaves,
Distant tweets of early snow,
Time to unpack winter clothes,
Flip flops into cupboard go.


Cat chases spider,
Eight legs can run,
She knows how to hide her,
Avoiding cat's tum.

11:04 am: Ironbridge
Where Abraham for Sabrina had an iron girdle made.
Where streams with mud as red as blood run thorough each woodland glade.
Where once the sky roared scarlet with the fume of Bedlam's forge,
Now foxes run and magpies fly along the wooded gorge.

10:57 pm: 11 Writing Marathon Challenges: NaNoWriMo and Beyond http://www.epiguide.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13954

Script Frenzy might be more my thing if I'm well enough in April

03:44 pm: Mad linky post
Found some links on Twitter, saw a couple of things in the newspaper that made me do some searches and been thinking.

http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2009/10/kindle-numbers-traditional-publishing.html Is publishing books in e formats becoming more profitable than print and would authors make more money self publishing in e formats? At least eventually?

https://dtp.amazon.com/mn/signin Self publishing on Kindle doesn't seem insurmountably difficult, even if you had to do it with html handbook in one hand.

I don't personally use iphone as touch screens tend not to admit I exist but if you use your iphone a lot you might find your battery wearing out in a year or so, if you don't want to replace the whole phone here is HowTo replace the battery http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Repair/iPhone-1st-Generation-Battery/448/1 poke around the site for other models and other types of repair

http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Banana/811/1 made me laugh

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_1492.html pretty photo of Andromeda from NASA

Your GSM operator can snoop your phone's GPS without your knowledge. 3.6 in http://ur1.ca/dj55 This link is to download a pdf report

A slightly tongue in cheek article on supporting unread authors http://tiny.cc/mxw6f

07:26 pm: Poetry Fishbowl
ysabetwordsmith's Poetry Fishbowl is under way http://ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com/816207.html

10:16 am: With the dance and drama classes and extra ice skating, not to mention the habit of walking various pretty girls home "Because we were having an interesting conversation", Resident Giant is noticeably losing podge and putting on muscle.

This is going to mean more shopping. He went to put on his best jeans yesterday and the waist was so big on him they looked like comedy clown trousers, he had to hunt for a belt to hoick them in and they still looked weird. Sigh!

I'm glad he is getting fitter but shopping for trousers that have a 36 inside leg, that won't bankrupt me, and that he will consent to be seen wearing, aaaagh!

And why can they never grow out of one garment at a time?

I would also appreciate recommendations for brands of tee that run to a long fit, I don't like to order shirts for him to find they make nice crop tops, and on the Resident Giant a lot of tees do.

02:50 pm: Break out the fresh mango juice, hooray!
Just heard about new series of Red Dwarf to start filming next year.

I know I'm a geek but this makes me very happy.

Also this series has to have my favourite theme tune ever.

02:13 pm: Twitter
I've been searching around on Twitter looking for my friends tweets.

It's not always easy with lots of people having similar real names and people using different internet aliases on different sites. Some people I only found because they were following other friends and I recognised their icons.

So if you want me to follow your tweets, or you would like to follow mine come and find me @valdary

Fair warning, I may advertise some of my tee-shirt designs at you a bit more than I do on here and ReTweet some of my favourite designs by other Zazzlers, but I promise that not every tweet is an ad.

08:51 pm: Authonomy
http://www.authonomy.com/ is a website run by the publisher Harper Collins.

It is something like a crowd distributed reading scheme.

Aspiring authors upload their books or portions of their books to the website.

People who like reading books for free register on the site, read the books, and vote for their favourites.

The books with the most votes get a publishing contract with Harper Collins.

Some of the books are very good, some are bizarrely bad. Many of the blurbs are unintentionally hilarious.

Self published authors are still eligible so long as they still own full copyrights and haven't contracted to another publisher.

You don't have to reside in UK so long as you write primarily in English.

If you like reading or writing it might be worth a look at.

Here is current top twenty, http://www.authonomy.com/EditorsDeskChart.aspx?genre=all&type=0

Once a month the top five are taken in for reading by Harper Collins official readers, so it is tough and competitive, and you get an idea of the size of the slush pile.

08:49 pm: Welsh Owl
She hunts on wings as silent as petals on the breeze,
Through valleys that have long forgotten,
The proud prince who wed her but could not hold her heart.
At night you hear her voice calling from distant hollow trees.
The flower girl, the white blossom,
Who turned from destiny to take flight.
A punishment, or reward?
For declining to take part,
In the politics and feuding of a petty chieftains court.
They cursed her as soulless,
But she flies through moonlit meadows still,
When all their dynastic plotting has come to naught.
White feathers, blossom soft,
Drifting through the night.
White owl over meadow flowers,
In silent endless flight.