Valdary's notes

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 22:56:39 GMT

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.

I've Got Nothing!

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:46:08 GMT

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

Awesome new toy for artists

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:09:28 GMT

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,

Bonfire night

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:34:16 GMT

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

No-nanowrimo support group

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:35:02 GMT

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.

#twoems, very short poems I've recently posted on Twitter

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 11:08:58 GMT

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.

Ironbridge

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 10:09:10 GMT

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.

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 22:00:24 GMT

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

Mad linky post

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:02:10 GMT

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

Poetry Fishbowl

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 18:28:08 GMT

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

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 09:29:45 GMT

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.

Break out the fresh mango juice, hooray!

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 13:54:10 GMT

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.

Twitter

Sun, 04 Oct 2009 13:23:01 GMT

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.

Authonomy

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 20:04:54 GMT

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.

Welsh Owl

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 19:52:00 GMT

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.

Flower Owl

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 13:08:42 GMT

Flower Owl by Valdary
View other Owl T-Shirts

Because Carol-Ann likes owls and flower petals and jade green and cerise pink

Unicorns

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 12:20:39 GMT

I finally got round round to doing my compare and contrast piece on Unicorns.

In ancient illuminated texts and paintings they were depicted as a lady's pet, small, goatlike, with cloven hooves and a lions tail.

In modern times they seem to resemble horses with a horn stuck on.

I like beautiful horned horses, but I also rather like the dainty little goatlike unicorns.

Which do you prefer?

Unicorns, Ancient and Modern by Valdary
Create personalized t shirts at Zazzle

After Ketsana, Parma? Prayers and good wishes.

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 07:49:21 GMT

Prayers for those people around the Pacific threatened by Typhoon Parma.
Hope it misses land and does not add to the troubles being suffered by those already trying to cope with the aftermath of Typhoon Ketsana (Ondoy)

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i6eatUwlDQQIHZiKqXjLHTmQSrogD9B25FQ80?index=1&ned=uk

See my previous post for aid links if you wish to help.

Ondoy/Ketsana

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 10:07:55 GMT

If you wish to donate in cash or kind to help the people of the Philippines after the storms and flooding, here is a link to find where to donate http://www.google.com/landing/typhoon-ondoy.html also http://moongirl.wordpress.com/2009/09/28/donating-to-manila-from-abroad/

Marose I'm thinking of you and hope you are safe.

Please can you circulate this link as far as possible. It's a global village now, and many of us have friends around the world. Nowhere is too far away to care about, please help if you can, and if you can't, do your best to help make sure that others who may be able to offer help know where it is needed.

Edit: Thankfully Marose is OK but a lot of people still need help

Fishbowl prompt

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 07:35:43 GMT

The poem ysabetwordsmith wrote for my prompt in the "fishbowl" is called "The Call of the Cŵn Annwn".

For those of you who don't speak Cymraeg, Annwn is a place in Welsh mythology which you could describe as a cross between Hades and the Winter Courts of Fae. It is the place the Wild Hunt comes from. Cŵn is Cymraeg for dog. So you could translate it as "Call of the Hell Hound" or "Call of the Fairy Dog" but its somewhere between the two.

It is a a very cool poem and I suggest you get over to Ysabet's journal and sponsor her some money so you can read it too.

I was thrilled and delighted that ysabetwordsmith chose this particular prompt because being brought up on Marcher land and having a little Welsh in my own ancestry, I have heard tales of this creature all my life.

My favourite is the story of a spoiled pretty girl called Nan who was playing fortune telling games at a Halloween party. The fortune teller told her that even though she was the prettiest girl in the room, that she would never marry. This put Nan in such a temper that when she saw a black dog on the way home, instead of noticing the unearthly glow in its eyes, she kicked the dog spitefully. Instantly her leg withered black to the hip and she was lame the rest of her days, for woe indeed it was Old Shuck that she had kicked..

Sarie Bel

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 18:24:31 GMT

I've been reading some of ysabetwordsmith's poetry and trying to follow her "fishbowl" as best I could given that for me it started in the evening and went on all night. Anyway some interesting samples and tantalising titles came out of the fishbowl and for small sums of sponsorship money she will publish the poems on her journal. You don't even have to sponsor a whole poem.

Look here to see descriptions of poems you might want to sponsor.

Reading some of the ballady stuff reminded me of the song that I made my little green lady icon for.

You can sing it to the tune of Barbra Allen, I always meant to write a setting for it but there you go.

Sarie Bel the Waters Child

In Kairag Marsh there is a pool,
That's deadly to discover.
Where Sarie Bel the Water's Child,
Sings to call her lover.

On market day one winters morn,
Bazdrei his wares was bringing.
By drovers road across the marsh,
When he heard her singing.

“Son, walk the road, don't step aside,
For the marshes are deceiving,
Stay on the track,” his mother
Said when he was leaving.

But the voice that he heard singing,
Was sweet beyond all measure,
The donkeys crop the soggy grass,
While he stands lost in pleasure.

A narrow path led to one side,
To where the voice was singing.
Unknowingly his footsteps glide,
To Sarie Bel him bringing.

Bazdrei stood watching Sarie sing,
'Til she looked up and saw him,
A handsome man so tall and strong,
How can she help but love him?

“Oh Bazdrei will thou stay with me,
And be my own true lover?
Shall bulrushes our bedding be,
And lily blooms our cover?”

They made their bulrush wedding bed,
Each truly loved the other,
But fate is cruel, enchantment blind,
The end could be no other.

Entwined their limbs and sweet their love,
Each heart has found its treasure,
And as she brings him to her home,
He's drowning in his pleasure.

His heart is cold, his skin is pale,
And to love her he won't wake,
Oh when he swore that he'd be true,
He deceived her like a snake,

She strokes his hair and calls his name,
But he just seems to ignore her,
So she sings to call another love,
Who truly will adore her!

In Kairag Marsh there is a pool,
That's deadly to discover.
Where Sarie Bel the Water's Child,
Sings to call her lover.

Dreams

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 10:49:37 GMT

I dreamed last night that I was walking through a wild and beautiful garden.

I was just vaguely lucid enough at the back of my mind to be aware that it is September but in the dream garden it was springtime. Spring flowers were growing in the grass and I walked through clouds of butterflies. Shoots grew up between the flagstones growing to their full height within seconds and blossomed into orchids.

I walked into another cloud of what I thought were more butterflies but as they fell around me I realised that it was raining sunglasses. At first they were tiny sunglasses that would fit dolls but as the shower got heavier, normal sized sunglasses fell. I caught a few thinking they might be useful but the lenses were scratched. As I didn't want the sunglasses I took refuge from them falling on me in a large hall.

The hall had about a thousand or so children about 8 or 9 years old inside. They were studying their school lessons and I helped some of them with their work. Then the children started making fancy dress costumes. I helped some of them with the making of the costumes, and other children would wander across to show off their costumes and be admired. The children queued up and walked out of the back of the hall to go to their fancy dress party.

I followed them out but instead of going to the building where the party was, I walked down the field to join Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant. We sat on the grass and gossiped for a while and then walked round the outside of some circus tents.....

Thats as far as I remember.

It was a very happy feeling dream. (In case you've lived on a South Sea island for the past five years or you don't like sci-fi/fantasy Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant are both actors who are famous for playing the role of a time travelling alien called The Doctor, in the series Doctor Who. In my dream it was the actors I gossiped with, not the character they played.)

Talking of dreams I remember a recurring dream I had for a few years, starting when I was about 5.

In that dream I was at a birthday party in a church and when the other children came in carrying presents, they all had lit candles instead of heads.

The spell checker is whinging at me for misspelling realised and travelling. I am sorry L J spell checker, I am English not American and I will continue to use English spelling.

Dinosaurs in colour

Sun, 30 Aug 2009 13:54:35 GMT

A lot of obsolete picture books and some big work projects coming up for illustration artists.

They've been looking at bird feathers and identified the shape of cells that cause colour.

(as in butterflies many of the colours are in microscopic shapes that angle light a particular way and not in pigment)

Some bright spark looked at some fossilized feathers and identified the same cell shapes.

So, it may soon be possible to identify the actual colours that fossil birds and dinosaurs were when alive.

They have identified the cell shapes for blue and brown, more work looking at current bird feathers will hopefully identify further colours.

Look for big remakes of "Jurassic Park" and "Walking With Dinosaurs" in the next few years

Not to mention a lot of new children's textbooks.

Hamster Language

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 23:20:01 GMT

In honour of the fondly remembered Ruby I decided to develop a full scale design based on my hamster icon

Hamster Language by Valdary
t-shirts made by zazzle.com

Thank you SLUG

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 11:07:50 GMT

Tom and Richard helped me copy Ubuntu Jaunty Jackalope notebook version onto a usb flash drive and make it bootable.
We were thus able to install the new operating system onto Resident Giant's laptop, transforming it from a brick capable only of emitting green stripes into a fully functioning computer.

Huge sigh of relief.

He will be needing it for college, and I really did not want to have to buy a new one.
By the time I've got his new backpack, and some winter clothes that fit him I will have spent quite enough as it is.