Catchy Title Escapes Me

Well, today marks day two of writing Ethan Cadfael (The Battle Prince). It started off very seriously, but I will hopefully be lightening the mood a little shortly.

I'll probably be less enthused about this project after the first month of writing, as usually seems to be the case, but I am still thrilled to be working on something unrelated to The Great Man. It's a fresh world with a fresh set of characters and none of the angst and melancholy of the afore-mentioned series.

You'll note that I have shortened the expected length of the book considerably from my other novels. Instead of my usual 100 000 words, I've estimated that this one will probably run closer to 75 000 words. I have a feeling that it might be a good deal shorter than that.

As always, I'll just have to wait and see. It might turn out to be much longer. Who knows? Should I prove correct, I'll likely be finished near the end of next month, assuming that I keep up my 3 000 words a day, giving myself Fridays (and weekends) off.

Then, it's left alone until October, edited and formatted and then off to the Beta Readers... when I find them. Then it's time to create covers, change formatting for eBook and print formats and then self-publish. Hopefully in time for Christmas, but if not, then it's not really that big a deal.

I'm on track as far as word count goes. Of course I am. I'm only on day two. We'll see how on track I am at the end of the month, shall we?

Well, I probably should get writing. If I make my mark, and there's time left over, I'll be doing more catch-up on Qi. Gosh, I love that show.

Go to Peckham

To go to dinner. A pun on peck.

- Albert Hyamson's Dictionary of English Phrases, 1922

Chillin' and Workin' Simultaneously

How do I do it? I don't know. It sort-of just happened.

Yesterday, I made the conscious decision to stick with my policy of resting for at least a week after finishing a project before I start writing again. Sort-of.

I spent the day watching re-runs of Qi episodes. An aside, I really envy you in the UK who get this stuff on air. It's a really brilliant programme! I would happily move to the UK just for the television.

In any case, as I watched, the story basically ran through my head from start to finish, including descriptions of the bad buys (hitherunto unknown). I quickly jotted it down.

I also came up with a title for the work, though it is subject to change. I'm going with:

Ethan Cadfael (The Battle Prince)

What do you reckon? It sounds all serious and stuff, but I shall endeavour to keep this one light. Well, as light as my imagination will let me.

It still has a happy ending, at least. For those who are in the know, that's quite a change from my regular fare.

Right, I'm off to watch more Qi. Did I mention that I adore Qi?

Fuffle

A word applied to an abundance of clothing. A woman with too many flounces or ribbons would be said to have too much fuffle about her.

- Rev. Alfred Easther's Glossary of Almondbury and Huddersfield, 1883

Particularly applied to dress when disordered from being roughly handled.

- John Jamieson's Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language, 1808

He saw the vicar ... in fluffled garb.

- William Tennant's Thane of Fife and Papistry Stormed, 1827

Friday Dilemma

What to do? What to do?

Fridays are usually reserved as a no-writing work day. I do other things like read, or sleep, or play cards. However, I've been away from writing for so long, I feel the need to 'catch-up,' as it were. I'm not sure what to do now. Should I write? Or should I spend the day in abject boredom, feeling guilty because I could be writing?

There's no competition, really.

As I'm a generous, and generally boring sort, there's nothing left by today's Forgotten English.

Campanology:

A discourse on bells of bell-ringing; from Italian campa, bell.

- James Donald's Chambers' Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, 1877.

I knew this one as well. It was the title of one episode of BBC's Qi. Gosh I love that show! I'm off for the weekend. I shall see you anon. Have a lovely weekend.

So Much SQUEE!

Squee is a noise I stole from my High School pal Leonie Allan. It adequately describes that perfect mix of joy and excitement as no other sound has yet to do.

The first Squee is the delightful thought that late next week, my little brother will be landing on Canadian soil, looking to make a life for himself here. He'll be staying in Vancouver for a while, which means that I won't get to see him until late March, but whatever. Vancouver is far closer than Australia.

The second Squee is the wonderful feeling that sunshine and warm weather has brought to me. It's supposed to reach 9 celcius (that's right, plus 9) today, and go as high as 12 by Sunday. While I find that slightly scary - plus 12 in February? - it's awfully nice to be able to ditch my heavy long coat for something a little lighter, and much shorter.

The third Squee is my new name. No, I didn't legally change my name. I was given a Chinese name last night (I've kinda always wanted one). This was the result of mucking about after training on Tuesday, when all the white people around the dinner table were wondering what their names would be in Chinese. There might have been some slight culture envy happening that night... Luckily, K.C. was there and able to bestow everyone with a Chinese name.

One would have thought that my name - Sonia - would have translated well in Chinese. Not so! Poor K.C. quickly scribbled down "sun ya." It meant something like elegant modesty (sun = modesty/humility and ya = elegant).

The name bothered K.C., who is not only a traditionalist, but a perfectionist as well, so he hunted for a more appropriate name for me. Apparently "sun" is never used in names. He hunted, and hunted, and hunted. A few promising candidates for a "sun" replacement (based on sound) turned out to be masculine. K.C. wouldn't let me have a masculine Chinese name (even if "ya" is especially feminine). It's not traditional. Also, he complained that giving a girl a masculine name would somehow make them butch.

Whatever.

After a few more attempts and the better part of an hour mucking about on his nifty phone/computer thingy-ma-jig, we decided on a better name. It sounds less like Sonia than the other candidates, but the important sounds are more or less there and the meaning is just plain, well, beautiful!

Thus, my Chinese name is "Shi Ya." It means "elegant poetry" ("Shi" = poetry, poem, verse, ode and "ya" stayed the same at elegant, graceful... which I'm not, by the by). I'd give you the actual Chinese characters, but I don't know how to do that on this computer.

In any case, I am very pleased to have a Chinese name at last. I have a Hindi name (thanks to my dear friend, T.H.'s, grandmother (we shared the same name in Hindi, actually)) as well. I think I'm just going to collect as many names in as many different languages as humanly possible.

Excluding Europe, of course, as Sonia is an Indo-European name and so translates to "Sonia" in every European language... and Slavic languages now that I think on it.

In any case, SQUEE, SQUEE, SQUEE!

So, onto today's Forgotten English.

Chilver:

Mutton of a maiden sheep; Gloucestershire.

- Samuel Pegge's Supplement to Grose's Provincial Glossary, 1814

Thanks to BBC's Qi, I knew this already!