Wanion

A misfortune or calamity; a curse, mischief. Chiefly used as an imprecation in the phrases, with a wanion, and wanions on you.

- Edward Lloyd's Encyclopaedic Dictionary, 1895

They've Got a Little List

... and I'm on it! Whoo hoo!

You might find the my enthusiasm a little odd when you find out that I'm on an author boycott list. I had no idea I was there until Renee Miller and Rita Webb (who contributed to and edited (respectively) the anthology Unlocked in which one of my stories appears) told me directly.

The list belongs to pretend industry watch-dogs The Write Agenda. Here's the list. Check it out! There's my name! Squee!

I'm just happy that someone knows who the hell I am, alright? Is that a crime? I had no idea what I thought or said was important enough to be put on a boycott list.

The Write Agenda, incidentally, claims to be an industry watch-dog. However, a little searching around will reveal them to be little more than some sort of backlash against the real watch-dogs, refuting claims of scams and trying very hard to defame authors who speak out against such scams.

You can read about them on Rita's blog here, or even on Renee's blog, here. Both excellent articles, incidentally. For their notes on The Write Agenda, they gotten themselves boycotted as well. Rita, the overachiever, has managed to get herself on the Author Boycott list, on the Propaganda Watch List, and on the The Write Agenda Critics List.

Clearly, I'm just not trying hard enough.

Their biggest target thus far has been Writer Beware, who do very good work and ought to be commended.

The fact is, if The Write Agenda did what they claimed and actually exposed fraud, or really did tell 'the other side' of the story, so to speak, then I'd be able to take them seriously. As of now, they've proven to be nothing more than a hate group - like a pack of school yard bullies who have nothing more intelligent to say than 'I know you are, but what am I?'

What's more, anyone who finds the list and researches the authors upon it will find a whole whack of people all saying much the same thing about The Write Agenda. It won't reflect well on The Write Agenda. They're actually damaging themselves. What a bunch of tools!

Of course, the bigger tools are those who only read The Write Agenda, and I suppose there must be a fair few of those floating about.

Do us all a favour, new authors. Research.

Since I can't really take them seriously, I'm having a ball with this. I'm on a list! I'm on a list of authors! I'm on a list of authors in very good company! Hello, Rita and Renee, A.C. Crispin and Victoria Strauss!

So, I'm on a list, and I couldn't be more thrilled about it!

Right. In other news...

Last night was a more or less impromptu equestrian archery lesson. It was hysterical fun, as always. There were three of us last night - myself (obviously), J.M-B. and her sister K.M-B. One person was on a horse, the other two worked on a move in sword-play on foot.

IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!

I have a tendency to giggle hysterically, when I'm having fun, and I spent most of my time with the swords giggling hysterically. Awesome!

My archery improved a little, I felt; and, of course, it was incredible to be on a horse again. I heart equestrian stuff. Stuff is the technical term, in case you were wondering.

There will be no photo evidence of this lesson, I'm afraid, as none of us remembered to bring a camera. Oops.

In writing news, I haven't done any. I know basically how my next new fun project will go, but other than jotting down some descriptions and one or two scenes, I haven't really done anything. I've been watching lots of re-runs of Qi and enjoying it immensely. Writing will commence next week. I have the first scene in my head already.

Well, there's no rush for me to do anything much, but I'm going to leave you anyway. This post is long enough, I reckon. Have a great weekend all!

Cincinnati Oysters

Pigs' trotters, or pigs' feet. Many examples can be given of this strange perversion of names - Albany beef, Marblehead turkey, etc. Similarly in England, a herring is called a Billingsgate pheasant, a two-eyed steak, etc.

- Sylva Clapin's New Dictionary of Americanisms, 1902

Book Review: The Hobbit

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This was an incredibly adorable tale.

Directed for a very young audience, this had none of the epic, melancholic overtones of The Lord of the Rings, and makes for a lovely lighter read. As I read I could imagine myself reading this aloud to my children (whenever I have them).

Tolkien has a wonderful habit of injecting his own voice into the story with phrases like 'I never heard what happened to, but it is generally believed...' (I'm paraphrasing here) which, though it took me out of the story, made me smile nonetheless. It looks odd written on paper, but if the story is spoken, it adds an authenticity that is entirely enchanting and language is first and foremost spoken.

With adventures a-plenty and a humorous narrative, it's no small wonder that The Hobbit is one of the most beloved children's books of all time. I'm very sorry I waited this long to read it.

View all my reviews

Quixotism

Romantic or absurd notions or actions.

- William Grimshaw's Ladies' Lexicon and Parlour Companion, 1854

Quixotic principles, character, or practice; an instance of this - a quixotic action or idea. Quixotize, to act in a quixotic manner; to render quixotic. Quixotry, quixotism.

- Sir James Murray's New English Dictionary, 1909

Does anyone else get the feeling that Sir James Murray didn't actually know the meaning of the word?

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

Free! ... to Catch Up

Well, it was a lovely long weekend! I spend a lovely time with friends and being outside in the sunshine has done wonders for my disposition. That and

I'VE FINISHED BOOK 5!!!! FREEDOM!!!!

I'm thrilled to be finished for several reasons. The first is that it's always exciting to be done a project. The second is that this particular project was very hard on my psyche. No, seriously. It gave me nightmares several times. And there were far too many tears for my liking. Uh! So much crying over this one. This leads nicely into the third reason.

I shall be leaving behind The Great Man series for a while and work on a project that is pretty silly, much, much lighter and actually has a happy ending. It shall be set here in Ottawa (my current home town) and along the lines of Charles de Lint. For those not in the know, Charles de Lint is a Canadian author who set many of his fantasy novels in Ottawa. I heard about him last year when discussing books with my friend and senior Kung Fu brother G.S.

That might be where I got the idea for this. I'm not sure.

In any case, I'm quite looking forward to this, because there are some pretty funny scenes that have popped into my head of late, and I can't wait to get them down on paper. Several people from actual real life will be making an appearance, and I shall be mentioned, but never appear; because it amuses me.

Basically, this book is for a select group of friends who will "get" the references and find them amusing. Still, I'm quite looking forward to getting my teeth stuck into it.

Before I can, however, I have to do a whole lot of catch-up on everything computer-related that I had neglected all long weekend. Thus, without further ado:

Nake

To make naked; [1300s-1500s].

- Charles Mackay's Lost Beauties of the English Language, 1874

To bare, unsheathe a sword. "Nake your swords." [Cyril] Tourner's The Revenger's Tragedy [1656]. From Middle English naken, to make naked.

- Walter Skeat's Glossary of Tudor and Stuart Words, 1914

Nakedize, to go naked.

- Sir James Murray's New English Dictionary, 1908