Basically, about 6 pages of story every single day. My goal, however, is to push hard early in the month as I am preaching twice (Nov 23 and 30th) so I need some sermon preparation time. Thankfully the first few days are a weekend and I can reasonably expect to get a rocket boost on the words. All of the words, as they’re written along with a log of progress will be posted to my Nano progress website.

Aston Martin DB5

Aston Martin v8 Vantage Volante

Aston Martin Vanquish

Aston Martin DBS v12

What can I say? I have expensive taste! (Note: if I get the time I’ll research the actual cost of these cars and edit the post…)

The annoying IBM Thinkpad refused to connect … neither wired, or wireless (on any one of three different wireless networks, no less). On the other hand my trusty MacBook hopped online in every given scenario. Oh, and before this turns into a Windows vs. Apple cage match, the Dell Inspiron laptop also connected flawlessly in every case.

Can I have those hours of my life back, maybe trade them in against 5 minutes of something more productive … like fly-fishing in an empty pond or something?

Oh, and running the build-tool (”maven”) offline proved to be interesting - looks like when I get back to the corporate network the central code repository has been “blacklisted” by the tool because it was unreachable in multiple builds. Just perfect!

I have a strange process when it comes to writing. I guess it’s a sort of “break it down and plan the blocks” process, but it involves wrangling a stack of index cards. These can contain anything from

• Character ideas
• Scene ideas
• Themes
• Activities
• Must-have plot points
• etc.

I generally pull out the list of plot points / scenes and then sort them into a semblance of order. Clearly there will be gaps so more cards get written and filed with the ideas or with the more concrete scenes. Since Nano is 30 days long I like to then use 1 - 30 month dividers so I have a small number (1 - 3) scenes each day that I need to write.

I guess the index cards are my way of “storyboarding” without the torture of drawing anything, these are word pictures and sketches. No software I know can replace the tactile feel of sitting on the floor with 50 index cards spread out randomly around me and the very, very basic organization of tossing them into piles, then organizing the piles. At least, no software that I know of.

Barring Yahweh

The Vatican gives orders to excise the name from worship. Do Protestants agree?

Observant Jews have traditionally not used the name Yahweh, refusing to pronounce the so-called proper name of God out of respect, or to be sure they do not misuse it. Now neither will Roman Catholics, at least in their worship services.

“Protestants should be following their lead,” said Carol Bechtel, professor of Old Testament at Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Michigan. “It’s always left me baffled and perplexed and embarrassed that we sprinkle our hymns with that name,” she said. “Whether or not there are Jewish brothers and sisters in earshot, the most obvious reason to avoid using the proper and more personal name of God in the Old Testament is simply respect for God.”

Both Yahweh and Jehovah have been removed from the Christian Reformed Church’s Psalter Hymnal, turning “Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah” into “Guide Me, O Thou Great Redeemer.”

The article finished by saying

Protestantism has long traditions of both using and avoiding the name Yahweh, according to John Witvliet, director of the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship. “Some people said using Yahweh emphasized for them the transcendence of God, which you might say is precisely the goal of not saying the term.”

Seems to me that people are missing the point entirely given that we are to relate to God on a personal level:

For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” (Romans 8:15)

So in honour of missing the point, I offer one of my favourite worship songs:

He is Yawheh © 2001 Vineyard Music Who is moving on the waters? Who is holding up the moon? Who is peeling back the darkness, With the burning light of noon? Who is standing on the mountains? Who is on the earth below? Who is bigger than the heavens, And the lover of my soul?    Creator God: He is Yawheh    The Great I Am: He is Yawheh    The Lord of All: He is Yawheh    Rose of Sharon: He is Yawheh    The Righteous Son: He is Yawheh    The Three-in-one: He is Yawheh Who is He that makes me happy? Who is He that gives me peace? Who is He that brings me comfort, And turns the bitter into sweet? Who is stirring up my passion? Who is rising up in me? Who is filling up my hunger, With everything I need?    Creator God: He is Yawheh    The Great I Am: He is Yawheh    The Lord of All: He is Yawheh    Rose of Sharon: He is Yawheh    The Righteous Son: He is Yawheh    The Three-in-one: He is Yawheh You are holy and eternal And forever You will reign Every knew will bow before You Every tongue will confess Your name All the angels give You glory As they stand before Your throne And here on earth we gather To declare Your name alone

]]> http://paul.caffeinatedbliss.com/archives/2008/09/should-we-or-shouldnt-we/feed/ http://paul.caffeinatedbliss.com/archives/2008/09/wrimoradio/ http://paul.caffeinatedbliss.com/archives/2008/09/wrimoradio/#comments Wed, 10 Sep 2008 18:45:18 +0000 Paul http://paul.caffeinatedbliss.com/?p=833 Every year during the National Novel Writing Month they publish a weekly podcast called “WrimoRadio“. I have been consistently impressed with the quality and have thought to send in a small editorial piece to them but was too busy with other things (like writing a 50,000 word novel in a month). I am very tempted to send in the “plot bunnies” piece this year though.

I was on Facebook and noticed Chris Baty (founder of the National Novel Writing Month) changed his status to “Chris Baty needs a WrimoRadio producer so he doesn’t die in November.”

Podcast production is something I enjoy, I have the hardware investment and the previous experience. Should I ping him and offer? With everything else I am doing that would be one more reason I might not make 50,000 words. On the other hand I could put it on my resume - “podcast production for the National Novel Writing Month” - so it has its benefits too. Maybe I am oversimplifying what it would take … it wouldn’t be the first (or the last) time I’d done that!

Legal bid to stop CERN atom smasher from ‘destroying the world’

The world’s biggest and most expensive scientific experiment has been hit by a last minute legal challenge, amid claims that the research could bring about the end of the world.

James Gillies, spokesman for CERN, insisted that despite the huge amounts of energy the Large Hadron Collider will produce, it posed no risk to the safety of the planet.

He said: “The case before the European Court of Human Rights contains the same arguments that we have seen before and we have answered these in extensive safety reports.

The Large Hadron Collider will not be producing anything that does not already happen routinely in nature due to cosmic rays. If they were dangerous we would know about it already.

“We are now concentrating on firing the first beams around the collider and then on fine tuning it until we can get collisions, when the science will start.”

A spokesman for the European Court of Human Rights confirmed the lawsuit had been lodged and the petition to obtain an emergency injunction against CERN was rejected. She said: “There will therefore be no bar to CERN carrying out these experiments but the applicants can continue with this case here at the ECHR.”

and then, another story

JK Rowling ‘delighted’ at decision to ban Harry Potter encyclopaedia written by a fan

JK Rowling has spoken of her “delight” at winning her copyright battle against a fan who planned to publish a Harry Potter encyclopaedia.

She had described the Harry Potter Lexicon as “wholesale theft” of her work.

In court papers, Mr Vander Ark, 50, said he was a teacher and school librarian in Byron Centre, Michigan, before recently moving to London to begin a career as a writer.

He said he joined an adult online discussion group devoted to the Harry Potter books in 1999 before launching his own website as a hobby a year later.

Since then, neither Rowling nor her publisher had ever complained about anything on it, he said.

In his court statement, Mr Vander Ark said the Lexicon “enhances the pleasure of readers of the Potter novels, and deepens their appreciation of Ms Rowling’s achievement”.

Rowling, who has earned £560 million through the Potter books, told the judge she had not brought the case for the money, but because the Lexicon was “atrocious” and “sloppy” with “very little research”.

The seven Potter books, which ended last year with the final book in the series, Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows, have been published in 64 languages, sold more than 400 million copies and produced a film franchise that has pulled in 4.5 billion US dollars at the worldwide box office.

On the one hand Science and on the other Fiction. Totally me. Add to that the “geek” factor that I am running the new Google Chrome web browser (and loving it)!

I wonder, in the JK Rowling story, when it says “adult online discussion group devoted to the Harry Potter” if that means it was a group for grown ups, or whether the tone of the postings were “adult” in nature. If it’s the latter I can clearly see why Rowling would object - slashfic ought to have nothing to do with a kid’s genre book! Authors have a tenous (at best) relationship with fan fiction writers. Some encourage it (Rowling has said in the past that she was “flattered” that people wanted to write their own stories based on her characters), some tolerate it, others actively try to stamp it out (Anne Rice has consistently and aggressively prevented fan fiction based on any of her characters, as has Raymond E. Feist and Anne McCaffrey).