The Plot Thickens

gday gentle reader, 

There’s a reason why my website links to here, reads [occasional blogger.] It's been over a year since my last confession, a year of rewriting as last posted, 

The Face of the Goddess.

As I said I removed 40,000 word from the beginning, several pov chapters from part one and three chapters from the end, which rightly belong in Book III. It dropped from 193,000 to 132,000 words.

On 28/1/2024 (I know, its last year. I'm a slow writer; I have a life.) I began rewriting a couple of deleted pov chapters from a different pov. Some worked some didn’t. Two glaringly obvious old pov chapters remain, I need the information, but couldn’t see how to rework it for another character. It was holding me up; I left it for the next edit and ploughed on. By the time I reached the old ending the story had grown back to 155 K words.

For me writing is so much easier than editing, and in the last month I’ve added 14,000 words but here’s the rub, the extra chapters have now buried the end point goal to which my hero and heroine have been striving. It only dawned on me when saw I was reaching my target word count (180,000) that I now had no end point to work towards, I had already passed the end point.

If I'm thinking, “Why am writing this?” I can easily imagine readers thinking “Why am reading this?”

Time for a rethink.

ooroo until my next post, Rob

The GRim Error Count

Once more unto the blog, gentle Readers, once more;
Or finish the story up with our English words

(with apologies to the Bard)

Now let me be clear from the start. I'm back unto the blog in an effort to promote my writing and lift my profile a little above sea level. All post will now be solely about the writing and nothing but the writing.

My earlier trilogy of blogs begun in 2004 were meant to be about

The original Blog

Life: called "That's Life" subtitled 'A Baby Boomer's thoughts on the privilege of aging. (concerned as ever with maintaining my
(live donor) kidney transplant)' 

the Universe: called "A Writer's Blog" and tagged: 'I write, therefore I am' survived until 2014 and the one you're reading now that I'm resurrecting.

and Everything: called "Eye of the Robot" which was set up in 2004 and got its first post in 2007. I had such plans but it never really got off the ground.  

In the end due to failing kidneys and a transplant "That's Life" usurped "Eye of the Robot"  which  in  2015 was itself transplanted into "A Writer's Blog" (the 2004 entry is embedded in a  2007 post)

So, to begin again as I have begun so many times

gday gentle readers

I've been experimenting with Pro Writing Aid.  I uploaded The GRim, a tongue-in-cheek satirical comedy, or perhaps a comical satire to ProWritingAid.com. (here-in-after PWA) This story analyser (free online to limited of 10,000 word) is supposedly the best thing since sliced bread for writers - assuming writers like sliced bread. Its definitely a step up from grammarly.com, which is only marginally better than words Grammar & Spelling checker.

The Grim @ 7000 words is one of my shorter stories, and it appears in the anthology Out of the Dark, edited by Robert N. Stephenson and published by Altair Australia Pty Ltd.

PWA found 256 errors, divided thus: 160 grammar issues, 63 style issues and 33 spelling issues starting with "unusual capitalisation" in reference to the title The GRim. (as explained in the story GRim is how the characters of the story refer to their environment ~ the Galactic Rim)  

As in most of these programs there is a choice of fixes. In this case "ignore" or "disable rule".  I chose to ignored, until it popped up again. I then chose disable rule which PWA chose to ignore.

As with word, once I added character names  to "my dictionary" the spelling issues dropped from 33 to 5.  I'll discuss those 5 in my next post.

to be continued ...

ooroo for now 

another day - another pain

Today (may 29)
10 days post op - creatinine 96 - kindney function 60%

The weekend clinic is back in the ward (returning to the scene of the crime?) Those further along (about a month post op) have the weekend off.

My bowel an bladder still conspire to give me pain, I have to sit to pee just in case and am rarely disapointed. The whole operation always takes three attempts with a much pacing around the appartment before I get sufficient flow to feedback to the brain that its done.
I've been told it is the stint irritation despite the site of the pain being in the head of the penis

This is not he blog I thought I would writing but I can't concentrate on how it feels emotionally or intelectually while I'm foccsed on the phyical pain. Compared to this transplant the nephretomy was child's play. Felicity would disgaee; in her opinion the cochlear implant was a like a bee sting compared to the nephrectomy which was like be bitten in half by a great white. It's all relative.

forward to the past

I showered this morning standing up, a chair is provided but standing was easier. It felt really good, the best part of the day, just standing under running warm water. Getting in and out carrying a plethora of tubes is less than ideal. Was able to sit up most of the day and able to get out bed to visit Felicity a the other end of the corridor 4 times with a couple of return visits. The first visit had us both crying with obvious relief that we had survived. The risk of not making it are three in a thousand - wonder how that compares with dying in car accident.

creatinine 115

23^rd sun

Bad night, unable to sleep, Could not get comfortable in any position on crinkled sheets, can only lie on my right side a few minutes at a time, then on my back, then left then back again, the constant rolling is more comfortable than lying still. My backside is red from sitting up all day, my elbows are sore and abraded by the rough blankets of which I have to have two to combat the freezing air conditioning I give up in tears of a different sort, lie on my back and begin chanting a mantra (the distraction of watching dvd's worked in the daytime lets see if mediation works at night) om mani padme hum repeated over and over again aloud has a calming effect and I do indeed occasionally drift off. I wouldn't call it sleep but its better than panic and tears.

creatinine 104, the doctors are pleased everthing is going according to plan, but they were not here last night. Able to visit Felicity several times carrying my stuff wearing a hospital gown flapping open at the back. Fuck dignity I'm alive. That afternoon she was turfed out her room by nurse 'ratchet ' to await release in my room. Fine for the hospital, they need the bed, pity the patient has to sit in freezing pain. I'll leave my overall thoughts of the hospital stay to a summary blog when we get home - probably still two weeks away.

Out from Under the Knife♠

It's done. I'm a kidney short of the full person.

I'm writing this sitting up in a big leather chair, in my bookshop, looking out the plate glass window at old gums and cattle pastures, logged onto blogger, typing directly into the create page on a wireless laptop; ah the wonder of modern technology.

The cut is long: from just left of my belly button across, back and up to just under my left armpit. It is now 19 days old, healing nicely but bloody painful whenever I walk for too long, sit up for too long, cough, sneeze, or laugh. Turning in my sleep wakes me every time.

* * *

Friday 13th March 2009
(that this is posted on Friday 13th is entirely ...)

The above though written at the time indicated, was for reasons unknown, never posted. Only now when I again feel the need to blog do I see that a couple years have slipped by unremarked. Again my kidney problem is the return prompt; function is down from 23% just after the op to 17% - a trigger point to start thinking about some sort of replacement therapy. There seems to be some sort of unconscious direction here. why do I only make the effort to blog when my kidney problem threatens to disrupt my lifestyle? I have no idea but have decide to go with the flow and, contrary to intention or expectation, chronicle of my journey through approaching renal failure.

Once more into the blog dear friends ...

this post reprised from the old blogger.

Monday, May 22, 2004

well blogger me

The problem I continue to have with blogging is finding time to write anything at all let alone my blog. One might think finding time to write would be a prerequisite for a writer. Writer : 'one who writes'. But as John Lennon once sang 'life is what happens while you're busy making other plans'

Why then, one might ask, did two years elapsed since setting up my first blog and posting to it? Good question. Answer: dead silence. I twice forgot not just my password but also my Blogger user name - One might be tempted to ask why bother? Another good question which does have an answer.

It has to do with why I write.

I have always had a lot to say about life, the universe and well you guessed it, everything and being somewhat into computers and the internet I thought: What better way to get it off my chest than to post it to the world. But on second thought: A better way would to put everything I wish to say into my novel - why waste the words? Oh my aching fingers he exclaims as the penny drops! I abandoned the blog to recast my pearls more profitably. But it didn't work did it. Except for doing your own thing on the net it is and has always been difficult to get published and unpublished is unread.

To be read is an essential part of why I write.

For a while, while I still attended the writers group I founded, I did have the satisfaction of being read. Even more so from the virtual group we set up - topics being unrestricted - but as oft happens the flame wars that erupted became bitter and twisted. This might be alright with people you don't know but when you next have to face someone who has gone into print about your ancestry it is sometimes difficult to remain objective in your comments on their latest story.

The virtual group banned all the interesting topics (sex, religion and politics) and in reality died. As it happened, at about the same time, 2004, I relocated and getting to the live group became too hard. The upshot is that once again I became unread and unread words are not worth the medium they're expressed in, hence my return to the blog in 2005.

But Barely two entries in, life happened - some more, and my blog dried up, became legend, legend became myth and the myth a joke.

'Blog. You have Blog, Where?'
'Out there'
'Out Where?'
'Out there ... somewhere.'

You know the story; mice and men. Well here I am at it again, only this time it's all in-house; Blogger for all its fine attributes is too hard and too restrictive. This time I get to scratch two of my favourite itches at once writing and web design.

"Bob's Blog" a.k.a. "Blob's Bog" n.k.a. "Eye of the Robot"

ps Just after I wrote that last paragraph I went looking for these thoughts and found Blogger had changed. I have to say - it is much easier to use now, so I'm gunna give it another go starting with the two posts I had on the old Blogger, the above being the first.

Once more into the blog dear friends ...

this post reprised from the old blogger.

Monday, May 22, 2004

well blogger me

The problem I continue to have with blogging is finding time to write anything at all let alone my blog. One might think finding time to write would be a prerequisite for a writer. Writer : 'one who writes'. But as John Lennon once sang 'life is what happens while you're busy making other plans'
Why then, one might ask, did two years elapsed since setting up my first blog and posting to it? Good question. Answer: dead silence. I twice forgot not just my password but also my Blogger user name - One might be tempted to ask why bother? Another good question which does have an answer.
It has to do with why I write.
I have always had a lot to say about life, the universe and well you guessed it, everything and being somewhat into computers and the internet I thought: What better way to get it off my chest than to post it to the world. But on second thought: A better way would to put everything I wish to say into my novel - why waste the words? Oh my aching fingers he exclaims as the penny drops! I abandoned the blog to recast my pearls more profitably. But it didn't work did it. Except for doing your own thing on the net it is and has always been difficult to get published and unpublished is unread.
To be read is an essential part of why I write.
For a while, while I still attended the writers group I founded, I did have the satisfaction of being read. Even more so from the virtual group we set up - topics being unrestricted - but as oft happens the flame wars that erupted became bitter and twisted. This might be alright with people you don't know but when you next have to face someone who has gone into print about your ancestry it is sometimes difficult to remain objective in your comments on their latest story.
The virtual group banned all the interesting topics (sex, religion and politics) and in reality died. As it happened, at about the same time, 2004, I relocated and getting to the live group became too hard. The upshot is that once again I became unread and unread words are not worth the medium they're expressed in, hence my return to the blog in 2005.
But Barely two entries in, life happened - some more, and my blog dried up, became legend, legend became myth and the myth a joke.

'Blog. You have Blog, Where?'
'Out there'
'Out Where?'
'Out there ... somewhere.'

You know the story; mice and men. Well here I am at it again, only this time it's all in-house; Blogger for all its fine attributes is too hard and too restrictive. This time I get to scratch two of my favourite itches at once writing and web design.
"Bob's Blog" a.k.a. "Blob's Bog" n.k.a. "Eye of the Robot"

ps Just after I wrote that last paragraph I went looking for these thoughts and found Blogger had changed. I have to say - it is much easier to use now, so I'm gunna give it another go starting with the two posts I had on the old Blogger, the above being the first.