No news.Still early days yet and I know from previous experience that waiting to hear about manuscript submissions is a long drawn-out business, but it would be nice to get some encouragement. Hopefully my trusty 'lapdancer' will be ready for action tomorrow so I can resume work on Eliezer 2. Not much else to say at the moment, but I didn't want you to think that I'd forgotten you!
Work on the boat continues at a slightly less frenetic pace, right now all the wiring is being tested/ripped out. The new batteries should be here next week, so that will make a bit of a difference. In the meantime, good luck to all on the good ship Salila. They're taking part in this years ARC and left Las Palmas last Sunday. All is well on board, you can follow their Progress here.
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Looking for a hero.
One of the questions I ask myself is 'what do I write about after I've finished the current book?' Right now, that might not seem to be an issue, Emma the Agent is actively seeking a publisher for the first Eliezer book, I'm about halfway through the follow- on book, and Emma also has the edited, final version of 'Augustus' to wade through and try and flog at some stage. But I don't have what I think of as a repeatable hero. Certainly, Eliezer and Danny Ben Asher may well feature in a third book. Augustus's work for British Intelligence may well bear recounting at some stage, either as a series of connected short stories or a short novel of 90,000 words or thereabouts, again right at the start I had that idea in mind, but unless I turn him into a sort of Sherlock Holmes, he has a limited life.
I have some hopes for DCI Karno. I've written about four chapters and had some fun doing it. There would undoubtably be other cases that he would be involved in, but I saw him as a one-off, humorous character.
So, that leaves me looking for a hero. Whilst looking for spare parts for the boat on the Internet, I stumbled across a rumour of a little known pirate who, of course, operated mainly in the Caribbean, but sometimes in Florida or New York, and was known as Black Bagel. Some of you may be aware of a book titled 'Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean', one of the books I unfortunately lost in the shipwreck. However, I remember clearly that Black Bagel was not mentioned, which was a shame because to my mind he is one of the more enigmatic characters of that time. Research is difficult at the moment, due to various other commitments, but there are suggestions that it might of been he, rather than the Dutch, who snaffled an entire years worth of Spanish gold and silver in one fell swoop, off Hispaniola. When I have more time, I will research more thoroughly, but what I have learnt, or rather come across whispers of, is his long standing feud with what I assumed was the Spanish Inquisition. It now appears that the organisation that he frequently crossed cutlasses with was even more secretive than the Inquisition. Again, this is only a whisper, but I believe the organisation might have been called 'The Early Church of the Premature Saints.' More research is needed.
I have some hopes for DCI Karno. I've written about four chapters and had some fun doing it. There would undoubtably be other cases that he would be involved in, but I saw him as a one-off, humorous character.
So, that leaves me looking for a hero. Whilst looking for spare parts for the boat on the Internet, I stumbled across a rumour of a little known pirate who, of course, operated mainly in the Caribbean, but sometimes in Florida or New York, and was known as Black Bagel. Some of you may be aware of a book titled 'Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean', one of the books I unfortunately lost in the shipwreck. However, I remember clearly that Black Bagel was not mentioned, which was a shame because to my mind he is one of the more enigmatic characters of that time. Research is difficult at the moment, due to various other commitments, but there are suggestions that it might of been he, rather than the Dutch, who snaffled an entire years worth of Spanish gold and silver in one fell swoop, off Hispaniola. When I have more time, I will research more thoroughly, but what I have learnt, or rather come across whispers of, is his long standing feud with what I assumed was the Spanish Inquisition. It now appears that the organisation that he frequently crossed cutlasses with was even more secretive than the Inquisition. Again, this is only a whisper, but I believe the organisation might have been called 'The Early Church of the Premature Saints.' More research is needed.
Friday, November 11, 2011
It's snow joke
Snow in Fiji?
Oh OK, it's GRP dust! Below the new keel
Just one minor problem, it won't quite slide underneath the keel. This is because on the other (Port) hull, more of the hull was torn away when that keel came off, so John put on X layers of GRP before offering up the keel. He added the same number of layers to the Starboard hull with the result that the keel just won't slide under the hull. The solution is probably to grind off a couple of layers (more snow?), put the new keel on then add more layers inside the hull to keep the same strength. still, it means that the keels will be even, handy when I next beach the boat to clean off the hulls.
Tomorrow will be a writing day.
Oh OK, it's GRP dust! Below the new keel
Just one minor problem, it won't quite slide underneath the keel. This is because on the other (Port) hull, more of the hull was torn away when that keel came off, so John put on X layers of GRP before offering up the keel. He added the same number of layers to the Starboard hull with the result that the keel just won't slide under the hull. The solution is probably to grind off a couple of layers (more snow?), put the new keel on then add more layers inside the hull to keep the same strength. still, it means that the keels will be even, handy when I next beach the boat to clean off the hulls.
Tomorrow will be a writing day.
Interesting or worrying?
Having written about writers block, there now appears an ad for a computer programme to 'unblock' the block. The Internet may be a wonderful thing but THEY are watching you!
Anyway, the block has unblocked itself. I've now finished editing/ reviewing/ proof- reading the first ten chapters of Eliezer2. There are about another three 'out of sequence' chapters written, they're next then it's onwards ( and hopefully upwards). One advantage of walking everywhere is you get ideas popping up all the time. It's a pity that the little audio recorder I had got 'deep- sixed' because I'm not sure that I'll remember all the ideas.
This weekend I intend to write another couple of chapters, but for today the boat has priority, I didn't go down to the club yesterday due to 'pressure of work' ( i.e. editing). More pictures of workin progress, I suspect, this weekend.
Anyway, the block has unblocked itself. I've now finished editing/ reviewing/ proof- reading the first ten chapters of Eliezer2. There are about another three 'out of sequence' chapters written, they're next then it's onwards ( and hopefully upwards). One advantage of walking everywhere is you get ideas popping up all the time. It's a pity that the little audio recorder I had got 'deep- sixed' because I'm not sure that I'll remember all the ideas.
This weekend I intend to write another couple of chapters, but for today the boat has priority, I didn't go down to the club yesterday due to 'pressure of work' ( i.e. editing). More pictures of workin progress, I suspect, this weekend.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Some Pictures
As promised, a couple of shots of 'John the GRP' hard at it, grinding away.
Now, this may be the way my mind works, but I can see the association, can you?
Right, enough of this tomfoolery, back to the keyboard Blogs and start editing!
Now, this may be the way my mind works, but I can see the association, can you?
Right, enough of this tomfoolery, back to the keyboard Blogs and start editing!
The Cure
For writers' block ( or sheer idleness, come to that) is obviously to write about it. I've now, since we last 'spoke', revised/ proof- read the first four chapters of Eliezer 2, and had a couple of new ideas for the middle section of the book.
I have the final chapter committed to bytes, although as always that'll be subject to change, depending on how the middle section pans out. Hopefully by the end of this week I'll have finished the proof- reading so far and will be in full creative mode. In the meantime, I've taken a couple of photos of 'John the GRP' hard at work fitting the starboard keel to the boat, he was busy grinding (the GRP), fully suited and booted, complete with hazmat mask! As soon as I've uploaded the photos, I'll put one on here. At the moment, I have no way of uploading from the camera to the IPad, I didn't buy the necessary lead so I have to upload to a laptop then transfer the photos.
Right now I'm down at the Yacht Club, waiting news on the Apple laptop, which I really miss....funny how you get attached to an inanimate object, isn't it? I usually buy a 1.25 litre bottle of coke to drink over the course of a couple of hours when I'm down here, but today, feeling a little 'frisky', I added a shot of rum to the jug....ooh, you little devil, you (lol).
I have the final chapter committed to bytes, although as always that'll be subject to change, depending on how the middle section pans out. Hopefully by the end of this week I'll have finished the proof- reading so far and will be in full creative mode. In the meantime, I've taken a couple of photos of 'John the GRP' hard at work fitting the starboard keel to the boat, he was busy grinding (the GRP), fully suited and booted, complete with hazmat mask! As soon as I've uploaded the photos, I'll put one on here. At the moment, I have no way of uploading from the camera to the IPad, I didn't buy the necessary lead so I have to upload to a laptop then transfer the photos.
Right now I'm down at the Yacht Club, waiting news on the Apple laptop, which I really miss....funny how you get attached to an inanimate object, isn't it? I usually buy a 1.25 litre bottle of coke to drink over the course of a couple of hours when I'm down here, but today, feeling a little 'frisky', I added a shot of rum to the jug....ooh, you little devil, you (lol).
Monday, November 7, 2011
Writer's block or sheer idleness?
So having sent Augustus on his way to Emma the Agent, I thought that I'd crack on with Eliezer 2. Well, that's what I thought, but nothing has happened! I don't have the excuse that I'm working hard on the boat because I'm not, 'John the GRP' is doing all that at the moment and doesn't need ( or want?) me getting under foot, so for the next week/ ten days I have plenty of time, so why am I sitting in a coffee shop right now? Ah well, the coffee shop is near the Apple Reseller and I thought that I'd check and see if Apple has agreed to replace the video chip foc, then I remembered that in large parts of the USA it's still Sunday, so they probably won't hear anything until tomorrow! Well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Notwithstanding all the above, Eliezer 2 has been backed up on my PC, so I could write/ edit, and the fact that the PC doesn't have a serviceable battery doesn't matter because I can still power it from the mains.
So, writers block or sheer idleness? Your comments on a 'comment form' to 'Slobbing in Suva'.
Notwithstanding all the above, Eliezer 2 has been backed up on my PC, so I could write/ edit, and the fact that the PC doesn't have a serviceable battery doesn't matter because I can still power it from the mains.
So, writers block or sheer idleness? Your comments on a 'comment form' to 'Slobbing in Suva'.
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
As I was saying
Did I say 'Augustus' would be finished sometime this week? I'm sorry, I
lied to you ( shame, shame!) , I finished it this afternoon and sent it on
its merry way. Emma the Agent has acknowledged receipt and apparently
Eliezer is doing the rounds as we speak. She remains confident of success,
so I hope that she's right.
lied to you ( shame, shame!) , I finished it this afternoon and sent it on
its merry way. Emma the Agent has acknowledged receipt and apparently
Eliezer is doing the rounds as we speak. She remains confident of success,
so I hope that she's right.
--
Cruising: Boat maintenance in exotic locations
HTTP:/blog.mailasail.com/troutbridge
Fiji: +6799212518
Editing we will go!
Work on 'Augustus' is going well, just over half way through now, so I
should be in a position to send the manuscript to 'Emma the Agent' by the
end of this week. I'm glad to say that there are fewer mistakes in this
manuscript, so much of the time I'm just tidying up punctuation and
rewriting the odd paragraph. Actually, dare I say that I'm enjoying
reading the book? OK, I dare say it!
Other news, met up with the 'Calypsonians', Maureen and Paul yesterday,
and a modest amount of beer was drunk! They'll be in Fiji for a few more
weeks, then they'll be off south to NZ. John the GRP is saying that he
should finish the repairs by the end of this month, so I reckon that I
should be ready to 'splash' Trouters by the end of January. It will seem
strange to be back on board after so long. A pity that it'll be in the
middle of the cyclone season, otherwise I'd do a little 'local cruising'.
I suppose I'd better start thinking about thinking about what I'm going to
do next season. A little early to start looking for crew, but that will be
on 'the list'.
Excitement in the sailing club today, it's the Melbourne Cup, which has
quite a following here. The equivalent of the UK's Grand National, so
everybody (apart from me, seemingly) has had 'a bit of a flutter'.
should be in a position to send the manuscript to 'Emma the Agent' by the
end of this week. I'm glad to say that there are fewer mistakes in this
manuscript, so much of the time I'm just tidying up punctuation and
rewriting the odd paragraph. Actually, dare I say that I'm enjoying
reading the book? OK, I dare say it!
Other news, met up with the 'Calypsonians', Maureen and Paul yesterday,
and a modest amount of beer was drunk! They'll be in Fiji for a few more
weeks, then they'll be off south to NZ. John the GRP is saying that he
should finish the repairs by the end of this month, so I reckon that I
should be ready to 'splash' Trouters by the end of January. It will seem
strange to be back on board after so long. A pity that it'll be in the
middle of the cyclone season, otherwise I'd do a little 'local cruising'.
I suppose I'd better start thinking about thinking about what I'm going to
do next season. A little early to start looking for crew, but that will be
on 'the list'.
Excitement in the sailing club today, it's the Melbourne Cup, which has
quite a following here. The equivalent of the UK's Grand National, so
everybody (apart from me, seemingly) has had 'a bit of a flutter'.
--
Cruising: Boat maintenance in exotic locations
HTTP:/blog.mailasail.com/troutbridge
Fiji: +6799212518
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