I just finished my first chapter over lunch, and I’m now ahead of the curve for the second day. (Yay!) I don’t think I mentioned my other evil plan for writing this month: my novel has been carved into 15 chapters, so each day either involves opening a chapter or closing one. (My original outline called for 14 chapters, so it wasn’t too much of a stretch.)
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and so it begins
I wrote my first line this morning:
“Harmony Miller, that is the most ludicrous thing I ever did hear!”
I had intended to write it last night just after midnight, but I ended up falling asleep well before then. Hopefully writing will keep me awake longer than reading.
Not sure how often I’ll blog about the experience. Writing 2000 words a day will either leave me a) not wanting to write another word, or b) anxious to write something other than bad fiction. We’ll see. Today, a few rules I set for myself:
Pratchett recommendations
(My boss asked me for some Terry Pratchett book recommendations today. It took a bit of research, so I figured I’d share…)
…or “Where to start?” There are something like 35 Discworld novels spanning almost 25 years, so there’s a bit of variation. Pratchett also loves his in-jokes and walk-ons, so you’ll definitely get more out of the books once you’re familiar with the milieu. (You’ll also get more out of them if you know lots of movie, music, and book trivia. The guy’s encyclopedic with his puns.)
The very first book you’ll want to read is Good Omens, written with Neil Gaiman. It’s not a Discworld book, but it has the same kind of style so it’s a good indicator of whether you’ll like Pratchett or not.
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elephants pass mirror test of self-awareness
What do great apes, dolphins, and elephants have in common? We all check ourselves out when given a mirror, a test of self-awareness that elephants at the Bronx Zoo just passed. This probably doesn’t surprise elephant fans (like myself), but it’s good to learn more about our gentle lumbering friends. More in the Guardian article.
Shuttle Launch Seen From ISS
Patrick just sent a link to a beautiful shot of a Space Shuttle launch as seen from the International Space Station. As someone in the comments writes, “It’s like, all of a sudden I like the ISS, you know?”