Periodic ponderings: Week 9 edition
Feb. 25th, 2014 11:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
calissaWhat are you doing/thinking/wondering/making/reading/etc. that you don't normally post about? I have added a few more categories this time to better reflect some of my interests :)
Doing:jjhunter recently brought to my attention a post from melannen on some exercises on the craft of writing. One of the things recommended in the post is "practice stupid language tricks" which covers things like doing crosswords. I have had a giant book of crosswords gathering dust on my shelf for quite some time now. Almost without meaning to, I picked it up and started working my way through it. I had forgotten how much fun it is. I rarely manage to completely solve them, but find that I don't really care since it is simply a way to exercise my language skills.
Watching: Still waiting for more R&D to be released. In the meantime, I have returned to anime. I got caught up on the most recent episodes of Naruto released on CrunchyRoll and have just started in on a new anime called Log Horizon. I heard about it through the excellent anime review blog of John Samuel, who I had the pleasure of meeting on the anime panel at the Australian Sci-fi Convention last year.
(As an aside, I highly recommend his blog. I find his reviews are always very astute).
The anime is about players who get caught in an MMORPG and can't escape; the virtual world effectively becomes their reality. This is the same premise as Sword Art Online which started out so well and then went terribly, terribly wrong (seriously, don't get me started on what they did to the female lead). I am assured that Log Horizon is much better but I haven't yet warmed to it. To be fair, I am only two episodes in.
Thinking: A conversation with a friend going through a tough time recently made me realise that some part of myself likes to think that I am a fierce warrior at heart. This amuses, baffles and pleases me by turns and I find myself wondering how this relates to my love of fantasy as a genre.
Reading: Weirdly, I am actually between books at the moment. I have been holding off a little on reading while I caught up on writing some reviews, though I think I shall resume again soon. A dear friend recently launched her first e-book and it is next on my list of things to read. It has been years since I first read this story and am excited to see what the final result is. If you like near-future fantasy featuring things with wings, you might be interested in checking it out.
Wondering: I have been pondering starting up a modest poetry practice but have been unsure where to start. There are so many possibilities! I think I am going to start with some ofjjhunter's excellent advice and go from there. The sheer fact I am wondering bodes well for the return of my creative energy.
Writing: If you are an Australian writer, you may be interested to know that the CSFG have announced the theme of their next anthology. Despite the dreadful title, I am super excited about this opportunity to write some uniquely Australian speculative fiction--particularly because place is a preoccupation for me. Tonight I sat down and brainstormed some ideas. Tomorrow I shall look them over and try to pick a direction.
Drinking: Yesterday I had the opportunity to swing past my favourite tea shop yesterday and managed to stock up on the following:
The mornings are darker and cooler now, leading me to crave the Russian Caravan. It is very much a sign to me that Autumn is on its way.
Doing:
jjhunter recently brought to my attention a post from melannen on some exercises on the craft of writing. One of the things recommended in the post is "practice stupid language tricks" which covers things like doing crosswords. I have had a giant book of crosswords gathering dust on my shelf for quite some time now. Almost without meaning to, I picked it up and started working my way through it. I had forgotten how much fun it is. I rarely manage to completely solve them, but find that I don't really care since it is simply a way to exercise my language skills.Watching: Still waiting for more R&D to be released. In the meantime, I have returned to anime. I got caught up on the most recent episodes of Naruto released on CrunchyRoll and have just started in on a new anime called Log Horizon. I heard about it through the excellent anime review blog of John Samuel, who I had the pleasure of meeting on the anime panel at the Australian Sci-fi Convention last year.
(As an aside, I highly recommend his blog. I find his reviews are always very astute).
The anime is about players who get caught in an MMORPG and can't escape; the virtual world effectively becomes their reality. This is the same premise as Sword Art Online which started out so well and then went terribly, terribly wrong (seriously, don't get me started on what they did to the female lead). I am assured that Log Horizon is much better but I haven't yet warmed to it. To be fair, I am only two episodes in.
Thinking: A conversation with a friend going through a tough time recently made me realise that some part of myself likes to think that I am a fierce warrior at heart. This amuses, baffles and pleases me by turns and I find myself wondering how this relates to my love of fantasy as a genre.
Reading: Weirdly, I am actually between books at the moment. I have been holding off a little on reading while I caught up on writing some reviews, though I think I shall resume again soon. A dear friend recently launched her first e-book and it is next on my list of things to read. It has been years since I first read this story and am excited to see what the final result is. If you like near-future fantasy featuring things with wings, you might be interested in checking it out.
Wondering: I have been pondering starting up a modest poetry practice but have been unsure where to start. There are so many possibilities! I think I am going to start with some of
jjhunter's excellent advice and go from there. The sheer fact I am wondering bodes well for the return of my creative energy.Writing: If you are an Australian writer, you may be interested to know that the CSFG have announced the theme of their next anthology. Despite the dreadful title, I am super excited about this opportunity to write some uniquely Australian speculative fiction--particularly because place is a preoccupation for me. Tonight I sat down and brainstormed some ideas. Tomorrow I shall look them over and try to pick a direction.
Drinking: Yesterday I had the opportunity to swing past my favourite tea shop yesterday and managed to stock up on the following:
The mornings are darker and cooler now, leading me to crave the Russian Caravan. It is very much a sign to me that Autumn is on its way.
no subject
Date: 2014-02-25 08:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-25 09:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-25 09:34 pm (UTC)Ach, but I want to try some of those writing suggestions. [blockbonk] I'm sure I confuse my play-by-post buddies more than usual sometimes, since gaming's inhereted my tendency to use any obscure words magpied from old/odd/pretentious literature until they sink in...
no subject
Date: 2014-02-26 04:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-26 07:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-26 07:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-26 11:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-26 02:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-26 04:45 am (UTC)