this morning. I’m up at this hour mainly because I couldn’t sleep. I was listening to Coast on the topic of Noise, some entertaining and interesting stuff.

I’m considering going in for my usual evening shift because I don’t want to go in and work Friday afternoon.  This way, I’ll get 32.5 hours in for next week.

Work goes well on F. I’m about to close out the beginning part and I hope to do that this week. I’m filling in a lot of gaps in the story, especially where cause and effect take place.  Then I’m going to check each paragraph for stimuli and response. I don’t mind using words like was and had. It’s the; could, would and should words I’m trying to cut down on. These passive ‘words’ I don’t mind using in dialogue but not in prose.  The other thing I’m looking for is evolving my subplots. I’ve got 2-3 of them going in this story. Characterization is also important to me. I don’t want some reviewer saying my characters are week and cardboard.  Depth of story and the world I’m creating is also of chief importance.  But I like to use ordinary words in my prose. I find SF is guilty of using very obscure words. I find this to be condescending to the reader. I don’t want the reader to be bogged down in word look up 6 times/page. This slows the story down. This may be fine for Tolkin but I’m not Tolkin.  Neal Asher uses some “ten-dollar” words but they fit in his style.  In some works I find myself needing to learn what does “stodgily” mean. It means heavy, dull or uninteresting.  Thesauruses are great but I don’t want to sound like a Thesaurus.

The Photo above is one I took Saturday. This is the direction I look when waiting for a bus. Before my vision was restored I could barely see the bus shelter down the street on the left much less over the Manning bridge in the background. The bus shelter is blocked by the light pole but it's there.Right behind me is my building. Now thanks to Dr. M. I can see everything. What a difference.

Anyway I’m up for another hour and then it’s time to do the cbi thing and then go back to bed. 

 
That’s all for now.

 
e. Jim