I went to school and learned a lesson. We often hope that our children learn from these lessons, but sometimes the lesson learned was not the one intended.
This could be called a useful piece of practical wisdom, and for me that was, don’t get into fights at the back of the schoolyard.
The former lesson can be, on one hand, a section of school work, from a larger continuous topic, or, part of a book, which can be an exercise.
Then there’s the study of the past and the hope that we can learn from the lessons of the past.
Sadly, in a lot of cases, we don’t and are therefore doomed to repeat the past, only with far more devastating consequences.
A lesson can also be a passage from the bible.
Or is it lessen, where we reduce the costs which means lessen means reduce, to make less.
I could lessen the load if I gave someone else some of the work.
Or if I stopped eating candy, I could lessen the chances of clotting arteries.
With the first three sections down, I’m now onto the fourth, the series of events that kicks off the quest.
I’m juggling a lot of characters at the moment, and it’s getting difficult to get the time line of each event, and character, in chronological order. I don’t want to have a character at two events when it is not possible.
So, slowing down the process, I have implemented a chart, much like a spreadsheet, detailing events, characters in it, and when. Overall, there is a timeline, so I can see when two events are happening at the same time.
And this is hard to put to words because only one scene can be written at a time, and sometimes this makes the story a little disjointed. I’m working on how to minimise it, and make sure everyone ends up where they’re supposed to be, before, during, and after.
So much for that.
Something else I had in the back of mind, one of those thoughts you have just before going to sleep, and thinking about the next part, I think I will make a slight change to one characters motivation, the one I had in mind for a while doesn’t fit the new narrative of the new chapters written.
I guess it happens, as you proceed, things change.
I have roughly written the first 3 sections of the story now, about 16 chapters of varying sizes, and I’m up to the cataclysmic event that sets the real story in motion.
I sometimes find that setting up the story can sometimes take longer than writing the part I really wanted to get to.
Equally, I sometimes find that I will write a chapter, or piece that is further on in the story, because inspiration for that seems to fill my head rather than for the part I’m trying to write.
Oddly, sometimes when I finally catch up, it fits right in, perfectly.
And sometimes it doesn’t.
But this usually only happens when I have roughly mapped the story out in outline form, which, because I want to get this finished, I have done.
Progress today was excellent, and I’m pleased with the parts I’ve done, or revised simply because when I was looking at it, it didn’t look right. Perhaps I’ll be less fussy as the time runs out and there’s much to be done.
For the statisticians, I wrote 1,782 words today, for a total of 17,439 so far.
I don’t feel like this book is getting anywhere fast, but I have managed to complete the first and second sections, after a fashion. Some editing is going to be needed.
That basically gets the introductions to the principal characters out of the way.
Now, it’s onto the a rather horrible few chapters where there’s fighting, death, mostly death (those who saw The Princess Bride will know what this means) and general mayhem where in the confusion a daring escape is made, and a mission of utmost importance is carried out.
And this before the real story gets underway.
The next day or so will tidy these chapters up, and then we can get onto the fun part.
For the statisticians, todays effort was 2,551 words for a total of 15,657.
A fine day, on this trip a rarity, we decided to take the train to Windsor and see the castle.
This is a real castle, and still in one piece, unlike a lot of castles.
Were we hoping to see the Queen, no, it was highly unlikely.
But there were a lot of planes flying overhead into Heathrow. The wind must have been blowing the wrong day, and I’m sure, with one passing over every few minutes, it must annoy the Queen if she was looking for peace and quiet.
Good thing then, when it was built, it was an ideal spot, and not under the landing path. I guess it was hard to predict what would happen 500 years in the future!
I’m not sure if this was the front gate or back gate, but I was wary of any stray arrows coming out of those slits either side of the entrance.
You just never know!
An excellent lawn for croquet. This, I think, is the doorway, on the left, where dignitaries arrive by car. The private apartments are across the back.
The visitor’s apartments. Not sure who that is on the horse.
St George’s Chapel. It’s a magnificent church for a private castle. It’s been very busy the last few months with Royal weddings.
The Round Tower, or the Keep. It is the castle’s centerpiece. Below it is the gardens.
Those stairs are not for the faint-hearted, nor the Queen I suspect. But I think quite a few royal children and their friends have been up and down them a few times.
I’ve turned my sights on the other side, what might be called the bad guys. Oddly what was going through my mind was the old Hollywood maxim that bad guys wear black, and as I was writing their introduction to the story, I had two if them definitely dressed in black.
It also speaks of dark times that are coming, and might easily be mistaken, at the beginning, of just another storm front that heralds the cold and bitter winter.
And it also sows the seeds of what causes a certain event that invokes a period of upheaval in the realm, and those that are major players at the outset, and some who find themselves thrust unwillingly into fray later on.
There will be other events before we get down to the main story.
As for the logistics, todays word total is 2,028, for a total so far of 13,106 words. Progress is being made, but today was a little difficult.
The nights are cool, now, as we head towards summer where we’re expecting it to be a lot warmer. But, for now, the conditions are much easier than if it was in the morning.
My granddaughters favourite event is the high jump. It is by and large the most interesting of all, where where the 19 competitors each take three turns to achieve a height, and as it goes up, the numbers get less.
It starts at about 75 cms, and goes up in 5 cm increments. It can, and sometimes does. The last time the highest jump was 115 cm, and my granddaughter reached 110 cm, and only just missed 115 cm. Next time.
Her second favourite event is the hurdles, perhaps because it’s jumping, and is quite good at it, not knocking over any hurdles. There’s the 70 meters, 80 meters, and 100 meters. She did the 80 meters in under 19 seconds which is a personal best. I imagine she’ll get faster.
Next in line is the long jump, and yes, it’s jumping, but there’s a trick to it, you have to get your foot inside the board, not over it m and she has trouble not overstepping. But, she had three jumps, and got it right on the final attempt
Then we have the discus. It’s an interesting event, and there are so many different styles. Some do it really well, most probably need a lot more training, but get a throw out there. Several this time sprayed it, and every time there’s a few near misses. We all know now to keep your your eyes on it. We have two outside the white line, and one good throw, and it’s a personal best.
In between events we get to a little stargazing, and usually watch the moon rising, and then use an app called Sky Map to locate the planets. And then, since I’ve just updated my smartphone to a Galaxy 20 note, just the average one, so I can try and take some better night photos, and one is at the top of this post.
There was an 800 meter event, and she did well, even though so early in the season fitness is an issue and in such an event it takes a toll. Previously she has done a 1,500 meter race and that was a trial more than an event, and it was good in a sense that it highlighted the fact she needs to do some training.
It ends this week at a reasonable hour, and we all go home.
Next week is another week, and the opportunity to improve. What I like about this for of competition is that the focus is not on who came first or last, but the fact you may have improved, ie, a new personal best.
It’s a great concept that gets rids of the winners and losers, and makes the athletes all winners, and know that getting better is within their grasp.
Progress is good, at least we’re heading in the right direction.
It’s curious what you think about when you’re creating characters, and then breathe life into them.
Like Marigold, who is loosely based around my eldest granddaughter, who likes to toss a bit of inspiration into the mix. She wants Marigold to be a vain, annoying, abrupt so and so, much like what she calls the rich kids who have too much time and money on their hands, and a deep contempt for the plebs as she calls them.
Royalty, much like movie stars, well some anyway, are demanding, greedy, and difficult. Well, that’s Marigold from the start. It doesn’t mean she won’t learn a few life lessons soon enough, but she will be the proverbial fish out of water.
Ophelia is a lot different, the explorer type, not exactly Dora the explorer, but my middle granddaughter liked the idea of her being a scientist, or in those days of yore, an alchemist, though back in those days people often though of those type of people as witches or worse.
Then there’s James, who had his story charted today, the Prince who would be king, one day, He has an enormous responsibility on his shoulders, an the burden of having to meet expectations that he believes are far beyond his capabilities. He’s 18, needs to become a knight, and a leader, and sooner rather than later.
His biggest enemy is his fear of failure.
Well, there it sits for the moment. We have more characters, but the real story is about to begin, and the children of the crown are about to be tested.
The boring stuff: A total of 2,794 words were written today, some joyfully others with difficulty, for a running total of 11,078.
With a head start last night which gave me the inspiration to write this section, I was able to finish it off and get it down.
Actually, I’m quite pleased with myself in that regard, but disappointed in the fact I didn’t get time to work on the next part before tomorrow.
Too many other distractions, like elections in other countries, though I’m still wondering why it had any interest for me.
One thing that has surprised me is the lengths some people will go to trash another candidate, and that, to me, is scraping the bottom of the barrel. Surely there’s another way to make a point, like point out all the problems that will happen with policy decisions, or the fact there are no policies.
Anyway, the next few days will be in the news, no doubt.
Thank heaven we don’t have any of that nonsense here. We just call both leaders and the politicians idiots, and vote for the one whose policy aligns with our views, and let them get on with their boozy lunches, affairs, and childlike spats in the parliamentary chambers, and hope, eventually, something gets done.
Just in case you were wondering, today’s word count is 2,480, for a total so far of 8,284 words.
A relationship, a bad day, a friendship, a long, monotonous lecture, and dinner.
It’s basically the light at the end of the tunnel, when it’s not the 6:32 express from Clapton, entering the other end of that same tunnel.
You could go over the top, which means, in one sense, over and above the expected, or way beyond the expected but not in a good way.
You could go over the waterfall in a leaky boat. Not advisable, but sometimes a possibility, if someone fails to tell you at the end of the rapids there is a waterfall. Just make sure it’s not the same as Niagara falls.
Still, someone has gone over Niagara in a barrel.
Then we could say that my lodging is over the garage, which simply means someone built it on top of the garage.
Branches of trees quite ofter grow over the roofs of houses, until a severe storm brings them down and suddenly they are in your house, no longer over it.
You can have editorial control over a newspaper
In a fight, the combatants are equally trying to shout over the top of each other
And sometimes, when trying to paint a different picture to what is real, you could say the temperature is sometimes over 40 degrees centigrade when you know for a fact it is usually 56 degrees centigrade. No need for the literal truth here or no one will come.
Then you could say I came over land, assuming that you took a car, or walked when in actual fact you came by plane. And yes, the whole flight was, truthfully, over land.
I don’t accept my lot in fife, nor do I want a small lot on which to build my mansion!
But the oddest use of the word over is when we describe, in cricket, the delivery of 6 balls.
I’ve listened to cricket commentary, and aside from trying to pronounce the names of the players, if you were unfamiliar with the game, being told this ball was outside leg stump, one of several deliveries, the last of which was the end of the over. If the delivery hit the stumps, it is then a wicket, and the batsman is out.
Thrills, Spills, and just a dash of Romance 