350

I did do 350 words of Aurora yesterday, but was too tired to Tweet or write my blog.

Glub what

Now Sid had fallen out of the boat and was finding it difficult to keep afloat. "Glub, glub," he glubbed.
"Stop glubbing Sid," said Arthur, "you're revealing one of the word plays from Ground Hog War."
"Glub what," he again glubbed.
"Glub what," said Arthur as he shook his head, "sounds like something a murderer may ask his partner while holding a club and looking for victims."

(No dwarfs were drowned in the making of this short story.)

Never mind

Today I cut out and glued the hull to the ship. I used Sellotape that I had first dabbed on my jeans, a technique I had learned in art school when I was 17 to stop it being so sticky. The trouble is though that I took the tape off about an hour ago, but because the card was still damp from the glue, it has still taken the surface off of the card! Oh well, I'll have to paint it and coat it in more glue to make it look smooth.

Today's joke is:

Curiosity killed the cat, but for a while I was a suspect.

A bit of fiction

I didn't do any writing today, or my model. I did make a list of the 8 phases I need to complete to finish the model. I also thought about how the Theran chronicles measure up to the alien/Nephilim Christian theory. It doesn't have to really, seeing as it is a bit of fiction, which makes me feel a little better.

Today's joke is:

(A quote from Billy Connolly, seeing as I finished watching the film tonight.)

"My definition of an intellectual is someone who can listen to the William Tell Overture without thinking of the Lone Ranger."

When it dries properly

I thought I might do some writing today but my wife didn't teach as she usually does so I didn't. I finished forming the new upper section of the airship and cut out a roof. I glued the upper section to the deck and put a rear gunner's position in it. Though when I checked it while it was drying the card started to warp. Hope it straightens out when it dries properly.

As you can see from the photograph on the right.

Today's joke is:

I have COD. It's like OCD, but I also have dyslexia!

No doors

The top half of the airship had no doors, I noticed too late. So I am making a new top half with doors. Now from the photo I will be taking of it you probably wouldn't notice, but I am going to be using the airship for two of my covers, The Tawa and Attack on Thera. I'd rather do it properly. I have cut the strip out and two of the windows.

Today's joke is:

At what age is it appropriate for me to tell my dog she is adopted?

Nicks at the top

So it seems as though I had both Saturday and Sunday off! Today I worked on my airship model. Now if I can get my phone to connect to my PC then I can put a picture on my blog. I cut out the windows and put nicks at the top so that I can eventually glue a roof to it. It looks much better and I'm glad I spent longer on it today before my wife took me to Starbucks.

Today's joke is:

I may not always be right, but I am never wrong!

Slots in the deck

I wasn't really planning to do any of my airship model today, but after watching Criminal Minds and Agents of Shield my PC started putting the service pack together and I was a bit stumped until it had finished. So I went upstairs and worked on the above deck section of the airship. I have left tabs on the bottom and put slots in the deck and slotted it together for now. I have also measured out where the windows are going to be but I will have to do that tomorrow.


Today's joke is:

Some people hear voices, some see invisible people, others have no imagination whatsoever!

Now Defunct

Today I spent most of the day upgrading the software on my PC and laptop at my daughter's house. Two of my hard drives kept failing and my son-in-law gave me the one from the PC he is going to give me later on in the year. So, for now at least, I have a working PC at home that's safer to use than when it had the recently defunct Windows XP on it.

Today's funny is:

I used to be a funky - now I'm just defunct!

Foam Ribs

I didn't do much to my airship today. I formed half of the hull with a piece of paper and am going to use that as a template for the card one. I think I may also put tabs on the top instead of just trying to glue it to the foam ribs.

Foam ribs, that sounds like genetically modified pork ribs for people to eat who don't have any teeth!

Consigned to the green room.

Today I consigned myself to the green room in the garden. I put the patio table and chair in it and started on the next phase of my airship. I also asked the neighbour two doors down if he had any polystyrene foam, which he did. I then cut out the foam pieces using a craft knife and then glued and pinned them onto the card deck. I did mess a few up and had to do them again, the craft knife could have been sharper. Tonight I peeled off the scotch tape and took the pins out and it looks to be OK.

Now I have used two Americanisms there, Scotch tape instead of Sellotape and craft knife instead of Stanley knife, so now you know.

Tomorrow I will try to do a little more before I go out to work.

Today's funny thing is:

When you're dead, you don't know you're dead. It is difficult only for the others - it is the same when you are stupid.

Tawa Blog Series 2

I have taken some photos with what I've done today but I can't put them on because I have had to reinstall my software on my PC.

I drew a proper deck plate on paper then transferred it onto a piece of card, put some tabs on it then cut it out. I also started to cut out and Sellotape some ribs for the boat shape. I will need to find either thicker card or some polystyrene to glue on so that there's something for the skin to stick to.

I did mash all of the plasticine together into a giant brown lump, then re modelled the airship. It meant that I had more of an idea what the hull will look like. I am hoping to use the model of the Tawa for this cover then also as part of a larger diorama for AOT.

Tawa Blog Series 1

Somebody asked me a few weeks back to maybe do a blog about how I design my book covers.
So I thought today, seeing as I need a cover for The Tawa, I would do a blog series.
I took a couple of pictures in Starbucks, Monk's Cross.(As you can see from the top picture.)

A couple of months ago I decided to plan what the Tawa looked like, mainly so that I could describe it when writing. I drew a plan of what it looked like from the side and above. This meant I could visualise where everyone was on the ship. I also planned where the crew quarters would be.
Today I bought plasticine from the £1 shop and started modelling the base of the airship. It looks similar to the drawing.
I am planning to model it and take another photo to see what the final one might look like.

4.5

I did more than I was planning to today, I wrote 680 words of Aurora, proof read the last 4.5 pages of The Tawa and started work on the front cover of The Tawa. It means I am about a quarter of the way through Aurora when I was really planning to finish proof reading Attack on Thera first.


Today's joke is:

Two guys walked into a bar.

The third guy ducked!

Car broke down

Today my car broke down in Haxby (it's only just gone through its test!) My son and I pushed it into this little old lady's drive and went to see her to explain what had happened. I had to go to the local library (which was not open) to use their wireless connection to text my wife on Facebook.

My brother in law came later on to pick it up on his low loader.

So I looked at the next problem with Aurora, how to explain the little green man that came out of the cigar shaped object. I'm still thinking about that and how to fit it in with the worldview based on what is happening on Thera.

Thera, sounds a bit like someone with a lisp saying 'Sarah'!

April 17th?

I proof read up to page 6 today. Added all the things in that I had left dots for. Also wrote 200 words of Aurora and re wrote the beginning based on the newspaper report of  April 17th? 1887.

Today's joke is:

What did the lawyer name his daughter?

Sue!

4 pages

All I've done so far is proof read 4 pages of The Tawa. Was tired most of the day, felt better after a nap but am really tired now.

Had planned to do either some writing or proof reading in Starbucks but my grand daughter gave me the run around. It was a nice run around, sort of multicoloured and spinny. I drew a couple of pictures of Sid the dwarf before she wanted to go to the toilet, then the park. Did manage to get a free bag of chips and a toffee sundae from McDonald's tokens that had been dropped on the floor.

Shed

I managed to finish typing in The Tawa today, about 750 words. Now I need to proof read it and do the cover. I would have tried to go for a nap earlier but the neighbours were building a shed. So I finished typing it in while I was tired. We'll have to see how many mistakes there are in it when I proof read.

Today's joke is:

What's the most breathless thing on TV?

The Pink Panter Show!

Scrappy

Managed to type in 250 words of The Tawa before I went out today. At Relish, in town, I managed to write just over 500 words of Aurora (named for now.) It is a little scrappy so I'll need to work on it as I type it in and probably do some editing as well. I may try to type in a little more tonight before I go to bed.

Today's joke is:

What's the difference between ignorance and apathy?

I don't know and I don't care!

Paper

:) I managed to type in over 1,200 words. That means I caught up with what I never did yesterday. Also started the beginning of Aurora, Texas. Wrote about 175 words and planned a couple of hundred as well. The trouble is though that now I have found out that the Aurora, Texas sighting may be a hoax. Never mind, I'll treat it as real and how it was described in the paper of that time.

Today's joke is:

Have you heard the one about the paper boy?

He blew away!

You choose

I managed to type in about 700 words today, about 300 shy of the full 1,000. I wonder why we say shy? Is it because we just turn away at the end like a shy person? Maybe it has something to do with a coconut shy? Or someone who can't sat shire properly? You choose.

Don't get bored.

I managed to type in 250 words today. Need to type in the 1,000 tomorrow. I have made two lists of things that I need to be doing each day to finish inputting, covers, proof reading and short stories within three weeks. I can do these things in any order (so I don't get bored). I'll cross them off when I finish them. The short story bit might not happen unless I get some sit down time in Starbucks or whatever.

Today's joke is:

I'm not a complete idiot, some parts are missing!

Gary Gygax

I managed to type in over 1,000 words of The Tawa. I need to keep it up to get it finished by the weekend.

Spoke to an American today who had met Gary Gygax, as I have. I also said I had met Steve Jackson and he said he had as well. What a funny old world. Then I realised that he had met the American Steve Jackson whereas I had met the British one. So maybe not so funny then (depending on your point of view.)