Category Archives: Uncategorized

Two months in

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On my side of the pond, it is still May 8th, which means that it is just two months since I started blogging and I must say that I have enjoyed it immensely.

I don’t know how many “Likes” my posts have achieved, but am delighted every day when I see there are more. Hell, the fact that there has been even one Like has blown me away–not through any sense of false modesty, but simply that I have improved someone’s day.

Then I consider the people who have decided to follow me…those who feel that my words and photos are worth checking up on every now and again; that the post they liked wasn’t just a one-off. All I can say to any of you is: Thank you!

And perhaps the greatest discovery of all has been the people that have chosen to engage me in conversation, some just once, but for some, several times. It is amazing to think that I have found a budding community that shows all the signs of blossoming into something wonderful.

You are amazing, talented, friendly people and I appreciate each of you.

Here’s to the next two months and then the next two years.

(The following photos show some of my local support crew, none of whom blog…yet!)

Another Liebster Award?

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I can’t believe how lucky I feel and how honoured I am to have been nominated for a second Liebster Award in just two months of running my blog. My nominator was new friend Julian Froment—book lover and reading fanatic—who blogs at http://julianfroment.wordpress.com/.

According to Julian, and as I recall from earlier, the rules for the Liebster Blog Award are:

  • List 11 random facts about yourself.
  • Answer a series of questions that were asked of you.
  • Nominate another 11 bloggers for the Liebster Award and link to their blogs.
  • Notify those bloggers of their nominations.
  • Ask those bloggers 11 questions they must answer in accepting their award.

Eleven (different) random facts:

  1. I missed actually being at the Pentagon (specifically, the metro station) on 9/11 by about an hour.
  2. I have an almost paralytic fear of heights and am getting sweaty as I type this because I am thinking of heights of which I have been afraid
  3. I adore sleep and positively purr in those moments just before sleep arrives and just as I awake
  4. I am a nature/science documentary junkie, but not the ones with overt agendas that border on zealotry (even if I agree with the agenda)
  5. To celebrate my 50th birthday this year, I am trying to plan an evening comedy cabaret in support of some charity, just so I can hang out with funny people
  6. I would eat cold cereal for all 3 main meals if I could
  7. I typically create my written works long-hand in a notebook and then transfer to the computer
  8. I struggle with weight and have been an emotional eater my entire life
  9. I am a dog person, but real dogs, not those rats with a glandular condition (no offense to rats)
  10. I have a tattoo that reads Julius Caesar V. v. 73
  11. When it comes to housework, I am tidy but not clean…I’ll organize, but it’s gotta be pretty dirty for me to mop it

Julian’s questions of me:

  1. What is your favourite book? I would pick something by Shakespeare, but as you specified book, I would have to go with Dune, which for all its brevity, provides an amazingly intricate story that also serves as something of an ecological allegory.
  2. Do you play an instrument? If so, which one? No, but have often wished I did, as I am envious of the joy others experience while playing.
  3. What is your ideal holiday? Sunshine, warmth, water, a breeze, a notebook and my camera.
  4. Which author would you most like to meet (they do not need to be currently alive)? As I behaved earlier, I will cheat here and push for Shakespeare, although I must admit to some trepidation that the man could not possibly match the art.
  5. What is your favourite genre to write in? I am a natural comedy writer—sketch, sitcom, movie—but don’t like to be hemmed in by specific genre…not wanting to sound pretentious but certain I will, my genre is story.
  6. What is your least favourite book? There have been many books I have found lacking, but if forced to focus my animosity on just one, it would have to be Ken Dryden’s The Moved and the Shaken, which if nothing else answered my question why don’t people write novels about normal people leading normal lives (answer: they are boring).
  7. Do you have siblings, if so which? Yes, I have two brothers, whom I am happy to say I have finally learned to appreciate as great men—the lack was on my part, not theirs.
  8. PC or Mac? PC
  9. Do you eat meat? Aggressively so!
  10. What is your favourite sport? Hockey (and specifically, my beloved Toronto Marlies)
  11. Do you have a day job? No…it got in the way of my storytelling efforts.

Eleven nominees for the Liebster Award:

I believe the idea behind the Liebster is to promote relatively new bloggers who have fewer than some threshold of followers (I’ve seen anywhere from 200 to 500).

Last time, I begged off on this part, because I really didn’t know anyone who fit that category, but I feel it would be a cop out to do the same this time, so I am simply going to nominate people who jazz me in some manner.

  1. Ben’s Bitter Blog – for his sardonic wit and the sheer pleasure he takes in bitterness
  2. A Day in the Life of Shareen A – she makes me smile
  3. BadsPhotoBlog – because I thought he was nuts for considering these bad photos (misread the name)
  4. Salty Palette – for the sheer delicacy of these amazing photographs
  5. Ryan Hermann – for making me want to try harder with my camera
  6. Pressed Words – their sheer elan and joy of food
  7. Bite Size Canada – for the tireless efforts to celebrate Canada’s history and culture
  8. Life According to Madelin – because her interests are completely unrelated to mine but her joy is not
  9. Write, Read, Repeat – for her sheer determination to do just that

Questions for the nominees:

  1. What is your primary art, whether desired or actively pursued?
  2. Artichokes, brussel sprouts, beets, bok choy, durian. Which, if any, of these do you enjoy eating?
  3. What teacher meant the most to you in your life (school or otherwise)?
  4. Do you actively or would you consider mentoring someone?
  5. Are you funny and can you give an example (either way)?
  6. If you could be any other species, which would you choose?
  7. Pick a number between 1 and 3.
  8. Do you live urban, suburban or rural?
  9. What is the most exotic place you have ever visited (define exotic as you wish)?
  10. What actor or performer turns you on? Turns your stomach?
  11. When was the last time you cried (for whatever reason, positive or negative)?

I look forward to learning more about each of you.

Sunshine Award

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Well, aren’t I the lucky fellow?

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I have been nominated for the Sunshine Award by fellow blogger Kira Lyn Blue, a self-describe overanalyzer, ninja squirrel wrangler and urban fantasy author. On that last one, I’m not sure if that means city-dweller who writes stories of the fantastic or if she writes stories about urban fantasy’s like clean air, functional infrastructure, no traffic and mayors who govern rather than politic.

Based on her request for more pics and poetry, it would seem that Kira Lyn is a fan of my less pedantic offerings, which is completely acceptable to me. In fact, because my photography and poetry is more of an artistic endeavour, I am highly flattered that she has asked for more.

And, if I understand correctly, the award is recognition for those who positively and creatively inspire other bloggers, so I am doubly humbled by the honour she has bestowed on me.

So, apparently the rules of the game include: posting the logo (lovely it is); linking to my nominator; answering 10 questions (see below); nominating 10 others (including links and comments) and informing them they have been nominated (see further below).

I give you these fifteen—oy—TEN, ten commandments, I mean questions:

Favourite colour: Orange…Hallowe’en is the bomb!

Favourite animal: Ferret…because I think I identify with an animal that can be extremely smart and stupid at the same time.

Favourite number: 13…anything that irrationally unnerves people is incredibly sexy to me.

Favourite non-alcoholic drink: Coffee…although I’ve seen plenty of alcoholics drink it, so I don’t know if it counts.

Favourite alcoholic drink: Beer…preferably porters or stouts.

Facebook or Twitter: Twitter…would have said FB, but liking the discipline involved in 140 characters, only a third of whom are funny

My passions: Humour, love, being…not to be all flower-child, but it took a long time for this answer not to be Nutella (which still runs a close 4th)

Giving or receiving gifts: Always giving…but not above receiving.

Favourite city: Montreal…sorry to my home of Toronto, but we stick-up-the-ass Ontarians need to learn how to relax and stop destroying our frickin’ heritage.

Favourite TV shows: Your Show of Shows, The Black Adder (series), House (the early seasons)

And now for something completely boorish…bloggish!:

Storiesbyfrancis – this woman has a beautiful soul and constantly makes me smile

Drawings, Paintings and Other Art – amazingly delicate artwork that lets the viewer bring their own thoughts to the table

Leanne Cole Photography – stunning architectural photos

Ned’s Blog – Unnervingly amusing and would have been a competitor in a previous life (the bastard!)

Julian Froment’s Blog – his zeal for reading and writing is infectious

Licht Years – incredibly delicate and uplifting photography

Abandoned Kansai – photographing the echoed lives of dead places

Pondering It All – poetry of great simplicity and yet incredible depth

Victoriously – a beautiful woman bravely sharing her personal demons with the world

Honeydobliss – 3 young women pre-emptively taking on midlife crises to do it right the first time(s)

Thanks for listening

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Just found out that I have 1,003 likes on my blog in just over a month, so I’d like (ha!) to thank everyone for their support and interest.

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And, because no good deed goes unpunished, I’d also welcome you to check out some of the other venues where you will find me spouting nonsense (gotta pay the bills, you know).

Toronto Marlies page at Maple Leafs Central – news from the American Hockey League team

Drug Discovery News – commentaries and special features

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Maps quest

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In another life, I could have been a cartographer. I simply love maps.

Road maps. Old maps. Topographical maps. Biological maps. I love maps.

It is probably truer to say that I love visual information presentation, but let’s stick with maps.

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As a kid, I remember staring at maps that came out of the National Geographic or in my books and literally tracing the courses of rivers with my fingers, trying to understand what their winding patters told me about the lands through which they passed.

I would look at maps in history books, and see how topographical features literally and figuratively changed the course of civilization. There are several reasons, for example, why Montreal sits where it does, but most of them are geographical.

(Magazine art for my article on efforts to understand how proteins bind drug molecules.)

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Later in my life, I would draw maps—at first geographical, but later biological. The biochemical mechanisms that cells and organs use to communicate, to rejuvenate, to function are maps unto themselves, each criss-crossing with others, offering alternate routes to the same destination. The latter point is why diseases like cancer are so hard to treat.

Maps allow me to take journeys, but not just in the physical sense of providing direction. They also give a factual tether to my fantastical imaginings. I can go places I may never visit, understand things unfathomable, while pouring over a map.

And map systems like Google Street View have added to those imaginings. Often, when I write, I will visit the setting of my story on Google Street View to help me paint a more vivid picture of the location. Sometimes this makes my narrative sound more like a travel brochure, but that’s my fault and can easily be handled with editing. The important thing is that the reader gets the essence of what I’m trying to convey.

(Lake Maggiore in northern Italy. Setting for the climax of my murder thriller screenplay)

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My writing itself is a map. Like Google Street View, I am only giving the reader what fits within a specific frame, in essence guiding the reader. But at the same time, I cannot control what the reader thinks or how the reader feels as he or she journeys through my word jungles.

Just as with my childhood adventures of following rivers and mountain chains, the reader is free to layer his or her own imaginings on top of mine. And so, I have written not just one story, but hundreds or thousands.

Hunh?

I guess I became a cartographer, after all.

(Overview of my neighbourhood in downtown Toronto.)

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Do you feel a draft? It’s time to revise your manuscript

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Like Meg Ryan pounding on a table in a diner: Yes! Yes! Yes!

Ned's Blog's avatarNed's Blog

Do you feel a draft? Whether writing a 500-word column or 400-paged manuscript, there comes that satisfying moment when you hit the final keystroke. The sound echoes, in slow motion, reverberating through your body and outward, catching anyone within a three-mile radius in its ripple effect.

Outside your window, traffic comes to a stop. Drivers and pedestrians join together, taking time from their day to cheer, applauding so loud and hard their hands turn pink.

And wait — is that a tear I see glistening in the eye of the Fed-Ex driver?

It’s embarrassing, really.

But who can blame them?

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Liebster Award? Me?

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My beautiful new blogger friend at storiesbyfrances just nominated me for a Liebster Award and I couldn’t be happier.

Frances, you see, is a wonderful writer of delightful, personal fiction and for her to find any of the things I have posted to be helpful or in any way inspiring is humbling. Of course, now I have to keep up the quality.

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And, it appears, the first thing you have to do with a Liebster Award is open yourself up to the inquisitive mind of your nominator. So, here goes.

1. If you could be any character from any book, who would you want to be and why?

Henry V from the Shakespeare play of the same name. I have always wanted to be able to inspire people to reach within themselves and find the strength to reach beyond the limits of their fears to something greater…albeit, not on a battlefield.

2. What´s the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to you?

I got caught staring at the cleavage of a fellow student in Grade 12 theatre class…and by staring, I mean, her breast were practically keeping my ears warm. She neither welcomed the attention nor shunned it, so I guess I lucked out in one sense.

There was also the time that I walked in on a friend receiving fellatio from his girlfriend at work. Not sure why I was embarrassed by this, but he wasn’t, so I guess I just thought one of us should be.

3. If you could be anywhere right now, where would you want to be?

That’s a tough one to answer. As of recently, I have been happy simply being wherever I am at that moment.

If I could add “anywhen” to that, then I would say New York City, 1950, working as a comedy writer for Sid Caesar on Your Show of Shows, alongside the likes of Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, Larry Gelbart, Danny Simon, Neil Simon and Mel Tolkin.

4. Who is the person you miss the most?

My grandmother, who passed away in 2012. She was a guiding spirit throughout my life; someone who always believed in me, even when she didn’t agree with or understand what I was doing. In many ways, she was my best friend and a wonderful companion. Name me one other woman of her generation who would read all of her grandson’s science books, dictionary at her side, so that she could converse with the babbling prodigy.

5. What´s your favorite childhood memory and why?

I don’t have a lot of memories of my childhood. It may be that times were so unsettled for me and my family that in blocking out the bad memories, the good ones have become collateral damage. This is not to say there wasn’t laughter and smiles, but I would have to say my favourite memories don’t start until much later in life.

6. What would you like to write about, but have never muster enough courage to actually write about?

I am really fortunate that at this stage in my life, there is nothing I can’t write about. No subjects are off-limits. No media are untappable. No genre can stop me.

7. Who/what couldn´t you live without?

Laughter. And not just mine; anyone’s. Laughter helps me cope. Laughter disarms. Laughter gives me perspective. Laughter is often the only exercise I get. Laughter is why I live (although not all of my writing efforts are comedic).

8. Why did you start blogging?

I’ve considered doing it for some time, and then a friend said she was going to start blogging about one very personal issue for her (I am so proud of her).

9. What keeps you blogging?

Narcissism. I need to speak and I think what I have to say will be of value to someone, even if it’s a question. And a need to know I am not alone, although luckily, that is not so scary a prospect as it once was.

10. What´s a perfect day to you?

Sunshine, a slight breeze, a notepad, two pens, an XL coffee and a park bench.

11. What makes you laugh?

Everything. I consider myself blessed with the ability to find humour in everything and anything. Others, in my past, have experienced this as something of a curse. I don’t hang around them much.

 

Offer eleven random facts about yourself:

1. I have a Master’s degree in protein biochemistry, having spent several years studying the most poorly expressed protein in the genome of a virus that attacks bacteria–phage lambda for those keeping score.

2. I am an improvisation performance junkie, although I haven’t done it recently, and studied at Toronto’s Second City Training Centre and Bad Dog Theatre under some amazingly talented people.

3. I have romantically loved only 3 women in my almost 50 years of life and while none of those relationships is currently active in the romantic sense, I am grateful to each one of those women for getting me through a special part of my life and am fortunate enough to consider myself a friend to each to some extent. (We won’t discuss after how many women I have lusted…if only because the numbers would be inaccurate as soon as I posted them)

4. I have a man-crush on the mascot of the Toronto Marlies, farm team for the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs. His name is Duke. (see, I told you I would write about anything)

5. I can’t read the word “cock” without smiling and perhaps even laughing because of a friend’s screenplay.

6. I love the Beatles.

7. In the last 12 months, I managed to become completely and unreservedly happy with my life. It is not perfect or idyllic, by any means, but I don’t care. I used to say that I wanted to be Errol Flynn’s Robin Hood, but felt more like Danny Kaye’s Walter Mitty. I am now Randy Willis’ Robin Hood.

8. I can’t grow decent facial hair to save my life, but it doesn’t keep me from trying, as witnessed by my present attempt at a handlebar moustache.

9. Nutella = sex in a jar

10. Speaking of sex: male.

11. Nothing can be off-limits when it comes to humour…NOTHING!

 

Nominate eleven other bloggers with fewer than 300 followers:

Okay, I feel terrible about this and will understand if someone wants me to turn the award back in, but I don’t have anybody to nominate at this point because of the 300 followers criteria. Pretty much everyone I follow has 500+ followers, and I must admit that I have not spent much time trolling for other blogs to discover the newbie gems.

In my defense, I did tell you I was a narcissist.

So, the task I set myself is to find more newbie bloggers doing something very interesting, and then nominate them for Liebster Awards. Promise!

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A grape is a grape until it ferments…and then it’s the balls to think you’re a writer!

Ned's Blog's avatarNed's Blog

Moonshine books copy Ok, so let’s suppose you’ve read everything I’ve posted here or at Gliterary Girl on on the subject of writing. (And let’s also suppose you aren’t my mother.) That means you understand the importance of developing a voice, know the tools you need to establish that voice, are prepared to send your work to potential publishers, have established a writing routine, and are now sitting at the keyboard ready to write!

YEAH!

…um, but about what?

As a writer, recognizing and developing story ideas is your bread and butter. Or biscuits and gravy, depending on your proximity to the Mason-Dixon line. The point is, whether you are a romance novelist, sci-fi short story writer or weekly columnist, generating ideas — and recognizing the difference between good ones and not-so-good ones (There are no bad ideas in my opinion, and I’ll explain that in a bit) — is the most important…

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Some interesting discussions about the value of writers’ groups and whether group think is of benefit to success.

Eric the Gray's avatarEric the Gray

[Full disclosure: I do not belong to a writing group]

Writers are often told by the experts to join a writing group. Having other writers critique your work can help you identify your weaknesses and improve your ideas, so the reasoning goes. Therefore, writing groups are good. That makes sense to me.

I’m not convinced it’s true, though. In my recent post about self-doubt, some people commented that they lost their motivation to write or otherwise had their confidence shattered after being bashed by other writers in a writing group. I’ve encountered similar claims in the past.

Speaking broadly, the problem with expert advice in an arts-related field is the lack of supporting science for its validity. How do we know writing groups are necessary? Because an expert said so? Because it seems logical? It’s very possible that, if you took a random sample over an appropriate time frame, a…

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