Steve Cavers – Page 129

July 31, 2003

Fourth, fifth, and sixth words

Last night saw a productive start to my story. I started by deleting the first three words that I’d written previously. I now have 1,900 words of chapter one. Our hero has said several things already and had a swallow of scotch before hearing the bad news. But I can’t tell you about that without giving away too much. Hee hee hee.

Incidentally, River Selkie and I have decided that a little friendly competition will provide some extra motivation to complete our novels. As she’s already about 28,000 words ahead of me, she’s aiming for 100, 000 words (roughly the end of her novel) and I’m aiming for 75,000 words (roughly three-quarters). The first person to reach the target will give the other a virtual pat on the back. Regular readers of our blogs will be able to keep tabs on our progress. Egging us on would be extremely helpful. Egging us with real eggs would be less helpful, however, and messier.

July 30, 2003

Stones

Watching TV: the Rolling Stones, live in Toronto. Wow. Those guys still rock.

July 30, 2003

Chicken balls

On a more personal note, about halfway through the morning I suddenly became extremely tired. I said to myself, “Self,” because that’s what I call myself. I said, “Self,” and then I continued on because I was annoying myself by saying “self” one too many times. I said, “I think you’d do well to chow down on some chicken balls and noodles.”

And then I thought, “Chicken balls? I’m sure there’s a joke in there somewhere.” And I laughed at that, which made people look at me kind of funny, because I was just kind of staring into space laughing at nothing they could see. “Yes, there’s a joke in there,” I thought, this time not verbalizing my inner monologue, “but it’s probably not worth the effort to extract it.” And so the chicken balls joke was never fully realized.

So I went down to the takeout place in the Robson Market, bought the chicken balls, veggies, and noodles, and returned to my desk, where I did the predictable thing, which was to eat it.

Well, to finish up an unnecessarily long story, I feel even worse now. In fact, I feel a little ill and more tired than I felt before I ate lunch. I’m listless. I have no lists at all.

July 30, 2003

From the pages of science-fiction

If you have read as much science-fiction as I have, you’ll be familiar with the concept of the solar-sailed spacecraft. In the pages of fiction, these craft use large surfaces to capture the pressure of particles emanating from the sun. Theoretically, the pressure could be used to propel the craft — slowly.

Could such a spacecraft actually work? We’ll find out in September, when Cosmos 1, the first solar sail spacecraft, launches from a Russian nuclear submarine in the Barents Sea.

Will the solar sails work at all? Some scientists claim that those pesky laws of physics will get in the way. I’ll be watching eagerly.

Link: Wired.com: Solar Sail Plying Turbulent Seas

July 29, 2003

First words

Well, I’ve done it. I’ve started writing. After work this evening, I sat down at my computer and updated the background info with some new ideas that had fermented in my brain during the day. I drank a beer. I looked at the submission guidelines for assorted publishers. I looked at the blank page. I typed the title. I typed “A Novel by Stephen Cavers”. I typed “Chapter One”. And then I started writing.

And now I need a break. I’m exhausted. I think I’ll go do some grocery shopping while I ponder the story so far.

Word count: 3

Words remaining: 99,997

Est. time to completion: 91.32 years