We reviewed submissions of 2008/07/01, by the group. Melissa was still absent. Nora had to leave early to sell a woman a mansion.

Ron’s scene from his novel about Korea was too much of an information dump. We both suffer from that. As techies, we feel the readers need all the background of each character up front. That is not the way to keep the reader’s interest, though. We have to reveal backgrounds as the characters interact. It’s more pertinent then. And he introduced too many characters at once to keep them straight.

Nora’s party story was funny and effective. I suggested changing only minor points about exploding party balloons and fireworks rockets.

Tate’s piece was about Cancer treatment for a VIP patient down south. Very good, but why are we so wrapped up in hospital stories. Three of us were doing them lately.

Dan gave us another chapter in his father/son essay. The fears of attacks on children, back in the forties, were much less than now. He showed the innocence of those times well. The son’s desire to please his father and the father’s expectations of his son were good, too.

Connie’s piece about strawberry jam was funny and short. Her comment to the rest of us was we need to be concise.

Nancy gave us her afghan piece at the meeting last month and we were to critique it for July. My first thoughts were still valid today. Switching POV several times in a chapter is difficult. My suggestion to do it from the afghan’s POV would correct this. Plus, as others pointed out, the narration sounds like it comes from her; an intelligent, knowledgeable, and articulate woman. The characters are supposed to be from all different backgrounds. I don’t have the skills to do that yet... but I’m working on it.

Their critiques of mine were appropriate. Connie said it was way too long and detailed. If the words don’t directly support the story, leave them out. Tate did pickup on the loss I felt when Neil graduated from basic training and I realized I had missed most of his high school days growing up. Dan liked the Saturn rocket analogy. Nora thought I should give the complete answering machine messages at the end rather just say our luck was about to change.

It was a good session and we finished almost on time.

 

The squash and cucumber plants in the backyard garden boxes have been losing their leaves for about a week now. They try to grow new ones but in a night or so, they disappear. Something is eating them.
Ferne put the few remaining tomato cages we had over some of them and they haven’t been touched...
Well, this morning we found out who was eating the leaves. A fawn, of about a month of age, was wondering around our backyard nibbling on everything green. I wanted to scare it away but Ferne would have had my hide... so we just watched it and took its picture.

Attended an EAA SportAir Workshop program in North Andover, MA, at EAA Chapter 106. It's a new two day course: "Discover Aircraft Building."

Coffee and muffins were provided. I won't have to do breakfast tomorrow.

We built a wood wing rib out of sitka spruce and aircraft plywood. They supplied a jig and tools to cut the parts and epoxy/staple them together.

Lunch was barbecued hamburgers and dogs.

After lunch we hot-wired a foam block and built half of a composite layup. We will finish that tomorrow.

I joined the 106 chapter. My old 336 chapter is defunct. Some of those members moved to 106. Membership is $25.00/yr @ Jan. 1st. I only had to pay $10.00 for July to the end of the year.

From 17:30-20:00 Saturday evening, they presented "What's Involved In Kit Building" a 2 ½ hour seminar that covers the basics of how to get started, including planning, selection, workshops, building, certification, flight testing, insurance and more. The seminar also includes a pizza dinner and a special resource guide for all attendees.

Mel Knapp, a colleague from GE, is a 106 member and was there.

I found a quicker way to Lawrence airport. Take the Mass Ave exit from I-495S, but make a left turn right at the bottom of the ramp, don't go to Mass Ave. That street leads directly to Sutton Street.
 

Airplanes have always been festinating to me. I think the very first pictures my parents had of me, I was holding a toy plane.
I learned to fly when I was 16 (student pilot). It was too expensive to go all the way to get my private license with college funds to bank and only earning $1.00/hr. It wasn’t until I was married and living in Florida that I was able to finally get my license. But, again, funds became short when I lost my job and had to move to New England, so I didn’t fly much. Of course my medical ran out every two years, and it was too expensive to keep renewing it if I wasn’t going to fly. So, for the last 20 years I have been hanger flying (dreaming).
Now that I’m retired, and have enough funds to take it up again, I needed to get a 3rd class physical. But I wanted to get a thorough check of my eyes first. I had cataracts removed four years ago. The eye surgeon was able to give me good distance lenses inside my eyes. He did a fine job. Now I only need glasses to read (and write). Well, anything less than 5 feet is a little blurry. So I went back to him and had another eye exam this week. My post cataracts prescription has not changed. I still use my bi-focals sometimes, but I don’t like the distinct line across my vision. It distracts me. So, I ordered gradient lenses, to read up close, see the instrument panel at 30 inches, and still see traffic at infinity. Now I have to find an FAA approved doctor to get the physical.
Flying is an interesting hobby. And it’s a unique social environment too, where you meet a different strata of people. (I’m not talking about financial, but there is some of that too.) Even though I’ve been largely absent for many years, I don’t think I’ve ever met many insecure pilots. You have to have confidence in yourself just to be interested in flying a plane. Those of us who’ve had the training and gotten the license have much more respect for the machines we fly than we do for the cars we drive. It’s not at all like driving a car. People may abuse their cars, but few abuse their planes... for long.
And the training never stops. There is this thing called a bi-annual review. Every two years a pilot has to have a check ride with an instructor. It keeps us sharp and up-to-date. Since I’ve grounded myself for so long, I’ll have to take a lot of instruction to get legal again.
And we have to keep a logbook of every flight we make: Departure/arrival points, times in the air, purpose of the flight, etc. It helps record our experience and capabilities in case there is a need for the FAA to investigate.
Now I’m not proposing to make driving as strictly controlled as flying, but some changes would be good for us. Like a check ride every time we renew our license and a more complete physical than just a quick eye check.
And it would be handy if cars had more equipment, like a black-box and GPS in every vehicle to record when and where it’s been, how fast it was going and the physics of its operation.
Oh, there I go again... dreaming like an engineer.
 

I added two scenes to “A Bad Day at the Beach” and answered several emails about “A Change of Character.”
“Sally’s Drawers,” listed as culture, only got one view in four days. Listed as erotic it got 6 views in one day... and half were women! Boy, is my concept of women distorted.
Tomorrow night I am taking my son and his wife to Canobie Lake Park. As a kid, I never liked carnival rides. I considered them just abusive and didn’t teach you anything. My kicks as a 16-year-old was to learn to fly. After I soloed, I could take that plane into a hell of a lot more exciting maneuvers than any roller coaster invented... and did.
But, the kids (heck, they’re almost 30) are not interested in flying... just the roller coaster sort of fun.
I’ll just watch them. And watch all the rest of the crowd. I get great character ideas from watching people doing dumb things.

Clint
 

I posted “Bad Day at the Beach” at 08:00 this morning. In less than 10 minutes I got a review. Wow, you people are fast.
I’m usually an outliner. I plan and plot my stories in detail ad-nauseam. One of my writing group friends suggested I try some spontaneity. This was the result.
Even though I've used the name before, I have no idea yet where it is going. This is a strange new world for me.
If you would do me a favor, read it once and without looking back at what I posted, tell me a little about Sally.
Thanks,
Clint

ID: 1442394   (Rated: 18+) Bad Day at the Beach (in-progress)  Sun, sand and seduction. The cost of indiscretion. by Clint

While browsing Writers.com I came across Nada's blog.
She had a paragraph about 1968 and miniskirts. How the boys would look up her skirt as she climbed the stairs to her job. And she didn't mind... liked the attention.
Well, that triggered memories of GE and the mail delivery girls. I recaptured some of it into "Sally's Drawers" for use with Sally at some time in the future.
Thanks Sheila.
Saved in

ID: 1439485   (Rated: 18+) Sally's Drawers  Miniskirts and stares by Clint

We met at Borders, Concord, NH.
Deb, Mike and Jonathan (and Kris as usual) were not there. They were attending various graduations... the nerve! A new gal, Bridget, joined us for the summer. She is a music teacher and has written a story that includes music. It will be interesting to hear.
Our designated reader, Marion, read our pieces. (Note: we cannot read our own stuff. It must be readable and understandable by others.)
The poet gave us something that, for me, was very difficult to follow. Which is really just my problem. I'm such a novice poet that I can't enjoy modern stuff. Damn.
I presented "Return Fire." Mary wants me to put more of the emotional impact on us into it. That is my assignment next month. Bridget said it would be more powerful with just the facts. My presentation this month was sort of a cross between. Mary modified my assignment to write it both ways for July.
M___ gave us more of her dark mystery with the Grim Reaper's son. She can really write. (She just turned 15.) My only comment was I don't think people (or characters) who are not (or never were) alive would use "live" or "life" so much in their thought processes.
Marion gave us a poem using the three words assigned last month. Very good. Was about the frustration writers have in producing something on deadline. Our resident poet read it for her.
Mary gave us some more of her child's chapter book. An interesting phenomena occurred; since we didn't have copies to go along, I got confused about who was speaking a few times. The reader, Marion, said it was clear to her. That brought up a question: "How will this story be used? Will it be read 'by' 10-year olds, or read 'to' 10-year olds?" It makes a big difference where you put the attributions in dialogue; at the beginnings or elsewhere.
Bridget didn't bring a piece, but Mary assigned her three words to use in a piece for July. Bridget and Marion will exchange pieces and continue their respective stories for August using the other's voice, characters and plotline.

After our meeting, Borders was hosting four small press or print on demand authors at noon. I stopped and talked to one who wrote a memoir of growing up in New Hampshire. We discussed the impact our journals have on how we write. She is local, so I invited her to join us in July.
 

We reviewed submissions of 2008/06/03, by the group.

A new girl, Nancy, asked to sit in. She is working on a novel and has several short stories published. She was in a group in Cambridge, MA, but it is dwindling and she would like to get going with a group near home (Salem, NH). Since Melissa is temporarily vacant, she can evaluate us for 3 months.

Connie insists in calling her poetry ‘doggerel,’ which I assume is a pejorative term for poetry. I don’t agree. I like her stuff. My comment was a rhyme too.

Ron sent some of us a longer portion of his “Of Mixed Blood” chapter, which included a sex scene. Dan and I were disappointed. He will send us the full version.

Nora’s fashion book is developing. I suggested she give some reasons why women tend to buy inappropriate clothes.

My “A Change of Character” was well received by everyone. They recommend only a few words be changed. Ron asked why I took a break from Renee’s story, and was concerned her story may be 200,000 words long. Most novels are around 85,000.
I promised to email Nancy a copy of "A Change of Character" for her to evaluate.
I did not update them with my agent search... because there wasn’t any.

Tate told us a bit more about the actor who coached her presentation to SWA last month.

Nancy read a page from her short story “Passed On.” It is about an afghan that is passed from person to person and the stories encountered. She switched POV frequently, and that can be disconcerting to the reader. I suggested she write it from the cloth’s POV.

Melissa was absent. She is concentrating on her novel.

Dan wasn’t able to submit this month.

 

My daughter is writing a large work for her profession. It requires an index of it to be made by the end of the summer.
Several years ago I had a need for the same thing. I searched the web and found only 'professional services' available at the time. Very expensive, too. Way more than I was willing to pay.
So, I wrote my own.
Now, at the time, I was writing everything with notepad. That made all my files ***.txt files with linefeeds at the end of each line. The page numbers were hard typed into each page. So, my indexer was fairly simple. Just look at each word, throw out most common words, and keep track of the chapter and page numbers where each word was used.
It took overnight to index a file of about 100,000 words.
After numerous tries I amassed quite an index. And, with my atrocious spelling, I found I was adept at creating several spellings for many words. The index showed exactly where to go to fix things though.
It also showed just how un-literate I am. I only use about 4000 different words (not counting names) in all my writing.
Five years ago I graduated to MS-Word. It has its own indexing capabilities. But, you have to know to specify in advance, that a word or phrase is to be indexed. All fine and good for new files. But, what do you do with old files?

I did a Google search for '"Book Indexer" Software' and it came up with:
'Book indexing software www.texyz.com. Use TExtract to create an index for your publication in 3 easy steps.'

I looked at the ad and it offers:
'Try and see for yourself, download the system and use the free 30-day trial license to create the index for your publication now. If you are pleased with the result, buy a license to enable exporting the full index.'

Their prices were:
Standard SP (1-year license) ($90)
Pro SP (1-year license) ($175)
Standard (1-year license) ($325)
Pro (1-year license) ($650)
Standard ($775)
Pro ($1195)

The trial version is not exportable, and the cheapest one-year personal version is $90.00. Still way to expensive for me.

I think I should look into resurrecting my own old indexer after all. It will take a bit of work just to figure out how I did it (I never did like flow-charting). And it'll still have the drawback of only working on xxx.txt files. But, free is free.

Clint