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Friday, May. 17, 2024

2:11am EDT

Members: 791

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Total Online: 1,581

Toe in the Water

by Beholden

Rated: 13+ · Book · Experience · #2223922

A tentative blog to test the temperature.

Ten years ago I was writing several blogs on various subjects - F1 motor racing, Music, Classic Cars, Great Romances and, most crushingly, a personal journal that included my thoughts on America, memories of England and Africa, opinion, humour, writing and anything else that occurred. It all became too much (I was attempting to update the journal every day) and I collapsed, exhausted and thoroughly disillusioned in the end.

So this blog is indeed a Toe in the Water, a place to document my thoughts in and on WdC but with a determination not to get sucked into the blog whirlpool ever again. Here's hoping.

Signature for those who are nominated for a Quill Award in 2021

Show Recent Comments

10 Most Recent Blog Comments:

Simply Me

about 17 hours ago
In response to "The Way of the World"

I hear you there. They say the grass is greener....too and it's not. lol

1 Like

Beholden

a day ago
In response to "Being Consistently Inconsistent"

Not rude at all, Amethyst. The truth may hurt sometimes but it's never rude. And you're especially right that we learn from everyone that we read, even if we're not aware of it.

1 Like

Amethyst Angel🌸📝🪽

a day ago
In response to "Being Consistently Inconsistent"

I have no idea about my style… mostly I strive for class and decency. For instance, if a story I found had a lot of swearing in it or was obviously “X-rated”, I wonder who the algorithms would identify it as resembling. Short of such obvious turn-offs, I look for the same level of awareness of the importance of subtle word choices and descriptions in the works of others that I do in my own. For instance, I see you, Beholden, and our friend Jack Tyler, as being on the same level of dignified writing, saying what needs to be said, even if it’s gritty, in the most tolerable way possible. Joey (dare I say it aloud?) is in a separate category entirely. He’s a dear helpful soul who wouldn’t purposely offend anyone, but his love for tapping into the most visceral sides of human emotions, right down to the snot on one’s tear-stained sleeve, can get on my nerves. And when he writes in the Dickensian era, his language becomes nearly Elizabethan, which I thought seemed exaggerated. But one can learn from every style of writing. And I hope I haven’t been rude.

Beholden

a day ago
In response to "Being Consistently Inconsistent"

That's the interesting thing - I've never been able to see that I have a style and I wonder whether any of us can. It may be that we're too involved with what we write to be able to step back and view it completely dispassionately.

In the end, I just do what I do and I suspect everyone else does their thing as well.

2 Like

Jayne

a day ago
In response to "Being Consistently Inconsistent"

I assure you that you have a distinct voice. I can (almost) always tell a piece you've written without even looking at the name attached to it.

Sometimes, I can pick out an influence insofar as "that is reminiscent of [fill in the writer]" but never "Oh, that's clearly an attempt at [fill in the writer]."

Steven's is probably consistent enough to skew King. That doesn't surprise me.

For those of us who dabble in all the things, the prediction machine will no doubt bounce around.

1 Like

Beholden

May 1, 2024 at 12:36pm
In response to "After the Game is Over"

You're right - I think we all slept an extra hour this morning. Harnessing the energy - I like that idea. Makes a change to have something to harness after all!

Jayne

May 1, 2024 at 12:28pm
In response to "After the Game is Over"

I agree with the habit thing (and the YouTube & breakfast). I was getting more done in a day before lunchtime than I was in entire *months* before GoT.

...now to find a way to harness said energy. Your strategies seem like a good place to start.

Although, I slept in this morning. I figured I earned an extra few hours for one day lol. We all did.

1 Like

Schnujo is Late to Lannister

Apr 25, 2024 at 7:55pm
In response to "Cliché"

Agreed! I hope everyone congratulated whoever came up with that idea for the episode!

1 Like

Beholden

Apr 25, 2024 at 7:35pm
In response to "Cliché"

Thank you for your kind thoughts, Schnujo. I remember that episode of Star Trek! It was really cool - and hard to get one's head around the idea of talking like that. But it did sound quite poetic. What was it ? Something like in the far land of Angevin, Mortello meets the grivensor. And so on. Brilliant!

1 Like

Schnujo is Late to Lannister

Apr 25, 2024 at 7:03pm
In response to "Cliché"

I love how you look at cliches! Good for you! I agree that they have their place and can be used, so long as we are aware of what we are doing and are specifically using them with the knowledge and understanding that they are cliches.

This entry reminds me of an episode of Star Trek (The Next Generation, I think it was) where they were trying to learn to communicate with a new species. If I recall, they could understand the words (through a translator), but not the meaning until they hit upon the idea that they were speaking in local cultural context, basically using cliches.

I've always remembered that episode and thought that was a fun idea.

BTW, you are a REALLY impressive poet! I don't think I knew that. That's a pretty fabulous poem! Well done!!

Thank you for sharing your own ideas on cliches!

July 5, 2021 at 5:57pm

#1013117

Liking Likes

Liking Likes

I have to admit I’m a Like counter. It’s a habit that stems from being in Facebook for far too long. The very fact that someone has been taken enough with one’s comment is sufficient to indicate some form of popularity. And, if the Likes begin to mount, we can take it that we have hit the nail fairly squarely upon the head.

At least, it’s about all we have to go on when commenting in Facebook. In WdC it may be different, however. I can’t even imagine the number of times I’ve forgotten to hit that Like button after thoroughly enjoying what someone else has said. And you’d be quite right to accuse me of depriving them of their justified rewards for being so accurate and agreeable in their commenting. But I’m quite sure it happens to me as well.

There are times, too, when I hit the button because I want to encourage the person commenting. I am fairly flexible in that regard and may well be influenced by mood too. So maybe these things balance out and we all get our due.

This all applies to comments, of course. When it comes to creative writing, the Like button is the easy way out. If it’s that good, we ought to reward it with a review. But that’s a considerable investment of time and effort and I doubt we do it that often. Speaking for myself, it’s only the stuff I really rave about that I’ll review. Unless I’m actively looking for things to review, like on a raid or adding to the GP stash. Even then, I won’t review the poor stuff - that’s too much like hard work!

So reviews are a better indicator of how we’re doing than Likes are (I still count ‘em. however). It’s a pity we don’t have more time to get reviews done.

But there is a way to indicate approval without doing a full review. We could nominate the piece for a Quill. This year I copied the relevant links to allow me to nominate without the hassle of finding the relevant form. It’s all there in my little notebook (https://notepad-plus-plus.org/downloads/), ready to supply the necessary at a moment’s notice. That there is a link to Notepad++, the most useful little freeware app on the net. Take a look.

And now would be a good opportunity to go hit that Like button for this post!

Word count: 407

7 Like • Comment • View 2 comments

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