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My blog of half-important thoughts and consistent communication practice. |
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There was never much hope. Just a fool's hope. ~Gandalf I'm not going to lie to you I don't have a plan for this blog, but a purpose does seem to be slowly emerging. I'll give my thoughts on this and that: maybe politics, a little religion, and talk about cultural touchstones that are important to me. Overall though I am going to be as personal as I feel comfortable sharing with the internet. This is going to result in some raw ideas coming up that may need to be cooked for longer, but I am not trying to write a perfect tome at the moment. Okay, listen up. Umm...You're a bunch of dirty misfits. But you're all that's left, so you'll have to do. ~Cayde-6 Writing is my passion and working on this blog has become a therapeutic source to me. I owe a lot to everyone who has read this blog; I don't know what interest first brought you here, however, I thank you for the time. Do or do not. There is no try. ~Yoda |
| Stress and Forgetfulness Things have been a little stressful lately: taxes, daylight savings, out-of-town work. It's amusing because last year, at this time, I was stressing about getting all the paperwork done for buying this house I am living in. Work is starting to ramp up, but I wouldn't mind if I were busier on the tools. I get better ideas when the work is busy during the day, and the house chores are finished on the weekend. Both have not been on the level I would have liked in the last two months. Though I have been promised it will get hectic in a hurry. I hate it when the paperwork of the pencil-pushers gets in the way. The Crystral Keepers I am both happy and disappointed to see that The Crystal Keepers  is now published: happy that it is available and disappointed I wasn't only to notice until now. I feel confident in recommending this even though I am not done reading it myself. I read and reviewed chapters of it when it was on WdC, and I still stand by those thoughts. I doubt I will read the book version of [insert disappointing franchise here].As soon as I can, I will get a review done and posted. Fear not, though; I do not believe in spoiling books in reviews. I had to avoid one of the reviews on Amazon because of its length and depth. Memento Mori, KS |
| The79th... err...85th So, I unintentally took a week off from both my blogs and can only blame daylight savings for one of them. Last Saturday, my niece and nephew came over for a sleep over as my way of marking having finished unpacking and officially moving into my house. They are both born in the same year (one from my sister and the other from my sister-in-law) and play very well with each other. Together they ran me ragged before I had even had my first cup of coffee: played for half an hour in the basement, ate breakfast, then we went to the playground and ran around for an hour in the twilight of the rising sun. The thought of writing my blog didn't strike me until Thursday at which point daylight savings was had already messed up my sleeping habits completely. Daylight Savings Twice a year is the same thing: the clocks move back and I rant about how half the world doesn't do this. And every year I find fewer defenders of daylight savings and more converts to abolishing it. My girlfriend is from Indonisia (were they don't have daylight savings) and she finds the whole thing odd. Especially, odd is that the province beside me, in my own country, doesn't observe it and my province does. Memento Mori, KS |
| Mini-Blog-Contest Success Last week, I issued a challenge on this blog to review an item I saw that hadn't been reviewed. And to be perfectly honest, I got more of a response than I was expecting. It is humbling to know that I can put out a call and enough people are reading to respond. As promised, I will be awarding merit badges to those that submitted reviews. Special thanks to Spring in my Sox  , Jeannie Cheering for Martel  , and stolenthrones for their participation in my unorthodox contest. And a huge thanks to jonoprecel  for writing such an amazing piece. (Links to the reviews and the item of interest below.)Extra Words of Mine Allow me to do a little post-review/post-contest commentary: I am a bit of a blunt reviewer and tend to think five stars get thrown about a bit too much everywhere, not just on WdC. When I saw nothing but five stars appearing and read the first review, I was a little nervous about being seen as a stick in the mud. I give out very few such ratings since I am looking for the exceptional. So, when I finally sat down and read it, I was more than happy at what I found. For me, it ended in an odd spot; however, I still give it my full recommendation. As I said before, this contest was far more successful than I anticipated, and I thank everyone who jumped in. This sort of contest idea has been in the back of my head since shortly after I joined. Seeing the proof of concept is very encouraging. Yes, I am hinting at the thought of making this a proper contest in the future. It is strange to me how some things go unrated and unreviewed for years. ("Two brothers (Working Title)" had been up since 2018 before I saw it.) I think a contest that highlights such items and incentivizes getting quality reviews to the writers has value to the community. Yes, I am aware that there are already contests for reviewers, but I specifically want to target unrated items. Hopefully, after a little more thought, I will have a full-fledged contest ready to go.Memento Mori, KS
Review of "Two brothers (Working Title)"  by KnightScribe  Review of "Two brothers (Working Title)" by Spring in my Sox Review of "Two brothers (Working Title)" by Jeannie Cheering for Martel Review of "Two brothers (Working Title)" by Past Member 'stolenthrones' |
| Marching On (What else was I going to title this) Welcome to March; we are now three months into this year, and it looks like the coldest part of winter is behind us now. That said, we did get about two inches of snow here, which the kids are loving. This is a historic first for me: my first time posting in March. This year has so far been my best run at blogging yet, and I also have a blog going on my website in addition to my output here. Now, if only I could translate that into my fiction writing. A Mini-Contest This week, I got all my review requests done before they expired. (Yes, I count that as a win at this point in my life.) I can't really say off the top of my head when the last time was that I did that. It was a little easier than I remember: I think it has become easier for me to start as soon as I decide it is getting done. Looking at what to read next, I realized that the afternoon was running short, and then an idea popped into my mind. Let's run a sort of mini-contest alongside this blog. For this week, I will share an item that hasn't yet received a rating, and I want all of you to read, rate, and review it. Next week I will hand out merit badges to those who send me links to your public reviews. If you want to leave a private review, I encourage you to do so and ask the user to send me a link to your profile so I can send you the merit badge. [Refresh to load countdown.] For this week, I have in mind:
Remember to link me to your public review, or ask jonoprecel to let me know if you sent a private review.Closing Remarks I will be getting my own review done for "Two brothers (Working Title)" this week as well. jonoprecel has a way with words that makes everything easy-to-read, so I am looking forward to reading this story. And I also look forward to seeing how many merit badges I will have to hand out by the end of the week.Memento Mori, KS |
| Taking a Bow No sooner do I invite my fellow writer to take a bow than I get a notification today that I have been featured in a newsletter this month. Thank you very much Wordsmitty ✍️  for the shoutout in February 2022 Blogging Bliss Newsletter - One Hundred Ten. The whole thing has me thinking back to the end of January 2020 when I was in the middle of my first consistent push at blogging (Well Colour Me Pink). Again I feel absolutely humbled and now honoured.I do think it is funny that the entry that got featured in "Blogging Bliss Newsletters Published" was the one entry I was worried about being too spicy, and the topic of the newsletter was about "Controversial Blogs". Memento Mori, KS |
| A Well Deserved Spotlight Among the list of review requests I processed in my need to catch up on everything I had dropped the ball on was one review request from J.M. Arlen , a writer I am fond of reading. His was, unfortunately, the last on my catch-up list; a fault of doing the latest first and working back. And even more devastating, my timing was poor and the opportunity gone. After a couple of clicks to see what updates he had made to his profile, I discovered Arlem had a short story available on Kindle. After a few dollars and a cup of tea, I simply had to turn on my spotlight so Arlem could take a bow.Dance of the Twin Earths was attention-grabbing and exciting. Rather different from "The Crystal Keepers. Chapter 2." , yet similar in want I liked. The friendship at the core of the story is fertile ground for the best of the human spirit to rise to the occasion. I very much enjoyed it and was honestly disappointed that it wasn't longer.An Update from Canada As you have probably heard by now, the truckers are no longer in Ottawa, the Emergency Act was withdrawn by Trudeau before the Senate even voted on it, and now we Canadians are waiting to see what mandates and measures go with them. In Alberta, my home province, we wait anxiously to see if we are still mandated to wear masks or not in a few days. With the dirt, open secret being that nobody says anything whether you wear one or not. Truth is that the country is something like 90% vaccinated, and people would like to start living like how they were promised they could live if herd immunity was reached: life as normal. Memento Mori, KS P.S. I think I have finally settled on a format for this blog that is different enough from the blog on my own website. At last, both feel fresh to write for. |
| Forward Did a quick update to this blog's description and introduction. I am coming at this blog now with a little more intent and thought that the blog description needed to reflect this new intention better. When I first started, it was to be a writing exercise and to stretch myself personally. Now, I am looking for consistency in posting on this blog. I've grown a lot, and I am looking to grow more, even though I don't quite know what that looks like yet. Into the Meat of Things Family Day long weekend has just passed here in Alberta, and it was a good time to do what the holiday suggests and gather with family. I spent the day playing War the Ring with my little brother and having a blast as my armies of Shadow failed to achieve my military objectives in a timely manner. Having spent so much time away from my parents' house, I made sure to enjoy the fantastic cooking that my dad made that day. Unfortunately, the day ended with predictable disappointment; Parliament voted to extend the emergency powers late in the evening, and who knows when it will finally be repealed. Have to admit that I am hopeful, seeing the Bloc side with the Conservatives on a vote I wouldn't have predicted them to side with. With the Conservatives based mostly in the western provinces and the Bloc based in Quebec, it is a union of the east and west that I pray for whenever I think about the future of Canada. I did have to laugh when I saw that people were upset on Twitter about Franklin Graham asking people to pray for Putin. This is literally something we are told to do as Christians; pray for your enemies and the people in authority. I thought everyone knew what prayer was, but apparently, I was wrong. Memento Mori, KS |
| Deus Vult Gratia, Quite the year we have had so far. I feel like I'm going to get whiplash with how fast the restrictions have changed. Pray things settle soon and that they settle in good places for all of us. I am just tired and looking for some good news: news that I am not skeptical of when I see it. I love my country; Canada is the best place in the world. But we inherited our freedom; there hasn't been a war fought to secure our liberties. Most of our struggle has been for the unity of all these different parts, resisting efforts to erase, holding against those trying to rip parts off, and assembling multiple colourful gems into a single mosaic image. Right now, we have a leader that doesn't believe in the mosaic of Canada. It hurts seeing the division that this pandemic has brought to my country. I'm holding to this flag that I love and continue to pray for the values that it stands for. Sorry to have let my concerns bleed onto the page. I just don't have anything better to write at the moment. Memento Mori, KS |
| Deus Vult Gratia, Well, it is finally done; I got all my books on the shelves now. So, happy to have that finally done. A few things left to do around the house and then I will be ready for my nieces and nephews to come over without worrying about what they are getting into. After a week of night shifts, I still am not quite fully recovered from the late hours. It's been fun work, but I will be happy to get back to that normal routine I am trying to build since moving out on my own. Please, forgive me for being a little short this time around. Memento Mori, KS |
| Deus Vult Gratia, I had a little adventure at home this week. My toilet started filling the tank and would not stop, and when I turned the valve to shut the water, discovered that the valve would leak in the off position. Plumbing is outside of my wheelhouse, but luckily I have access to people that have the experience to give me good advice. And after a slightly aggravating experience, I got the toilet and valve fixed on my own. The next day I felt absolutely invigorated after finishing the first bit of maintenance work that also improved the quality of my house: my toilet now runs much quieter. Had one of my out-of-the-blue obsessive projects today. On my shelf is a board game for being a GM of a hockey team, haven't played it in years, haven't even opened the box in almost a decade, but for whatever reason, I opened it, reacquainted myself with the rules, and reviewed the setup. It's so funny how well I remember those couple of games so long ago. I remember exactly what I liked, disliked, and how my brothers and I tried to fix it. Then the urge took me and I basically rebuilt the game from the ground up focusing on what I found fun and discarding everything else. Now, I am sitting on a new game instead of the usual homebrew rules that these sessions usually produce. Can't wait to play this with the family, and I might have to look at getting this out to the public. Memento Mori, KS |
| Hello there, Well we are now halfway through the first month of the year. Welcome to your third year of lockdowns, restrictions, and mandates in a pandemic that has overstayed its welcome. Where has the time gone? It does feel like yesterday that I was seeing reports of an outbreak in China; wondering about how this might impact such a connected world. Honestly, I've made the best of these strange times; hopefully, dear reader, you have been able to do as well. For the first time, my own life feels as interesting a story to tell as anything I've imagined. I have high hopes for this year and the next; come hell or high water. One goal holds my vision and shapes my plans for the year ahead. Strangely enough, this goal unrelated to writing is the main reason why I am writing now. Writing has always been a claiming activity for me and I need to start taking better care of myself, so after a rough start to the year, I am getting back to what I set out to do years ago. It's strange how much getting that preferred author status on this website shattered my confidence after my first decent month of blogging here. I sincerely thought it was a mistake on the part of the community when it happened and felt like a fraud. The yellow suitcase always stood as a certain marker of quality that I didn't think my profile contained. I let that get to me. Call it too high standards, or a fear of disappointing others; it was part of the crucible needed to refine me. The first half of 2020 was certainly the hardest time of my life... and by the end of that year, it was probably the happiest. Forgive me, this time of year always brings my mind to reminisce. However, I can't wait to share that story with the world. I think we all could take comfort in a story of that kind. Deus Vult Gratia, KS P.S. Memento Mori |
| Hello there, It's been a little while, hasn't it. I have quite literally been putting my house in order for most of the summer and autumn. Becoming a first-time homeowner living on my own has kept me busy as I've learned a lot. Slowly, I am getting back to my writing and reviews. November being what it is, I do have a project on the go and this may be the furthest I have gotten in progression through NaNo. This weekend is a little extra special for me as well. A local shop is physically opening in my area and my books are on the shelves for the grand opening. I really hope this shop does great and the owner finds wild success. Until next time. Deus Vult Gratia, KS |
| Hello there, Well, I never meant to go on hiatus for such a long time. It is almost like starting everything new again. That whole lockdown business hit me a lot harder than I thought it was going to when it started. Last year was probably the worst year of my life until it became the best year of my life. I seemed to be in a spiral down life just getting hard as it felt like all the progress I had been making in the previous year. I am not a social guy by nature until so I had spent about a year working on just being places with people and talking. So when I was forced to no longer see anyone outside of my immediate family, it was like being thrown to the ground and kicked in places I didn't know I could be kicked in. And as things slowly started to reopen here, I met someone. (She's texting me even as I type this out.) It really is amazing how fast things can be turned around. I almost get whiplash thinking about how fast it all just happened. I have never messaged, video called or used so many emojis before in my life. I swear she must be the cutest owl ever with how late she can make me stay up. She has become a second anchor in my life helping me stand more firmly on the Rock, Jesus Christ. A literal Godsend to me. As I slowly get things back in order, I intend on continuing the projects I had set before my untimely absence. I almost don't know where to begin, but this blog post seems to be a good first step for getting back to my favourite hobby that I have neglected for too long. Deus Vult Gratia, KS |
| Hello there, Happy Easter Sunday everyone! I hope that you are all having a wonderful time. It seems that I'm always trying to get back into things and picking up where I left off. To those ends I have been working on my goals for the year: "Invalid Entry" . I have a bunch of things I am behind on, but I trying to use my time on the weekend to catch up on the goals I have missed already. I did a bunch of twenty sit-ups yesterday to catch up on some days.Last weekend, I got myself back at the other blog I started up in February. The Knightly Blog is more long-form than what I usually post here. It is something I plan to update by weekly so next Saturday there should be a new post for those who would be interested.Deus Vult Gratia, KS |
| Hello there, So it has been a while since I last posted and I do apologize for that. I just about let myself get the better of me last month. I should start with a quick update as to where I am at with my goals. For my poetic goals of reading and writing: I read the poems An Old Man's Winter Night and A Patch of Old Snow. Both are by Robert Frost since that is the book I got for this purpose. I do feel like I need to re-read the former when I'm less tired 'cause I don't remember much at all from it aside from having read it. I also read Meeting and Passing as well and that one sticks in my mind very well: it is a feeling I am very familiar with. As far as writing my own poetry... I have something that is half baked but unable to finish it so I'm a big zero on that front. I didn't do a single sit-up for the last month and I'm just getting back into them this month. And I'm sitting on a lot of material to review and just haven't yet. I do want to thank jjdel73 for the review that they gave to the blog. It was very nice to see. I was encouraged by it, honestly. The last few days I spent hammering out an entry for a contest that I sadly missed the deadline for but I hope will still peck the interest of some of you: "Return from the North" . There is a lot on stuff that I tried to cram into it, I'm just not sure if it works properly at the moment or not. I like the structure, I just don't know if I should add more to the interior.Deus Vult Gratia, KS |
| Hello there, It is official, I've been added to a platoon in "Invalid Item" . I am now part of the Tigers Claw Platoon led by the illustrious General Beacon - House Night's Watch  who have already submitted my Field Manuel to for inspection like any good soldier should: "Invalid Item" . I do want to thank LegendaryMask❤️  for this again; this is honestly a great idea, and I wish I had had the guts to find a group of people like this in the past.I'd like to give a salute and extend my greetings to my fellow privates: 💙 Carly  , Angelica- House Florent B & W , and The Dark Faery . Looking forward to being platoon mates.This week has been kind of a wash as far as my goals are concerned: got none of it done. Maybe I'm just up too late again... I'll leave it there. Deus Vult Gratia, KS |
| Hello there, Well, I've been away from WdC for a week and right now I'm out of town with just my phone, but I need to get something written down and give updates on my goals. I did my ten sit-ups on Monday and Wednesday, but I missed Friday's. So, I am going to do twenty this evening as punishment. Fun! I also prefer to do longer more detailed reviews which is my way of saying that I just ain't sure if this Saturday is going to see a review from me. A phone is a terrible method of typing anything longer than your average text. Alas, my silly discussion making skills. This weekend has been rather amusing. We are out at a cabin not too far from civilization with the purpose of playing a little game of Axis&Allies. My brother and I defeated the Allies this time around, but not before losing Berlin and having to retake half of Europe. Also, I am currently two for four in chess at this point in the day. Oh, regarding the interactive story I said I was working on: still working on it, just setting up the starting branches. It's a fantasy with dragons and a magic system fueled by fire and metal. I'm establishing three starting chapters for three characters, and I want to nail the magic system down a little bit more than "magic fueled by fire and metal." Not sure if I need to throw anything else beyond magic and dragons in. Maybe I am just overthinking it. It is most likely going to be the first thing I put out as a new preferred author unless I get this short story done first. Deus Vult Gratia, KS P.S.  We just finished the most ridiculous conversation I've had in a long time, and I can't use any of it in the blog. I just about died! |
| Hello there, So, yesterday I gave my sister a ride back to her place from my place. I left a black case and before I had even got my slippers on I was suddenly presented with heartfelt congratulations and a golden briefcase. On the outside, I am bursting with joy while on the inside I am panicking about not being ready for the promotion. I have many thanks to offer people who have come by over the last twenty-four hours: Thank you The StoryMistress  for the promotion. I still feel a little blindsided by the whole thing.And Sssssh! I'm not really here.  never before has someone made me more panicked than you after telling people to review something of mine as part of this month's challenge in "Angel Review Forum" . Everything has to be updated now; nothing is ready!I continue to be humbled after being accepted into the "Dreamweaver Bar & Grill" by blimprider. It's another opportunity to grow in a way I wasn't expecting to.A big thanks to Writer_Mike  for the cnote and LegendaryMask❤️ for the amazing surprise in my inbox.I offer my deepest appreciation to eyestar~* ,THANKFUL SONALI 17 WDC YEARS!  ,Lilith of House Martell  ,Sum1  , and Angus  for the overwhelming amount of congragulations they have given me.With a raised cup of coffee, I offer a tossed to Schnujo is Late to Lannister  for the merit badge that I'm going to have to order now.![Merit Badge in Special Appreciation
[Click For More Info]
Congratulations on your promotion to Yellow Case--Preferred Author! Now you're allowed to give out this special yellow MB as well. *^*Bigsmile*^*](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/WDC-Special_Appreciation-40_40.gif) I feel like I should say more, but I fear repeating myself too much after the variety of posts and comments I have already made. Deus Vult Gratia, KS  |
| Hello there, Overall, I have to say that I am happy with how things have started to improve since I started setting up some goals here in this blog. I did my sit-ups yesterday, and my brother pushed me to go one more beyond my goal of ten. This morning I did get a review done of "Star Wars Question" , and I made the review public cause I think a good question deserves a good answer. It was also just fun to talk about Star Wars again as if I were ten again Review of "Star Wars Question" .Now, as for my poetic writing goal of writing one and reading one: I didn't get around to writing a poem for January, though, I did read the The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost. I know I know it is one of the more famous poems, and I'm sure some of you could recite it from memory, but it was the first poem at the start of this book I got. Since, my blog had been featured in that newsletter I have been following one of the other blogs that was also listed there: "Invalid Item" . I not particularly sure why: I've never cared before about following a blog before. Whatever the reason, I'm enjoying keeping up with it. Maybe it's the super casual tone it has."Ah, but what about dragons?" I hear some of you asking. Well, I am getting that interactive story started soon: either today or tomorrow. It will be a fantasy setting where magic is fueled by fire and magic. Right now, I am thinking of just having this be a world of sentient dragons and humans. The dragons being no bigger than a horse with a life span of a couple hundred years. I'm not yet sure how I what to start the story; however, I think that's more due to not knowing what character to begin with than anything else. In other news, my website knightscribe.online should be going live again in the next six hours as of writing this. Over the last year, things expired on me, and now I want to rebuild it. Out from the ashes and all that epic-sounding proclamation stuff. Ho man, it seems like a lot when you write it all down. And I still feel like I could keep going! But I'm afraid of going too long so I'll stop for now. Deus Vult Gratia, KS |
| Hello there, Well, I missed getting this out yesterday so I shall continue like nothing happened and this is all part of the plan. The day went as good as could be expected: a long day at work followed by a men's meeting at church to talk about the bible and fellowship with one another. It was probably about half-past ten last night when I finally got some time to do my ten sit-ups and I was so tired that I lost count at least three times. My abbs were burning so I think I may have gone overboard. Oh well. Moving on to the events of today, not too much to report. I was hoping to get some reading and writing done this evening but that appears to be unlikely with how heavy my eyes are tonight. Deus Vult Gratia, KS |
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