Friday Flash - He's Odd

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Jeff Peterson across the road is as deaf as a post. He misses listening to his classical LPs but I bet he doesn't miss the wife's nagging. Then there's that dumb kid years ago at school, Margie Fields. No, not dumb, mute. Really bright lass but quiet as a mouse. Our Louise's little lad lost an arm to septicaemia and Keith Simpson goes to the hospital so often I'm surprised he doesn't just move in - something about dialysis, if memory serves.

They’re just the most obvious ones I can think of. Bad things happen, but people get by, they cope. They learn how to make the most of it and they just get on with things. No, the worst part is the bloody doctors, always hanging around like uninvited ghouls, always inventing new names for old problems, as if giving something initials makes it something else. Half the time I think the acronyms are just so they can win at Scrabble.

I can’t see. I accept this. The world out there has been nothing but a combination of sounds, smells and textures since 1984. I'm fine with that - you would be too if you saw the decorating decisions my wife makes. But the doctors?

They tell me I'm not blind. I just have Ocular Dysfunctional Disorder.

Why I just had to delete a post on my blog

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Earlier today I posted a blog post about an io9 piece about Stephen King. After having a little rant about it, I had it pointed out to me that the piece had been cribbed from another interview, and basically made Stephen King look like he was making up rules for time travel. It turns out the rules are simply for his new book, 11/22/63, and that the rules are valid within the context of said book.

I felt a bit silly for having a rant about something that turned out to not be valid, so I did actually rewrite my post to reflect this new change, by referring to io9's words and not Stephen King's. Unfortunately, I did it on my phone and for some reason the new post screwed up my blog layout. I had to delete the old post to get my sidebar back. (Don't you love Internet coding?) However, I didn't want anyone to think I'd taken it down for any other reason, hence this post.

So I fully apologise to Stephen King, though I doubt he'd have read my random little rant and I DID actually agree with one of his points, but unfortunately I can't edit blog posts from my phone without things going wrong. And I WILL be reading 11/22/63 because despite my misgivings, it does sound quite good.

NaNoooooooo!

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I know, I know, I said I wasn't doing NaNoWriMo this year. But you know what? I caved. Sort of.

See, NaNo is pretty fun, and I do really enjoy doing it. Sure, I wasn't happy with the noir superhero novel I wrote last year, but in the process of writing it, I learned a lot about one of the lead characters in my Vertigo City steampunk universe. Win!

Problem is, I'm not sure I have the time this year to devote to a full project. So, I've proposed something of a solution to myself. Instead of blazing ahead with the paranormal/horror novel I've had bubbling away in my brain for a while, I'm going to work on the short stories I promised months ago for the Parrots & Piracy collection. I've already got the ideas for at least six stories, and ideally I'd like to hit the 50,000 word mark with what I write in November. Yes, I'm well aware that NaNoWriMo stands for National NOVEL Writing Month, but considering it's no longer simply national, I think I can be forgiven for bending the rules a teeny bit.

If you're at all intrigued, you can find links to all my existing Parrots & Piracy stories over on my website, and hopefully they'll whet your appetite for the new stories. With any luck, I'll get the collection written by Christmas. Of course, if you have anything you'd like to see in future stories, leave me a comment and I'll see what I can do!

Photo Prompt 57

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If you want to use the prompt, all I ask is that you include a link to this entry and a credit to me for the photograph, and that you post a link to your story in the comments box below so I can see what you've come up with! If you don't comment on this entry, then I can't comment on your story.

The 57th prompt is Priory.


All photo prompts are my own photography - you can find more of it on Flickr. You can also buy my prints from Deviantart. 20% of all proceeds go to charity - the other 80% go towards my PhD fees!