Friday 30 September 2011

Free writes are mental!

I am not going to post all that came out in my latest free write session, but I was so excited by it I figured I would have to share my thoughts on freewriting.

Wow!  It's amazing how the brain can tangent!  The key word start really does act like a key.  With my eyes closed I started to type whatever came into my head, and apart from a myriad of spelling mistakes - which really don't matter at all in freewriting, a story emerged, or at least a kernal of one!  It had absolutely nothing to do with the prompt, but told a tale of evil doings of a madman on a stormy night!  I won't post what I wrote as it is, but if I can knock it into shape then I might well post the 'in shape' story then.

I just felt that I had to tell somebody about it as I am so excited, so figured why not just blog it!  I hope that everyone else has a similar experience soon so that they can feel what I am feeling.. If I were to try and vocalise it, I would say a mixture of excitement, pride, nervous energy and wonder!

OK, I will shush now and go relax a bit.  I dare not play with what I have written now in case I mess up what is there!  Take care all!

Neil

From the gym

As the title suggests, this Haiku is inspired by my trip to the gym.  Just a bit of fun, but as always would appreciate any constructive criticism!


Ode to gym bunnies;
Bodies built like warrior queens -
Intimidating!

Thursday 29 September 2011

Haiku inspired by Gaming

Hey all,

As the title suggests, I have been fooling about with this Haiku that came to my mind whilst playing a computer game.  It's just a bit of fun regardless of the theme and I certainly don't mean to cause anyone any offence!

Death, it's the end;
Game over - Please insert coin:
Reset, reload, relive.

Update on one link

OK, so it turns out that the link to VYM that I have in my first ever blog might not work for windows computers.  I do the majority of my writing using Linux Mint, not Windows, so couldn't tell if it did or didn't work in Windows, so please forgive the oversight!

I did a quick Google and found a new site that claims to be VYM for windows which is being tested to see if it works by Annie Green, (thanks Annie) who deserves a plug to her blog for her trouble!  I shall confirm this one way or another as soon as I can!

Sorry for any confusion that this may have caused!

Neil

Wednesday 28 September 2011

New Blog Design

When I first made this blog, I didn't really take the time to design the layout or styling, as I was eager to get around to posting rather than making the blog look pretty.  I found the time today to take a look at the formatting side of the blog however, and took the time to, (I hope) make the blog look more professional yet easier to read.  I also renamed the blog so that it matches the website URL, which again I think is more friendly and easier to follow whilst being more professional in appearance.

As always I appreciate outside input, so if you have any thoughts good or bad regarding the new look of my blog please don't hesitate to post a comment under this posting.  I hope to get around to writing some more free-writes and Haiku soon - some of which I undoubtedly will post on the new look blog.

Tuesday 27 September 2011

New Haiku

A post on facebook suddenly inspired me to write a Haiku.  The post was asking for help understanding what to write for a Haiku, and that gave me this idea:


My understanding;
I do not have the foggiest -
This is normal.

It's funny how inspiration strikes at the oddest of moments! (And the most ironical too!)

My First Freewrite

This is my first free write, that I did a week or two ago.  I think that this is the idea behind free writing, just to let your mind wander whilst your fingers listen and take notes verbatim..  I set myself a 5minute time limit on these free writes - I think that is long enough for now.    I would appreciate any constructive criticism or advice for future efforts. OK, enough introducing, here it is in it's unedited glory:


First
The very first thing that came into my head, I wrote, as now. It's said that by doing this that the subconscious can be unleashed with a fury, a storm of words hammering on the brain like a torrent. If one were to stop suddenly the words would ram into the front of the skull, the momentum stopped too suddenly to contain the velocity change, like water in a fish tank sloshing from one end to the other; The next thing that came into my head from the word 'first' was the first kiss, that special, scary time, then the heart is pumping so manically that you fear it's going to burst right out of the chest, like the alien in the film of the same name. The first kiss, the gleam in the girl's eye, getting closer, her scent, her skin, so smooth, like the finest silk spun from the finest silk worms, her eye's the colour of a clear summers day, the brightest blue sapphires, marred by the dilated pupil's, black pools engorged by the prospect of this very first kiss. The third very first thing that came into my head was the first man on the moon, when he messed up his speech, unsurprising really, the nerves he must have felt.. I wonder what he thought, as he took that fateful last/first step.. Maybe he wondered, or at least part of his mind wondered whether the moon would take his weight? Sure it took the weight of the lander, but what if they got really lucky and landed right on the edge of a big ocean of loosely packed dust? Of course the moon IS made up lots of dust, but rocks as well, millions of years of dormant serenity, endlessly falling around the planet, caught in a perpetual loop of falling at the correct speed. Well, nearly.. Actually I heard or read once that the moon is getting further away slowly bit by bit. They are meant to have put an array of mirrors on the moon, at a certain spot, and every day a man fires a laser at that spot and records the time it takes to get there and back. The time is increasing, ergo the distance is increasing. What will happen to the planet when it interferes with gravity?

Monday 26 September 2011

New to Haiku!

OK, here goes nothing!

Cherry tree blossoms
Gently falling; petals like snow -
A princess cries.

The alternative wording to this that I have been toying with and am unsure which looks better is:

Cherry blossom
Gently falling; petals like snow -
A princess crying.

Which one do you prefer?  I think that they both deliver the same message, but I am unsure which I prefer..  Am happy to receive peoples thoughts and views.  As the title suggests, I am new at this so any constructive criticism is greatly appreciated.

Journal version 2.0?

Hello again!

Because the idea of carrying a notepad around everywhere I go with a pen or pencil seems a bit scary, I had a look into a more up-to-date approach to note taking and memo writing.  I have an Android phone, so figured to check on the Android market and see if there was anything on there that might help me out with this problem.
It turns out that there are solutions to this problem on the Android Market.  The option that I plumbed for is a free App called 'NoteToSelf' which I believe is by a Brian Swartzfager.  I haven't had a lot of time to play with the App so far, but what I have seen has been promising.  There is the option to type out any thoughts, hopes and dreams on the little on screen keyboard but there is also another option for adding notes which is Speech to Text.  I did a little rooting about on the market and found another free App called 'Voice Search' which it says is by Google Inc.  This App allowed NoteToSelf to access the Speech to text feature, so now when I think of something and I am not near my trusty computer or laptop I can talk into my phone and it saves what I say as text to read later.  Some of the words that have come up have been.. unusual, but this is a good thing really as any inspiration is good and bonus words could possibly give an idea for a short story or poem or even a Haiku.

Anyway, this is my workaround for the notebook and pen debate and I hope that it gives inspiration to do your own workaround. (or just do the same thing!)   If anyone has any better ideas feel free to put them in the comments section, I would love to hear from you.

A215 (My first ever Blog!)

Now that I have the course material I thought it best to make a start on the work.  The course doesn't officially 'start' until the 1st October, but since the book is here I might as well get a move on with it!

I have read about clustering and figured that to save paper and hand cramp from using a pen, I would have a look for a tool on the pc for creating these clusters. (a cluster is very similar to a mind map) Since I use Linux Mint, (Ubuntu not Debian release) I easily found a couple of likely candidates using the package manager.  The one that stood out for me most was the quirky entitled VYM (view your mind) which I believe works on all platforms.

When it comes to free writing there are lots of helpful bits and bobs of advice out on the interweb, so I won't link any at this time.  However, I will say that I have made some good use of a web timer that since I type all my free writes does a great job of telling me to stop writing.  It's called Timer Tab and is brilliant as a countdown timer in my browser because it saves me needing my watch or phone at hand when I am free writing.  I must point out that I use Google chrome as a browser, and have not checked whether it works on all other browsers.. I shall leave that to anyone who fancies giving it a try!

I would like to thank all of the sites that I have linked and those that I haven't, but use regularly anyway. 

That is all for this blog.  I hope to add more in the near future, I just have the small matter of writing material first!