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I managed to go to the library today and pick up a copy of The Graveyard Book to read. I'd been waiting until I could buy it but since money doesn't seem to be forthcoming, the library it is. I informed the librarian that it had just won the Newberry and she laughed at how excited I was to find their copy still free. I also picked up a ton of other books for me to read and an audio book for my Dad. All this writing I've been doing has left me hungry for reading.
Bujinkan last night was okay. We were doing ure gyaku which is not my favourite wrist throw since I automatically do what works on me to throw people, but what works on me doesn't work on 99% of people since my shoulders don't lock, so the angle I had to go for was very different. This bothers me because in the heat of a fight, I don't think I'd remember to change the angle properly. I trained with M. cause I wanted someone who would go easy on my still aching right wrist (from Monday) and sure enough, we only used that hand for the first half hour before I had to switch to the other one. Our weapon of the evening was gun (hand guns to be precise). Our training guns are made of hard, heavy, moulded plastic and have all the little details of a real gun. So when the gun is twisted out of your hands, or when you twist it out of someone's hands, it bites quite heavily into your skin. This is why my hands are covered in even more bruises and scratches (I had an impressive circular one on the fleshy bit between thumb and forefinger last night but now it's faded to separate cuts). I bled a little out of a scratch on my thumb and then right before we finished, the gun ripped off a centimetre of skin on the inside of my right wrist, which sent the blood welling out, but it wasn't quite deep enough to drip. It wasn't painful, but it is a pain right now as I try to type. I need to put a new bandaid on it, methinks.
I tried to make soft oatmeal cookies yesterday, but failed miserably. They were too dry and had be cooked longer to prevent them from falling apart, removing all hopes of them being soft. They do make good tea biscuits at least. Anyone have any good recipes? I'm looking for a good chocolate chip cookie recipe too if anyone wants to share:) I did make some delicious brownies over the weekend, following this recipe. I never realised how easy it is to make brownies without a mix.
Writing wise, have been doing a lot of reading of essays on writing and plotting and themes etc. in order to improve my writing (I haven't had a decent critique in ages *whines*). I liked this essay on plot outlining so much I decided to apply it to all my novels, so I made up a template in word that modifies the suggested outline style and added on a story time line above it for organization purposes. It was interesting to see what happened when I did each book - I seem to know a lot about what will happen in Uric and the next Evil Overlord book, but not as much about my other two novels. (Though what's largely hampering the ninja book is I haven't settled on anyone's names. I find it impossible to plot without having a name for at least the main character.) Got one rejection for a story already, which, while disappointing, at least frees up the story to be submitted somewhere else rather quickly. It's a pain when they hang onto your story for months before rejecting it. Meanwhile, I modified my pirate feghoot to make it a space pirate feghoot (which imo, made it even funnier) and submitted it elsewhere; I was rushing around until 7pm on Tuesday trying to send it and my other story out to magazines (why are there so many fantasy/scifi mags based in NJ anyway?). Thankfully, the local post office is open until 7pm.
Does anyone happen to know where you buy cardboard inserts for manilla envelopes to keep them from bending? Staples failed me.
Bujinkan last night was okay. We were doing ure gyaku which is not my favourite wrist throw since I automatically do what works on me to throw people, but what works on me doesn't work on 99% of people since my shoulders don't lock, so the angle I had to go for was very different. This bothers me because in the heat of a fight, I don't think I'd remember to change the angle properly. I trained with M. cause I wanted someone who would go easy on my still aching right wrist (from Monday) and sure enough, we only used that hand for the first half hour before I had to switch to the other one. Our weapon of the evening was gun (hand guns to be precise). Our training guns are made of hard, heavy, moulded plastic and have all the little details of a real gun. So when the gun is twisted out of your hands, or when you twist it out of someone's hands, it bites quite heavily into your skin. This is why my hands are covered in even more bruises and scratches (I had an impressive circular one on the fleshy bit between thumb and forefinger last night but now it's faded to separate cuts). I bled a little out of a scratch on my thumb and then right before we finished, the gun ripped off a centimetre of skin on the inside of my right wrist, which sent the blood welling out, but it wasn't quite deep enough to drip. It wasn't painful, but it is a pain right now as I try to type. I need to put a new bandaid on it, methinks.
I tried to make soft oatmeal cookies yesterday, but failed miserably. They were too dry and had be cooked longer to prevent them from falling apart, removing all hopes of them being soft. They do make good tea biscuits at least. Anyone have any good recipes? I'm looking for a good chocolate chip cookie recipe too if anyone wants to share:) I did make some delicious brownies over the weekend, following this recipe. I never realised how easy it is to make brownies without a mix.
Writing wise, have been doing a lot of reading of essays on writing and plotting and themes etc. in order to improve my writing (I haven't had a decent critique in ages *whines*). I liked this essay on plot outlining so much I decided to apply it to all my novels, so I made up a template in word that modifies the suggested outline style and added on a story time line above it for organization purposes. It was interesting to see what happened when I did each book - I seem to know a lot about what will happen in Uric and the next Evil Overlord book, but not as much about my other two novels. (Though what's largely hampering the ninja book is I haven't settled on anyone's names. I find it impossible to plot without having a name for at least the main character.) Got one rejection for a story already, which, while disappointing, at least frees up the story to be submitted somewhere else rather quickly. It's a pain when they hang onto your story for months before rejecting it. Meanwhile, I modified my pirate feghoot to make it a space pirate feghoot (which imo, made it even funnier) and submitted it elsewhere; I was rushing around until 7pm on Tuesday trying to send it and my other story out to magazines (why are there so many fantasy/scifi mags based in NJ anyway?). Thankfully, the local post office is open until 7pm.
Does anyone happen to know where you buy cardboard inserts for manilla envelopes to keep them from bending? Staples failed me.
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I liked Graveyard Book, especially the villains. Hee.
What on earth is a feghoot?
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I used to have a recipe for oatmeal cookies when I was a kid that was perfect. My family devoured them, but I lost it long ago and now it will never be retrieved *sobs*
*L* You've actually read the pirate feghoot I mentioned, but for the textbook definition, see here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feghoot).
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If you want to vary it, you can dump in some cinnamon. That's also good.
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FEGHOOTS YOU SAY? XDDDD Awesome! Those rule!
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