I’ve got my outfit, my shoes, my speech, and my gumption. I am ready to roll! Tonight I’ll be speaking at the District 3 conference, competing for an opportunity to represent the district at the international convention in August in Orlando. Wish me luck!
May
13
Happy Birthday Daphne Du Maurier
When you think about the movie, The Birds, I bet you think of Alfred Hitchcock, but did you know that he based the movie on a short story by Daphne Du Maurier? Here’s an interesting mash up to celebrate her birthday.
May
12
Happy Birthday Bruce Boxleitner
Babylon 5 is one of my favorite sci fi series. Initially, when Boxleitner joined the cast I thought he was too lightweight to carry the part, but over time I grew to really enjoy his performance. Here’s a little taste for you to celebrate his birthday.
May
10
In Which Our Heroine Competes
A lot has happened since my last post about Toastmasters. I won the Area Contest that I wrote about and moved on to the Division Contest in April. For those of you non-Toastmasters, please believe me when I say that the Division Contest is a Big Deal. I’ve never won at Division before. I’ve come in second, and I’ve come in third, but I’ve never won. This year, however, The Guy Who Always Wins failed to win at the Area Contest and wouldn’t be at Division. The Guy Who Always Wins’ friend (who has also beaten me soundly), was nowhere in sight either. The field was wide open, and I was excited. In fact, I was so excited that I went out and bought new clothes for the Division Contest.
Let’s take a brief intermission here to talk about me and clothes shopping. I don’t do it. Ever. Most of the clothes I own come from my mother. She says that she bought them for herself and then didn’t like the way they looked on her. Every time I go visit my parents, I get clothes. It has occurred to me that I have the same body type as my mother has, so if the clothes don’t look good on her, they can’t be expected to look good on me either. I honestly don’t know if the clothes look good on me or not. I don’t actually care. They cover my body, and I wear them. So now you know about me and clothes shopping. I don’t do it.
Back from intermission: I was so excited about winning the Area Contest that I went out and bought new clothes for the Division Contest. I. Bought. Clothes. Truly an historical event.
The Division Contest was in April early one Saturday morning. I’m not a morning person, but I was excited nevertheless. I put on my new clothes and felt really spiffy. I even toyed (briefly) with the idea of applying some make up. Then I remembered the last time I tried to put mascara on for a contest. I found that taking off my glasses made me just blind enough to make application of mascara dangerous. Not about to make that mistake again! I managed to pink up my cheeks with some blush and then headed off to the contest.
Despite arriving at the horrific hour of 9 am for the contestant briefing, it turned out that I didn’t get up to speak until about 11:45 pm. In the interim, I had a hot cup of coffee dumped on my feet (somehow miraculously completely missing my new clothes) and was entrusted with some items for a club project (which I completely forgot I had after the excitement of speaking). Not the most auspicious start to the day, but I wasn’t going to let that get me down. I was ready!
During the contestant briefing, I drew the fourth slot, smack in the middle of the pack of seven speakers. A speaker from one of my other clubs, Kit, went before me in the third slot. She rocked the house! All of the sudden, I was thinking that it didn’t matter that the Guy Who Always Wins wasn’t there. I might be beaten by my friend! And then another friend leaned over and told me that one of the other contestants is a professional story teller. Professional. Storyteller. He speaks for a living. And gets paid. Oh, yeah. I was writing my obituary at this point. I consoled myself with the knowledge that least I would be a well-dressed corpse. I took a deep breathe. All I could do was my best, and pray that the judges would like me. I threw myself into that speech. As they say in sports, I left nothing on the floor. When I was done, I sat down believing that I had completed my mission and given the best performance I could give.
Once all the speakers were done, I had the top three spots figured out in my mind. Figured out, but not ordered. The professional story teller, my friend, Kit, and me. We waited for an agonizing period while ballots were counted and announcements were made. We were interviewed. We took a break. Finally, the results were announced.
My friend, Eula, placed second in the other contest of the day, the Tall Tales contest. She should have won, but judges can be unpredictable. And I’m biased. Still, she should have won.
Finally it was time for the results of my contest. Third place was announced, and it was a complete surprise to me. Someone had fallen out of my top three picks. Forgive me, Kit, but I was praying it was you and not me. I was sure that professional speaker was still in the running. Then they announced second place, and it was Kit. I was in shock! The professional, that ringer, had won. I began wracking my brain for the reasons why I was going downhill in Division Contests. From second to third to completely out of the running! What was I doing wrong?
I was so occupied rummaging around inside my brain for the answer to what I had done wrong that I wasn’t listening. I was smiling, mind you, because my mother raised me to be a good sport, but she never told me that I had to listen to the announcement that I am a Loser. Then I heard it. My name. Being announced as the winner. I beat that professional guy! What? How did that happen? (I’m sure he was as surprised as I was!)
At this point I must confess that I was not the most poised winner. Let’s blame that on the shock, shall we? I ran up there like a contestant on The Price is Right, pumping my arms, screaming like a girly girl, and generally acting like an idiot. I don’t remember what I said, but I know I should probably be incredibly embarrassed about it whatever it was. When I’m not scripted, it can be a bit… awkward. I disavow all knowledge of what came out of my mouth. And please, if you were there, don’t tell me. I’d prefer to remain generally embarrassed as opposed to specifically humiliated at my idiocy.
Now, I’m preparing for the District Contest. I told you that the Division Contest is a Big Deal. Well, the Division Contest is a Huge Deal. Win Division and you get a trip to the International Contest in August. How cool would that be? OK, I admit that in a previous post, I said, “I don’t lust after the title with the deep, burning, life-eating lust that some competitors do…” But I’m re-evaluating that stance. I think I just might start lusting after all. Right after I buy some new clothes for this round of the contest.
May
09
Happy Birthday J.M. Barrie
On the night we speak of all the children were once more in bed. It
happened to be Nana’s evening off, and Mrs. Darling had bathed them and sung to them till one by one they had let go her hand and slid away into the land of sleep.
All were looking so safe and cosy that she smiled at her fears now and
sat down tranquilly by the fire to sew.
It was something for Michael, who on his birthday was getting into
shirts. The fire was warm, however, and the nursery dimly lit by three
night-lights, and presently the sewing lay on Mrs. Darling’s lap. Then
her head nodded, oh, so gracefully. She was asleep. Look at the four of
them, Wendy and Michael over there, John here, and Mrs. Darling by the fire. There should have been a fourth night-light.
While she slept she had a dream. She dreamt that the Neverland had come too near and that a strange boy had broken through from it. He did not alarm her, for she thought she had seen him before in the faces of many women who have no children. Perhaps he is to be found in the faces of some mothers also. But in her dream he had rent the film that obscures the Neverland, and she saw Wendy and John and Michael peeping through the gap.
The dream by itself would have been a trifle, but while she was dreaming the window of the nursery blew open, and a boy did drop on the floor. He was accompanied by a strange light, no bigger than your fist, which darted about the room like a living thing and I think it must have been this light that wakened Mrs. Darling.
She started up with a cry, and saw the boy, and somehow she knew at once that he was Peter Pan. If you or I or Wendy had been there we should have seen that he was very like Mrs. Darling’s kiss. He was a lovely boy, clad in skeleton leaves and the juices that ooze out of trees but the most entrancing thing about him was that he had all his first teeth. When he saw she was a grown-up, he gnashed the little pearls at her. – J. M. Barrie, Peter Pan
May
06
The Time Traders Series by Andre Norton
The Time Traders series by Andrew Norton consists of seven books in her Forerunner universe. The first four books were written in the late 1950s and early 1960s. My favorite book in the series, Firehand, was written in 1994 with Pauline M Griffith. The final two books of the series were written with Sherwood Smith in 1999 and 2002.
These are classic young adult science fiction stories written in a time when science fiction was still inspiring optimism for a brighter future. We meet our protagonist, Ross Murdock, in the first book, The Time Traders. He is a smart young man who is putting his brains to use in committing petty crimes. We begin the book with Murdock facing judgment in a courtroom. He is expecting the worst, but is shocked when the judge makes him an offer – accept volunteer service assignment for the government instead of being locked up. Ross is recruited to serve on a top secret project. Once he agrees, he is whisked off to a secret base in the Arctic where the basis for his new chance is explained to him.
Teach a man to kill, as in war, and then you have to recondition him later.
But during these same wars we also develop another type. He is the born commando, the secret agent, the expendable man who lives on action. There are not many of this kind, and they are potent weapons. In peacetime that particular collection of emotions, nerve, and skills becomes a menace to the very society he has fought to preserve during a war. He is pressured by the peaceful environment into becoming a criminal or a misfit.
The men we send out from here to explore the past are not only given the best training we can possibly supply for them, but they are all of the type once heralded as the frontiersman. History is sentimental about that type–when he is safely dead–but the present finds him difficult to live with. Our time agents are misfits in the modern world because their inherited abilities are born out of season now. They must be young enough and possess a certain brand of intelligence to take the stiff training and to adapt, and they must pass our tests.
Ross successfully completes the training, allowing him to go on missions into Earth’s past to retrieve alien artifacts. In future books Ross and his time agent friends will also travel by spaceship to different galaxies and planets.
The first four books have a pulp feel to them, which is nostalgic without seeming naive. The last three books have a more contemporary feel to them, which will make them more appealing to today’s younger readers. You can pick up the first four books free online, and if you are a fan of classic science fiction I recommend that you do. They are quick, enjoyable reads. It is regrettable that you cannot buy the entire collection as one e-book. It would be a great way to introduce your child or a friend to the world of science fiction.
Here is a list of the books of the Time Traders series in order:
- The Time Traders (1958) – free at Project Gutenberg
- Galactic Derelict (1959) – free at Feedbooks
- The Defiant Agents (1962) – free at Feedbooks
- Key Out of Time (1963) – free at Project Gutenberg
- Firehand
(1994) (written with Pauline M Griffin)
- Echoes In Time (Trading for Time)
(1999) (with Sherwood Smith)
- Atlantis Endgame: A New Time Traders Adventure
(2002) (with Sherwood Smith)
Happy reading!
May
05
Happy Birthday Michael Palin!
Michael Palin of Monty Python’s Flying Circus gave us some of the funniest routines in the troupe’s history. Here are some clips of Michael at his best.
May
04
Happy Star Wars Day!
I was in college when the first Star Wars movie came out. I saw it with a friend, and was so excited that I dragged my parents to see it. My dad, a sci fi lover, enjoyed it. My mother snored through most of it. Here’s the cantina scene, one of the most talked about scenes in the movie. Yes, she snored through this, too!
Apr
30
Happy Birthday Paul Gross!
OK, this has nothing to do with science fiction or fantasy or even writing. I just loved Paul Gross in Due South, so I had to pay tribute to him today on his birthday. I hope you’ll enjoy this video of his song,”Ride Forever,” from one of the best episodes in the series.
Apr
29
I Talk, It Types
I spend most of my day on the computer at work, and then on some nights I come home and spend a lot of time on my computer here. I’ve never had any problem with my setup at home because I was an early adopter of ergonomic keyboard and trackball options.
Below is a picture of my Microsoft Natural Keyboard Elite
A trackball takes a while to get used to, but once you’ve spent the time it’s much easier than a mouse. There are no issues with shoulders, elbows, or wrists when you are using a trackball. There are several styles. My ex-husband had one with a big ball in the center of the trackball that you moved with your middle 3 fingers. (Logitech Trackman Marble Mouse
Late in the 1990s while I was working as an editor for a national magazine, I invested in Dragon NaturallySpeaking software
For Christmas 2011, I received a gift certificate to Amazon.com and decided to use it to throw caution to the wind. I bought the latest version of Dragon NaturallySpeaking. I was pleased to discover that this version worked straight out of the box for me. Voice recognition has come a long way! Better yet, it was still using the same commands I was already familiar with from earlier versions. There was almost no learning curve since I’d used this software for 8 years previously.
I’m sure you’re wondering, “But Liz you’re writing fantasy and making up a lot of strange words. How does the program do with that?” I’m so glad you asked. All I needed to do was point Dragon NaturallySpeaking to the file folder where my novel along with all the notes and research are stored. Dragon analyzed the files and compiled a list of all the words that it did not know. I spent about 10 minutes speaking the words for Dragon NaturallySpeaking and now it knows them. I can dictate my novel, create notes, enter research, and outline to my heart’s content. When I add a new word, it’s very easy to train Dragon on the fly so that it will recognize that word the next time it comes up in my dictation.
My current task is relearning how to navigate around in a document so that I can edit quickly and easily. Dragon NaturallySpeaking provides a sidebar that shows all of the commands that you can use in any given window. My natural instinct was to turn that off immediately because it takes up valuable screen real estate. That’s a mistake.The side bar is incredibly useful. It provides context-sensitive information on the commands I can use in my current program/location. That has been very helpful in getting me back into editing mode quickly. I’m still tempted to put my hands on the keyboard, because it feels like it would be faster. Eventually, though, I know that if I persevere in the training, it will be faster to do it by voice command.
Nuance, the makers of Dragon NaturallySpeaking, provides great video tips on YouTube. I wanted to know for instance if I could use Dragon NaturallySpeaking to get around on Facebook. I simply instructed the program to search for videos about Dragon NaturallySpeaking and Facebook. Less than 2 min. later, I had found and watched a video and knew how to do it. Easy! If you’re considering buying the program, go to YouTube and look up Ask the Dictator. They have posted weekly tips since November 2010 showing how to use the program effectively. After watching a few of those, you’ll have a good idea how the program can work for you and how easy it is to get started in Dragon. (One note: the guy who does the videos uses a hand held microphone. I use a headset. Don’t get hung up on his mic. It works just as well with a headset.)
Nuance says that most people will find that their workflow is enhanced by combining Dragon NaturallySpeaking with keyboard and mouse use. It’s true that some things will always be faster to do using the keyboard or clicking the mouse. This software is a godsend, however, if you got a sore arm and are under doctor’s orders not to use your mouse more than 10 minutes an hour. I can do almost anything I need to do using Dragon NaturallySpeaking. It’s closely integrated with your browser, so it can be used in WordPress. In addition, it will type into just about any program you care to name. I use it in TweetDeck, EverNote, Scrivener, OpenOffice, and HTML Kit. Not all functions work in all of those programs, but basic dictation always does. In addition, I can use DragonPad (part of the program) to create whatever document I wish, and then I can copy and paste into the target program if I want to have all the features of Dragon NaturallySpeaking available to me. Switching from one program to another program can be accomplished with one spoken command (three words – “switch to nameofprogram”.)
My initial motivation for purchasing Dragon NaturallySpeaking software
What about you? How are you taking care of your body while you’re writing? Have you tried any special equipment or software?