Fan Girl Wannabe

Today's issue of a-word-a-day offered this:

with Anu Garg

inconnu

 

(in-kuh-NOO)

 

noun:
1. A whitefish (Stenodus leucichthys) found in the arctic and subarctic. Also known as sheefish.
2. A stranger.

From French, literally unknown. In 1789, explorer Alexander Mackenzie and his crew traveled the waterways of the Northwest territories in search of a Northwest passage. They came across an unknown fish and the French-Canadian voyageurs who were part of his crew called it inconnu.

From time to time, I've heard writer-friends lament having to name their characters.  I can relate.  Names are very important, and that's why I'm always very deliberate about naming things and especially about getting other people's names right - in spelling and pronunciation.  

But for any writers on my flist, I have a present, or at least some friendly advice.  If you need inspiration for names, visit an elementary school.  Here is a selection of names I collected from three elementary schools that I toured today. (Obviously, most of my visit consisted of standing around and reading the walls.)

Finally!  Therefore, I give you Sting!

I got back from MN on Thursday afternoon, and passed out in deference to the hangover I'd had to ignore since 6:22 am. (MB is not allowed to buy me anymore beer, especially not Alpha King!)

Friday I went to the office and the box was on my desk.  Spent half the day getting stuff reloaded and making sure the email would work and transferring files and favorites since I'll be back on the road to Joliet (via Waukesha) come Monday morning.  Mostly the process went well, except for the fact that while trying to load Quicken on his laptop, DH encountered a fatal error that somehow also managed to wipe the active and backup files that I had put on my flashdrive for transfer.  No, we don't know how it happened.  I was seriously pissed though.  


Now that I'm reconnected to the web, I can catch up - spent a lot of time last night reading stuff I couldn't read at work, and I've got to beta a story that's been waiting for a month, and finish writing the story I'd revived from the dead right before disaster struck.  I've got a new list of "posts I haven't made" which includes restaurant, movie and book reviews, Mavis's head shots, a conversation with a soldier, and my mid-life crisis.  MB recommended "The Art of War" as a business read, and I'm seriously considering some continuing ed to get a couple of certifications.  So, there's a lot of stuff in my brain right now, and I wouldn't mind letting it leak out all over my journal :)  But not today.  

Today's plan is to make a shopping list, get groceries, make sure the boy gets to his various appointments, make sure DH has all the stuff and support he needs to make his contribution to the "Food on Fire" themed ABDC tonight, prep my "Fire Extinguishers" beverage (a fancy cucumber martini), spend the afternoon catching up with friends, spend the evening eating and drinking (but only to excess), and find out if my haircut renders me less kissable. Tomorrow will be brunch, laundry, housework, work work (just a little) and early to bed.  There might be some time for journaling.

synecdochic has been posting daily progress reports on the epic she's been working on forever now.  They're supposed to keep her moving forward. Yesterday's report was longer than usual, but just as hysterical as ever:

Cairo is Burning
Total word count: 171,951
Pages, when manuscript-formatted (double-spaced, Courier 12, 1" margins) in Word: 885
Word's AutoSummary function: still fucking hilarious
Current section: 7/9 ("and all them vulgar kings on all their dirty thrones")
New title of section 1: "this highway needs rain across both its lanes"
Character I most want to slap: Daniel (no, he still hasn't explained what's going on)
Character I least want to slap: Sam (who is being very talkative)
Amount I do not want to go to the dentist tomorrow: vast
Activity that proved I so did not want to be writing tonight: re-reading poetry written when I was 17
Level of gratitude I owe rydra_wong for talking over Tok'ra vs. Goa'uld with me: immense
Level of hatred for writing this story: 6/10

I'd love it if more writers started doing this.  I'd love to see icarusancalion's update for Out of Bounds.  Or cesperanza! I know she's working on something, an update would be way too cool.

And thanks to the beta-ing I've been doing for roguebitch, I've been inspired to dust off an old CSI story.  It may even see the light of day this time around.  My progress report:

Untitled CSI
Total word count:  8053
Character I most want to slap:  probably Gil.  (He's being way to methodical.)
Character I least want to slap:  Greg.  (He's just going along for the ride.  It's turning out to be a pretty nice ride.)
Character who is surprising me the most:  Nicky.  (Dayum, boy, you've got a mouth on you.)
Level of hatred for writing this story:  5/10?  Not hating the story, but not loving the process.

apple_pi's Grammar Lessons

if we had lessons like these when we were in school, we'd all be much better at grammar (and maybe even spelling)!  I think all the really best lessons would make you want to spend time in your bunk (alone or accompanied), heheheh.

Make sure to read the comments too, because several TAs chimed in, and I don't think any of the most common faux pas were missed.

I think this is the first story I've ever posted to LiveJournal. It's definitely my first to sga_flashfic which is a challenge community for Stargate: Atlantis writers. This was written for the folklore challenge.

Title: The Wizard of Atlantis
Author: fullygoldy
Rating: What's less than "G"?
Category: Gen
Spoilers: Through Season 2
Word count: 1079
Warnings: There's a bad, very bad, wrong, with a side of bad, manip that goes with the story.
Disclaimer: insert standard form here.
Author’s Note: I'm terrible with graphics. I got the visual first, and figured I better have some text if I was going to post. I apologize in advance for subjecting you to this. Also, many thanks to texasbek for the last-minute beta.

Summary: John Sheppard has a rich interior life.


( Poster )


( Story )