Writing habits then and now

Tidbits culled from Mary A. Roe's 1899 biography, E.P. Roe: Reminiscences of His Life:

According to E.P. Roe, a novelist and Civil War chaplain, "A writer's work at night is almost always morbid. There is no better time to work than during the morning."

He continues:

"Sometimes I write four or five pages of foolscap, and other days I will write as much as fifteen. I have no average, but do as much as I feel like doing, or have time to do, and then I stop. ... I never manufacture a story; I couldn't do it. Of course, I elaborate and idealize, but the actual facts are always drawn from real life. I am always on the alert for these incidents, and when I see one that I think is adapted for a story I make a note of it."

While I respect Roe's work habits, I don't agree with his opinion about the best time to write. What works for one writer doesn't necessarily work for another.

I haven't read any of Edward Payson Roe's work, but his statement about manufacturing stories suggests his fiction closely mirrors fact--an unwise practice in this litigious age. That said, there's nothing wrong with finding inspiration from facts or even fiction.

Steep learning curves...

I'm still trying to master the software in the Adobe Creative Suite. Actually, master is the wrong word as I can barely use some of the software. It's so complicated! I need to figure it out quickly so I can redesign my site, which desperately needs improved navigation.

At long last, I've completed a netG course for GoLive6 Fundamentals--I had to uninstall my Earthlink toolbar and fiddle with my firewall settings for the course to launch. (I have a newer version of GoLive, but any instruction is helpful.)

I'll tackle the intermediate course before attempting to create a site with the program. Although I should probably wait until I've completed the Photoshop and Illustrator courses too.

A better option: find the disk with the template files, install the files, and fiddle around with those. If I can see how things are supposed to work, I can go from there. Trial and error is an effective teacher!

Publishing then and now...

I'm currently proofing James Ford Rhodes' Historical Essays. In his essay about Samuel Rawson Gardiner, Rhodes mentions a quote attributable to either Lamb or Goldsmith--the author wasn't certain and I couldn't locate the source online--which illustrates how little the publishing field has changed in the last 100 or so years:

"The books which will live are not those by which we ourselves can live."

Rhodes says of Gardiner: "Finally success came twenty-eight years after his glorious conception, twenty years after the publication of his firstvolume. He had had a hard struggle for a living with money coming in by driblets."

Locked room mystery...

My compost pile has produced a locked room mystery of sorts. Seldom turned, the unmanageable heap of organic waste typically yields at least one mystery crop, usually acorn squash, pumpkins, or melons. This year, the mystery produce kept dying before I could identify the crop. I hoped for watermelon. Turns out it's immature acorn squash that's infested with green caterpillars or worms, yet there's no visible sign of the bugs' entry and the vines continue to thrive. It's as if the bugs have grown within the core, maturing as the plant developed.

Tip of the iceberg

Based on a Hemingway quote, Chip Scanlan's article "What Lies Beneath: The Iceberg Theory of Writing" reinforces my approach to revision--an approach that applies to fiction and nonfiction. Backstory and research are critical elements, but "the power of a story comes from what's not in it," says Scanlan.

Hornworm invasion

A tomato or tobacco hornworm, or something resembling one, devoured my tomato plant within hours this morning. The top half of the plant is gone, esentially deadheaded prematurely. The critter even gnawed half of a ripening tomato. Fortunately, I removed the pest before it munched the larger green tomatoes...I tossed the sucker in the street because I couldn't bring myself to squish it. If I find it on my plants again, I may muster the courage!

Temporary Web design

I've decided it's best to make minor design changes to my existing site so that I can upload the pages to the new site sooner. Most of the changes can be done through style sheets; however, many changes require tedious manual revisions to each page. This is just a temporary solution. A design overhaul will come later. Aside from the design, I need to change the code to make updates and maintenance easier. I may need to incorporate a database--something I'll never tried.

Welsh Dragon

Had to upload this picture here as I couldn't directly upload it to the Distributed Proofreader's forum.

Sudoku craze

The local paper added Sudoku puzzles this week. Reportedly, the puzzles are popular in Japan and Britain...and the craze is spreading worldwide. I'm pretty sure I've seen similar puzzles before. The concept is simple: using the numbers 1 to 9, complete a 9x9 grid, comprising 9-3x3 squares, without repeating numbers in any line or 3x3 square. The puzzles require logic, patience, and a good eraser!

Computer frustrations

Thought I'd save time redesigning my Web site by using either MS Publisher or Adobe GoLive, but Publisher templates don't work well for Web pages and I've yet to conquer GoLive--the learning curve is steep. (At this point, I could probably hand code the pages faster than I can learn the program.)

I'd hoped to take on online class through the Navy's e-Learning program--I've picked out several Adobe courses including GoLive, Illustrator, and Photoshop. No luck. The courses won't launch. According to their FAQ, pop-up blockers, firewalls, toolbars, etc. interfere with the program and said programs must be REMOVED.... I'm not uninstalling anything! Reconfiguring the firewall and Internet settings should be sufficient. It worked before...if I tweak the right things, it should work again.

Silly me thought that updating my firewall software might resolve the problem. Instead, it's preventing Outlook Express from retrieving my mail. Could be worse...sometimes the updates disable my Internet connection too. Eventually the company will figure out that they yet again released an update with bugs. I'd report the problem myself, but I've had enough frustration for one day....

Site updates

Updating my old site will take longer than I expected as I had forgotten how many pages it comprised: 58! I have to update the links and content before attempting to redesign the site. Surprisingly, most of the links remain valid. Most of the broken links are pages that have been moved elsewhere within the site or to another server. I won't worry about adding new content until after I've redesigned the site. I'm considering adding book reviews. So much to do....