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It is very interesting watching you go through this process. What makes you decide what to keep and what to ax??

Oh, that's a good question!

1) Anything that's of questionable value to the main plot is the first to go. Subplots have to integrate.

2) Any redundancy in character building--that's the next thing to look at. Those have value, but are they valuable enough to save?

3) Anywhere a good scene drags is a place to get the hatchet out. Entertainment value is really important. If something goes too long, it gets trimmed.

4) All adjectives and adverbs get scrutiny. Have I weaseled out of using a better verb by adverb padding? Have I been less specific with a noun and covered that up with adjectives?

5) Conjunctions. Would I be better off with two sentences? 

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I've been taking cranberry supplements, but apparently they aren't working. I'm going to try to get ahold of some pure cranberry juice. I've had it before and it's nasty, but maybe it would be more bio-available than the pills. (I like the word "bio-available")

 

 

I have similar experience with the supplements.  Just not effective for me.

 

You can cut the cranberry with another juice and still get the benefit.  You might want to drink a higher volume of mixed juice, but anything that helps you get it down is worth it.

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Oh, that's a good question!

1) Anything that's of questionable value to the main plot is the first to go. Subplots have to integrate.

2) Any redundancy in character building--that's the next thing to look at. Those have value, but are they valuable enough to save?

3) Anywhere a good scene drags is a place to get the hatchet out. Entertainment value is really important. If something goes too long, it gets trimmed.

4) All adjectives and adverbs get scrutiny. Have I weaseled out of using a better verb by adverb padding? Have I been less specific with a noun and covered that up with adjectives?

5) Conjunctions. Would I be better off with two sentences? 

 

 

ARGH!

 

 

These are also good pointers to follow for school reports and essays, too.

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ARGH!

 

 

These are also good pointers to follow for school reports and essays, too.

It's a lot harder to do than to say. The old advice of "kill your darlings" really applies. Everyone has their "pet" flaw in writing, and often that's a great place to go after extra wordage that is weighing down a manuscript.

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I've set a goal of 35K worth of cuts over 5 weeks. That's 1K per day. I just cut 34K in three weeks, but the next round of cuts will be harder.

 

ETA: The first round was a 17% cut, the second round is a 25% cut.

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Thank you, middle school speech therapist, for calling TWICE way too early in the day, waking me up (I mostly ignored the phone the first time, but, ya know, if someone calls twice back to back, it seems like it might be something urgent). Also, how can my just-turned-10yo be in middle school already??? I'm too young to have a middle schooler!  :svengo:

 

(yes, 5th grade is middle school here now, or rather, where we lived before (not sure about where we currently live)... so, no, there was no need for that speech therapist to call me)

 

Walked to gym to have kids add their Pokémon to it, used leftover pasta to make pasta with Swedish meatballs for breakfast. Had coffee. Watched CNN 10 and TED ED with the kids, Celery did typing (how is the typing going, ikslo?), both kids did RS Dutch, and Celery did the second try of the final bridge for LOF Decimals & Percents. Way behind schedule (I'd hoped to finish Pre-Algebra 0 with Physics this summer), BUT, at least it looks like this book will be finished before the official start of the school year (i.e. before local schools start the school year). Not sure what I want to do... I'd wanted to finish Pre-Algebra 0, and then start the school year with AOPS Pre-Algebra, but now not sure if I want to do Pre-A 0 first, or if I want to do them concurrently, or what. (obviously, this is not a real problem... either way would likely work).

 

I kind of feel like I'm leaving something off the list of things accomplished this morning, but w/e. Oh, and I am way behind on this thread. I suck at prioritizing. :)

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I actually don't like heights. But I was so bored that I was willing to contemplate anything.

Come teach my kid Japanese.

 

I've been taking cranberry supplements, but apparently they aren't working. I'm going to try to get ahold of some pure cranberry juice. I've had it before and it's nasty, but maybe it would be more bio-available than the pills. (I like the word "bio-available")

It should give you loose stool. Yay. And I disagree with AMJ about mixing juices being a good idea.

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I tried to donate once. They took one look at my nonexistent veins, patted me on the back and said "thanks but no thanks ".

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It takes me forever to eeek out a pint. They were timing me last time. If you don't make it in a certain time then they don't let you finish. I finished, but just in time.
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Good Morning!

 

We're getting a lot accomplished here, despite the lack of sleep.  I had a hard time sleeping last night (again), mostly because of my colorful bruises.

 

I used to donate blood, but I stopped doing donation when I was diagnosed with RA.  So much is unknown about autoimmune disease.  I really don't want to be passing around unhealthy blood.

 

I also tend toward anemia, so blood donation is not in my best interest, either.

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Cancel eating out at 7 PM?  That person needs to go fetch take-out, then.

 

 

From the series of happy endings, at about 7:30 I was enough over my miffedness to go forage for food, and right as I started doing so, DW came out of the study with 2 boxes of pasta and 2 jars of pesto that she'd bought for eclipse camping trip (and hadn't used, because HOT), and she even washed the pot (which I'd already put to soak earlier), and made dinner. So, yay. Then, after dinner, I did laundry and went to the grocery store, where I spent a small fortune, but now we've replenished most of our supplies. She made way more pasta than we had pesto for, so we put the extra pasta in the fridge (hence the pasta and Swedish meatballs I made for breakfast this morning).

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I found my bra and did all the things.  Rain was coming so while we were at the farm, I had the kids collect the perfectly ripened but fallen cherry tomatoes. We are swimming in tomatoes now (pounds of them).  Tomorrow will be saucing day!

 

Dr Quackers is saucy today! Or sauced? Or saucy because sauced?

 

Can John listen to the famous men series?

 

How is his hearing?

 

I'm pursuing a different track -- learning boating (already certified in first aid and CPR, though those should get renewed soon, too).

 

I still need to finish the ham radio book I bought a couple of years ago... and my first aid/cpr expired in Dec, I think. I still want to do wilderness first aid, but that's expensive, etc (also, not super helpful in most disaster scenarios). 

 

BFF told me yesterday about the Waffle House Index.  

 

 

Not to be confused with the Big Mac Index:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Mac_Index

 

I'm going in to donate blood today. There is a severe shortage.

 

 

Thank you (not that I'm remotely near the affected area, but as someone who can't donate, I really appreciate people who do). 

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I've been taking cranberry supplements, but apparently they aren't working. I'm going to try to get ahold of some pure cranberry juice. I've had it before and it's nasty, but maybe it would be more bio-available than the pills. (I like the word "bio-available")

 

 

DW often drinks one glass of this in the evenings: juice of 1 lime, 1oz orange liqueur, 2oz tequila, fill rest of (6oz? 8oz? not sure of size) glass with cranberry juice. Personally, I need to add quite a bit of sugar to get that down (well, I *could* get it down without sugar, but...). I rarely drink it. 

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I got breakfast in bed (girls made me a fried egg), then hopped in the van and got my free Birthday Coffee, and tonight will be a free Birthday Entree at a local restaurant.  I am also getting oodles of free Birthday Crafts from all the ducklings. My favorite is a cardboard pipe cleaner package mini-laptop-computer that fits in my pocket.  It plays songs.  All I have to do is press the buttons and hum songs.  

 

Now, let the saucing commence!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I got breakfast in bed (girls made me a fried egg), then hopped in the van and got my free Birthday Coffee, and tonight will be a free Birthday Entree at a local restaurant.  I am also getting oodles of free Birthday Crafts from all the ducklings. My favorite is a cardboard pipe cleaner package mini-laptop-computer that fits in my pocket.  It plays songs.  All I have to do is press the buttons and hum songs.  

 

Now, let the saucing commence!

:party: Birthday presents!

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I think that's why it's good to go at revision in stages. There's just a lot to do when revising a novel, and I find it easier to go at it with a specific goal in mind and then tackle it again after a rest.

 

 

That also helps because you are looking at it multiple times with refreshed eyes.  Sounds a lot like Flylady--break it down to manageable chunks, concentrate on one chunk at a time and ignore everything else, and take regular breaks.

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I've set a goal of 35K worth of cuts over 5 weeks. That's 1K per day. I just cut 34K in three weeks, but the next round of cuts will be harder.

 

ETA: The first round was a 17% cut, the second round is a 25% cut.

 

 

Sounds like the editing is where most of the actual crafting comes into play.

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I think that's why it's good to go at revision in stages. There's just a lot to do when revising a novel, and I find it easier to go at it with a specific goal in mind and then tackle it again after a rest.

That makes sense. You really need to have a goal in mind what you want it to look like when it's done.
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Dr Quackers is saucy today! Or sauced? Or saucy because sauced?

 

 

How is his hearing?

 

 

I still need to finish the ham radio book I bought a couple of years ago... and my first aid/cpr expired in Dec, I think. I still want to do wilderness first aid, but that's expensive, etc (also, not super helpful in most disaster scenarios). 

 

 

Not to be confused with the Big Mac Index:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Mac_Index

 

 

 

Thank you (not that I'm remotely near the affected area, but as someone who can't donate, I really appreciate people who do). 

 

 

What is the ham radio book?   :bigear:

 

As for the wilderness first aid, when you accompany your sons on some excursion you will want to teach them these skills, so you must learn them first.  Also if you learn them you are less likely to get into a situation requiring them than if you don't.

 

The Big mac index sounds pretty reasonable!  It certainly makes a dry subject a little less arid.

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That also helps because you are looking at it multiple times with refreshed eyes.  Sounds a lot like Flylady--break it down to manageable chunks, concentrate on one chunk at a time and ignore everything else, and take regular breaks.

I'm new to the process. I may be doing it all wrong. But it's a place to start. 

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I got breakfast in bed (girls made me a fried egg), then hopped in the van and got my free Birthday Coffee, and tonight will be a free Birthday Entree at a local restaurant.  I am also getting oodles of free Birthday Crafts from all the ducklings. My favorite is a cardboard pipe cleaner package mini-laptop-computer that fits in my pocket.  It plays songs.  All I have to do is press the buttons and hum songs.  

 

Now, let the saucing commence!

 

 

How wonderful!  I like that mini computer.

 

 

 

My DD has made me some birthday pies.  (My birthday is tomorrow.)  I am looking forward to eating them!  (I will share with family.)

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I'm new to the process. I may be doing it all wrong. But it's a place to start. 

 

 

It sounds completely sensible, so I'd say you are doing something right!  Keep at it.

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It's all craft, really. First drafts are where the writer tells the story for the first time. Second drafts are where the story gets refined. Third drafts seem to be where the themes, the symbols and the mood poke out of the seams. Fourth drafts seem to be about deadheading the overgrowth. Fifth drafts? Not sure yet.

I've found something interesting on every edit. No telling what I'll find this time in the digging.

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DH logged into work on his work laptop.  There are things he can do remotely, so he feels the need to do them.

 

He got a call from work saying they will be closed until the day after Labor Day.  He told me he might run into work to see how the other buildings are (one was reported as having water in it, and it was possibly the most inconvenient one to suffer so).

 

Before he could do so his boss called him directly to tell him not to try to come in at all because he will only be in the way.  There are crews using the unaffected buildings and offices to put stuff from affected spaces.  They need everyone to stay away.

 

The flooded building had 14 inches of water inside.

 

DH is now running about our house exterior and the yard, checking on the state of things.  He found wasps nesting where they shouldn't be, so he dealt with that.  He also noted that he will likely have to put off fixing our fence for a few months as people with actual downed fences will need all of the pickets and posts.  Ours is standing, just aging.  We are on good relations with our immediate neighbors, so if a section of fence does come down we will get it dealt with quickly.  Both of our neighbors have dogs, but we don't.  That, at least, puts TWO fences between the two collections of dogs.  It also means our yard is less likely to have someone trying to wander through to have a look-see.  

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It's all craft, really. First drafts are where the writer tells the story for the first time. Second drafts are where the story gets refined. Third drafts seem to be where the themes, the symbols and the mood poke out of the seams. Fourth drafts seem to be about deadheading the overgrowth. Fifth drafts? Not sure yet.

I've found something interesting on every edit. No telling what I'll find this time in the digging.

 

 

Next publication:  Critterfixer's Guide to the Development and Growth of a Novel.

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Before he could do so his boss called him directly to tell him not to try to come in at all because he will only be in the way. There are crews using the unaffected buildings and offices to put stuff from affected spaces. They need everyone to stay .

 

Your dh's boss seems to know him well. ;)

 

booyah

Edited by Jean in Newcastle
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Junie---I can't believe they wanted my blood, given the RA and methotrexate and all that, but apparently it's such a super critical shortage that they will take whatever they can get.

 

Unfortunately, dd caught strep after my posting, and I just got home from the doctor and pharmacy with her.  No donation today.

 

Happy Birthday, Quackersh & happy pre-birthday, AMJ! 

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Junie---I can't believe they wanted my blood, given the RA and methotrexate and all that, but apparently it's such a super critical shortage that they will take whatever they can get.

 

Unfortunately, dd caught strep after my posting, and I just got home from the doctor and pharmacy with her.  No donation today.

 

Happy Birthday, Quackersh & happy pre-birthday, AMJ! 

 

 

I liked for the last bit.   :grouphug:  :grouphug:   Get better soon, Prairie's DD!

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Next publication:  Critterfixer's Guide to the Development and Growth of a Novel.

Oh, there's plenty of those around. They vary by writer as to what you should do. 

 

ETA: Worse than raising kids, really. And the same things pretty much apply. Realize that every novel is different, what works for one novel might not work for another, acknowledge that there are many "right" ways to raise a novel, and that you shouldn't be surprised when the novel you thought you were raising turns out to want a tattoo or decides to become an astronaut. 

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What is the ham radio book?   :bigear:

 

As for the wilderness first aid, when you accompany your sons on some excursion you will want to teach them these skills, so you must learn them first.  Also if you learn them you are less likely to get into a situation requiring them than if you don't.

 

 

https://www.amazon.com/ARRL-Ham-Radio-License-Manual/dp/1625950136/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1504116753&sr=8-5&keywords=ham+radio

 

I ordered that, er, Nov 29, 2014 (and read half of it, and the restarted it at some point, and anyway... not sure where it currently is, what with move). Keep in mind that it's current through June 30, 2018 (the exam questions in the book are the actual questions on the exams through then). After that, you should still be able to pass the exam using this book, but the questions on the exam will be different from the ones in the book (i.e. you won't be able to just memorize the answers; you'd actually have to understand the material... of course, some legislative and technological changes are possible, but almost certainly minor enough you'd still be able to pass). Same with the follow-up books for further exams, but the dates are different.

 

I think it was actually either the Wilderness Advanced First Aid or Wilderness First Responder course I wanted to do... (I think WAFA? Not sure... either way, it'd involve a fair amount of money, time, and travel to place where they offer the course). Also on the list is life guard. Not sure any of those will ever happen. I think life guarding would be a good idea if you wanted to be a boat rescue person, since you might have to fish drowning people out of the water, preferably without them dragging you under and drowning you. Of course, it's not like everyone has to do all the things. 

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Back in Fall 2014, when I was contemplating the WAFA or w/e course, Broccoli would've been almost 4/just turned 4, and Celery 7. It'd be so much easier for me to leave them home with DW for a week now than back then (as in, easier for DW to work from home at least part of the time, because it would be sucky for her to have to take the entire time off for that). Plus, when DW did her crazy bicycling trip in Dec, she told me that I could take off a week or so this year in exchange. So it might actually be a good idea. Not sure about our finances atm though, what with eclipse trip etc. We'll see. 

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Oh, there's plenty of those around. They vary by writer as to what you should do. 

 

ETA: Worse than raising kids, really. And the same things pretty much apply. Realize that every novel is different, what works for one novel might not work for another, acknowledge that there are many "right" ways to raise a novel, and that you shouldn't be surprised when the novel you thought you were raising turns out to want a tattoo or decides to become an astronaut. 

 

 

See?  This is why YOU should write one of these!  We can make it part of our curriculum and all of our kids will LOVE writing (or at least hearing/reading about it)!

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https://www.amazon.com/ARRL-Ham-Radio-License-Manual/dp/1625950136/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1504116753&sr=8-5&keywords=ham+radio

 

I ordered that, er, Nov 29, 2014 (and read half of it, and the restarted it at some point, and anyway... not sure where it currently is, what with move). Keep in mind that it's current through June 30, 2018 (the exam questions in the book are the actual questions on the exams through then). After that, you should still be able to pass the exam using this book, but the questions on the exam will be different from the ones in the book (i.e. you won't be able to just memorize the answers; you'd actually have to understand the material... of course, some legislative and technological changes are possible, but almost certainly minor enough you'd still be able to pass). Same with the follow-up books for further exams, but the dates are different.

 

I think it was actually either the Wilderness Advanced First Aid or Wilderness First Responder course I wanted to do... (I think WAFA? Not sure... either way, it'd involve a fair amount of money, time, and travel to place where they offer the course). Also on the list is life guard. Not sure any of those will ever happen. I think life guarding would be a good idea if you wanted to be a boat rescue person, since you might have to fish drowning people out of the water, preferably without them dragging you under and drowning you. Of course, it's not like everyone has to do all the things. 

 

 

Thanks for the book reference!

 

As for the other stuff, we can still dream, can't we?  And sometimes we find other ways of getting at least some of it to come about.  All it takes is not forgetting the dream entirely, so we notice opportunities when they crop up.

 

Maybe you can join the Boy Scouts!

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Maybe you can join the Boy Scouts!

 

Maybe if they ever change their rules. They don't like our kind of people, to the extent that they don't even allow our kind of people to join (last time I checked, which was fairly recently).

 

Could resist the "Ignore this thread." So happy to see I was not the only one

 

 

Welcome!

 

Oh, and I think I forgot to say, Happy Birthday Quackers!

Edited by luuknam
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