Either flour or lentils. Probably lentils.
Um, this has nothing to do with writing, but I liked it.
Archives
15 minute ficlet: Who’s Right, Who’s Wrong, Who’s Left
From Ty’s prompt here, written in 12 minutes.
“These sort of things just polarize the group more, that’s all I’m saying, Anna. And it doesn’t seem like a good idea.”
“But having a debate is a calm, rational way to work out differences over an issue.” Anna sat on the kitchen counter and kicked her feet despondently, half-heatedly peeling carrots while Cassie seared one of their last slabs of meat. “I don’t see what the problem is.”
“The problem is that you’re expecting humans to act calm and rational. That only works now and then in the best of circumstances, and, really, hon, you can’t say this is the best of circumstances. Are you done with the carrots yet?”
“No, Mom.” She peeled the carrots with more alacrity, stashing all of the peels in their compost bin before moving on to slicing the potatoes. “I don’t get it, though. Back in school, they were really big on ‘man is a rational, thinking being.’ So why can’t we act like it? Why do you and Aunt Sarah and Uncle Todd seem to think that we’re all going to turn into ravening monsters is we sit down and discuss an issue?”
“Well, because ‘thinking being’ is all well and fine, but are you telling me you’ve never seen an argument boil over?” She pinched some hoarded spices into the pot.
“I guess, yeah, but, like, kids. Or, I guess, Uncle Jack and Dad after they’d been drinking. Or you and…”
“So yes,” Cassie cut her off. “People argue. Tempers flare. And when it’s an issue like this… well, everyone’s invested, aren’t they? This isn’t like your high school debates, Anna, where the subject really didn’t mean all that much to anyone. This is life or death for every person here.”
“Which is why I think we ought to actually discuss it! Not leave it up to the mayor. Not just do some secret ballot. But actually sit down and talk about it and figure out, between all of us, what the best option is.”
“Honey, it’s not going to happen like that. I’m sorry, but this isn’t the sort of situation where people are going to calmly go over their options; everyone already has an opinion.The bunker is already divided pretty clearly; staying quiet about it is all that lets people live this close to one another. If you bring it out in the open, if you polarize it, then everyone has to live with the fact, actually face up to it, that they disagree fundamentally with someone living three feet away from them.”
“But it’s all so complicated! Open the door or don’t. Send one person through the lock, don’t send anyone, we all go. How do we know what the right answer is if we don’t talk about it?”
“Honey,” Cassie sighed, “debate doesn’t tell you who’s right. It just tells you who’s loudest.”
This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/16931.html. You can comment here or there.
Wordlbuilding – stealing from other languages fail.
When figuring out what to call the shirt-garment worn by the Callanthe people in my Reiassan setting, I decided to name it a qitari, since it was a combination of a Chinese qipao and a Turkish entari. I was pronouncing this kee-tar-ree
Something we were watching on TV yesterday had a qi word, pronounced chee- something. And I said, “am I pronouncing my made-up word wrong?”
A little Googling later, I determined that yes, yes I was: http://qipao.info/
So it’s a chee-tari.
Cool. 🙂
P.S. There will be writing here again soon, I promise.
This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/16746.html. You can comment here or there.
What makes you awesome?
Heard this on the radio and it was too cool not to share:
Tell me, what makes you awesome? What about you makes you a cool human being?
This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/16509.html. You can comment here or there.
Drakeathon: This is where I thonned.
This was my set-up for the Drakeathon: a sewing machine desk, opened up for more workspace.
Happening Elsewhere Links etc.
If you have not checked out TheSilentPoet’s 28 poems in 28 days, you really should. She has a lovely way with twisting fairy tales.
![[personal profile]](http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
haikujaguar has posted another Three Micahs article, on agility. These are great, informative, and fun articles on art as a small business, generally a business of one.
ysabetwordsmith has posted an interesting link discussing whether or not a writer is a brand. As I contemplate branding myself with my logo rather literally, I find this interesting.
Speaking of interesting, cool, and Micah, check on this interview
and, to end the people-are-awesome portion of my linkage,
tybarbary has a really cool set of links in this week’s Things I Learned This Week post.
And!
ysabetwordsmith‘s Poetry Fishbowl is coming next week! 3/1/11, and the theme is!! “Things With Wings.” !!
This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/16305.html. You can comment here or there.
Worldbuilding random eep!
Weeks!
Weeks are based on our rotation. They’re nice.
Stories with tendays bother me almost as much as stories with candlemarks and smeeps.
But calling a (for instance) 9-day span a week seems ripe for confusion.
Meep?
(not smeep, that’s different)
This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/16120.html. You can comment here or there.
Drakeathon Leftovers: A Changing of the Guard
From the second of kc_obrien‘s 3 prompts: “A Changing of the Guard,” 326 words
“How is he?” Ronni set down her bag outside the hospital room long enough to pull out a wrapped sandwich. “Here, I got two.”
“Thanks.” Ana took the proffered food and, with a glance at the closed door, sighed. “Getting better, I guess. I mean, he’s healing, he’s stable. Physically.”
Ronni winced, and nibbled at her own sandwich without appetite. “So, still pretty bad?”
“Still pretty bad,” the other girl confirmed. “He’ll talk to me a bit, if no-one’s around, but a lot of it is incoherent. I mean, he knows I’m me, and sometimes he calls me by name… but that’s it.”
“Well, at least he’s talking to you.” The sandwich tasted like ashes in her mouth, but she made herself eat. “Christ, Ana…”
“Yeah, I know.” She shook her head. “I don’t fault you. No-one but Tom does, and, well, we both know he’s crazy.”
“And himself.” She tilted her head at the door. “He’s always blamed me.”
“That’s just the beer talking, and the pills, Ronni. Everyone sane – which includes him when he’s thinking straight, knows you only did what you had to. I would have done the same in your shoes. Nearly did,” she added, more softly.
“It wouldn’t have changed anything.” Now it was her turn to reassure, a dance they did twice every day at their changing of the guard. “He still would have … well, it had already happened. You didn’t know, going in, but he did, and I still would have done what I did.” She glanced at the door again. “He started this ball rolling, Ana.”
“I guess you’re right.” She finished her sandwich and balled the wrapper up violently. “Some days I don’t know why you don’t hate me, you know?”
Ronni shook her head. “Don’t be silly.” She tossed her own wrapped and braced herself for her turn on bedside duty. “He chose to cheat on me with you. He got himself into this mess.”
This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/15531.html. You can comment here or there.
Protected: Drakeathon Leftovers: Playing Dollies
Signal Boost: Poetry Fishbowl on Tuesday, March 1
YsabetWordsmith will hold her monthly fishbowl on 3/1/11:
“This is an advance announcement for the Tuesday, March 1 2011 Poetry Fishbowl. This time the theme will be “Things With Wings.” I’ll be soliciting ideas for winged wildlife, fairies, angels, flying aliens, winged monsters, artificial wings, flying machines, things with other types of “wings” such as buildings or maple seeds, plots that involve flight, examples of “winging it,” aerial habitats, other places where wings might be found, settings where wings are irrelevant or awkward, the limitations of flight, and poetic forms in particular. “
http://ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com/1569275.html
These are a lot of fun, and, like livewriting, the more people that show up, the more fun the prompting gets!