There are a number of mini laptops that have been coming out this year.  But Dell seems to have the best deal.  Starting at $299 you get an 8.9 inch Linux based Dell E laptop which is supposed to be available in August.  The damn thing looks cool compared to the Asus EeePC and MSI Wind and less expensive.

This laptops weight just over 2lbs and are meant to be truly portable.  They do have limited screen sizes and harddrive space.  But I would still love to have one of these to carry with me on the bus to work and not have to carry my 15 inch laptop around.

For all those in a learning frenzy I’ve noticed that blogging is a good way to learn.  More than a few times have I started a post thinking that I had something new to write about.  A new expereince that I needed to share just to discover that the process of writing that current post actually helped me understand a lot more that I already knew.

Blogging is great therapy.

I’ve been trying to get back into photography for a couple of years and I can’t.  It’s just not in me.  It feels like a relationship that ended that I want to start again.  So I decided to start a blog to see where that gets me.  Maybe if I write continually I might get the juices flowing again.  We’ll see.

I was re-reading the latest scene of my novel and notice that it was a little empty.  It was mostly dialog with some narration in between to describe the interaction between my two protagonists.

But after I started rewriting it I realized that what had been missing were actions to go along with one of the character’s moods.  She was pissed off, so I had her slam the steering wheel and slam the gas causing the car tires to squeal.  I thought it was better than having her keep all her emotions bottled inside.

Which brings up the fact that most people who are pissed off will often act out.  Not necessarily violently.  But may slam a book closed, or make a fist.  Or may even try hard to keep themselves distracted to make the hate go away.

This I realized after that I may have missed the acting out in a few places in my novel so far.

I’m reading The Long Walk by Stephen King and thinking how cruel the long walk is to these 16 year old boys.  But then I’m reminded of the running of the bulls in Spain. People willingly putting themselves in front of bulls trying to outrun them.  Many get hurt from being trampled on or gored and sometimes worse.

The prize in the end is the satisfaction that you outran the bulls with no injury.  But imagine the horror if the bulls got smarter.  The bulls are already smart enough to decide to run down an individual and/or swipe their sharp long horns into them.  What if some of the bulls actually took pleasure into it.

http://www.macleans.ca/article.jsp?content=w071017A

I’m halfway reading through The Long Walk by Richard Bachman (Stephen King) and there was something I was wondering that none of the characters have mentioned.  This is a math question more than anything, but this book has got me so much into it that I had to ask.

Each character probably assumed that they had a 1% chance of winning the long walk.  That could probably be true if it was a race within a limited distance.  But because the distance of the race is determined by the ultimate winner I’m thinking that the chances of someone winning the race is more probably 0.0001%.

The reason I am saying that is because assuming that there are only two Walkers left.  Each Walker has a 50% chance of winning assuming this is a race.  But because it is also endurance adds that extra level of chance.  If for example the front runner gets a ticket then you would think that the 2nd runner has won.  But the runner still needs to pass the front runner, assuming those are the rules.

Put another way, if two Walkers are side by side and one trips.  The first Walker has a 50% chance of winning the race because as long as the other Walker is still alive, race is on.

But also, the second Walker has a 25% then 50% then 75% chance of getting a ticket depending on the number of warnings.

So what do you think?

One thing I keep realizing over and over about writing is that there is a difference between knowing and understanding.  Alot of writers claim to know how to write, but whether they understand why is a different question.

What I know is that everything in a story needs to play a part in that story.  If a place or a person doesn’t add to the story then that place or person doesn’t belong in the story.

Yesterday, when I was writing the dialog between the two protagonists in my novel I realized that one of the protagonists is not doing much.  She is not adding to the story and is simply paper weight.  I thought that I might have to go back and take her out of the story because I finally understood that any conversations between the two characters would be meaningless if the second character doesn’t do anything.

So then I started to think and ask myself, what role does the second character play.  Way back in the first scene she had a major role to play and thought that I should make that her role throughout the novel.  Even as I write this paragraph I am thinking of a way to flesh her out more.

Thank for letting me ramble on, it helps to think.

When I first started learning I to write I heard a bunch of different ways that different expereinced and new writers write.  Everyone claimed that their way was the best way to do it.

When it comes to just the writing part everyone has their ways: write, never use the delete key; write, edit as needed; write and make as nice as you can; etc.

Well I have come up with my own set of rules that I have used so far to help me focus.

• At the start of every writing session I have the right to rewrite the last two or three paragraphs usually because I wrote them when I was starting to get tired and most likely suck.
• I have the right to go back and insert a scene between two other scenes in order to fulfill my story plot or to fill a plot whole.
• I have the right to use a thesaurus for words that I can’t remember.

Let’s see what else I can come up with as I write my novel and whatever other short stories.

So this morning I came up with my novel’s plot.  I always knew who the protagonists and antagonists were and more or less what their relationships were.  But this morning I finally figured out the dynamics of those relationships and it’s beautiful and simple.

It will leave a lot of room for human fustrations, surprises and plot twists.

Let’s see how good of a writer I am.

This is my kind of word.  I have met people that palaver.  They talk a lot but say nothing.  Can’t wait to inflict this one on my friends.

http://dictionary.reference.com/wordoftheday/archive/2008/07/06.html

What excuse did this drunk driver use?

Quebec provincial police got an unexpected surprise Thursday when they pulled over a man for impaired driving and found a dead body in the car.

Either he’s so drunk that he can’t remember the hit.  Which isn’t good for the impaired driving bit.  Or he really only blew just over the limit and well…

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2008/07/03/qc-repentignydiscovery0703.html