[ Photography ]

Ask any photographer (professional, amateur, or casual shooter) what photography means to them, and you’ll get as many answers as there are stars in the sky. This is a good thing. This means that fifty people can be taking the same shot of a single scene and almost all of them will come up with their own unique take on it.

Photography like any art is broken down into two aspects. You have the nuts and bolts discussion on how to use the camera, and how far you can stress the camera to get the shot you want. The other part is the crafting an image to bring out a reaction from the viewer. Without the former skills under your belt the latter becomes much harder.

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[ Photography ]

People have inquired how I manage my photos after they hear that I can easily shoot an upward of 600 to 1000 shots in a single visit to a zoo or wild park. Even when you consider that on an average I delete a third to a half of the shots due to duplications (I shoot in continuous mode), focusing issues, bad cropping, animal walks behind a tree, shooting from the hip failures, wrong camera settings (this is the largest category), etc. It still leaves 300 to 700 pictures which can be daunting to those who may take only thirty pictures a year and still can't find the shots they want a few years later.

So today I'm going to walk through my keywording process, and explain how it improves my life. I hope by time you are finished it will inspire you in how you can improve your current photo management.

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[ Screenplay ]

Before I start writing I need to state two things. First off, I'm glad to see that Mr Rothman finally able able to produce Jathia's Wager. Second is a disclaimer; I wrote the first complete draft of Jathia’s Wager referred to as "The Love Story Envisioning". This means I had some vested interest in the project back when it started in early 2007.

Now, let me get to the heart of this post. The final film has the same issues that the original seven page partial draft written by Mr Rothman had. There is no plot, no driving force, and no reason to empathize with the main characters. The sad thing is because what I saw in that partial draft was a deeper meaning than what Mr Rothman decided to portray. However, with the summary below it doesn’t surprise me it was lost.

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[ Warcraft ] [ MMO ]

The last article I covered how I ended up healing. This one I’ll focus more on the the nuts and bolts of druid healing. This will focus around group healing, but I’ll attempt to interject other healing styles and give Naxx boss examples of where group druid healers need to switch healing style.

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[ Warcraft ] [ MMO ]

When I started a druid I never knew how much I would come to enjoy playing it. I had dabbled in other DPS classes and leveled a hunter to nearly level 70, but none of them gave me the enjoy of playing my druid.

Like all feral druids, my friends would joke about the fact I should be picking up healing gear, and in some cases it was thrust on me if the healers had no need of it. Granted, I quietly collected it, but I had no interest in healing. I was about mid-way through level sixty when the dreaded words were spoke.

“Bearess, we need a healer. Get your gear and we’re running Underbog.”

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[ General ]

“An object in motion will stay in motion until acted on by an outside force.” - Newton’s First Law of Motion.

This doesn’t apply just to objects, but to writers as well. Once a writer has been shoved hard enough in the right direction, he/she will continue down that path until something slows or stops them. For physical objects that tends to be friction, but for writers it could be anything--real life, sickness, lack of energy, depression, self-loathing, etc.

Now, that I have you thinking. Let me change gears slightly. Frankly, the idea of inertia isn’t interesting to me, nor will be the focus of today’s topic. But it’s the concept of creating that inertia in the first place.

As you can tell, I’ve lost all inertia. Not only on this website, on my home website, and on a writing project tentatively due at the end of March (which I blew). The energy required for me to write or edit is high (editing is the worse of the two). It isn’t that I’m lazy or I feel as if I suck at the task. It has more to do with my distractibility.

I’m not as distractible as a coyote, but there always is something more interesting than what I’m currently working on. Case in point, the last two weekends I’ve gone out to the Minnesota Zoo and Como Zoo with a friend of mine “Kurst.” Both times it focused around photography (one of my many other hobbies), and sadly it didn’t take much effort to convince me to do that instead of working on my project. Even now, I realize that my current website lacks any sane ability to manage the 500+ new images that just found their way into my Lightroom library. Thus, I’m considering blowing tomorrow (well, today) writing new code to allow me to better handle manage and update my online photo gallery.

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[ General ]

A consistent set of world rules is a requirement when you sit down to write a story, and the rules you have will depends on the length of the piece. There is nothing worse than reading a book that conflicts with itself (Well that is a lie, but go with me. I’ll talk about other important things in later articles).

When I sit down to write a story, be it a short piece, a novel, or a series, I tend to decide where my story takes place. Is it in a “present day” type environment, in another universe, or in an alternate time line? The next question is “how much of the world will bleed into the narrative?” If it’s a short piece I made just laid out simple ground rules (e.g., real magic, present day, etc) that I’ll follow before I start investing time into the nuts and bolts of writing [NOTE: for short stories I may not even bother to write down anything unless the piece hinges on some type of abnormal concept]. For longer pieces, I may ask a few more questions (e.g. what type of magic? Where does the power get drawn from? Is it common or rare? What are the limits?).

In any case, the ground rules you write down need to be strictly followed throughout the work. If at some point you realize they must change then you need to consider what you’ve written. Does that change the path the characters would have taken? Is there a reason why they couldn’t have done this earlier? This is extremely critical for book series. There is nothing that will gain you great scorn from your die hard readers than changing a fundamentals without some solid justification.

However, this doesn’t mean that your world has to be static. The reader will accept facts given to them if they are couched correctly. If your magic is broken up into air, water, and fire, then a fire mage (who spent his whole life in and around volcanos) may find his power weaken or almost unusable if stranded on a boat in the middle of an ocean or on an iceberg. The main thing is to ensure you don’t apply random limits that make no sense to your reader.

By putting down these world rules, you may find that as you write it will also be easier to mold your story, since the rules for how things work can now guide your writing. It can easily free you to consider the interaction of things. If your story has a fire and air mage locked in heated battling with each other what can the air mage do that will not feed the flames? Maybe instead using a gust of wind to blow out a candle, as his master taught him, he can use the wind to create a vacuum to stifle the fire magic’s ability to spread.

Just make sure you write the rules down. Not only for your sanity sake, but it can also be a good tool for your editor and trusted readers to ensure you didn’t make a mistake.

[ General ]

I can honestly admit I rarely run into what most consider the typical “writer’s block.” Pattern matching and string ideas together is pretty much second nature to me. I have lots of concepts written down in my database of notes (If you don’t have one of these then you need to start. It doesn’t need to be anything in electronic form. Douglas Adams used a drawer in his desk to stash notes). However, I do suffer from writer’s block. It comes as depression, lack of energy, and the inability to focus long enough to let the words congeal enough to put on paper.

When I started doing National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) the deadline was decently real. I’d never written 50,000 in such a short time, and for the first few years I succeed at doing it. What I wrote was mostly crap, and it didn’t bother me because I knew I was writing for the sake of writing. Now, I can’t do that. However, I have multiple projects (be them programming or writing) I can work on, and the thought of writing more dribble down that will not be completed just doesn’t appeal to me anymore.

I’m not stating that NaNoWriMo is bad. It is a good way to find the story in you and drag it kicking and screaming out, but I’ve come to the point where I think I’ve outgrown it. Of course, this could be my lack of energy or depression speaking (read “writer’s block").

Granted this isn’t due to lack of fans clamoring for me to produce them something to read. Rather scares me that people are willing to read my first draft stories. However, that is what friends are for. *Weak Smile*

So what is my rambling point? Writer’s Block isn’t just a lack of words or ideas, but can also be a lack of energy or focus. Sadly, the only way to work through this is to drag yourself kicking and screaming to the task and complete it.

[ General ] [ NaNoWriMo ]

For those doing NaNoWriMo and are searching for advice how to survive it. The best answer is “Eat the Elephant One Bite at a Time.”

Only reason I bring this up is because I know folks that are currently way behind (like I am), and the more behind you get the more the word count piles up and you get scared. You start asking why you are doing this, and how you got yourself into it. Even worse you start to doubt that you can do it.

Well, STOP IT! The way you get through a month of writing (or any project for that matter) is to look keep your eye on the closest check point, and it’s your goal to make it to the checkpoint come hell or high water.

The next bit of advice I can give for those that find themselves staring at the blank page for the two hours when you are supposed to be writing is too either write or do something else. I know it sounds a bit odd, but the best way to break writers block is to actively work on something else. Yes it doesn’t advance your word count, but it gives your brain time to mull over and figure out what you want to write.

I tend to do something close to “directive dreaming” when I go to sleep. I tend to replay the last minute of the scene I’m writing as I’m laying in bed. Then I let my mind flow to see where it continues. Sometimes I have to force it down one or two paths, but after a few minutes (normally just before I fall asleep) I come up with where I need to head, and even if I don’t remember the exact cool scene I saw. The seeds of the idea are stuck in my head, and when I start writing it will come back to me.

Another thing to do is break up your writing periods up. I know that I’m only effective at writing for about 30 - 45 minutes at any given stretch. Therefor I start writing until I'm not sure where I’m heading. Then I tend to stand up and take a walk. If it is to get something to drink, roam aimless around my house, clean up a small pile that has been siting in my living room for too long, or an extended wanderings out of my house and down to the park. The idea is to refresh your mental batteries.

Hey, sometimes just switching gears, and writing something else for a bit can help. Sometimes the reason you can’t write is because something unrelated bouncing itself around in your head, and unless you get it out of your head and on paper. It will eat away at you and cause you to lose focus.

Lastly, if you have serious problems writing the best way is not only to surround yourself with other people doing the same thing, but also find a few people willing to suffer with reading a pre-draft story. It’s amazing when you get a bit of feedback like. “That was cool. I didn’t see that coming!” Or “So... When is the next chapter coming out?” Will do for your need to write.

Now, stop reading my blog and get back to writing.

BTW, this month I may be spotty in terms of writing. So just bear with it. I know few folks are reading. So bear with me until after this month I’ll be more consistent.

[ General ]

No I’m not going to discuss the rules of the road when it comes to grammar. I will not talk about “I before E except after C and in receive.” Nor will I talk about subject-verb agreement, nor about dangling particles. I want to talk more about style.

There are three broad classes of style. The first is the long winded one. They tend to find the longest, curviest, and often the most boring route from A to F. These writers tend to find ways of avoiding getting to F by even going through P, Q, and Z before returning to B. This isn’t a bad thing, but if over used it tends to leave readers frustrated at the author’s inability to stay on task and tell the story.

The next is the writer that can bring a reader from the point A to point F in such a way where they can bypass almost every point in-between without causing them to feel as if they were jipped out of a story. In fact, the solution is so elegant that as a reader is left wondering how they couldn’t have seen the solution in the first place.

Lastly, we have those that must take each step on the plot road from A to F. The reader knows, to a degree, what will happen, but that doesn’t really bother most readers. A good narration will keep the reader interested even if they know where the author is guiding them. Note, I said “guide” not “lead” since most readers dislike having a nose ring installed and dragged behind the main character.

Granted those are the broad categories in writing style. From here, we must introduce other aspects that add spice to the above basic patterns. They can include such things a rhyming prose, the over use of multi-syllabic words, constant use of metaphors, talking more than showing, and so on.

Also, there are times when people write with alternative grammar rules. However, this tends to frustrate not only editors but readers as well, and unless you are a published author it may be best to conform to the general rules of the road.

BTW not only happy Halloween, but happy NaNoWriMo eve.