Posts Tagged ‘poll’
Writing a Series – continuity
With the publication of the first in the Meniscus series — Meniscus: Crossing The Churn (CreateSpace, 2017), I am now working to publish the second – Meniscus: South from Sintha.
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A poor photo of the painting I did for the cover of Book Two – Meniscus: South from Sintha
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I have completed the text and all of the drawings. I have even finished the painting for the book cover! The book is now with my editor (Lee Thompson Editing +) who will give me advice on story arc, characters, poetic line and word choice.
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Back to those final edits!!!!
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The story for South from Sintha continues the tale begun in Book One — in this book, Odymn wants the Slain to fix some of the wrongs he has done in the past. South from Sintha is the story of a journey to return some of the Slain’s former captives to their homes. But can you really ‘go back’?
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The cover painting for Meniscus: South from Sintha is based on one of the drawings I created for the story … the drawing is called ‘release of the feather’ … after returning each captive to his or her home, the Slain and Odymn release a token to celebrate the ‘return’
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As I prepare the second in the series, I have to make a couple of continuity decisions. One had to do with maps. I have taken the advice of my nephew and altered the map to reflect the landscape changes revealed in Book Two, as well as the path followed by the major characters.
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The West Half of the map in the story South from Sintha … drawing the map in GIMP makes additions/changes so easy!
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Another continuity decision concerns the common language on the planet Meniscus: Gel-speak. As I write, new words are added to the Gel-speak vocabulary. I have included a Glossary with a Gel-speak Dictionary at the back of each book. But, do I keep the Book One words in the Book Two Dictionary, even though some words are not used in Book Two? Or do I include the vocabulary from both Book One and Book Two? Perhaps you would help me make a decision by responding to the poll.
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If you want to read Book One in the series, Meniscus: Crossing The Churn is now available at Amazon, in both Paperback and Kindle versions. Be sure to look under my first name Alexandra Tims. Of course I want you to buy the book and read the story of how the Slain and Odymn meet! Meeting the furry, purry Argenop in the story is worth the read!!!!
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Copyright Jane Tims 2017
crows in trees
Of all the birds, I like the American crow (Corvus brachyrynchos) the best.
For one thing, they seem to me to be full of personality. I also know that crows are intelligent – research shows they can distinguish humans from one another by facial features. Crows also stay in family groups (parents and fledged offspring) for a few seasons. I feel sorry for crows; they seem to have a bad reputation and are treated poorly as a result.
If you want to learn more about crows and their habits, have a look at Michael Westerfield’s new book “The Language of Crows: The crows.net Book of the American Crow,” available at www.crows.net/crowbook.html .
A group of crows is known as a ‘murder’ of crows. The term ‘murder’ refers to the ‘observation’ that a group of crows will kill a dying cow. Some people are advocating for an alternative, since the term ‘murder’ perpetuates the notion of crows being malicious. Alternative names for a group of crows are presented in http://www.crows.net/mjw.html Michael Westerfield’s Crow Log: The Crows.net Project. I think this is an opportunity for a Poll!
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Morning Song
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in the morning
dew soaks the grass
and Canada
belongs to the crows
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the croaking of ravens
the cawing of crows
familiar, unheard
backdrop to Canadian dawn
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(theme music
in Canadian film)
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in a conversational rattle
discussing gold and letters
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a two syllable scream
haunting the fields
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solitary sorrow
throned at the top
of a tamarack
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black wings bruise the air
he calls an alarm
screams to his mate
the love of his life
with only the fall of the dew
for an answer
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silent is the shroud of black feathers
strung by the feet from a pole
beside a garden
where she braved the flapping man
and dared to pull new corn
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in the morning
Canada belongs to the crows
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Published as: ‘Morning Song’, Spring 1995, The Cormorant XI (2)
© Jane Tims 1995
my favorite tea
Since I wrote a post on drinking ‘tea-berry tea’ [see Eastern Teaberry (Gautheria procumbens L.) November 16, 2011), I thought I would try a Poll, just for fun.
Drinking tea, for me, is an enjoyable experience, especially since there are so many varieties available. A cup of tea is definately part of my ‘niche’.
Teas are traditionally classified based on the processing technique (information from Wikipedia; you can also find out more about tea from the Tea Association of Canada www.tea.ca):
White tea: wilted and unoxidized
Yellow tea: unwilted and unoxidized, but allowed to yellow
Green tea: unwilted and unoxidized
Oolong: wilted, bruised and partially oxidized
Black tea: wilted, sometimes crushed and fully oxidized
Post-fermented tea: green tea allowed to ferment
To this I add the various Herbal teas.
No matter how many varieties of tea are available to me, I often select Red Rose. This is an orange pekoe tea produced originally in Saint John, New Brunswick. It’s slogan was: “Only in Canada, you say? …What a pity!” Today it is also available in the United States.
