Project "Empty That Bucket!"

*speeds up efforts*

 

Hmm - I haven't seen many that are about the voice, and I don't think POV is a plot question. Possibly you're seeing different questions - there definitely seems to be some kind of zeitgeist effect where the same question comes up again and again for a time and then nobody cares about it for months on end.

P.S. Where are you? I'm coming up to the end of 2011 so we might meet soon!

 

Grand. I'll carry on into 2012 and let you know where I got to - if you're at a PC before I've updated, nudge me.

 

What's on the other side?

 

I feel we may be talking about different things, but I'm not sure

 

I just googled and yes, yes we are. Surprisingly, I've never experienced life at a urinal.

ETA: Okay, I'm done. I got to the end of Jan 2012, so BSM only has Feb - June to clean up and we're done!

 

This is certainly true, and I feel like there's a sociology or anthropology dissertation hidden in there for some struggling grad student. What makes everyone want to write stories about vampires or scrappy trios of gifted kids at a special school or tricksy hobbitses and their questy band of elves, humans, and dwarves is pretty obvious, but these more subtle sways in the zeitgeist must also have a driving impetus.

 

That's a completely different topic again to what I was talking about I was using a catchphrase from Ghostbusters to warn you idiomatically about not colliding as you approach each other's position in the forum. But I can see how it would also apply to urinals!

 

I got the first bit (even if it's a while since I saw Ghostbusters ) but the interwebs tell me the phrase originally comes from standing too close at urinals. You learn something new every day!

 

I actually didn't know that - I thought it was just a Ghostbusters thing! I assumed it was just a warning because of the consequences of doing it with the proton packs. I had no idea it was alluding to something else

 

The ebb and flow of semantic shift, from origin to metaphor and back again. Neap tide to spring tide and on. Mother Ocean of Words, bounteous repository of expression, your child needs more coffee.

ETA: Me, I'm the child, not you Mashers. Though there's coffee on if you'd like. I'm American and Latino. There's always coffee on.

 

You write so beautifully Wrey

 

He's a feckin' poet, ain't he?

 

The writing in his off-the-cuff forum posts is better than anything in my WIP novel which I agonise over

 

The trick is: Embrace the absurd. Sometimes our rational mind talks us out of exploring strange descriptions or associations. Not everything you'll find there is useful, but some of it can be fun.

 

Hmm, my novel is rather serious. It's an attempt at hard sci-fi. So not much room for absurdities! But strange descriptions and associations could work. I'll play around with those ideas. Thanks!

 

It's so beautiful....

 

Yay!

I'm gonna be really mad at anybody who starts a thread in General Writing from now on. *glares at everybody*

 

I'm gonna make a post asking how long a novel should be.

 

Too all those who lent a hand:

.....My gratitude is without end. This was one of those things that had been sitting off just to the edge of my peripheral vision for so, so long. It needed doing, but there was always something else in the way of getting it done. I've done it alone, from time to time, here and there, but you know first hand just how tedious the task is. You found more than 4000 threads that belonged in other areas. You found many threads that had slipped by the staff over the years. You found evidence of past revolutions and uprisings. Like a team of archaeologists and anthropologists! Jane Goodall and Meave Leakey would be proud.

.....I feel like there should be more to say because it was a tremendous amount of work put in. Just know you have my thanks. We spend a lot of time and effort in forums (any forum) on those who want to throw the toys around and leave things a mess, bend or break rules, generally annoy, and I feel like that's time mispent. There are excellent members who come here to participate in the purpose of our venue, becoming the very brick and mortar of the place, and making it a desirable destination, and members who go above and beyond. That's where our time should be spent, in my opinion.

All my thanks,
Wrey