CM Simpson: Writer & Gamer

On Saturday, I found David Gaughran on Twitter, and I followed him, and he voiced a bunch of things that concern me – and that should concern every writer. And David is not alone. He’s not barking mad. He’s not some starry-eyed idealist. He just cares. He cares that new authors are coming into an industry that does not have their best interests at heart, an industry that will squeeze that author for every drop of profit, and then not care if they can pay their bills or not. But that’s the way things are. DavidGaughran is not alone. Joe Konrath , Kristine Kathryn Rusch , and Dean WesleySmith are among a host of established authors who are writing about the rights and wrongs of the industry, who warn of agents who represent their own interests and not the author’s, who warn of publishing companies – and we are talking respected publishing companies, who used to at least appear to look after their writers, not just a fly-by-night scammers; no, we are talking established pillar...

A very busy fortnight, with five assessments due, and a three-day conference so I did not get as much done as I’ve hoped. I’ve reached the mid-term break, and started writing again, but there is a house inspection due this week, so house cleaning and gardening must take a priority. I must also pay closer attention to my exercise program. Still, the writing is progressing. Overview (Week ending 27-08/Week ending 03-09) New words produced: 780/6,877 Old words revised: 0/0 Outlines and Notes: 0/0 Works completed:   2 (1 assignment; 1 for inclusion in a larger collection)/26 (1 assignment; 25 for inclusion in 2 larger collections) Works revised: 0/0 Covers created: 0/0 Works published: 0/0 Works submitted: 0/0 Competition Entries: 0/0 Bloggery: 1,570/1,967 University Prep and Assignments: 5,047/1,560 Story-A-Week Catch-Up Challenge Update No progress as assignments and catch-up on the poetry and flash fiction collections took precedence. Steppin...

Ingress is my fitness motivation. I like it because it gives each walk purpose beyond just walking. I can do a mission, or try to complete one of the challenge series that make up Ingress badges. And some of these are harder to get to than others. I've achieved two new milestones in the last few weeks. This first badge reflects the distance I've walked while playing Ingress since I started playing. I meant to post this shot a week ago, but I had a couple of essays to finish. This is the screen that comes up when you reach the required distance - in this case 1,000 km. This second shot shows the distances you need to walk to earn each level. Let's just say it will take me a while to get to the next one. With the Trekker badge, how quickly you reach each level, and earn each badge is limited only by how much you are willing to walk, and by your fitness, which can limit how fast you cover each set of distances. It's achievable, but takes time. This next ...

Those of you who’ve followed this blog for a while will have seen it go through seasons – and most of you will know how torn I have been about the future. Will I write? Will I follow my love of languages? Should I continue to study, now I no longer have the job that inspired the study? And so on and so forth. It has been a battle, let me tell you, but I think I have a direction to go in, now. So, some of you will have noticed I’ve altered the blog description. I did this on Thursday, August 25 – yes, today. And I did this, because I’m ready to admit to my degrees, and all the rest of it. I’ve done this, because I have been inspired to try for something I think might actually be impossible, and to do that I have to accept where I've been. And all this is all because I went to a conference at the ANU (Australian National University). This conference was about Russia. It. Was. AWESOME!!! There were so many people who were as interested in Russia as I am, who didn’t think lear...

And here they are. I have to admit that it got to a point where I didn't have time to take pictures of each one, as I hurried for a bus after class, or to catch the next little critter I'd seen nearby... and then there were the swans. Swans are not pokemon, but they are cute, and cygnets are fluffy. These ones were on the Australian National University grounds, possibly touring for their little ones' future education. I was sick for Friday, and then wrote an essay most of Saturday and Sunday. Monday, I had an impromptu class to make up for one I wouldn't make later on due to a conference. Anyhow, here we go with the pokebits. On Saturday, August 20, 2016, this little guy came to say goodnight...    On Sunday, August 21, I went for a quick walk in the morning - there's an Ingress badge that requires you to hack a portal every day for 360 days - and our local portal is also a pokestop, so, of course, I had to catch these two before heading back ...