(no subject)

[felis_ultharus]

So I made it safely to British Columbia. We actually arrived early. Just before our descent, we passed through a tunnel created by a thick, piled-up cloud. It was beautiful.

(It's selfish of me, but I like being part of a generation that gets to see the clouds from above. Given the amount of fossil fuels planes use, and that no one even seems to be talking alternative energies for planes, we might be one of the last generations that gets to ride through a tunnel of cloud.)

I was nearly narcoleptic at dinner with the extended family yesterday (having woken up at 1 am, BC time). I crashed, and woke up at 2 am. I've been poring over the edited versions of my novel, as annotated by em_fish and montrealais. I'm actually kind of sad that I yanked the novel back from em_fish, because I'm actually enjoying her notes, and wish I had them for the rest of the novel.

I'm going to do a heavy rewrite, because of montrealais's larger criticisms about the integration of supernatural and ordinary elements. I'm no Neil Gaiman or Robertson Davies when it comes to balancing out two worlds, but maybe I can get better at that juggling act. In any event, my Otherworld needs heavy work.

So I guess my time in BC will be NaNiWri2Weeks :)

Comments

[foi-nefaste.livejournal.com]

Yay for making it there safely!

I hope you have a good time, see many friends, and are satisfied with how your novel is going. And I'll see you when you get back, hopefully!

[felis-ultharus.livejournal.com]

I want you to read it, once it's been revamped. I've thrown in at least one scene inspired by a story you once told me ^_^

[jenjoou.livejournal.com]

Maybe someone will invent Vanships. ;)

[rougemacabre.livejournal.com]

Oh man, that'd rock! But I want to be on the one that Alex runs. Yum!

[felis-ultharus.livejournal.com]

Well, it'd be cool right up until we had to deal with the Guild ;)

[jenjoou.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't mind the guild if it were Dio and Luciola without Delphine ^_^

[felis-ultharus.livejournal.com]

You just know Luciola would be crashing them into each other, just for fun ^_^

[archdiva.livejournal.com]

Glad you had a safe trip. Enjoy your visit and happy holidays!

[felis-ultharus.livejournal.com]

Thank you! You too!

[rougemacabre.livejournal.com]

Good luck on the writing sprint! I want to read your novel sometime. I am very intrigued by what you have told me thus far. ^_^

[felis-ultharus.livejournal.com]

It still has a lot of problems. Two large chunks are going to have to be excised, because they don't really fit. The focus has to be tighter, the language more sophisticated and imaginative, and the plot a little faster.

I've figured out the themes that are most important, and I have to tone down some of the preachier parts.

I've written 4,105 words since I got here. My goal is 50,000 by the time I leave.

[rougemacabre.livejournal.com]

You really are doing NaNoWri2Weeks. :P

[yumemisama.livejournal.com]

I have to say that one of the most wonderful things I have ever seen was when, on one of my trips to Albany, we happened to be in the air during a lunar eclipse. The pilot doglegged around so that both sides of the aircraft got a spectacular view. I was also rather selfishly glad that I lived in a time where I could see such things from five or six miles above the ground, out my comfortable window, with a book in my lap and a drink on my tray.

Glad you arrived safely, and I wish you a happy Yule. ^_^

[felis-ultharus.livejournal.com]

That sounds really cool ^_^

And thank you.

[maidenofirisa.livejournal.com]

I like tunnels of clouds but I don't usually like how much the plane shakes when you go through them.

Funny you would make that comment. The other day at work two customers were arguing over whether or not planes polluted.

Good luck with the writing!

[em-fish.livejournal.com]

FTR, planes undoubtedly pollute. In fact, they had a Look-I-Have-A-British-Accent-And-Am-Therefore-Credible guy on CBC radio last week, explaining that a round-trip flight to Egypt causes more emissions than a decade of driving a new-model car. He said that in order to make a dent in the damage we're doing by flying, we'd have to cut commercial flights by 90%.

Scary.

[maidenofirisa.livejournal.com]

I knew planes polluted a lot but I didn't know it was that extreme.

We have some pretty ignorant customers. Although in the case of that one he was probably just stupid because his argument was that: "If planes really polluted we wouldn't use them so much."

[rougemacabre.livejournal.com]

Yes, because as a species, we've done such a fantastic job of _not_ polluting the earth. >.>

[felis-ultharus.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Planes are especially bad because it takes so much more in the way of fossil fuels to fight gravity, and because planes tend to go between 400 and 500 miles per hour. With greater speed and three-dimensional movement, the amount of fuel per mile greatly increases.

A Greyhound bus gets 162 miles per gallon per person, while a 747 gets about 70 miles per gallon per person. Multiply that times all the passengers on a plane, and that's a lot of fuel.

Wht worries me is that no one's talking alternative energy for planes. If we had to give up cars tomorrow, things wouldn't be so bad. Downtown Vancouver has gone over to 100% pollution-free, fossil-fuel-free transit system, and intercity electrical trains are possible, as with France's TGV.

Hybrid cars are in their infancy. It takes decades to develop these technologies. No one's talking alternative energy for airplanes, and it'll be nasty to see what happens when we hit the fossil fuel wall.

[greekcub.livejournal.com]

Have a great time

[felis-ultharus.livejournal.com]

Thank you ^_^

And a happy Yule!

[em-fish.livejournal.com]

I am so glad you're enjoying my notes. I really enjoy the writing!

[felis-ultharus.livejournal.com]

I do, and I've found them all very helpful ^_^

Although Will Eisner and William Shatner might take issue with your critique of the name "Bill." So might William Raphael (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Raphael). :p

Many families eschewed more traditional names in those days, hoping to deflect anti-Semetism, just as many changed their last names. Most of the Jewish individuals I came across during my research had names like "Arthur" and "Murray" and "Walter." "William" was quite common.

[teecs.livejournal.com]

Glad you made it there safely. I have to say, I'm kinda jealous...
Happy to hear the novel is coming along :)
Have a good holiday!

[felis-ultharus.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't be too jealous. It's quite hard for me to be here, a lot of the time.