Managed to get on a computer but while it seems to be letting me post a blog, it didn't let me update the Space Explorations page, so you'll find the same scenes for Qiri. On the upside, hopefully it will be better by the time I get to post the next scenes as I've done lots of editing on the train and expect to be doing more on the next leg of the trip. Mid Washington - not so fascinating and the winery we had dinner at was way over priced. The expensive cheese plate had about six bite sized pieces, not all of them cheese nor all edible. The greek chicken flatbread was tasty but barely bigger than a shareable hors d'ouvre for the price of a three course dinner. The socializing went very well with a group that after many meetings I am becoming comfortable with. it helps that even the geeki-est of them have enough experience under their belts to understand that value of interaction with people and are willing to put some effort into keeping the conversation going. Since I'm part of that category, I appreciate having my efforts returned.

A lot of the edits I've made involve adding sensory input to discourses (actions, gestures, touch, expressions, and other ways of conveying action and especially emotion without using adverbs and other direct emotion words like "angrily" impatiently" etc. (i.e. doing more "showing"). I occasionally add the emotion words, too, but only after I have tried to show them and usually to explain the source. I try to minimize such explanation and often delete them in later versions, but they help as reminders to my own intent in minterim drafts, as well as clarifying what I think are important points that might otherwise be missed. I usually incorporate them in thought processes and shifts in reasoning by the character rather than as a substitute for showing the emotion. At least that's my intent.

More later.

This is the last of the posts for the blog and for Space Explorations that I can be sure will be on their regular schedule for a few weeks, though i will make every effort to post as I can gain access to computers and e-mail. Please be patient and I will likely leave parts of previous story posts up if I get ahead of schedule rather than behind to give my readers a chance to see the story unfold as intended.

The first of the scenes I've posted is a first draft: until yesterday it was no more than a few phrases and an idea of what had happened. I don't think it quite fits the style of the rest well enough though I had fun trying to show the contrast between our daydreams of past events and our our knowledge of the course of real events. Its one of those stand out things though that an author must do as a regular thing (say a little with several flashbacks) or not at all else it will come across as if someone else wrote it.

The rest for better or worse is more of the same, bringing clarity to what I was trying to only hint at earlier and carrying the story on toward its conclusion not many more chapters in the future.

Since I will be more or less out of touch for awhile, I offer a multiple-step challenge to my fellow writers: identify a trend (it can be social, political, or technical) or a recent technology; carry it into the future twenty or fifty years or more; make it more important than it currently is to at least some part of the society of the time. Write a story about someone coping with its side effects or impacts on daily life. Post it and I'll add a link to it on my return.