Saturday 31 March 2012

Rick's writing Journal No. 7

It's time to put off procrastinating to another time and get on with some writing.

Here is the plan:

1. Enter the latest 100 words of fewer contest with a little story I'm working on about a mouse.
2. Submit a very short Leprechaun story to the AntipodeanSF web site for publication. (This will be the first time I've sent any of my writing to something that is not a contest.)
3. Do a major rewrite of my Leprechaun short story and submit it to a YA short story contest.
4. Finish the short story on vanity I'm working on and submit it to the Stringybark Short Story, 'Seven Deadly Sins', Award.

I intend to complete the above list by the start of June.

Wednesday 28 March 2012

I'm doing it all wrong!

Since my latest effort to do a blog I've read many other blogs with advice on how to grow your audience. So, I no what to do, I just don't do it.

First and foremost, you must be regular in your posts. Fail!

Second, you must promote your blog at every opportunity. Fail!

Third, you must post interesting and informative content. I find it interesting, and it may have some information? Fail!

There is usually a fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, etc, but I can never remember them. Fail!

I feel really good about myself. :)

Thursday 22 March 2012

Some Thoughts on Prayer

Why do we pray?

This thought came to me as I reflected on some of the unusual outcomes I've had lately from my prayers, here are just one.

I was returning a bus to it's grassy parking spot in the evening, and I knew it was needed by another group the next morning. I had been warned not to go on the grass if it had been raining. Well, the sun had been shining most of the day, the only real rain had come just haft an hour before I returned the bus. Praying, I decided to risk the grass, it was a bad idea. Yes, I got a 5 ton 22 seat bus bogged!

As the man who own the field and I tried many different things to get the bus unstuck I prayed that they would work, I really prayed that the bus would be available for the group the next morning. nothing we tried worked. After some frantic phone calls, I was able to find that the bus has NRMA road side assistance cover. The NRMA was able to call a toe truck company who come out and try to move the bus, but it was going to cost a lot of money. I was willing to pay the money, my prayer was just that the bus would be ready for the next morning. The toe truck driver took one look, said it was to hard and left. At least it didn't cost me any money. By this time it was well into the evening and completely dark. I promised to come back first thing the next day to try and get the bus out. I want home praying that it would not rain over night, it did, but I slept well.

The next morning the ground was much worst than the night before and, despite bringing everything I could get my hands on to give the bus wheels a solid foundation to move on, nothing worked. We moved the bus about three feet. Then one of the men associated with the group who owned the bus showed up with a man in a four wheel drive. In fact, the man was a four wheel drive touring guide and he was fully set up to pull bogged stuff out of just about anything. Fifteen minutes later the bus was free, and well in time for the next user.

So, what was the point of praying through all this? There are a number of points here are just a few.
1. Prayer kept me at peace. I had a confidence that it would work out, I just didn't how.
2. Prayer kept the real goal in front of me. Because I was praying for a specific outcome I was focus on that outcome and not distracted by the complications of the situation.
3. God provided what I needed and, because I was praying, I could God's hand at work.
4. Prayer is how we depend on God.

Just one verse to finish this

 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7

Saturday 17 March 2012

Rick's Writing Journal No. 6

I'm still waiting to hear how I did with my 100 word story.

In the mean time, I've started to write a bit again. I'm working on a number of story's and I've got some hopes.

My hopes are to have at least two short stories published in some form this year, to have written a first draft of my first novel, again, this year, to enjoy doing it.

Towards these goals I have to short stories in progress, many ideas for others, a very short synopsis for my novel, and I'm having fun.

It's a start.

Tuesday 13 March 2012

Chess and the Bible No.3

I play a lot of online chess.

There are two types of online chess:
1. Live chess, where you play online against an opponent, who is also online, with a set time limit. This time limit can be 15 minutes, which would be considered a long game, or as little as 1 minute, often called bullet chess, which is very popular. I find this all to fast for me.
2. Turn based chess, which is like correspondence chess for the internet. In this type you make a move and your opponent, who may not be online at the time, has a number of days to make their move. Three days is the most common time limit. This is what I play.

I started playing chess online because it became hard for me to get to tournaments, which I love playing in. The online stuff became a kind of substitute for the missing tournaments. Over the years I've developed some opening patterns that I follow in my online games, and they have served me well. I thought that if I got back into tournaments I would now be much stronger in my openings.

I'm now near the end of playing in the City of Sydney Championship, and I have found that I was wrong. Openings that did fairly well against, even fairly strong, online players, where no match for seasoned tournament players. They just blew holes in all my games! It made me realize that there is nothing like the real thing.

The same is true for the Bible.

Thursday 8 March 2012

Life Interrupts Routine

I've set myself a routine to blog three time a week, but this last week it has gone right out the window: life interrupts routine.

First: I could not post last Saturday because I was on a camp for adults with intercultural disabilities, I was their bus driver, so I planed to do it Sunday night when I got back.

Second: I got the bus I was driving bogged while parking it. I spent three hours on Sunday night trying to get it out. I finally gave up and committed to coming back Monday morning, another group needed the bus by 8am. On Monday morning we got the bus unbogged in time, with the help of a 4WD.

Third: My three year old son became ill and I spent most of Monday night looking after him.

Fourth: My son was still sick Tuesday night and I was again up most of the night with him. We took him to the doctors on Wednesday and found out he has tonsillitis.

Fifth: Wednesday night I just went to bed.

So, now I'm writing this blog Thursday night: life interrupts routine.

Although, a friend posted this picture on Facebook showing some people who are not letting life interrupt their routine.

 This is Beverly Hills Railway Station in Sydney today during a very heavy rainstorm. 

Thursday 1 March 2012

Rick's Writing Story No. 5

Today's blog title is misleading, because right now there is no story to tell. Apart from my blog's I haven't written anything. Hopefully I'll be able to kick start things again soon. It's hard because the stories are in there, I just can't get them down on paper, so I stop trying. Not good!

15 March is an important date for my writing hopes. This is when I find out if I've done any good in the '100 Words or Fewer Writing Contest. Having some success would help I think. However, I need to do it, get writing again, regardless.

I'll see where I am next week.