02 September 2013

Notes - in my corner / setting perimeters / adapting to Apple Page format


         Late morning. A rather laid back Monday morning with plans to see Kim on Wednesday for lunch. You assume the boys will be in school (which they enjoy). The only disturbing discovery this morning was that your sack of trash was missing from its container. Nothing was dumped. And, it looked like a small bag of poop someone had put in a blue plastic sleeve used for newspaper delivery. The sealed bag was placed in the top of the ACE paper container for yard waste (leaves, dead vines, weeds, etc.). - Amorella

         1123 hours. If I hadn't taken more trash out, if they hadn't been late with pickup I would have never known it. Carol always is concerned about someone getting into the trash, which is the reason she always shreds everything. Besides, that recycle container was not touched. It was only a white wastebasket sized trash bag with a week's worth of ordinary garbage. I don't think I will tell Carol for worrying her about mostly nothing but oddness. So, like it or not, it was on my mind.

         Now it isn't. You have a record of the event. - Amorella

         I have to get my mind organized for the final drafting. I don't know about putting even more words as subtitles on chapter segments.

         What drew you to the subtitles in the first place are Victorian novels, they are an enticement to enter the 'reading zone' and help set up a "what will happen next". And, they were titles of chapters not phrases. Readers want the 'here and now' that a title represents; a "what you see is what you will have to read". It would be easier to put a subtitle on each chapter and have the title relate to all four segments, don't you think? - Amorella

         1147 hours. This is much simpler Amorella; a chapter title. I always want to complicate; you have the better idea.

         Under this circumstance it would be better to have a chapter title first, then make sure each segment has a notable reference to it. - Amorella

         This is a return to my old device of putting several unlike words together and the students being forced to come up with a story that relates to all four words; only here the stories come first and I have to find a title that fits all four.

         Yes. You have not looked at the work as a whole and this exercise, whether you choose to use it or not, will give you some guidance as to what and why I have focused the stories as I have. - Amorella

         As these are essentially interconnected short stories the criteria should be the 'setting, characters, plot, theme and conclusion'.

         This is what you know and taught for a third of a century, boy. Your mother always said to write what you know, and this is it; and what is more important here is that you 'intuitively understand this knowledge'. - Amorella

         1159 hours.  What I want the reader to know is that the fun part is in interpreting the meaning of Merlyn's dreams into a real life scenario. At least I think it would be fun. They really are constructed from dreams, your dreams, Amorella

         Not quite, boy. I do construct them as dream-like sequences and they appear to you to be dream-like because the stories directly originate from your unconscious mind. For all intents and purposes I am the representation of a real-in-your-life-Betweener. The mystery is the-what I lie between, i.e. if you are one side, what then lies on the other side of me, the Amorella?

         1210 hours. That reminds me of last night's dream. I was in Clintonville (an old northern suburb in Columbus). It was late at night when I pulled up, got out of the car and when I looked in Grandma Schick's back door window I saw Grandma Schick facing north towards the door to the basement on the right and the entrance to the dining room to the left. I knocked on the window and she turned and saw me and I woke up. I thought it was real or real enough an image from a memory to be real. Then I thought of where I was and that I could see her through the glass, not Grandma as who Grandma really was as a person outside of being my grandmother. This was my dream, it was not as if I were looking beyond to see her beyond life. And, this is the way I see you Amorella even as a Betweener. You are between myself and another part of myself -- you are the couch, if you will, in that hypnotic state where I was the twin on both sides of the same couch. Now, this is an interesting insight. (1220)

         Carol is sitting on the living room floor using the couch for back support, as she is half way through a new book, The Innocent by David Balducci. Jadah the Cat is sitting in front of the floor fan, Spooky the Cat is nowhere to be seen (appropriate enough) and the dishwasher is working quietly in the kitchen. It is sunny, hot and humid outside. Eventually you will go to lunch at Panera/Chipotle and stop at Kroger's on Tylersville before heading home. Such is your Labor Day much like many other days in retirement, and you are not a bit bored. How's that sound? - Amorella

         1226 hours. It sounds right on, Amorella; yes, an ordinary day in my corner of a good retirement.

         Post. - Amorella


         You had lunch and are presently at Kroger's for a few Labor Day sales such as canned colas and sodas and chips. Carol has her book so you may go read in the shade after taking the groceries home. She even bought a treat, a carrot cupcake, a dessert you both enjoy. When you begin let's create a document in which to layer the final drafts as if you were sending it to a publisher. Normally we will follow the Word document rules and we will unless I change them for clarity, effect, and/or style. Some spelling norms may be British with consistency the key. Word choices will be important also as you have already noticed you overuse some adjectives. We will continue listening to the work, as many times your ear is more important than your eye. The general mode is analytical, left brained, but never completely. When in doubt the literary tone is Romantic not Neo Classic. Above all setting, tone, style, characters, dialogue, philosophy, themes, and various conclusions are plausible in the real life of physics and heartansoulanmind in the real life of quantum physics. - Amorella


         1435 hours. Good I need to spell these things out. For instance I am not sure what the themes are other than existential framed in dark humor. I should probably be thinking more about this.

         No, you should not. You'll make lists then march down them crossing off what you see and what you don't. -- You are now at Rose Hill Cemetery under a hickory barked shade tree. Carol is two/thirds through, on page 383 of The Innocent. We have fluffy whites and blue sky with a dark storm off to the southeast. Let's work on these first chapters in a new document. - Amorella

         1651 hours. I have been working but am running into complications in that I don't have an ebook format other than on Page, which appears to be a Macintosh automatic ebook format software.

         Take a break, boy. Check out a couple ebook publishers while you are at it. Post. - Amorella



         2025 hours. I did some research. I am going to format for ebook publication on Apple Pages as it is set to modify to the ebook format. I also copied some material from online on how to set up for ePub files.  

         2311 hours. I have been working on the format and set up for the first three chapters in Apple Page. It has taken me a while to put Page to work as I am so used to Word. Enough for tonight, but I accomplished quite a bit of adapting and learning ePub format also.

         You have adapted to Apple Page. Post. - Amorella



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