What's got 8 legs and one eye?

[essayel]

April Fool's Day made glorious by 2 things.

Firstly the whole A4 page shopping list written for me by my daughter who, knowing how much I hate shopping, illustrated it and filled it with jokes. I opened it in the street outside the Edinburgh Woollen Mill and had to lean against the wall, wheezing with laughter.

And secondly the 1911 feature on Youtube, which doesn't work on every video but does on some. For instance the one I linked to a couple of weeks ago with flogging and pirates and stuff. Just click where it says 1911 in the bottom right corner.

April Fool's day also annoying because I want to write - desperately - but - I dunno. Maybe I need the comfort of a deadline or something. I've submitted a very short, for me, story to the UK LGBT authors freebie anthology but felt it was a bit of a cheek to try and write anything for the paid for one. However there's a nice tight deadline for that so I guess I could pretend and try to fool myself into buckling down and doing something - ANYTHING.

*sigh* I think I'll read my shopping list again. It has a big picture of Errol the dragon in the middle of it.

Oh and for those of you who maybe wondering what HAS got 8 legs and one eye it's 2 chairs and half a pig's head!!

:D :D :D I'm so easily amused.

Comments

[aceofkittens.livejournal.com]

Oh man... pirates... and flogging! *swoon*

[essayel.livejournal.com]

I've written one of those recently. Wish I'd seen this video first for some inspiration. Still second drafts, eh?

[aceofkittens.livejournal.com]

Where is this story so that I might clap my eyes upon it??? :)

[essayel.livejournal.com]

It's a wip. Have a sample:

A few feet away, Wigram was cursing and kicking, but Kit fixed his eye on the horizon. There were no gratings here and no ceremony. No rattle of drums and no naval orders. But there was a sort of reason that he could accept even though he felt the unfairness of it keenly.
“Stand still, damn you.” The steely sound in Griffin’s voice brought Kit back to attention but he didn’t look around. The hands had stilled and he could hear the shift of feet and Wigram cursing under his breath.
“You all know the rules,” Griffin said. “You all know what I will and won’t stand from you. Foremost amongst the things I won't accept is laying hands on an unwilling woman. For this crime both these men will be punished. The sentence, thirty lashes, turn and turn about. Valliere, see to it if you please.”
“Damn your hide,” Wigram was snarling. “I’ll gut you. I’ll gut you and feed you to the fishes.”
Kit tensed as he felt a presence at his back but Valliere just twisted his hair into a rope and pushed it over his shoulder. He took a deep breath and tried not to let his voice shake as he said, “Nice and tidy, please, Valliere. If I must have stripes, at least let them be symmetrical.”
Valliere snorted then took a pace back and Kit closed his eyes.

[aceofkittens.livejournal.com]

Yes! More please! :)

[essayel.livejournal.com]

There are more excerpts back in November (http://essayel.livejournal.com/145747.html) if you want a look. I posted one most days I think. For the moment I'm trying to get the damn thing finished. :(

[alex-beecroft.livejournal.com]

It's not a cheek at all! If you're coming to the meet you're eligable to submit to the anthology, simple as that. So do write something for it, that would be ace :)

[essayel.livejournal.com]

You're lovely, ya know. Thanks for the encouragement. I'll do my best and enlist my severest beta. And when that's done I'll psych myself on to finish off my pirates.

[alex-beecroft.livejournal.com]

I reckon that people are just waiting for some good pirates. If you can get it finished in time to ride the wave of enthusiasm that comes with the release of PotC4, the publishers would love you.

[essayel.livejournal.com]

I've got to get my pirate exhibition up to do that as well. Trying to condense the lives of people like Howell Davis and Bart Ddu down to 300 words or less is a trial. On the other hand being able to handle things like cutlasses, naval officers swords, a piece of eight and a fantastic brass and leather 3 draw spyglass [a big one like Barbosa's] is very handy for writing purposes. I have NO idea how one might manage to keep the glass on a target while standing on the heaving deack of any ship - it weighs a ton.

Hmm, deadlines. I LIKE deadlines. Thanks for the suggestion.

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Damn. That video....

[essayel.livejournal.com]

I know!!! The song lyrics are unintelligible, sadly, but who cares. I just turn the sound down.

Oh and damn that icon!

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

The lyrics are completely unintelligible but the song has rather grown on me. Not that *cough* I've watched the video that often or anything *cough*

Oh and damn that icon!
Which icon? That one or this one? ;)

Good luck with the writing!

[aceofkittens.livejournal.com]

I was at work where I can't listen to sound, so I watched the video without sound the first six times, ahem, A FEW TIMES... I do actually understand the lyrics, but, ahem. Where was I going with this? Oh yes. PIRATES AND FLOGGING! :)

[stevie-carroll.livejournal.com]

You should definitely try writing something for that anthology.

[essayel.livejournal.com]

I've left it a bit late now. Still :) I'll give it a go.

[charliecochrane.livejournal.com]

No you haven't. Not too late at all. I'd love to see a story from you!

[essayel.livejournal.com]

Oh, thank you. That's such a kind thing to say. I sent one off to Josephine last week for the freebie - pubs and real ale and cricket! The one I'm working on now is how Colin and Dafydd [from the free fiction event on Clare's blog] got to know each other. I already had that in mind so it should save some time. Fingers crossed.

[charliecochrane.livejournal.com]

Coolio. That story was really neat (the cricket one).

[essayel.livejournal.com]

Thanks, glad you liked it.

Happy Mothering Sunday! I hope you're being spoiled.

[charliecochrane.livejournal.com]

Spoiling levels not bad. How about you?

[essayel.livejournal.com]

Mine's still in bed! Later I'll kick her out and force her to make me tea.

But we did go to see The Eagle last night. Wildly slashy but otherwise not a patch on the book. :( However the sets and costumes were very good. It was fun sitting, giggling with sprog :)

[charliecochrane.livejournal.com]

Wildly slashy? Sounds like a good excuse for an easter holidays treat!

[essayel.livejournal.com]

There's Jamie Bell bare apart from tiny leather trousers making 'this could all be YOURS' eye contact with the rather bovine hero- how could it NOT be slashy?

Well, that's the message I took from it. OMG maybe I'm warped?