Deborah Kalin

The next-door-neighbour is having his back stairs repaired. Or replaced would be a better description. This involves several circumstances: lots of wood, and swinging of hammers, and powering of saws; workmen (belching workmen); the combination of the previous two elements starting by no later than 7:30 am. And all of it taking place within nanometers of my bedroom window. Oh, the joy that is me of a morning. Not that I particularly object to belching, mind you. I wouldn't classify it as my favourite sound in the world, no, but I did grow up with three brothers. All of whom are much more accomplished than this poor workman. Still. There are some things you do not want outside your window, and belching workmen swinging hammers and powering saws at 7:30 am and — worse — listening to bland rock radio stations definitely qualifies.

In site-tweaking news, I've added asides to the blog: for those tiny thoughts that aren't worthy of a whole post all by themselves. They're sitting in the sidebar, over there —> There's even a feed, should you feel so inclined (sorry, LJ'ers, not syndicated).

Two job applications today and (you guessed it) am signed up to yet another account. Le sigh.

A cat-lover could spend quite some time clicking through this one: may the cutest kitten win

Computers and websites are nothing but a convoluted way to wax the cat. Really. I spent most of last night installing a new version of Ad-Aware and SpyBot on both the desktop and laptop. No real spyware or malware discovered, which is lucky because I had let both programs age dangerously out of date. Then I found ZoneAlarm, and installed that as well — and promptly broke my network connection between desktop and laptop. Or perhaps I should say ZoneAlarm was working successfully Took me a half-hour to track down the IP range to put in the trusted zone to let the computers talk again.

And of course I've spent this morning installing wordpress plugins. Because I can. I now have a prettified archives page, prettified tooltips, and a prettified categories listing in the sidebar. Oh, and I've found a better way to manage my memories page than through simple links: the Links Manager plugin.

To do with the rest of today?

• Job applications
• A few million pages of reading through the Style Manual for the editing course (Okay, it was only 100. But of the Style Manual. It's all relative, right?)
• A workshop crit
• Exercise
• oh, and, you know, maybe actually write…

I have a deep and abiding love for freeware programs, and not just because I'm skint (although that plays a part in it!).

Over the years, I have hunted out a lot of programs to suit my needs; these are the ones that have stuck around.

So, ten programs that make my computing life easier:

• KeyNote: a tabbed notebook program, one of my favourite features of which is the "virtual node", which turns any text or rich text file on your hard-drive into a node inside KeyNote. You could use this for just about anything; I use it for an offline journal, since it's small enough to run off a USB stick, and for compiling notes on novels or complicated stories. Because of the virtual node feature, I can keep everything as text files, neatly organised through Explorer, my other favourite method of organisation.
• SharpReader: an RSS aggregator for Windows. For keeping up with y'all! I've had no experience with other aggregators, but SharpReader is functional and helpful without getting in my way. Just the kind of program I like.
• MiniMinder: I love this little guy! Every morning or power-up it pops up telling me what's due today, and other upcoming important dates. Wonderful, and unobtrusive.
• FastCheck: An email notifier, like Google's Gmail Notifier but better. At the moment it only works on fastmail accounts, although the author has made noises about porting it to other email accounts
• PC Inspector: Anyone who has a lot of information stored on a computer needs this program. Deleted does not mean deleted, and PC Inspector will bring it all back. There's also a version specifically for USB sticks, which can easily be wiped inadvertantly when removing them from the computer.
• AutoRealm: I actually haven't used this one much, because I don't map extensively. But if you're looking for a freeware mapping program, this is worth a look
• EBoN: Generate your own names. It takes a bit of practice to get into the habit of writing your own lists, but can be worth the effort.
• HTML-Kit: Once I used Notepad for all my coding, but HTML-Kit is so much prettier and easier, without being bloated.
• Firefox: the browser everyone touts.
• Cryptainer: Have sensitive information on your computer? Encrypt it using Cryptainer, the light edition of which is freeware. The program also gives the option of encrypting a file to send via email

Find the key emotion; this may be all you need know to find your short story.

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Bear recently blogged about writerly talents, where she mentioned earning pathos. A day or so later (if that), I stumbled across the Fitzgerald quote. Who am I to argue with synchronicity?

So I've been thinking about the requirements for Story. My current checklist is pretty succinct (and, I dare say, pretty standard): character; setting; conflict; theme; symbol. I don't use it as a checklist when trying to grow a story; I'm still more comfortable letting it emerge in the first hectic and unordered and schizophrenic draft. Although these days I'm more likely to notice it growing in the first draft than be surprised when I find it in the words on a read-through.

But I do pause, when the story feels stuck or thwarted, and try to pin the checklist up against what I have so far, trying to find the issues I haven't fully considered. Trying to discover what it is that's sticking.

Before now, I've only considered "the key emotion" on a subconscious level. I put on the right "mood" music. I let it grow unnoticed in the draft. In the read-through I'll notice when the tone or emotion changes, and I notice the prevailing undercurrent of feeling, and I try to bring that out on a redraft.

But what if I were to start considering the key emotion before words on paper? Would I find my characters hide less, if I stop and consider the mood of the piece they're constructing with their actions? Would I find the telling detail easier to spot in my setting if I knew the voice of the story, the mood through which I want this world filtered?

This reminded me of one of my clarion-mates, who told me she had a habit of creating lists for her stories before she actually began writing. The lists gave her a choice of adjectives to use in the story: briny rather than salty, for example. Which strikes me as a method of deliberately conveying the key emotion.

One more item to add to my checklist, it seems.