By Robin de Voh on 2017-03-22
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tags:
update
I've been busy with a lot of things, including writing.
My NaNoWriMo has been over for nearly 3 months now, and I did finish the 50k words in time, but the story was far from done. I think at best it's at maybe 70% done story-wise. There's many things I don't like about the 'novel', but there's also good characters, good character backgrounds, situations, locations, and more. All in all, I think I wrote something that could possibly serve more as inspiration for more writing than as a book itself.
But, mentioning both NaNoWriMo and books, I have been re-reading last year's NaNoNovel, Verified, and looking into the feedback I got from people. So far I find myself agreeing with many points made, and I intend to start working on a proper first draft. Exciting, right?
I'm also looking into submitting at least 5 short stories to short story magazines this year. I won't be able to share those stories here until after they've either been rejected (posting the story here) or accepted (posting a link!), but that's also exciting!
And to make up for the complete silence, I have edited one of my favorite NaNoPrep '16 stories to make it much better. It deserved it.
Check out Crash-landed (v2) if you're interested!
By Robin de Voh on 2016-11-01
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tags:
update, nanowrimo
The point of NaNoPrep was to Prep myself for NaNo. I did that in one major way - I wrote regularly for 20 days straight (sorta, but mostly!) and I wrote a lot.
But what I didn't really prepare was what I would write when NaNoWriMo actually started. Lesson for next year learned!
But when I really sat down to think about what I wanted to write about, the same things came up that I thought about most last year. The kind of sci-fi story I love is the ones about exploration, about mystery. And after about 6 minutes I had an idea, and it's one I'm very enthusiastic about!
The working title is "Lights Out", and what that means will remain "in the dark" while I work on this beast.
The official goal is 50,000 words. But I like challenging myself (as with NaNoPrep), and I'm aiming at 60,000. Anywhere in between is fine, but 60,000+ is epic.
That's 2000 words a day. I beat it today, at 2176, so that's a great start!
Wish me luck 😁
By Robin de Voh on 2016-10-30
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tags:
nanoprep, personal
"So why are you so nervous all the time?" Jennifer asked.
Kay twisted in her seat, obviously uncomfortable with the directness of the question. This half-yearly update chat with her manager was a good moment to get frustrations out, but it always made her nervous. Questions like these would inevitably pop up.
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By Robin de Voh on 2016-10-29
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tags:
nanoprep, personal
"So, welcome," the team manager said, "to the team here at the Safe Hotline."
Others in the office also said hi, some just nodding. I smiled and nodded. The Safe Hotline was a mental health hotline that people could call if they felt they needed someone to speak to about mental health issues, and they -- well, we, now -- would try to assist as best as we could. This would sometimes include calling police for their own protection, just talking with them for a while and offering a listening ear, or even getting them in touch with those who could help them even more.
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By Robin de Voh on 2016-10-28
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tags:
jerry, coffee, nanoprep, saga, rebecca
This is part 3 of the Coffee Saga, find the rest here.
Jerry walked up to the front of the room, tugging at his jacket to straighten it. It wasn't in need of straightening, and Jerry knew that, but he was nervous and this helped him keep his courage. He moved to behind the podium and cleared his throat.
"I am Jerry, and I am a recovering coffee snob," he said hesitantly.
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By Robin de Voh on 2016-10-27
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tags:
nanoprep, creepy
I tapped install on the app store and the process started. A friend, Luke, told me about this new music app, called Yarn. He wouldn't tell me anything other than that I needed to try it. I searched for it online and found similar statements. Nobody really said what was so special about it, but everybody who'd tried it seemed to agree that it was a fantastic service.
With everybody being so vague about it, of course I had to try this suddenly legendary new app.
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By Robin de Voh on 2016-10-26
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tags:
nanoprep, scifi
Technology just keeps on moving along, they say. My body is excellent proof of this. After a multitude of careless accidents -- I am a bit of a daredevil -- I have been 'upgraded' over the years until by my estimate, over half my weight is in prosthetics.
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By Robin de Voh on 2016-10-25
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tags:
nanoprep, personal, autophobia
The sun shone through the window and woke me up. I didn't feel any different at the time, but as I went through my morning routine, I noticed that I felt, well, 'off'. I can't really explain how or why, but something wasn't right. At some point during my breakfast I figured it was just one of those days and tried to shake it off. I was half-convinced the feeling would pass.
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By Robin de Voh on 2016-10-24
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tags:
nanoprep, scifi
"On an old questions and answer website, somebody once asked the question 'If I volunteered to fly a probe into a black hole, would NASA let me?'.
Obviously the answer was always going to be no. Not just because at the time, flying to a black hole, not even into, was technologically unfeasible, but mostly because what was known about black holes was that such a journey would be fatal. It would destroy the probe and everything in it, and most scientific readings would be either impossible to send back or nobody knew what to even look for.
But what if you own a commercial space transport company? What if your biggest dream has always been to find out what's behind the event horizon of a black hole?
Well, then, you build a fast spaceship full of scientific equipment and call shotgun on that thing.
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By Robin de Voh on 2016-10-23
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tags:
nanoprep, scifi, derivative
It says 'August 21st, 2078'. There's no mistaking it. It's been blinking since a month and a week ago. It starts blinking a month in advance, and August 21st was a week ago.
How am I still alive?
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