Penny Lane's blog

Sidetracked

Of a sort. I haven't been in much evidence for a while and there may be a good reason for it. A chance remark to my Renal consultant meant a trip to X-ray and the discovery that I have heart problems. I'm on the waiting list for a triple bypass.

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Yikes! BC problems

I have noticed the site has been slow for a few days, but then I do know there's a nasty DDOS going around, it must be the change in weather.

Having just logged on, I got this:

Notice: MemcachePool::getstats(): Server 169.197.80.86 (tcp 11211, udp 0) failed with: Connection timed out (110) in require_once() (line 19 of /var/www/html/bcmain/armoire/sites/all/modules/memcache/memcache-lock.inc).

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Minor name change in VotV #71

Just a note to say I changed a name in the latest Voyage of the Visund: Count Corbrian to Count Korboro.

This is my own fault for losing a piece of paper with certain names on and then forgetting what I wrote. Julia would have jumped on that immediately.

There are rough rules governing name formats along the Great Valley... rules which change as one moves along. I forgot those rules. Also, technically, to be consistent a 'C' should never be used in a name of anything - but 'ch' is fine as it represents a different sound.

As always, there are exceptions :)

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Julia Phillips

I have not heard from Julia since 30th October. In her last email she said she was feeling fine and ready to get back to writing.

I only have email addresses (and BC) and have had no other contact from her. I am beginning to become concerned.

Does anyone else have any later information? We work closely together and, although I have continued posting chapters, her absence makes writing more difficult. She has edited and critiqued almost everything I have written since we first came into contact.

Penny

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Pattison in a skirt?

This surfaced today, there are articles everywhere:

Pattison in a skirt

You may consider my link frivolous but its only one of many that DDG threw up.

I'm not sure that I like this trend. OK it may be comfortable for men to wear but it blurs the lines over something most of us didn't want blurred: we'd rather just be on the other side!

Penny

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The Genesis of Scratch!

The Genesis of Scratch!

This little amusement created itself while we were away for a few days in East Anglia. The hotel had been booked before Her Majesty died, which meant that we ended up with two days (Sunday and the Monday of the funeral) when almost nothing was open. Stuck in a hotel room with only sandwiches bought the previous day and kept chilled in the room mini-bar, the idea slowly matured...

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There must be a story in this!

I noticed this in the "Did you know" section of the Wikipedia home page this morning. (It has now disappeared. Typical. I had to look in the archives.)

...that during a renovation of 4 Park Avenue workers found a sealed room with women's clothes and shoes that was not in the building's blueprints?

This is asking for a story to be written but I have no time to do it. Any takers out there?

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It's been a while

I absolutely hate writing in fitful starts and stops. At worst it means that my reader has to keep going back to re-read previous chapters to remember what was going on. Unfortunately, as we all know, many if not most of us do not have the leisure of being able to write all day every day - or even every week.

I apologise for the delay. In Real Life, stuff happens.

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July 2020 Story Competition

So my muse hit me with a little bit of whimsy and out came Personal Protective Equipment. It was just a tiny bit of amusement in these strange times, or so I thought. But my muse didn't let up, and began expanding the idea in all directions. If I had tried to make a coherent story I could probably have stretched that 150 words to maybe 10 or twelve chapters. Unfortunately, I have too many balls already in the air to even consider that.

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Story Updated

Some of you will notice that an update has appeared to my latest short story, "Meetings in Moxgo".

This is because the original contained a number of minor errors which, although they did not detract from the tale, were a cause for annoyance. Thus, I have changed a few minor matters which required changes and tweeked a few others.

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A tough few months, a tough few days

As is often the case, things didn't go to plan after my previous blog. I am embarrassed that you haven't seen the level of output from me you might have been accustomed to.

Then, Monday 14th January at 00:45 in the morning, my father died. I can't blame him for much, but his death just makes one more distraction for me.

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Slow Progress

It is tough going at the moment. I am still writing, though I seem to keep finding other things that need doing.

Since the original episode, I have been on steroids now for nearly five years. This is making my consultant nervous, so he has decided to do something drastic. Since that time, medical techniques have moved on and there are apparently new ways of dealing with my condition.

Basically, it amounts to chemotherapy.

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Um, minor delay...

I've had a cold for about two weeks, one that seems to be a bit like that mythical snowball. It was so bad this morning that I have canceled the appointment I had with my consultant tomorrow. I won't drive there and I don't want to expose everybody else to my viruses.

Then, at about 5pm on Saturday last, the hard disk on my main server died. Joy! Try fixing that when you barely know which way is up!

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Princess Holy Aura now available!

I apologise in advance if this is inappropriate. I have no connection to Baen Books except as a long-time satisfied customer.

As somebody mentioned a few weeks ago, a 'Magical Girl' story, previously seen as pre-publication, is in fact now on sale from them:

Princess Holy Aura

Price is $8.99. I shall be buying a copy just as soon as I can find my wallet...

Penny

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One thing after another

So, there I was, on a roll after getting the last two chapters of What Milsy Did out in a reasonable time. I'm heading off into the next, crucial chapter, and with about 5,500 words written, a never-ending and seemingly random series of unexpected happenings has derailed me almost completely.

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Endless distractions

I finally managed to put up What Milsy Did #26 and that means it is time for yet another apology.

It's all Real Life, of course. I won't bore you with everything that has hit me but let me just say that some of it is coming from the generation before and some from the generation after.

In addition the meds I have been on since 2013 are tapering off and it is exposing underlying problems. These are making me real tired and there are lots of things that could occupy what available time I have. Writing, regrettably, is only one of those things.

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Apologies for lack of output

I have to apologise to those of you who read my works. There's been a lot going on recently and I haven't ben producing as much as I would wish to. Partly this is real-life distractions, like the Evil Twin grand-daughters (tm), household matters, a short-notice holiday (vacation) in Cornwall and, of course, it is just too hot!

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Universe Rules Updated

Doing some administration around SEE and associated works I realized that the Universe Rules were the same as when I first posted them ages ago.

Since the main tale is now complete, and many more facts have been published since I wrote the original rules, I have completely revised them. They now mostly describe things that are self-evident but will still provide a useful guide for anyone else attempting to write in that universe.

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SEE Commentaries #19 to #22

Author's Commentary on Somewhere Else Entirely: Chapters 19 to 22

In these chapters a major character gets introduced and Garia receives a shock which underlines her new reality to her. Otherwise, the business of introducing basic technology to Palarand continues.

There isn't too much in these chapters that required major attention.

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More Health Problems

Just a quick note. I had some facial eruptions on Monday last (9th) which I thought were due to a resident Staph. infection I have. This has gotten progressively worse during the week, though curiously limited in extent. I was given antibiotics which didn't seem to help.

After severe pain early this morning I went and saw an emergency doctor with a completely different result.

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