Friday 30 May 2014

The Inner Workings of Me.: Devastating Reality: Millions of Lives Lost.

The Inner Workings of Me.: Devastating Reality: Millions of Lives Lost.: I was just reading the alarming page that compiles the growing occurrences of massive fish deaths. The headline should actually read Millio...

Devastating Reality: Millions of Lives Lost.

I was just reading the alarming page that compiles the growing occurrences of massive fish deaths. The headline should actually read Millions of Marine Lives Lost rather than Fish.

With this particular article, it's impact hit harder with each example provided that linked to local news articles from when the tragic mystery occurred in their area.

The main article can be seen here: http://www.dcclothesline.com/2014/05/21/mass-fish-deaths-millions-found-dead-world-past-month/

Dolphins, Sea Lions, Starfish, Turtles, along with the various fish species, have been turning up dead or close to it, in astonishing numbers, right across the globe. Kentucky, New York, Minnesota, San Diego, Singapore, Australia, Canada, are a few of the examples. Examples that, in my opinion, should cause alarm to everyone.

Many difference theories to determine the root causes are considered. Many of the articles reporting the local devastation, claim it's a mystery. I'm not so quick to accept that. Here are some possible explanations:

This could be the major repercussions of the earthquake in Japan resulting in the Fukushima Nuclear Plant exploding and dumping TONNES of hyper-radioactive materials into the oceans. At the time, there were predictions made of what the impact to the oceans could be. I live in the Pacific North West, we've seen continuous debris wash up on shore here ever since that earthquake. If physical debris has been washing ashore, it's not too hard to believe that radio-active materials have reach our shorelines as well. Many of the locations witnessing these occurrences are along coastlines.

In the Gulf and waterways nearby, or to/from the Gulf of Mexico, this could also be the residual affects, a heartbreaking reminder of the horrific BP spill. The Gulf IS still wracked with oil. I can still remember watching this catastrophic event unfold with tears in my eyes. Absolutely devastating. Reviewing those videos now are still painful, but they reminds us that, just because a few years have passed, doesn't mean the effects of this disaster have.

An obvious culprit could also be global warming. With the continual melting of the ice-caps and glaciers, the depletion of O2 in the oceans and waterways, is just one of the results.

Whatever the true causes of this alarm loss of marine life, this is devastating. I, personally, do not believe just one is to blame but rather an accumulation of situations resulting in unlivable conditions in the oceans and waterways. And, although all these causes are devastating in their own right, it's the toxic radio-active materials that I find very concerning.

If this is what we are witnessing now? What will we be seeing in the months and years to come? With the scale of Earth's oceans and waterways compared to land, and how the places seeing these massive deaths are spread across the globe, I am extremely worried. For the creatures of the oceans, and for all of us.
 


(An aside:) I will be the first to admit that I'm not an overly religious person. It's not that I don't believe that there is a God(s), while I lean on the side of evolutionary evidence, I still find myself talking out loud asking whomever he/she is for assistance for time to time.
Someone did post a quote from the Bible in the comments at the end of the article:

Hosea 4:3 Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven; yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away.

What do YOU think?


 

Tuesday 27 May 2014

The Inner Workings of Me.: The Train Keeps Rolling: Eighty Thousand Words & C...

The Inner Workings of Me.: The Train Keeps Rolling: Eighty Thousand Words & C...:      I have long since discovered how easy it is to over-estimate progress. When I attended the Surrey International Writer's Conferenc...

The Train Keeps Rolling: Eighty Thousand Words & Counting...

     I have long since discovered how easy it is to over-estimate progress. When I attended the Surrey International Writer's Conference last year, even the agent I pitched to had a sneaking suspicion that I wasn't as close to the finish line as I thought I was.

     Fortunately for me, this little known reality didn't deter her from asking for my first three chapters by saying something along the lines of "Whenever you do get it completed, send it here." She requested it be around 80-85,000 words. I was hovering around 72,000 at the time, but already had an idea of what chapters were needed and what areas I needed to revisit (ie. quickly added scenes that needed reworking).

    At the start of the May, I joined the "Edit the Heck Out of it" 30-day intensive online course led by Beth Daniels. It's the first class I have taken since 2005, and first online class ever. The very first lectures were about checking for info gaps, info dumps and also checking over transitions; transitions between paragraphs, scenes, chapters. Being a self-defined 'scene-writer' I knew this would be an area that would require a lot of time. I was already aware that I needed to work in transitions so my scenes can be developed into chapters. Now was the time for me to get cracking!

     Time, you see, is still not on my side. It's nearly the end of the month and I am still ploughing my way through my manuscript. As you can rightly assume, many more lectures have come and gone. And yes, I have read each one as it has come about, remarking on just how much I can tell these editing steps, tips, suggestions will help improve my story. I am not even there yet and the information is invaluable.

     Early on I reasoned with myself, that as long as I am making progress, there's no reason to stress out that I am miles behind this editing process. I can't put the wagon before the horse. The fact that I am okay with this, says tons!

     I tend to be a busy-minded individual; I hardly get an reasonable amount of sleep because my mind is reeling. The same problem presents itself in my writing. I usually am working in multiple scenes of the book at the same time - whenever a scene would present itself, I had to write it. It's very distracting and can sometimes seem like less work is actually getting accomplished.

     By forcing myself to focus on going from the start of my story, through each scene, into the next, I have gained confidence in the process. And even in my more in my work itself.

     Today, I am at 82,000 words. That's a comfortable number because I still have a little ways to go until the end, which leaves me with room for the words needs for remaining transitions.

     The train not only has rolled out of the station, but is rolling along steadily toward it's final destination. I am so much more excited to get to the finish line, and more motivated than ever!