Writing Contests Update

Alrighty.

Just a quick word to say the Writing Contests list has been updated. I added four more events: Crazy Club Writing Year, National Blog Posting Month, February Novel Writing Month and Science Fiction Writing Month.

I'm taking part in all of them, although it's unsure if the sci-fi one will be active again this year. But it's all the way in October, so that isn't something to worry over yet.

Right now I've got a whole bunch of events/challenges piled up right onto of each other. The FebNoWriMo as well as NaBloPoMo are starting the day after tomorrow, so you'll be hearing a lot more often from me. :)

Also, another, smaller challenge is starting on the 4th. That would be the Waitangi Weekend challenge hosted on the Kiwi Writers website. The whole purpose is to write 4,000 words in 3 days. It's a pretty easy and fun challenge. Last year I found out about it a day after it had started and just whipped out my yWriter and started typing. It was a story I'd hardly even thought about before, I had so much fun. :)

Wooh! It's late. And lots to get done tomorrow, so I'll be signing off. Need to save some ideas for blogging later anyways. Hopefully that way fewer posts next month will be random. ^_^

Contact Juggling ?/!

What is it?

I came across the term by accident. I'd certainly never heard of it before, so curiosity in hand I went strolling through the land of WWW to find out. And this is the answer I discovered:

"Contact Juggling (also known as Dynamic Manipulation, Sphereplay, Orb Rolling, Spherical balancing etc.) is a relatively new form of juggling where balls are rolled over the hands and body instead of tossing them in the air."

Right, understandable enough a definition. Now my first reaction was 'cool, that's definitely new.' But after thinking over it a while, you begin to get a sense of 'oh boring' and 'c'mon, that sounds like just about anyone could do it.' Yes, that would be the concept you might get from just reading the above sentence. But oh, here is where the written definition does not do much justice to the art. You have to see it to really understand.

The extended, and likely more accurate, definition of "contact juggling" which I came to understand, is that it's not just "rolling balls along your body." Rather, it's an art of making that ball look like it's freaking floating in the air unassisted, flowing fluidly through liquid or with other spheres which are magnetic, or in fact not moving at all while you yourself are moving around the sphere.

Seeing contact juggling in action makes you realise that there is possibly more coordination skill involved in the art than in normal juggling. Alright, admittedly the music in this video did add to the pwnage, but I kid you not when I say that watching these guys go made my skin tingle and ran shivers though my spine. I mean look at the guy at the end. He does it with a BUBBLE!

The most incredible part is, when I focussed on the spheres themselves, they really did appear to float or be magnetically drawn to something/one another. If I focussed on the hands, of course I could see how they are in fact being supported by the hands/body of the performer. But it's not something that sticks out without having any attention put on it. In silence, the juggling looks amazing and I can't take my eyes off it. Add a little music and it looks magical!

The more I watch this the more I feel annoyed at just how much the written definition lets it down. For someone completely new to the idea, a verbal explanation could render the false impression that it's incredibly easy, boring, or something practised over-extensively by geeks or cliques.

It isn't.

Far from it.

It could be just about the coolest thing I've ever seen.

My favourite juggler out of the collaboration video had to be "Fluid Druid" Demitri (I'm not sure if it's the same person in the above video, but this guy is still amazing). I would recommend you guys to check out the longer version of his clip on YouTube, as well as other videos of his performances.

For anyone who wants to learn more about contact juggling, I found the definition and video on ContactJuggling.org.

And the collaboration vid is officially going into my favourites, like...everywhere.

Makeover Time!

Yes, when you're behind on your writing and you've got some spare time at the computer, logic states the first thing you should do is of course revamp your blog. ^_^;; But it was time for a bit of a makeover.

Let me know what you guys think of the new look! Better? Worse? Needs a little something? You're just stopping by for the free cookies? All feedback is welcome. :) Or if you just want to chat, by all means (I will cave and procrastinate at some point for sure, an answer is most likely).

I've also added an new entry onto the "Links" page. It's a blog by a friend of mine, KathrineROID. She blogs about writing techniques, reviews as well as listing internet sites useful for writers. She also currently has two posts which list the fantasy and science fiction subgenres, which I found infinitely helpful! (So now when those writing sites ask you "what kind of fantasy?" if you've struggled answering that question like someone else *cough* this should help you out!)

Highly recommended!

Do head over if you've a moment to spare. :)

Progress

3,000 words of it so far. Okay, it's not super loads, but it sure is more than the 300/week I've been struggling with so far. ^_^;

Amazing what a cup of tea and a good radio station can do, eh?

Hmm...think I'll take a stab at writing that synopsis now.

Synopses...*shudder* my horrid foe.

10 Days Of Kicking Back And Lazy Blogging

Whooo boy, it's certainly been a while since I last posted.

Okay, so I can't lie I've been procrastinating way too much lately. My writing has suffered inevitably but it hasn't been a total waste of time. I've gotten on with some art for Electrostatic Fantasy in my quest to draw some cover art. I've almost completed illustrations of two more characters; Loki, the leader of the group of Aqura*, and Angela. I'm not quite feeling like it's what I'd want on the cover, but I'm still happy I drew it. I'm thinking about including the picture inside the book maybe. Although certain parts of the picture have given me a bit of a tough time, it's still going really well. I'll upload it once it's done.

(*see Excerpts page for definition)

Ten days of lazy-o-days is certainly better than a whole month of "I just can't drag it out of me," but it still leaves a whole lot of stuff in its wake for picking up and burning the midnight oil on afterwards. I'm finally feeling more inspired for writing and drawing, and JanNo can still be won with a few nights of Fanta-binging and some dedicated application of the best writing advice.

Last NaNoWriMo I actually discovered that it is physically possible to complete an entire WriMo (50,000 words) in a minimum of about 5-6. Towards the end, I noticed from the writing stats on my page that during one 24-hours I wrote nearly 9,000 words! That's a personal record...like ever. But it should be noted I was completely wiped-out by the end of it. All I'm saying is it's possible...not that I'm overly eager to test this assertion in practice. ^_^

And yes, part of my inspiration also comes from the fact that...YES, I CAVED and went and bought the Phobia album!

A long-overdo cleanup of the blog might also be in order. Nothing major, just need to update all those little details which I left undone with a "going to finish later" Post-its stuck over 'em. I'm going up update the "Contact the Monkey" tab into an "About" tab while I'm at it, along with other little bits and bobs.

Hmm...love the lyrics in this track...*hums along* ^_^

The Diary of Jane - Breaking Benjamin

Do you know when you hear a really good song and it completely just gets you in a fantastic mood? There's something about that song which just totally blows you away no matter how many times you listen to it?

I discovered the band Breaking Benjamin maybe a year ago. But I'm only recently discovering their list of incredible songs. And right now, the one that I'm most in love with is the acoustic version of The Diary of Jane from their third studio album Phobia. The melody of the song is really something else, especially after having heard the other version of Diary of Jane.

For anyone who is a friend of Rock music, I strongly recommend giving BB a trial run. The acoustic Diary of Jane is somewhat different from their usual style, so by all means give a quick listen to their other tracks. :)

Phobia is available for listening on Spotify as well as is their second album, We Are Not Alone.

Check it out ;)

Umm...Yeah...Uhh...

Okay, so it's not exactly going as well as I was hoping, but nonetheless I have official begun writing my third "raw" manuscript Through Glass. I've also updated the Novels page about it. I decided to rename it because this title sounds...a little easier on the ear me thinks. I haven't got enough material to write a synopsis yet but I'll update that as soon as I've gotten a little further in it.

Besides that I've gotten rather addicted to reading. I've been reading Chasing Midnight by Susan Krinard for the past week. Vampires and werewolves so I thought it was just my thing. I bought the Finnish copy of it though, the title has been translated into "On the Dark Side."

The beginning was a bit slow, but that didn't bother me as the book was easy to read. Now I'm in chapter 4 it's getting to the point where you stay up past midnight telling yourself "just a bit longer, it's such a good bit." Next time you look at the clock, oh it's past 3 AM. I haven't finished the book yet, but once I do I'll probably post a short review about it.

Well, today's update was rather short. But they say big things come in small packages... :D

Happy New Year!!

THE MONKEY WISHES EVERYONE A

VERY HAPPY 2011!!

XD

The monkey is a bit too tired to write more tonight but promises to blog again very soon. Special thanks to everyone for visiting the site. :)

Enjoy the holidays!

~With a Paw Print,

Monkey with Fanta