Yzabel / July 13, 2005

Looking for Simple Writing Software

For some time, I had been looking for a nice, simple and cheap (read: not more than 50$/€, or, better yet, free) software for writing. The one I currently use is the well-known and very good OpenOffice, and I’m really satisfied with it; however, it lacks an essential component for novel writing in my opinion – the ability to navigate through chapters. When I write, it’s not from Chapter One to Final Chapter, and it becomes a hassle, once I have more than just 20 or 30 pages written, to navigate from one chapter to the other as I follow my inspiration regarding what to write at a precise moment. In a nutshell, what I want from such a software can be summarized as follows:

  • Ability to organize files/chapters into an easily available single project or index, so that I can quickly sift through them
  • Ability to export into a single file, for when I need a complete version to print or send
  • Being close enough to a real word processor, at least when it comes to basic formatting, spellcheck and the likes
  • Not being too expensive
  • Having a trial version, since I don’t buy without testing first
  • A bearable enough GUI. I’m going to work with this a lot, and staring at a butt-ugly software for hours can be discouraging no matter what. (I already have WordPress administration panel when I want that.)

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Yzabel / July 11, 2005

A Writing Theory

Even though this may seem an evidence to some, writing more and more lately has allowed me to finally understand something about my own ways of writing — something that may be key to many blocks I’ve had in the past. Is this something common to other writers, or am I one among few who seemingly understand such evidences very late? I have no idea. I just know that being aware of this has helped me to take gigantic steps in how I had been writing.

There’s a mistake, in my opinion, that should absolutely be avoided when putting down what I could call the “alpha version” of a text, whatever its length: the mistake of absolutely wanting to make it perfect from the start. It only leads to slowing down, to stalling, to starting proof-reading when the article or chapter isn’t even finished yet, and to ending up devoid of all inspiration and ideas, when a few hours ago they had been pressing in one’s mind. There is something very intimidating and very strong in this whole process of proof-reading, really, that will contribute to paralyzing the writer, upon realizing that she didn’t choose her words well enough. This is pretty bad. I wonder if there’s anything worse, in creative writing, than stifling one’s motivation with fears of not being “the best” from second one?…

So, my theory goes as follows: write. Simply write. Write until your fingers go numb on the keyboard or on the pen, write whatever goes through your head as long as the inspiration strikes. Do not bother about grammar rules, about spelling, about this-or-that sentence looking a little odd. Write, and only when it’s done, worry about proof-reading. You will find mistakes, you will find many things that can be improved, and it will sure take some time to fix it all and polish the text until it is finally right; however, at least it will be written, and not frozen into an attempt of correcting it halfway, which tends to kill imagination as well as your basic train of thought.Once again, it is only a theory, and whether it works or not very likely depends a lot on the people. I think I simply found back something that I should never have forgotten at first – that when taking pleasure in writing, it’s important to not stiffle one’s drive early with petty considerations such as proof-reading when the basic idea isn’t even properly laid down yet.In the end, practicing anyway makes us better at finding the right words on the first attempt…

Yzabel / July 10, 2005

Thoughts on Basic Posting Formats in Blogs

This morning, I stumbled upon what I could call an “essay on the basic posting formats in blogs”. This is something I won’t reproduce here, given that the article is divided in seven parts (eight, if you count the index from which you can reach all other parts) and quite long; however, I’d encourage anyone to read it. You can find it here on Contentious.While I’m aware that lots of bloggers don’t exactly care about what their writing style is like, or even about actually having a “style”, I took interest in this from my point of view of aspiring writer, as well as simply driven by curiosity. It doesn’t have anything to do with languages themselves, it doesn’t show a limited interest due to “being written for English-speaking people only”, and thus was instructing on more than one account. Whether in blogs or in other kinds of articles — who knows where the future and potential changes of career can take me or anyone else? — concision and editorial skills can be a valuable asset. So, I didn’t want to pass on the opportunity to take note, in case this would be useful to me later on.Some of these formats are very familiar; some others, such as the series postings, are seen less often. Regardless, there’s something somewhat fascinating in how all of this is shaped, and has developed over the years from simple links filters to a writing that can now be considered as a style.

Yzabel / July 9, 2005

Quid de l’imagination…?

Un peu plus tôt dans la soirée, occupée à explorer les diverses chaînes de notre abonnement TPS nouveau-né, j’ai été frappée par une scène apparemment des plus banales sur Tfou – une petite vache en images de synthèse, invitant son jeune public à lui envoyer diverses occupations pour l’été car, disait-elle, “sa maman n’avait rien trouvé de mieux à lui suggérer que de faire une collection de broccolis”. Lesdites idées de loisirs seraient diffusées ici et là sur la chaîne durant les vacances.Quid de l’étrangeté de cette scène, me direz-vous? Ceci, tout simplement: depuis quand les enfants ont-ils besoin d’une chaîne de télévision pour leur dire comment passer leurs étés? Je ne crois pas que mes amis de l’époque ni moi-même ayons eu besoin de ce genre d’artifices pour nous “tenir occupés”. Bien au contraire, les journées n’étaient jamais assez longues lorsqu’il s’agissait de faire jouer notre imagination fertile. Un vieux balai sans poils devenait un puissant bâton de combat. Le manche d’un maillet de croquet bon marché se transformait en sabre laser. Un tas de terre, dans le lotissement encore en construction où nous vivions alors, se révélait être une montagne infranchissable donnant libre cours à nos escalades d’alpinistes chevronnés à l’aide d’une corde de remorque et d’un morceau de bois en guise de piolet. J’ai d’ailleurs du mal à me souvenir du type de programmes que nous regardions à la télévision à cette époque, étant donné qu’il ne s’agissait pas là de notre activité première.D’où ma question et ma perplexité… Quinze, voire vingt ans plus tard, la nouvelle génération a-t-elle donc vu décliner sa capacité à l’imagination? C’est là une pensée qui me fait froid dans le dos, et qui néanmoins ne m’étonne plus vraiment, car j’ai pu en voir l’illustration flagrante à plusieurs reprises. Une généralisation n’est bien sûr pas de mise; néanmoins, ce petit interlude télévisé m’a laissé un goût amer dans la bouche.L’on en viendrait vraiment à se demander si tout ce que crée notre société n’est rien d’autre qu’un assistanat permanent, à commencer dès le plus jeune âge…

Yzabel / July 9, 2005

HNN Onto London Bombings

HNN has published a number of articles, interviews and analysis about the recent London bombings and what can be seen as warnings and consequences. Whether everyone would agree with the exposed theories or not is another story, but they remain an interesting kind of insight nonetheless.Why the London Attack Was Not Unexpected: An insight on certain opinions that could have been very clear warning sights.The Time of Revenge Has Come: And why the post 9/11 choices and actions have probably helped to shape the current situation worldwide, instead of preventing it. Close to this is also Irfan A. Khawaja’s article.Read more of it on their 7/7 hot topics page.

Yzabel / July 8, 2005

The Eeriness Of A Dark Tube Tunnel

In a much odd way, I caught this through the Guardian’s games blog, and no sooner had I started reading that I rezlized how true, accurate and shocking it was, in all the banality of the moment, when the human brain seems to simply shut off in order to allow us to go through the stress and horror of such a moment.This is David McCarthy’s experience of yesterday’s bombings in London – of one of them, in particular. I cannot truly express everything that is contained in this post, from the calm-before-the-storm seconds preceeding the explosion to the eeriness of getting out alive and not knowing how terrible things had been until the news started reporting it. His post covers it all.

Yzabel / July 7, 2005

Someone Comes To The Web

It had been a little while that I wanted to write something about this – however, I was waiting until I had laid my hands on it, and above all read it, or at least a few pages, in order to not be completely clueless about the matter. The way it’s been released now in Second Life gives me one more reason to do so.Cory Doctorow’s third novel Someone Comes To Town, Someone Leaves Town (yes, the same Cory who writes at Boing Boing) is available since july 1st not only as paperback, but also as a free e-book and as a very nice prims-made book in Second Life. I say “nice”, because I actually picked up a copy there recently, placed it on the first floor of my home/store there, and finds it pretty and well done. Not the easiest thing to read when in such a shape, but nice nonetheless. There’s more to this – Cory Doctorow himself, as reported by Wagner James Au, will be in Second Life on July 24th for an online discussing and signing of his book.More convenient to read, both for SL residents as well as for those who aren’t interested in this virtual world, the free e-book copy is downloadable in PDF, HTML and text formats on Cory’s website. Of course, said book is also available for purchase, in case the paperback version would look more appealing (which it likely does).I’m not very far yet in my reading of said book; however, it has been interesting, to say the least – in a very bizarre kind of way, where the caregiving son of a mountain and a washing-machine tries to spread a free wireless Internet with a group of cyber-anarchists. Yes, this sounds weird; a weird that is quite enjoyable to read.(Tags: book, cory_doctorow, ebook, second_life)

Yzabel / July 6, 2005

XML-RPC and WordPress

Seen in many blogs and online sources in the past two days is this announcement regarding a critical flaw in the XML-RPC PHP function:

Many popular PHP-based blogging, wiki and content management programs can be exploited through a security hole in the way PHP programs handle XML commands. The flaw allows an attacker to compromise a web server, and is found in programs including PostNuke, WordPress, Drupal, Serendipity, phpAdsNew, phpWiki and phpMyFAQ, among others.

(Full article from Netcraft here)I must admit that before reading that, I had absolutely no idea of what XML-RPC was. However, as of today, Matthew Mullenweg (creator of WordPress) has released this statement in his blog:

To clarify for all the confused people WordPress is not affected by the recent XML-RPC problem that lots of other apps were. We use different, more secure libraries for XML-RPC. The problem was discovered by the same guy though, I imagine he was auditing our code and found totally unrelated, which we fixed in our recent release. Of course you wouldn’t guess that from the title, “PHP Blogging Apps Vulnerable to XML-RPC Exploits.” Let’s go down the list: PostNuke – content management; WordPress – blogging; Drupal – content/community management; Serendipity – blogging; phpAdsNew – ad serving; phpWiki – wiki (not blogging); phpMyFAQ – FAQ management. If it bleeds it leads, right? 😉

Best to upgrade to 1.5.1.3 anyway. After all, updates are meant to be used!

Yzabel / July 6, 2005

The Eleusinian Mysteries

A bit of reading regarding the Eleusinian Mysteries. Held annually in the city of Eleusis in honor of Demeter and her daughter Persephone, they were the most sacred and revered ritual celebration of ancient Greece, their origin possibly dating back to the early Mycenaean period.Quite a long essay (for a web page), but an instructing one, discussing the known facts about these Eleusinian rites. A shame that not much is known about how they were taking place exactly.