coming up for air

ok, anyone visiting this blog may well have noticed that I have recently disappeared without a trace. Some of this was due to the pressures of organizing my midsummer party – an annual event – and one upon which the sun shone :O) – In Scotland this is not something that can be counted on. The reason I host this is because the life of a writer can be very solitary and I have many friends that I love dearly but rarely see. Some indeed came from far afield – including Joanne who I have seen only once since we shared various mind-numbing university lectures in extremely abstruse mathematics. There are not enough of these events that, momentarily, provide a node where many people’s lives meet.

After that I went camping in the Lake District with some friends. This too is an annual occurrence – though, normally, we go off into the wilds of north-west Scotland – which wildness perhaps better suits my temperament.

Before all this madness began, I was having some difficulties with my ancient historical novel. I had started writing it, but it simply wasn’t ‘energizing’ me… I pulled my head free of it and surveyed the ‘view’… and discovered that I was doing it all wrong! I simply wasn’t being ambitious enough. I know, I know… look what a mess ambition got me in last time *grin* So, I’ve worked out what I need to do to my historical book to make it challenging enough for me and, hopefully, worthy of my readers’ attention… This said, I have put it aside for a while because I am working on another book. It came to me suddenly and I have vanished down a rabbit hole pursuing it ever since. It looks like being a cross between fantasy and sci-fi and is pleasingly bizarre and very strange – just how I like it! *wide grin* I am going to try and write this one quickly… but no promises.

I intend to resume a more regular pace of blogging… but, again, no promises.

Meanwhile, here is a link (it begins on page 12) to an article to which I contributed some muddled thoughts. It’s about Google’s ongoing attempt to put the world’s books online. Overall, this is a goal I tend to feel good about, but I am not at all sure that the way Google is doing it is a good way – indeed, I am a tad suspicious of Google’s motives… This said, I don’t really understand the issues well enough – for some reason, I just have not wanted to engage with them – not sure why, but there it is.

One final thing, I would very much like to put as many of these blog posts up in Portuguese… Though in matters concerning Portuguese editions I am prepared to muddle along in my rather dodgy Portuguese, I really couldn’t face trying to ‘translate’ a blog of this length. If there is anyone out there (or a number of people out there) who might like to do this for me, I would be very grateful.

oh, and I am going to FINALLY get round to responding to a number of comments that were left hanging.

Posted by Ricardo

writer and blogger

5 Replies to “coming up for air”

  1. I’m doing a lot of study for a local college assignment and thought this infomation might be usefull. I will come back in the next couple of weeks and see what else has been added on the topic.Cheers

    Reply

  2. Daniel Cardoso 8th July 2010 at 7:33 pm

    All in all, great news! More books, parties, friends… I’m glad things are getting back on track!

    Also, I’d love to help with the translation, but since I’m so full of work for the next months, I wouldn’t be able to be reliable as to workflow… which isn’t good form. :-/

    Reply

    1. you’re very kind :O)

      Reply

  3. Conceição Sousa 8th July 2010 at 7:23 pm

    Glad to hear that you are having fun with a new project, wishing you tons of good luck. Love the picture, you have a beautiful garden. 😀 About the request for help to translate english to portuguese, I’m here to help you, if you ever need me. 🙂 Just let me know how. And I bet that many people will answer to your request. Again just let me know what you need and I will do my best. And don’t worry, take your time writing the books, I will wait. 😉

    Reply

    1. thank you for the good wishes… The garden is beautiful – and the first I’ve ever had. That stone seat was my own design… it’s rather nice to actually creatre something in the ‘real world’ *grin*

      as for translation… I’m still not entirely sure about this… I suppose if you want to translate this blog – then send it to me at website@ricardopinto.com… we could try and see if that makes any sense…

      Reply

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