From the Mind of Trevor Stone

Dragonfest was last week. I've been to several festivals and other large events in the last year, but Dragonfest is still my "home gathering." It's my speed, has the sorts of opportunities I like, and a surprising number of people know my name. The following summary is long and features some parts that are probably boring for folks who aren't attendees. But it's also got some personal triumphs and tribulations, so if you're into following my personal life, read on. If you just want to see pictures, they're here. I also just got stuff up for April through July. ( Brain dump, ho! )

I just heard a remix of Orb's "Little Fluffy Clouds" with an English guy responding to "What were the skies like when you were little?" with "The skies were grey and monotonous and dull... It used to rain a lot. Like it is now." As the question gets asked again, he gets annoyed and repeats himself.

I was just reminded that today's the last day of Daylight Saving Time, meaning tomorrow is my least favorite holiday. I made sure to save up lots of daylight today; while my car's oil was changed and tires rotated, I basked in the sun in a black T-shirt and wrote. Words have been somewhat stilted, the flow isn't there. Hopefully I can build that soon, or 50,000 could be painful.

1790 words today: Ding - Establishing the New (Cauldron), Cui - Bringing Together. I did spend a bunch of time trying to convince my cat to eat antibiotics in pill pockets and/or wet food. I also donned my pirate hat and plundered Vitamin Cottage of its oat milk and cat food. But 1790 words on a day off is pretty pathetic. I want to keep writing for another hour, but I think it would be more frustrating than cathartic. At least I made a tasty potato/egg/onion/paprika/cinnamon omelette for dinner. I hope I'm able to fend off the cold lurking in my throat.

Last year I spent three weeks working on a lame novel and then thought of a better story. In ten days, while sick for much of it, I wrote over 14,000 words toward a goal of 50,000.

Next month (National Novel Writing Month 2007), I'm setting the odometer to 0, but picking my I Ching-based story up. I can write 50,000 words in November, especially since I already have a good sense of characters and my chapters are already laid out for me. You can watch my status or sign up yourself and add me as a "writing buddy." When I got to the "Novel Title" section I figured Sixty Four Chapters About Eight People was a good choice. iTunes random comes in handy yet again.

I've got Huang's translation to use as a base in addition to Wilhelm's. Venerable though it is, some of Wilhelm's quirks were starting to get to me. For one, I found it hard to discern what he meant by key concepts like The Abysmal (water). Wilhelm also had sections I could tell were poorly translated because he used words (such as "God") for which I know ancient Chinese lacked an equivalent with the same philosophical baggage. Huang grew up in China and studied with an old I Ching master when the Communists had banned the book. He explains how the ancient ideograms represent the meaning of the hexagrams, explains senses of the words and a bit of their linguistic evolution, and mentions word choices from other notable authors (Wilhlem and Blofeld). His goal for the book (which took several years and 7 complete drafts) is to provide a faithful translation without interpretation and to provide the reader with an understanding of the gestalt of the hexagrams in addition to their meaning in isolation. I'm sure I'll have more to say about this edition by December, but you could certainly do worse than to buy a copy of The Complete I Ching: The Definitive Translation by the Taoist Master Alfred Huang. (I do object to the term "Taoist Master," but I suppose it helps the book sell.)

In two nights I've amassed 3297 words, well over half of what I produced in the first two plus weeks. Ku (mountain over wind, Work on What Has Spoiled [Decay]), Kuei Mei (thunder over lake, The Marrying Maiden) and Wei Chi (flame over water, Before Completion) have been fluidly well above the 762 word target and haven't induced extensive amounts of living room wandering and detail googling as my other attempt, so I think this version has potential. To hit the target I'll need to go hermit style on Friday through Sunday, but even if I fall short I've got the motivation to keep the ball rolling.