The first sentence I wrote today…

The landing craft banked, turned, and came back for a second pass. Current word count: 21,720New words this session: 983Percentage of novel completed: 21.7

The first sentence I wrote Wednesday…

But the fear came back when another explosion shook his apartment so violently a large chunk of the ceiling dropped onto his just-vacated bed. Word count as of Wednesday: 20,737New words that session: 523Percentage of novel completed: 20.7

Why does Atkins work? YY, that’s why!

The secret to why high-protein diets work may have been found–and may lead to products that achieve the same result without forcing people to give up bread. Mmmmm…bread…

If you’re kind of a lefty on some things, and a righty on others (politically)…

…what should you be called? Here’s a contest at Pajamas Media to come up with a name. Enter to win (what else) a pair of pajamas! I’ve always hated political pigeon-holing and the assumption that because you hold position A about one topic (say, the invasion of Iraq) you must therefore hold position B about …

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Neanderthals and humans lived side by side

I was going to title my link to this New Scientist article, “I wonder if Robert J. Sawyer knows about this?” I should have known better. He blogged it before I did.

The first sentence I wrote today…

“Is that it?” Dahlia asked as Emily tightened the last strap on the last of an inordinate number of bundles in the mini-sub they’d rented for their camping trip. Current word count: 20,214New words this session: 1,527Percentage of novel completed: 20.2 Over a fifth of the way through! (The first draft. With lots and lots …

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This is astonishing…

Not long ago, the idea of conducting an experiment on a single strand of DNA seemed far beyond the realm of science. But thanks to rapid advances in microscopy in the last decade, researchers can now watch a single gene being transcribed from DNA–one atom at a time–or observe the activity of a protein molecule …

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Interpreting the landscape from above

This week, I finally saw copies of A Safe and Prosperous Future: 100 Years of Engineering and Geoscience Achievements in Saskatchewan, the book I spent a great deal of the last year or so working on for the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Saskatchewan. The book is full of (I hope) interesting stories …

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The first sentence I wrote today…

Richard’s cabin aboard the BPS Sanctification had no windows, and though no doubt the bridge crew could view a multiplicity of video feeds showing the ship’s exterior, he didn’t have access to them on his little screen. Current word count: 18,687New words this session: 1,720Percentage of novel completed: 18.6

Um…isn’t this really kind of good news?

I don’t mean to make light (if you’ll pardon the expression) of the healthy problems associated with obesity, but isn’t it really kind of good news that overweight people now outnumber the malnourished?

The first sentence I wrote Friday…

She cast around for some way to keep the conversation going, even though she really would have preferred it to end, and something said on the pier came back to her. Current word count: 16,967New words this session: 1,096Percentage of novel completed: 16.9

The Walrus likes Lost in Translation

I’ve been released from heck: The Walrus likes Lost in Translation!. My favorite quote from her post: You’ve really got to hand it to an author who can make you rather like a creature with tentacles around his beaked face who engages in Realpolitik. I think that should go on the paperback cover. Speaking of …

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