Normality? No, I don't think I'm familiar with the concept

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 18:27:28 GMT

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8392791.stm

Now, I'm not an economist or banker, but surely, the following applies:
Government organisations do not make profits - any excess funds generated by income are channelled back into the organisation as infrastructure, or direct to the treasury as revenue.
RBS is 70% (soon to be 84%) government-owned.
Therefore, 70% (soon to be 84%) of RBS's profits should go immediately to the treasury, or be used as investment in new branches and employees, and any bonuses the directors want to pay should come out of the 30% (soon to be 16%) profits remaining to them.

Now, if RBS's investment banking division made a £6bn profit this year, and 70% of that is £4.2bn, then RBS have £1.8bn left to pay any bonuses they want - and they want to pay £1.5bn in bonuses to the investment banking division (a figure which is 25% of that division's profits). I don't see a problem with that. If they want to spend over 80% of their profits on rewarding irresponsible dickheads who were largely responsible for getting them into a situation where 70% of their business is now government-owned, that is fine by me. It will leave them with only £300m to play with next year, and that will mean that it will be impossible to generate such huge profits, which in turn means the bonuses will be reduced to a sensible amount, and maybe they'll get the message.

Or maybe they could just be sensible right now and only pay 25% of their £1.8bn profit in bonuses, which is still a ridiculously huge amount (£450m), but at least it's one that can be comprehended by the average person who earns £20k a year.

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 21:32:41 GMT

I have finished my NaNoWriMo with a final (unedited) total of 57,727 words (-150 approx for wordcount validator variation).

It covers 132 sides of A4.
Day 1 wordcount was 3,671 (3rd highest of 5).
Largest positive difference between wordcount and ideal wordcount was 7,727 (30th - lowest).
Largest negative difference between wordcount and ideal wordcount was -12,544 (15th - largest).
Most words written per day was 4,628 (21st - 4th highest).
Highest average words per day was 2,341 (2nd - lowest).
Final average words per day (final wordcount divided by 30) was 1,924 (2nd highest).
Overall average words per day (average of the daily averages) was 1,366 (lowest).

So, overall, not the best NaNoWriMo experience, but one of the most satisfying, I think, considering the circumstances.

All being well, it should appear in book form in April.

NaNoWriMo 2009 Winner!

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 23:51:48 GMT

50,448 words!
And I'm still a good 4000 or 5000 words off finishing the story.

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 17:07:31 GMT

I've filled up my LibraryThing allocation of 100 books, and I've barely covered half the books I've got (hell, I've barely covered half the Pratchetts'!), probably a lot less.

My Library at LibraryThing

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 14:39:47 GMT

I'm in credit for five minutes, and the bank decides to cancel my overdraft facility. But that's not all - they cancelled it on the 15th, wrote a letter to tell me about it on the 25th, which arrived today.

The only reason I'm in credit is because I was awaiting my ESA appeal decision - and in that time I was, for some reason, still getting paid ESA. So I let it stack up, in case they demanded it back. But I had my appeal on the 18th, and they turned it down (we are appealing that decision), and on the 20th I went into the bank to pay in the money I've got so far from sale of my books at IDWCon (and what with converting it back to GBP from EUR, I'll be lucky to break even), and wrote a cheque for £500 to pay off some of my credit card. And the machine I used to check my balance afterwards said I still had my overdraft available. But now apparently, I don't.

Librarything

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 21:16:42 GMT

Thanks to ciciaye mentioning it, I've been reminded to add the Have Sword & Sorcery: Will Travel™ books to Librarything.

So, anyone who's read it, reviews and ratings would be most useful. Thank you.

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 23:43:31 GMT

Today's count: 40,192
Today's ideal and target: 40,000

Woohoo!

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 22:23:44 GMT

Now I remember why I don't listen to the Wicked soundtrack that often. I've had earworms since Friday (when I listened to it).

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 23:56:04 GMT

Today's count: 36,810
Today's ideal: 38,333

Target on the 24th: 40,000

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 23:55:06 GMT

Today's count: 33,449
Today's ideal: 36,667

Target on the 24th: 40,000

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 23:52:37 GMT

Today's count: 30,070
Today's ideal: 35,000

Target on the 24th: 40,000

I appear to be back on track

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:55:40 GMT

Today's count: 25,442
Today's ideal: 33,333

Today's target: 25,000
Target on the 24th: 40,000

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 23:59:13 GMT

Today's count: 21,617
Today's ideal: 31,667
Target on the 24th: 40,000

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:03:12 GMT

Today's count: 18,360
Today's ideal: 30,000

As I stand virtually no chance of getting to 35k by the 21st, I've revised my target:

Target on the 24th: 40,000

Argle!

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 01:12:51 GMT

Okay, so here's the thing...

The instalment of HS&S:WT that I'm writing now was always going to have to have included personal conflict between the male and female leads. The story would have hardly any dramatic tension otherwise, and the second half of it would lack a conflict of interest to be overcome.

The problem is, what with recent events, every time I write a bit plot-essential argument, I no longer have the will to continue afterwards. And, as I'm 12.5k behind on my wordcount already, and needing to write at least 4k/day for a week to get back on track, I am rapidly running out of time - the knowledge of which is also demoralising, thus increasing the amount of time I spend procrastinating.

My only hope is that said second half of the book is about to start (and it'll have to be a long half of 35k compared to the first half's 15k), during which there will be very little (or no) opportunity for there to be a row between Cullan and Alys.

Feck!

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 23:54:25 GMT

Today's count: 15,890
Today's ideal: 28,333
Target on the 21st: 35,000

Things were going well, then I wrote a row, and now things are going slow again. And tomorrow, I have my appeal tribunal hearing for my ESA, and on Thursday I'm going to be out more-or-less all day.

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:00:50 GMT

I've just found that Walter, today a rather geeky, weedy name, means, in the original Germanic, "powerful warrior, army ruler". Guess what I'm naming one of my new characters!

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 23:56:50 GMT

Today's count: 14,387
Today's ideal: 26,667
Target on the 21st: 35,000

Things are looking better, but still nowhere near as many words per day as I need to reach my target.

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:01:15 GMT

Today's count: 12,456
Today's ideal: 25,000
Target on the 21st: 35,000

Roomshare at DWCon2010

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 12:08:23 GMT

Anyone need a roomshare for the above event? I've pretty much decided to go, but can't really afford to stay in a single room. Contact me at brian at sabremeister dot me dot uk if interested. Thanks.

NaNoWriMo

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 19:04:50 GMT

I'm 15,000 words behind on my wordcount. That's what going to a convention and getting dumped does to a novel's progress. Still, I think I may be able tonight, to continue, and be back on track in a week or less.

Today's count: 9,245
Today's ideal: 23,333
Target on the 21st: 35,000

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 13:18:46 GMT

Well, it's really all over now. Just a few pieces of shrapnel to clear up, and so on. Going to a gig with my sister this evening to take my mind off things. I'm 12000 words behind on my NaNo, but I've still got just enough time to finish by the 30th

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 22:07:45 GMT

Nicola just dumped me

NaNoWriMo

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:58:30 GMT

NaNo seems to have been going slow so far, which was not good, seeing as how I'll only have a couple of hours a day for the next week or so in which to write. But I've just completed my first fight scene, and suddenly, the next bits of plot are all lining up waiting for me to blunder through them. I only hope I can remember things long enough to get them written down.

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 15:44:12 GMT

Since lots of people seem to be posting links to LOLCats recently, here's another one...