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Post by aurorawatcher on Oct 13, 2012 22:49:23 GMT -5
I just learned of this site and thought, yeah, good idea.
I grew up in a reading household and starting writing when I was about 12. That was a long time ago. I've written quite a few books, but am currently working on a series of Christian fantasy that I think might be publishable if I can find a publisher.
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Post by newburydave on Oct 14, 2012 14:28:52 GMT -5
Welcome Aurorawatcher Glad to see you on the Anomaly, hope we can help you reach your goals. We have a number of published authors in the Anomaly and in my online Peer-to-Peer authors Critique group "The Anomalous Sandbox" (see the links in my signature line below). They're very helpful. Getting published is a subject that has been discussed at some length in some of the threads. Aside from our resident experts there are a lot of references available in our host, Jeff Gerke's website www.wherethemapends.com/main.htm and his new avatar www.marcherlordpress.com/. Another link I can recommend is Randy Ingermansons www.advancedfictionwriting.com/index.php . There's some free stuff linked to the first page that I found very helpful. At any rate, welcome. Pull up a hoverchair (oh right, fantasy) um... maybe a willing dragon, and join the party. Write on sis SGD dave I saw an aurora once, out at sea, they are awesome. |
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Post by LauraAD on Oct 14, 2012 19:50:33 GMT -5
I just learned of this site and thought, yeah, good idea. I grew up in a reading household and starting writing when I was about 12. That was a long time ago. I've written quite a few books, but am currently working on a series of Christian fantasy that I think might be publishable if I can find a publisher. :DIve never been to Alaska but it is on my "want to" list. |
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Post by fluke on Oct 15, 2012 9:15:20 GMT -5
Welcome aboard.
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Post by Kristen on Oct 16, 2012 15:49:35 GMT -5
Welcome, Aurora!
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Post by Kessie on Oct 17, 2012 22:07:06 GMT -5
Welcome! If you want some critiques on your works in progress, the Sandbox NewburyDave linked you to is a great resource. There's, what, five of us working away right now? We're also gearing up for Nanowrimo, so it'll get quiet once November hits.
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Post by aurorawatcher on Oct 21, 2012 14:39:03 GMT -5
Laura, you and I know one another from Authonomy. I write under Lela Markham over there, but my real name is Lauri.
Kessie, what's Nanowrimo?
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Post by aurorawatcher on Oct 21, 2012 14:52:33 GMT -5
NewburyDave, there's an interesting story connected to my screen name that speaks to faith.
When I was in college, I interviewed the head of the Alaska Geophysical Institute's geomagnetic studies program. In the conversation, I mentioned that I had heard the aurora. He informed me that hearing the aurora was a scientific impossibility. I pointed out that I had heard it more than once (it sounds a little like radio static). He had all sorts of reasonable explanations to why I thought I had heard what couldn't be heard, but basically, he was saying that a journalism major was not a scientist and I was mistaken in what I believed.
Which sounds incredibly familiar to what atheists say about faith, doesn't it?
We parted amicably with my saying that I knew what I'd experienced and that if he ever experienced the same, he'd know what I knew.
Several years later, I attended a reception for this same professor who was now becoming the head of the Geophysical Institute. When we shook hands, he paused and stared at me and then said "Ah, the aurora watcher." (He is Japanese, so imagine the accent). He drew me off to a quiet corner and explained that he had heard the aurora while on a remote research site. He'd been up answering the call of nature and nobody else had heard it and he'd not been able to record it, so technically, scientifically, the aurora was still inaudible, but he KNEW that it could be heard. He'd wanted to find me to tell me, but hadn't remembered my name.
The official stand of the AKGeo 25 years later is that the aurora may be audible under the right conditions, but that it has not been proven scientifically. There's one recording, but they need several more before they'll officially change that stance, but I know that Dr. Akasofu (who is now retired) KNOWS the aurora is audible.
As Christians, we have that conversation every day with non-believers. We KNOW what we believe is truth, but until they experience it themselves, they'll keep demanding scientific evidence. If they ever encounter Christ personally, they'll KNOW Him as we do and all the scientific scoffing in the world won't make a bit of difference.
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Post by newburydave on Oct 21, 2012 16:21:23 GMT -5
Aurora;
Now that's interesting. I and the others on the night clean up crew all heard the Auroa (four of us total).
We were working at a religious conference center on the Isles of Shoals, eight miles off the coast of New Hampshire, in the North Atlantic. It was about 0200 in the morning when one of the guys came running in from the front porch yelling that we should come look.
It covered the entire northern quadrant of our view from the ocean up about 60 degrees. The aurora noise was quite loud, it sounded like radio static. The volume was variable but rather loud as I remember it. It lasted for more than an hour. It was totally awesome.
My father was a Merchant Marine officer during WWII. He told me of seeing many Auroras in the North Atlantic, especially during the winter. I guess they are common in over the northern seas.
SGD
dave
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Post by aurorawatcher on Oct 21, 2012 18:28:27 GMT -5
The aurora is usually northern to most people in the northern hemisphere and southern to those in the southern hemisphere. Only here in Alaska, you get a crick in your neck because it's right overhead. We can't see it in the summer because the sun is down for only a few hours a night and the sky never gets dark. Starting in mid-September, we can see it late at night and then as the winter deepens we can see it earlier and earlier. The other night it was all over the sky, mostly white and pale-green, but with flickers of violet. As the winter deepens, we'll see more color. Red is the most prized and rare display.
The price of admission to the aurora show is cold feet because it's always winter here when we see it. My husband gets around the crick-in-the-neck by climbing on the roof in his refriger-wear and laying in the snow to watch, but I'm a wimp.
I haven't heard the aurora in a number of years. You usually have to be in a remote location and we're usually watching from our deck amid the neighboring houses. Our daughter heard it last winter while viewing from the top of a nearby mountain. I think, and Dr. Akasofu agreed, that not every display is low enough in the ionosphere to be heard, which is why auroral scientists go their entire careers without ever hearing it.
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Post by newburydave on Oct 21, 2012 19:44:45 GMT -5
So we Aurorahearers are some of the gifted few, eh?
Kind of like being a Christian in a sense.
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Post by Kessie on Oct 21, 2012 20:32:24 GMT -5
What great stories! We can't see the aurora down here in southern California, but it's on my bucket list. They're always trying to predict the aurora on the Accuweather astronomy facebook page, and he's getting better at it.
Nanowrimo is National Novel Writer's Month, where you write a whole novel in a month. It starts November 1st, so a bunch of us around here are gearing up. It's kind of like running a marathon. You have to have your outline whipped into shape before the event starts. :-)
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Post by aurorawatcher on Oct 21, 2012 20:36:00 GMT -5
I definitely could not write a decent novel in a month. I could bang together something amateurish and boring in a month. Fast fiction is just not one of my skills.
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Post by beckyminor on Oct 22, 2012 12:20:51 GMT -5
Welcome aurorawatcher! Thanks for sharing your very cool story. I hope you find some excellent writing comrades here, and may the Lord bless your endeavors.
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Post by LauraAD on Oct 27, 2012 20:18:15 GMT -5
Laura, you and I know one another from Authonomy. I write under Lela Markham over there, but my real name is Lauri. Kessie, what's Nanowrimo? Oh that's awesome sauce! Hi again, then.  Again...then....is that rhyme or slant rhyme? |
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