The 12 Stages of the Hero's Journey

I finished reading the Kite Runner. I must have mentioned that. I won't rehash it. I'm reading the Dummies Guide to Writing a Novel and Getting published now. Shouldn't that be "Dummy's Guide", or possibly "Dummies' Guide"? Oh, hang on. I'm looking at it now, it's, "Writing a Novel and Getting Published for Dummies". I'll go with that. Whatever, it's actually really good. I have read thousands of these get-published-quick guides, and they have been universally crap. Maybe I just can't write for toffee. This one appears to make sense anyway.

It all comes down to the 12 stages of your hero's journey you know. That and the seven basic stories. Just seven basic plot lines cover just about every novel ever written! Who'd have thought it eh? Of course, some stories fall in to multiple categories. Lord of the Rings seems to fall into just about every category. I need to carry a notebook and pencil around with me. That's what writers do apparently.

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Gordon Brown has said he's not going to attend the Olympic opening ceremony. I think that's unusually decisive. Generally the man buggers about for weeks before making a decision, and then invariably looks a prat. The US leg of the torch relay was a complete farce yesterday. They changed the route at the eleventh hour to avoid the protests, and the billions of people who had assembled to see the spectacle were left wondering what the hell happened. Australia has said that the Chinese thugs won't be allowed to escort the flame in Australia.

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House prices are crashing and the Bank of England has lowered interest rates again to 5%

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It's my brother's birthday today. Happy Birthday to him.

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And absolutely nothing else interesting happened today.