Day two was a little slower, but not too much. I started off thinking I'd be a cheater (according to the rules, it wasn't cheating - it was a suggestion in Baty's book, as a matter of fact, but to me it seemed like cheating) and rewrite a section I'd rethunk, but keep the old section in still. But when I rewrote, I ended up finding a way to keep the old section in legitimately, HAH! So there. No cheating, plus I increased the word count easily.
I kept wanting yesterday to come back to the book and add more, but didn't let myself. That way 1) lies madness, adding little dribs & drabs all day 2) makes my fambly annoyed, never being completely THERE for them (though I thought about the book all day & evening anyway, by not acting on it they couldn't tell - maybe) 3) keeps me from losing momentum, because when I sat down to write this morning it BURST out of me, being all pent-up and such.
Selah is now to the point of having figured out finger spelling, and let me tell you, it warn't easy to get him there. It's tough conceptually, and since I don't know how it's taught, I had to figure out how *I* would teach it if I had to. I worried a bit about being pilloried by deaf persons and teachers of the deaf, but since I'm writing it for myself and for my family (and for George), I made myself not worry about it.
And I can always change it later if I ever find out.
So now I have 5049 words, only the NaNo site is still down, so I can't record it. If it isn't up by the 25th I will be really annoyed. I plan to win this by finishing, and I want it verified and documented!!!
Anyway, I am 1/10 of the way through, by word count at least.
~Cheers
11/2/08
11/1/08
NaNoWriMo Day 1
I am doing NaNoWriMo - in case there's anyone in the known universe I haven't yet told - and I am going to try to blog every so often about it.
Today was day 1, and I've been looking forward to it SO MUCH! Also been scared about it, but I started off well. It helped a lot that it was Saturday. I went to Panera (favorite shop in the world) and got some coffee (half-caf with half-and-half) and started writing. And the story took over. I'm writing historical fiction, and already the fiction has taken over the history, not only in the story but in my mind! I hope no one in the extended family gets mad about the things I'm inventing about Selah, but hey, it's FICTION, right? ;-)
I could not believe how fast it went, despite all my fears, especially once I stopped worrying about word choices and just plowed ahead. 2351 words in under 2 hours, I can't get over it! I thought it would take more like 3 hours. And I'd only planned a little bit of it ahead of time. And I had a couple of other ideas along the way, too, though I've already forgotten them, so I need to start writing things down, darn it.
Anyway, I hope it continues to go this well at least for a few days. If I can get 10K words I will feel I am on my way and too far along to stop.
Good luck to everyone else doing this!!!
~Cheers
Today was day 1, and I've been looking forward to it SO MUCH! Also been scared about it, but I started off well. It helped a lot that it was Saturday. I went to Panera (favorite shop in the world) and got some coffee (half-caf with half-and-half) and started writing. And the story took over. I'm writing historical fiction, and already the fiction has taken over the history, not only in the story but in my mind! I hope no one in the extended family gets mad about the things I'm inventing about Selah, but hey, it's FICTION, right? ;-)
I could not believe how fast it went, despite all my fears, especially once I stopped worrying about word choices and just plowed ahead. 2351 words in under 2 hours, I can't get over it! I thought it would take more like 3 hours. And I'd only planned a little bit of it ahead of time. And I had a couple of other ideas along the way, too, though I've already forgotten them, so I need to start writing things down, darn it.
Anyway, I hope it continues to go this well at least for a few days. If I can get 10K words I will feel I am on my way and too far along to stop.
Good luck to everyone else doing this!!!
~Cheers
10/11/08
Books, Books, Books
Zora Neale Hurston's Tell My Horse: Voodoo and Life in Haiti and Jamaica is an amazing book. I read it on my 2500-mile journey at the end of the summer, and while it gave me one bad moment (I was up reading about zombies in the wee hours, in Savannah, and S came creeping into the room to see if I'd fallen asleep with the light on - scared me silly!), the book had me enthralled from the first page to the last. Despite having been published in 1934, the book is still remarkably up to date, according to a Haitian student of mine whose grandmother practices Vodou.
Vodou aside, Tell My Horse is a fascinating glimpse into the lives of people in 1930s Jamaica and Haiti. Hurston was many things, but most of all she was a phenomenal storyteller with a terrific sense of humor. In a sense, Jamaica, Haiti and Vodou are only ancillary to the book - the real interest lies in the individual people and the way their lives were shaped by their beliefs. I learned a great deal from Hurston's book, and I enjoyed it tremendously.
The next book I read was Ann Patchett's The Magician's Assistant. This is my first Patchett - I ordered several of her novels from paperbackswap after hearing her interviewed about her most recent novel, Run, on NPR. (I am rich with pbs credits right now, having not ordered much in a while.) The Magician's Assistant opens with the death of the magician, and it unfolds like one of those magic boxes that turns out to have more hidden chambers than seem physically possible. I did anticipate the very end, but was surprised by every single plot twist before it; by the time I finished the book, I was emotionally exhausted and felt I'd been on a long journey with the protagonist. It is, as the title suggests, a magical book, and particularly well suited for anyone who likes stage magic or magicians.
There have been several books in between that weren't all that notable, but I have to talk about The Graveyard Book, the latest from my favorite living author, Neil Gaiman. For a couple of years now, Gaiman has been blogging about writing it, and those of us who have followed his blog have been waiting anxiously to hold the finished product in our hands. (I am asking for the audio version for the holidays, as there is nothing to compare with Gaiman reading his own work.) I started out reading it together with R and N, but then I sneaked ahead and read the rest on my own - though I am still reading it aloud with them - and the best word I can think of to describe it is: "beautiful."
The Graveyard Book is about Bod, a living boy raised by the inhabitants of a graveyard - I won't ruin it by telling you how this comes about, as that is part of the story. The border between living and dead; those who are not quite either; the question of just what earns the label "monster" - these are themes Gaiman has dealt with before, and masterfully. What makes this book different, more wonderful than his other wonderful books, is that it really is for almost all ages. I don't think it would hold the attention of most 3-year-olds; but my 8-year-old loves it, and finds it creepy and scary and yet just right for her age; I've sent it to my 14-year-old niece, who I am sure will find it perfectly suited to her age; I know my 18-year-old daughter will want to read it when she gets home from college in December; and I think my mother will enjoy it thoroughly as well.
Not too many books you can say that about - not truthfully.
~Cheers
Vodou aside, Tell My Horse is a fascinating glimpse into the lives of people in 1930s Jamaica and Haiti. Hurston was many things, but most of all she was a phenomenal storyteller with a terrific sense of humor. In a sense, Jamaica, Haiti and Vodou are only ancillary to the book - the real interest lies in the individual people and the way their lives were shaped by their beliefs. I learned a great deal from Hurston's book, and I enjoyed it tremendously.
The next book I read was Ann Patchett's The Magician's Assistant. This is my first Patchett - I ordered several of her novels from paperbackswap after hearing her interviewed about her most recent novel, Run, on NPR. (I am rich with pbs credits right now, having not ordered much in a while.) The Magician's Assistant opens with the death of the magician, and it unfolds like one of those magic boxes that turns out to have more hidden chambers than seem physically possible. I did anticipate the very end, but was surprised by every single plot twist before it; by the time I finished the book, I was emotionally exhausted and felt I'd been on a long journey with the protagonist. It is, as the title suggests, a magical book, and particularly well suited for anyone who likes stage magic or magicians.
There have been several books in between that weren't all that notable, but I have to talk about The Graveyard Book, the latest from my favorite living author, Neil Gaiman. For a couple of years now, Gaiman has been blogging about writing it, and those of us who have followed his blog have been waiting anxiously to hold the finished product in our hands. (I am asking for the audio version for the holidays, as there is nothing to compare with Gaiman reading his own work.) I started out reading it together with R and N, but then I sneaked ahead and read the rest on my own - though I am still reading it aloud with them - and the best word I can think of to describe it is: "beautiful."
The Graveyard Book is about Bod, a living boy raised by the inhabitants of a graveyard - I won't ruin it by telling you how this comes about, as that is part of the story. The border between living and dead; those who are not quite either; the question of just what earns the label "monster" - these are themes Gaiman has dealt with before, and masterfully. What makes this book different, more wonderful than his other wonderful books, is that it really is for almost all ages. I don't think it would hold the attention of most 3-year-olds; but my 8-year-old loves it, and finds it creepy and scary and yet just right for her age; I've sent it to my 14-year-old niece, who I am sure will find it perfectly suited to her age; I know my 18-year-old daughter will want to read it when she gets home from college in December; and I think my mother will enjoy it thoroughly as well.
Not too many books you can say that about - not truthfully.
~Cheers
9/23/08
Beginning of Fall
I've changed my profile back to myself - N is back in school and too busy to blog, and after 2500 miles of driving in three weeks, I am finally into a routine that allows me to blog again. First, the only mandala I managed all summer:
It is canvas, 24x24. It gave me great pleasure in the creation, and now both this and my original painted mandala are hanging in the front hall. I'd hoped for many more this summer, obviously, but only made this one, plus a couple of small paper ones that I did manage to mail out to people I hadn't contacted in a couple of years. I broke a lot of conventions I had felt constrained by when I made this particular mandala, so I was rather pleased with myself - it is freer and more open than most of my mandalas have been in the past. Happy days!
I also have some of C's lovely artwork to show this morning, from his theater classes. Here are some character sketches he did in marker. I'm sorry most of them are sideways, but I can't find a way to turn them. The first is, of course, loosely N, while the rest are fictional characters:
And then we have another of N's wonderful square mandalas:
And a beautiful mandala done first in pencil on paper by my niece S, and then stunningly in paint on an 18" round canvas:
Nice, eh? I know they LOOK like they're the same size, but the canvas is much larger than the paper. Know that she is a 13-yr-old Goth, and that the outer portion is waves of blood, and you will have a clearer idea of the design elements.
It was a tough summer, and not nearly long enough. I spent the first six weeks or so of it sick, and the rest of it trying to catch up on everything I'd fallen behind on. We had some good visits with and from friends/family, but there was always something else going on at the same time, and let me tell you, I am tired of multiplexing.
At the end of the summer was a positive storm of activity: driving Z to Chatham in Pittsburgh (very emotional), then returning for N's synchronized swimming show, which was wonderful. Driving down to Newport News, VA with N & C for W's wedding (great fun and also very emotional), then returning for two and a half days of teaching and frantic packing. And finally, driving to Savannah, GA to take C to SCAD (again with the emotion!)
I felt all wrung out last week, but am finally settling down to peace and quiet now and an easy-going routine of having just three schedules in the house. N is thriving in her only-child status, and while I miss C & Z tremendously and cannot wait for Thanksgiving when I will see them again, I am enjoying the one-on-one time with N. She loves to sing, and has a lovely voice. She's already able to sing rounds and is learning to sing harmonies, which is highly gratifying! Her favorite songs are "American songs" (i.e. rousing patriotic anthems she can sing at the top of her lungs or slowly and lugubriously) and "Jewish songs" (i.e. sung in Yiddish or Hebrew so she can roll her r's lavishly). She learns them so fast that the other day she said, "Even though I wasn't born Jewish, I think I was meant to be, because I learn these so fast," and her comment gave me goosebumps because it was what I had just that moment been thinking: these songs come so naturally to her . . . .
R's back is in terrible shape from one end to the other. He goes for another MRI, this time of the top of the spine, later this week. He had another three injections of cortisone last week and while they helped almost immediately, they've already worn off. Not A Good Sign. We're not mentioning the S(urgery) word yet, but I do suspect it will come to that eventually. Later rather than sooner, I hope.
And that's the news for now. More artwork soon, I hope!
~Cheers
It is canvas, 24x24. It gave me great pleasure in the creation, and now both this and my original painted mandala are hanging in the front hall. I'd hoped for many more this summer, obviously, but only made this one, plus a couple of small paper ones that I did manage to mail out to people I hadn't contacted in a couple of years. I broke a lot of conventions I had felt constrained by when I made this particular mandala, so I was rather pleased with myself - it is freer and more open than most of my mandalas have been in the past. Happy days!I also have some of C's lovely artwork to show this morning, from his theater classes. Here are some character sketches he did in marker. I'm sorry most of them are sideways, but I can't find a way to turn them. The first is, of course, loosely N, while the rest are fictional characters:
And then we have another of N's wonderful square mandalas:
And a beautiful mandala done first in pencil on paper by my niece S, and then stunningly in paint on an 18" round canvas:
Nice, eh? I know they LOOK like they're the same size, but the canvas is much larger than the paper. Know that she is a 13-yr-old Goth, and that the outer portion is waves of blood, and you will have a clearer idea of the design elements.It was a tough summer, and not nearly long enough. I spent the first six weeks or so of it sick, and the rest of it trying to catch up on everything I'd fallen behind on. We had some good visits with and from friends/family, but there was always something else going on at the same time, and let me tell you, I am tired of multiplexing.
At the end of the summer was a positive storm of activity: driving Z to Chatham in Pittsburgh (very emotional), then returning for N's synchronized swimming show, which was wonderful. Driving down to Newport News, VA with N & C for W's wedding (great fun and also very emotional), then returning for two and a half days of teaching and frantic packing. And finally, driving to Savannah, GA to take C to SCAD (again with the emotion!)
I felt all wrung out last week, but am finally settling down to peace and quiet now and an easy-going routine of having just three schedules in the house. N is thriving in her only-child status, and while I miss C & Z tremendously and cannot wait for Thanksgiving when I will see them again, I am enjoying the one-on-one time with N. She loves to sing, and has a lovely voice. She's already able to sing rounds and is learning to sing harmonies, which is highly gratifying! Her favorite songs are "American songs" (i.e. rousing patriotic anthems she can sing at the top of her lungs or slowly and lugubriously) and "Jewish songs" (i.e. sung in Yiddish or Hebrew so she can roll her r's lavishly). She learns them so fast that the other day she said, "Even though I wasn't born Jewish, I think I was meant to be, because I learn these so fast," and her comment gave me goosebumps because it was what I had just that moment been thinking: these songs come so naturally to her . . . .
R's back is in terrible shape from one end to the other. He goes for another MRI, this time of the top of the spine, later this week. He had another three injections of cortisone last week and while they helped almost immediately, they've already worn off. Not A Good Sign. We're not mentioning the S(urgery) word yet, but I do suspect it will come to that eventually. Later rather than sooner, I hope.
And that's the news for now. More artwork soon, I hope!
~Cheers
7/21/08
Movies and Mandalas
Yes, we have Gotham fever here. C has seen "The Dark Knight" four times in the past three days, and the rest of us (N excepted) have each seen it once. I thought it was tremendous, as did Z; R was underwhelmed, but I think he missed the point. He isn't a Batman fan, which is part of the problem. His back hurts, too, so sitting in a movie theatre is painful - another part of the problem.Heath Ledger was amazing. I thought I would find it painful to watch his last performance, but I was so mesmerized by his acting that I completely forgot about the role having put him over the edge.
C&I also saw "Hellboy II," which I enjoyed, though it wasn't nearly the movie "Dark Knight" was. The creatures of Faerie were pretty darned cool - it was a beautiful, eerie film.
In other news, Z is now officially graduated, and has her diploma (misspelled) in hand. Her party was fun, and the house is, temporarily, cleaner and neater than usual. I spent yesterday and today patching her two quilts - this took hours, literally, but they are now ready to accompany her to college in a month (boo hoo!).
And today I finally began painting again. The mandala started out as planned, but rapidly took on a life of its own. The background became all Monet-y, and then the flower petals, which I had thought would be stark white, turned into waterlily-colored ones, though they're not shaped like waterlilies. So the whole thing is evolving into something altogether different from what I'd originally envisioned, which is fine, just surprising. I'm enjoying it tremendously, but I really need to call the rheumatologist tomorrow, because after painting for a while I could hardly straighten up, and am now typing this while flat on my back on the heating pad. Not good.
Hope I can work on it again tomorrow. I'll try to upload a picture soon.
~Cheers
7/4/08
Slightly Hampered
I cannot find the cable that connects my camera to my pc. This would be more of a concern if my house weren't such a wreck; however, I feel there is still hope, so long as I get some serious cleaning done. Which NEEDS to be done soon anyway, given the imminence of Z's graduation party and several sets of houseguests.
In the meantime, I can run to CVS when my camera card fills up and have the machine make me a cd for $3, which I can then upload to the pc. Not too annoying, and a lot faster than cleaning up. ;-)
Here's N's mandala:
And the one I referred to much earlier, of mine:
At the Jepson Museum of Art in Savannah, there were some really cool photographic displays we played with. Here are Z & N in two of them:
Cool, eh?
And here is ONE of C's artworks from this past year, his pointillism project, which is just amazing, as far as I am concerned:
That's it for now - we're off to see "Wanted" (C & me) and "Wall-E" (Z&N). Happy 4th! Poor R is working. :-(
~Cheers
In the meantime, I can run to CVS when my camera card fills up and have the machine make me a cd for $3, which I can then upload to the pc. Not too annoying, and a lot faster than cleaning up. ;-)
Here's N's mandala:
And the one I referred to much earlier, of mine:
At the Jepson Museum of Art in Savannah, there were some really cool photographic displays we played with. Here are Z & N in two of them:
Cool, eh?And here is ONE of C's artworks from this past year, his pointillism project, which is just amazing, as far as I am concerned:
That's it for now - we're off to see "Wanted" (C & me) and "Wall-E" (Z&N). Happy 4th! Poor R is working. :-(~Cheers
7/1/08
Suplise! and a wee bit o' panic
This evening I went ahead and ordered about $150 worth of painting supplies - brushes and paints from Jerry's Artarama (see link above) and canvases from Cheap Joe's. The nice thing about Cheap Joe's is that you don't have to order 36 canvases at a time; Jerry's has a HUGE minimum order, and I was not prepared to store that many, let alone to spend that much on canvases alone. But Jerry's had a fabulous sale on some of their brushes (BOGO), so I got a set of 12 "mini micro" brushes for doing some small mandalas, and two huge fan brushes (one each for Z & me) as well as two huge flat-end brushes (one each for Z & me) for scumbling- we've always used cheapo brushes for that, but that is a pain, because the hairs always come off, which means we have to pick the hairs out of the paint surface, and it's very annoying & messy, as well as inefficient.
And then Jerry's also had their liquitex acrylic paint on sale, too, so we got ten colors we were out of or almost out of. As soon as all this stuff comes, we'll be in business!
In the meantime, I have SIX (6) mandalas planned out in my head. Well, the miniature one (which I will do on an 8" round canvas) is already done in colored pencil on vellum, and I mentioned it in my first post of the summer, but have not yet posted it. I think it will be nice as a small, finely-detailed painting. I have a square canvas that has been sitting waiting patiently for a concept since last summer, and now I have it designed to the last detail in my imagination - I also have all the necessary paints and brushes. What I need now is the time to create it in miniature with pencils and markers, so I can work out all the rough spots, and then I can start painting.
Then I have four other ideas: one is already started on my biiiig sketch pad, and just needs to have the sketch finished before I paint. The other three need some geometry help from R - how to measure to get seven equal points around a circle, that sort of thing. All four of these will be painted on 20" diameter circular canvases. One will be called "Maha Chakra," or "Great Chakra," combining all seven chakras. The other two will be sort of mirror images of each other, and I need to work on the center they will share, which is a stylized version of - I won't say, but will hope you can tell once I've drawn it. I'll have to draw all three of these as smallish mandalas before I paint them.
So, at least six paintings before the end of the summer, as well as a ton of small mandalas to make 50 in all.
And yes, Ker and Mom, you will each get a letter & mandala from me, I promise.
Meanwhile, I am pulling together N's birthday party. She is having ONE close friend from school for a day of festivities: meeting at Bounce U to frolic from 1:30-3, then coming home for cake, then painting t-shirts to commemorate the day, then (weather permitting) swimming for an hour or so, then coming home for supper, then playing till dark, then setting off (legal) fireworks, then we'll take Jenna home and all come back to fall into bed with utter exhaustion. But I think this will be nicer than the usual bunch of kids for 2 hrs. of pandemonium, and N & Jenna are very excited about it. Btw, those fireworks were purchased at a stand which was located at a gas station - can you think of a worse venue?
I have GOT to go bed. I've been suffering from terrible insomnia ever since I started taking a sleeping pill (trazodone). I am not impressed with it. It takes forever to get to sleep, and then I sleep so soundly that I sleep till 10 am or later & am groggy all day. Bah.
Tomorrow is yet another big day. The Sears repairperson is coming to fix our washing machine, which no longer spins at the end of the cycle, so all the clothes are sopping wet and take forever to dry unless we wring them out. Z has a library reading to do at N's school in the morning, so C is taking them in order for me to be home in case Sears comes. But I have a meeting to complain about Angel's poor performance in my 6-week class (which is now over, huzzah!) at 2 pm, so the kids have to stay home in case Sears hasn't yet come by then. We've been told they're coming "between 8 & 5" - very specific, ain't it?
~Cheers
.
And then Jerry's also had their liquitex acrylic paint on sale, too, so we got ten colors we were out of or almost out of. As soon as all this stuff comes, we'll be in business!
In the meantime, I have SIX (6) mandalas planned out in my head. Well, the miniature one (which I will do on an 8" round canvas) is already done in colored pencil on vellum, and I mentioned it in my first post of the summer, but have not yet posted it. I think it will be nice as a small, finely-detailed painting. I have a square canvas that has been sitting waiting patiently for a concept since last summer, and now I have it designed to the last detail in my imagination - I also have all the necessary paints and brushes. What I need now is the time to create it in miniature with pencils and markers, so I can work out all the rough spots, and then I can start painting.
Then I have four other ideas: one is already started on my biiiig sketch pad, and just needs to have the sketch finished before I paint. The other three need some geometry help from R - how to measure to get seven equal points around a circle, that sort of thing. All four of these will be painted on 20" diameter circular canvases. One will be called "Maha Chakra," or "Great Chakra," combining all seven chakras. The other two will be sort of mirror images of each other, and I need to work on the center they will share, which is a stylized version of - I won't say, but will hope you can tell once I've drawn it. I'll have to draw all three of these as smallish mandalas before I paint them.
So, at least six paintings before the end of the summer, as well as a ton of small mandalas to make 50 in all.
And yes, Ker and Mom, you will each get a letter & mandala from me, I promise.
Meanwhile, I am pulling together N's birthday party. She is having ONE close friend from school for a day of festivities: meeting at Bounce U to frolic from 1:30-3, then coming home for cake, then painting t-shirts to commemorate the day, then (weather permitting) swimming for an hour or so, then coming home for supper, then playing till dark, then setting off (legal) fireworks, then we'll take Jenna home and all come back to fall into bed with utter exhaustion. But I think this will be nicer than the usual bunch of kids for 2 hrs. of pandemonium, and N & Jenna are very excited about it. Btw, those fireworks were purchased at a stand which was located at a gas station - can you think of a worse venue?
I have GOT to go bed. I've been suffering from terrible insomnia ever since I started taking a sleeping pill (trazodone). I am not impressed with it. It takes forever to get to sleep, and then I sleep so soundly that I sleep till 10 am or later & am groggy all day. Bah.
Tomorrow is yet another big day. The Sears repairperson is coming to fix our washing machine, which no longer spins at the end of the cycle, so all the clothes are sopping wet and take forever to dry unless we wring them out. Z has a library reading to do at N's school in the morning, so C is taking them in order for me to be home in case Sears comes. But I have a meeting to complain about Angel's poor performance in my 6-week class (which is now over, huzzah!) at 2 pm, so the kids have to stay home in case Sears hasn't yet come by then. We've been told they're coming "between 8 & 5" - very specific, ain't it?
~Cheers
.
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