About the States

Are you watching How the States Got Their Shapes? Just me?

Last year, The History Channel did a two hour show. This year, they extended it into a weekly series. And it's fascinating. It's history and geography with all sorts of tidbits that I have never heard before.

Check out an episode. I think you'll enjoy it. (And here ends my Friday recommendation.)

A Page a Day

It's Thursday, so I'm going to talk about writing. (I could do it on Wednesdays, but that would lead to the obvious alliteration, and I just can't do that.)

I got my first real novel idea in the 10th grade. The problem was getting the courage to sit down and actually, um, do the writing of it. That was an issue for a very long time. I would think about sitting down and writing, but I'd never get around to doing it. Then, when I'd get around to sitting in front of the computer (it had to be a computer as I get wicked writer's cramp), I might fiddle around for an hour or so, but nothing would get accomplished.

It wasn't until I made a habit of writing that I got any writing done. And I started simple. I made a commitment to write a page of something every day.

Depending upon my work schedule, I'd do it before or after work. I wrote on my birthday and on Christmas. I wrote when I wasn't feeling all that well. I wrote.

I started a novel that I never finished. I had days where I just didn’t feel like writing, so I wrote journal pages. I worked on short stories. And somewhere in there, writing daily became so ingrained that a day didn’t feel complete unless I got my writing in there somewhere.

Since then, I have moved up from a page a day. It’s not much more than that, but at least it’s a weekly goal, and it’s a weekly goal that I can meet, even when other obligations must be met. I’ve learned a lot about how I work best in that time. I’ve managed to complete (first drafts of) two novels. And I’m working on a third. (I’ll get one of them ready to be read by someone other than me one of these days.)

Starting something new is hard. Figuring out how to accomplish it in manageable steps helps. So, if I had to give a new writer any advice, it would be to write a page of something every day. It’s what worked for me.

How I Dye Felted Beads

I dyed beads today. Since I had nothing else for the blog, I thought I'd document my process.

First, I soak the beads in warm water with a little vinegar added (when I do this with Kool-Aid, I don't need to use the vinegar)...

I know what you're thinking. How much vinegar? How long? Yeah, I don't really pay that much attention. If I had to ballpark it, I'd say I used about a cup of vinegar. Maybe less (a cup wasn't much considering that this was a 2 liter container).

I let it soak until the beads were waterlogged. (I had breakfast, started my laundry, and watched some TV before starting the dyeing process.) I'd guess it was about an hour.

Then I divvied up the beads into four containers...

Well, first I filled each glass container with about an inch's worth of warm water. Then I put in the food coloring. And then I added the beads (and took the picture).

I put the containers in the microwave for 2 minutes. Then, with oven mitts, I took them out and let them sit. Before they got too cool, I repeated the process. The idea was to keep the water near boiling temperature until the dye soaked in.

There is a lot of dead time during this procedure. I managed to check all my email, read all of the blogs I follow, do a couple loads of laundry, wash my sheets and make up my bed, and play a good hour's worth of solitaire (this version) all while occasionally checking in and reheating the water.

In a little over two hours, I had this...

It might be hard to see from this picture (if you click on it, you can get a larger view), but the water got clearer while the beads got color. (Except for the blue. I used too much dye in the blue container.)

Then I poured out the water and washed the beads...

...and I laid them out to dry. It should take about a day (although, considering how cool it's been here, it might take longer).

The next thing I need to learn is how to mix colors better. I was doing a lot of guessing with these. I wanted a lighter orange, a darker green, and periwinkle. I wasn't too particular about the purple, and I really like how that turned out. As for the other colors...

I suppose I should start a notebook with recipes. Who am I kidding? I doubt I'll ever be able to manage precision with this.

Teenage Wishes Part 5

I used to have a MySpace account. I started my blog there. But after I had a few too many technical difficulties, I moved the blog here. I have since closed the MySpace account. I hate to lose all of my blogs from that time, so from time to time I repost them here.

I did something like ten of these before. To refresh memories, here are links to part 1, part 2, part 3, and part 4. This one originally appeared on March 5, 2007.

I'm back with "The Wishes You'd Like to Come True" answered by some students at the continuation high school a couple weeks ago. I've explained what I've been doing in parts 1-4, so please refer to those if you are unfamiliar with the questionnaire.

First up today: "The thing I'd change about myself, and why."

Some responses:

"My life style. I will like to change the shoes I walk in."

"My face. I would be nice to have clear skin."

"Is being a dad, because of paying child support."

"My hair, cause I want hot pink hair." (Note: written by a boy.)

And lastly for today: "The place I'd most like to go is...and why."

"Brazil, because a friend of mine wanted to go there but he passed before he got a chance to."

"A dreamlike state. Because there, life is ridiculous, I feel more loved. I feel as if I am truely me."

"Wall of China. To be the first tagger to write on the Great Wall of China."

And that's about it for today. See you next time.

A Finished Purse

It took me a while. First, I finished the knitting and felting.

Then I looked at it for a long time. (How long? Well, I mentioned that I had finished the thing in a May 2nd post.) I pondered. I thought. I went out and bought supplies. Then I thought some more.

Last Wednesday, I finally got out the sewing machine. I added a zipper...

I put in a lining (not in that order)...

And now, it's finished.

I learned a lot on this one. First, I shouldn't spend so much time thinking about it. Second, it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. And third, I should think a bit more about how I'm going to close the thing as I'm knitting it.

I actually like this one. I even used it. It's about time. The last one I made (2005) needs to be replaced.

TiMER

I spend some time trolling for movies. I go through the listings of various channels that play only movies, and I read descriptions. I find a lot of terrible movies that way. I also find interesting movies that I might not have otherwise happened upon.

A little bit ago (one month? two?) I happened upon TiMER. Click on the link for the rundown on what it's about and who's in it. I wanted to talk about what it made me think about.

Sometimes I have a fundamental disagreement with the idea of a movie. I did with this one. Yet, I found that I wasn't ticked off enough to turn the thing off. In fact, the movie was just my speed, and it charmed me. I found myself thinking about it for days after watching it.

What if you knew when you'd meet your "one true love"? What would that do to your life? Would that even be possible?

These were the questions that kept bugging me. I have my own thought on this. It seemed like the movie took one point of view, but by the end of the movie, I thought that perhaps it hadn't. It gave me a lot to think about, and sometimes that's a very good thing.

Any interesting movies that I should go and see?

What Am I Doing?

I don't spent a lot of time talking about my writing. I don't even write a lot about my writing. There's a simple reason for that. I have no idea what I'm doing.

There are so many writing blogs out there with great advice, interesting tidbits, and good information. I don't have that. So, I write about what I know, and I read about what I don't know.

But it's summer. The sub jobs kind of dry up when school is not in session.

I've decided that it's about time I write something about writing. But since I don't know anything useful about writing, I can only write about how I write. Hey, it's a great way to fill up my Thursdays.

Before I got the courage to sit down and attempt to write something, I read a lot about how writers write. Some of the information was useless, but some of what I read helped me figure out what kind of writer I am. I guess that's what we're all doing here--figuring out what we're doing by using the example of others.

Yeah, it's much simpler when I have crazy sub days to write about.