Lava Party!

The games played by children usually afford good lessons for later in life. One such game deals with the dangers of lava:

The lava game teaches us to never allow our parents to do drugs, even though that meant we could ruin their furniture and they wouldn't be coherent enough to care.

Gabby & Chewie Comic Strip #3

 

  

Evolution of a Blog

I've been thinking a lot about the evolution of a blog recently.

Blogs I come across hold infinite mysteries between the newest and oldest posts - changing sometimes minimally, other times drastically, over time.
I know I had big plans for my blog when I first started it so many years ago. Since then, some of those elements have remained and some new ones have been created. For a while I was really frustrated that I wasn't keeping up with the original mission statement: "I hope to use this blog to promote the fantasy genre to readers and writers alike.:" but then I accepted that my blog was becoming its own unique entity, not bound by my original design.

Over four years and 170 posts later, my blog has evolved from the original concept and moved into an area that is equally interesting, if not more so. Just as I change the layout and background and elements of my blog, the content has changed over the years. I think I still hold some of the hopes and fears I began with but I'm also utilizing new concepts like comics and historical humor.

What really excites me (other than seeing where I've been and where I'm at) are the ideas I have for the blog for the future. I'm hoping to start utilizing videos and audio posts. I think these new elements will make my blog funnier and help me to explore different creative outlets. Who knows when I'll finally implement them though. I don't want to get ahead of myself as evolution is always a slow process. My guess? I'd say that these changes will take place in the next couple of billion years or so.

Can't Get No Breaks

In this economic climate, many people (especially in Michigan) are looking for work. I was thinking about employment tests, and the questions they ask and I realized that for superheroes looking for work, these tests might be a great deterrent. While the "normal" individual won't agree with many of the statements on these tests that were created to locate people with personality disorders, superheroes might find some of these attributes to be true representations of their own lives and experiences.

Below is my comic showing unnamed and indistinguishable heroes and their follies in the employment market.

Just remember:

One person's superhero is another person's sociopath.

My Writing Tool Box

I know that Stephen King talks about grammar and spelling as being in a writer's tool box, and I'm not saying they aren't there, but I just wanted to discuss the basic/actual/physical tools that I use when writing.

Notebooks:

I like to write everything down first, on paper, before committing it to the computer. I do sit down and work on the computer as well, but I feel like it's easier to get out the story by writing instead of typing (I'm not sure why). After things are written down, they have to be typed up anyways, so it's kind of redundant, but it allows me to have an initial edit as I'm cleaning up with writing from the notebook as I'm typing it onto the computer.

Pens: 

While water will destroy ink on paper, ink won't fade like pencil. If you write a story in pencil prepare not to be able to read those pages 10 years later.

I also like to find the most frictionless pens I can, as I want to write fast. Cheap pens tend to write slower (you can feel the pen drag across the paper), although I have found nice pens at the dollar store before.

Gel pens are great. Felt pens are perfection, but the writing on the page can be thick and hard to read and felt pen ink is destroyed by water a lot easier than regular ink (in my experience) and these are very expensive.

These are also great for when you're supposed to be writing but you're doodling on the edges of your paper instead.

Music:

This is not a picture of my music, but I felt like it was applicable when discussing the wide range of music needed, at least for me, when writing.

I can write in complete silence, but I also like particular tunes to help set the mood for a scene (not in a gross way) or to help my imagination wander.



Netbook:

Last but not least, my netbook. I have a laptop but since the screen died, it has become essentially a desk top. To replace this computer, I had to find something a little more mobile, so I purchased a netbook.

Netbooks are not very good for many things the usual person wants to do with a computer such as viewing websites, downloading programs, doing anything that requires a screen that is larger than 5" by 8" (random guess); but it works for typing up documents.

My netbook (I actually own the same acer as pictured here), while aggravating at times, has become essential not just for my writing but also for my school work. It doesn't come with a disk drive, so you have to come into the 21st century and purchase a flash drive if you are going to use this with your writing and hope to transfer information to another computer. Or you can always email yourself documents, if you have Internet in your home (unlike me).

Not including my brain (which is pretty essential to writing), I think this is a complete list of the things I need and use in my own writing. Please feel free to share any tools that are unique to you and your writing in the comments area. :)

The Truth About Hippos

At work I see a lot of children's books come through with adorable hippos as the main character. What lies are we feeding future generations?!?!? Hippos are the most dangerous and vicious creatures on earth. There is a reason you don't see a hippo in a petting zoo. While they may be drawn "cute", they are murderers in disguise.

Once the lies of cuteness wear away and the marble comas pass, the true beast rises.

Hippos are the villains of the wilderness, as all creatures fear this beast, so should humans. Especially since they love our chewy, chewy meat covered bones.

Next Blog

I like to play a little game called "Next Blog" (or potentially something wittier that my future self will invent at some point after the posting of this blog entry).

In this game I open up my blog in IE or FireFox and at the top of the screen I click on the option "Next Blog". Pretty simple.

My understanding is that blogger takes some component, statistic, keyword or something from my blog and finds another blog that is in some way "like-minded". Back in the day this was pretty pathetic, as most of my clicks directed me towards blogs in other languages or with topics that had nothing to do with what I was blogging about (I was really confused about what I was getting and why), but there was always the rare chance that I might fall upon something awesome. That's how I found quite a few of the blogs I still check up on today. Now blogger is making a little more sense but on occasion I do land on something epically off-center.

A good game of "Next Blog" goes like this. 1st click directs me to an awesome writing blog. 2nd click (yes, you want to click this button again and again to see the random selections that arise) weird photo blog - not really my cup of tea, click again. 3rd click fashion blog. 4th click limerick blog - that's right, all posts are limericks, nothing else. 5th click kittens and crafts blog - Amazing! 6th click - poetry for creeps has been blocked so I start back at square one.

If, through a game of "Next Blog" I end up finding one blog to read then that's cool. If I spend 40 minutes playing this and come up short then that's fine as well. In the process of playing I get to see what other people are blogging about and what kind of layouts and designs work and don't work. Rarely do I find the same blogs twice, so each game is a new adventure.

Gabby & Chewie Comic Strip #2

So my friend Andrew is trying to escape the library by applying to jobs elsewhere. Will he be successful? Who knows. But if he is, I've already got his replacement: Gabby!

Not only does Gabby already dress better than Andrew, but everyone loves her!

The only thing funnier than the jokes told at work is remembering them on the ride home.

 There is one snag in the plan. Chewie will be home alone all day cooking and cleaning, and she'll be mad when we get back laughing and smiling as if we don't appreciate the work she does while we're away.

But it's okay because I know that extra cuddles always make Chewie feel better.