Monthly Archives: November 2011

Focusing on the Positive

29 Tuesday Nov 2011

Posted by in Art, Blogging, Inspirational Doodles, Writing

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I’m back! I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving holiday!

This morning, I found myself thinking about what I’d like this blog to become. One of the ideas that came to mind is focusing on the positive. I’m in a real deadline crunch this week, and it’s one of the main reasons I lost touch with the blog. But the positive is that I’m very fortunate to have the work, and I still managed to find some “me” time to update the blog this morning. I’ve even found a little time to put some thought into that novel I’m writing – so this is all good, positive stuff.

Following Your Passions

23 Wednesday Nov 2011

Posted by in Art, Blogging, Creating a Character, daily doodle, Inspirational Doodles, Writing

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Yesterday, Janece left a comment that inspired today’s daily doodle. I love it when the conversation on the blog inspires an idea.

In this unsteady economy, I think it’s more important than ever for people to follow their passions. I believe it’s the people starting small businesses and creating their own jobs who are going to help our economy recover. Rather than looking to politicians and global corporations for answers, I believe people could do much better by looking inside themselves for ways they can improve their own situations through following their passions. It seems to me that could be the most direct route to personal success and a recovering economy.

(For those of you who are following Finny and Wood’s climb up the Beanstalk, that storyline will continue soon. I’ll continue placing them in the Finny and Wood category as well as the Creating a Character category.)

 

 

I Finally Have a Gravatar

22 Tuesday Nov 2011

Posted by in Art, Blogging, daily doodle, Journal, Writing

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I used my blogging time this morning to create a Gravatar. I’m nearing the end of a very long, high pressure deadline that has lasted several months. I plan to finally begin exploring the blogs out there as soon as I finish the last of it, which should be in about a week or so. I’m really looking forward to having time to socialize with everyone!

 

Pressing the Restart Button

21 Monday Nov 2011

Posted by in Art, Creating a Character, Finny and Wood, Inspirational Doodles, Writing

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Have you ever had the experience where you’ve made a great effort in a task, you’re about half way through it, and you realize you need to press the restart button? Today’s post is about that experience.

You’ve climbed the beanstalk only to realize you need to climb back down again and start over, because there’s something you missed the first time.

This is exactly where I am with my novel for kids. I thought I’d finished it, but I learned I need to press the restart button. This time, I hope to get it right.

A Fork in the Blogging Road

20 Sunday Nov 2011

Posted by in Art, Creating a Character, Creating Equals Playing, daily doodle, Finny and Wood, Writing

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When I started the Finny and Wood series, my intention was to share my process for creating a character. For anyone who is curious to see the development from start to present, I created a category called “Creating a Character”, and I’ve placed all the Finny and Wood panels into that category.

In the beginning, I didn’t quite know who these characters were, but I’m starting to get a sense of them now. Up until yesterday’s post, Finny hadn’t spoken. When creating a story in an imaginary world, it’s important to define the rules. How close to reality do I want the characters to be? Deciding whether animals can speak or not is a huge decision, so I didn’t take it lightly. I decided whenever Finny speaks to a human, the first word out of his mouth should be “Me”. I’m not sure if I should keep that rule when he speaks to another animal, such as Wood. I’ll have to cross that bridge when I come to it. However, I feel good about the “Me” decision. He’s a cat, and in the real world, humans can’t understand all the different meanings of “Meow” without some imaginative interpretation. That’s why I think this rule works. I needed to give Finny speech for the sake of developing these characters.

I’m trying to decide whether to continue every day with this storyline until it’s complete, or if I should switch things up and limit this storyline to once or twice a week. I will continue placing these in the Creating a Character category and the Finny and Wood category, so that people who are interested can easily follow along. I see this blog as a conversation, so I’d love to get comments from people on what you’d like to see. There are so many possibilities on the direction of this blog. Sometimes I feel like every day there’s a new fork in this blogging road.

How High Have You Climbed in Life?

18 Friday Nov 2011

Posted by in Art, Creating a Character, Finny and Wood, Inspirational Doodles, Writing

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You don’t know how high you’ve climbed in life until you get a good view of the places you’ve been and the accomplishments you’ve achieved.

I didn’t know I would run into Finny on my climb up this beanstalk, but it makes sense I would find him here, because cats love to be in high places. I think I’m starting to get to know Finny. He’s probably going to insist on climbing with me out of curiosity and the need to put himself in a higher position than me.