wyld_dandelyon: (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith is doing a poetry fishbowl on the topic "composite creatures". Everyone is welcome to offer prompts, and chatting in the comments is encouraged.

It's over here: https://ysabetwordsmith.dreamwidth.org/14116405.html
wyld_dandelyon: (Disintegrations and Defenestrations! by)
Weekends should be fun
Two pleasant, restful days off
Too bad taxes aren't!


Oh, well, into every life some drudgery must fall.

My plan: Next weekend will be better!
wyld_dandelyon: (Sketchfest)
No matter what your skill level or budget, you can join in. Anyone can leave prompts, and anyone can sketch! You can sketch in any media you want: paint, Sculpy, sidewalk chalk, needle and thread, markers, pixels, frosting, fancy-cut vegetables, pottery, jewelry bits, even pencil. Anything you can take a picture of.  Some of the sketches (or finished art based on the sketches) are for sale.  There is one rule:  you can only spend one hour on each sketch, maximum.

Sketch Fest is over here: http://www.ellenmilliongraphics.com/sketchfest/sketchfestprompters.php

People have already started uploading their art. Click on Show Thumbnails to see miniature versions of the art. Click on a thumbnail to see the full-size version, to leave comments, and to see information about buying art that's for sale.

Now I'm going to head over and leave some prompts, tag some prompts, and do some sketching.

Maybe I'll see you there?

2012-12-16_03-06-46_819 (2)
wyld_dandelyon: (Cookies)
Mi Amiga,

The old fiddler has a gig in Chicago, and promised to mail this for me. I'd come myself, but I was lucky to get here in the first place.  I'm told my roots here aren't deep enough, yet, to come and go safely.

I've found a band, finally, and it's like the t-shirt--the music and the magic are all twined like Celtic knotwork.  I'm free to be who I want to be here; I don't have to hide.  Nobody stares at my extra finger.

I know you laugh at the tarot readings we used to do--but this purple-haired girl did me a reading, and she said it was for you. Amiga, she knew your name. Remember the dark-haired man who kept showing up in your distant future? Well, it's not so distant now, and it's time for you to get out of there.

I've got a flat, it's not much, but it came furnished with a spare bed and I've got a set of penny whistles, so you'll have a job and a place to live. I know we haven't played together in years--since before both of our divorces, almost since our marriages, but--I'm doing a terrible job of this. You have to come. The dark man can't follow you here, or if he does, we can turn the tables on him--I wasn't kidding about the magic.

But mostly you have to come because I miss you. We took a wrong turn--or a pair of wrong turns--along the way, and look where it got us?

But now we can have a new start, a new life. We can make--no, I can't write that, not even to you, or especially not to you. Look, here's a ticket to our next gig; just follow the directions and you'll be here for a visit--or to stay. Your choice,  The penny whistles are yours to keep either way.

Love,

Me

___________________________________________________



You, too, can invite a friend to Bordertown: http://bordertownseries.com/contest.php?news=bring-a-friend-to-bordertown  But hurry--the contest ends soon!

P.S.  If you're keeping track of the #atozchallenge, L is for I Loved the first book!
wyld_dandelyon: A cat-wizard happily writing, by Tod (wizard writing)
Have you ever thought about writing in Torn World, but felt intimidated by the amount of stuff we have there to keep track of? Or maybe you just aren't sure that it's the right world for you, and you're not ready to commit? Or perhaps you just don't want to worry about being canon or even finishing the story?

Would you like a free-form writing (or art) exercise, and a place to share the results?

We're trying something new at Torn World - a free-form weekly writing prompt. You don't have to register as a creator, you only have to register in the forums, read the prompt, spend no more than a half-hour creating, and share.

At the least, you're welcome to stop by and read what people share: http://www.tornworld.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=960

But I really hope you'll stop by and play with us!

Downtime

Dec. 30th, 2011 01:44 pm
wyld_dandelyon: A happily sleeping purple, green & gold dragon (sleeping dragon)
I've always liked spontaneity, giving myself the freedom, as much as possible, to do what I want to do in the moment. I've also always dreamed big, wanting to do many different things, and do them well. Add to that the necessity of paying my own bills, and my time is always seriously booked.

I find myself having to think about scheduling downtime. Time to read, time to watch TV, time to play games. Time to sleep.

Sleep is particularly important, since exhaustion resembles writer's block quite thoroughly.

I guess one of my goals in the new year should be to schedule--or give myself kudos for spontaneously grabbing--enough good, quality downtime.

But not today. Right now, I have to pay bills, and I have a story half-written that's inspired by the Journal of Unlikely Entomology's current theme, and I do want to get a proper bio up over at Amazon and Goodreads (where I now have new, under-construction author pages), and the next installment of Wild Snowy Chase to finish (will it finally be the last one? That's the plan anyway.) and ...

Work now, downtime later!
wyld_dandelyon: (joyous icon with black border)
[livejournal.com profile] siege has a cool poem here: http://siege.livejournal.com/720234.html  I've had it open in my browser because it's just so cool, but really, browser windows aren't meant to be open forever.  

And, of course, [livejournal.com profile] ysabetwordsmith has new poetry from this month's fishbowl:  http://ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com/1942220.html  She wrote 23 poems during the fishbowl this month, and many have been published by her fans in her journal.  Go check out a few.  She also has a poll you can vote in, if you're so inclined, though that's a separate post.

And finally, [livejournal.com profile] haikujaguar has invited artists willing to do work for hire for writers and publishers to post links:  http://haikujaguar.livejournal.com/999976.html  I spent way too much of my writing time checking out artists last night.  Most of these artists also offered to do commissions for people who aren't looking for cover or interior art for their books. 

(The conspiracy to promote multiple open browser windows continues...)

wyld_dandelyon: (joyous icon with black border)
[livejournal.com profile] siege has a cool poem here: http://siege.livejournal.com/720234.html  I've had it open in my browser because it's just so cool, but really, browser windows aren't meant to be open forever.  

And, of course, [livejournal.com profile] ysabetwordsmith has new poetry from this month's fishbowl:  http://ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com/1942220.html  She wrote 23 poems during the fishbowl this month, and many have been published by her fans in her journal.  Go check out a few.  She also has a poll you can vote in, if you're so inclined, though that's a separate post.

And finally, [livejournal.com profile] haikujaguar has invited artists willing to do work for hire for writers and publishers to post links:  http://haikujaguar.livejournal.com/999976.html  I spent way too much of my writing time checking out artists last night.  Most of these artists also offered to do commissions for people who aren't looking for cover or interior art for their books. 

(The conspiracy to promote multiple open browser windows continues...)

wyld_dandelyon: (joyouscat by Djinni)
[livejournal.com profile] catsittingstill is celebrating Blasphemy Rights Day. Go check out the fun!

Or better yet, join in.
wyld_dandelyon: (joyouscat by Djinni)
[livejournal.com profile] catsittingstill is celebrating Blasphemy Rights Day. Go check out the fun!

Or better yet, join in.
wyld_dandelyon: (great wizard by djinni)
The sun set and I opened my eyes. The coffin was closed above me, just as it should have been, but something felt wrong.  I lay still as the dead, listening. My human servant was humming softly, unconcerned. I opened the lid.

She looked at me with a delighted smile. “You look good tonight,” she said, as she always does, but there was an extra twinkle in her eyes.

I lifted my hand toward her cheek and stopped, looking down at myself. I was covered, head to toe, in glitter paint.

She laughed gaily as I sparkled in the candlelight.

--Deirdre M. Murphy
_________________________________________________________

The form for today's bit of flash fiction is called a drabble--a bit of fiction exactly 100 words long. I had fun writing it.

I really enjoy your comments, so I hope you'll take a moment to let me know you were here.

wyld_dandelyon: (great wizard by djinni)
The sun set and I opened my eyes. The coffin was closed above me, just as it should have been, but something felt wrong.  I lay still as the dead, listening. My human servant was humming softly, unconcerned. I opened the lid.

She looked at me with a delighted smile. “You look good tonight,” she said, as she always does, but there was an extra twinkle in her eyes.

I lifted my hand toward her cheek and stopped, looking down at myself. I was covered, head to toe, in glitter paint.

She laughed gaily as I sparkled in the candlelight.

--Deirdre M. Murphy
_________________________________________________________

The form for today's bit of flash fiction is called a drabble--a bit of fiction exactly 100 words long. I had fun writing it.

I really enjoy your comments, so I hope you'll take a moment to let me know you were here.

wyld_dandelyon: (Default)
I was SO tired Friday it wasn't funny. We got to the con way late, probably as a result of me just being too tired to move fast once work let out. So I was good Friday night, and went to bed early (well, early for me at a con) intending to be well-rested for Saturday.

I woke up way too early with a terrible headache after dreaming that I was in a deep dark lake full of algae (and had been there for far too long) and I had to keep trying to swim up to the surface to breathe. I took my asthma medicine, ate some cheese for the protein, looked futilely for Tylenol, and sat up reading for a bit without ever really getting wide awake or into a state where I felt I could sleep again. Watched an Indian wedding procession under my window, sad that I was too far up to see details of the saris, the white horse, the decorated red umbrella, and all the mens' clothing too. But still, that was cool. Finally, I went swimming, which relaxed my back and neck, woke my appetite, and left the headache still pounding.

Happily, Ops had Tylenol after that, and I took allergy meds for good measure, and slowly the headache started to resolve. I avoided the music workshops, figuring they wouldn't help the headache any, and went to the jewelry-making workshop (where I gathered mostly leaf-, moon-, and heart-shaped beads and added them to some I'd brought with me to make a necklace) and then the sketching workshop. Did a pretty good demented happy cat there, though too small to really do anything with it. Then I went to the poi-spinning workshop. That was fun and left my shoulders feeling remarkably good. Then, of course, [livejournal.com profile] ericcoleman 's wedding.  (Does his beautiful wife have a LJ?  I can't remember.)

I looked at the food available in the room and decided I needed meat, so I went to one of the hotel restaurants. Didn't find anyone along the way, so I was again reading, but it was pleasant. A bunch of people from the Indian wedding came in while I was eating, keeping the staff very busy indeed. I guessed at tax, added a generous tip to be sure, and gave the nice man behind the bar cash before running to catch the [livejournal.com profile] s00j  concert, where I proceeded to spin poi some more and do veil dancing with two other women.  And the Alligator conga dance, of course. 

After the concert, I drifted slowly, fighting exhaustion, toward the room intending to take my asthma meds and head back down with instruments for the filk.  I was almost finished with my book--less than a page once I'd done both inhalers with pauses in between so each dose would have time to take effect before the next one, which is always helpful for singing.  I couldn't keep my eyes open long enough to finish the last few paragraphs of the book.  I fell into bed, figuring that was a better choice than snoring over the live music.

The next morning, I went swimming briefly again, just enough to stretch out my now stiff-and-sore back and shoulders.  There was a music and energy workshop by [livejournal.com profile] s00j  and then a laid back folk jam where I finally got the guitar out for a while.  After that there were closing ceremonies, and I was still tired.  Next year, I think I'll take an air mattress.

I had planned to set up to paint like I did last year; that didn't happen.  Neither did making an alligator-blinkie (the first blinkie style that has tempted me to spend part of a convention soldering).  Nor did I work on the sewing I'd brought.  But I did manage to share a bit about Torn World despite this convention being so different from a standard SF con, and some of the Torn World postcards I had made were taken away from my hand and others from the freebie table.  Several Ellen Million Graphics cards left the freebie table too.

And despite being in a tired-fog all weekend, and having a headache that lasted most of Saturday, I had fun. 
wyld_dandelyon: (Default)
I was SO tired Friday it wasn't funny. We got to the con way late, probably as a result of me just being too tired to move fast once work let out. So I was good Friday night, and went to bed early (well, early for me at a con) intending to be well-rested for Saturday.

I woke up way too early with a terrible headache after dreaming that I was in a deep dark lake full of algae (and had been there for far too long) and I had to keep trying to swim up to the surface to breathe. I took my asthma medicine, ate some cheese for the protein, looked futilely for Tylenol, and sat up reading for a bit without ever really getting wide awake or into a state where I felt I could sleep again. Watched an Indian wedding procession under my window, sad that I was too far up to see details of the saris, the white horse, the decorated red umbrella, and all the mens' clothing too. But still, that was cool. Finally, I went swimming, which relaxed my back and neck, woke my appetite, and left the headache still pounding.

Happily, Ops had Tylenol after that, and I took allergy meds for good measure, and slowly the headache started to resolve. I avoided the music workshops, figuring they wouldn't help the headache any, and went to the jewelry-making workshop (where I gathered mostly leaf-, moon-, and heart-shaped beads and added them to some I'd brought with me to make a necklace) and then the sketching workshop. Did a pretty good demented happy cat there, though too small to really do anything with it. Then I went to the poi-spinning workshop. That was fun and left my shoulders feeling remarkably good. Then, of course, [livejournal.com profile] ericcoleman 's wedding.  (Does his beautiful wife have a LJ?  I can't remember.)

I looked at the food available in the room and decided I needed meat, so I went to one of the hotel restaurants. Didn't find anyone along the way, so I was again reading, but it was pleasant. A bunch of people from the Indian wedding came in while I was eating, keeping the staff very busy indeed. I guessed at tax, added a generous tip to be sure, and gave the nice man behind the bar cash before running to catch the [livejournal.com profile] s00j  concert, where I proceeded to spin poi some more and do veil dancing with two other women.  And the Alligator conga dance, of course. 

After the concert, I drifted slowly, fighting exhaustion, toward the room intending to take my asthma meds and head back down with instruments for the filk.  I was almost finished with my book--less than a page once I'd done both inhalers with pauses in between so each dose would have time to take effect before the next one, which is always helpful for singing.  I couldn't keep my eyes open long enough to finish the last few paragraphs of the book.  I fell into bed, figuring that was a better choice than snoring over the live music.

The next morning, I went swimming briefly again, just enough to stretch out my now stiff-and-sore back and shoulders.  There was a music and energy workshop by [livejournal.com profile] s00j  and then a laid back folk jam where I finally got the guitar out for a while.  After that there were closing ceremonies, and I was still tired.  Next year, I think I'll take an air mattress.

I had planned to set up to paint like I did last year; that didn't happen.  Neither did making an alligator-blinkie (the first blinkie style that has tempted me to spend part of a convention soldering).  Nor did I work on the sewing I'd brought.  But I did manage to share a bit about Torn World despite this convention being so different from a standard SF con, and some of the Torn World postcards I had made were taken away from my hand and others from the freebie table.  Several Ellen Million Graphics cards left the freebie table too.

And despite being in a tired-fog all weekend, and having a headache that lasted most of Saturday, I had fun. 
wyld_dandelyon: (Default)

As you will remember, our intrepid fan is stuck without necessary equipment...

So, far too early, my cell phone starts singing to me, "Right Now...  (I'm not fond of many of the songs you don't have to pay for on this phone, but those words seem right for "wake up NOW".)  So I get up, hurry through a shower (with or without a tuner, I'll be onstage soon), and dash off to the con suite, where, happily, I find a bleary eyed musician with a wide-awake son, who is willing to lend me a tuner, "after I have some coffee".  So, we sit and talk, and I have some breakfast.  I am not exactly awake yet myself, when I go to get more milk, without looking I grab his cup, which clearly says "Starbucks Coffee" on it.  So, he loans me a tuner of a make I've never used before.  I assume there is a mysterious way to set it to something other than 440A, but don't need that function.  I head off to the Capricon Cafe room, where the concert will be, and set to tuning.  A friend is running the room, so I don't have to take the instruments to my panel--bonus.  And a kind-looking gentleman offered to read to me, from what turned out to be a sequel to Bronte's Egg.  Extra bonus.  A personal reading by Richard Chwedyk.  I enjoyed it a lot, and meant to introduce myself and find out when and where it would be published before rushing off, but it passed the time all too well and I suddenly realized I had two minutes to get to my first panel, at the other end of the hotel.  I hope he knows the hurried expression of appreciation I gave him while tucking the instruments behind the stage were heartfelt!

I figured I could find him later during the con, but my memory for faces is poor, and the whole time he was reading my eyes were fixed on tiny indicator lights.  The only time I saw him later, he had a whole circle of listeners, and I wasn't about to interrupt that!

My first panel was MCSI (Magical Crime Scene Investigation) where we talked a little about magic and a lot about real world issues that would relate to how the magic would (or wouldn't) work.  For instance, if a spell figures out (like a futuristic brain scan might be able to do) if someone is aware they are saying something made-up, it still won't tell you what they are making up, or how it relates to the investigation.  The difference between mistaken and lying.  "Pseudologia Fantastica" - the ability of some con men to enter so deeply into the con that they believe it while they are in it.  (Is this related to the ability of so many people to internalize the world and characters in their favorite TV shows or novels?)  The symbiotic relationship between language and one's perception of reality.

Then to the concert, where due to Capricon moving to a format of 75-minute panels in 90-minute time slots, I arrived a bit early.  Good thing--the borrowed tuner's 440A and [livejournal.com profile] filkart 's tuner's 440A did not match.  Everyone's brains croggled.  Retuning 42 strings (one autoharp and my guitar) would take pretty much the whole concert time; Art didn't want to do the concert without the autoharp, so we figured out that of the people present [livejournal.com profile] billroper could probably retune Art's 12-string fastest, so that's what happened.  Thanks Bill!  I still haven't figured out how the tuners weren't matched up, that's just so, so, wrong!  (I try to keep certain stronger words out of posts I don't friends-lock).  And I can't imagine that the question that goes with the answer regarding life, the universe, and everything, has to do with the number of strings I tuned...

I had just enough time to pack up the instruments and return them to my room, before heading toward my next panel, SF on TV.  In honor of The Twilight Zone, which hits its 50th anniversary in November, there was cake.  And I learned things, as I often do in panels--for instance, part of the reason the Firefly series failed is that Fox decided to air the episodes out of order.  I got to explain the term "story arc".

Then I was scheduled for Cap 101, where no neofen showed up at all, and Steven Silver spent a great deal of his time detailing the differences between the Chicago conventions, and the organizations that run them, and the fannish opportunities for socialization in between conventions in Chicago.  They weren't interested in filk, or happenings in Milwaukee, so I started writing down the bones of the short story that took shape in my head while I was chasing the elusive sleep the night before.  Longhand.  Ugh.  But the people were friendly, and I handed out the "merit badge" FIAWOL stickers.  (The earlier panels were Celluloid Devotee and hmm...I don't see a TV related sticker here.  Oh, well, if I find it later, I'll edit the post.)

After that, there was food and conversation and some filking, though no one stayed up very late, least of all me, since I had a panel sheduled for the next day at the un-ghodly hour of 10:00 a.m.  I even went in the Dealer's room, though I'm not much for window shopping, but it is a good place to run into people.

wyld_dandelyon: (Default)

As you will remember, our intrepid fan is stuck without necessary equipment...

So, far too early, my cell phone starts singing to me, "Right Now...  (I'm not fond of many of the songs you don't have to pay for on this phone, but those words seem right for "wake up NOW".)  So I get up, hurry through a shower (with or without a tuner, I'll be onstage soon), and dash off to the con suite, where, happily, I find a bleary eyed musician with a wide-awake son, who is willing to lend me a tuner, "after I have some coffee".  So, we sit and talk, and I have some breakfast.  I am not exactly awake yet myself, when I go to get more milk, without looking I grab his cup, which clearly says "Starbucks Coffee" on it.  So, he loans me a tuner of a make I've never used before.  I assume there is a mysterious way to set it to something other than 440A, but don't need that function.  I head off to the Capricon Cafe room, where the concert will be, and set to tuning.  A friend is running the room, so I don't have to take the instruments to my panel--bonus.  And a kind-looking gentleman offered to read to me, from what turned out to be a sequel to Bronte's Egg.  Extra bonus.  A personal reading by Richard Chwedyk.  I enjoyed it a lot, and meant to introduce myself and find out when and where it would be published before rushing off, but it passed the time all too well and I suddenly realized I had two minutes to get to my first panel, at the other end of the hotel.  I hope he knows the hurried expression of appreciation I gave him while tucking the instruments behind the stage were heartfelt!

I figured I could find him later during the con, but my memory for faces is poor, and the whole time he was reading my eyes were fixed on tiny indicator lights.  The only time I saw him later, he had a whole circle of listeners, and I wasn't about to interrupt that!

My first panel was MCSI (Magical Crime Scene Investigation) where we talked a little about magic and a lot about real world issues that would relate to how the magic would (or wouldn't) work.  For instance, if a spell figures out (like a futuristic brain scan might be able to do) if someone is aware they are saying something made-up, it still won't tell you what they are making up, or how it relates to the investigation.  The difference between mistaken and lying.  "Pseudologia Fantastica" - the ability of some con men to enter so deeply into the con that they believe it while they are in it.  (Is this related to the ability of so many people to internalize the world and characters in their favorite TV shows or novels?)  The symbiotic relationship between language and one's perception of reality.

Then to the concert, where due to Capricon moving to a format of 75-minute panels in 90-minute time slots, I arrived a bit early.  Good thing--the borrowed tuner's 440A and [livejournal.com profile] filkart 's tuner's 440A did not match.  Everyone's brains croggled.  Retuning 42 strings (one autoharp and my guitar) would take pretty much the whole concert time; Art didn't want to do the concert without the autoharp, so we figured out that of the people present [livejournal.com profile] billroper could probably retune Art's 12-string fastest, so that's what happened.  Thanks Bill!  I still haven't figured out how the tuners weren't matched up, that's just so, so, wrong!  (I try to keep certain stronger words out of posts I don't friends-lock).  And I can't imagine that the question that goes with the answer regarding life, the universe, and everything, has to do with the number of strings I tuned...

I had just enough time to pack up the instruments and return them to my room, before heading toward my next panel, SF on TV.  In honor of The Twilight Zone, which hits its 50th anniversary in November, there was cake.  And I learned things, as I often do in panels--for instance, part of the reason the Firefly series failed is that Fox decided to air the episodes out of order.  I got to explain the term "story arc".

Then I was scheduled for Cap 101, where no neofen showed up at all, and Steven Silver spent a great deal of his time detailing the differences between the Chicago conventions, and the organizations that run them, and the fannish opportunities for socialization in between conventions in Chicago.  They weren't interested in filk, or happenings in Milwaukee, so I started writing down the bones of the short story that took shape in my head while I was chasing the elusive sleep the night before.  Longhand.  Ugh.  But the people were friendly, and I handed out the "merit badge" FIAWOL stickers.  (The earlier panels were Celluloid Devotee and hmm...I don't see a TV related sticker here.  Oh, well, if I find it later, I'll edit the post.)

After that, there was food and conversation and some filking, though no one stayed up very late, least of all me, since I had a panel sheduled for the next day at the un-ghodly hour of 10:00 a.m.  I even went in the Dealer's room, though I'm not much for window shopping, but it is a good place to run into people.

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