Here is an update to the Lego coffee table I’ve been building. It probably should have been finished early this month, but was derailed by me getting sick a bunch of times in January and February. This is a photo of the table, without the top panels.
Stain and one coat of poly have been applied. I’ll apply one more coat of poly tonight and then affix the Lego plates to the top panels and I’ll be done.
It has been a really fun project and I’m proud I’ve been able to pull it off. As for how good of a job I’ve done, I don’t think I can accurately assess that. I’ve been too close to the process. I’ve seen how the sausage has been made, and it hasn’t been all that pretty.
A bit of inspiration hit me the other day, reading Sarah Hinna’s recap of her Thirty Days of Poetry. Particularly when reading this, and in particular the part in bold:
I’d fallen out of love with writing. It had become another pressure, instead of a happy wandering. I’ve been wrangling with the same novel for three years, and I thought it had beaten me. I didn’t even care that it had beaten me, particularly, but I did care that I didn’t seem to care.
Hmm. I thought. I could do this. Not with poetry, of course. My mind just doesn’t work that way. Or more to the point, I’m not that deep. But I could do this with flash fiction. 30 Days of Flash Fiction sounds nice.
Then I thought about my novel. What if I wrote 30 flash fiction pieces set in the universe of my novel? That would certainly get my creative juices flowing. In fact, if I did this right, I’d almost be *gasp* plotting my novel, only writing 30 pieces of flash fiction seem much less icky than writing an outline.
So that’s what I’m going to do. Only, don’t hold me to it. Or do. It’s up to you really. Once I have a few of these things written I’ll post them here. This could be really exciting. Or not. Who knows?
So, Neil Gaiman in conjunction with Blackberry, started a writing project earlier this year, inspired by tweets he had prompted. He came up with twelve short stories, one for each month. From the website:
You’ve inspired Neil. The twelve tales are written. But words are only half the story – now Neil wants your help bringing them to life. The next step is to illustrate them.
Watch the video to get some tips on what Neil is looking for. Read and download the stories, then let your imagination run riot.
Whether it’s a sketch, photo or doodle, using paint, ink or collage, upload your artwork for a chance to feature in the digital showcase and the printed, limited edition of A Calendar of Tales .
You can read Neil Gaiman’s A Calendar of Tales here. If you don’t like reading on a computer screen look for the Download all stories button. If you are an artist, you can even add to the project and make some art. All of this is free, by the way. Check it out.
So this blog is nearly two months old. A few of you seem to be enjoying the things I post here, or at least are nice people who stop by to humor me. Either way works for me.
Some inside baseball. My stats tell me I average between 10 and 20 views a day. In addition to that, I average 0-2 comments a day (this stat is way more important to me, to be honest). These numbers aren’t where I’d like them to be yet, but that’s okay. I’m really happy I have a few loyal readers. Also, I knew building an audience would be more difficult here, without the help of the built-in wordpress or blogger network.
What prompted this post, actually, was that I saw a huge spike in views yesterday. 100+ views to be precise. My stats tell me these were all direct hits, which is weird, and I have no real referral data from them. I also didn’t see any new comments from these views, which tells me it was most likely some sort of bot or something, and not some spike in popularity. Ah well.
I’ve made a few additions to the site in the last day or so that will enable you to be notified when I’ve posted something new. I’ve added a subscribe form in the sidebar so you can get notifications via e-mail. Also, I’ve added a link to this site’s rss feed, also in the sidebar. Feel free to use either of these, if you’d like.
Finally, I thought I’d post something cool, to reward those who have managed to read this far.
My daughter is really big fan of My Little Pony: Friendship is magic. We faithfully watch as a family each Saturday. Last Saturday’s episode was a BFD in the MLP:FIM community. It was also a musical episode. One song in particular sticks out for me, and encapsulates to me, what would make the world a better place if we could all hear it in our hearts.
A true, true friend helps a friend in need.
A friend will be there to help them see.
A true, true friend helps a friend in need
To see the light that shines from a true, true friend.
Here’s some more flash fiction for you. I have to say I’m enjoying posting these and I hope you enjoy reading them. Of course, I need to create new things too.
This one was in reply to a Flash fiction contest. Entries were required to be 100 words or less and about “a first day in high school”. Anyway, here is a link to my entry titled Dead Trees Can Move.
Dead Trees Can Move
Mr. Larson had an earring and he talked kinda funny and on the first day of school he asked me what books I liked to read. I said nothing. I had nothing. Everybody laughed, but not Mr. Larson.
I worked my butt off after that to prove to him, to them, to me, I wasn’t stupid.
I wasn’t sure if he noticed, until the last day of school. There was a book on my desk. Cory Doctorow’s Little Brother. “Read this”, said the note on the cover. I did.
Mr. Larson talked kinda funny, but he opened my eyes
