...called it macaroni

so last night i was talking to jeremy on the phone and he was telling me about renaissance art. he was saying that the reason you barely ever seen people smiling and showing their teeth is because their teeth were usually rotted out. so if you do see someone with their teeth showing then it means that they are probally in their teens. he also said that the prostitutes of the time would tell everyone they were a prostitute by wearing a feather in their hair. both of these tid-bits i didn't know and he said that he learned in art history. well when he was telling me about the feather in the hair (i keep wanting to write cap. hehe) i couldn't help but write a line or two of poetry in my head right away. it was too cool. i love when things like that happen. i have no idea what i'll write about, i only have a couple lines, but i think it will be fun just to finish what jeremy had started in my head. so now i'll be thinking about the poem at work all day and when i come home i'll probally have it all written out. woot woot for getting inspired just by talking on the phone about art history.

comic review: this time for reals

so this week at work at graham craker comics (which by the way, is a mouth full when you answer the phone and have to say that) my boss asked me to write a review for one comic and he promised he would send it out this time. well he came through and sent it and i got published on the website! i wrote a review for marvel holiday spectacular (the link takes you to where my review is). i haven't written a review in a long time so it's a little ruff. i like the review but i think i could have ended it better. the more i write though, the better i will get at it. either way i'm happy to present it. hope you enjoy it and hope it makes you want to go and read the comic.

the wheel of time turns

so last night i got to go and meet brandon sanderson who is the writer now for the wheel of time series. the original writer, robert jordan, died before he could finish the series. but he left many notes and instructions (even full chapters written) on how the series should be finished. his wife harriot hired brandon to finish the series. the first book of three, that brandon will be writing to finish the series, came out this tuesday and it's called the gathering storm. i posted earlier this week that i stopped reading vonnegut so i could read this book. well last night brandon had a book signing in my area so i made sure i went. while we were waiting for him to come out, the people passed out three different bumper stickers, each having to do with the book. only a geek about the books would understand (i already put one on my car). Brandon seemed like a really down to earth guy. he read a the first page of the first chapter. then he did some q&a. he didn't give any spoilers out, but he did talk about his work on the book. after the q&a he started signing books. i didn't stay so i could get him to personlize it, i got a book he had pre-signed and went home. i have to get up way to early in the morning for me to stand in line all night long to get him just to write mollie. either way it was way cool to go there and hear about how another writer goes about doing his work. he's a fantasy writer who has writen for teens as well as adults. his teen series seemed interesting so i think i might go get it. over all, i'm really happy i went and i would love to go to another book signing. if for nothing else to hear about how other authors go about their work.

prompts and practices

today before work at the comic shop i decided that i would do a writing excerise out of a book i haven't looked at in awhile. it's called prompts and practices by judy reeves. it's a cool book with a calendar for all 366 days out of the year. and with each day there is a little idea about what to write about for that day. it doesen't say how or what you should write. whether it's a poem, short story or prose. it just gives an idea and lets you run with it however you want. i really enjoy this book and it has some great ideas. for whatever reason i haven't looked at it recently so i thought i would open it again and see what today's prompt was. today's prompt was: it was a summer of blue-black nights. so i wrote this as my practice:


Kari sat on the front porch looking out into the world. Her chair was an old rickety thing that her grandfather had made when he first moved out west. Every time she rocked on the chair it creaked with a groaning of days long past. Even though her mother yelled at her not to sit in the chair, for she was scarred that the chair would break, the old chair was Kari’s favorite in the whole house. While rocking in the old chair Kari looked out into the wide open prairie of the west. Her family owned all the land around her to the point that she couldn’t see another house close to her. The closest person was 80 miles away in any direction. Kari liked it that way. It was like the land around her was her own personal ocean of green prairie and blue sky. Night time was her favorite time to site in the chair and look out into the world. The night was lit up with the stars and the prairie had a glow about it from the stars also. The world seemed so peaceful those nights. Tonight the sky was darkened. She couldn’t see the stars that well and the moon wasn’t shining like it normally did.
Kari heard the back door to the house slam and heard the old Chevy coaxed into being driven away. She ignored, for a moment, the silent sobs she heard from inside the house from her mother. All Kari could think about was that the sky wasn’t as beautiful as it normally is. Kari stood up and sighed. She opened the front door and walked into the house to help her mom with whatever she needed.


i must advise that i've just written this and it has had really no editing. but this is what came to my head when i read the prompt. there is a little symbolism with the sky not being as beautiful as it normally is with her family not working out as it should, but nothing too heavy handed i think. i like the short story i wrote and maybe one day i'll came back to it and expand on it. but for now i like it as it is.

thought for food

so i've been reading a bunch lately. i've bought so many books that i will be getting money back form borders next month. hurray! i've been reading for the mind and for the soul. for the mind i've read south park and philosophy and i've read some of xmen and philosophy. both books are a collection of different essays on different themes that south park and the xmen have struggled with. both are really smart books! though i will say that i've only read the first 2 essays in the xmen one. you might not like south park or the xmen comics, but both struggle with big ideas. ideas like: what makes us individuals, what makes us human, are we logical arguers, religion, politics and many other ideas. i strongly suggest to go and read them. and if you don't want to read those particular books, there are many others like: the office and philosophy, family guy and philosophy, metallica and philosphy; just to name a few. many of the essays in the two books i have read have made me think and have made me decided what i believe.

for the soul i've read mother night by kurt vonnegut, the gathering storm by robert jordan and brandon sanderson and i've bought the book sharp objects by gillian flynn (but i haven't read it yet). vonnegut is a genius and i love reading his stuff. i've read two others of his: slaughterhouse five and cats cradle. both were great books and when i saw that this one was for sale i had to get it. i'm almost through with it, i have 28 more pages to go. but i stopped for i got the book the gathering storm. i have been waiting for the book for a couple years now. it just came out today and i just had to jump right into it. i feel bad leaving mother night but i know i will be able to jump right back in when i'm done with the gathering storm. the gathering storm is the 12th book in the wheel of time series. it is the first full flegded fantasy series i've ever read and i just couldn't wait for the newest book to come out. i will fly through the book and be very sad when i'm done with it. there are only two more books left and then the series will be done. i will be VERY sad when the series is done. the wheel of time is what got me to love fantasy and fantasy has had a huge impact on my life. i just love(!) fantasy.

so those are the books i've been reading. it's always good to keep the mind active in deep critical thinking and in just some good old story. both are good for the mind and soul. both are good for the writer. it's always interesting to see how a writer creates their own story, it helps me find my own voice when i write.

dictonary writing exercise

so this morning i did a writing exercise to just keep my mind working. this comes from the same book i talked about in this post, the daily writer by fred white. i put two different exercises into one. one was to build your vocabulary list and then the other was the at random open up the dictionary and jot down any word you didn't know and then use it in a poem. so i put them together and opened up the dictionary at random and wrote down any words i didn't know into my notebook. then after i have a bunch of different words i tried to use them in different sentences.

for example: ripsnorter - something extraordinary. sentence: marianne's wedding dress was ripsnorter.

so i did a bunch of those. and while writing those sentences different ideas come to me about what kind of story i would write that would use these kinds of words. i remember doing things like this in middle school and high school. and it seems like just busy work, but i think it is a valuable tool (now that i'm older) to help build my vocabulary skills.

ps- when i used spell check for this post, blogger said that ripsnorter wasn't a word.

i will eat you!

so this past weekend i went and saw where the wild things are. it was a wonderful movie! i was a little worried because the book is very short and has barely any words. thankfully the movie was great! it quotes the book and uses more imagery than words to tell the story. which i think follows the book wonderfully! the book was written by maurice sendak. the movie was written by spike jonze (he also directed it) and dave eggers. i think the they did a wonderful job adapting sendak's work into the movie. i think they made the right choice by having the imagery tell more of the story then actual words. sometimes in life words can't say how you fell and imagery is the only way; whether it's a smile or a bite on the arm or a pat on the butt.

so your wondering why i'm writing about this in my blog? well i'm writing about it because it's just a well written movie and i thought i would share with everyone why i thought so. even though i hate critics, and i'm pretty much being one in this post, i just had to share that this movie was well written!

time

so my normal job has changed my hours, which is good news for i will have more time to work on my writings now. before i worked from 8:30am-5pm, now i work from 7am-3:30pm. so when i get home i can sit down and write and whatnots. so i think i will do that today when i get home from work. i haven't had a good writing day in awhile. so it will feel nice. i can work on my poetry manuscript, my letterboxing article and a bunch more. and i can work late into the night for i don't have to be at work tomorrow until 11am. plus i just got a bunch of pictures i took back from the developers so now i have some really nice photo's for some inspirational poetry. so overall i'm in for a good writing night. i'll make some hott chocolate and just sit in front of the computer and work. it will feel really nice when i'm done for the evening. a writing night always does. i always have a sense of accomplishment when i'm done for the night, for usually i get a bunch done. plus when i'm done for the night i usually have whatever thoughts that have been bothering me writen out and thought over; so they aren't just in my head anymore. so i strongly suggest everyone have a writing night, they will make you feel great in the end.

death knocks

with halloween in mind here's my 'spooky' poem:

when death knocks on my door
i smile
for we are old friends
playing a game of cat and mouse
when finally i embrace him in the end.

i realize that this is about death, but halloween tends to be about that. i also realize that this isn't spooky. this is also not a new poem. i wrote this last year at halloween time. a guy i know had drawn a skeleton-like picture on a dry erase board and i had added this poem to go with it. so i thought i would share it with everyone here.

catching up

so i've finally wrote out my superhero poem. i'll be sending it off to the place today when i get back from work. i haven't been writing too much lately for i've just been sooo tired from work; that i come home and just flop into bed. but i've stretched and i'm ready to go now.

with halloween coming up, i think i'll write something a little spooky just for fun and share it here with everyone.

on a sad note, a friend of mine's grandmother died this past weekend and ever since i've heard the news i've had a poem ratteling around in my head. once i actually write it out, i'm going to send it to his mother (i was really close with his family). and i'll also share it with everyone here.

letterboxing

this is me letterboxing. it was such a nice fall day that jeremy and i decided to go and look for some. that day i had found 3 different stamps. one at carthage college (where the picture was taken) and 2 at the racine zoo. this is tons of fun to do and is great for all ages. and 9 times out of 10 you get to see some beautiful landscape. like lake michigan in the background of this photo.

what does this have to do with writing? well i've been reading more and more magizines and there are a bunch about the outdoors. well i was looking to see how they get their articles and a bunch of them have at least 50% freelance articles. so i've decided that i'm going to write an article about letterboxing and the great outdoors. i think letterboxing will be a great article for an outdoor magizine. espically one that promotes different things you can do out doors; like a state magazine.

nature

well this is me with my awesome new camera. i've taken about 4 rolls of film with it already, and i'm itching to do more. last weekend i was in wisconsin and i took a really cool one of a tiger, a kangaroo, and a tree with lake michigan as the background. well the tree one, jeremy kept a copy so that he can use it as a starting point in a painting he is going to do. which i think it just amazing! i feel touched that he liked my photo so much for he's an amature professional photographer. and it's really one of my favorites i've taken so far. it's really inspired me to write about nature in some poetry. eventually i'll put some of the photo's that have inspired me to write on here. because i use a film camera it's more work for me to put photo's on the computer. not hard work, but more work then i'm always willing to do. so when i have a bunch i will show them to you guys.