Six-Sentence Saturday 09/10/11

Wow, you know what I just realised as I wrote the date? It's 9-10-11! Weird, huh?

Okay, so for my sentences:

1.) I enjoy having tea and biscuits in the evening, but coffee in the mornings, noon, and afternoon.

2.) You can get some amazingly gorgeous tents to live in - in fact, they look rather like Hermione's tent in the last Harry Potter films. Check out Exclusive Tents and see what I mean.

3.) I've signed up for singing class - HOOT HOOT! - and I'm so excited!

4.) I'm going to sing "You'll See" by Susan Boyle, and possibly either 1.) Majesty by Hayley Westenra, 2.) Il Mondo e Nostro by Camilla Kerslake, 3.) or something else, by some other singer... as you can see, I'm a bit undecided for my second song. :-)

5.) Yesterday was my birthday (hippo birdie two me!) and I had a lovely day, despite some work stress.

6.) We had some amazing rain today, along with a brief storm of hail.

That's all for today, other than revising, writing, market research, and some episodes of Psych. What have you been doing?

God bless

Lazy Saturday

I've been very lazy today. I didn't do a spit of writing until this evening, because I was too busy reading all the books I got from the library.

Don't you just love reading? I fires off all these awesome creative sparks in my head, and I read faster and faster until I can get to the end and work on my stories as well.

Movies also inspire me. There is one movie that I saw yesterday, that I'm actually watching tonight, which I LOVED! It's a simple, older movie called "The Hasty Heart" that features a Scot as the main (ish) character, and he's so strong-willed and then humble that he absolutely captured my heart. I want to keep writing my NaNo novel, and insert some of the Scot's character in there, 'cause it's so good!

I've also been drawing a little bit, to visualize my settings, and cleaning my house, and listening to music. My terribly lazy day. :)

Stay tuned for Monday! On Monday I'm posting an interview of debut author Melissa Kline, whose new book MY BEGINNING just came out through Lucky Press LLC. Her book sounds very intriguing, so I'd love to see you all there.

Thanks so much! God bless.

Amazing Outlining

The coolest thing happened to me yesterday.

First of all, I apologize to the brilliant mind that recommended trying this particular method of outlining. I'm pretty sure it was on a blog somewhere that another writer friend shared, but it could have been in one of the multitudinous writing books that I own. Wherever, and whoever, it was, Mind, I salute you!

Okay, so this is what happened.

First off, I put a list of numbers down on paper, one through twenty. Next, by number one, I wrote the opening sentence, or "thought" for the story. Then, by number twenty, I wrote the ending "thought" for the story. Then I went up to number two and wrote what came after number one. Then I went down to number nineteen and wrote what happened before number twenty. I went back up to the top, and wrote down in number three what happened after number two. Then I ran back to the bottom of the page, and discovered in number eighteen what occurred before number nineteen.

In this way, I flip-flopped between writing down what happens next and what came first until I reached the middle of the story. Once I got that done, I went to a fresh piece of paper and briefly drafted out chapter synopses of each number's sentence.

The example is kind of like this.

Start with a row of numbers. For this example, we'll work small. How about a Picture Book? Sounds good.

Here's a row of ten numbers.
1. 
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

Next, insert the first thought.
1. Dora is a tall giraffe.

Now, go down to the last thought.
10. Now all the animals love Dora!

Now go back up and write what comes after one.
2. All the other animals are small.

Now, what happens before 10?
9. But, Dora is tall! She can reach the kite.

(Before all of you go "huh?" just keep reading. Believe me, the kite ties in. :-)

Okay, so what happens after two?
3. Dora's lonely, because all the small animals go off to play without her.

Now, what happens before nine?
8. The tree is so tall, none of the animals can reach the kite.

Now, go up to four.
4. Dora watches the animals having a picnic beneath a tall tree, and cries.

Now, find out what happens before eight.
7. The kite gets stuck in the tree!

Okay, what happens after five?
5. The littlest mouse has brought a kite, and since there's a lovely breeze they send the kite into the sky.

This is where it gets cool. Fill in six, and look at this!!
6. The breeze is so strong, it pulls the kite out of little mouse's paw.

Now, check it out! Here is the whole outline rearranged in order.

1. Dora is a tall giraffe.
2. All the other animals are small.
3. Dora's lonely, because all the small animals go off to play without her.
4. Dora watches the animals having a picnic beneath a tall tree, and cries.
5. The littlest mouse has brought a kite, and since there's a lovely breeze they send the kite into the sky.
6. The breeze is so strong, it pulls the kite out of little mouse's paw.
7. The kite gets stuck in the tree!
8. The tree is so tall, none of the animals can reach the kite.

9. But, Dora is tall! She can reach the kite.

10. Now all the animals love Dora!

Ta Da! Now, before you tell me it's too confusing, try it. THEN tell me how brilliant it is.

And if one of you knows who the original creator of this brilliant form of outlining is, please share. If I myself find out who it is, I shall share.

Until later, then, God bless!

Saturday - MORE clay!

"Hallo There"

Yes, I have to admit, I have a weakness.

It's clay.

But really, how could I refuse this face? I mean, look at those eyes, that posture, that complete sad cow look? Isn't he adorable!

This little guy came to me at work. I was taking break in between pictures, and I drew a quick diagram of this fella on a piece of scrap paper. I wanted that cock to his head,  that sort of shy helplessness with his front hooves, and that all-around lovableness.

See his cute little bow? I
thought that was a cute
addition.

I'm not entirely sure what to call him. He sort of looks like a Monty to me. What do you think? Thankfully, since I gave him to my mother, who is a cow fanatic, I do not have to worry too much about naming him. I can just gloat.

For this little guy, I used a lump of white clay and mixed it up really good with the leftover clay that I used for my dragon critter previously. It created a really handsome aged white look. I took a lump of clay about the size of an olive, rolled it smooth, then formed it into an elongated teardrop. I pushed the bigger end down on the table, to create a flat surface for him to sit on. :)

Then I took another bit of clay about the size of a smallish marble and rolled it so it was just the teensiest bit oval. I angled it on the thin upper point of his body, and used my sharp clay tool to blend the neck and head together. For his wee bit snout I took a ball of clay that was about the size of a rosary bead and flattened it just the tiniest bit. With my sharp clay tool I blended that into his head, making the little snub-snout look.

Even his back end is cute!

I wanted to make sure he had a suitably round shape, so I worked at the clay for a little at this point, trimming off excess and rolling him in my hands until his upper part was narrow-ish and the "weight" sank mostly to his hips and belly. Then I took and formed a long snake of the white clay for his forelegs, with a small ball of black clay at the tips for his hooves, and smoothed those right onto his front, where it looked like his shoulders would be if he were standing. (Ignore that run-on sentence, 'kay?) Once those were positioned to my satisfaction, I took two balls of white clay, each about the size of a rosary bead, and rolled them out so that there was a snake of clay on one end, and a ball of clay at the other. I took the ball side, flattened it a little, and attached it at an angle to the back end of his body, so that it formed what looked like haunches and a back leg. I smoothed those legs in pretty good, until all the creases were gone. It took a pretty good while, but at last I was satisfied.

How'm I looking?

Once I got all his legs attached, I went to work on his face. For his horns, I mixed together orange and white until I got that nice woody sort of colour. Then I rolled the orange/white into a stubby snake, cut it in two, and rolled the separate snakes until I formed a point at one end of each the snakes. I curled these snakes gently in my hands, and with my sharp clay tool I positioned them on his head, and blended them on. For his eyes, I used my sharp clay tool (remember, I mentioned last time that this was my fav'rite tool!) to gently roll eye sockets into his face, then inserted two minuscule black balls into the sockets for his eyes. I rolled two white bits of clay into very very thin, fine snakes, and used those to form his eyelids. Then I used the sharp clay tool's point to form his nostrils and shape his snout. Next, I took a bit of black clay, flattened it really well, and cut teensy little strips off it. I twisted the strips ever-so-gently in between my fingers so that they made curls, and used my sharp clay tool to position each separate curl on his head, for his hair.

Ta da! Aren't I
aDORable?

After that, I rolled out some white clay into a snake and attached it to his bottom for his tail, and cut little teensy flat white strips of clay, which I twisted and then fastened to the end of the snake to form his tuft. Then I flattened two little balls of white clay into small circles, and pinched one end of the circle closed to fashion his ear. Again using my sharp pointed clay tool, I affixed them to his head under his hair with very careful blending strokes. For the last touch I mixed together crimson and white to create a very pale pink colour, and rolled out a long thin snake of that to tie about his tail, and give him a bow.

Then I baked him at 275 for about 35 minutes. When he came out, he looked just so pleased with himself. My mom was pretty pleased, too. In fact, all my little sisters are placing orders. Jacinta wants a Panda, and I think Annie said something about a puppy. We'll see. For now, there's the cow.

Thanks for stopping by and letting me gloat! I will see you all later.

God bless!

Saturday... LOVE my weekends.

I'm so excited. I got myself some clay, some tools for modeling clay, some inks for antiquing metals, and some liquid clay so I can get started on sculpting. It's terribly thrilling. However, since I haven't been feeling quite the best tonight, I'm waiting until tomorrow to dive in and create. So that's something to look forward to!

You know how you just have those days where all you do is have fun? That's kind of how my day was today. We, my mom and two sisters, drove to town and went to Michaels, Target, Walmart, and Bed Bath and Beyond. It was so much fun. We just did a lot of window shopping and browsing, and I was able to write my poem for the April PAD. (That's Poem-A-Day, for those who don't know what that means. For more information, you can go here: http://blog.writersdigest.com/poeticasides/ Join the fun, if you want to!) I also came up with another story idea, and have two poems that I want to edit and submit to different mags. That's in my to-do list in my day planner... or it's going to be soon!

Also, since I feel in a celebrating kind of mood, it feels like Spring out here. Seriously. We had an enormous dump of snow about a week ago, and we got so much that it was impossible to chuck the stuff on the berms. It was too high! Now, seven days later, I'd say a good 1/2 of the snow has melted. That's amazing! We went from about 6 feet to 3 feet in a week. Lovely, and I have to say, FINALLY! Snow is beautiful stuff, but shovelling is probably one of the few forms of exercise that I quite despise. I'm more than happy to see the sunshine.

At the end of the day, there's nothing quite so nice as sitting on the couch with a stuffed animal of sorts, (I know, infantile. But stuffed animals are SO comforting!) and listening to music. Right now, it's "The Secret Garden", a Broadway musical. Very soothing, and relaxing.

A Poem

Here's just a little poem I want to share with all my readers, a little hint into the depths of my soul. Enjoy!

A Girl's Life

She goes to work each morning,

She comes home late each night.

She makes believe she's happy,

that everything's all right.

She laughs away her sorrow,

her loneliness she hides.

When evening comes and she's alone,

to God, she then confides:

"Lord, I want to do Your Will,

though it's so hard to do.

I want to do what's best for me,

accept what comes from You.

But Lord, is it all right to ask

if You can let me see,

that though I'm so alone right now,

I will not always be?

Lord, I want to do Your Will,

and not put up a fight.

But oh! I'm so forlorn and sad,

and so alone tonight."

Sometimes she sees a family,

a mother, son, and dad.

Sometimes she sees a newborn babe-

a child she hasn't had.

Sometimes she's quite contented.

Sometimes she wants to cry.

When morning comes she folds her hands,

and looks beyond the sky:

"Christ, I want to do Your Will,

though it's so hard to do.

I want to do Your best for me,

by doing all for You.

Just promise me, my God, my Christ,

Whose love is whole and true:

One day not far, you'll give to me,

a man reflecting You.

A godly man, a kindred soul,

my chosen spouse and love.

The one who's love will bring forth fruit,

and honour You, above.