Artists have many place to put up portfolios of work, galleries, and sketches. Musicians can upload songs and snippets and then keep going. Done right, this can generate a career.

And writers have?

Okay yes, we can publish to Amazon or B&N or whatever, but these are not communities and once we done so we relinquish value. Communities where you can publish work either take sweeping rights or are not serious at all. Professional writing relies on rights purchasing…and once you post it you lose rights publisher’s want. Oh, sure, one in a million people get stuff published after they have published themselves, footed all the marketing, captured a few leprechauns. However that’s not the norm.

I’m not talking about critiquing. There are a few closed off pieces of the web for that. I’m talking about things like Deviant Art, where you can gain a following, turn that into commissions, turn that into a portfolio.

Oh wait, you can post writing on DA? Yeah, I knew that. Want to know the difference? You post your latest painting on DA, you can still sell it. You post your writing on DA, you’ve lost First Rights. It’s published. Maybe someone will want a hard copy but that’s getting more and more unlikely. Suddenly, unless you make a ton of sales BY YOURSELF, it becomes untouchable.

One could argue that this is what blogs are for but with the death of Google Reader, other readers have suddenly begun to charge to be able to afford bandwidth. Without readers, it gets harder and harder to follow blogs. I’m still trying to parse how follow all the blogs I follow without having to pay more to do so.

I’m not sure where I’m going with this. I’ll never stop writing. I’m revising two short stories to start sending out soon and I’m still submitting Dreamer’s War. I’ve just sent out to agent #31. I won’t stop until I cannot find anywhere else to send it. And then? If then?

I’ll post it..probably here. Then perhaps offer it on Kindle and other e-book formats. I want people to see my writing. Then it will out there for good or ill. Don’t worry, it’s been revised, edited and revised again. And if it came to that, I’d hire an editor to go over again. I may not have any money to market my book but I can put it out there, right? It would be serial. Then collected in e-book.

If it comes to that, I should have my second book, Fallen Kingdom finished by that time. I will submit that one. And the next. And the next. I will keep going.

That’s all one could do really.

It was full of stories.

The roar of the of the engine competes with howl of the atmosphere as you shift down and take a turn into a tunnel.

The old bricks of the walls rush by as the Phantom snakes its way through the passage towards the waiting light of the day.

You jerk the wheel to the right and ram head long into the wall.

***

The above is math. Every. Single. Time.

The son of summer starsMeredith Ann Pierce; Firebird 2003WorldCat•Read Online•LibraryThing•Google Books•BookFinder 

Pierce also gives Lell, Jan’s young sister, a voice in this story. She becomes entranced by a griffon that Jan saved. And finally, Jan’s true parentage is confirmed…though I thought it was obvious all along. If Jan excels at nothing else, it is missing the obvious.

I was not as pleased with this book as the others. The drama seemed forced and false. All the riddles already solved for the reader and little effect if the characters found out the truth.

Many of the past characters are either dead or only mentioned briefly. There is much waiting and little action. Pierce writes good characters but it is obvious that this is a story for a much younger mind.

The Lovely BonesAlice Sebold; Picador 2003WorldCat•LibraryThing•Google Books•BookFinder 

It’s a beautiful book.

Fourteen year old Susie Salmon is killed and her family has to deal with the aftermath as Susie looks on in Heaven. It’s so bittersweet. Not something I could read again. But the idea that something wonderful can be built out of tragedy is a powerful metaphor.

I cannot imaging loosing a child. Something no one should ever go through.

It has been interesting. More so for the way the class is conducted rather than the content. Ebooks, and online tests and discussion are a larger focus than the once a week lectures. The interface isn’t the best, blue and gray, tiny text and unclear navigation make things confusing. Also it’s easy for the professor to break the system with an errant copy and paste.

Still, I like being in school again.

YMMV

Loom set up to warp.

Christmas 2011 I received an Ashford rigid heddle loom. It took pretty much all of 2012 to 1) gather enough yarn for a project. 2) put the thing together. 3) Learn how to warp the loom.  4) Mess that  up and re-warp the room. Then as I finally set to weaving I found I messed up the warp again (Measure from the front, not the back) and only used 1 skein of yarn (spread over two types) for the whole thing. Yeah, so I have a ton of the same yarn to try again.

I choose Caron Simply Soft Bone for the warp. I wanted to make it 4 ft long. I had no

Warp looks cool.

where to put the warp peg except on Aia’s gate in the hallway. So I set the whole thing up and warped from the door to our bedroom. This worked well. What I didn’t know was that I had miscalculated. I had filled all the slots twice but I measured from the wrong part of the loom. So I only used less than half of one skein. I figured that I must have calculated

Rolling on the warp.

too much but it was really too little. Live and learn. It looks awesome though and was probably the longest part of the whole project next to putting the loom together. I worked on it while Aia was gone.  Then Aia held the warp as I winded it on to the loom after she got home. In all it took a few days to get it right. Next I had to move the double threads to their own slot. Then I used part of the left over thread to tie the warp to the front and adjust the tension. Ashford has some great tutorials on weaving on this loom on YouTube. I think I watched about 30 times. It sat like that for a long time. Between working and writing I had little time at home. So a few months went by before I finished the project. When finally prepared the weft I found that I had a whole new issue.

Pulling the threads through

Begin the Weave!

I choose to use Lion Brand Homspun Painted Desert. This is one of their gradient yarns. I had to fill the shuttle, unwind it and then rewind it backwards for the gradient to work. It was worth it but an extra step.

Weaving was fun and fairly simple. I was just doing a basic pass back and forth. The next issue I ran into was one I did not find a solution to fix.

I used another bit of the Bone to spread the warp before starting. I jacked the heddle into the starting position. Passing the heddle through the first part was okay. The threads did not spread very far and adjusting the tension didn’t help. When I moved the heddle into the next position for the next pass, the threads spread really well. I had no problems

Still weaving.

passing the shuttle from the top heddle but when it came time to pass the shuttle from right to left I put the heddle into the lower position and the threads pancaked. I had to use a pick from a sock loom to hold the threads up as I passed the shuttle through. It was annoying but not so bad that I stopped.

As I came to the end of the warp, I discovered the shortfall was big instead of the the other way around. I checked my math, it was all correct. The problem was I needed to measure the warp from the back of the loom. I lost 2 feet of warp because I didn’t. Now though, I have a WPI (wraps per inch) count for the Lion Brand. It should only take one skein.

I’ll start again. This will take a lot less time than the first time and I want to try some other weaves. I hope to get more

Finished!

heddles for this loom and a double heddle kit because I’d like to do a finer weave and have no room for a big loom. The Lion Brand wove up so soft and the Caron made great tassels. I used the finished project for a cover cloth for my end table. No real loss.

I have updates on my Tatting (grr) and other projects. I got a bead loom and as sock loom and more DPNs for Christmas. That will have to wait just a bit. As I have to give away some of those projects first.

Yeah, still don’t want to be an insurance agent.

The thing is that I’m getting interviews for designer positions, some multiple times. Yet, I lose out to those with a college degree. Yes, I have a degree,  but I don’t have a full developer tool set.

And let’s not kid ourselves, the ads all want folks with a bigger package to offer in web development.

So I made an appointment at Devry to see what it would take to go back to school for web development. Apparently it takes five minutes. So I enrolled.

I don’t have a job right now. I still need that, of course. Next week thought I start my first college course in 11 years. It feels freaky. I’m still using my degree. I have more books in me yet.

Fuzzy SapiensH. Beam Piper; Ace Books 1977WorldCat•LibraryThing•Google Books•BookFinder 

Most disturbingly though is the fact that Fuzzys, considered intelligent pets more than another race. Even the propents of the Fuzzys, treat them like little kids with no mental capacity (though they can learn languages, program computers and have a complex family structure). The good guys all agree slavery is bad, however they then set up an adoption center where people can adopt Fuzzys like dogs, sell the Fuzzy mineral rights to the evil company from Little Fuzzy, and never discuss the political situation with them at all. Instead Fuzzys are sent on play dates while the adults (the men, not the women) have cocktail hour and discuss whatever just happened.

I suppose the book is a sign of the times it was written in. Still I was disappointed in this book. I really wanted more from it.

I’m finding Koshi/Zoshi increasingly frustrating. (I’m way more of a Kea fan). I don’t have much stock for folks who do whatever they want.

At least I can read online to find out what happens. Like the last vol, I so wanted more.

 I obtained an advanced review copy of Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood and fell in love.

That’s one of the reasons ARCs suck. You have an extra long wait for the next book!  Set in the early 20th Century, America is caught in the political grip of the Puritan church.  Witches once ruled the country are in disgrace, their practice illegal and suspected witches are sent away to be “reformed”. Cate Cahill and her two sisters are witches. Since their mother’s death they have practiced in secret, away from the eyes of their father.

Their noisy neighbor convinces the father to get the girls a governess. Cate’s beau returns from school, and the ne’er-do-well son of a gardener is hired to build a gazebo. On top of that, Cate finds it harder and harder to keep her siblings from using magic.

The world is brilliantly painted. Cate is only offered two choices in life, marriage or a nunnery. She can only do so much to protect everyone while everyone seems to be after her. I was swept up in the story and very sorry to see the last page.

Dark moonMeredith Ann Pierce; Firebird 2003WorldCat•Read Online•LibraryThing•Google Books•BookFinder 

This book didn’t start well. The Unicorns are on another pilgrimage. Jan and Tek finally become mates. At the end of pilgrimage Gryphons attack and Jan is separated from the rest of the herd and ends up the captor of humans.

Back in the grove, the Unicorn King goes mad and begins to starve the Unicorns as the winter sets in. Tek is pregnant and King places Jan’s perceived death on her shoulders, forcing Tek to hide to keep herself and her foals alive.

This middle book is mostly about the survival. Jan looses his memory and stays with the humans out of need rather than want.

Even with the rough start, I ended up liking the book better than Birth of the Firebringer. I got caught up in the separate stories. That is always a good thing.

I’ve heard all the excuses. Frankly, an outline isn’t set in stone. The outline is as much of a living document as any novel in progress. These are the bones of a story we’re talking about, the crunchy bits that move the story along.

And sometimes the bones grow.

Twice now, I’ve had to rework the remaining outline of Fallen Kingdom. First, when I decided that adding viewpoints would add to the story as a whole, and now, as I head into the last part of the book, the story has changed in a way I didn’t expect. That means it’s time to take a breath and see where I go from here.

As I’ve said before, I have a scene by scene outline. When I rework an outline, I don’t go through the whole process again. I read through outline, take out the bits I’ve already hit, and add the new lines of plot that make sense. Then back to writing.

Year of Writing Dangerously is 366 short essays on writing and some writing prompts at the end. It was just what I needed. Writing is a crazy practice, arcane to most, something to be dabbled in not taken seriously. Yet writing is the backbone of our society. Want proof, take a look at some of the crap that came out of the writing strike (the brilliance that came out of it from writers striking but using their time well).

Each essay covers some aspect of writing, from first ideas, to publication and has a quote to go with it as well. From memoir to genre it pretty much runs the gambit. I’ll be coming back to this book whenever I need a pick-me-up.

As always, it’s fun and crazy, I fell behind early. Frustrated by a work schedule which includes an hour commute I’ve lost a lot of valuable writing time.

Then I remembered I had Dragon Naturally Speaking. And a digital voice recorder. Now I’m hitting 3,000 words daily, if I remember to do it. I technically forgot for two days this week.

I’m still training it since I haven’t used DNS 10 since I stopped having a commute. So far it’s working pretty good and slowly getting better.

Don’t get any ideas that what spills out of my mouth is really ready for prime time. It’s more like the general ideas, with snippets of dialog. Walking home as a child, I used to write stories in my head and spoke the dialog out loud, hoping I’d get home in time to remember what I had said. (There were no witnesses to this…a walk home was a mile through the woods.)

I have the software transcribe the file from the voice recorder then train the software / rewrite the scene. It is more work but I’ve gotten caught up.

So obviously, (in my head this all makes sense. So if you’re shaking your head already, don’t worry, I’m the crazy one), this led to about sticky pudding. It’s cake that is stick and you eat it with cream.

Research lead to all kinds of strange things with nuts, dates and prunes. I skipped that part.

• 1 pint of whipping cream
• 1 box of angel food cake mix
• 1 box of cook and serve butterscotch pudding
• 1 8 ounce can of condensed milk
• Grand Mariner
• A thick pat of butter
• Sea Salt of some sort
• 2 cups milk (for the Pudding)

Pour the cream in a bowl and set your mixer on medium. Now leave that alone until it forms stiff peaks. That takes for ever but you can use a hand mixer, or, if you’re into pain, a whisk. I can get this whole recipe done and in the oven before those peaks form. DON’T PUT ANYTHING IN THE CREAM.

Cook the pudding according to directions. Do not put it in the fridge to set.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Ignore the back of the angel food cake box. In a bowl, combine the angel food cake mix and 1 1/4 cup of pudding. Give leftover pudding to a handy child or starving artist. Take out a large casserole dish, spray with cooking spray or otherwise grease. Put cake/pudding mixture in dish. Cook for 45 min in the oven.

At about min 30, combine condensed milk, butter and salt in a pot. Cook over medium heat until it begins to bubble, stirring constantly. Remove from head and stir in some Grand Mariner.

When the cake is done, poke holes in it. Pour the condensed milk mixture over the cake and use a spatula to make sure it covers the cake entirely.

Cover the cake with the unsweetened whipping cream. Serve immediately or let it sit over night in the fridge with a cover on.

Too sweet? Variations (or things I did after eating the first batch to other people):

If you have Sourdough Starter lying around (that’s a whole nother post), replace 1/4 a cup of pudding with sourdough starter. This will do two things: make your cake rise and fall like crazy, and give it a tangy flavor. Seemed to go over well at work.

Different puddings: Chocolate, vanilla, pistachio, there are a lot of puddings out there to use. Just make them and at to cake mix.

–The Ranting Room

Before you agree, realize I did not vote Republican or Democrat this election, but I did vote.

Aia as a Pink Kitty Pirate

Posting has been not so often, I know. You’d think with a new work schedule of 6:45 to 3:15 would mean I have more time.

Halloween was a pleasant surprise. My neighborhood has always some nice participants, well decorated houses and fun gimmicks. However, the houses participating  have been few, the streets sparse of children even though we live in a two school neighborhood.

This year was different.

What happened to Jessica Ridgeway was horrible. The very worst thing that could happen to a child. Life changed immediately for us and I believe for others in the area as well. Had they not gotten the person responsible there would be no trick or treating.

But he showed up and confessed and is now in custody.

Houses that never had they’re light on for Halloween were giving out candy. There were kids and parents everywhere. It was impossibly cool. Were they feeling the same relief that I felt? Did they need the reassurance that not everyone sucks, that sometimes you can trust a stranger?

I don’t know. I haven’t stopped thinking about it since it happened. My heart goes out to Jessica’s family. I hope that they can find trust again one day.

Spindle’s endRobin McKinley; Putnam’s Sons 2000WorldCat•LibraryThing•Google Books•BookFinder 

McKinley takes Sleeping Beauty and makes it into a tale about broken families and creating new ones. It’s a sweet twist on the story, Rosie, the missing princess, burdened by the gifts of magic that make her grotesque in ways that should have made her beautiful and beautiful in ways that make others grotesque. She has to save her kingdom and the life she loves.

As always, McKinley leaves you with wanting more. I really loved this world. Similar to Lackey’s 500 Kingdoms without the smarmy know-it-all. I wish she would revisit some of these wonderful worlds she’s created.