Good Things

Happy birthday to my friend Judith!

Busy these days. I'm very much looking forward to visiting with my friend Cathy in Calgary next week, but want to get a bunch of work finished before I leave so I don't have to worry about it during my visit.

I've started a graphic novel project in addition to my new novel. I'm not going to talk much about the former for now (so please don't ask) except to say I'm pretty hyped. Not having scripted a graphic novel before, I've been throwing myself into mega-research mode, reading everything I can possibly get my hands on about comic scriptwriting. Many thanks to Rand for his recommendations. I've been reading comics and graphic novels for years, thanks to Rand and Reid (Reid sucked me into comicdom when we went out back in university).

I've also started writing some new songs. Most of my "work" is done during my walks / runs; I've gotten in the habit of not taking my iPod, and song ideas keep popping into my head. So now I'm thinking I need to start taking my iPod with its little microphone so I can record these snippets instead of panicking about whether I'll remember them by the time I get back home.

Also doing some song co-writing with a couple of friends (Jeff Bohnhoff and Scott Snyder) whose songwriting I greatly admire, and am pretty excited.

Life is exciting in general, and that's a good thing. I'd be even MORE excited if my kids' books start selling, of course, but meanwhile I'll appreciate what I have. :-)



Above: Cartoon commissioned by the British folk group, Playing Rapunzel. I am a HUGE Playing Rapunzel fan. In fact, they'd probably run screaming if they knew how huge a fan I really was. I've been waiting in anticipation (and financial dread) to see when their next North American gig is going to be, because I fear that I'm going to be compelled to go there, no matter where it is.



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Survey for photographers (and non-photographers)

Photo by Iain Bradbury.

A survey for everyone, because I'm curious: What do YOU see when you look at the photo above?

Since buying a Rebel XTi earlier this year, I've been enjoying photography even more. Not just my own photography, but that of others. I used to be solely interested in the main subject of each particular photo but now I find myself fascinated by all sorts of other aspects.

The photo above, for example, was taken by my photographer friend Iain Bradbury. Perhaps it's because of the writerly part of my soul but when I looked at this photo, I saw a story. In his Flickr comments for the post, Iain thanked me for the comment: "During the entire life of this photo (capture, process, post) I only looked at it from a technical/visual point of view. Your comment has made me look at it in an entirely different way. Thanks!"

The photo below is one that Iain took of the revamped Royal Ontario Museum. I saw a zillion photos online of the structure when Michael Lee-Chin's Crystal design was officially launched, but this picture is one of my favourites:


Photo by Iain Bradbury

And a second question for photographers (amateur or professional): What are your favourite photo subjects? My favourites, for example, are people and close-ups of food and other items with implied stories behind them. The food, for example, has been prepared a certain way and is just about to be enjoyed. A battered child's toy was obviously much-loved (or much-abused, depending on your viewpoint). For the same reason, I love photos that tell stories, even if the photographer didn't intend them that way. :-)


Photo by Iain Bradbury

And here's a rare self-portrait of my friend:



Photo by Iain Bradbury

I love Iain's title for this pic: "I am closer than I appear."

Do check out Iain's Flickr page for more great photos.

All photos on this page were taken by Iain and reposted here with permission.



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Shuriken Diaries

At the beginning of this year, Ryan Couldrey interviewed me for blogTO. Mostly because of that interaction, I ended up writing for blogTO. I'm sure I'm at least 10 years older than anyone involved with this Toronto arts & culture site, but I've been having fun and they don't seem to mind. Or maybe they just don't know yet.

Anyway, Ryan recently launched his own comic and I thought I'd give it a plug here. Shuriken Diaries is written by Ryan and illustrated by Sam B. It's updated every Monday and Thursday, and you can read the first strip here.

Ryan also has a great photo blog.



Speaking of blogTO, I created the graphic above for my blogTO post about 24-hour grocery stores in Toronto. Click through to see the comic I drew specifically for the post. If you know of other 24-hour grocery stories in the city, please post on blogTO, thanks.

I know, I know...it's ironic that I'm writing about 24-hour Toronto when I'm not a night person. But hey, I tend to get up around 6 or 6:30 a.m., sometimes earlier (insomnia). In the past I've found myself sending early morning e-mails to my friend Walter while he's sending his late-night e-mails. Sometime I think that guy never sleeps, I swear.

And for those on Facebook, blogTO has launched a new and improved Toronto Faves application. One of the new features: users can add their own reviews and recommendations!



I also have a new post up on Inkygirl: an interview with Lisa Yee, the author of the Millicent Minn series.

Link O' The Day

12 Fantastic Fall Photo Tips - Our Extra-Crunchy Guide to Leaf Peeping: My friend Ray told me about Photojojo. I've actually subscribed to their free newsletter; I very VERY rarely subscribe to non-writing e-mail newsletters but so far I've found every issue useful.

Video O' The Day

I've been in a Jonathan Coulton mood lately. This is one of my favourite songs, ever....



You can download your own copy of Jonathan Coulton's "Skullcrusher Mountain" from his downloads page. Here are the lyrics/chords, if you're curious.




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Balticon, recording and songwriting

The Balticon Web site has been updated. Author Guest of Honor: Connie Willis. Musical Guest of Honor: Urban Tapestry (woohoo!). The Artist Guest of Honour is still to be announced.



Connie Willis, as I've mentioned before, has won six Nebula and nine Hugo Awards (more than any other science fiction writer, I believe). Balticon 42 takes place in Baltimore, Maryland on May 23-26, 2008. You can find more info about the convention on the Balticon Web site and there's also a Balticon LJ community.



Above: Allison recording her part for a song I wrote recently. Jodi's going to be recording her part later this week. I've been using Garageband to do my recording but as I learn more, I'm really starting to yearn for more control over different aspects of the process.


I'm going to be upgrading to Logic Express 8 and am determined to devote some solid time to learning it! Until I get the upgrade, I'm going to keep working my way through Apple Pro Training Series: Logic Pro 7 and Logic Express 7 by Martin Sitter. It's a big step up from Garageband, but I know it's going to be worth the learning curve.

Now that I know we're guests at Balticon next May, I'm hugely motivated to write some more songs. I'd especially like to write one based on a Connie Willis book. I love Brenda Sutton's In A Gown Too Blue, based on Doomsday Book, and I know there are others.

And a survey for you songwriters out there: How do your songs begin? Mine usually begin with an idea for a lyric. I scribble down lots of lyric fragments that I want to include, then figure out what type of music would be appropriate (blues, doo-wop, ballad, etc.) and come up with the musical structure.

If it's a song with three-part harmony and/or counterpoint, however, I write the song differently since I not only have to make sure each vocal part works with the others but also that it's within each of our vocal ranges.

Here are some lyric notes I made while writing The Friendship Song:



After finishing the lyrics, I came up with the 3-part musical lines for Allison, Jodi and me:



You can hear a sample of the song on our Sushi and High Tea CDBaby page.

If you're looking for some great songwriting tips, by the way, be sure to check out Jodi's The Muse's Muse.


Baltimore Trivia of the Day:

Francis Scott Key wrote the Star Spangled Banner while on a ship in Baltimore Harbor, watching the British attack the city.



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Autumn's the BEST season

Autumn is the best season. Summer's too hot, winter's too cold, spring's too wet. I took the photo above while walking through a cemetery with my Xti/Sigma 30/1.4.

Congrats to my friend Ju Honisch on the publication of her first book of short stories! Bisse was launched October 1st and published by Hexentor Verlag (Jürgen G. Hahn, Albrechtstr. 65, 12103 Berlin). It can be ordered from the publisher (EUR 10.- plus postage) or from Amazon.de (should be listed in a few weeks).



The book is in German and there's no English translation available yet, sadly. According to Ju (who kindly provided me with an English press release), the stories sound deliciously creepy:

"BISSE" (in English: "Bites") contains the everyday creepiness of life, abstruse tendencies of your nice next door neighbour, the sudden abyss found in the souls of 'perfectly normal' people, and mythical beings who - set against the average urban dweller and his idiosyncracies - lose a great deal of their scariness. The horror stories derive their suspense from the warped psychology of their protagonists and not from splatter or loosely scattered body parts. If you like stories with a twist, you will like those."

My German is absymal, but I still plan to buy a copy because I figure I'll have even more incentive to improve!

Spent last night and most of today finishing up some comics for NaNoWriMo, which begins next month, and painting pottery. I'm especially excited about the latter! My friend Luisa has been doing pottery for a while; she still considers herself an amateur but I love her work. Here's a gorgeous shaped bowl she made for us:



Anyway, she recently asked me if I was interested in collaborating on some pottery. She'd make the pottery, I'd paint it (however I wanted), and she'd glaze and fire it. Yesterday I learned two new words: bisqueware and greenware. Bisqueware is pottery that has been fired once but not glazed (I think). It's more fragile resists most water. Greenware is an unfired clay form that can be destroyed by water.

I've only painted two pieces of pottery before, and those were from a "Paint Your Own Pottery" place where you choose from already-made pottery. I made a mug and a tile for Jeff, but the paint turned out more textured than I expected though Jeff said he loved them anyway:



The guy in the photo is Mr. Grumpypants, which is Jeff's nickname sometimes. His sister taught it to me. :-)

Luisa's given me a piece of greenware and one of bisqueware.

With Luisa's pottery, I was way more nervous...she MADE these pieces by HAND, after all! I was so worried about screwing up. What if I mis-paint something? I can't Un-do or Delete Layer like I can when digitally painting! I still need way more practice. Anyway, I'll post pics of any pieces that she and I are happy with (or more realistically, are willing to have exposed to public scrutiny).

Looking forward to seeing Allison tonight! She's recording her part for a new song I've written, and I'm experimenting with a new slow cooker recipe: Beef with Chickpeas and Curry. I love my slow cooker; some brief prep, throw stuff in the cooker, then forget about it until dinnertime.

Happy birthday to my friend Andy today...






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