Utata, Pegasus Awards and updated webcomics

The photo above was taken by Beckett Gladney for a wonderful photo essay she put together for Utata Speaks. From a recent post in her blog:

"It's only a small part of Utata's big annual project, which has gone live just today. Alanna's story is under Social Essays; there are a bunch of other essays under the various categories, and a lot of talented photographers submitted entries. Utata gets quite a lot of traffic to their site, so here's hoping that this little essay helps raise even a bit of awareness of the issues surrounding fostering and adopting children."

Beckett wrote the essay with the approval of both Luis and Alisa Garcia, and Alisa helped with the writing and editing. It's an informative and moving piece; I encourage you all to read it:

Adopting Alanna by Beckett Gladney

Speaking of Beckett, she and I are putting together a blog about our graphic novel project; I'll post more news about that soon.

The Pegasus nominee ballot is online, for those interested. For those unfamiliar with the event, the Pegasus Awards were founded to recognize and honor excellence in filking. You can find out more info at the Pegasus Awards site as well as Wing Words, their new newsletter.

Congrats to all the nominees!

Illustration and comic updates:

Speaking of music, I'm tickled to announced that I've been commissioned to do the cover art for Playing Rapunzel's upcoming CD!

Updated My Life In A Nutshell:



I created the above strip for a comparison of e-book readers for the iPhone that I did for Inkygirl earlier this week.

I also updated Will Write For Chocolate again (trying to make up for all the strips I missed earlier in the summer):





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Things, new Chocolate and Fall City Blues

I've decided to switch from Remember The Milk to Things as my task organization system of choice. RTM has a lot of great features, but the user interface on Things appeals to me more. Cultured Code recently came out with an iPhone version of Things that synchs with the desktop version, and that clinched my decision.

Things has some shortcomings but I've found workarounds while I wait for the developers to release new versions. I've been using the system for several weeks now, and it's definitely helped me be better organized.



One of my problems is that I tend to have a lot of projects on the go at once, plus I also needed a way to record all the ideas (writing ideas, cartoon ideas, songwriting, sewing project ideas, errands, books I wanted to read, websites I wanted to check out, etc.) that leap at me as I go about my day-to-day business.

Up to now, I've used a small paper notebook as well as little pieces of paper. The notebook works up to a point, but I needed to keep reminding myself to review it regularly, else reminders get lost amidst by other scribbles.

Anyway, now I just write everything down in my iPhone in Things. And I've gotten much better at two-thumb typing. :-) I review my "To Do Today" list first thing in the morning, and then my entire list once a week.

Some recently posted strips from Will Write For Chocolate:

Link O' The Day

Some of you may remember me mentioning a hugely talented young woman named Rin at Balticon. Well, Rin has a comic strip! You can find her strip at Fall City Blues on Livejournal.






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Waiting for the rain

My niece took the above photo of me during a visit to the cottage this summer. A storm was coming, and I sat on the dock looking out across the lake at the gathering clouds. I love thunderstorms, as long as I know I can get inside somewhere warm and dry when I want to.



I've updated both My Life In A Nutshell and Will Write For Chocolate this past week. I've posted Nutshell above.

I'd Blather more, but Jeff and I are going out for a walk. Hope you're all having a great weekend!



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Sleep clinic results and power naps

I had my follow-up appointment at the Toronto Sleep Institute earlier this week, where Dr. Shaw discussed the results of my overnight sleep study visit.

Basic summary: There's no obvious physiological reason explaining why my sleep feels so fragmented.

Apparently it took me 14 minutes to fall asleep, which is normal. And surprising, really, considering I was wired up from head to foot.

I got more REM sleep and slow-wave sleep than is the norm but somewhat less total sleep time (5.7 hrs real sleep out of 7 hours). I don't have sleep apnea or unusual PLM (Periodic Limb Movements). I'm told that I sometimes snore when I'm on my back, but that it's intermittent and "mild in intensity."



These days, I generally cope with tiredness during the day by:

(1) Going outside and doing something active. Time-consuming if I've already been out earlier in the day and have tons of work, and doesn't always help with the tiredness.

(2) Taking a 20 minute power nap.

I used to feel immensely guilty doing the latter during my workday, especially since I know those with office jobs don't have this option, but I always find that it improves my productivity and alertness for the rest of the day.



In addition trying to get to bed earlier (I seem to wake up around 6:30 am no matter what), I'm also going to ramp up my exercise somewhat. Right now I go out and do some walking on hilly terrain (with an occasional run, depends on how my knees handle it) about five times a week. I need to aim for EVERY day again.

I've nearly made it to Cleveland, OH in my virtual walk, by the way! I'm sure I'd be going faster if I could accurately all the walking I do elsewhere (trails at the cottage, etc.), but right now I'm just recording the km/miles I walk specifically for exercise and when I remember to take my fancypants pedometer.

Though I recently bought a pedometer app for my iPhone which seems to do exactly the same thing as my fancypants pedometer, so I may eventually be selling the latter.



I also use my iPhone for waking me from my power naps; setting the clock alarm app to wake me with harp music. Have I mentioned how much I -love- my iPhone?

If you're interested in finding out more about power naps, here are some useful resources:

Power Nap Resources:

Lifehacker: A Guide To Power Napping

10 Benefits Of Power Napping

New Scientist: Power Naps Boost Work Performance

Dumb Little Man: How To Boost Your Afternoon Energy With A Power Nap

KnowHR: Power Naps Are Good For Your Employees

USAToday: Companies Try To Help Workers Sleep More





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Fan Expo 2008 (part 2)

I've heard people complain about the commercial-run sf conventions like Fan Expo, and I can sympathize. The first thing you see when you arrive is a huge room of things to buy; the room is strategically arranged so that in order to get to any of the programming areas, you have to make your way past aisles and aisles of vendors hawking their goods.



Yes, the emphasis is on making money rather than community, but the money they make at these events helps pay for big media names like Sean Astin and Brent Spiner (pictured above). And many other well-known names in sf, comics, gaming, horror and anime.

Fan Expo is really a bunch of conventions in one, with separate programming for each theme (comics, sf, etc.). And costumes...TONS of costumes. Sometimes it seemed as if more people had costumes than not.



At first I felt nervous asking costumed people if I could take photos of them, but quickly found that no one minded.



In fact, it was clear that they WANTED to be photographed. Some of the groups were already used to being asked by the time I got to them, and immediately fell into their "official" poses:



Fan Expo was a photographer's dream. :-)

I loved all the colours, the wild hair, the different looks. In terms of people-watching, it was ideal as well as tons of fun.



There were times that I felt a bit overwhelmed by all the crowds and the "BUY BUY BUY" message, but all I had to do was focus on a smaller community or make my own within the weekend, and I started having fun again.

Like playing some games in the boardgaming area, for example:



I played three games on Friday: Men and Martinis (wasn't crazy about this game), Cover Up (pictured above, really enjoyed this game) and Star Wars Miniatures (was too much of a straight 'kill the other guys' game for me). Also got to know some people from the Toronto boardgaming society as well as Polymancer Studios (the latter told me they sometimes need artists, so who knows?).



Enjoyed chatting with some of the creators in Artists' Alley, like BenjaminRivers.com. I bought and enjoyed his graphic novel, Snow.



I also had fun talking with other people in line-ups. I took the photo above on my iPhone (we were lining up for Brent Spiner's Q&A) and e-mailed it to Jeff with a "happy anniversary" message from everyone in the picture. :-D



And I enjoyed chatting with Kristen, one of my line mates while waiting for Sean Astin's Q&A.



By the way, I was only kidding when I said people mistook me for John Kalisz when I watched his table at the convention. :-)



My Fan Expo highlights:

- Dinner with John at Fresh (Spadina & Queen location). The more I get to know John, the more I like him. I also learned more about the comics industry and comic-making process from John during the weekend.

- Q&A session with Sean Astin. Seems like a really nice guy, very down-to-earth and a tad shy. I posted a bit more about his Q&A at Waiting For Bilbo.

- Q&A session with with Brent Spiner. Excellent speaker. He would be a great stand-up comedian! Hugely entertaining, and he does a great impression of Patrick Stewart. :-)



I mentioned yesterday that some of the guests were charging $60 an autograph. It seems that most of the guests charged $25-30, not $60. Buzz Aldrin charged $239 for an autograph and a seat at a special presentation.

A comment from Tanya Huff on charging money for autographs:

"About charging money for autographs; the thing is though, authors sort of do. If you're asking me to sign a hardcover, you've already paid the $30. Now you might have only paid $1 for a used copy of a paperback or you might just be asking me to sign a program book but in the end, I suspect it evens out. When I do a signing, I am, among other things, honouring the money that's already been spent on me that I've used, in turn, to pay my bills.

As actors only really have their image to sell and their image is how they make their living... Not that some of them need the extra money but I suspect it's more retaining control of product for the more successful than about the actual cash."


A table of free comics!



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