Twittertoons

Kevin Cheng inspired me to experiment with putting comics on the background of my Twitter page. I loved Kevin's Twitterpage design; he's able to include promotional info without being obnoxious about it. Kevin was kind enough to give me permission to copy his design.

The comic strip at the top of today's Blatherpost was my very first crude attempt. For my second strip, I smartened up and worked on a larger image, then shrank it. Anyway, I've posted a new Twittertoon on my Twitter page. :-)

No, I won't be updating Twittertoons regularly. Are you MAD? I already have way too many comic strips online. Stop giving me that look, Jeff.

Complacent cats and custom-made comic books

Above: my mom-in-law's cat, Duffy. Duffy is extremely affectionate, particularly toward those who are allergic to cats. Like me.

Jeff and I spent the weekend doing Christmas stuff with his family and mine. For Christmas this year, we put together comic books for each of the nephews and nieces on his side of the family. I sent out short e-mail surveys last month, asking for info to help us make stories that much more custom-made for each child -- favourite TV shows, for example, and anything exciting that had happened during 2008.



It was fun to see the kids' reactions as they opened their gifts from us. Though the youngest wasn't all that impressed at first...he yelled, "I DON'T LIKE IT!" and tossed his storybook across the room. But he warmed up to the idea of getting a book as his Christmas gift when his mother read it to him later in the evening, and pointed out that HE was the star of the book. Heh.

Soon the kids were all reading each other their own storybooks and comparing adventures.

We used Comic Life to put together the comic storybooks, using a combination of photos from our archives, plus the occasional artwork by yours truly.

Fun to put together and fun to give. :-)

Looking up

I was out for a walk a few days ago, listening to one of my audiobooks (Bill Bryson's A Walk In The Woods, which I am -so- enjoying), when some impulse prompted me to look up and I saw about forty white balloons high in the sky, floating away.

I thought briefly about grabbing my iPhone to snap a photo but the balloons were moving too quickly, so I just stood and watched. I wondered where they had come from, and whether they had escaped by accident or by design. In only a few seconds, they were just bits of white against the blue, as if someone had tossed a handful of froth up into the sky.

When I couldn't see the balloons anymore, I started walking again, thinking how easy it would have been to miss seeing those balloons if I hadn't looked up. They were just a few moments in an insanely busy day, but they were the kind of moments I will keep with me.

I really need to look up more often when I walk.

Twitter groups for writers

For writers on Twitter:

I've created a group called Writers Who Blog About Writing. Because the main page has a member list with websites, this is a great way for all of us (and other people) to find out about each other's blogs.

If you're a writer on Twitter who blogs about non-writing topics (or who doesn't have a blog at all), I notice there's also a general writers' group on Twitter.

Twitter group for filkers

For those on Twitter, I've created a group called Filkers to help us find each other. :-) If you're on Twitter and consider yourself a filker, please do join!