This is Halloween! [Video]

Halloween preparations are in full swing at our house. I spent last evening gluing labels on little vials of poison and some bigger jars of sundry witchy/mad scientist/wizard-y things. The night before was filled with debate of what, exactly, ogre snot looks like (and then reconciling that with what I had on hand to create said snot). Strangely, none of our costumes are ready yet - they're all in various stages of "not done yet."

Besides being just plain awesome, this video reminds me that I forgot to decorate much outside! I guess I'll have to work on that tonight...

How are you preparing for Halloween?

This is me :(

I keep telling LilGirl I'm an example of what NOT to do when it comes to math. Thankfully, Hubby is a math whiz, so there's some hope for her.

Math Homework

I love Savage Chickens. It's one of my favorite web comics. Check out the site.

Great class on creating conflict in your writing

I recently took this class and I learned a lot. Cheryl is offering the class again in November. She's a great teacher!

CONFLICT MAKES THE STORY

DATES:  NOVEMBER 1 – 30, 2011

INSTRUCTOR: CHERYL ST.JOHN

REDUCED ENROLLMENT FEE: $20.

(a savings of $10.)

REGISTRATION VIA PAYPAL: http://cheryl-stjohn-workshop.blogspot.com/

REGISTRATION OPEN NOW

 

Only a little over two months left of 2011! Did you accomplish everything you wanted to over the year? Writing improvement challenges? A new story proposal? A finished project? Here’s an opportunity to sharpen your skills and be prepared for those new goals, which are right around the corner.

 

CLASS DESCRIPTION:

No matter what writing topic Cheryl addresses, she hangs the most importance on characters. Conflict is drawn from characters. It’s based on their goals, their backstory and their motivation. It is opposing forces that come from within the characters themselves.

 

Webster’s Dictionary defines conflict as “the opposition of persons or forces that gives rise to the dramatic action in a drama or fiction.” This definition is the essence of fiction, and we need to keep it in mind as we develop characters and plots. If there’s no conflict, there’s no story.

 

Conflict, of course, can be either light or heavy. In a humorous story, the problem may not be life threatening, but it still must be important to the characters. The characters’ motivations must be equally important to them. In suspense, the conflict is often life-threatening. All well-developed plots stem from creative use of conflict, and conflict is what keeps the reader turning pages.

 

In order to understand conflict and how to develop it, we must first understand what conflict is, what conflict is not, and what conflict can be. The elements that make up a story are so closely meshed that at times it becomes difficult to dissect and make a firm delineation between them. In a masterfully developed story, characterization, plotting, and conflict are all intricately entwined.

 

Cheryl will explain opposing goals and how to create conflict that will sustain a story. She’ll give practical advice on:

• Motivating characters
• Creating characters with built-in conflict
• Revealing emotion through conflict
• Internal and external conflict
• Simple and complex conflict

 

More info here.

One of my favorite Halloween books

Or, really, one of my favorite books, period.

I don't know what happened to my copy of Popcorn by Frank Asch (I hope one of my brothers has it) but while I was searching for a replacement copy recently, I came across Frank Asch's site, where he will read the book to you (and your little ones):

Popcorn by Frank Asch

Wait, I need to read this...

"Cultivating a regular daily practice of actually showing up and creating is the only way you will ever progress your talents, your ideas and you ambitions in creating."

From Theorist To Artist: Why You Need A Lot Less “How To” And More “Just Do” | A Big Creative Yes

Yes, this is me. Just one more article...one more grid to fill out...one more sticky note to put on the board...one more...Hey, where'd my time go???

via @thecreativepenn

The Stanford speech + LilGirl's tribute to Steve Jobs

Of course, this will be played over and over in the next few days, but it's a great speech and you'll only hear snippets on the TV news. Here's the whole thing:

 

Last night, when we first heard the news (via Twitter) we then turned to TWiT and watched their Tribute And Remembrance Of Steve Jobs, which was sort of a techie wake. It's worth watching - more heartfelt and in-depth than mainstream media's coverage, I think.

LilGirl didn't act interested and disappeared into my office where she seemed to be digging through the craft drawers whenever I checked on her. But after she had gone to bed, I found this on the kitchen table:

From Random

Sometimes she finds the best way to express her emotions is by creating things. In this case, that's superbly fitting.