On Writing – Page 28 – Hey, Look! A Writer Fellow!

June 19, 2013

Query Response #1: Bookshelves!

Eve (from the movie Wall-E) guards a few of my animation books.

Last week I asked, “What do you want me to post about?

You responded — and your wish is my command. It might take me a while, but I will get to each and every one of your requests (even Sarah W’s).

***

Today I’m going to answer a question posed by Anne, Pam, Harula, and Jilanne.

They wanted to know what I read. So! I present to you some pics of my bookshelves!

Some shelves from the living room/library... — Some shelves from the living room/library…

Who needs a bannister when you can make bookshelves? Seriously. — Who needs a bannister when you can use the space to make bookshelves? Seriously.

And this is how the stair books stay in place. I took a decorative end of the a a curtain rod and screwed it into a wooden dowel. The dowel goes in the holes where the bannister supports used to be. Yep. I'm crafty. — This is how the books on the stairs stay in place. I took the decorative end of a curtain rod and screwed it into a wooden dowel. The dowel is then inserted into the hole where the bannister spindle used to be. Yep. I’m crafty.

There are more shelves all over the house, but this is a pretty decent sample, I think.

Be sure to check in again. Query Response #2 is coming soon!

April 28, 2013

Happiness is a Warm Doggy

A few years ago, on a scorching hot workday in August, I visited a Princeton area farm. I was there to oversee a photo shoot for The Lawrentian, and, while the place was idyllic and lovely, I would’ve rather been doing almost anything else — as long as that “anything else” included air-conditioning.

It was one of those days where it felt like I was being assaulted by the sun. A few minutes after we had begun to work, I was soaked through, exhausted, and crabby beyond words.

During a break in the action, I wandered over to the farm store to buy a frozen cider slushie and an apple donut. As I sat there on the store’s covered porch and ate, an old yellow dog lying in the sun in front of me raised her sleepy head, glanced in my direction and decided that I was the type of fellow she’d like to get to know better. She toddled over and flopped down next to me as if we belonged together.

I was sort of honored.

I pet her belly with my left hand and continued to eat with my right.

“This,” I remember thinking, “is what I want my heaven to be like.”

This moment of bliss was quite a turnaround for me. Ten minutes before I met that dog, I was grumbling about the heat. Five minutes after that, I was filled with exhausted relief, thanking God for creating a world that included the cider slushie. And five minutes after that, my heart was full of peace and joy.

I never wanted that moment to end. And, in a way, it didn’t; every time I recall it, I relive it, and I can’t help but smile.

That’s pretty much the way happiness works, I think. At least it’s the way it works for me. It is at once elusive and right in front of my face.

Wanna share a small, happy moment? Please do! Write me a comment!

April 21, 2013April 22, 2013

The Stamp Act

And the Celebrate Stamp Saga continues.

Are you not familiar with the Celebrate Stamp Saga? Well, it all began when I was forced to draw a “Celebrate Cats” stamp.

The recipient of that cat stamp was the nine-year-old son of blogger extraordinaire Jilanne Hoffmann. The young man enjoyed my doodling efforts, I’m pleased to say, and, as a thank you, he sent me a hilarious, hand-drawn comic book and a “Celebrate Falling” stamp.

I was impressed and grateful. So I sent him a thank you note with another stamp drawing, “Celebrate Comics.”

In response, he has drawn a few more stamps that Jilanne recently posted on her blog.

You get the picture, I think; I have just gotten myself entangled in a Celebrate Stamp Cold War. I suspect that I am outgunned.

But it aint over yet! Watch your back, Hoffmanns. A Celebrate Stamp drone attack will be coming your way when you least expect it!

***

On an entirely different note, April is National Poetry Month!

Though I am not terribly well-versed (Ha!), I do sometimes give the rhyming thing a go. For example, thanks to Vanessa Chapman and her inexplicable love of seagulls, I was forced to write an ode to head lice.

I also bang out a couple of couplets in the comment sections of other blogs. At Catherine Johnson’s place, for example I penned this little gem:

Master Sculptor, bearing chisel,
Stopped his work to take a whizzle.
And so the marble had to wait,
For Sculptor to evacuate.

Wait! Where are you going? There’s more!

This next poem is out of season, but, hey, why not? In December, Sarah Wesson hosted a contest, asking her readers to write a poem. After a little cajoling on Sarah’s part, I wrote the following to the tune of Jingle Bells. Please feel free to sing it out loud at work:

Writing Christmas cards,
To those who do not care,
Like stupid Uncle Ted,
Does his still live there?
Oh, wait, I think he died,
Killed by a crazy tramp,
Gee, that really made my day,
I saved myself a stamp!

See how I brought the post back around to the topic of stamps? Pretty good, eh? This is why they pay me the big bucks!

But, seriously, Hoffmanns, you guys are going down.