S.L. Viehl's Blog, page 28

Steampunk Symphony

A one-man band takes on a whole new meaning with Martin Molin and his Marble Machine. I could see something like this existing in Toriana (music):

Wintergatan - Marble Machine from Wintergatan on Vimeo.

Rejectopia

I was a bit puzzled to read about The Museum of Broken Relationships, which evidently will be moving its permanent incarnation from Croatia to Los Angeles in the near future. Why do people keep things to remind them of a heartbreaker, and why would other people want to look at them on display? After being dumped without warning, I packed up every single thing my heartbreaker had ever given me and sent them UPS back to him (which was also intensely satisfying as a symbolic last word on the break-up.)

While I was congratulating myself on my superior tactics, I thought of the boxes of rejection letters I've kept since I began submitting to publishers back in 1974. I still take some of those letters out and read them on occasion, and remembering that bucked me off my high horse. That also made me wonder what it would be like to visit a museum of rejected publisher submissions:

The Museum of Writer Rejectopia Announces new Exhibits!

Come join us as we begin our spring season with a whimper, not a bang, and all-new exhibits for other-writer rejection lovers.

The Hall of Terse Commentary

See the finest of examples of quick, insensitive rejections such as "No Thx" scribbled on notepaper, "Not for Us" scrawled on the submission title page, and examples of now-rare checkbox postcards.

Back Gallery of the Battered

Prepare to be horrified as you view the once-pristine manuscript returned trashed by indifferent editors. Speculate on why pages were crumpled (used for trash can basketball, perhaps?); see evidence of editor addiction via countless coffee cup ring stains and a shockingly large wine splash.

Special Exhibit -- Outrageous Revision Requests

Did you know Melville was asked to change the whale from Moby Dick into a man-eating shark? Neither did we, but we can assume Stephen Spielberg got wind of it. Come and find out what other classic writers refused to fiddle with their stories to cater to meddling editor egos . . .

I'd probably have to donate the e-mail from an editor who loved and stayed up all night reading my submission of Night of the Chameleon, and told me that, right before she said there was no way in hell they could publish it. That one really hurt.

What do you think should be in the Museum of Writer Rejectopia? Offer your donations in comments.

Possible Hair Perfection

I just got a heads up from Library Thing that I've won a review copy of 100 Perfect Hair Days by Jenny Strebe, which was one of my more adventurous requests from LT's February Early Reviewers list. I think it could also help me improve what I do with my mop, as I never have perfect hair days and usually just braid it back or wear it in a ponytail. My daughter then wants the book so she can perfect her hair, which she's growing out from a pixie cut (for which I am silently rejoicing, as she has beautiful hair.)

I also received a note from Alexandru Ciobanu, the author of the Barcelona Adult Coloring Book, who was kind enough to read my post. He offered to send me a paperback copy of another of his works to review for Library Thing, and I accepted. So I'll be able to test the trend with an actual book this time. I'm interested to see how it goes while working from a book and how the pages stand up to different media. I also have some ideas on how to use the pages once they're colored in, and will try those out as well.

I'm finding that the more books I review for LT, the more I'm winning. Last year it was a book every couple of months; this year I'm getting something every month. I don't know if this is just dumb luck, or the fact that I review everything I receive factors in. Either way, I think I do need to limit how many books I request so that I don't end up overloaded and unable to keep up.

The Path Not Taken . . . Yet

Last night I opened an e-mail from a quilting sister who (again) tried to talk me into joining the local guild. They're a lovely, friendly group of ladies, many of whom have issued similar invitations over the years. I had two more requests while I was at the show. Then, when I got home, my guy suggested I join, which really surprised me. I didn't know he was aware that I quit my online guild when all the eye trouble happened back in 2014, but apparently he pays more attention to me than I thought.

I sometimes suspect the family is trying to find things for me to do now that my kids are grown. Which, honestly, is weird. In addition to my full-time job as a ghost writer I have two dogs and a very large house to maintain, meals to cook, laundry to wash, a daughter to get through college, books, my own quilts, art, reviews to write for LT . . . all of which leaves me very little idle time to join a new group and get into even more creative trouble.

It would be nice to belong to the local guild. Right now my pal Jill is the only quilter friend I have in my real world life, and she's just as if not more busy with her family. Our conflicting schedules make it hard to get together very often. I rarely do well in groups (and that's me, not them) but I'd probably have a great time with this particular guild. Nearly all of the ladies in it are my age or older. No one is snobby or acts superior, although a few of them are masters of the art. Most of the guild ladies use machines for everything, but they like the kind of hand work work I do. I could probably learn a lot from all of them, and I know some have been quilting for half a century (I've only been at it for twenty-five years.)

That said, family and work must come first for me right now. Today, while the guild is having their weekly meeting, I will be finishing up a series proposal for one of my clients. That one job will pay my bills for six months. Or I could be sitting and gossiping and sewing, and having fun, and earning nothing. I also know in my heart that while I love quilting, writing really owns me.

It's not a tough choice. If I ever retire from writing (doubtful) or when my youngest gets her degree I may change my mind, but for now I'll just be content with seeing them once a year at the big show.

What have you given up for now that you may take up later? Let us know in comments.

2016 Quilt Show

I'm back from the quilt show I attend every year, at which I had a marvelous time. More than marvelous, actually. I've been needing a creative kick in the backside, and this definitely did that, but it was nice just to be with my sewing sisters. Quilters are such lovely people.

So many amazing quilts were entered I practically burned up the camera snapping pics. Among the surprises, there were lots of dimensional quilts with objects couched right on, or faux 3-D appliques artfully. Think a butterfly quilt with the butterflies rising out of the quilt as if they mean to fly off, and you'll get the idea. Adult coloring books have also invaded quiltworld, as they influenced one entrant to design and make an adorable elephant wall hanging based on the bright coloring style of the books. After all the fun I had with the Barcelona coloring book I might have to do something like that.

The only downer was that I didn't have a lot of money to spend at the show this year, but the universe came to the rescue. On the second day I won a door prize bag with a quilt book, a fat quarter and a sample of cotton fiberfill. The author of the quilt book made up patterns based on her great-grandmother's journals, and I never win door prizes, so I was doubly thrilled.

Then, right before the show closed, I won a basket in the raffle:



I am in raptures over the framed Kokopelli cross-stitch piece, which I know someone spent many, many hours making. That goes right in my sewing room to inspire me. The titanium rotary cutter blade, Guterman thread and quilting pins are very welcome. I usually don't wear dangling earrings but I'll have to make an exception for these. I've also never tried to make a southwestern-themed quilt, but now I have lots of fabrics for one.

Here's a slideshow of all the beautiful quilts I got to see:



And that's it for this year's show.

Off to be Sew Happy

I am taking off this weekend to hang with some of my sewing sisters who are in town for the county quilt show. There will be no Just Write tomorrow, but I promise to bring back lots of pictures. See you on Monday.

Made in Nepal

We've all seen those delightfully crafted journals handmade in Nepal; in this lovely video you can watch them being made for Marina Vaptzarov (with background music):

Marina Vaptzarov :: Birth of a Journal from Marina Vaptzarov on Vimeo.

PBW's Book of the Month

Picking the book of the month for February was a very tough decision; I read so many great books over the last couple weeks that I dithered quite a lot (which is also why I'm late posting this.) I finally went with the book that made me laugh and learn and love our cousins across the pond just a little bit more: The Road to Little Dribbling by Bill Bryson.

I admit, I will buy anything Bill Bryson writes -- right down to his grocery list -- but this book was a particularly special delight. About twenty years ago the author knocked about the UK while writing Notes from a Small Island, which you may not know went on to become one of the bestselling travel books of all time. This book is sort of a sequel to that, but also so much more. Mr. Bryson once more travels the length of Britain from Bognor Regis to Cap Wrath, which as the crow flies is well over 500 miles. Along the way he revisits some of the places he wrote in the 90's, but also discovers some new spots he missed back then.

For most of the book I felt as if I was walking through all these places with the author, and listening to him as he told me stories about the people and buildings and history of each spot. I have no idea how he digs up such obscure yet fascinating facts. He's often grumpy, primarily about the unhappy changes that have transformed a great many British towns and cities, but he's also hilarious when he points out some bumbling thing he did. When he described his first UK job working in a genteel mental asylum I was pretty much riveted.

I felt like arguing with him over certain opinions of his, but I've got family over there, including my cousin Juanita, who gave up her U.S. citizenship to become a Brit. My loyalties probably lean more east than west. The murderous anecdote that begins Chapter 14 isn't really meant for dog-lovers, or to be taken seriously. During his stop in Alderley Edge near Manchester, he dropped a tiny, almost obligatory David Beckham anecdote. It wasn't his to tell, but still illustrated what a neat guy Beckham is, so I didn't mind. Also, if you've never been to the UK some of the things he talks about might zoom over your head, but I think most well-read folks would enjoy this book.

I could only get the paperback in large print edition, which I usually don't do -- and know I think I will, especially with Mr. Bryson's densely-written books. The large print did make it a lot easier to read.

Call Me Kate

Gerard over at the Presurfer linked to a fun photo-comparison generator that finds the celeb you most resemble, and I had to go make sure I wasn't starting to look like the Cookie Monster.

My results say I'm a 44% match to Kate Burton of Grey's Anatomy and Scandal fame:



It's actually pretty accurate; aside from the hair color we could be sisters (I would be the younger, heavier, snow-haired sister, ha.) I did a little research and found out she's also the daughter of actor Richard Burton, which I thought was pretty neat.

If you try out the generator, tell us which celeb you resemble in comments.

TBR Challenge Results

Last Monday I posted a challenge to read through our TBRs by today, and here are my results:



I read ten books in a week; ten and half if you count the partly-read City of Dark Magic on the unfinished pile there. Bill Bryson's The Road to Little Dribbling slowed me down toward the end. I can't seem to read Bryson speedily.

While I didn't read my entire TBW, I'm quite happy to start March with just three books leftover. On a side note, I removed Anything Considered by Peter Mayle from the TBR, which I realized I'd already read back in the late nineties when it was first published (the new cover art made me think I hadn't.)

How did you all make out? Let us know in comments.