Office Politics

Posted by melydia on November 16, 2010 3 comments

I have trouble paying attention if I have nothing to do with my hands. This is the primary reason I am such a judicious note-taker. However, I’m not always writing anything related to the subject at hand; often I’ll just blather aimlessly on paper, somewhat akin to Julia Cameron’s morning pages. It’s a good way to keep my hands occupied so my mind doesn’t wander too far. And if my mind does wander, I have a handy place to jot down stuff I want to remember later.

One day I started running out of regular things to doodle. I was in an interminable meeting, during which I had no notes to take and no thoughts to contribute, so I ended up vaguely sketching the other people in the room. They weren’t exactly perfect copies, but I found it was good practice since I was using a somewhat leaky Bic Velocity Gel pen on plain old notebook paper. No erasers, no correction fluid, none of that.

Then one day one of my coworkers recognized himself. I was both flattered and embarrassed, but mostly surprised. I hadn’t expected my drawings to be good enough to be at all recognizable. My other coworkers started showing interest in my doodles. I’ve gained a weird sort of notoriety as an artist among engineers. One in particular has been encouraging me to draw the entire office. Anyway, I’ve decided to share the lot with you all here, just in case you’re curious. I’ve made them all the same size, though the quad-rule in the notebook makes it fairly easy to discern relative sizes. Not all of them resemble their inspiration; often I’d start drawing someone, screw up irreparably, and just make the rest ridiculous.

Do you doodle in inappropriate situations? What do you draw?

Unexpected Cemetery

Posted by melydia on November 15, 2010 2 comments

Old Graves

I have a confession to make: I’m not actually all that interested in history. I am an active member of Markeroni, and yet I don’t generally read the markers I snarf until much later, if at all. What motivates me are 1, fierce competition with a good friend (okay, so it’s not actually even remotely fierce), and 2, an excuse to explore. See, history happens everywhere, and I have found that the more remote the location, the more likely it is to showcase its history (mostly because it lacks any other claim to fame).  A few weeks ago I decided to blow off the SketchCrawl in Washington, DC, in favor of wandering the northwestern reaches of Loudoun County. My route took me all around the Virginian countryside. I photographed several markers and historic properties, but the most memorable parts of my day were the stops not on my map.

Outside looking in

On my way to Mt. Olive Methodist Church in Gleedsville (now a Unitarian church), I passed by a tiny sign pointing the way to Gleedsville Cemetery. I love cemeteries. I find them endlessly fascinating. So after snarfing the church, I turned onto the “road” which was actually just two graveled ruts between overgrown trees. I hastily declared my Honda Civic to be an all-terrain vehicle and prayed I wasn’t actually traveling on a private driveway.

As seen from the entrance

But no, the path eventually opened up into a large field lined with headstones. It was an odd mix of old and new graves, including some clear sites (that is, the ground was decidedly sunken) that were completely unmarked. Most of the center of the clearing was completely empty of stones, and there was a lone wooden cross just to the left of the entrance with a trampled metal marker with decals (the sort one would put on their mailbox) spelling out the name of a man who died in the 1930s. This was not the first time I’d seen something like this, but it was by far the oldest grave labeled thus.

One of many sunken, unmarked graves

I didn’t know at the time that Gleedsville was actually a rather important settlement by ex-slaves from nearby Oatlands Plantation, many of whom would probably not have been able to afford a stone marker. There is a good chance that the open space in the center of the clearing is full of graves, their signs long gone.

One last look

Rules by Cynthia Lord

Posted by melydia on November 9, 2010 No comment

Rules by Cynthia Lord: Catherine’s little brother David has autism, and because of it she feels increasingly invisible to the rest of the world. She’s just that girl with the weird brother. When her new next-door neighbors turn out to have a girl just her age, she’s overjoyed to have a normal person to hang out with. Then she befriends Jason, a mute boy in a wheelchair, who causes her to rethink her definition of normal. I admit, I was worried this story would end with someone dying, since that’s how so many authors “resolve” any relationship with a differently-abled person (I’m not trying to be snarky here; I just don’t know what the correct term is anymore). Luckily, I was granted a happy ending to this tale that is both very sweet and unflinchingly realistic. (And funny. Can’t forget funny.) I don’t know if I’ll necessarily look up any of Lord’s other books, but this one was a nice change of pace. It’s so refreshing to find a Book With a Message that’s actually fun to read and not preachy.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

Anime USA

Posted by melydia on November 5, 2010 No comment

Next weekend (November 12-14), I will be making my annual trek to Anime USA, working at the Binary Souls / Other Dimensions table in the Artists Alley. Stop by and say hello! I’ll even draw something for you if you ask nicely.

Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

Posted by melydia on November 3, 2010 No comment

Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine: A charming twist on the familiar tale of Cinderella. Ella is cursed from birth to obey any command anyone gives her. Using her own ingenuity, she overcomes hungry ogres, careless fairies, and wicked stepsisters in her journey to break the spell and find true love. All the standard components are here – a fairy godmother, glass slippers, a pumpkin turned into a carriage – but reimagined in a clever way. Rather than sitting around waiting to be saved from her life of servitude like the classic Cinderella, this Ella is her own savior, and an excellent role-model to boot. I wish this book could have been part of my own childhood. It’s marvelous.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

November is Official Crazy Online Challenges Month

Posted by melydia on November 1, 2010 2 comments

This year I return to National Novel Writing Month for the first time since 2006. I’ve won three of the four times I participated, so I have high hopes for this year. After my last attempt, I wrote a lengthy essay on what I’d learned from this annual writing challenge. At that point I expected not to ever participate again. After all, in 2005 I worked full-time and got married and still found time to win NaNo. In 2006, even without any huge 10k-word writing binges, I finished within two weeks. Clearly, blathering on for pages is not my problem. However, I realized a few weeks ago that I hadn’t written any fiction in months, and thought perhaps this might be a good way to get the old creative faucet running again. After all, creativity begets creativity. I have no idea if this will impact how often I blog. I guess we’ll see.

If writing is not your thing, you could also participate in National Blog Posting Month, Art Every Day Month, or NaNoJouMo (for art journaling). November is a popular month to host creative challenges, most likely because of the popularity of NaNoWriMo. So get creating!

Or just sport a mustache.

The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket

Posted by melydia on October 26, 2010 2 comments

The Bad Beginning (A Series of Unfortunate Events #1) by Lemony Snicket (unabridged audiobook read by Tim Curry): When the three Baudelaire children lose their parents in a fire, they are sent to live with distant relative Count Olaf. He is determined to get his hands on the Baudelaire fortune, legally untouchable until the eldest child, Violet, turns 18. What follows is a somewhat ridiculous collection of torments for the children, all told with the same flowery narration, sprinkled with non sequiturs. The humor is less dark than random, such as the description of Violet being, “like many girls her age,” right-handed. All in all I enjoyed it, but I’m not champing at the bit to read the rest of the series. I do, however, wonder how many people read these books expecting a happy ending. And, for that matter, whether the series ends unfortunately.

Notes on the audio version: Tim Curry was a fine narrator, even if I was unable to forget for one second that it was Tim Curry. After the end of the book was an obviously pre-scripted “interview” with the author. It was cleverly written and would have been very funny had the readers not been so terribly stilted and awkward. I suspect Daniel Handler played himself, which made me thankful he hadn’t narrated the story. As insincere as it would be to have actors play Handler and the interviewer, it would have been a much more enjoyable listen.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

Blogging Tips

Posted by melydia on October 25, 2010 6 comments

A while back, a friend asked me to critique her fledgling blog. She wanted a larger audience and wasn’t sure how to get one. So I, having a loyal readership of maybe half a dozen people, decided I was clearly qualified to help her out. Then I realized that maybe those same six people might like to increase traffic to their own blogs. And thus this post was born.

First off, I’m going to assume you’ve already picked a blog theme, hosting service, and layout. I can’t help you with any of that anyway, since my blog has no theme, I host my own blog, and my layout is intentionally sparse. But before I get started on more of the nitty-gritty, here are my two main pieces of advice:

  1. Read blogs with a theme similar to yours, and comment regularly. Note that I do not mean commenting just to ask people to visit your blog. Comment on the content of the post like you would anywhere else. Repeatedly advertising your blog is a good way to get people to avoid it.
  2. Link to other blogs, especially individual entries. Bloggers often check out their trackbacks.

Seriously. If you link to them, they will come. People can’t visit your blog if they don’t know about it. Telling all your friends is fine, but sooner or later you have to actually join the blogging community. The more you link to others, the more likely it is they will link to you. Most of the new blogs I find are through other blogs.

Here are some other tips, in no particular order. I tried focus on things to do, as opposed to things not to do.

  • Participate in blog carnivals and community blogging efforts like Bloggiesta, Blog Action Day, NaNoBloMo, or Blogtoberfest.
  • Go through the steps outlined in 31 Days to Building a Better Blog from ProBlogger. (That site is full of good information, actually.) For more, check out the challenge inspired by the original program.
  • Join blog directories such as BlogHer. Chances are there’s a Ning group aligned with your blog’s theme too. Likewise, add notable (and related) blogs to your own blogroll. I have, on several occasions, visited every single link on the blogroll of a blog I enjoy, and ended up subscribing to a few of them.
  • Practice your elevator speech. That is, if you had to sum up your blog’s content in a sentence or two, how would you do it?
  • Post often and consistently. I schedule posts so I only have one a day, which offsets the annoying tendency I have to write a bunch of posts at once and then nothing for weeks. By spreading them out, my posting habits come across as more consistent without flooding anyone’s RSS feed. My husband, on the other hand, has a set content schedule: a new comic MWF, new art on Tuesdays, new music on Thursdays, and at least one other post sometime during the weekend. Pick something that works for you.
  • Write a few back-up posts to use when you’re out of ideas and/or too busy to write. I also keep a running document of ideas and fragments, many of which are later expanded into full posts.
  • Add your blog URL to your signature on email and forums.
  • Use tags and categories to their fullest extent. Not only does this enable your readers to quickly find posts related to the one they’re reading, they also provide extra keywords for search engines to find.
  • Remember that every post could be someone’s introduction to your blog. Never start a post with an apology for not posting. If you have a set schedule, try to announce ahead of time if you will be missing a day.
  • Make it easy to share your posts, whether via an AddThis widget or something else. Add your site to places like Delicious, StumbleUpon, Digg, and Reddit.
  • Add RSS feed options and make them obvious. FeedBurner is a handy site for things like email subscriptions. Since I’m already active there, I also have a LiveJournal feed.
  • Respond to the comments you receive, and visit the sites your commenters link to.
  • Consider interactive posts: open threads, guest posts, blog tours, interviews of/by other bloggers, giveaways, etc.
  • If you get stuck for content, respond to blog challenges and memes, and then leave a comment on the original post with a link to your entry. (Do this sparingly. Too many memes drive readers away.)

What it really comes down to is giving people a reason to visit your blog, and that starts with letting people know it’s available to visit. You’ll notice that I blithely disregard most of these tips in my own blog. And I know it. But that doesn’t make it bad advice.

Any other tips from the peanut gallery?

And no, “blog” doesn’t look like a word anymore, why do you ask?

Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke

Posted by melydia on October 21, 2010 2 comments

Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke (unabridged audiobook read by Brendan Fraser): A delightful tale of a dragon and his brownie companion on a search for the Rim of Heaven, the legendary dragon home that may or may not exist. This is the sort of thing I think of when I think of fantasy epics: quests, dragons, genies, dwarfs, magic, legends, peril, humor, excitement, new friends, trust, betrayal, and a happy ending. It reminded me in many ways of The Neverending Story. In other words, I absolutely loved it. It’s the sort of thing I would enjoy reading again and again, just to relive the adventure.

Regarding the audio version of this novel: I don’t have strong feelings about Brendan Fraser’s movies. I mean, he’s charming enough, but he always seems to play more or less the same character. As a reader, however, he is absolutely brilliant, easily one of the best I’ve ever come across. The characters came to life with his animated narration, sound effects, and distinct voices. Simply fabulous.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

Conversations with the Fat Girl by Liza Palmer

Posted by melydia on October 20, 2010 2 comments

Conversations with the Fat Girl by Liza Palmer: Maggie and Olivia were the two fat girls in school, best friends that shared the bond of being misfits. Fast forward a few years: the girls are still (sort of) best friends, but Olivia had gastric bypass surgery and is now a size two and about to be married to a handsome and wealthy man, while Maggie is still the same size, single, and working at a coffee shop despite having a master’s degree. I remember being Maggie not that long ago: negatively self-absorbed, helplessly inarticulate around attractive men, and walked on by my so-called best friend. Though her inner monologue was very funny in places, she would have been a much less compelling character had I not recognized myself in so many of her flaws. This story says a lot about toxic relationships, family bonds, and inner beauty, but most importantly about self-confidence. I enjoyed watching Maggie’s journey, and I look forward to picking up Palmer’s other novels.

I would like to note that I read this while on the stationary bike at the gym. The title just screamed “gym read” to me. :)

Also posted on BookCrossing.

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