Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Musing On Today... So Far!

I woke this morning to the distant sound of thunder, and the pattering of raindrops on my bedroom window. It is a nice change from the feeling of being beaten with the heat of the sun's rays every day, but not so nice that I would wish for cloudy days most of the time.

I suppose I am in the mood to write today. I don't feel like writing about the Pan character, though... but I don't know what I do feel like writing about. I feel like messing with photos I have taken over the months, both in SecondLife and in the real world. My trial for Corel is over, and right now I don't have the $60.00 I need to buy the full license. I have GIMP. GimpShop, and MyPaint, but they aren't the same when it comes to really being able to fix little bits of things in a photograph.

There is a wonderful artist in SecondLife, with the avatar name of Jewell Lamourfou. Some of her texture packs are designed to be used with photos, and I am thinking of playing with some of them today... that is, if I decide to go that route.

I also still have a wonderful little (okay, not SO little) project in cross stitch I have been working on for that person people know as "the boyfriend". Not only is it great for me to finally have someone who doesn't think it's stupid for me to make things for him, and who doesn't see it as something only his grandmother would foist on him (and therefore, something he is forced to display somewhere in his home so it doesn't cause a family row), but it just simply makes me feel good as I stitch, because I am thinking of him while I make the project.

Yes, I know this is a disjointed post, and I apologize. The morning coffee has yet to really kick in, and I am listening to the aforementioned male on my headset in Skype right now, too. Visually, I am a multi-tasker. Throw something my way in audio and everything scatters to the winds!

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Dreams

I don't dream that often, or at least I don't remember them most of the time. When I do, they are likely to be a bit bizarre, and usually in full color... one of those "real" dreams, that leave you in an awake state wondering if it really happened.

The other morning I found myself still a bit sleepy, so I went back to bed for a little nap. One of those bizarre dreams began playing itself out in my mind, full-color, scents and touch and even the feel of the night time breeze. There was a character in the dream that, while he was only there for a few minutes, he stayed with me after I woke, even as the rest of the dream faded into memory.

By yesterday morning, I wanted to write a story, bringing him into it. I don't have a clue where the story will go, or what the reason is for him to be there, but it seemed urgent that I at least begin this. So I did.

Over the years, I have written quite a few short stories that came to me first in a dream. It seems to work well for me, and for that I am grateful. When I write, they seem to develop of their own accord, much like a dream does. I have to admit, I love being along for the ride in these things... It's like sitting back and watching a performance from my Theater of the Mind, to borrow a term a friend uses for hers. I am like my characters - I don't know what will happen next, and this means I can suggest choices for them from the same viewpoint they have. Sometimes they disagree, and if I have to fight to get them to do what I want, I know I am heading in the wrong direction. Just let them do their own thing, and the story unfolds in vivid reality, with me as the historian of events.

Of course, then I have all these other distractions, like blogging about writing when I really should be writing the story...

But procrastination is one of the things a writer excels at, right?
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