tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20567925745340148892024-03-13T13:57:02.178-06:00beautiful chaosblog home of fantasy author Michelle GregoryMichelle Gregoryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05747275507200268417noreply@blogger.comBlogger718125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2056792574534014889.post-43659047430189123612020-12-03T07:32:00.000-07:002020-12-03T07:32:06.306-07:00Chicken Noodle Soup and Novels <p> (i wrote this post ten years ago and i'm happy for the reminder as i start to write again.)</p><p>yeah, weird title, i know but the two really do go together, or at least they did in my mind last night when i was making chicken noodle soup for dinner. i use my great grandma's noodle recipe and my daughter rolled out the noodles and cut them with a pizza cutter. they were all different shapes and sizes and i thought, "i could get a pasta machine and then they would all be uniform." but then i thought, "what's the fun of that? the soup wouldn't be the same." i love the texture of the lumpy noodles.</p><p>so then, of course, i thought about writing and how we try so hard to make our books perfect for publishers or agents, and in the end, after all the editing, etc. maybe our stories don't have the same texture they did before. </p><p>i also noted that the soup was different last night because my husband did the cooking. the soup was fine, but it tasted different because he added more herbs than i do, and he used leftover brined turkey from Thanksgiving, whereas i always use chicken. (to me, turkey DOES NOT taste like chicken, and especially not when it's brined.) i have to say i like my version better. it reminds me of Gramma and that's half the reason i make it.</p><p>that also made me think of my writing. the story i want to write might change as i let more people get their hands on it. crit partners and beta readers are great for helping you find plot holes and broken character arcs and not enough description, but in the end, if they start telling you to change the flavor of your story, you just have to put your foot down and say, "No." it's not that their suggestions are bad, but there comes a point where you have to decide who's cooking the soup.</p><p></p>Michelle Gregoryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05747275507200268417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2056792574534014889.post-88023014244528887422019-12-01T09:48:00.002-07:002019-12-01T10:26:59.736-07:00NanoWrimo and Eldala's sequel so if you've been following my NanoWrimo writing progress on Facebook, you may be wondering what comes next after writing 31,000 words. (if you haven't followed me on Facebook, you didn't even know i was writing this month. surprise. i wrote 31,203 words in 30 days.)<br />
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first, let me define NanoWrimo with this blurb i found from the internet:</div>
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National Novel Writing Month is an annual Internet-based creative writing project that takes place during the month of November. Participants attempt to write a 50,000-word manuscript between November 1 and November 30. </div>
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i used Nano to write my first novel back in 2005, and it will always have a special place in my writing journey. the event has been around for about 20 years and has evolved over that time. most participants use it to start a new novel, whether they're brand new to it or seasoned veterans. others use it to finish a novel they started before November. this year i used it to add fresh material to a story that i've been trying to finish for a long time. </div>
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i started Black Heart (the sequel to Eldala) ten years ago. over the course of the last ten years, i finished a first draft and a second draft-- and then we moved to Montana in 2011. there have been major life adjustments, a second move into our new house, depression, and health issues. i've tried on and off to finish the sequel, or at least make progress on it. </div>
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i have files labeled Black Heart 1, 1.1, 2.0 - 2.5, 3.0, 3.1, 4, 6 (i don't know what happened to 5), BH Nov 2018, BH 2019, and BH July 2019. I also have Eldala 2, Eldala 2 2016, and Eldala 2 2018. Under those labels, i have 2126 different files that amount to 194 MB of data. </div>
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my son started helping me with the villain and the new plot a few years ago, so some of those files are typed-out brainstorming sessions we've had together. thankfully, he's really good at remembering all the details so i don't have to keep them all straight, but i still need to find a way to keep them straight so i can write the novel when he's not around. </div>
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participating in NanoWrimo this year gave me 30 more documents, labeled Nov. 1, 2019 - Nov. 30, 2019. the words were important because they gave me some new information about characters and plot points, and how it all fits together. more importantly, it got me back into the habit of writing every day because i hadn't written in a very long time. 30 days later and i don't like the idea of not writing. i've remembered what it's like to let myself write badly so i can get the words out. </div>
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so you might be wondering, with all this new material, how close am i now to finishing the sequel? well, that's a good question, and it's one my friends (who read Eldala when i first published it in 2007) have been asking for ten years. </div>
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at this point, i still don't know, but i'm a lot closer to finishing than i was before. i still have to weed through at least a third of those 2100 files to find the things i want to keep, and write new material to fit into a plot change we decided on a few months ago. they aren't major changes, but they're fiddly changes, and they take time. so that will be another draft in a long list of drafts. </div>
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after that, there's the process of editing, proofreading, getting a few friends to read through it to make sure there aren't huge plot holes or inconsistencies, more editing and proofreading, and then getting it formatted to publish through Lulu.com and Kindle. </div>
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i hate to put a date to when it will be finished because i've done that so many times and then didn't make the date. i hope to have it published by the end of 2020, but it's very hard to tell. </div>
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how ever long it takes, i appreciate all of my friends (old and new) who are cheering me on as i take this writing journey once again. thank you for your patience and encouragement.<br />
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---> as a side note, a friend asked me how many pages 31,000 words make and how many do i have to go -- if i remember right, my first novel is 132,000 words and 511 pages (double spaced in a Word document - i think that's 412 in a book). 31,203 words in a Word document, double spaced make 129 pages.<br />
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that being said, i don't know how many pages those 31,000 words will make because not all of those words will go into the novel. and i don't really know how many i have now from other versions that will go into the novel. </div>
Michelle Gregoryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05747275507200268417noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2056792574534014889.post-41174581482187103502018-05-21T07:58:00.002-06:002018-05-21T07:58:26.701-06:00oh, those distractions<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Michelle Gregoryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05747275507200268417noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2056792574534014889.post-47218546876490324502018-05-17T07:48:00.002-06:002018-05-17T07:48:54.805-06:00and then there was this octopus...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Michelle Gregoryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05747275507200268417noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2056792574534014889.post-85308918415426204322018-05-15T08:52:00.000-06:002018-05-15T08:52:36.217-06:00revision humor<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Michelle Gregoryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05747275507200268417noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2056792574534014889.post-9617630980971081542018-04-14T10:01:00.001-06:002018-04-14T10:01:49.653-06:00first draft humor<div>
i found this on facebook, and it looks like it originally came from writingya.blogspot.com.</div>
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this could also be a chart for any of my subsequent drafts. i think i'm on 6 now. or is it 7? i don't know whether to laugh or cry. </div>
Michelle Gregoryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05747275507200268417noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2056792574534014889.post-39719344783196240112018-04-11T08:33:00.002-06:002018-04-11T08:33:21.315-06:00just stuff<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Michelle Gregoryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05747275507200268417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2056792574534014889.post-10251706261265600812018-02-13T09:06:00.001-07:002018-02-13T09:08:08.761-07:00if you fear the semi-colon... i do not, in fact, fear semi-colons. i actually love using them. one reader of my original novel said i didn't know how to use them, and that i used them too much. he didn't know what he was talking about. but anyway, i didn't come here to rant about that moment in my novel's history.<br />
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here is a link i found 8 years ago and it just popped up on my facebook feed. i thought i'd share it, if for no other reason than to allay the fears of my fellow writers, and perhaps give you a good laugh. goodness knows we need more of those.<br />
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<a href="http://theoatmeal.com/comics/semicolon">"How to Use a Semi-Colon (the most feared punctuation mark on earth)"</a><br />
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now, if you come back another day, i might start ranting about how commas are slowly taking the place of periods.Michelle Gregoryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05747275507200268417noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2056792574534014889.post-60492700989216596862018-02-06T09:12:00.000-07:002018-02-06T09:12:23.958-07:00IWSG - a post about not writing i'm tired of not writing. it's been a year since i worked on my novel. i haven't really been blogging. in both cases, i've tried. i've sat down, opened up my laptop, opened my Word program or Blogger, and then there's nothing. nada. zilch.<br />
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it feels like there's nothing in my brain worth putting in a story or a blog post. nothing worth really saying. that's sad and scary, because i love writing. even this post feels like a stretch and partly a waste of time. like i'm just venting and then sharing. "oh boy! what a great thing to post about."<br />
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but we're the Insecure Writers' Support Group. we can post about anything we want, as long as it fits the theme of helping other insecure writers. and let me tell you, i feel pretty qualified to share this. after a year of not writing, i'm a little insecure.<br />
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make that I'M VERY INSECURE.<br />
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but the other part of posting in this group, or at least how i feel about it, is to share something encouraging. i'm not sure that's going to happen today. that's kind of sad to me too. i started this blog a long time ago because i wanted to be encouraging. now i know that isn't always going to happen.<br />
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maybe this post is just here to say, "if you're not writing, i kind of know what you're going through--maybe not the exact circumstances, but i feel your frustration and pain. and maybe i have some things to share that i've learned in this year of not writing."<br />
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we're writers, but we don't always write. we miss a day, a week, a month. sometimes we don't write for a long time. but we're still writers. somewhere in us there is still something to say. we just don't know what it is.<br />
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we're writers, but sometimes we're afraid to write our stories or say what we need to say. we're probably afraid our writing is drivel or garbage. <br />
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we're writers, but our worth IS NOT tied to how much we produce or what kind of response we get from what we write. we haven't failed. <br />
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we're writers. sometimes we just write for ourselves and no one else. sometimes we can't even do that. we're still writers. <br />
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we're writers. but we're also humans with messy lives. many of us have a family, a spouse, kids. maybe we have financial problems, health problems, marital problems. maybe we've gone through major surgery, lost family members, lost a job. maybe we're just tired of life. <br />
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we're writers. sometimes we try to write to escape. sometimes we try to write and we can't. we're still writers.<br />
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well, in conclusion... it was pretty disjointed and rambling, but i wrote it and it felt really good to write and be an IWSG participant again. maybe someone read it. maybe someone was even encouraged. i don't think it was complete drivel. whatever the case, i'm still a writer. Michelle Gregoryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05747275507200268417noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2056792574534014889.post-72032599896948425412018-01-31T09:13:00.000-07:002018-01-31T09:13:15.633-07:00every writer has to start somewherei came across this quote in my facebook memories feed today.<br />
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"The Lion all began with a picture of a Faun carrying an umbrella and parcels in a snowy wood. This picture had been in my mind since I was about sixteen. Then one day, when I was about forty, I said to myself: 'Let's try to make a story about it.'" - C. S. Lewis
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i'm very glad for myself and the world that Mr. Lewis decided to "make a story about it."
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<br />Michelle Gregoryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05747275507200268417noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2056792574534014889.post-12956824680963709162018-01-14T14:01:00.000-07:002018-01-14T14:01:21.424-07:00the easiest way to get back into blogging......is to post pictures of great quotes you forgot you had. :)<br />
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<br />Michelle Gregoryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05747275507200268417noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2056792574534014889.post-37380656277918301902017-10-26T10:00:00.000-06:002017-10-26T10:00:10.304-06:00just something funnyi'm not sure where i found it, but here it is.<br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mEJR-LX8mkY/WfIGOcrvDJI/AAAAAAAAD5I/7NMAFWj2OXEYMB87dmd51dmAZnyVUv0rwCLcBGAs/s1600/cat%2Bwriters.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="594" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mEJR-LX8mkY/WfIGOcrvDJI/AAAAAAAAD5I/7NMAFWj2OXEYMB87dmd51dmAZnyVUv0rwCLcBGAs/s640/cat%2Bwriters.jpg" width="492" /></a></div>
<br />Michelle Gregoryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05747275507200268417noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2056792574534014889.post-53539195009686590862016-12-11T08:46:00.000-07:002016-12-11T08:46:18.123-07:00have yourself a merry little Christmas<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Q8HPh8-DSq4/WE10VZAkC_I/AAAAAAAADww/qL2_sOktbncJ31NiOtQNgrvUDne1IXqEACLcB/s1600/merry%2Band%2Bbright.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Q8HPh8-DSq4/WE10VZAkC_I/AAAAAAAADww/qL2_sOktbncJ31NiOtQNgrvUDne1IXqEACLcB/s400/merry%2Band%2Bbright.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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a little something i doodled the other day. :)Michelle Gregoryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05747275507200268417noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2056792574534014889.post-41948030117597713522016-12-03T09:03:00.001-07:002016-12-03T09:10:20.495-07:00chicken noodle soup and novelsi was perusing facebook today, as usual, and clicked on the tab "on this day." six years ago, i posted this. i thought it was fitting to post it again. (and yes, it's about the novel i'm still working on.)<br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">chicken noodle soup and novels</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">December 3, 2010 at 6:21am</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">yeah, weird title, i know but the two really do go together, or at least they did in my mind last night when i was making chicken noodle soup for dinner. i use my great grandma's noodle recipe and my daughter rolled out the noodles and cut them with a pizza cutter. they were all different shapes and sizes and i thought, "i could get a pasta machine and then they would all be uniform." but then i thought, "what's the fun of that? the soup wouldn't be the same." i love the texture of the lumpy noodles.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">so then, of course, i thought about writing and how we try so hard to make our books perfect for publishers or agents and in the end, after all the editing, etc. maybe our stories don't have the same texture they did before.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">i also noted that the soup was different last night because my husband did the cooking. not that the soup was bad, but it tasted different because he added more herbs than i do and he used leftover brined turkey from Thanksgiving, whereas i always use chicken. (to me, turkey DOES NOT taste like chicken, and especially not when it's brined.) i have to say i like my version better. it reminds me of Gramma and that's half the reason i make it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">that also made me think of my writing. the story i want to write might change as i let more people get their hands on it. crit partners and beta readers are great for helping you find plot holes and broken character arcs and not enough description, but in the end, if they start telling you to change the flavor of your story, you just have to put your foot down and say, "No." it's not that their suggestions are bad, but there comes a point where you have to decide who's cooking the soup.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(i really hope this all makes sense. i wrote it at 6:30 a.m., after a night of thinking about Kindle and Smashwords and Lulu instead of sleeping.)</span>Michelle Gregoryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05747275507200268417noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2056792574534014889.post-80718432060348030632016-11-15T11:50:00.001-07:002016-11-15T11:50:12.402-07:00some of my favorite words<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RBwsrmEJmTI/WCtYxMaOWtI/AAAAAAAADwE/Ngw5dzevUuQQt43jxCgmyd77ZwQ9owuWQCLcB/s1600/IMG_20161115_112030_resized.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RBwsrmEJmTI/WCtYxMaOWtI/AAAAAAAADwE/Ngw5dzevUuQQt43jxCgmyd77ZwQ9owuWQCLcB/s400/IMG_20161115_112030_resized.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />Michelle Gregoryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05747275507200268417noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2056792574534014889.post-23463050485045751032016-11-14T09:05:00.003-07:002016-11-14T09:05:59.170-07:00thank you, Charles Schultz<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-f4_qjl_Gmh8/WCngXv5xn8I/AAAAAAAADv0/NsI2yDj944UOEeM1sDHvOeC1hTdeh0R8wCLcB/s1600/th_snoopy_typewriter.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-f4_qjl_Gmh8/WCngXv5xn8I/AAAAAAAADv0/NsI2yDj944UOEeM1sDHvOeC1hTdeh0R8wCLcB/s1600/th_snoopy_typewriter.gif" /></a></div>
sometimes the push you need comes from <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/2016/11/13">a place you least expect. </a><br />
<br />Michelle Gregoryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05747275507200268417noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2056792574534014889.post-77381711128023761792016-02-01T08:19:00.002-07:002016-02-01T08:22:01.514-07:00sending you warmthand some inspiration from one of my favorite<a href="http://elviestudio.blogspot.com/2016/02/more-winter-comfort.html"> artist/bloggers, Lori Vliegen. </a>just looking at this makes me feel a little warmer here in chilly Montana.Michelle Gregoryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05747275507200268417noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2056792574534014889.post-11103827763143306542015-12-21T10:53:00.002-07:002015-12-21T10:53:38.830-07:00update on Josh's cgi entryfor those of you who read <a href="http://michellegregory.blogspot.com/2015/12/iwsg-do-what-you-love.html">my interview with my son</a> at the beginning of December for IWSG, here's an update. the contest website posted <a href="https://www.blenderguru.com/competitions/christmas-2015/#">the winner and runners-up. </a> he's very pleased that he lost 1st place to such a great winning entry.Michelle Gregoryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05747275507200268417noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2056792574534014889.post-92116095170988888642015-12-02T07:30:00.000-07:002015-12-02T08:19:57.293-07:00IWSG - Do What You Love <div class="MsoNormal">
This is supposed to be where I put my catchy intro about my 19-year-old son Joshua and his CG art and how I interviewed him about his art for IWSG day so he could encourage us... but I didn't sleep last night and my brain is in a fog, and since the time for posting is drawing near, I'm using this as my intro. Not catchy, but to the point. </div>
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MG: Why did you decide to learn how to make computer generated art? </div>
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JG: It’s kind of always fascinated me, you know, just from watching Avengers and Lord of the Rings. I like making stuff that doesn’t exist, bringing it over to the computer, and making it look as if it could exist. </div>
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MG: How long have you been at it? </div>
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JG: About two years. </div>
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MG: What has the process of learning been like? </div>
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JG: It’s been really hard. </div>
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MG: Why?</div>
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JG: I think it started off with my mistake of not learning the basics at first – I kind of skipped the basics and went from intermediate to advanced. I compared my work to other people’s work and I thought “There’s no way I’m gonna make something as good as that.” </div>
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MG: What did you do to overcome the difficulties?</div>
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JG: I just kept at it, time and time again, making stuff that looked “eh” and just pushed myself to be a better artist. </div>
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MG: What’s your favorite part of the process? </div>
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JG: Getting an idea and then looking up reference images and just finding what I’m looking for. </div>
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MG: What’s the hardest part of the process? </div>
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JG: That’s an easy one – taking the reference images and trying to build the 3-D models (CGI artists call them assets). That’s also the most satisfying part when it’s over because I like the challenge. </div>
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MG: Have you ever felt like giving up? </div>
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JG: Oh yeah. It’s just, you don’t feel like you’re improving and it can be very discouraging when you try to post that stuff online for people to see and they’re like, “Wow, why would you post that on the internet?” </div>
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MG: Why have you kept going? </div>
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JG: Something in the back of my head says, “Who cares what these people say or think?” And I love what I do. I can’t imagine myself not doing it. It would kill me to not do CGI. </div>
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MG: What would you tell other creative types who are just starting, or who feel like they should quit?</div>
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JG: It’s going to be tough in the beginning. You’re going to feel like you’re not getting anywhere or there’s no point in doing what you’re doing, but if you love doing it, like I love doing the CGI art and all that, don’t give up, no matter what anyone says. If I’d stopped at the first crappy comment on <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xkdbghIqa8g/VkjwvmdT3zI/AAAAAAAAADM/zGN_8C-AnJ8/s1600/steampunk%2B2.0%2Bb%2B.png">my first piece I showed to the public for a contest </a>, I wouldn’t be giving you this advice right now and I wouldn’t have started my own blog. </div>
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You can find Josh at <a href="http://cgalchemy.blogspot.com/">C G Alchemy.</a> To read other IWSG posts, click on the IWSG image under the Snoopy cartoon. </div>
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Michelle Gregoryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05747275507200268417noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2056792574534014889.post-81126461974705852152015-11-26T10:08:00.003-07:002015-11-26T10:08:24.957-07:00for all my blogging friends and visitors... <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bQ2vyF_oaQI/Vlc8eo4AeCI/AAAAAAAADtY/twwgsLf1hgg/s1600/thanksgiving-peanuts-26838824-320-240.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bQ2vyF_oaQI/Vlc8eo4AeCI/AAAAAAAADtY/twwgsLf1hgg/s400/thanksgiving-peanuts-26838824-320-240.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />Michelle Gregoryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05747275507200268417noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2056792574534014889.post-78869526170974882532015-09-02T06:00:00.000-06:002015-08-31T08:22:14.186-06:00IWSG - on perfectionism and making mistakes<div class="MsoNormal">
today, i'm letting other people encourage you. first, a quote from Anne Lamott, part of a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/AnneLamott">facebook post she wrote on May
12th. </a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here’s how to break through the perfectionism: make a LOT of
mistakes. Fall on your butt more often. Waste more paper, printing out your
sh--- first drafts, and maybe send a check to the Sierra Club. Celebrate messes
— these are where the goods are. Put something on the calendar that you know
you’ll be terrible at, like dance lessons, or a meditation retreat, or boot
camp. Find a writing partner, who will help you with your work, by reading it
for you, and telling you the truth about it, with respect, to help you make it
better and better; for whom you will do the same thing. Find someone who wants
to steal his or her life back, too. Now; today. One wild and crazy thing: wears
shorts out in public if it is hot, even if your legs are milky white or heavy.
Go to a poetry slam. Go to open mike, and read the story you wrote about the
hilariously god-awful family reunion, with a trusted friend, even though it
could be better, and would hurt Uncle Ed’s feelings if he read it, which he
isn’t going to.<br />
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Change his name and hair color — he won’t even recognize himself.</span><br />
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At work, you begin to fulfill your artistic destiny. Wow! A reviewer may hate
your style, or newspapers may neglect you, or 500 people may tell you that you
are bitter, delusional and boring.<br />
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Let me ask you this: in the big juicy Zorba scheme of things, who **** cares?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">and here's what a few other people had to say... </span></div>
<a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54489/39/A55B51C8818BAF32EF50664B586337FE.png" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: initial; border: 0px;" /></span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one. ~Elbert Hubbard, The Note Book, 1927</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Never say, "oops." Always say, "Ah, interesting." ~Author Unknown</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made in a very narrow field. ~Niels Bohr</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The man who makes no mistakes does not usually make anything. ~Edward Phelps </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">You will do foolish things, but do them with enthusiasm. ~Colette</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">As long as the world is turning and spinning, we're gonna be dizzy and we're gonna make mistakes. ~Mel Brooks</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Results! Why, man, I have gotten a lot of results. I know several thousand things that won't work. ~Thomas A. Edison</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">for more Insecure Writers Support Group posts, use the link on my sidebar. now go out and make some mistakes!</span>Michelle Gregoryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05747275507200268417noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2056792574534014889.post-52435678712692169442015-08-05T08:14:00.002-06:002015-08-05T08:17:46.249-06:00IWSG - Shine...when you're insecure in your writing, remember this quote from Marianne Williamson: <br />
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"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?<br />
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You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."<br />
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for other posts on writing when you feel insecure, click on the link on my sidebar for the Insecure Writers' Support Group.Michelle Gregoryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05747275507200268417noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2056792574534014889.post-53101362622088379992015-07-01T08:00:00.000-06:002015-07-01T08:17:06.574-06:00IWSG - overcoming our fearstoday, i'm sharing what others have to say about overcoming our fears about writing...<br />
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“You gain strength,
courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look
fear in the face…You must do the thing you cannot do.”~ Eleanor Roosevelt ~
(not exactly a writing quote, but appropriate just the same.)<br />
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“You are a writer. Right now. With only what you have in your head as it is.
You don’t need anything else. You are a writer. You just need to keep writing.
Don’t let the Writing Fairy tell you that you aren’t. That you need something
more, that you’re pretending to be something you’re not. Hemmingway wasn’t
Hemmingway when he started. He was just a guy named Ernest who sat down at his
typewriter.” ~ Joseph Devon<br />
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“Risk being unliked. Tell
the truth as you understand it. If you’re a writer, you have a moral obligation
to do this. And it is a revolutionary act–truth is always subversive.” ~ Anne
Lamott,<i>Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life</i><br />
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“Successful writers are not the ones who write the best sentences. They are the
ones who keep writing. They are the ones who discover what is most important
and strangest and most pleasurable in themselves, and keep believing in the
value of their work, despite the difficulties.” ~ Bonnie Friedman<br />
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“Anyone can become a writer. The trick is staying a writer.” ~ Harlan Ellison<br />
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“If you hear a voice within you saying, ‘You are not a painter,’ then by all
means paint . . . and that voice will be silenced.” ~ Vincent Van Gogh<br />
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“To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong.” ~ Claude M.
Bristol<br />
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“Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes it is the quiet voice at the end of the
day saying, ‘I will try again tomorrow.’“ ~ Mary Anne Rademacher-Hershey<br />
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“I will go so far as to say that the writer who is not scared is happily
unaware of the remote and tantalizing majesty of the medium.” ~ John Steinbeck<br />
“You fail only if you stop writing.” ~ Ray Bradbury<br />
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“You must once and for all give up being worried about successes and failures.
Don’t let that concern you. It’s your duty to go on working, steadily day by
day, quite steadily, to be prepared for mistakes, which are inevitable, and for
failures.” ~ Anton Chekhov<br />
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“Every day you are afraid. Every day you move through fear to your desk, and as
soon as you pick up your pen, or read the sentence left over from the night
before, incomplete, needing an adjustment in rhythm—a stronger verb, a slash of
color or the taste of bitter herbs—in that moment of solving the problems all
fear dissolves. You are writing again.” ~ Sophy Burnham<br />
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“You’re not afraid of writing. You’re afraid of failing. We all fail. The
courage is in the trying.” ~ From the movie <i>Shadows in the Sun ~</i><br />
</div>
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to read what other encouraging posts about our insecurities, go to the <a href="http://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/p/iwsg-sign-up.html">Insecure Writers' Support Group blog. </a></div>
Michelle Gregoryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05747275507200268417noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2056792574534014889.post-34112581986496359702015-06-18T07:17:00.001-06:002015-06-18T07:17:37.513-06:00maybe that's my problem<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bBXDH3273JU/VYLEm7rwZ3I/AAAAAAAADq0/f9UP69LlJi4/s1600/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="280" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bBXDH3273JU/VYLEm7rwZ3I/AAAAAAAADq0/f9UP69LlJi4/s400/1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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or i'm too busy or tired to hear them.Michelle Gregoryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05747275507200268417noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2056792574534014889.post-38723717678352939842015-06-02T08:08:00.000-06:002015-06-02T08:08:24.541-06:00IWSG - on scrapbooking vs writingreaching back into the annals of my blog, i found this post from 2009, where i ranted about working on my sequel (which, i hate to admit, means i've been working on my sequel for 6 years --- yes that's right, i said SIX years. either i'm very committed to this story or i'm a little nuts. take your pick.)<br />
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ahem... back to what i was saying about this post.... i used to be an avid scrapbooker, which goes back to 1996, back when scrapbooking was just starting. and then i found writing in 2005, and became an avid writer and gave up the scrapbooking. (i'm thinking about going back to it soon, but need a craft area and that's whole different rant.)<br />
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so, without further ado, or additional chasing of rabbit trails, my post from September of 2009, entitled, "(insert appropriate title here)"<br />
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i think i'll go back to doing scrapbook pages.<br />
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i can only speak for myself when i say that...<br />
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scrapbook pages (sbp's) do not require multiple drafts to get them "just right."<br />
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sbp's are always self-published and no one cares. (side note - this was back when self-publishing was a last resort - a lot has changed in 6 years.)<br />
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sbp's do not make you want to tear your hair out.<br />
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sbp's can be finished in an hour or less.<br />
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sbp's do not wake you up in the middle of the night, demanding to have you create one.<br />
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sbp's do not argue with you about how they want to be created or where to place a picture.<br />
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sbp's do not need timelines or calendars to help you remember where to place something because a quick sketch will do.<br />
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sbp's do not require hours of searching for that one piece of information that will make the page perfect or add page depth or realism.<br />
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sbp's do not care which point of view you use to get the idea across.<br />
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sbp's can be placed wherever you choose to place them and can be rearranged with very little problem.<br />
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sbp's do not require the help of a scrapbook critique partner or group.<br />
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sbp's can be done in a group setting while you converse with other scrapbookers.<br />
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sbp's do not require absolute quiet to complete.<br />
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sbp's do not require isbn's, out-sourced cover art, a three-year commitment to amazon.com, a barcode, multiple proofreaders, special formatting, or the purchase of proof copies.<br />
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you will never dream about kissing one of the pictures or embellishments from your scrapbook page.<br />
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no one cares about spelling or grammar on a scrapbook page.<br />
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people who have never scrapbooked will love your pages and will never tell you how they thought it could have been better if only you had done xyz.<br />
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if someone happens to not like your sbp, you won't go into a deep depression over it.<br />
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a scrapbooker has no problem calling herself a scrapbooker or paper artist, despite never having a layout published in a scrapbook magazine.<br />
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most of the time, scrapbookers are not under a tight deadline.<br />
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there are no scrapbook agents or editors out there telling a scrapbooker what to do, or asking how many other scrapbooks there are in the series, or what the scrapbooker is going to do to promote her scrapbook, or if the scrapbooker already has a fan base.<br />
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on the other hand...<br />
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sbp's do require all kinds of materials that may or may not get used, and you have to transport a lot of equipment if you want to scrapbook with other people, and i am the kind of scrapbooker who agonized over getting a page just right.<br />
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so maybe i'll keep writing.<br />
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or maybe i'll just surf the web.<br />
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pardon my ranting, but i think i have a book to go back to.<br />
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(for more IWSG posts, click the picture on my sidebar.)Michelle Gregoryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05747275507200268417noreply@blogger.com4