Lone Prairie Art, Writing & Book News

Scott Kirby.

2009-03-15T20:07:00.004-05:00

No idea how it happened, but I stumbled upon Scott Kirby's art at Fine Art America. I am hooked.

I can't see a single one of his paintings that I wouldn't want to own.

His web site features his art, which is about the Great Plains and that includes North Dakota.

He is good. Seriously.

Go now and visit Visions of the Great Plains. You can order a book of his art here.

Profit vs. pain.

2009-01-05T08:27:00.004-06:00

The concept of considering the profit:pain ratio is a good one.

I, always in need of money, am aware of it in the back of my mind but still find myself unable to take it into actual consideration and turn down jobs that aren't worth the pain.

I find myself in yet another such position, a job that hasn't fully started but has already become a headache for over a week. This does not bode well for the experience, and the price I had to quote was noticeably less than my going rate as well as any sense of compensation for the work and hassle.

I am an idiot.

Because I need all the extra money.

Please consider the profit:pain ratio. Really.

Don't be me.

Some loser guy named Brien Jones is calling me a liar.

2008-12-29T08:07:00.004-06:00

There are several ways to run a "professional" publishing business.

Someone needs to tell some guy named Brien Jones what those are, since he seems to have missed the cluetrain.

Calling me, a person of little importance in the publishing world who wrote one SMALL blog post questioning the validity of a publisher called "Air Leaf publishing" (and their "desire" to help make one of my ridiculous Bob books into a movie!!), a liar is really a stupid waste of time and a pointless antagonizing step.

So this Brien Jones writes his morally vacuous blog post here, and includes this line:

I also understand cowardly women like Victoria Strauss, Julie Neidlinger and Lee Goldberg and their lies.

I don't even know who these other people are, but if this loser thinks calling me a liar and coward on the internet is a sign of courage, this cowardly woman will have to verbally kick his ass a few times. I mean, come on... "They're the cowards, not me! We're successful!! I didn't do anything wrong!"

Methinks the "lady" doth protest too much.

From what I can gather, this guy collects complaints and a reputation for questionable publishing practices like my dresser collects dust. So, yeah, Mr. Jones, at the time I was only repeating what little info I had, and then let people -- even you -- email and comment both for and against AirLeaf. (In which, I might add, you proved yourself to have the maturity level -- along with some of the other commenters -- of a five-year-old.)

But some little boys don't like to play nice.

You know what, Mr. Jones? Keep me out of your filthy cesspool. I wrote that post THREE YEARS AGO and that was that.

"Let's keep harping on it, three years later, and call her a liar!!!"

Hey. Seriously? Lame.

At this point I would tell anyone to stay away from Brien Jones' business and services; not because I can tell you I had a bad experience utilizing them, but because the man acts like a child on the internet and that reflects on the kind of business he is attempting to run. Noserious professional publisher would behave in such a way. None.

Hat Tip: How did I find this ridiculous person calling me a liar? I have a Google Alert on my name that comes into my email every night, and found it via this blog post which Google picked up as having my name in it.

Thoughts for others starting out.

2008-11-27T17:16:00.007-06:00

I have had a few discussions with clients and friends lately, and a few other recent experiences in regards to my Lone Prairie business, that reminded me of the difficulty in finding a way to price art and design services. How do you put a price tag on something that can be sort of abstract and nebulous as to its "worth"?

First off, decide what you will "make" an hour. It shouldn't be less than $25. Using that, keep track of your time and materials, and you will at least have your basic costs covered. That is your minimum for certain. But beyond that...

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I. When you're only there to digitize their ideaThe first logo I designed was for this company. It was a great learning experience in what not to do, but also a template for what artists desperate for cash and clients will inevitably do starting out. The man came to me with a design sketched on a piece of a napkin, and design that is nearly identical to what is being used for their logo now. He informed me that he didn't think it was much of an idea, that I was a professional artist and that he trusted me to come up with something eye-catching and better and that really, this was barely an idea at all. He assured me that I should just go with it and so I did. I made up his sketch into a logo, of course, as one of the options. I also came up with two others, one which incorporated an actual scan of flax, and another which was pared-down and really pushed the idea of agriculture mixing with technology. I charged barely enough to cover the time I spent in the first round of ideas.

The next weeks were filled with requests to revise not one, but ALL of the samples. The constant and repeated tweaking and revisions -- "move that there, make that blue, and tilt that" -- started to drive me crazy. In the end, after the revisions had "tweaked" the design into a tasteless oblivion and beyond anything I wanted to attach my name to, he finally told me to go back to the original design from his napkin, and leave it at that. It was a distasteful experience that I invested much time in for very little money. To this day, whenever I see his products (they are frequent visitors and North Dakota trade shows), I have a strong distaste overcome me. And I would never admit to having anything to do with the logo until now.

There have now been three such similar experiences in my design career, but I think I finally get it.

Moral of the story: When someone comes to you with an sketchy idea that they say they don't like and tell you that you are a professional artist and they trust your judgment, they really want you to just get their idea up in a digital file. There's nothing wrong with that at all. It's a fair trade and an enjoyable exercise if they let you know that right away, or if they are even aware of it themselves at the start. It's just that they never tell you that at first and you're going to go through a lot of time and effort to get back right where you started. I'm not sure why it is, but some people really do not trust the opinion of the artist but think that they might, until it comes right down to it.

Solution: Get all money up front. Limit number of revisions. Directly ask if they really want your design input, or if they would prefer you to merely clean up their own design and art work. Know what you are working with before you start.

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II. Bargain basement pricesThe art on this site is, generally, priced fairly low. My reasoning behind this seemed reasonable: I wanted to get rid of the older pieces, I wanted people to be able to have some original art, and I wanted to sell. I have found, however, that people will tell me that I have "reasonable" prices, but never buy. The people that tell me my prices are way too low usually are the ones doing so after I've sold something to them. They even tend to throw additional money in that was not in the price, and say it was because they liked my work and thought the prices were too low.

Obviously, I can't get $40,000 for a painting. I have to know my region, how and who I'm selling to, what kind of name and reputation I've got in the art world, and what I can expect. I've learned that there are times when I need a standard pricing system (commissioned work, for example) and that it has to be something tangible (in my case, I base it on the size of the painting) for people to grasp and make a decision on.

Under-pricing my general art, however, may negatively affect my sales. Cheap art says cheap artist. It says that there's nothing special or urgent about getting this piece. It speaks to the pocket book instead of the heart.

As I told a friend recently as we discussed this very issue, my new "low" price is going to be a rent comparison for me. As in, what I pay for rent each month is going to be a kind of bench mark on my scale of lowest price acceptable. It's maybe not the best way, but when you want to earn a living you need to find a price that you can live off of, and that, for me, is a reasonable starting point.

Moral of the story: Low prices don't build demand, but scream "bargain bin" instead. The people attracted to the bargain bin aren't going to do anything to help you live off of your art if they never venture into pricier pieces, since a store's bargain bin is the bait to get people into the store and buy higher priced items.

Solution: Offer your art in a variety of price ranges based on something tangible (size, or medium maybe), but make sure the lowest price is something you've based on a livable reason. And don't let it be so low that the piece no longer garners respect and is, instead, just something someone can brag about getting cheaply.

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I may come up with more later, as I think of them.

I'm famous! (On ImageKind.)

2008-11-24T21:40:00.002-06:00

I've been randomly selected as the featured artist at ImageKind.com.

I feel very much like the same person I was yesterday, but somehow, I feel things have definitely changed.

I know I'm moving up.

After all, I just had this happen on Scribd. Surely, these are signs.

I await the huge monetary impact and huge sales....

I'm famous! (On Scribd.)

2008-11-17T22:00:00.002-06:00

My document "Worksheet for the Creatively Blocked" (which was originally featured here), has earned two awards over at Scribd.com. It is both a "Hot List" item, and now a "Featured" item.

The official definition of a "Feature" document over at Scribd is any "documents that our editors have deemed to be high quality, and adds significant value to Scribd's collection of documents."

I felt a little giddy about it.

I have a small world.

For a short time (probably the next hour only) my little document is on the front page of Scribd. Cool.

Sugar cane paper.

2008-10-10T08:24:00.003-05:00

So I have this thing for paper and am very picky about what journals and notebooks I'll use. They have to pass the binding test (does it fall open/stay open easily) and the paper test (is it too rough or does it have a glassy smooth finish).

The best papers I've found for writing are in Claire Fontaine and Rhodia and the papers that come from that same French mill. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find another really nice, slick paper.

At Staples office supply store, of all places.

In a low-cost Staples brand "green" display which had composition books and legal pads made from sugar cane fibers.

It's really nice stuff, oddly. Slick surface, great with pens and pencils. The color is a subtle off-white with tan lines on it -- nothing garish or distracting.

I bought several legal pads and composition books, and intend to make some into journals to sell online.

You should be able to find it still, though I can see they are moving it out. It was more a "back to school" seasonal thing.

Box.net -- worth the trouble?

2008-09-14T23:26:00.003-05:00

I've been using Scribd.com pretty heavily for making documents available to my readers, but I just came across a cool little widget on another blog. It's from Box.net, and I've not seen it before. I'm curious as to how reliable it is, if it sucks up bandwidth, slows down a site...anyone out there using it?

I could see a lot of uses on this site. Scribd doesn't have such a widget that I'm aware of. I currently link to specific folders at Scribd, which works, but you know, who doesn't like a cool widget?

The small object.

2008-08-25T13:49:00.001-05:00

I love this site, The Small Object.

Besides having cool stuff to buy for paper-lovers like myself, the blog (called the Steno Pad) has lots of fun, free downloads.

You know I love that.

Go there.

Patron.

2008-08-07T12:40:00.004-05:00

This is an interesting blog post, the idea of finding an investor for potential college students to counteract the outrageous cost of tuition.

You know, like....a patron. Where is a de' Medici when you need one?

Patronize me, without being patronizing, I say. (Is that possible?)

Templates.

2008-07-29T23:37:00.005-05:00

Google Docs (which I've talked about before) now has just over 300 templates to use -- for free -- for spreadsheets, word processing, desktop publishing, and presentations.

There are some very cool options.

The resume templates fascinate me, mainly because I can't help but believe I'll never use a resume again, what with my perpetual self-unemployment. But, it's nice knowing the option is there, should I need it. That is, if I still have an internet at that point, what with the assumed living in a cardboard box under an underpass and all.

Definitely check out Google Docs and their new templates.

A recipe for chaos.

2008-07-16T19:31:00.005-05:00

A fellow art friend from college, Ali LaRock, currently has an exhibit in Bismarck. She is sharing the show with Gretchen Bederman.

Since I'm here in Bismarck, I'm thinking of taking it in next week. I wasn't able to make the opening reception or gallery talk, but I'd like to see her stuff up on the walls and in a different context than I've seen it previously. The show is called "A Recipe for Chaos" and is through the Bismarck Art and Galleries Association. I'd link you to some relevant page on their site, but all the links go to some wacky format which seriously needs to be changed to make their web site more user -riendly.

I haven't had a gallery show for years.

I sort of grew tired of the whole gallery thing.

Generally, it was marked by bad cheese, thick eyeglass frames, pinky-up swilling wine, and disinterest beyond the same handful of people.

It costs a lot to put up a show. Framing is costly, not to mention other incidentals which quickly add up and make it economically ludicrous (unless you sell a lot of work, which, since I'm unwilling to put deer in my art, I don't here in North Dakota). I understand it's more about exposure, in some sense, but I guess if I was so interested in that I could just stand on the side of the I94 and lift my shirt.

I think I can safely say that everyone potentially involved in such a scenario is happy I'm not doing that.

The right 1000 words.

2008-06-22T23:00:00.003-05:00

I know a picture is worth a thousand words, but I'm starting to think the words are getting short-changed.

Pictures are little more than height and width and implied depth. The right 1000 words can inspire tastes and smells and pull things from our memory that are so strong.

I was looking at a photo ID of someone recently and though the photo looked like the person, it also did not. It said nothing about the sparkle in the eye or the twitch of the mouth in full grin. It didn't capture the furrowed brow in a moment of thought. There was nothing in the ID but a pattern on a flat surface.

I should begin to practice finding that right 1000 words.

Teaser Chapter

2008-06-18T15:41:00.002-05:00

I convinced my writer friend (the same one I mentioned here) to put a teaser chapter of his Deadwood novel online.

He did so.

Here it is. He's good. (Too bad about the use of Comic Sans, though.)

Two Up on a Dead Bandit's Mule Chpt001 - Upload a Document to Scribd

Suspenseful first line.

2008-06-17T11:21:00.006-05:00

A writing friend of mine commented on how some of my more successful Twitter messages could be the opening line of a short story or suspense novel.

I had earlier made note of how I was finding his Twitter messages about his work as a judge and a vacation cabin remodeling project hilarious enough to make into a humorous story. "You need to write a story about your work at the cabin. Or just put your twitters together in a collection," I told him. You can see what I mean when you read them.

But, back to what he told me regarding my efforts to hint at what I'm doing this summer without selling the farm... this one would probably be fun to work with:

There was a stranger sleeping on the couch this morning. How did he get there?

This message stems from this incident which, truthfully, I still don't know the answer to. However, I could have fun with it and make up the story behind it.

So could you, if you were looking for a little writing prompt to get your day going.

Green Journal.

2008-06-09T17:30:00.007-05:00

I've found myself preferring soft-cover "recycled" look journals to the deluxe, hardcover versions. I find that the cheaper journals have the fun writing paper that is thinner and less ostentatious and doesn't scream "You'd better write something glorious and meaningful and not ruin my fancy pages!." In the soft-cover journals, the binding tends to be simple staples or basic stitching in the middle of the soft spine, which means if falls open flat and is easier to write in. Plus, they are easier to cram into a purse or backpack. They just flex more and say "Hey, it's all good. Write whatever you want, roll us up, and toss us in your bag."

I'm not at all enamored with journals that are printed all over inside with all kinds of gimmicky graphics and crap. That's my job; I'll fill it up inside!

So, the Moleskine kraft-paper covered journals are nice (but pricey). And (gasp!), I'm not actually a fan of the paper Moleskine uses; my art pens bleed on it, and it's terrible for watercolor and pencils. Recently, though, I found the perfect journal, and promptly bought three. I know how it goes (and how it has since gone): you find one you like, it's gone, and you never find it again. It's like the notebooks from the movie The Interpreter: everyone is looking for them, yet no one can find those elusive Marcel Schurman notebooks.

The journal in question is a simple recycled-brown soft-cover, made of "Italian ecological paper" (i.e. made in Italy of recycled paper), with the words "Green Journal" stamped on the cover. There's a green elastic cord to keep it closed. The paper inside is a fun-to-write-on, thin, lined off-white sheet. The inside of the journal gives a web address of: alfabet.it.

And that's it.

I can't find them anymore. Haven't seen them in any stores. And I'm certainly not going to order them from Italy, though they are listed on the site.

If you happen to run across them, you ought to buy them. Unless you're into the deluxe-look of a journal. These won't make you happy. Otherwise, buy them. As many as you can. They aren't expensive, and they are a forgiving journal; you can spill coffee on them and it only increases their charm (try that in a leather-covered gold-edged-paged journal). They're all recycled and soft-covery and pliable and a sort of haphazard on-a-whim joy to write in. I don't feel guilty about writing in all directions on the page and filling it with crazy drawings or taping stuff inside (which is problematic if you do it too much to a hardcover journal with a fixed spine). And so, I love them.

Buy me one, too, and I'll pay you back. ;-)

Handmade and sarcastic stationery.

2008-05-29T13:21:00.012-05:00

I'm always on the look for stationery. Letters, and the writing/sending/receiving of them, is an obsession of mine. Regular readers of this site know I frequently blog about writing letters, sending them, when I get them, and all the paraphernalia involved in making paper mail happen.

I recently stumbled across two web sites that offer some really great stationery. One is an Etsy site, which I've talked about before, and the other is called 16 Sparrows.

YourSecretAdmiral is the Etsy shop which features really cool, handmade creations. There are lots of fun notebooks and paperback books made out of envelopes and more. Etsy is filled with artists doing something similar, as far as creating really unique journals and stationery, so by all means, check out the whole site and find some cool stuff.

16 Sparrows (see their blog here) has stationery that appeals to me on many levels. For example, if I weren't doing most of my bill paying online, I would absolutely love to use the "blood money" envelopes that they have. Now, some of the designs are going to probably offend people (particularly the f**ing card series, or the Paddingken set which I like the looks of), but what kills me most is the use of graphics and design that are so staid while using words that throw it all off kilter. For example, in the mood for fake Private Detective stationery? Yep, they have it. There's even a set of sarcastic "from the desk of" stationery.

My favorite design, though, is the telegram stationery. I am also extremely appreciative of the "letter writer's alliance" stationery set (there's also a gift pack), which has a purpose that I fully agree with. I may just have to join the Letter Writers Alliance; they have a wonderful mission statement and lots of cool stuff.

To top it all off, they have free things for you right now.

Calling cards.

2008-05-12T10:15:00.003-05:00

My first real use of a "calling card" came in the form of my high school graduation announcements. In that far bygone era (ha ha), people were still ordering and using the high-level professionally printed and embossed graduation announcements (rather than the photo-postcards that people are making today). These cards came with corner brackets cut inside to my name card inside, with a senior photo tucked behind that.

That name card was very similar to the calling cards I later found of my grandparent's and others of their generation, though I wasn't sure how those little name cards were used. It was while watching a movie that I understood how a calling card used to function. In the film, a man, who had stopped by to visit the family but found they were not at home, left a calling card with the maid so that when the family came home, they could review the cards of all those who had stopped by.

I thought that was really cool.

(And not just because a man came for a visit.)

Of course, people don't just stop by much like that anymore, and email and the telephone and answering machines have made a calling card seem a little ridiculous. And, if people leave a card now, it tends to be a business card.

I have had a gazillion business cards over the years, finally getting a new design that matches the branded look I'm going for here on this website.

But I got to thinking -- what about all the times I find myself saying "do you have a pen and paper? I'll write my email address down for you" -- times when it wasn't about business and I didn't want to seem like I was one of those perpetual networking people who were always shoving business cards and business up into every possible moment. Essentially, I wanted some kind of modern take on the calling card. Something to give the person my name and how to contact me, and not leave them with a niggling wonder if I was just trying to hit them up as a possible customer in the future instead of just being friendly.

My friend Corrine once gave me a set of The Bad Girl's Calling Cards with me promising to use them if she gave them to me (with the intention of helping me meet people, which I don't do well on my own, I admit). I do keep my word, and did use them (sort of), but some of the, messages on them made me blush, and I found myself scribbling out some of the options the card allowed the giftee to redeem. (Here's a tame sample of the calling cards.)

I decided to head on over to the website I frequent when it comes time to get business cards printed, and I chose to only put my name, email, and website address on the card. I didn't talk about what I did. I didn't put my phone number on it because I would rather give out my email address instead.

I made myself a calling card.

It's not quite as traditional as they used to be, where just the name on a piece of high-grade cardstock sufficed, but it serves the purpose I was looking for.

Links:

Get your calling cards printed for free (pay shipping only)
Hire me to design your custom calling card or business card

Scribd.

2008-05-03T11:23:00.010-05:00

I've written about Scribd before, so you can read that for the background on what it is.

I've been working on uploading all the documents that I have available on my own site into my Scribd account (since they're free here, already, but a little hard to find sometimes). I also made it so you can subscribe to my Scribd feed (even by email, if you want) so that you know when something new is added.

Scribd is an odd place. There are all kinds of crazy documents on there... One thing I like about Scribd is the ability to embed documents into a web site in a way that is less excessive than the behemoth that is Adobe Reader. Scribd uses something called iPaper, and it's pretty cool. Scribd's blog seems to feature different ways people are using iPaper. They also have an app for Facebook, though it's done in a way to appeal to teachers/students.

I'd be curious to know if any of my readers have an account, or what they think of Scribd. In particular, I'd like to hear thoughts on concepts of information sharing, copyright issues, and so on.

Ye olde artiste statement.

2008-04-18T13:00:00.002-05:00

My friend is having some difficulty with her artist statement.

I hate artist statements. Are there accountant statements? Doctor statements? Shouldn't we have an explanation for what the reasoning behind the charges of the average doctor's visit is? Why do artists have to give statements?

It sounds like something from Law and Order. "You need to give me your statement now."

I suggested a fairly simple statement for her to use: “I like dogs. I also like clay. Everything else is natural.”

Short and sweet. She came up with a pretty good one, though, without my help.

But artist statements. Ugh.

I have an "artist statement" but I prefer to call it a mission statement because I, like the Blues Brothers, am definitely on something.

Once, back in one of the earlier versions of this site, I had this to say about that:

We're all taught in art school to have an artist statement, or a mission statement laying out in words what it is our work was to accomplish, where our inspiration came from, yada yada yada. I'd go to the senior shows and read some of the statements with a bit of horror, realizing that I wasn't nearly as lofty in my goals or methods. It's like an artist piling dirt on the floor and saying in his mission statement that he wanted to bring attention to the plight of Vietnamese boat people. All I saw was a pile of dirt, and I wondered who'd get stuck cleaning it up. My mission statement is straightforward (I hope) because my work is what it is.

Sometimes I use green in my paintings because I have lots of green paint to use up. Sometimes it's to symbolize life. Sometimes I spilled paint or dropped a brush on the board. Sometimes I think, "Hey. Green. Neat." Not terribly romantic, and fairly disappointing for the customer who really could care less about the image but is more interested in buying into the Oprahfication Art Gobbledy Gook myth that allows a towel rack to be nailed to a board and sold for $20,000 in some gallery.

I don't think if you lack a super-fab artspeak statement that you're going to end up the Art World's Corey Feldman. You just won't be allowed to wear a beret.

I also included a handy list of words to avoid using in an artist statement because they carried a high risk of making your reader vomit:

self-taught (Learned your art on your own, but had to be potty trained. Yahoo.)
heartfelt (Good to know you're not whoring yourself to make money only.)
spirit (Oh, please.)
essence (Also works great on a decorative candle label.)
dialogue (Hey. Try the word "talk.")
capture (What is this, The Fugitive meets artist effort?)
primitive (Unless you've whipped up a few Venus of Willendorf's, lay off the claim.)
yearning (Brings to mind a constipated person on the toilet.)
evocative (Half of the country can't pronounce the word. They think it's associated with pornography.)
"I strive" (I think we can all see that you're at least "striving.")
catalyst (Brings to mind things like "Dr. Frankenstein" and "frog dissection.")
intended vision (Seems a little apologetic, using the word "intended." As in, "I intended to draw well, but instead I bombed.")

I then ended it with this:

mission statement: cliff notes version
I draw what I know. I'm not trying to make social or political statements. I make stuff that I like.

I was told I shouldn't use the word "stuff" in such a statement, as that was not a professional response.

Whatever.

Success with Etsy.

2008-04-17T10:51:00.007-05:00

My friend has a store on Etsy, the web site that features handmade and original items of all kinds. I have a few items on Etsy myself, though I haven't made the decision to jump fully over to Etsy. I haven't decided the ifs and hows of keeping a store on my site versus having it on Etsy. Or, if I should move all of my "craft" type items to Etsy and maintain my art gallery on my site.

I've written about Etsy on this blog before, albeit briefly. Its low listing prices and great help with graphics, stores, marketing, and forums (plus a public forum where people list things they need someone to make for them) make it something akin to a huge art fair.

Regardless, Etsy is a favorite place of mine to visit and shop. And, for some, it has really been a path to online, home-based success. An article in the Minot Daily News (April 14, 2008) featured Jenna Lou Dauer. She makes absolutely fabulous purses and wallets and sells them (with great success) on Etsy.

Check out Jenna's store. She has great taste in fabrics, colors, and design. She's also begun to gather attention on other sites. Jenna Lou also has her own blog, and is part of a Minnesota group of artisans tied into Etsy.

Personally, I prefer the higher-priced handmade, not-from-sweatshop stuff. I've gotten a few purses from Yukiko Sato for the simple reason that they are delightfully made and very unique. I've gotten a purse to give as a gift from Amani Ya Juu, a company that features African women and helps them earn a living making really great purses. As I go through my closets and work at remaking and reusing clothing, I realize how the cheapness of things has contributed to not only excessive consumerism and greed, but the abuse of the people in countries forced to make things for so little pay. A $40 purse might be more than the similar $15 purse at Target, but I can promise that when you buy it from a person and make a connection to the person who made it, you're less likely to just toss it away next season.

And so, I encourage you to shop Etsy, and sell on Etsy. If you really want something unique and not cookie-cutter common, that's the place to go.

Google pages.

2008-04-07T14:58:00.003-05:00

I'm having a lot of fun tweaking my free Google pages web site. You can see it here. I haven't got a clear idea of what I want to do there, but I have a sense of it being kind of like the "extra" file on my desk, the file where I throw in all kinds of random ideas that I may want to use later but that I definitely don't want to throw or mix in with the "serious" files. So, stuff I don't want on my main Lone Prairie site I could mix and mash over there.

I'm not sure.

Google has provided lots of easy to use templates, with an interface that is similar to all of the free services they now offer (Google docs, etc.) so, if you're using those, it should seem familiar to you whether or not you're up on web site creation or not.

Google has made it so you can also include Google gadgets, tweak the HTML to your own liking, and manage your page(s) easily from the dashboard.

If you're a writer or artist and need a quick web site just to refer people to, or perhaps just to get your feet wet on the internet, you might want to check it out. I could think of lots of ways this could be useful. It's much better than the early years of Geocities and those free sites.

The Everything Group, for the right brained.

2008-03-09T14:46:00.009-05:00

I've got to stop joining reading and writing groups. I'm never satisfied.

Perhaps it's just a glorified wish of wanting to be part of a group of people who enjoy art, music, writing, reading and film. The common denominator in the reading group and the writing group which I have been dissatisfied with is...me. I can tell you all the things I didn't like about each group, but really, I can only change myself and I was the one who was part of both groups.

I'll use the writing group as an example, since I've long since abandoned the reading group.

For me, writing isn't about grammar, publishers, and novels. Writing is like art, like music, like reading -- it is an essential part of being for me; they are all in connection with each other. They are symbiotic, they feed each other and, if I try to separate one from the other, they all suffer. I need to be able to write to draw to write. It is not necessarily a career, but a way of existing. The writers' group seems only focused on writing as a career, with the goal of being published.

That, of course, makes sense. What else would a writers' group be for?

And that's why I know I just can't go anymore.

I used to enjoy talking with a former member (who no longer attends) about interesting books or things he'd found, because it gave me ideas of things to both read and write about. I feel his absence markedly. A huge frustration for me in both groups, the writing group in particular, has been a distinct feeling of square peg in round hole. I notice it more, now, with the absence of this member.

The last writers' group meeting found me without any writing sample to hand out though I dare say I write enough on all of my blogs to fill several books. Instead, I offered a handout with some web links and a few ideas that people might find helpful only to have it barely glanced at (except by one person) and essentially shrugged off. It may not have been a stellar source of information, but to have to put up with 15 minutes of discussion prior to that, about getting a person in to teach grammar as our special speaker, and not get any similar interest (feigned or otherwise) back from what I had to offer...

And then I handed out one of the cartoons I'd drawn for a comic book I'm attempting to put together. It may have seemed odd to hand out "drawings" at a writing group, but in my mind...it's all connected. It's writing, to me. The cartoons have scripts that I work through. I did preface it by saying my sense of humor was odd and they probably wouldn't get it. I wasn't too concerned about all of that, nor am I terribly thin-skinned about "critique." (You don't go through five years of art school without learning how to handle the critique of your work.) I was attempting to show the writing I was working on, even if it contained drawings.

"These cartoons are kind of like a seriously pared-down, edited story," I explained. "I only have about four to six panels to get the story across, and my dialog is obviously limited." I handed out the drawing.

It was quickly passed around the table and literally tossed carelessly back at me by a member. My reaction to that was of annoyance. I was annoyed at the disrespect showed to another person's work, not that they weren't fawning about the cartoon (frankly, they're weird humor that few people will laugh at) but apparently the annoyance was misconstrued at not being able to handle critique.

"I can handle a critique just fine," I said, carefully putting the original drawing back in the folder case, further annoyed that it was suggested I couldn't take critique even though I'd been part of this group longer than all but one other person there. "This is an original drawing and I don't appreciate you throwing it about the table."

We moved on with the rest of the meeting, but at that moment I knew I was done with the group. I very much like the people, but I do not fit with them as an "official" group, a group with a purpose.

Frankly, I don't mind not fitting.

I want to be part of group that isn't so narrow. I want to be part of a group where, if someone writes something personal that makes them cry, it doesn't have to be awkwardly sandwiched between the discussion of getting a speaker to come and talk about grammar, and a critique on writing. I want to be able to talk about a book in broad terms without falling into pointless discussions on child daycare and side-tracked conversation more befitting a Ladies' Aid meeting. I want to be part of a group where we bring things we're doing -- reading, writing, drawing -- an Everything Group.

Come to my Everything Group, the imaginary poster might say, We encourage you to be and do. If you're doing it, creating it, we welcome it.

Do you like to write? Bring your writing! Have a book or film you are dying to talk about? Let's talk about it. Really into art? Great. Got a thing for music? Come on down. Want help with motivation for your art, writing, journaling, music, or reading? That's why we're here.

A Jack-of-all-Trades group. A Renaissance Man group. A Creative Thinker group. An Aimless Wanderer With Lots of Thoughts group. A Group Without A Traditional Means to an End group.

A group where it wasn't about grammar and systems and how-to, but encouragement and creativity and, essentially, right-brain focus. A group where people who write are encourage to let it pour out without ever feeling like they have to make it a career, where people who read can gush and recommend and talk about a book, where people who have found some great new music can tell the rest of the members, where people who have an artistic streak can let it out before they explode.

Something like that.

I don't know if I'd get anyone to show up.

We humans like orderly specifics, it seems, rather than such "vague without purpose" activity.

But it'd still be cool.

Writing about clutter.

2008-03-09T14:29:00.005-05:00

I don't know why I'm such a smarta** when it comes to the writing exercises at writers' group. I always write like I'm attempting to get something in McSweeney's.

Yesterday, at writers' group, we were to write about clutter. It felt a little to general -- I tend to lean towards weird writing prompts like our next week's assignment (which I contributed via a writing prompt book), which is to write on the topic of "someone found the Venus de Milo's arms."

Anyway, clutter.

I tapped my pen on my notebook and, with little further thought, decided to try some bad poetry.

Clutter
Rhymes with stutter.
And flutter.
Butter.
Like stutter it repeats without warning
the more you try to control it
the less success you have.

Like a fluttering bird
it drops
dropping(s)
randomly.
Though usually on the nearest empty counter.

Clutter is in no way like butter.

That sucked. I tried again.

Clutter as Metaphor
Clutter is like grammar: double letters, out of control.
Clutter is like iced mocha: not really. No, it isn't.

Terrible. That's the problem with meeting in a coffee shop; everything becomes related to the iced mocha you want.

I decided to go with a list route and be done with it.

Things said upon discovering clutter:

Grandma, we thought we'd lost you.
I guess dairy products need to be refrigerated.
Hmm. A pink slip. That would explain the absence of a paycheck this week.
Let's just buy a new table.
Check out my unique filing system.
I haven't been able to find my blood pressure pills for weeks.
We have six cats but have only been able to find one for some time now.
The service plans from Best Buy seem to be breeding!
You can never have too many Hummels.
That table is my scrapbook.
Grandma, are you still there?

We had a few minutes left, so I decided to further cement my status as Most Unwilling To Participate As A Serious Writer and come up with the following beauty:

The Clutter That Wasn't
"You're room is spotless!"
"I know!"
"I guess we're done here."

Why do I write like this in writers' group, when others try to be serious and when I can be overly serious on my own blog?

I know why...

After two months, I'm back.

2008-03-08T06:09:00.003-06:00

I'm going to writers' group today. I haven't been there for a while, and I don't know that I'll keep going every meeting (gas is expensive and it's a long drive). However, a friend decided to try out a meeting and I thought it would be good for me to get back into the loop.

It's going to be strange; our group has significantly changed since I was last there.

I don't have a lot of writing to bring, though, with all the blogging I do, it's not as if I don't write regularly. However, I did come up with a little something that I thought I would share with the group. It's a very basic listing of web sites they might find useful as writers. You can see the page I'll be passing around here (PDF).