And… it’s done: the receipts and bits of paper and electronic mummery are all found, documented, input, tallied, and saved to a very large and detailed spreadsheet for the accountant to rip apart on Thursday. So, now I can… umm… work on words for a while.
I just finished reading an advance copy of GHOST PLANET by Sharon Lynn Fisher and I’m so pleased with it I’m going to make a bit of noise here: it’s *wonderful!* It’s an SF Romance novel where both the Science and the Relationship are necessary to the plot, but it’s *not* a romance or erotica masquerading in SF clothes–it’s a truly hybrid beast. A novel about complex relationships, dependence, independence, and identity that’s also about ecology, science, and coexistence. Great stuff! (But you guys will have to wait until October. Sorry….)
As fans of mine looking for more good stuff to read, here’s someone you should probably be keeping an eye on: Robin K. MacPherson. No, he’s not a big name–he’s barely even published–but he’s got the right attitude and the skills. So if you are an aspiring writer he’s someone on the same journey, and if you are a voracious, thoughtful reader, he’s someone who will help fill up your brain with interesting things.
And he’s hit a nail on the head with his most recent blog post about writing “It’s About the People,” so go read this–it’s short and worth the time.
Winding gear at Stair Mine, © Copyright Eric Dalton and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence
My right hand, wrist, and fingers are sore and slightly swollen from all the paper-bending Wednesday. And last night I dreamed of gears–all sorts of gears made of paper and brass: reduction gears, bevel gears, rack-and-pinion gears, chain-drive gears, friction gears, sprockets, escapements, geneva mechanisms…. I guess I have this project on the brain.
My first two paper automata: Agreeable Sheep and Simple Crank Slider
Continuing with the paper automata: After the first experiment with the Simple Crank Slider mechanism, I decided to try heavier card and a more ambitious model. Once again I went to Rob Ives’s site and downloaded a popular and apparently-simple project called Agreeable Sheep.
To get a better understanding of basic automata for a writing project in progress. I don’t really have the space or money for a wood or metal workshop, so, although there are some differences due to the materials, the basics of the mechanisms are same for all materials and so I decided to try my hand at some paper automata. I’ve read a couple of books about mechanisms for mechanical movement and I was lucky enough to find the websites for Cabaret Mechanical Theatre, Flying Pig, and Rob Ives. I joined the Rob Ives site, paid for a membership, and have since downloaded several projects to try out.
Yesterday, after some false starts with my printer that suddenly wouldn’t print, I finally got the first two projects printed and made up. (You can click on most of the photos to see larger versions–short sequences don’t link.)
My first 2 paper automata
The one on the left was actually my second project, Agreeable Sheep. The one on the right was my first project, Simple Crank Slider. I’ll start with the Simple Crank Slider, since I built it first, but a word about tools and materials first….
I’ve finished my first two paper automata. Crouching over a coffee table to score, cut, bend, paste, and assemble is rather backbreaking and I’m currently wandering around looking like an old woman. Of course, allowing the dog to sit behind me, gnawing on a bone and jabbing me with it periodically may have been a bad idea…. (photos later–I’m too tired now.)
Although I still haven’t fixed the breadcrumb menu problem, the SEAWITCH page is now up on my site! And you can read Chapter One! Go forth and read, then spread the word!
And now, the SEAWITCH proof is all done and the changes, scanned, saved and e-mailed back to the publisher. Mwahahahahahaha…. DONE!
I’m 83.86% done with the proof of SEAWITCH and have to stop. I’ve been working against a creeping sinus headache all day, so I’ve only managed to proof 80 pages since 10:30 this morning. 56 left to go. Have to leave that to tomorrow.
Barometric pressure has been bouncing up and down for the past 2 weeks and being a person who suffers from “weather sinus,” it’s been hard to concentrate. Today was actually the worst for me since none of my usual tricks to nip the headache in the bud worked. That sucks when I’ve been staring at pages on a tiny desk through cheap reading glasses in fluctuating light through the deck hatch above for 8 hours and hoping to get this project done today so I can be a slug on the weekend like a person with a regular job. This is the most annoying aspect of being a self-employed person: you work until the job is done and if that means working nights and weekends, traveling on your own dime, and managing with less than ideal conditions or working when you’re sick, that’s just what you do.
As more people become self-employed due to the changing nature of the economic landscape and decreasing stability in traditional job structures, more and more of us will have these challenges to manage. For now, it’s mostly crazy people like me.
I hope this headache gives up by Saturday morning.
One-third finished with SEAWITCH proofs. Hurray! Very few errors so far and I found two issues that had been in the previous version that it appears the Managing Editor caught and fixed *before* sending the ms to Typsetting–I may love the Managing Editor!
I’m sure a lot of you know I’m a fan of ferrets and a supporter of Ferret Legalization in California (my home state and one of only 2 states in the US where ferrets are illegal as pets.) So, of course I think this little film project is delightful.
Yeah, it’s goofy and low-rent, but no matter how silly it sounds, there is an actual political issue over this in California. Why ferrets are illegal, even the California Department of Fish and Game can’t really say–they can’t seem to find a reason and they recently admitted that they “have no jurisdiction over domestic pets”–but it’s still true. I believe education is the best cure for confusion and there seems to be a lot of that about this issue, so maybe this film can help. And maybe you can too. Give it a look and see what you think.
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