Now this art work is cool. Remember when we where kids, playing with shadow pupets? I loved makeing the differant shapes and images. This person has taken shadow pupets to a hole new leval. see this image and more at : https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=118602291491383&set=a.118588208159458.15675.118587544826191&type=3&theater#!/photo.php?fbid=118602291491383&set=a.118588208159458.15675.118587544826191&type=3&permPage=1 
A wise writer once said to me that it’s not so much the pram in the hall that’s the impediment to a writing career, but the bills on the door-mat. Money worries are the bane of creativity. And unless independently wealthy, the emerging writer will have to make a living while waiting for that book/film deal (and probably for a while after that fact too).
<iframe src=”http://player.vimeo.com/video/31100268?byline=0&portrait=0” width=”400″ height=”225″ frameborder=”0″ webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe><p><a href=”http://vimeo.com/31100268″>PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from http://vimeo.com/fightforthefuture”>Fight for the Future</a> on <a href=”http://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a>.</p>
Jessie and I are siting on the statue in the middle of the square. “with hard work and hope in our hearts we will make it through the darkness to the light.” These very words are carved in the base of the statue, which is in the shape of a large willow tree. Sleeping beneath its branches is a family and their two pets. The children are somber, looking more dead then asleep, unaware of their fates. The mother and father hold them tight as they gaze into each other’s eyes, frightened and yet sad. Maybe for the uncertain life ahead, knowing they would never see the sun again. The cat is curled up on the little girls lap, her hand gently laid on it’s back. The dog is curled up at his masters feet, but his head is up and ears perked, he is alert waiting for something coming out of the shadows.
Most people love the statue. “Its a cymbal of hope,” they would say. To me its like a grave marker, dedicated to the world they killed. I find it to be sad, a reminder of how human kind drove themselves underground and shattered the world as they knew it.
A friend of mine re-posted this on facebook. I felt it was worth sharing, though it has nothing to do with art the message is still worth hearing. I know artist including my self at times feel worthless and unable to create feeling this way. To all artist, you have value, you are precious, you are talented. Never stop believing in your self and your abilities!!!
To stray from art for a day and talk about the new year to come. I should have posted this yesterday but I was out of town, I’m almost 25 so I went out for New Years night. With 2011 slowly fading and 2012 just starting everyone has a resolution, most of the time. Now I know for a fact there are lots of “I will quit smoking this year” or “I will loose all this wait” and I have bin one of those people who say they will and then don’t. Don’t get me wrong I know some people will be able to do it, but most will give up or say there is always next year. What if that year dose not come for you, things happen and life ends. Instead of making resolutions we can’t keep we should try better then that. Try “I will be a better person this year” or “I will cut down on my trash and recycle more”. All I am saying is we need to set goals we can stick to. Setting goals we can’t reach makes us feel bad, cuts down our self esteem, and we just say the same thing next year. Round and round the cycle will go until we stop it, change it and transform our way of thinking about the world and ourselves.
What am I doing for the new year? I am going to get my family there own place, I cant live with my in-laws much longer, I don’t want to be here now. I will play with my boys more. I will finish and sell my book, I hope in only a few months. I will paint more and sell my work, It has bin a long time but I still have it. I will believe in my self, believe in my artistic abilities. My oldest sister has called it to my attention that I don’t think enough of my self. She has told me I am a talented and intelligent person and my brush strokes are beautiful. She made me realise of course she is right, I don’t think much of my self but this year I will do better.
So did I make you think about your New Years resolution, or past ones that failed. A lot of mine did but this year I set goals I can keep. Have a wonderful new year and good luck on your goals, back to art tomorrow!
The Importance of Editing
'Murder' or 'Kill your darlings' is an adage attibuted to the literary critic Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, advising writers to cut the words / phrases to which they are most attached, in order to strenghten the work. It is good advice when editing, as often we writers shoehorn in a delicious description which doesn't do an enromous amount for the piece as a whole.
Today has bin a good day so far. I woke up this morning ready for the day. Which is rare for me, I’m not a morning person to say the least. After getting my oldest off to school I got my stuff together and exercise for the first time in a long time. Then got my other two boys out of bed half an hour later. so why write a blog about it, because I am writing today. I haven’t bin able to write for a few days now.
I simply haven’t known what to do next. my 5th chapter has to go, its not that it isn’t any good, just to soon for the lovers to be lovers. chapters one through four need to be redone. So finally today I started redoing the first chapter, the first half mostly the same.
In short today is a good day to write. This may not be a good blog, and it is short, but I thought it was good to share.
"The things we are willing to do to each other, the pain we can inflict." Nuclear warfare.
So today I have bin working on my prologue. At first I wasn’t going to do one, but one of the people critiquing my work thought it would be good to fallow a couple through a nuclear explosion, or something having to do with the war that started the 1000 year stay underground. I have chosen to do two parts, which I will post at the end of this post.
Needing to describe how the explosion looks, what happens to the surrounding aria and the people in it. Now I have video overload. I know there is a lot of information out, in may forms but holy cow. Type in just a few words and your smacked in the face with a tone of videos and documents. To see the charred bodies in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the buildings completely leveled, and the pain of the survivors was hart wrenching. I watched a video with a man that survived, they had to peal card skin off his back, one of his arms the skin was hanging off, he spent 18 months in the hospital. I watched another video with a son clinging to his father, the both of them dead, their bodies looked mummified.
The thing is there are videos and article about how we are heading for world war III, only with more devastating outcomes. Are we as a race on the fast track to destruction? Could part of my fiction become reality? What do all of you think? How do you feel about the state of our country? Do you believe we are bound for WWIII, or is it a lot of scared end of the world scenario creeping into the mind of otherwise sane people?
That being said I would love feedback on my prologue, its long so I am only posting the first half. this half isn’t as good as the second half, but I cant give it all away at once can I.
Helix War of 3031
prologue
“Mr. President, can I have a moment of your time?” Mrs. Pickett knows he wont listen, but she has to try one more time. “Yes, of course. Give me five minutes.” The President is very busy these days. Planing a war, making shore as many people as passable are safe deep under the earth's surface, all while still keeping the peace would take a lot out of any man. He would have little time for his family if they where still home, he barley eats any more, five minutes is a lot to ask of him. “Grace, this isn't the best time, the Secretary of Defense is waiting in my office.” “I know, that’s why we are here, this office has bin empty for months. I had to come and say good bye.” Tears are starting to swell in her eyes. He takes a handkerchief from his breast pocket dabbing at the tears gently, making shore to not mess her makeup. “I know, I'm going to miss you too. I can't go with you, no matter how many times you ask my place is here. Our country needs me, I can't just run away from my responsibilities.” Fighting back tears of his own, trying to be strong for her sake, he holds her close and kisses her tenderly. “If you stay you could die, I don't wont to live in a world without you. If we don't win the war I'll never see you again. I'll stay here with you, I'll die, I don't care as long as I'm with you!” She realizes she has raised her voice to much, regaining her composure she takes a deep breath. “Don't worry about me Grace, I'll be fine. We will win the war, and then we can be together again. Just give us some time.” He has to lie, if he doesn't she will stay and die with him. The united stats is out matched, but he is going down fighting. “If that's true, why can't I stay with you?” Her makeup is running now, she can't hold the tears back any longer. “Grace look at me, you know I love you, and that is why you have to go. Put my mind at ease and get into the Washington colony. With you there safe I can do my job, and when it is all over you can come back to me.” “I will go my love, just know I leave my hart with you.” They kiss, a long and passionate kiss reluctant to let go of one another. He gives her his monogrammed handkerchief to whip the tears from her eyes. “Hold onto it Grace, you can give it back when I see you again.” Kissing him one more time, straitening her jacket and smoothing her hair she go's to the door. She stops for just a moment with her hand on the doorknob, but she knows she has to go,if she terns around she will stay, she needs to make it to the colony before the doors close. He stands in the hallway watching her leave, his hart pulling at him to fallow her. He knows he will never see her again, or his wife and kids, but it is his duty to stay and fight with the others, and die like a true soldier.
