The Focus for April

I thought this deserved its own separate post. Especially since I've been adding to it the last couple of days.
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For the month of April:

• Draft out notes [possible How To article] of my recent experience with Bean Sprouting
• Diary of a Prisoner blog entries [When Last I Saw Him, Honoring the Dead, The Ancients, & The Day the Music Died]
• This article rekindled my interest in the Day at the Marsh picture book proposal. [Thank you, Lea, for the Tweet & Follow] Lots of CDs to sort through.
• Script Frenzy--REMEMBRANCE
• Maintain: Tuesday’s Tips & Friday Five Favorites
• My annual Earth Day Letter [which still has me- I'm totally clueless. I don't have the first word.]
• How Would You Live ~ Quill of the Heart blog post [an email this morning, went a long way in reviving this one]
• Renewal Journal blog post
• Edit Blogger Bio.
• Knitting book, book review
  

Non-writing-related focus:

• With my next trip to grocery, I want to experiment with dehydrating onions and celery. [This relates to another article/blog post/How To, i.e., bean sprouting]
• Work on building a website for a friend.
• Update Pearls of Wisdom
• Need to add the final finishing touches to the Garden Lantern handbag [to the right] I designed last year.
• Finish reading intro to Knit & Purl, by Interweave press.

I know much of this will not come to fruition. But this does give me a plan from which to work and focus.
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Blessings,

A Little of This, and a Little of That

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It was another beautiful spring morning until the sunrise became criss-crossed with heavy trails that eventually overcame the Sun. Clear blue skies seem rare these days. On a cheerier note-- along with the return of the Clan Robin, the Grackles, Cowbirds, and Redwing Blackbirds are all back as well. And one interesting thing to note, as goes the Cowbirds and Redwings, I've seen only the males. But, the feeders [with my neighbor is still helping] are teaming with activity.

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Some of you will remember the Slide proposal I posted the first week or so of January [which has since been pulled off into the Draft folder], for a children's picture book: A Day at the Marsh. Well, I opened that file and keyed the text into a Word.doc for further fleshing out. I also need to go through my photo CDs to collect the required images; both for the subsequent manuscript and future submissions and queries. Reading through Top Ten Writing Mistakes Made By New Children’s Writers helped to steer me toward [aside from keeping up with my blogs], what project to focus on next. While I still monitor my BP, I can go through the CDs and photos while on the couch. And though I’m practicing a new stitch, my knitting can wait.

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There is also the fact that Script Frenzy begins April 1st. I very much enjoyed the process of scriptwriting, but failed to finish Remembrance, in 2007. I have my Final Draft software out and ready to install, I just need to make the commitment and follow through. I would like to see a complete first draft. I can decide what to do with it later.

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I’ve got a few hand-written notes on the results of one of my NON-writing-related goals for 2009. While offline I worked with sprouting lentils, chickpeas, kidney beans and split peas. Though the split peas have since been relegated to future soups, the other three worked wonderfully well. A post on all of this will likely be found in my Quill of the Heart blog.

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To close, here are a few photos of a recent sewing project; again, done while off line. I came to the point where I needed a case to properly store my knitting needles. The only thing is, it just wasn’t something that was going to fit into my limited budget anytime soon.

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So, I pulled out a couple of fat quarters of this Victorian print flannel [from my quilting stash], and went about designing a case. I didn’t have a zipper [another something I simply could not afford], so I looked through my hatboxes of laces and trims and found this silk frog closure, and dyed it in a coffee bath. I believe, though, I'm going to remove the fire-polished crystal drop; as it detracts somewhat from the closure.

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Here's a look at the inside pockets. The small one, upper left, is for row and stitch counters. The gussetted one holds my circulars. And those to the right, pretty much speak for themselves.

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It took a few weeks to accomplish; what with not being able to sit so long at either the table and/or the sewing machine. But I’m quite happy with the end result. Enjoy!

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This is it for today. I need to give my back a break from this chair.

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Blessings,

The Sum of a Word

You see life as precious, and you wish everyone was safe, happy, and taken care of. Social justice, human rights, and peace for all nations are all important to you.
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While you can't stop war, you try to be as calm and compassionate as possible in your everyday life. You promote harmony and cooperation. You're always willing to meet someone a little more than halfway.

While visiting Chad's blog, I decided to find out just how those five little questions would sum me up. I couldn't get the code to work, so I had to finagle it into this post. If you're interested, surf or skitter on over to Blogthings, and discover your word.

My writing goals for January, as of yesterday, now have a new focus. Earlier this week, I posted a Slide presentation—in pseudo book format [which has since been pulled from this blog]—to solicit reader input. I gave thought, while brainstorming, to the possibility of reformatting it into a children’s picture book, A Day at the Marsh. I also contacted Lea Schizas, direct, for her perspective.

So, part of January will now be devoted to: pulling the text from the slide show presentation; drafting out an outline for a more fitting storyline; pull appropriate photos to include in the submission package; research the submission requirements; and whatever else I need to do to get A Day at the Marsh into proper format and hands of an loving editor.

I must admit, excited doesn’t begin to explain how I felt when I found new life and a hopeful purpose for some of all those photos I shot off that year, while studying a local marsh. Thank you, Lea. Your guidance was most appreciated.

There are also a few dozen quotes I need to pull together for Pearls of Wisdom’s Winter Update. Plus it deserves a new tagline. The current one is years old. I’m also collecting all the Think Green tips [from past updates], to include in an upcoming Quill of the Heart post. I thought it wise to get them all in one place. So, I’m off for now.

Blessings

Blogger.com Reading List

...Today I thought I would comment on how much I'm enjoying the relatively new feature on Blogger, Blogs I'm Following. The feature allows us the ability to add any blog, regardless the service, i.e., Wordpress, Quick Blogcast (GoDaddy), etc., [you get the picture], and it provides a list of daily updates of all the blogs I'm interested in following. Every morning I simply review the Dashboard and see who's updated. This is quite handy, what with my struggle with memory lapses. After the holidays I'll spend a little more time and add to my current list.

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I looked out of the studio office window one afternoon last week, to check on the birds, and was so pleased to find one of my neighbors added a brand new feeder to the humble little pine out front. How sweet! I've yet to determine exactly who it is [this is a four unit building], but I will extend my gratitude, for their joining in the cause, as soon as they are discovered.

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Over the weekend, I put a hold on the pending Quill of the Heart update. The subject matter is somewhat heavy, and I gave thought to its not being appropriate to the season. So. I've decided to leave, How Will You Live, until after the first of the year. Also, I spent a couple of days updating my Pearls of Wisdom website and will spend tomorrow collecting the quotes for the Winter/Holiday update. You can check out the four new videos added to Pearls of Turtle Island.

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That's it for today. I'm trying to get some things done around here like: clean the kitchen; pack away the Autumn decorations; pull out the ones for Christmas; and start a load or two of laundry. Drafting out this post is merely me, taking a break. So! Since I know I'm not going to accomplish all of the above yet today, I'm off to do what I can get done.

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Blessings

Editing Fibers

Oy! As Lynda would say. This upcoming Quill of the Heart post is giving me fits. The draft is currently around 1500 words, and though the numerous tangents are obvious, it's still missing certain fibers to complete the thread. And only just yesterday, I found a couple more sources from which to glean perspective, and a better focus of the matter behind the question I mean to pose. I am reminded that all things come in their proper time.

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While considering the subject matter for today's post here, my mind wandered to recent thoughts of shopping for and replacing my old carders. And there is was! What are carders you ask? And how could readying fibers for spinning have anything at all in common with writing?

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Organizing one's thoughts is a little like the preparation of wool into roving for the spinning of yarns. After washing, carding helps to remove any further impurities [i.e., sundry barnyard anomalies] from the raw fleece. It also combs out the tangles of the precious natural fibers. But in the end, the handspun yarn is only as good as the splices of roving.

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Communicating one's thoughts, the delivery of words—whether spoken or written— requires purposeful preparation. Editing, like carding, works to remove certain impurities and brings out the words best suited to task of relaying the echoes of one’s soul. For once an echo is set free, it can never again be caged.
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Hold on! Blue Jay is here, or-- [dashes (being a relative term these days) off to the window!]
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Okay, I'm back. I’m not always sure whether it’s the jay or a hawk out there. Especially when opening the door a few days back, to take out seed, I saw a small hawk fly into the pine, flutter about, and carry off a member of Clan Sparrow. I saw its little silhouette in the hawk's talons as the hawk flew across the street into the neighboring tree. It all happened so quick and I've yet to specifically indentify the species, but— I digress!
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Blue Jay found her way to my feeders recently, and dines daily among the squirrels, Clan Sparrow and the Mourning Doves. How apropos that she announced her arrival during the writing of this entry. Whether she comes to ensure I use my power properly, to remind me to embrace my talents and life to the fullest, or merely to partake of a seed or three, I welcome her as a royal guest.
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It's a cold, grey, and rainy day. And there's a nagging unfinished blog post that requires my attention; if I’m to see it to fruition. I've fibers to comb and roving to spin; thoughts to provoke and echoes to inspire.

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Blessings

A Recipe from Me to You

I'm working on a post for my Quill of the Heart blog, so today I thought I would offer up the recipe for that Sweet Potato Souffle. It's the long time favored dish of a local dinner theather, La Comedia, and it made the rounds at many a corporate holiday luncheon.

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For the best, optimum flavor-- do yourself a huge favor and don't skimp on the ingredients! DO NOT use canned sweet potatoes. Trust me on this; peal and cook them fresh. Use real vanilla extract [the best you can afford], butter [not margarine], milled cane sugar, sea salt, and eggs from free-range chickens. [rant]Keep it as organic, unprocessed, and free of growth hormones as possible. And please don't ruin it by topping it off with Cool Whip.[/rant]

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Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

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Potatoes:

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Cook the sweet potatoes and set aside. Blend together the following ingredients:

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...1 cup sugar

...2 eggs

...1/2 cup milk (half/half-for richer flavor)

...1/2 tsp. salt

...1/3 stick butter (melted)

...1 tsp. vanilla

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Add mixture to:

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...4 cups mashed sweet potatoes (in a large bowl)
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Pour into a buttered 9 x 12 baking dish.
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Topping:

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...1 cup brown sugar
...1/2 cup flour
...1/3 cup butter (melted)
...1 cup coarsely chopped pecans

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Crumble topping evenly over souffle mixture.

Place dish on middle rack. Bake (uncovered) for 35-40 minutes. Serve warm. [with or without homemade whipped cream]

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Blessings & Enjoy!

What's Your Type?

While researching symbolism this morning [See SYMBOLIC MEANINGS], I found an interesting analysis site based on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, (or MBTI), Typealizer.

I submitted my blogs for analysis and was not at all surprised by the results.

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Soul Echoes: soulechoes2.blogspot.com/

ISTP: The Mechanics

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The independent and problem-solving type. They are especially attuned to the demands of the moment are masters of responding to challenges that arise spontaneously. They generally prefer to think things out for themselves and often avoid inter-personal conflicts. The Mechanics enjoy working together with other independent and highly skilled people and often like seek fun and action both in their work and personal life. They enjoy adventure and risk such as in driving race cars or working as policemen and firefighters.

These two both scored the same:

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Soul Echoes ~ Quill of the Heart: quilloftheheart.blogspot.com/
Diary of a Prisoner: theforbiddenworldchronicles.blogspot.com/

INTP: The Thinkers

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The logical and analytical type. They are especially attuned to difficult creative and intellectual challenges and always look for something more complex to dig into. They are great at finding subtle connections between things and imagine far-reaching implications. They enjoy working with complex things using a lot of concepts and imaginative models of reality. Since they are not very good at seeing and understanding the needs of other people, they might come across as arrogant, impatient and insensitive to people that need some time to understand what they are talking about.

Throughout my 17 years in electronic publishing I’d taken the Myers-Briggs personality type test on three different occasions, and each time the results indicated I’m an INTP. [See: Wikipedia]

Extraversion/Introversion
Sensing/iNtuition
Thinking/Feeling
Judging/Perceiving

[Click here for a breakdown of the dichotomies. See also: Carl Jung for the psychology on which Myers-Briggs based their questionnaire.]

Though the company had obvious ulteriors for psycho-analyzing, my first experience came when the entire editorial department received the lengthy questionaire and everyone shared their results. It's an excellent team building exercise and helped us all to better understand our co-workers.

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I saw the same lengthy set of questions from a placement agency, as part of the company’s effort to prepare our quests for new jobs when those of us working the 12-24 month project received potential walking papers. This just happened to coincide with the current corporate reorganization. Yeah! It’s just fancy expression for layoffs. One among the many including, Downsizing, Rightsizing-- call it what you will. Fortunately, many of us ended up transferred to other editorial departments in the parent company.

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I took it a third and final time [albeit a much shorter version], while attending a company-sponsored career seminar. During open discussions, my comments were to the effect, ‘I KNEW it was more that just being different. There’s a category for me! But why did my family never know this?
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When you have time, visit Typealizer and have your blog analyzed.