Thursday, September 6, 2012

eye spy ...

I have had quite a productive week writing-wise. I went to the little town of Usk (Brynbuga to give it its Welsh name, which as you can imagine lends itself to some unflattering pronounciations by people not so sympathetic to Welsh language!) ... they have a small community college and it has a creative writing class starting next week ... it's really a beginners level class but there's a more advanced group meet too, so hoepfully the tutor will allow me to jump straight in with that ... I shall find out on Monday when I meet the tutor!

i've been working on a little website to support my booklet when it's ready to launch ... very soon! i've got the bio page about done and the reading room page which has some excerpts to whet your appetite! Just need to finish up the front page and sort out a sales page ... but it's all getting there :)

I've also got a couple of volunteers proof reading to make sure I'm either spelling in English or American, not a random combination of the two depending on where I was living when I was writing individual bits! ... I've also got a potential offer of help from a graphic designer with the cover, so the booklet might even look decent!

Future plans still include a descriptive quilt reference, outlining the history of traditional quilt blocks ... ideally with modern examples drawn from the blogosphere quilt world! ... I want to write what i want to read - a book that doesn't just show pictures but also describes them for the non-visual reader, and gives some history and stories behind such quilts. I know similar things have been done before but I think the descriptive angle would make it a good addition!

Finally ... for future work, if you're walking around where you live, or somewhere you're visiting ... why not jot down a few words describing its character - the colours, sounds, smells, sights that make you love (or hate) it. It doesn't have to be full paragraphs, just standalone sentences or even one-off words ... email me them or comment and I'll try and write something that reflects the place .... I might not be able to see them myself but I can use other people's eyes! :) ... no timeframe on this, it's an open invite to scribble down anything at any time!

In quilty news I won a giveaway on the Talkin Tuesdays quilt chat on Twitter last week! So a package from the lovely Fat Quarter Shop (who are regular sponsors of Talkin Tuesdays) is on its way ... I'm very excited! ... especially as I have a couple of small projects I'd like to make a start on - it's been hard to get started on things with not feeling so hot in June and July, but August has been a lot better and hopefully that'll continue through September!

Oh and I'm off for my hair cut at Ken Picton's salon in Cardiff Bay on Wednesday so yay to that!

7 comments:

  1. So, err, is someone helping with the paragraphs? ;o)

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  2. Love your quilting booklet plan :-) Sounds like its all go! Am glad you're keeping a bit better just now too.

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  3. As Archie said above you are sure on a roll and long may it last.

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  4. I'm so happy to see your life going so well over there. It's great to see your writing plans coming together, and new plans hatching.

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  5. I think your book sounds very interesting Giles! It seems like right now we are concentrating on photos on our blogs a great deal to visually show what we are working on and forget that for a non-visual reader this doesn't show you anything. I am trying to put a title and properties with all my photos now.
    Here is my description of where I live: there is a wide and beautiful river, the Mississippi, 60 feet from my front door. I really love windy days as you can hear the waves breaking against the shore. Several times a day a tow boat pushing four to ten barges will go by carrying coal or grain. Sometimes the barges are empty. Behind us we have train tracks, it is almost impossible to live along this river and not have trains close by. Each time a train goes by it blows it's whistle to alert cars that it is coming. I am so used to the sound that it is little more than background noise. I just heard Canadian Geese fly by and honk and we have been seeing large white Pelicans in groups starting to head south for the winter. The leaves on the trees are still green but starting to turn and soon will be covering the ground, fall is my favorite time of year.

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  6. I wanted to let you know that the Men Quilt Too Show for this October is cancelled due to low participation. I am however, going to have a linky party just like I did last year for everyone who wants to come over and link up again. I hope to see you!

    The llinky party will air on October 15th over at www.pigtalesandquilts.com!

    I have also turned off word verification on the blog! For good! :)

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