Violette, the first rat I got after the fire, has died. I got her just hours after seeing RATATOUILLE. I cried so hard for the last fifteen minute of RAT, and part of it was because I missed my ratties so much.

This was playing on my iPod just as I started this post, and it's perfect:

On Saturday Mornings in 1963 Rickie Lee Jones

The most as you'll ever go
Is back where you used to know
If grown-ups could laugh this slow
Where as you watch the hour snow
Years may go by

So hold on to your special friend
Here, you'll need something to keep her in :
"Now you stay inside this foolish grin ... "
Though any day your secrets end
Then again
Years may go by

You saved your own special friend
'Cuz here you need something to hide her in
And you stay inside that foolish grin
When everyday now secrets end
Oh and then again
Years may go by

A long time ago, in a service named GEnie, where many science fiction and fantasy writers, comickers and fans played there was a thread in a folder. The folder's name I've forgotten, but the thread's name was "Things That Make You Go Euuuw!"

"Things" was a collection of user-told stories about dead mice, rats, seagull poop, excretia. They were gross stories, and they were fucking hilarious.

I have been meaning to do this for, actually, years now. I can't think of a better way to welcome everyone to my revived Blogger space (until my divalea.net site opens with WordPress installed).

So: ALL PLAY! Tell your gross stories. If they're especially gross (anal fissures, paging Nick Locking), give some space and a warning at top. They must be something you did, that happened to you, or you witnessed.

As usual, once there are posts, I will share one of my own. GO!

Howdy from Blogspot Lea!

I've moved back here from LJ, posting for the first time in about seven years. I re-read what I posted here. Some things I've changed my mind about, others I'd forgotten (like falling out of a tree). I'm so glad I wrote about the day I fell four times (the tree was part of that day). Still other posts are just as timely now as they were then.

Posting here will require a Google account. I won't even apologize for this, or blame anonymous cowards. I don't have time to mod all comments and anon posting has always led to shit and abuse.

For the scoop on why I have set up a second blog, read about how LiveJournal in San Francisco had 20 of 28 employees turfed without severance.

I've been through any number of online service and dot-com meltdowns. I know what it poor health in a company looks like, and the first blood in the water is huge cuts in staff.

I think it's wise to set up shop elsewhere (and here I am), and back up my LJ (which I did).
I used ljArchive, an open-source program. Took less than 10 minutes to completely archive eight years of LJ, including comments.
Supposedly, it is platform-independent. I am not a Mac user, so someone who is who finds ljArchive works (or not), please comment.

Now, if someone knows how to stampede one's LJ archive to Blogger, that'd be fab.

MAKING THE PAGE


Posted to Warren Ellis' Delphi Forum, relayed here.


The question was, how does one make a comic page?


I like the idea of thinking of each page as a paragraph. Putting in a hook at the end of every page is exhausting work, and I think can be mitigated by having a story whole that's engaging enough that you keep going to see what will happen.

I write what I call a fat outline. Fat because it's a dump of everything I've ruminated on up to that point (rumination in the head is the first step), and when I'm dumping it all out (like a kid upending the full toybox) I also add in anything that occurs to me, comes to me, or reveals itself as I write. Sometimes it's clarification of a scene, transitions, dialogue will appear full-blown, a character's dress, the layout of a panel, le must visual.

THEN I pull off hunks of the fat outline and flesh them out, clarifying, adding subtext, slaughtering scenes than grind forward motion to a halt or are out of character. When I'm drawing, still more goes in. When I letter is when the last merciless edits are made, or bits might be added for clarification.


Or, to describe using Stephen King's metaphor of revealing a fossil (from ON WRITING): I walk around and around the place where I'm pretty sure there's a great fossil. I poke a bit. If I find a skull, I stay. (If I don't, sometimes I come back later, sometimes not.) Then, I put strings and stakes around it with lots of extra room to manuever. I unearth the skull, usually to my great joy the teeth are intact. I continue brushing away dirt until I have the while skeleton revealed, but not removed.

Excited, I have the juice to go on. I kept brushing away grime, tossing away knucklebones of lesser skinks, maybe keeping the entire thighbone of some other creature to examine later (I often find the thighbone belong to a critter not too far away--CATHEDRAL CHILD had quite a few thighbones in it that LOOKED like they belonged with CC, but turned out to belong to CLOCKWORK ANGELS and IRONCLAD PETAL.)

Finally, the fossil is all out. The last long push is to clean the fossil up, reassemble it, and show it to the world.


I find myself adding something and taking something away at every single step to make the work better. And, as Carla Speed McNeil says, to avoid heads or bodies just yakkin' it oop. I do try to make sure I have something really fun to draw on each page. "Fun" not always being "pretty" and certainly not "funny", but an image I really like, that I really think gives the page punch. On the reverse of that, some pages just refuse to be zippy, punchy or whatever. They're the crossing guards herding your story through the busy intersection: they aren't purty or deep, but they do keep your story-kids from getting smooshed by traffic.

Oh yeah: never stop studying! It's a joy to be able to see your work get better as your add to your store of knowledge and apply it.

I was asked for advice on making comics by my co-creator on KILLER RPICESSES, Gail Simone, and to post it at her forum here: http://www.comicbookresources.com/community/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=196442#post196442


I liked what I wrote so much, I'm posting it here, too.



FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, READ SOMETHING BESIDES COMICS.



And in your comics reading, EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE try something you don't usually read.



Your mind needs exercise. Reading nothing but comics, most of which are crap recycled from stuff that may or may not have been good to begin with, is the figurative equivalent of your brain sitting around on its ass eating cheesy poofs.

Which is not to say I disapprove of comics as reading material. Not at all. But you NEED to put other things in your head. Only a nitwit or someone with pica would eat only a diet of ice cubes and peanut butter. Feed your brain all sorts of reading material: you never know when something will spark an idea or inspiration!



Oh yeah: be a people-watcher. People are very entertaining, and the whole damn world of people is out there for free for you to observe and write about.



Be aware of grace and everyday fun and miracles: a cupcake from someone at work. Two candy bars from the vending machine. A spontaneous discount from a store clerk who applauded your fortitude in bringing two kids into the fabric store. The deli guy who gives you a whole sandwich instead of the half you paid for because you're having a shitty day.



Sing with your car windows down. Dance in parking lots. Learn to laugh your ass off in funny movies. Eat lunch with kids. Grow a sunflower seed. Do what Jim Carrey did and write yourself a check for the money you want to earn (understanding the money won't fix anything broken inside), or write yourself a good contract for your ideal comics job.
v

Lastly, DO NOT DRONE about the fiddly details of your art and plot and giggle about your characters as if they were real--because they damn well better be alive on the page and in your short pitch or you are skuh-rewed.

DO NOT ever again show me (or anyone else) drawings of your gaming characters, unless you simply say "Here's some character designs." That's ALL you need to say. We don't want to know about your Evercrack quest. I'm am totally sure it was pee your pants great, I KNOW it was because I gamed too, but it's like your blurry vacation snaps: you had to be there. Do not torment people with the comics equivalent of a slide show of Yosemite.



Did I mention you should sing with your car windows open? Why? Because if you're not chicken to do that, you're 1) not such an introvert you'll think anyone wants to hear about your gaming character and 2) if you can give up giving a shit about what total strangers think of you and be glad if you amused them, you can deal with talking to editors. Just remember when the light turns green to fucking go.

Big Skinny Liars



Anyone who says, in response to someone saying they'd like to slim down, that they should focus on health is FULL OF SHIT. Because if it was about HEALTH, we'd NEVER talk about pounds and inches lost, EVER. Because the main health damaged by not fitting into a certain size is the MENTAL HEALTH. The minute one of these "health first" nuts starts telling you that, clock how long it takes until they talk about inches lost, "pudge" and "flab". That is not the talk of someone thinking health first. That's the talk of someone who a) wants to be the skinniest person in the room or b) hates the way they look or c) all of the above. It's also probably not the talk of someone who's fat.



Now, some people, like diabetics, change eating habits to get healthier. People who are slimming are slimming because we want to fit in a smaller size. Now, do we want to get this by barfing? No. Do we come to like how easy it is to get around again or for the first time? Yes. BUT.



THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH NOT WATING TO BE FAT there's NOTHING WRONG with wanting to look good because YOU aren't happy. (Fuck whether anyone else is happy. Their happiness is the extra sprinkles on the cupcake, it's not the damn cupcake.) as long as the approach is sensible. ie., eat LESS (but not starvation!), move MORE.



Let me repeat that: THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH WANTING TO LOOK GOOD if YOUR IDEA of looking good is dropping weight. Once I ditched this "I'm getting healthy shit" and admitted my real goal was "I WANT TO WEAR A SIZE 12 AGAIN" I saw progress. Health is a nebulous fucking goal when you're tired of looking at pictures of yourself and going "Who the hell is THAT?!" . A size smaller of pants is tangible.



Anyone who says "focus on healthy first" is full of more crap than ten bowling alley vending machines.

Finding out, 11 days after my first skate in ages, that I have injured my rotator cuff.
"Third fall was hard enough that I bruised the heel of my left hand even though I wear heavy-duty wrist protectors. I also wrenched the feck out of my shoulder, which I didn't notice until later."

Pure genius!

The girl child's birthday party was in the park yesterday. We actually had guests! After serving cake and opening loot, I took them on a hike where we listened to birds, saw frogs no bigger than two capital "A's" stacked together,, and watched dragonflies zizz around eating mosquitoes.
Even the children on the hike who "couldn't" climb did it! We took a pretty challenging path up, and the group took to it like...like...like city kids who are delighted to climb. There were many high fives at the top.
After a quick dash to the nearby gas station for more ice, the party made shake-it ice cream (http://ousd.k12.ca.us/~codypren/ice.html). (We did an individual-scale version with snack-sized bags for the milk, and quart bags for the ice.)
I thought these kids were in transport at seeing the eensy frogs and getting to do some serious cliff-climbing until they all were eating ice cream they'd frozen themselves from cups of sugared milk.
The menfolk stuck together and went home early, taking with them the keys to the van that was supposed to get myself, the girl, my friend and her two kids home. My friend's husband is not the sort who realizes he's carried off things. We got a ride home in someone else's van, read emails and had tea. The men were sent out to retieve vehicles later.

Really an awesome party and day. Cost, including cake that was completely devoured (yay!), party favors and table decor (yay Party City!): under $50.
In a city where people hire cheerleading squads to entertain at grade-schooler's parties, and hire moon bounces (there was one in the park!) this is an achievement.

I did better yesterday at the park on the jog/walk trail. Got a lot of looks, probably because I opted for a skateboarder's helmet, because bike helmets are dorky and not for skating anyway.

That, and that I was on quads, four wheelers. Old-fashioned skates, but not as old-fashioned as metal skates that went over your shoes and buckled on!


Found that going slow up short rises leads to trips. Accepting, like I never did before, that falling is part of skating. When I got on straightaways, the skating was wonderful.


Still adept at cornering, turns, swizzles. (Swizzles: where you let your feet drift apart, then pull them back in. Exercises the legs, and gives forward momentum.)


Took the hill home like a speed skater, arms swinging and all, then praticed side-stepping in the front steps.

Remembered to relax (mostly), and lean forward a bit.