Monday, January 28, 2019

Selected Chapters

It's the Australia Day Long Weekend; and I've been busy! But seeing how scorchingly hot and horrible it's been this weekend - and this month - here in Australia, it's kinda hard to be busy all the time. So, I've been making sure I'm busy only during the times it matters: early morning and late afternoon.

Yep, it's been dreadfully hot every other time of the day for the past two months. 

So, on Saturday, I spent some of that day painting the sides of a painting and fixing it up to exhibit in March. There's another one I want to show in the same exhibition, but that one's already to show - so I'm ahead of my game there!

Anyway, doing that didn't take up all of Saturday. By around 11am, I was done and dusted with that painting and I onto the computer, and the internet for a while - but there wasn't much happening there. So, I decided to do what I've been meaning to do; and that is putting my Flash Fictions into particular chapters - or sections - of their own. 

At first, I just picked out the basics, and then as the hours went by, I added onto those chapters. It turns out I write a lot about Hell and Demons, Heaven and Angels, and I write a lot of really weird shit; and some really not bad sci-fi (if not a little on the far side of the galaxy kinda stuff). I also steal a lot of my themes from Star Wars, Supernatural, DC Comics and other common themes too, where I really don't mean to. But really, if you're going to steal a theme, you gotta steal from the very best, right?

Well, it took me around 6 hours to get all my stories all in their right folders and places... and by the time I was finished it was around 5:30pm. I was tired, hungry, thirsty and felt as though I had sat too close to the television for far too long! 

I have been writing Flash Fictions since 2013; and there were so many to sort through... and now I'm happy to just write them and put them into their own category as well as save them to their year on the flash drive. It's so much easier when it's organised like this. Well... that's my weekend. Today, I'm just chilling out and enjoying my Monday. It's still a stinking hot day, and I'm not fussed about how I spend it. How are you spending the weekend? Until my next post, happy reading!

Saturday, January 19, 2019

Short Reads or Longer Ones?

You know, I love to read just about any book there is out there. However, the bigger books are always the most wonderful to get lost in and the better-written most of the time - as I find there's a small percentage of them which are badly written.

I do love 'The Lord of the Rings' by JRR Tolkien, as it's a great adventure of a totally different world, built by a brilliant man who wanted to take us all on that journey with the one ring which ruled them all... of course that can transfer into the real world too. 

I'm a big fan of the series of books as well. I'm talking about 'The Dark Tower Series' by Stephen King. I'm still trudging through book 4 and enjoying the snippets I get to read just before bed - when I get to read after my long days writing, cleaning or painting. 

Then, there's the shorter books I dive into, read and enjoy and they end way too soon. Okay, they have said all they want to say, but still, they leave me hankering for more. 
And along with the shorter novels are the complex, short novels. They cram so much into those pages and yet I still feel as though there's something not there, not finished - and that makes me want to search the world for what I'm missing out on with those books; when really I'm not missing out on anything. The book is complete... but to me it's not.

So, this causes me to wonder: what books keeps you reading, looking and searching for the perfect read - what is your whale, your Mt Doom? Is it the shorter books, the long, sprawling series or the whopping big tomes you're into? For me, it's a little of all three. Until my next post, happy reading!

Sunday, January 13, 2019

Art Books

The other day, I was out and about at Browns Plains picking up art gear from a dear friend of mine who had offered 'some canvases' for me paint on. 

Some! Well, she gave me 16 unused canvases! Wow! I was stunned; and still am stunned at how many there are... she also gave me two table easels and a big stack of books from China! 

Now, a lot of books are published in China, but these were actually Chinese printed books in Chinese about the Chinese Art of Watercolour. It looked like about 20 books, but as of today, I was wrong! I sorted them out and there's about 35!

I was thinking of giving them away to the Logan Artists Association; however after looking at them more closely, I thought to keep them - seeing they're in their own sets of 5's and 10's. It's amazing to just see the beauty of a totally different culture and how they work the paintbrush and the pencil - and how their language is so different to ours. And really, how could I give away art books when I've never learned how to work my art into their ways - seeing the Chinese and Japanese all tell stories through their art in similar ways. Now, this is something I'd love to learn to do in my paintings... tell a story in the same way I do in words. That takes talent.

Tuesday, January 8, 2019

New Reading Goggles!

Over the New Year, I haven't read any books... have struggled to read any knitting patterns and have had to enlarge the texts on my phone. The reason being is because all my glasses have been away getting new lenses.

Yep, I've been without my glasses for anything and it's been double vision and blurry vision for the past three weeks!

Well, that was until today when I finally picked up my three pairs of glasses from my optometrist and I could finally read something tonight for the first time in ages - a knitting pattern without squinting or trying to stretch my arm longer than it should be (stop laughing, it does happen).

Tonight, I'm going to pick up one of my current reads and read some of it before turning out the light... oh, it's going to be wonderful to finally get in some reading at long last! Until my next post, happy reading! It's going to be for me!

Tuesday, January 1, 2019

Happy New Year!

Hey! It's 2019 and I'm happy to say that I'm getting into new and used books, and books which have been given to me, books which I've written and books which are just been sitting around my place lookin' at me, gatherin' dust...

Yep, this is the year for me to catch up on my reading and reference my arts, my cooking, my gardening... read up on what I can do with herbs, spices and how to grow plants and how to work on things with paint and drawings.

This is the year where I'll be utilising books to the full of their extent! My non-fiction section will be pulled apart, searched and read and found out about and loved - unlike in previous years - and I may even give some of it away... ya never know!

So, what are you hoping to do this year? Which books are you whale? Which books did you finish last year? Which books did you get for Christmas and have been delving into over this holiday season? What books are you going to read - as you have promised yourself over and over from the past years and have never reached up onto your bookcases and pulled down, opened that cover and fallen into those lovely printed pages of another world? 

Aah, yes! Where are you going to go this year, without actually leaving your home? 

This is what I'm asking. Do tell us. We'd all love to know.