Lisa Hendrix

Remember those dioramas we used to do as kids?

Well, one of my favorite diversions Boing-Boing (”A directory of wonderful things”), has an article today on Lori Nix, an artist who has taken the diorama idea to a level beyond imagining. She builds, then photographs, table-top worlds of incredible detail and beauty. I’m giving you a link, here, to her website, going to a page where I think some of her most compelling images are, but be sure to click on the other links on her sidebar.

You may never look at your kids’ homework projects the same way. You may never look at the world the same way.

Lisa

UPDATE: 29 Apr 2008 –

Wired Mag has a wonderful article on Lori Nix, “Nature Conquers Micropolis in Dioramas Photographed to Look Real.”  Worth checking out–although beware the photos.  Due to some error at Wired, they’ve mixed in pix from another article on “tilt Shifting,” a technique that strives to make the real world look like a model—precisely the reverse of Nix’s work.

http://www.wired.com/culture/art/multimedia/2008/04/pl_arts

I found a piece by Steve Martin at the Smithsonian Magazine website today. Even though the title is Being Funny, it’s not really about being funny. It’s about professionalism, finding your voice, being true to yourself, hard work, and a myriad other things a writer needs to make part of his or her soul.

And about being funny.

Be sure to watch the video that’s linked at the top of the article (Martin’s breakthrough Tonight Show performance). Just be sure you don’t have a mouth full of coffee. I nearly sprayed my keyboard.

Lisa

My favorite technology blog, LifeHacker: tips and downloads for getting things done, had a great post today linking to 10 *free* online writing courses.

The original article from Education Portal tells you how to find courses from poetry to technical writing, from top-notch schools like MIT, the UK’s Open University, and UCLA.

I’m going off to download the screenwriting course, right now.

Lisa

They’re good kids. Really they are. I love them very, very much. They’re even old enough I don’t have to pay attention to them every minute.

But it snowed Sunday night, enough that the district cancelled school yesterday, so they were home all day. Wanting to talk. Wanting to eat. Wanting to play video games. Wanting to *breathe*. I don’t know about other writers, but I have issues with people who breathe while I’m writing, or at least when I’m starting a project. Until my characters manifest fully and are so clear in my head that they refuse to go away until the story’s done, the presence of other people in the same vicinity rips me out of the zone (Twilight Zone, Writing Zone, whatever). I need not just privacy, but solitude.

So, you say, that was yesterday. I have my solitude back today. Why am I bitching?

Because it’s snowing again. Big, floofy flakes right out of the last scene of White Christmas. Gorgeous. I should be smiling. Instead, I’m thinking that if it keeps up, they might cancel school again tomorrow.

Sigh.

Lisa

UPDATE! (Weds, 30 Jan 08) — Yep. They’ve closed the schools, and in the nastiest possible way. At 7am when I checked, there was only a 2 hour delayed start. Then at 8am, one of the kids’ friends called to say it had changed to a full closure. That makes 4 days off in the last 8. (A holiday and an inservice day last week, and 2 snow days this week. So far).

Sigh

I came back from Portland totally jazzed and full of ideas for improving Immortal Outlaw, the next book in the series. Deb Dixon is full of insight on things like the Big Black Moment (another workshop she gave to the group), and my brain just kept clicking over new possibilities, both during the workshop and later, on the long road home (I live about 6 hours from Portland).

The big thing I realized Read the rest of this entry »

Three critical elements of a good story. Also, a terrific book by romance and women’s fiction author Deb Dixon.

And finally, the title of Deb’s workshop, which she’s giving this weekend for Rose City Romance Writers, the RWA chapter in Portland Oregon.

I’m headed that direction tomorrow, laptop in hand, ready to learn. But also, to play. It is Portland, after all.

Portland: Bridges and riverfront parks. The casually threatening Rimsky-Korsakoffee House (home of the Church of Craft). Excellent mass transit. The incredible pastries of Papa Haydn. And of course, Powell’s books.

Aaaah. Civilization.

Lisa…smiling blissfully.

I finished IMMORTAL WARRIOR on Monday, then spent a few days catching up on life (paying bills, cleaning house, restocking the fridge, getting my hair cut, talking to my children –- all the things that went by the wayside while I was in deadline mode). I hate letting life get quite so out of control, but that’s what tends to happen at the end of a book. And it was especially bad this time, because Read the rest of this entry »

All our local family was off visiting their in-laws, so my little clan spent a quiet Christmas without the usual hustle-bustle. We went out to Christmas dinner (no dishes to do!) and decided to see a movie.

The Great Debaters is the true story of a groups of kids from Wiley College, a small black school in East Texas. In the midsts of prejudice, lynchings, and the Great Depression, a controversial coach Read the rest of this entry »

There’s more to Google Earth than finding a satellite view of your house — which is cool enough — or even seeing the land where your characters walk. You can also find the altitude of any particular spot just by rolling the pointer over it or use the ruler to measure distances from point to point. Optional links (which show as dots on the photo) take you to Read the rest of this entry »

I neglected to put up a link yesterday, so today you get two.

First up, Merriam-Webster’s Visual Dictionary On-Line. Arranged thematically, this is the interactive version of the familiar reference book. Great for when you can see something in your mind but can’t come up with the word for it, and just plain fun to explore

Second, because it’s so amazing, Read the rest of this entry »