The Seine in Paris from last May (2014), which I momentarily thought was the Rhine…
*sigh* It's early…ish. :)
Have you ever seen the BuzzFeed article where Americans try to put Europe on a map? That's me. ;) Traveling there last year really helped though, I have to admit. And if it makes you feel any better, which it probably should make me feel even worse, I'm no better at labeling a US map than the Brits were… Geography is just not my thing…
I think the general idea, as a member of IWSG, is to share writing successes and not-successes on the first Wednesday of every month, so here goes…
General Successes (not just in writing):
1. Coming up with an idea for baby shower invitations. – Justin and I spent about 3 hours on Sunday exploring Sam Flax trying to figure out what we needed to make my dream invitations come true (for someone else). He added his input and decided to take on screen printing which I am extremely nervous about doing since we have all of maybe 2 weeks (?!?) to put these things together and send them out. In the mean time, I found the cutest font to use on the invitations (Sweet Peony ftw!) and bought a watercolor recipe book to get my colors just right. Can we do this? Will we be successful? Time will tell! I'll keep y'all updated! :)
2. I actually liked some of the wording on yesterday's review of Clumpie's. Some days the words just flow – I have variety and detail. I do wish I could use puns better…
3. Almost completed Blogging 101! Just two more activities and I'm done! (And I'm only 3 days behind…)
4. I knew I wouldn't be able to finish Fatal Vision by the beginning of July, and I haven't… BUT I did manage to read nearly 200 pages in the last 2 days! Woo! Only 200 more to go! (It's a 650 page book.)
Things I'd Like to Improve:
1. Picture editing, as always. Wordless Wednesday has encouraged me to get in there and edit an image a week and post it even if I'm not sure if it's good. And I just keep moving forward… one image at a time. They say with photography, it's all a numbers game. The more you shoot, the more you edit, the better you will become at doing both.
2. Still trying to figure out this writing thing. I need to expand my vocabulary.
3. … And read better books. I'm not sure the badly written ones (like Fatal Vision) are really helping me with my writing style too much…
So what's going on in your life? Are you participating in Wordless Wednesday (Does this post count?) or IWSG? Have you had any major successes or failures (that you've learned from) lately?
Edit: Apparently I don't know how to pronounce Seine River. It's all good. Learn something new every day! :)
Hey Mandy, thanks for the visit. I live by the code that any writing is good practice, no matter what you think of the quality :-) Besides, I bet it's not as bad as you think. And there's always revision.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the optimism! :) I could revise forever… I'm always revising my blog posts long after I've written them. Sometimes I think I'll never be happy! :)
DeleteHi Mandy, I'm one of the co-hosts this month for IWSG. Congrats on all the things that are going well. I wish I could take great photos. It would make putting book trailers together so much easier. All I'd need is some great costumes (I write scifi) and I could capture the images I want. Sadly they are hard to find on stock photo sites.
ReplyDeleteAs for writing, Stephanie hit the nail on the head. Drafting is supposed to be crap. Revisions is where things become readable. I use the simple words in drafts and then use the thesaurus function during revisions. Good luck!
I imagine finding sci-fi images is difficult since that isn't something people normally photograph on a day to day basis. I don't know how much you would be willing to spend on these pictures, but you might try looking at Brooke Shaden's work. It's beautiful and kind of other-worldly. It makes me think of sci-fi when I see them. Also, Lindsay Adler rents beautiful dresses out for photoshoots so you could try that as well. Of course, neither of these help if you are looking for catsuit-like costumes or something very particular or cheap. I just thought I'd mention them…
DeleteAny suggestions on using the thesaurus? Sometimes it's a phrase I don't like … or I'm not sure exactly what type of "other" word I'm going for. How do you decide when to use the thesaurus for a particular word?
Hi Mandy, thanks for stopping by my blog. You beat me to my ISWG post though :) I don't know that reading bad books is a total waste of time. I read a huge variety and I think it helps figure out what the difference between good and bad writing is. Anyway- the bad ones should give us all hope right? After all, if they can do it. . .
ReplyDeleteAfter reading your comment I made sure to go back and check out your newest ISWG post! :)
DeleteI agree that reading a variety of works can help shape as artists and help us define our style. (i.e. I don't like this, so I shouldn't write like that.) Besides, you are so right! If they can make it… :)
Hi Mandy! Thanks for stopping by my other blog (lilicasplace) earlier today. I read all kinds of books, good and bad. Reading bad books definitely helps educate me on the things NOT to do. :) Tess is right also; it helps figure out the difference between good and bad writing. Have a great night. Eva
ReplyDeletePS - I love your name. My daughter is Amanda (Mandy for short), so I may be a little biased. :D
So, wait, you're reading a 650-page book that you admit is badly written? That's some determined masochism you have going there...
ReplyDeleteStop it with your pictures of France. I have a friend in Paris right now and he's flooding my Facebook feed with gorgeous pictures. I want to smack him.
Stories I Found in the Closet: IWSG Wednesday
Thanks for stopping by my blog with the IWSG! I am also one of those Americans represented by that BuzzFeed article. Sometimes I read through a poorly-written book simply because I started it, but they always take me much longer to read than a good book. As for photography, by numbers, I should be really great at taking pictures, but not so much with editing :)
ReplyDeletehaha! I've taken a few thousand photos over the course of my life and I'm just like "why am I not a genius by now?" Someday everything will click, I'm sure! :)
DeleteThat's a long book you're reading.
ReplyDeleteI think I could name all of the European countries on a map.
Wow! I wonder how many Americans could actually do that? I'm guessing not many, but I could be wrong… Do you have a photographic memory? Or did you have a really mean geography teacher? I'm very curious to know! :)
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