NaGraNoWriMo

Colleen Frakes took on the NaNoWriMo challenge (write a 50,000 word novel in the month of November) in comic form: 100-page graphic novel in the month of November.

Check out her NaGraNoWriMo results on Flickr.

The Trials of Sir Christopher by cfrakes
The Trials of Sir Christopher by cfrakes

Good Timing…

Storm Watch

“Rain, thunderstorms, severe weather, freezing rain, sleet, snow, and wind can be expected with the system as it heads eastward over the next several days.”

We drove a 16+ hour day Saturday up through North Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas, and then due west to Denver. A bit painful, but we got here to Christina V’s welcoming apartment and thought it much better than spending the night in some expensive-cheap hotel.

Today, we are heading home to Texas. We decided to break up the drive back into two days and stop in Carlsbad, New Mexico for the night. (Sadly, to stop in Marfa would require two very long days of driving.) But, lo and behold, the snow waited to grace us with her presence until early this morning. We awoke to blankets of white, and while the soft flakes are pretty to watch, we will be taking things very very very slowly as we make our way south without snow tires.

Snow and rain in the forecast for the next two days for much of our route: FUN!

Stay warm, take care, and travel safely! See you on the other side of Christmas!

Daily Fire to Calm the Chatter

I know I haven’t posted in a long time. I won’t bore you with the excuses; let’s just say they’ve not been healthy, but I’m working on them ALL.

However, when I find something as insightful and delightful as Jonathan Harris’s daily photo and musing (every day since his birthday 30th), I must share:

Jonathan Harris's fire calms HIS mental chatter

My head is frequently filled with a cacophony of sound bites, madly repeating things I wrote and said, or things that were written or said to me, or things I read or heard on screen or in the street. They replay themselves like a recorded chorus of schizophrenics, each member struggling for attention but quickly surrendering to his noisier neighbor. They weigh down my mind, distracting me from the moment. These voices are treacherous, incessantly repeating plans, promises, ideas, judgments, advice, reminders, comparisons, opinions, and hungers…

I rarely get around to reading the books because my mind is too tired, and because the speed of information transferral of a book seems so sluggish compared to the high-speed mental acrobatics I had been conducting all day at my computer. Reading a book at this point feels like staring at a wall, and I usually opt instead to stare into the dancing fire, seeing what I can see in the flames, whose unpredictably beautiful forms and movements seem better suited to the shape and speed of thought. To the fire, there is only the moment, and the potential of where to dance off to next.

Maybe in the future inventors will find a way for us to control fire with thought. Then we can replace essays and novels with fires, imprinting our ideas in flame and using the paper instead only as kindling. Then we can send our fires through the wooden world and into the hearths of other people’s minds, where they will entrance and entertain as only fires can.

A Ben Franklin Rebus


A Ben Franklin Rebus
A Ben Franklin Rebus!

THE ART OF MAKING MONEY PLENTY in every Man’s Pocket;
by Doctor Franklin
published in 1791

At this time when the general complaint is that money is so scarce
it must be an act of kindness to inform the moneyless how they
can reinforce their pockets. I will acquaint all with the true secret
of money catching, the certain way to fill empty purses and how to
keep them always full. Two simple rules well observed will do
the business. First, Let honesty and labor be thy constant
companions; Second, Spend one penny every day less than thy
clear gains; Then shall thy pockets soon begin to
thrive, thy creditors will never insult thee, nor
want oppress, nor hunger bite, nor nakedness freeze thee.
The whole hemisphere will shine brighter, and
pleasure spring up in every corner of thy heart. ~

Now there embrace these rules and be Happy.

[via Graphic Granola]