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Paint it Red

A bit ago, I alluded to a project I’ve undertaken: refinishing the front door. Yesterday, that project took a bad turn.

Short version: We opted for a stain, but used one of the new water-based stains. The result was disastrous, and I was so displeased with the gummy, uneven result, that we decided to go to Plan B: Painting the door.

Painting the door was a last resort; I liked the look of the solid wood, even though it had aged some with the decades. But I just hated the result of the stain, so we switched gears and started talking colors.

Surprisingly, we both wanted to paint it red. Why? No particular reason. We just liked red. We’d seen red doors on houses here and around Britain and, though red rarely matched and at times even clashed with the color of the house, it always worked. Our house is milk-chocolate with a semi-sweet trim, warm in tone, so a red door would work well.

I mentioned this to friends and they told me anecdotes about the meaning of a red door.

Meaning? Of a red door? I’d never heard of a door color having any meaning. Curious, I did what I do: I researched.

Continue Reading »

Exit 175

Gossamer Wheel

Exit 175

water bubbles up
through concrete and macadam
past stone and brickwork
a quiet spring

a seeping thread of clear water
it cleanses my singing tires
rises in hissing mist
makes rainbows in the rising sun

the natural world lives on
despite manmade bonds
lies quietly beneath my feet
like grass in cracked pavement

Spit in the Ashes

Kurt R.A. GiambastianiI’m in serious Writing-Avoidance Mode.

May brings the first Mother’s Day and my mom’s birthday since her passing in December. Family business and concerns literally wake me up at night. My day job has been a frenzy of frustration and chaos. I can’t focus on anything requiring mental acuity for very long, so the garden and household-repair projects are all I can manage.

Writing? What’s that?

But I did come across this interesting article in the Washington Post. A new study has found that several words have a much longer history than we thought possible. Continue Reading »

Stack of BooksAmazon wants to sell your used ebooks.

Yep, it’s true. Amazon wants to sell your used e-books, and a lot of people are really, really upset by it. “It’ll ruin author’s livelihoods,” some say, and “It’ll destroy the publishing industry” say others.

BTFU.

Before we all go running through the streets with our hair on fire, let’s think about it for a second.

Amazon wants to sell you an e-book for your Kindle and then, once you’ve read it (or not), give you the option to sell it back to them so they can re-sell it to someone else. This allows them to sell it without paying anything to the publisher (and thus, the author), just as if it was a physical book…

Hey…wait a minute…

Continue Reading »

Simple LivingI used to pooh-pooh spice blends. Yes, I was that stupid.

My reasoning was three-fold. When I was growing up:

  1. Most “spice blends” were just with some seasonings tossed in to bump up the price.
  2. I never knew what was in a pre-packaged “spice blend.”
  3. They were pretty awful.

In addition, nothing bugs me more than a recipe that tells me to go out and buy something I can make at home. Like all those chicken noodle soup recipes that say “add 16 ounce can of chicken broth.” Come on! I want to cook, not assemble! And so, swathed in my righteous purism, I eschewed any and all “spice blends,” casting them out into the wilderness where the lesser creatures could partake of them.

Then I went to live overseas, and my world changed.

(Hint: There’s a recipe after the jump.) Continue Reading »

XX vs XY

Kurt R.A. GiambastianiWhen I build my characters, I like a full picture. As I practice this craft, I get better at it. My pictures are more complete each time, and one reason for this is Observation.

Observation teaches two things. First, it shows me actual characteristics, physical and mental, that I can use to build my characters. Appearances, mannerisms, vocal traits, behaviors, they all add to a complete portrait. The second thing observation teaches is types. Yes, I’m sorry to say, but people generally can be classed into types.

Understanding types is important because, when I go against type, I want to know it.

Example: by and large, men are more into sports than women. Yes, I know…some women are sports nuts and I’m not saying they aren’t; I’m saying that, in general, men are more likely to have an interest in sports than women. So, will I never write a female character who’s into sports? No, I might do that in this next book. But if I do, I need to know that the characteristic puts the character in the minority. Why? Because if a character is in the minority of her peers, that might shape her, one way or another.

To this point, an interesting characteristic has been discussed on a couple of boards. It’s a characteristic I hadn’t thought of before, but it’s an important one. I’d like to share it with you, and get your feedback.

It has to do with men and women and the friends they have. Continue Reading »

My Chariot of Fire

ChariotOfFireToday, the buzz in Seattle is not:

  • The NBA kibosh on moving the Sac’to Kings to Seattle
  • The Anarchists arriving for their annual May Day (aka Loot&Pillage Day) festivities
  • The opening of Boating Season

Today, the buzz in Seattle is the possibility of a warm, sunny weekend in Spring.

Yes, the news is That Big.

Continue Reading »