My new post on NewbieWriters

 Newbie Writers, Writing  No Responses »
Oct 312012
 

I haven’t been doing much there, between one thing and another, but current events have presented me with an Educational Moment that is worth sharing with other new writers.

I could have called the post “Perils of Ghostwriting” (appropriate for Halloween!) but I didn’t.

Here it is.

A fascination from my crafty life.

 craft  No Responses »
Oct 212012
 

Chasing and repousse are complimentary decorative metal arts that never cease to amaze me. I’ll also add hand engraving to that list, because it is a skill that is eluding me… and I hate skills that I can’t learn, or have STEEP learning curves.

You’ve seen some of my chasing and repousse work on this site already. Those were crafted using a substitute for real chasing pitch, made from melted sealing wax, beeswax, and gypsum powder. Up to a point, it works fairly well, but not when you want detail; it is too soft.

Earlier this week, I sucked it up and ordered real chasing pitch from Chasers Pitch, and the difference is amazing. I posted these examples on my metalcraft blog, but I thought I’d share them here, too.

New chasing and repousse examples. Copper, fine silver, and brass.

So, this is why I haven’t added to Manleigh Cheese today. Metal craft took up my writing time yesterday.

Of course, the question is… now that I can do this… What do I do with all these little pieces of art I’m making?

 Posted by at 11:54 am  Tagged with:

A funny thing happened in the shower

 Manleigh Cheese  No Responses »
Oct 172012
 
EttyPendy

I was imagining tomorrow’s installment of Manleigh Cheese, and I had an idea that would allow me to wrap up the story sooner, with more drama, and probably more forks to build a sequel around. I’m trying to decide if I want to do that or not.

Without giving too much away, I could have the climax occur on the White House lawn. It would take days of installments to create a resolution for such madness. I don’t believe the plot would suffer, but there would be more unanswered questions. The plot points that would be left hanging would be:

  1. Who/what is John Frost?
  2. Who is Etty Pendy-Frost?
  3. What kind of success does Manleigh Cheese enjoy post-climax? Freakish notoriety, I’m sure. This might not be the best thing in the universe.
  4. Where were Murky and his friendly coven members during this whole thing? The Pendy family, too?
  5. What/who on the spirit world side of things has seen all of this, and do they have a problem with it? If so, what will happen with that conflict.
  6. Do Logan and Patti get married/shack up/nookie?
  7. How do you keep the government out of John and Etty’s business?

So, there are quite a few plot points I need to consider before choosing the new climax over the original plan. I don’t want to trade brevity for completeness and enjoyment.

Still, don’t you think having the President go rip-roaring insane would make a few smashing story installments?

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