Did you write? 04-12-10

Did you write? 04-12-10

The time sneaks up on you. You had just reported your writing for last week and now it is that time again!
For those of you who write every day, this note is not a spectacular prompt. It only gives you a place to report how well you have done. For the rest of us, writing even once during a week is a big effort. Those are the writers this note is for.
I am a writer that struggles to write each week and knowing this note coming up usually pushes me to write, to write something at all. Of course, if I gave up writing this note, I might have more time to write on my regular work. No, this note helps.
We are not really picky about what one considers to be writing. We are also not picky about how much is written. All we want to know is if you wrote. Of course, we also love to hear what you wrote, how much, and anything else going on in your life.

Those of us on the east coast can attest to how bad the weather has been. I must confess that I am the cause of that. I did not write this week and the world has been pulled down to lower depths by my lack of living up to my potential.
Life got in the way of my writing. I had several days where I fully intended on getting home and opening my story, but things happened to where I got home late and nothing got done.
Life even got in the way of my story ideas and I am one idea behind for this date. I will end up another idea behind later this week. One reason I did no work on my story was I was two ideas behind at one point last week and had to catch up. My odds of actually writing this week is going to be in question.

I am getting some great story ideas, but just don't have time to post them. Of the 54 ideas I have on my compost pile, the top fifteen have not been sorted through in searching for an idea to post. I keep using something on top or one or two down, and have written a couple without noting it on paper. That top fifteen look like they will be a joy to write.
This is a fun period where concepts are coming to me like mad. Over the past week, I have had a couple fantastic ideas to post. I have also had a couple that seamed great but fell short of the expectations. while I was disappointed in the final results, they filled a spot and tended to be kind of fun to write.

A friend of mine has gotten a foot into a start up publishing company. His stuff is excellent so he deserves it. I considered writing some finished stuff to get involved in the project. It then dawned on me. I don't have the time. First off, I work for a living. I open the office so I go to bed early. that kills a lot of hours for writing. I do my story ideas every night. that kills even more writing time. I have things I have to do, even if I avoid doing them when possible. It dawned on me that I have problems getting an hour in on my present series of Waxy dragon stories. I would have to give something up just to have a chance at producing some work worthy of the publication.
My friend is retired so he can apply himself many hours every day on his project. For me to do have the time to write, I have to give up something.
Writing is a jealous mistress. You cannot give yourself to others and keep her happy. that is one reason I post this note is in an attempt to let her know I have though of her.

In wood working, Over the years, many of my early works are embarrassing. It dawned on me that I might be able to rescue some of those works if I am careful.
I chose two of those projects this weekend and did my best to fix them up. One is a bowl with a small pedestal. I made it at a time when I was afraid to go thin. I got it mounted on the lathe and reshaped the inside. It is a whole lot better. I am going to carve this bowl, making it into a "Swirl of leaves." where I will carve leaves and remove the wood between them. they will overlap each other to make the bowl. I have done something like this a few times and have liked the result. This bowl will be fun as it is Camphor wood and it smells nice.
Another was a very early attempt at a natural edged bowl where the trim had bark on it at one time. I thinned the bottom quite a bit, reshaped the outside, and made the bottom more presentable. it looks good. It just needs sanding.
Many of my other projects will never be worthy of art, but I can fix them up so they will be good gifts. The remaining pieces will be unloaded, such as at yard sales or just given away. one or two will likely "accidentally" fall into the garbage and not be retrieved, but that will be some time from now. I might fix them or reuse them in some way.
It should be noted that most wood turners would rather make something new than to fix something old. I have had several good pieces that I ran into problems and had to give up on them. What I am learning right now, is how to save them, or make them better. I also don't want to keep storing these pieces.

for a story idea, he is the fixer. In a world of arts and crafts, no one has ever seen anything with his name on it. He is not a conservator, one who repairs pieces to original quality, instead he will take something that was done wrong or damaged, and make something new out of it. Many consider him a criminal, but the artists he helps are thankful he is around.
He only works for artists with a name and reputation. They hire him to dig through their junky pieces. Officially, it is called a collaboration, but in reality, he is saving their reputation. With just simple tools the artist has on hand, he takes their worst work and makes them presentable. There have been many times where the artist have told him "you're ruining it!". When he was done, though, they have been impressed with his results.
The work is always on display under the original artist's name. he never is recognized as an artist, but his work is instantly recognizable.
One possible way to use this is that someone starts cataloging works the fixer has worked on in all art forms. they are shocked that a sizable percentage of work on display is actually his work. He has more at, more varied art, than anybody else. Not only that, his work on the average is worth more than other artworks.
the problem is how to make him the star he really is. He might have a reason for remaining anonymous.

As to the question of the week,
I sadly must admit,

NO I DID NO WRITE

for this week,
DID YOU WRITE?