15 November 2008

Brazos Valley Conference

I went to the Connections & Craft conference sponsored by the Brazos Valley SCBWI today, and I had a great time. Two other members of the critique group I belong to attended as well.

The conference also functioned as a workshop, so we had a few writing exercises to do during the day. These helped us work on openings and character development.

I mentioned earlier that I had a critique scheduled with Cynthia Leitich Smith. That went great. She loved my manuscript! Or at least the first 10 pages. She gave me the names of some agents for submissions. I'm currently in the process of editing the piece (again), so I'll finish that before I try submitting again.

Here's hoping!

13 November 2008

My Dewey Number

I'm a librarian, so I'm interested in knowing where all things belong according that bizarre little man known as Melvil Dewey. So, I took a (very brief) quiz to learn my own personal Dewey Decimal Number, and here are the results.



S K Joiner's Dewey Decimal Section:

680 Manufacture for specific uses

S K Joiner = 91811059458 = 918+110+594+58 = 1680


Class:
600 Technology


Contains:
Health, agriculture, management, public relations, buildings.



What it says about you:
You are creative and inspired to make the world a better place. You can work hard on something when it catches your interest. Your friends have unique interests in common with you.

Find your Dewey Decimal Section at Spacefem.com


Fairly accurate. Neat!

07 November 2008

At the Faire

I went to the Texas Renaissance Festival last weekend with a friend of mine and her two children. The group of us have gone for the last three years. And I've been many times before that.

The weather was beautiful, so we were really able to see people in crazy outfits. That's always my favorite part of the Ren Fest - the people-watching.

So, my friend's children (for some reason, my grandmother calls them Hank and Hannah*) dressed up this year. Hank was a pirate, and Hannah dressed as a princess. As the day progressed, and they got tired, the costumes started to fall apart.

Here they are in the open-air church on the Festival grounds.

They also played King of the Log and tried to knock each other off.

Hank managed to knock Hannah off the log first.

But then, Hannah got her revenge.

And then, Hank and I tried the brachiating, where you're strapped into a harness and attached to giant rubber bands and bounced high in the air with the help of a trampoline. I've done this before, but I was unable to flip.

This year, however, I had success!



Of course, I was in pain for about three days afterward. That was quite the ab workout.

The children went through the maze, too. Hank got a little lost and had a hard time finding the exit. But he managed to find his way out.

And Hannah wanted a turkey leg. She originally called it a chicken leg (that would be quite a chicken!), but we corrected her.

I could not believe she ate that thing. I think they're disgusting before people start chewing on them, and I wouldn't even touch it. But she ate it! Note Hank's expression, not unlike my own.

We had a great time. And we're already planning for next year's visit.

*Obviously, not their real names.