Pen, Paper and Stamps

When was the last time you penned a letter? A real, honest pen-to-paper letter. Stuck it in an envelope, added a stamp and mailed it to someone. For me it has been years. Literally. Until February came around in the form of A Month of Letters. How I came across the blog, I cannot remember, but I do remember the thrill of opening those first letters.

I registered late, and only in time to be going away for work, and to places with no internet access. But once I was back, I was like a kid with a new toy when those first letters appeared in my mailbox. Of course, I planned to write to my fellow contributors, but they were too fast for me. I had fun replying to the ones I did receive, and then penned a few more of my own.

The biggest problem I had - finding greeting cards to write on. And after a week of shopping still didn't find any. People simply do not write any more. Even postcards seemed to have been relegated to the malls at the airports. So paper and envelope it was.

I love my email, and do get many each day, but the letters (even from strangers) has a little something extra that just make them special. It was sent to me. Written specially for me. So go on, dust off that pen, dig out some paper and write someone a letter today. Who knows, you might make some new friends - just like I did.

Cover of Géra's Gift

Well, I got the final graphic design for Géra's Gift today. It took a few weeks, and some very amateurish drawing skills on may part to get poor Jana (the graphic artist) to interpret what was going on in my head.

And I have to say I like it. The background can serve as the cover for the next installment in the series. I will then only change the details for the specific novel - in this case the two shields on the front part of the cover.

The lettering still needs to be added, but I will leave that for a surprise - cannot have all the book's secrets revealed before publishing.

With the interior of the book also complete, it is now off to final layout, and then publication. It seemed so long ago when this process started, and now it is almost done. The suspense is killing me :-)

Book Covers and Write-ins

Sometimes it is still hard to think that Géra's Gift is almost ready for publication. I am just waiting for the cover design to be finished (I had some minor comments) and then it can be printed. Not just literally of course, as it will be an eBook too, but the butterflies are breeding in my stomach.

While I cannot wait, writing life goes on. Yesterday, I joined a few writer friends for a writing session at my favourite coffee shop. Now I know what John Scalzi wrote about notebooks and coffee shops (and the jury is still out on that one), but we had a great time. One friend wrote more than 3000 words, the other two were busy editing their manuscripts. I had to fix my computer first (need to check it before the next session) but still managed about 2200 words in the six hours.

We do take breaks, and chat and drink coffee, but the objective to write together seems to be working well. And the next session is hopefully going to be another great success. By that time I might claim to be published, and my friends might already be well on their way to saying the same thing.

This year has started on a very good note for the first Random House-Struik Writers Group of 2011.

Acrylics and Mosaics

Finally, I managed to finish this painting. It went well until I made a mess of the last two blocks that had to be painted. It took some fiddling to remove the splotches that I caused, but then how to finish it?

It took some hard thinking, until inspiration struck about two weeks ago - why not use tiny gold metallic mosaic tiles to finish what I couldn't seem to get right with paint?

I wasn't sure it would work, but the guy at the craft shop assured me that the tiles could be glued on over the acrylic paint, and he was right. Some hours, and lots of patient tiling later, the result was better than I had originally imagined.

Now it needs the final layer of preserving varnish, and off to the framers we go.

And to think the design was inspired by a piece of discarded packaging material that I saw lying next to the road.

Nocturnal Visitor

On Friday this nocturnal visitor found itself resting on the rooftop of my house and driving my dogs insane. A juvenile, judging by its size, Giant Eagle Owl made its way to my home in the middle of the day in scorching temperatures.

At over 30 deg C, this little visitor excited my dogs so much that I had to go and have a look at what was causing the commotion. Initially I thought it was injured, because it sat with one wing spread out over the hot roof. Then it moved around, and I realized that it was only trying to keep cool.

A few minutes later it made its way to this tree branch, giving me enough time to grab my camera and take a few pictures.

Of course, presenting me with its backside wasn't making it any easier. Until I realized that the tiny beeps the camera made when focusing, drew its attention. With its sensitive hearing, I managed to making it look at me without scaring it away, and the result, as seen here, is just one of many that I managed to capture.

The light was difficult because of the shadows of the tree and the sun almost directly in my line of vision. Changing the settings of the camera to ISO 200, shooting aperture priority, the details became clearer.

This photo was taken at approx 400mm zoom without a tripod, with a Lumix Panasonic FZ-40. The picture was not edited, only re-sized.

New Year's Resolutions and all that

The new year is almost upon us, and the resolutions are flying thick and fast. I have never been a great enthusiast of the concept, because I know, like many, that you are just fooling yourself. Promises made, and yet rarely kept for longer than January. Right? You know exactly what I mean.

Until I read an article about doing it a little differently. Instead of -- this year I will loose the 20kg that I have been promising myself for the last ten years (:-o), or going to the gym (but I hate exercise) or running the Comrades marathon (and I never even park far away from the mall entrance), what about committing yourself to something that you can do?

Like 'be a bit nicer to people' or 'tell someone about something positive that happened every week' or just maybe 'be a better friend to just one other person'? These are not impossible things and yet the impact on your life or that of someone else, can be more far reaching than you might imagine.

I have often thought that loosing that 20kg (at least) will make me a happier person, but will it really? I might be a more healthy (not a bad thing) but if I am happy now, what is that 20kg going to do for me anyway?

So here is my resolution for 2012 - I am going to chase my dream. Yeah, yeah, I know, one of those vague things that will probably only last until 31 January, right? Wrong! I have already put the wheels in motion, and this will only be the beginning.

Géra's Gift (my first novel) will soon be available, and I am not going to stop there. My dream of being a writer will take some time, but I will get there. Even if I have to strangle the muse, now and then.

Joining the Land of the Tweet

I have finally made my way towards Twitter and all because my favourite second hand book shop 'lives' there. Find me (@LinzeBrandon) or the bookshop (@TallStories) and see what we find ourselves up to in December.