Art and Writing – Dover Whitecliff

Progress

I hadn’t realized how much time has passed since the last post. The Clockwork Alchemy steampunk convention in San Mateo was a blast. I met a lot of new people and a lot of old friends, and while I didn’t have a new book ready, I presented a new workshop on making maps for authors…… Continue reading Progress

Braai

Still battling the funk, though things are getting better. I managed a whole paragraph of real words that did not have to do with my day job, and ideas for art are slowly starting to form. There is an end to the funk tunnel, and I can sorta see it if I squint! Whoot! To…… Continue reading Braai

Stew

I’ve been in a little bit of a funk lately with all the craziness going on in the world and at work. I’ve learned over the years that the Funk is my body is telling me I need to slow down and recharge my positivity meter. Normally I have a billion ideas I’m dying to…… Continue reading Stew

Cuttle-Fest

Happy Autumnal Equinox, and welcome to Port Liberty’s Cuttle-Fest! Cuttle-Fest is one of two annual festivals that take place on the pier of Sparky’s Boardwalk (named, of course after famous dimensional explorer Sparky Dottendash). Port Libs hold one festival on each Equinox to celebrate each of Port Liberty’s resident Kaiju. Yup, there are two Kaiju.…… Continue reading Cuttle-Fest

Multiverse

When I was a kid, I loved those crossover episodes of TV shows where a character in one show would turn up on another show one week, and then the other character would return the favor the following week. The characters would have to work together to solve a two-episode plot. My favorite was the…… Continue reading Multiverse

Praise

Happy Friday! I’ve completed another “main character voice” exercise for Jo Lee Reilly, the sleuth for Port Liberty Mysteries. This one was interesting to play with. I wanted to bring out the fact that Jo Lee spent her early years working as an analyst. Being one myself, I know I have problems with vague instructions.…… Continue reading Praise

Enough

I mentioned in the last post, Introductions, that I’m working through the voice exercises in Hallie Ephron’s Writing and Selling Your Mystery Novel. One of the takeaways for me is that every hero needs a flaw, a chink in the armor, a button to push. Something to overcome. This was hard for me. I normally write…… Continue reading Enough

Grout

Walking videos have been a great thing during the lockdown. Basically, a walking video is a person that walks around whatever city with a camera and films as he goes. Some are thirty minutes, and some are hours long. It’s great white noise for writing, and when you look up, there’s pretty scenery on the…… Continue reading Grout

Mosaics

Lantern Bridge Mosaic Thinking organically when creating art is hard for me. I’m an analyst. I take my hammer (or my head), smash it into a problem to bash it down to its tiniest parts and then fit the pieces together in dozens of different ways until I solve it. Hard to smash a piece…… Continue reading Mosaics

Postcards

AKA “How I started my latest writing art project: Postcards from Port Liberty.” Welcome to Port Liberty! I love getting real mail. Not email. Not all the ads or bills. REAL mail. Growing up without social media and email was AWESOME. It meant that every once in a while, when you least expected it, you’d…… Continue reading Postcards