Rebecca Thomas Designs

Create365: Colorful Socks

Rebecca — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 06:49:37 +0000

The Challenge: Figure out a way to add some color to your day in a new, unusual, or wacky way.

Spring and Winter flip-flopped in Seattle this year. After an uncomfortably warm Winter, we’re now coasting on cooler temperatures into Spring. It’s the perfect weather for warmer socks, and the perfect time for this challenge because some of the warmest socks I own are my toe socks!

In terms of the Create365 project, I’m still exploring what settings are available to me and how to use them to minimize the time spent in photo-editing software. This particular picture is completely untouched, and I’m proud of how it turned out.

Copyright © 2010 Rebecca Thomas Designs. This feed is for noncommercial use only. If you see this on a commercial site, please contact rebecca@rebeccathomasdesigns.com so we can take legal action immediately.
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Create365: Snowy Weather There’s an inside joke here. When I moved to Seattle...
Create365: Pour I’m still up to my neck in notes and editing,...
Create365: Winter Colors While I was off shooting the snowless winter yesterday, I...

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Create365: Wearable Stories

Rebecca — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 06:38:41 +0000

I was getting dressed for work this morning and noticed the bowl that holds some of my more frequently worn or recently acquired jewelry, and I just really liked how the pieces were laying in there.

I don’t know if they translate into this post, but most of the more visible pieces have notes on them. Some were hand-crafted. Some I just keep for fun.

Create365: Pristine Wilderness A friend moved to Alaska over the holidays and put...
Create365: Burst I have another prompt I’m working on, but I don’t...
Create365: Acting Childish This was another one of those days where it was...

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Classic Characters

Rebecca — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:43:12 +0000

I’ve often read that what makes a classic cartoon character is the character’s ability to fit into any time and space. Bugs Bunny could walk the streets of France, sing an opera, and run away from a (rather inept) hunter. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles can face the Shredder in modern-day New York, New York of the future, and cyberspace. Mickey Mouse can drive a steamboat, enchant brooms, and still find time to court Minnie Mouse.

It works that way in books, too. Look at the Nancy Drew books. Nancy solves cases all over the world, and has for decades. Children’s picture books like the Arthur series feature similar timeless characters who can move naturally between very different situations.

These characters are strong in their own personality. They’re defined more by what they do and how they do it rather than by where they do it, and that gives them a flexibility that allows them to draw viewers or readers in and drag them along on their adventures. That, in turn, gives them a timelessness that allows them to reach out to different generations, making them truly classic.

Reverse perception Last week, I focused on the messages media can inadvertently...
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Twitter Updates for 2010-03-09

Administrator — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:55:00 +0000

Dear GQueues, why is it I can get to every queue *but* the one I need? #

Twitter Updates for 2010-03-07 I love #editing It takes a too-short story and...
Twitter Updates for 2010-01-07 It took me three years, but I turned my...
Twitter Updates for 2010-01-10 I find that I've really enjoyed the few Italian...

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links for 2010-03-08

Rebecca — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 23:08:09 +0000

Show Some Character! — Who is the Robin to your novel's Batman?

(tags: character-development)

links for 2009-10-27 Show Some Character! — Do you know an inner...
links for 2010-01-13 BackupMy.Net Home: Backup Your Online World (tags: twitter) Copyright...
links for 2009-10-02 To Share or Not to Share, That is the...

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Create365: Seattle Kitty

Rebecca — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 06:10:48 +0000

My cat hates being covered by anything. If I throw a blanket over her, she quickly wriggles out. So when I accidentally threw my flannel shirt on her tonight, I definitely wasn’t expecting her response:

That would be my cat, stretching out to take a nap…under my flannel shirt.

(She also hates having her picture taken, going so far as to run and hide when she sees the dark green thing in my hands, so the fact I got several shots of her making herself at home under the shirt was just phenomenal.)

Create365: Pristine Wilderness A friend moved to Alaska over the holidays and put...
Create365: A Friendly Car This morning was actually icy and overcast, something this area...
Create365: Color My World I’ve been thinking about redoing my wardrobe for a while....

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Twitter Updates for 2010-03-07

Administrator — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 14:55:00 +0000

I love #editing It takes a too-short story and makes it even shorter! #

Twitter Updates for 2010-01-07 It took me three years, but I turned my...
Twitter Updates for 2010-01-08 It's pretty cool when you are cheered on a...
Twitter Updates for 2010-01-29 Okay, this actually got to me. http://xkcd.com/695/ # Powered...

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Create365: What Did You Say?

Rebecca — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 06:01:02 +0000

I’ve spent part of today wandering back and forth through my house trying to work out why any of the characters in the manuscript I’m currently editing are involved in this story. Somehow, only the antagonist has a goal and an obstacle. Everyone else is just there to be the obstacle. It’s bizarre, even for me.

But I’m stuck on the opening scene, which is now back to being the opening scene because I have a wonderful friend to set me straight about these things. I was reading over both drafts of the scene, trying to decide if there was anything salvageable, and discovered that one character describes something that probably didn’t need to be discussed in such detail, actually revealing the treasure that’s the entire point of the novel in the process.

Her sister immediately responds with: So, the treasure is here? How are we going to find it?

I have no idea what I really wanted the sister to say, but I struck that line right out.

Now, I have what I feel are the best, strongest parts of both drafts pulled into a new file, and I have questions all over the place. Hopefully, once I find these characters’ goals and obstacles, I’ll be able to beat this into a better opening.

Create365: Gave Way I’m in this phase right now where I’m trying to...
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Create365: City Planning

Rebecca — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 05:49:05 +0000

I have this dream of someday pulling together my love of certain media and my passion for teaching to create multimedia math and science lessons. Occasionally, I’ll get an idea for a teaching moment and jot it down.

This one features an NPC who is the assistant to the player/learner’s city planner. She’s trying to help the student plan out space allotment through a percent lesson. It’s not good. It really is just a sketch. But it’s something to launch from.

ASSISTANT
25% of the population will want to live in this area of town. Hmm… How can we figure out how many people that is?

Well, “percent” means “for every 100″. So 25 out of every 100 people will want to live there, or 25/100 people. 25/100 is the same as .25. So .25 of [town population] wants to live there.

.25 x [town population] means [answer] people will want to live there.

What about this 12% who will want to live in this other area?

The player/learner then has to figure it out and type in an answer, which will trigger an appropriate response from the assistant.

I wrote it in script form because I haven’t decided yet whether I would present this as text or as narration.

Create365: A Window on My Worldview It’s been bothering me that I have let this blog...
Create365: Adapt Part of trying to find my voice when I write...
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Teaching is a Superpower

Rebecca — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 18:53:40 +0000

The Challenge: Do something to make the world a better place.

I’m cheating on this one, because I spend four or five days a week doing something to make the world a better place. And I’m aided by some of the coolest people I know. What is this amazing thing I do? I think it’s best shared in this “button” a friend gave me a while back…

With all of the problems we’re facing in education today, it’s hard to remember that teachers are the people who have to not only prepare young people for their future, but they have to do it with resources that are growing more and more limited and demands placed on them that are growing crazier and crazier.

Or perhaps it’s better said as…

The value of information There have been quite a few jokes lately on the...
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