Writing Rough Drafts

I can't believe how long it's been! But I did decide I wanted to try to blog through the summer (although probably not as consistently...) so I might as well get started.

Yeah. I've been working at my novel outline over the past few weeks, and I'm to the point where I actually start writing! The beginning of chapter one (version one) is written, but... that's about as far as I've gotten. As a perfectionist, I have a bit of a problem writing a rough draft. I am perfectly aware that it doesn't have to be perfect the first time through, but actually writing it without worrying about getting it "right" is... well, hard, to say the least.

When I'm writing, say, an essay or a report, taking a little time to refine stuff as I go isn't much of a problem. It makes things easier later too! But when I'm writing a story, trying to fix stuff up along the way really gets my focus off telling the story and I end up with a bunch of needless stuff. Well, I end up with needless stuff anyway, but it's easier to work with if it sticks closer to the story. However, it also takes a lot (a lot) of concentration and focus for me to write something without trying to get it perfect. Which means I'm usually mentally exhausted after an hour or so. But I s'pose it's better than nothing!

That's all I really have to say. Have a good start to your summer!

Oh the Joys of Growing Up... :|

Yesterday morning I went to my first college visit. O_O It wasn't anything super special, but it is rather momentous. Since I'm going to be a senior next year (scary thought!) I've been trying to figure out what I want to do and where I want to go to college and all those other big decisions. I don't particularly like making big decisions. I'd much rather stay a kid and let someone else decide for me or have the right choice be really obvious. But, of course, life doesn't work that way. We all have to grow up at some point (unless you're Peter Pan....). Honestly, though, I can't imagine trying to make these decisions without God. Just the fact that He's always there and I can talk to Him or ask Him for help makes things that much easier. And I know He will help. He is my heavenly Father and He loves me like no one else ever has or ever will. That's really comforting when I face big things like decisions about college and such.

Of course, I couldn't talk about making these decisions without mentioning my parents. They're so ready and willing to be involved in helping me make the best decision! I'm so grateful for them :). I still have to make my own decisions obviously, but they really do want to help me and they have good advice. I can't imagine not having them either.

Well, that's really about all I have to say about this subject. It's really as far as I've gotten. In case you're wondering, my plan so far (meaning it is definitely subject to change) for college is to go to K-State and major in English or Spanish (or both!). Unless I find something I'm really interested in that K-State doesn't have a good program for, that's the plan. We'll see what God has in store :).

Details

I believe I did mention several weeks ago the stop-motion video I made for the OYAN video contest. Well, it's entered AND it's posted here along with at least some of the other entries, which you also might enjoy! Mine is the one called "No Small Potential", which should be the one that shows up. (It also says it's by King's Compass--that's my name on the OYAN forum, if you were wondering).

The video I made is about a minute long, but it has over 300 pictures in it. It was kind of an ambitious project, I suppose, but I didn't really know what I was doing, and I managed to finish it in one weekend, so I think it was worth it. But I can't imagine making a full-length film! That would take forever just to take all the pictures, let alone put it together!

So, the way stop-motion works is that it shows still pictures each with subtle differences in quick succession. The changes (usually a different position of some part of the subject) create the illusion of motion. For example, in the section of my video with the dragon, there's that part where he turns around. I started with his head first and moved it just a little bit and took a picture, then moved it another little bit and added some 'movement' somewhere else (he moves towards the girl) and took another picture. It was an incredibly slow process. Also, my 'stage' wasn't exceptionally large, so I had to be careful to show only the background I wanted (no bedroom carpet). This was especially hard with the dragon sequence, since so much was happening. In addition to all that, my little fairy girl didn't like to stand up on her own, so there were several times I had to prop her up with a needle or try to dangle her from fishing line and take the picture as quickly as possible before something happened (a.k.a. she fell over). I used fishing line for when the dragon tosses her sword in the corner and when her horse rears. There were at least 4 pictures in each of those small movements, if not more like 10, but in order to get them how I wanted I had to hold the fishing line in one hand and take the picture with the other. Thank goodness for my tripod to keep my camera from moving!

Over all, the process was long and tedious, but I thoroughly enjoyed it! I am most definitely a detail person, not to mention it was very quiet working down in my room by myself :). The final step was putting it all together on iMovie, which would probably have been easier and faster if I had done it before. I ended up adjusting each individual picture to have the right length of time so that the motion would be smooth, but also at a good speed. The process itself wasn't hard, just (once again) lengthy. If you're interested in how to do something like that, I'd be happy to show or explain, but I won't go into detail now.

One recommendation: if you're not a detail person who enjoys tedious processes and, well, details, stop-motion videos are not your project. Trust me.

Journals and Short Stories

I was looking over my past journals a little bit earlier this week (mainly because they are now in the plural form! I filled up the last pages of my second journal a few days ago). I didn't look closely or in depth or anything, but I did notice the dates I started and finished each one. It's been about two years since I started the first one, but I only started the second one in November.

I believe I've mentioned this before, but it was only this past August that I really began to journal more frequently and find it helpful. And I only really journal when I've been thinking deeply about something and need to get all my thoughts out. Well, I've been thinking a lot this school year, about the future, mainly, and all that jazz, and I think that fact and all my notes from the Daniel Bible study explain the rapidity with which my second journal filled up.

The way I journal, I rarely just sit down and write a page each day or something like that. No, it's more like mull over something for a few days, then write four or five pages worth in messy handwriting because I'm going so fast. But I really do think that's an improvement from how I used to be. I used to never be able to journal because I planned out my writing way too much in my head to actually write my thoughts. It sounded like I had planned it out. To be honest, I was rather frustrated. I'm so glad God gave me the ability to journal through these last few years, because it really helps me understand what I'm thinking. If you know me, you know I don't particularly like to share my thoughts and feelings out loud, but journaling gives me a way to figure it out even without saying it. Does that make any sense? Writing down my thoughts helps me evaluate them and 'catch' the ones I know aren't right. Then I can take them to God and ask for his help with specific things and specific thoughts. Overall, it really just helps me know what my thoughts and feelings are and it relieves a little of that weight from my mind and heart.

Anyway, I guess what this really comes back to is the short story I'm writing for English class. I a enjoying the assignment tremendously, but I've been having a hard time getting my rough draft 'out', so to speak. I can see the story in my head, but transferring it into words is harder than it sounds! I think part of the perfectionist in me is afraid to write something 'rough'. I want to get it right the first time. But I've been trying (and asking all the time for God's help!) to let the story pour out of me as if I'm journaling. I can fix it up later. So far, God has provided so much! I have a couple written pages already today, and I'm going back to it after this. I can't tell you how thankful I am. I enjoy writing, but it's not easy! A verse that has really encouraged me through this is Philippians 4:6-7. I don't have time to put it here, but please go look it up! It's a familiar verse, but so encouraging!

Keep up the good work, all the rest of you working on stories too! I can't wait to read them :D!

The Lord of the Rings

(I'm going to apologize ahead of time to those of you who are unfamiliar with the epic story of The Lord of the Rings. Not only will you have a hard time appreciating this blog post, but you are seriously missing out.)

You only need to talk with me for a short time to understand my passion for The Lord of the Rings. Actually, it's one of the few subjects I can actually go on and on (and on!) about. I'm not usually a talkative person, but ha! If you start a conversation about The Lord of the Rings you would never guess that. I do try to be courteous to those poor people who aren't as fanatical as myself, though. Which is why I gave you that warning at the beginning. So you can leave now if you don't want to read a whole long post about The Lord of the Rings.

Now, a few of the things I love about this story: First of all, the story itself. As a story-lover, I think I kind of look at The Lord of the Rings as the ultimate story. Yes, it is long, and Tolkien uses a lot of description, but honestly, the story is set in a fantasy world--it needs to be described. The Lord of the Rings has all the elements of a good story: well-developed and lovable characters, a clear goal and a hard time getting there, and unexpected twists along the way. It also has a positive theme, a very clear good vs. evil set-up. Many people have called it an allegory, but I don't think that is what it is meant to be, although it does still contain many elements of 'The Great Story'. I think all good stories do. I would analyze the theme more for you, but I don't particularly enjoy that sort of thing and prefer to just enjoy the story. :)

As I mentioned before, the characters are excellent. All the ones that need to be well-rounded are so. The good guys have faults (except for maybe Sam...) but they are still endearing and intriguing and I always want to get to know them better and learn about their history and how that has maybe impacted who they are.

Which leads me to another point. I think one of the biggest things I love about Tolkien's work is how extensive it is. His real passion was language and mythology, and that played in hugely to his development of Middle-Earth and its history. The best part is that all that history is written down! There is such a wealth of details in The Silmarillion and the appendices of The Lord of the Rings. I am a researcher at heart, so I love being able to have a question about some character or event or something and then go look it up to find out the answer! It's awesome! :D And I usually end up discovering (or rediscovering) things I wasn't even looking for in the first place. I'm going to go back and reread The Silmarillion sometime soon. And The Lord of the Rings. Yes. That too.

I could go on about this for quite a bit longer, but I said what I really wanted to say, so I won't keep you. If you love The Lord of the Rings as much as I do and feel like talking about it for extensive amounts of time, please comment or email or whatever! If you haven't read The Lord of the Rings, you have my pity, and please get to it as soon as possible. It's well worth your time! Thanks for bearing with me either way! ;)

Thoughts on Easter

I'm not entirely sure what all I'm going to post yet, but I'm hoping to focus it mainly on Easter. Since it's two days away! I'm just not sure I can say what I mean. Easter is such an amazing day and an amazing thing to remember. I'll try.

This whole week I've been reading the chapters in all four gospels that coincide with what happened on those days  of the week before the first Easter. So I read about the triumphant entry last Sunday, the last supper yesterday, and the crucifixion today (Good Friday). It's been really interesting to think about these events and to read them in all four gospels, because they each tell the story a little differently. For example, John doesn't say much about the last supper, but he records several chapters worth of what Jesus told the disciples that night, which the other three don't include much of.

So this morning, reading about Jesus' trial before Pilate, his crucifixion, and his burial, I was struck again with how incredible it all is. The story is familiar, yes, but looking for different details in the different gospels helped me focus on the story again. All four tell the same story, but they do include different details which makes it so interesting and you get the full story. I also like to think about why they included the details they chose.

But again I was struck that he endured all that for me. He loves me so much that he would have died if I were the only sinner, the only person in the world. I think the best part was knowing the end of the story. I can't imagine being there and seeing Jesus die and not knowing it wasn't final! No wonder the disciples were dejected! Can you imagine what an awful Sabbath day that would have been for Jesus' friends?

The women had prepared burial spices for him Friday evening, but because of the Sabbath, they had to wait. That's why they were coming to the tomb early Sunday morning. On the way, they realized that the stone was in front of the tomb. Not only was it heavy, but it was sealed with Pilate's seal and guarded by Roman soldiers. Now what? When they get there, all of a sudden there's a violent earthquake, the guards collapse, and an angel, dressed in clothes that gleam like lightning, rolls away the stone in front of the tomb. "Why do you look for the living among the dead?" The angel asks the women. I love that question. "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; He is risen!" What a triumphant cry that must have been! And how startling! How confusing! I know it would have been for me. Yet there could be no doubt, especially when Jesus actually appeared to not only the women but his disciples too!

Death is not the end with Jesus. He has overcome! He is alive!

Cape Tutorial!

Alright, here we go!

So, you're going to start out with a square or rectangle of fabric. (Note that my sizes and such will be suited to the doll-sized cape I'm making. Most of the time I'll tell you what you need, but still keep that in mind.) The size of your rectangle will be dependent on how long you want your cape to be. A yard of fabric makes a good short cape (about half-length on an adult), and a yard and a half will turn out to be decently long. If you're planning on adding a hood, start out with extra fabric. Also, fabric with the typical 45" width works great, but the also common 60" should be fine too. If your fabric has any serious wrinkles or big creases, I would suggest pressing it before you begin.

My fabric - with that one little spot that looks like Australia

Now, at this point it doesn't really matter if the edges of the fabric aren't perfect, because your next step is to hem them ALL. Yes. All four edges. Start with the what will be the sides of the cape (aka not the top and bottom). If you're making a short cape (about a yard of fabric), use the edge that gets cut for the top and bottom instead of the selvage. It'll fit around you better.

A note on the hems: in case you're using a fabric that frays a lot, it's good to fold the edge over twice. Plus it just looks neater.

Fold it up...

Then fold it up again.

See the nice finished edge?

Half an inch is a good width for the hem. Of course, just folding it over isn't going to work well, so pinning it would be a good idea (as you saw above).

Now, sew the hems along the edge.

Now you need to hem the top and bottom edges. Be especially careful to line the corners up nicely.

See? Nice little straight corner. Makes me happy.

Ok, so, pin the edges and sew them just like the other two. You should end up with a nicely edged almost blanket sort of thing.

At this point, it would probably be a good idea to press the edges so they lay flat. It helps it just look good over all before you go on to the next part.

Now you're going to turn that hemmed rectangle into a cape! So, the way this works is you're going to make a few pleats in the top. I only did three, but in a larger cape I would do more like five. I like doing an odd number because you can use the middle of the fabric. To start, fold your fabric in half with the right sides together and the top hem on top.

Next you stick a pin a little bit in from the fold (I did about 3/4 of an inch for this cape, but I would suggest more like 1 and 1/2 inches for a human-sized cape.) To make the next pleat, pinch up about the same amount of fabric in another place. (Since I was only doing three, I tried to make it an equal distance from both the middle pleat and the edge. If you're doing five, try to make them all an equal distance apart.)

For the other side, try to pinch about the same amount as the pleat above it in about the same place so they line up and have basically the same distance from any other pleats and/or the edge. (see below)

Now, sew about two inches (I only did one) straight down where the pin was stuck. If you want, you can sew farther down, but I like it short.

Do that for all of your pleats. At this point, your cape should be starting to take shape. It's more gathered at the top and hangs nicely when you hold it up. However, the pleats are really just bumps at this point.

To fix that, you simply need to sew the pleats down. You could do it in several ways: push all the loops in the same direction, push them all flat down (see the middle one below), or you could push just the middle one flat and the others in opposite directions on each side (which is what I did). Pinning isn't necessary at this point, but it always helps.

Now sew them down, and try to follow the seam that's already there, if you can. If it doesn't match up exactly, don't panic, it's not that big of a deal ;). 

Now it should lay much nicer and prettier.

At this point, you could be finished IF you don't want a hood. It looks great either way, but if you don't want a hood, skip to the part where I talk about closures (ties, buttons, etc.) If you are making a hood, please bear with me as I figure this out without a pattern. I'll let you know when something besides what's in the picture might work better. To start the hood, put two pieces of fabric right sides together and cut out a piece (from both at the same time) that's about this shape.

It should be several inches (3-5) wider and taller than your head (or whoever's head is going to wear it). Looking back, having the top even less rounded would have been fine as well. Next you need to hem the straighter edge. Just one nice, short, straight seam. Same as you did before. Press them when you're done.

Now lay the two pieces one on top of the other right sides together. 

At this point, I decided to round the top more. It wasn't a particularly helpful idea.

Anyway, you will now pin the edges...

...And sew the pieces together. (Note: a normal seam allowance of 1/2 inch would be fine on something larger. Because my hood was so small, I did 1/4 inch.) As this seam is around a curve, it is a little more challenging, but certainly not impossible.

To help it lay right, it's a good idea to either press the seam apart (if your hood is large enough ;) ) or trim the edge short like I did. It probably also depends on if your fabric frays a lot or not.

Trimmed edge

You have both pieces completed, so you simply need to sew them together. Start by laying the hood on the cape right sides together.

You might notice that my hood is not as wide as my cape. This is not a problem at all, and is probably normal and perfectly fine for a human-size cape.

Pin the two together and stitch them up. 

Yay! All attached and everything. It wouldn't hurt to press that seam. Now all you have left to do is decide on some way to attach your cape when you're wearing it. If your sewing machine is able to sew a button hole, by all means figure out how to use it. There are also many other types of closures out there. Some of them look really cool! However, if you pick one of those, you'll have to figure it out on your own. For this cape, I decided to do a simple ribbon tie. You could use any width ribbon, I just used what I had on hand. Cut two pieces of ribbon at the same length (long is better than too short!) Pin them on to the edges like this:

Sew along the seam that's already there, if you can. If not, don't worry about it.

I backstitched over the whole end of the ribbon a few time just to make it stronger. Do that for both sides and you're finished! Congratulations! Here are a few pictures of my finished product.

Length

From the front

With the hood up

You can't tell very well in this picture, but the hood didn't end up laying very well on top. It kind of had a point. Part of that was that my hood was a little small, but I think it was also just a bit too rounded. If it was slightly flatter on top, or even a more gradual curve, I think it would have turned out better. A little wider would've been good too.

Well, enjoy your cape! Please let me know if you have any questions, or if you tried following these directions and they worked!