arcticookami - Tumblr blog

[arcticookami]

Started feeling a lot better this weekend! Got around 350 words in on rough drafts and at least that much in prep/outlining. Managed to get to a new petal on my cross-stitch as well! Getting a bit excited to see how it looks when more colors are introduced, but that may be a while. Otherwise, it's finally getting nice and warm outside! Also, please remember to wear sunscreen-- sunburns are not fun. (I may or may not recommend this based on recent experience...) But I highly recommend getting out and getting some Vitamin D if you can! And take plenty of water with you! #writer #writingupdate #crossstitch #sun #sunscreen #water https://www.instagram.com/p/Cc26fUPs6g-/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[arcticookami]

Haven't been feeling great, so progress has been slow. The weather and increased pollen have been crazy lately. Otherwise, how's everyone out there faring? Made any progress on your projects, even if it was a small amount? #crossstitch #author #fantasyauthor #writingupdate #artist #redbubbleartist https://www.instagram.com/p/Cck_U2HsijL/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[arcticookami]

I'm sure I'm not the first to think up a phrase like this prompt, but I may or may not have liked it so much that I maybe created a design for it... that you could potentially find at my RedBubble store which you might be able to find via the link in my bio. It could also be said that I made a second Instagram account to act as a sort of gallery for my designs. Who knows, though... #writing #writer #author #prompt #writingprompt #friday #tgif #live #laugh #slaydemons https://www.instagram.com/p/CcX-ygXsqfr/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[arcticookami]

Merry Christmas Everyone!

[arcticookami]

...

[arcticookami]

Also not sure if I have any Jewish followers, but Happy Hanukkah to everyone who is!

Halloween is almost over. You know what that means!

MOTHER

FUCKIN

HANUKKAH 

SEASON

YEAH!

[arcticookami]

The side effect of listening to the His Dark Materials audio books (and eventually watching the series!) is, of course, wishing daemons were a thing.

[arcticookami]

❄️They are just chillin❄️

[arcticookami]

...

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Lolololololololol

this is incredible

[arcticookami]

Assistant to the President: Sir, there’s a crisis - somehow, we only have one copy of Pixar’s Up left in existence.

President: All right, find the person who currently owns it, and have him give it to me.

Assistant to the President: Well there’s some bad news, sir …

President: Bad news? Have him give me the DVD, I’ll copy it and post it on the Internet, problem solved!

Assistant to the President: Sir …

President: What is the bad news? What human being could be that stingy that they wouldn’t give me this movie?

Assistant to the President: His name is Rick, sir.

President: Rick?

Assistant to the President: Rick Astley, and He’s Never Gonna Give You Up.

[arcticookami]

❤❤❤

Teddi’s velcro pouch

You’ve all seen how I do a lot of whole and partial recovering of patients.  The original fur is always inside, underneath, reinforcing the new fur.  But a few months ago I had a person ask if there was any way we could make it so they could reach in and feel the original fur, without having the new fur come off.  That was Tofa Bear’s family.  We worked together and eventually made a velcro seam at Tofa Bear’s spine.  It worked so well, that I started offering it to other patients.  Teddi was the most recent and I made sure to document her so I could share her story with you. :-)

Teddi’s person wrote:

I have a small pop belly teddy I’ve have for about 45 years, and she’s not looking very good, she’s had some run ins with the dogs and has traveled to many many places. She’s in need of new eyes and a mouth, and nose, her fur is looking pretty shabby, is there any way you could help her, I’ am desperate.

Here were the diagnosis photos she sent:

You can see her replacement nose and bald spots.  What’s harder to see is that wherever she’s bald, or faded, her skin underneath is also fragile.  So her person really wanted her recovered, rather than lined.  We also agreed on a new nose, new eyes, spa, and a velcro opening at her spine to be able to touch her original fur.

Here she is starting her spa (she still has her nose and eyes because there was no need to remove them till they were being replaced):

Teddi’s person had sent a special shirt for her heart.  At some point, Teddi had visited another hospital and gotten a heartbeat and small heart, which we added with a touch of her stuffing to the new heart:

Next was fur selection.  Reddish like now or brownish like her seams, short or long.

Her person opted for longer, reddish fur, so those transplants proceeded:

She needed a shorter fur for the cream areas, and we had a great match for that.

Her person opted for brown eyes, and then chose just the right nose from five different options.  Here she is all better!

And here is her secret velcro spine pouch where you can reach her original fur:

Her person was so happy when Teddi made it home, she called to say thank you!  So… I don’t have a quote, but just know there were smiles all around. :-)

***************

And… as an added bonus to the tale, here are the before and after photos of Tofa, the pioneering velcro pouch patient, who went home back in August.  Tofa’s diagnosis photo (aka Tofa Bear Before):

Tofa after (those were his original paw pads we preserved):

and Tofa’s velcro pouch:

His family wrote:

Thank you so, so much. Thanks to you, Tofa will have another go at teddy bear life. He looks even better in person!

[arcticookami]

A <Bracket> Trick

So, a nice thing that I'm discovering about outlining is how helpful it is with getting details down.

Something that helps with that is using <brackets> for working out vague ideas in my head.

It works like this:

1. Protagonist finds <object> in a meadow.

2. Protagonist finds <shiny object> in a meadow.

3. Protagonist finds <shine object, magical?> in a meadow.

4. Protagonist finds <shiny magical bracelet> in a meadow.

5. Protagonist finds shiny, magical bracelet in a meadow.

This way, I can move along through the sentence and get out the words that I /do/ know, then work out the vaguety with words. Otherwise, I'd get stuck on that word and possibly forget the rest of what I wanted to say.

It's a little like that "Elephant" trick, except I try to be as specific as possible while not lingering on the word. Yet, if I can litterally not think of any concrete word in that moment, I'll use "<...>" and get the rest of the sentence out. It doesn't happen often, but it happens.

Of course, this isn't limited to outlining or even creative writing. It's just a little trick to help get words down.

[arcticookami]

Got an outline I want to try out.

Getting the scenes figured out, then work through the details for those scenes.

[arcticookami]

inktober#19

[arcticookami]

There are many things I love about Phryne Fisher.  One of the biggies is how much she likes and is protective of women.

[arcticookami]

...11 years...

Old opening scenes…(2007)