Polymer Clay Lessons

Ali was nice enough to spend most of her Saturday teaching Nicole and me how to work with polymer clay. We set up two manual pasta machines and lined the table with wax paper. Then we grabbed some clay and started working.

First you condition the clay. That means either kneading it by hand until it's the right consistency or running it through the pasta machine. Usually a little of both. And we blended colors. And rolled beads. And talked. And ate. And baked the beads. And played with Sherman. It was a great time.

What was funny was how some of the lessons of working with polymer relate to life in general and writing in particular. I want to use them in the Bennie books. The one I'll share here is:

It's always important to chill a while.

Nicole made some beautiful dark beads with spots of royal blue. Some had flecks of silver leaf. She'll have a knock-out set when she's done. Ali made all kinds of wonderful things while we worked. She even gifted me with some pinkish marbled beads that go with the green and pink beads I made. I also made green and fuschia for a different set.

Of course, I don't have pictures yet. But I will when they're put together. Promise.

Thanks to Ali and Nicole for on of the best Saturdays I've had in a while.

Not So Cozy

I just finished reading Stalking The Angel by Robert Crais. Great book. Even more, great second book. There appears to be no Sophomore Slump here. The pacing, characters, dialogue, plot and humor of The Monkey's Raincoat did not fade.

At the Pirate meeting on Monday, I talked about the book. That I really enjoyed it. And I talked about finding a series of cozies called the Home Improvement Can Be Murder series. That's right. A series of mysteries centered around a woman who is renovating a Victorian house. I have to admit being taken aback. But Shane said, "Write yours better." Then Jenny said, "Yours isn't really cozy anyway. And you can go less cozy."

Good points. My protagonist is a man who does this as a job. It is a cozy, by broad definition. But it certainly isn't what most people think of when you say cozy. Surprise, right? That someone with my personality isn't writing about a wooly-headed old woman who busybodies her way into solving a murder?

I think that this revelation will help with my own renovations of my book. That's the great thing about the Pirates.

Goal-less

It is hard for me to start a month without any goals. But I think that's what I'm going to have to do. Just let things keep simmering. Keep reading. Only write if I can't stand not writing. And do a little more research.

And complete the UGWP critiques. Almost forgot about those.

Ali is hosting a polymer class later in the month which should be a lot of fun. Other then that, I have no plans.

Scary.