Star Wars Finger Puppet Templates

Now for something completely different.

We saw these Star Wars felt finger puppets a few weeks back, though they were posted to Make and Takes website a few years ago. Simple felt finger puppets using basic shapes and easy to put together.

Of course, once we sat down to start working on them, I wanted to come up with a faster/more efficient way of cutting out the felt pieces. That got me hand drawing which rapidly turned into an Inkscape project because I knew I could reuse elements.

It spiraled out of control.

Once I had gotten all the felt templates done, I realized just how far I had gone and knew it would take us a while to get the puppets made, but the troops were getting restless. So, I took the templates and turned them into printable/colorable pages that could be used to make finger puppets out of paper.

Huge hit and it gave us time to get the felt ones in work.

So, all the templates have been compiled into a downloadable PDF – felt template, a color printable, and a black-and-white printable for coloring.

Included in Volume 1 are Luke Skywalker, Obi-wan Kenobi, Princess Leia, Han Solo, Darth Vader, and Yoda.

Star Wars Finger Puppets vol 1

More will be coming soon as I’ve already been asked for Darth Maul and R2D2 and C3PO.

The Writing Process – A Blog-Hop Post

Tag! I’m it.

This post is about my current writing process and the work that my process is both forming and informing. The idea is courtesy of M. A. Chiappetta. She and the ladies at Purple Ink Writers started this blog-hop with the intention of getting some discussion going about the writing process and the things that we writers are working on right now. I want to thank Michele and company for tagging me as part of the hop and hope that it can provide some insight and exposure for me as I continue my work.

They came up with four questions to answer and explore for this post, so without further intro, let’s jump in. Continue reading “The Writing Process – A Blog-Hop Post” →

My Review of Classic Messenger Bag 2014

Originally submitted at Timbuk2

The original Timbuk2 messenger improved by 25 years of expertise.

Classic Messenger Bag 2014

Great Bag with Great Customer Service

By G-squared from Tulsa, OK on 5/1/2014

Pros: Durable , Attractive, Comfortable , Roomy , Lightweight , High Quality, Good Strap Length

Cons: Quality Escape

Best Uses: Airplane travel , Commuting, Computer, Extended trips , Office

Describe Yourself: Practical, Comfort-Oriented, Career, Modern

Was this a gift?: No

tl;dr – great bag, good size, great strap, and supremely AWESOME customer service.

I LOVE nearly everything about this bag and the two gripes I had I’ve found fixes for. I got the Medium size in Dusk Blue with Surf Strip. I love the color; works well in professional environments with just a hint of fun due to the three-color straps. I’ve gotten a ton of compliments.

The new compression strap layout is so nice – keeps the bag small on light-load days and I love that I can stash my jacket under the bag on days when I don’t have space for it on the inside. The clips being under the flap looks very nice, but you do have the trade-off of it being not as fast to open. I prefer the 2014 look, but be aware that the clips are harder to get at. Not much, but noticeable.

I love the organizational panel layout, though I would make them just a bit deeper to handle pens better.

I love the size – perfect for carrying my work laptop around, lunch, books, and all my other EDC; it should go without saying that the side pocket (Napoleon pocket) is one of the best designs on a messenger bag. It just works.

I did have a small quality issue – the zipper toggle on the Napoleon pocket slipped free. I can see how the design is supposed to work and I think the shrink wrap wasn’t quite far enough up on the zipper to keep it from slipping off. I was able to re-thread the toggle and moved the wrap higher onto the zipper. A quick hit with the hot air gun and FIXED.

I cannot say enough good things about the strap adjuster cam – it is inspired design and engineering. I was nervous that it would bind or require a lot of effort to move. But it is nearly frictionless. Again, it just works. I love it. And because it is so easy to adjust, I have a new method for carrying the bag – adjust the strap to its shortest length, and then I can quickly grab the bag from my car and sling it over my shoulder like a backpack when you only use one strap. If I’m just walking from driveway to house, this is the easiest and fastest way to carry the bag.

When I carry the bag “normally” across my chest, everything is very comfortable. It took me a couple of tries to figure out exactly how the bag was supposed to hang, but now, it’s effortless. The cross-strap works well, though it does cause the main strap to bunch a little. The default strap pad is nice and comfortable; I’d like to test a bit more before calling it perfect, but for my day to day use, it is very nice.

The internal water bottle pockets are great, keeping everything upright and water-free. The medium sized bag is just slightly too short for my preferred Klean Kanteen 27oz bottle with a sport cap. With the flat cap, I think it would be fine. An 18oz fits perfectly, so for the short term, I’ve switched to that, but plan on getting the flat cap for my 27oz. Not a ding against the bag, just a trade-off.

I did have two gripes, both concerning the cross-strap.

1) The elastic band that is used to capture the tail is basically worthless – it holds the tail out of the way only in the most simplistic of cases. But, I fixed that. I ordered a 3/4″ thin bar slide online (Google it). Works SO much better, though it was a bit tricky to install; FIXED.

2) When I’m not using the cross-strap, the way it hangs annoys me, gets hung up on things, or nearly caught in my car door. However, Timbuk2 customer service rep Antonio absolutely made my day. I suggested that they make the female end of the cross-strap (the part that goes on the main strap) available for people to attach to the other cross-strap point on the bag to serve as a storage anchor. He agreed and is sending me one, no charge. AWESOME policy. Well done Timbuk2. Once that’s installed, I’ll just clip the cross-strap into that to keep it of the way. So, also FIXED.

(legalese)

Story Structure Analysis – Aladdin (film – 1992)

UPDATE 2019: With the release of the live-action remake of Aladdin in the summer of 2019, this older post has seen a lot more traffic, I think from people looking for reviews and information about that new re-make. If that describes you, you can find my reaction to the new film here. But a lot of that reaction is based upon how I understand and enjoy the original animated film, so you might as well read the post here too. 🙂 – GMG

Been a while with life getting in the way, but here is the first story structure analysis that I’m going to post – Disney’s Aladdin.

Now, I haven’t seen this film for a long time, but found myself thinking through it a lot over the last day and figured it was time to get this train rolling.

Continue reading →

Story Structure Analysis – (or How I Plan to Keep Learning)

I am continually looking for ways to improve my craft of writing.

One of the things I am most grateful for when trying to write is that I always have new ideas. They’ve even started coming in my dreams, which honestly I find very freaky as I’ve never really gotten anything useful out of my dreams except entertainment, but that might be another blog post. But it is becoming easier to come up with stories and easier to find ways to change little story seeds into stories.

And one of the things that I think has helped is slowly gaining an understanding of story structure and it’s impact on telling a good story.

Maybe it’s the old adage, “When all you have is a hammer, all the world looks like a nail,” or of finding an application for new knowledge, but story structure has become my new way of understanding stories that I like.

My craft learning goal is to spend some time actively deconstructing stories that I like into the story structures I’m more familiar with. Thus far, that’s the 7-point Structure (Dan Wells did an awesome presentation on this), Dan Harmon’s Story Circle, and the Hollywood Formula as related by Lou Anders on the Writing Excuses Podcast.

I’m going to take a story or film that I enjoy and break it down using these elements to try and better understand what it is that I like about them. Hopefully, that will translate into a better ability to apply it to my own writing, both in outlining and revision.

Winner, Winner – Just wish it was chicken dinner

July came and went and boy was it busy. 26,000 words in on How to Kill a Cyborg. That puts me just past halfway in the story, so looks like it will be shaping up to be a shorter piece. But that also means I reached my stated goal of 25,000! So another win for Camp NaNo! Yes, it’s not like last November, but every time I buckle down it seems I’m able to get something done that I didn’t think I could. There might be a life lesson in that somewhere. 😉

Re-reads on Betrayed went well and I’ve started rewrites I think the nicest thing that happened to me while writing last month was getting to the last 5 chapters of Betrayed and realizing that I wasn’t reading for content, but for pleasure. It’s such a heartening feeling to re-read your own work and not be utterly horrified by it. Plenty of typos to be sure (how did I miss SO MANY?) but the story still speaks to me and that’s got to be a good sign.

And now off to my next adventure – I think I have a problem. I committed to writing a series of radio-style mini-plays that will be produced by my friend Nathan Christensen for a set of performances he’s arranged with the city of Collinsville.

And I am so nervous.

I’ve tried to behave of myself as a writer, to act and think as one, to “fake it till I make it,” but now the rubber really hits the road. I have to produce something on a deadline and I have to do it under pressure and it’s going to be performed live.

Ah!!!!!!

I am both super scared I’m going to fail miserably and super excited to see something I’ve written performed for an audience. There’s this fine line of confidence and fear that I seem to constantly walk when I take on a new writing challenge. But I have a story idea and I have a plan. Now it’s just a case of sitting down and working it out.

Whew! Writing is hard work.

Camp, Class, and Crunch – July is Going to Be Interesting

Camp NaNoWriMo’s next session starts in just a few weeks and I’m looking forward to another chance to explore another of my narrative musings. April’s session was very good from a “let’s see if I can pants my way through this” as well as a chance to explore romantic writing as a future path. The good news is that I learned a lot from it. But, at least at this point, it’s a story I won’t be coming back to. While I consider what I did in April to be a full draft, there just isn’t enough interest in it for me to go back and fix all that I know is wrong with it.

This session though, I am going to enjoy – I start work on How to Kill a Cyborg. I’ve been playing with some things things I have been learning and I am really looking forward to my sci-fi police procedural/murder mystery. How ’bout that for a genre? Here’s the blurb I entered on Camp NaNo synopsis section (I’m still not sure “who done it” and I need to add some more about how the cyborg community reacts to her investigation, but I think the kernel of the story works):

Detective Elizabeth “Frankie” Franklin just wants a vacation. She’s been working straight through for two years since joining the homicide division and vlogging her cases to help keep the department’s budget in check has just made it all the harder to get away. She’s finally made time for a Mexican cruise with her husband when she gets called in on a case that requires her particular skills in police work and electronics. A leading member of the cyborg community has been strangled, but none of his sensors showed anyone nearby. With tens of thousands of dollars of augmentation added to his body, no one should have been able to get close enough harm him without leaving a record.

In a completely separate event (but going to be related for me) I’m super-excited to be a part of Brandon Sanderson’s online creative writing class being run by Write About Dragons. I’ve been looking at the site recently and I think they’ve got some good things going. Hopefully, it will all come together because I want to synergize the NaNo camp with the class – same book for each event and use some immediate feedback to help focus the story and my own efforts.

And last is the crunch – I’m halfway through my re-read of Betrayed and have decided that there is a pretty big chunk of structure missing at about the midway point. Easy to fix, but it has been so helpful to read it again after some time off and see it afresh. But that means re-writes will be starting…you guessed it…in July,

So lots of writing to be done.

Wall of Awesomeness, Here I Come

At least I hope I come.

I’ve decided that one of the best ways to help me on my path in being a writer is to write.

Honestly, I’m amazed I even have to put that down, but I know that it is true. Many people like the idea of being a writer, just like many people like the idea of being a famous musician or being a talented artist or becoming the President of the United States. But forget to actually put in the work to become such.

I don’t want to be that kind of person. I want to write and I’m willing to put the time in, at least I hope I am.

I’ve committed to my next monthly challenge for writing, one designed to ensure that I write everyday. NaNo’s are great for getting books written, but I am learning that a big prerequisite for my own success is doing something with consistency. Everyday. No exceptions.

So, I’ve committed to do 750words.com 30 day challenge for the month of May. 30 days, no misses, 750 words minimum, each day.

Success is me getting my name on the Wall of Awesomeness on the site.

Success is also me using this as a way to generate more story ideas, so I want to get at least one new story idea a week.

Finally, success is improving my typing accuracy and speed as part of the package.

Any one care to join me?

Haha! Another Challenge Done

Another month up and another writing challenge down, though this one was not nearly as bad as the last one.

Camp Nanowrimo for April is officially over with 23,000 words drafted on my next novel, Princess Charmed of a goal of 22,000. The book isn’t a complete draft and I’ve got my work cut out for myself fixing it, but I think I’ve got down what I wanted.

The greatest part though were the cabin mates that I had, people out to write, just like me. What a fun and amazing group. Seriously. They were great and now I’m looking forward to linking up with them come July for the next round of Camp NaNo.

So to juodakate, Diana Doerr, and Salathielly – super congrats!

750Words.com – or Building the Habit

I keep seeing as I read about professional (and successful) writers that one of the most important things that changed the way that they write is the idea of writing every day. (See Cory Doctrow interview or Jerry Seinfeld’s Don’t Break the Chain).

So, with doing Camp NaNoWriMo this month and having to relearn AGAIN how to force myself to write every day, I realized I needed something to help motivate me to keep going once the month is done. (And to motivate me during the month too – I’ve already had too many days that I’ve missed as part of this new novel that has put me a bit behind the 8-ball from a word count standpoint).

So, I went back to a website I had looked at before, but just hadn’t warmed up. 750words.com The goal – write a minimum of 750 words every day – “Private, unfiltered, spontaneous, daily” is their tag line.

Just thinking about it again was enough to put me off. Mostly, I think, due to the fact that it was going to ask me to write everyday, no exceptions. Forced, like NaNo, but without the reward. That didn’t seem very appealing. Another thing to feel guilty about not doing.

But having missed the weekend again and falling behind, I wanted to leverage this idea of writing every day to help me out. I wanted multiple things pushing me on.

I signed up three days ago.

That makes me both happy and scared. Happy because since doing it, I’ve gotten all my words in. I’m on a streak. It takes me less than 20min to get all my words in and I can just crash through like I don’t care. No editing, no corrections. Just writing.

It sucks, but in the best way possible.

Let me explain. I have absolutely no problem stream-of-consciousness-vomiting all over a page. Writing at the speed of thought is not too hard for me. It’s the organizing of the thought before that is the issue, specifically drafting a novel. I have this idea of where I want it to go, so I’m constantly trying to push myself down that path. But that involves more thought.

If I’ve had a chance to really sit down and plan out a chapter, really see it all in my head, the words flow. The problem? I rarely get that kind of time and I need to get the words out regardless.

So a measly 734 words a day for my Camp NaNo goal takes an hour or more. Ouch. But when I’m just putting words down on the page, that takes less than 20 minutes. Hmm… I don’t want to duplicate effort. I don’t want to do 750 words of crap words and then still have to do novel drafting.

So yesterday and today, I tried to draft in 750words.com. Yesterday was brutal. I had no flow at all. But today was completely different. I was working on another scene that I haven’t really thought about at all. And I just started to write in my characters voice. For the briefest of moments, I was scared that it was all going to be a waste. I could feel the words restricting in my head.

And then a single question popped into my mind. “What if?” it postulated. And I was off. Nineteen minutes later I had 822 words, all draft worthy material, and I was starting to claw back from being behind.

What I have always needed for my habits is consistency And I really hope that 750words.com gives me that needed shot.