the wind dances with the trees: Though we've been knocked down,the sun will rise ...

the wind dances with the trees: Though we've been knocked down,
the sun will rise ...: Though we've been knocked down, the sun will rise again, friends. We will rise again.

A friend's Hurricane Sandy haiku. (I hope I'm posting this the right way.)

A Haiku

Even though I started this blog for Etsy, I just wanted to mention this here, too...

I won a poetry contest!

http://www.vcbf.ca/haiku/2012-winning-haiku

It's sort of silly, but it does accept worldwide entries, which are judged over several months by at least one real established poet. So at least it's a legitimate contest of a decent scale. Plus I suppose entries support our local Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival by "raising awareness" (definitely a silly phrase, but I digress).

This could almost bring me out of the slump I've been in since I received my last rejection letter (because I stopped submitting fiction afterwards >:P) in late 2011. But I was surprised to find that what made me happier than winning was seeing the "like"s from my former wordsmith coworkers. Of course the little thumbs on Facebook don't mean much -- I spam them all the time -- but these are people who work with words themselves, and who usually don't "like" my inconsequential Facebook posts.

My heart is warm, even if my 1-bedroom is not. ("Utilities included" my arse.)

Anyway, my 2011 entries for the haiku invitational didn't even get an honourable mention, so this year I'll be content with 2nd place.

Next year, though... ;)

Hope!

I took some new photos of my tiny geek girl today around 3 or 4 pm. Same angles, same windowsill, same point-and-shoot digital camera, but the pictures are MUCH nicer than the previous set. Lesson learnt!


Also, it feels like I've just gotten back from London -- it hasn't even been two weeks -- but I'm going on a road trip!

I made plans with the guys to drive down (or up? I have no sense of direction) to Hope for the upcoming Labour Day weekend. R. can't make it, and those who usually drop out have dropped out (haha), so it'll just be me and three of the guys. At least we'll have an empty seat for backpacks and tripods. I've added Coquihalla Canyon Provincial Park to the itinerary, so we can see the beautiful Othello Tunnels.

Raccoon took me to Hope and Hell's Gate for our first anniversary [insert joke here], but we didn't have time to hike up to the tunnels then. It's been exactly three years, but we're finally going back!


But what does this really mean? (ie. Why am I writing about a little weekend trip?)

It means I need to finish writing down everything about London before a new trip overwrites the memories in my brain. Space is limited.

I just noticed that my dress was blending into the Buckingham Palace gates

I sold a doll!!

Hand-sewn miniature mermaid doll

I've made an Etsy sale -- my first since opening shop in May! The lucky doodad is the mini mermaid art doll (only 20 cm long), unnamed, made of Japanese craft felt.

The sparkles on the tail are star-shaped

I was at first thrilled to finally sell something I designed and made (not counting a custom order from an old schoolmate... because I haven't finished it!). And then for the rest of the day, I was terrified that the recipient wouldn't like it.

It's times like these I wish I had Western (or Westernized) parents who would've pumped me full of confidence -- even if it's entirely unwarranted -- rather than beaten me down with a sense of Asian humility. :P

In any case, the package is on its way to the US now, so I'll just have to wait for feedback for the next 4 to 11 business days. Hopefully I'll also get an acceptance/rejection letter for my last short story by then, because I really, really can't help waiting for closure on one project before starting the next.

If I could write a new story and sew a new doll in the upcoming week......

Grammar Police Log #062711

A rare sunny weekend

I had finally decided to take a shot at my first short story contest with an entry fee. Until now, the only contest I've entered that has required a fee was a drawing contest held by a club at my university. And it doesn't get more legitimate than that, does it?

Since I joined the mailing list for this writing contest, however, I've been receiving frequent emails from the site owner and judge, full of more prompts to enter the contest than the promised writing tips.

He came off as too much of a hard-sell for his contest, so I started Googling. Now, maybe I'm just paranoid, but though there doesn't seem to be anything negative -- anything at all, really -- on his contest (at least, not buried among the search results), it still smells like a scam to me.

Maybe it's because the results are flooded with his posts on "free article" websites and the occasional forum -- basically all promotions for his contest, in the guise of short story writing tips.

Maybe it's because his name doesn't show up on any academic websites. This means he's either using a pen name (though it seems to make sense to use your real name if you're claiming to be a PhD holder and university instructor) or just one of those individuals who pay to host a lecture/workshop at a university and, from then on, claim to be "a ___ University instructor". It's actually a very common ploy, since a lot of people do not know that universities rent out lecture space to pretty much anyone not promoting hate crime.

Or maybe it's because I read some of his articles and forum posts, and it looks like he doesn't know the difference between an en dash and an em dash. Hmm.

Time Drain

Sax x pink clay cupcake necklace

The next post will start with a non-craft-related photo, I promise.

Etsy is really eating up a lot of my time, even though -- or precisely because -- it's just a hobby and not my day job. If you procrastinate, too, you may have the same problem. That is, I always find myself working hard at whatever is second on the to-do list.

Back in university, I always avoided writing papers until the day before they were due (or even later...). If I tried to sit down and write a paper ahead of time, I always ended up doing a month's worth of laundry, or tackling a piece of freelance work, or anything else (1) that would've been top priority until then and (2) that I'd been consistently putting off until then.

So for the past two days, I've been hand-sewing a little felt camel instead of working on my entry for a short story contest closing in one week.

It (the camel, not the story) is turning out quite well. It will have the tiniest stitches ever, with lovely chains of beads and floral fabric all over, inspired by old Persian fairytales.

At least it's productive escapism.

Hand-Mind Co-ordination

Denim flower hair elastic

Spent a lovely day watching The Ricky Gervais Show with Raccoon while sewing a huge strawberry plush for my now two-year-old niece. Just need to pop the leaves on now.

I made the above flower last night after finally getting away from the computer... and sitting down in front of the TV, with a movie on. At least it turned out quite nicely, even if the pale blue tulle petals disappeared into the white background. I'm starting to think I'm one of the few 20-somethings around who are not into photography at all.

The corsage also balances out my Etsy shop a bit, because the offerings were getting too cutesy. For some reason, there's always a gap between what I like and what I produce. I have a pretty distinct style/taste and am fairly good with my hands, so I don't know why my brain likes this stuff and my hands make, for example, this.

In the same way, I'd read Dickens or Gaiman all day, and write, well, possibly the most uneventful short stories ever. And let's not even get into the Mozart and Ravel I love vs. the tuneless wailing that comes out of my mouth...

First Post

Clay finger puppet and bead rings, all handmade by me

Today I received my second rejection letter ever. It was for a short story (sci-fi). The previous was for a non-English piece of flash fiction submitted to a newspaper.

Of course I made excuses (I can't write well in other languages; it was only my first attempt at science fiction) but it's still pretty terrible. Two doesn't sound like that many, but I only quit my last office job (in editing and copywriting) five months ago, and have been spending much of this time reading, taking ballet class 2 to 3 times a week, doing crafts...

and not writing enough.

So I hope that starting this blog will motivate me to do more with each day, and most of all, distract me from the rejection slips.

On a happier note, the bunny finger puppet I've been using as my Etsy avatar (sloppily pasted over my face in a photo :P) has lured in a potential first buyer! I hope to make this bunny a friend very soon.