Another Writer's Game

My other critique partner had a birthday recently. So, I decided to make her the figurines for her own game - Wendyopoly.  My daughter helped with the figurines. I didn't have time to make them all (two to go, plus one I need to remake.... see below for the headless farmer!) And, I still need to make the game board. Any suggestions for rules to a game for a writer?

Here are all of them together.  I think the tallest is about 2". They are made out of polymer clay. A few have some chalks for coloring...

 A bat (my daughter says it looks like a piece of candy.)

 My rendition of a fat English bulldog.

 Cookies, yum!

 Not as obvious... banana bread,

 This one is supposed to be a tiger.

 A dandelion with a ladybug... I made the dandelion by rolling out a thin strip of yellow clay, then cutting almost all the way down in 1/8" (1/16th?) sections. Then, I rolled it up and fanned them out.

A type of mandarin orange tree

This is a border collie. I had a lot of trouble with it. At first, it looked like a calf! Not totally happy with it, but I think you can tell it's a dog now?!

A topiary tree

Ok, here's the headless farmer. What happened? The first time I baked it, the head fell off and the body fell forward, bending the feet. But the head still looked really good. So, I made another body, put the head on (secured with a toothpick this time) and baked it. Unfortunately, the extra baking time cracked his face! Now, I have to make the whole thing over again.

 This one didn't have anything to do with Wendy's books, but my daughter just wanted to make a figurine for Wendy for her birthday :-)

Colossians 3:23 "And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men..."

Writer's Game

Recently, a friend/critique partner of mine Shelley Jones, received her Master's degree in writing - an MFA.  To celebrate, my daughter and I made clay figures and a game which included characters, places, and objects from ten of her manuscripts which I had critiqued.

Instead of "jail," we made "the Slush Pile," and to correspond, "Get out of the Slush Pile."

We watched YouTube videos to see how to make some of the figurines. For the woodpecker, I looked up the type of woodpecker from her book and then formed my own rendition. The brand of clay we used is Sculpey.

The candies for this little Halloween basket were tiny. The person who made the YouTube video tutorial also supplied the file to print the "candy wrappers."

For this chocolate pie, a bottle cap is the pie tin!

I look forward to the day Shelley's books are in stores and I can say, "I knew they would get published!"  I love her "voice" and she'll have a corner market on "boy books."

Luke 27: He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.'"

Name that Book! Spring is Here

Spring has arrived at the farm. Turtles and a buzzard showed up yesterday on the first day of spring.  Today, I made a 30-second video using Tellagami.  Name that book is the question at the beginning.  After I stop talking, turn up your speakers and you will "hear" spring:  woodpeckers, robins, blackbirds, etc.

Feel free to give the answer in the comments.

Mark 4: 26-27 "A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how."

PatriciaMillerBooks Welcome Video

Using what I learned from Katie Davis' Video Idiot Bootcamp, I made my own Welcome Video.
I included photos of the farm, my writing cabin, and some things I like to write about. There are also gamboling lambs :)

Enjoy!

1 Cor 10:31 "...whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."

Wendy Henrichs I AM TAMA book trailer

Here's another picture book trailer I made for my friend Wendy Henrichs. The illustrator is Yoshiko Jaeggi and the publisher is Peachtree Publishers.

Wendy Henrichs WHEN ANJU LOVED BEING AN ELEPHANT trailer

Last November, I took Katie Davis' online course, Video Idiot Bootcamp.   In that last few weeks, I made my first video, a book trailer for my friend, Wendy Henrichs' book, WHEN ANJU LOVED BEING AN ELEPHANT.

If you like it, please click on the thumbs up.  If you don't, email me!

Psalm 24:1-2 "The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it on the seas and established it on the waters."

Teachable Moments

A great advantage to homeschooling is having opportunities for extra teachable moments.
On the drive to take my son to work, I saw a woman, perhaps in her 80's, struggling to rake the leaves in her yard.  After dropping my son off at work, I stopped and asked if we (my daughter and I) could help.

Yes!

I quickly raked up the other half of her yard and filled two huge garbage bags with the leaves. Meanwhile, my 8 y.o.  willingly raked the sidewalk and the dwindling piles.  The woman asked me to stop after the second bag because she didn't have money to pay me.

No, no, no! That wasn't the point!

I told her I appreciated the opportunity to show my daughter that some things we do just because it's the right thing to do. I also told her that I hoped my MIL's neighbor-kids would help her.

All of the above only took 25 minutes - not a significant part of our day.  However, the warmth of having done a random act of kindness is still with us.

Colossians 3: 23-24 "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving."