Showing posts with label Tarot. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tarot. Show all posts
Saturday, April 18, 2015
Tarot Interactions
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Tools Update 2012
I've been working on the next chapter of Bluebottle Tree. It's not quite ready yet. I admit, I'm a self diagnosed A.D.O.L.S. sufferer.
That would be "Attention Deficit, Oh Look, Shiny!"
I heard it first from a patron out at Sherwood Forest Faire, and it seemed to fit me well!
As does the picture above, no doubt.
At any rate, I thought I would post an update on one of my earliest posts about writing tools. (April 8, 2010).
I'm still regularly using the yWriter5 program I mentioned before. It's a dandy. I'm also enjoying the Tarot procedures for plotting from Tarot for Writers, by Corinne Kenner. Good tools, both. Everything I said about all the tools in that previous post are still valid. Go back and check it out if you wish.
Another of those, Celtx, has recently updated and it is getting better and better for all sorts of writing. I still use Celtx for writing play scripts, but it has tools for most varieties of writing now.
As you may know, I'm all about "free" tools. One I just found is Zen Writer. If you just want to sit down and write, and not bother with bells and whistles and other distractions, Zen Writer is wonderful. It is a simple, uncluttered, word processor. Zen aptly describes it. The screen is very uncluttered, with a few very restful choices for background image, and a few really soothing musical pieces to accompany. I like it a lot. In fact, I copied the songs over to my music program (Windows Media Player) and included them in my "writing" playlist. I haven't found the exact niche for the program itself in my toolbox, but I will, it's just that good.It can be easily installed to a flash drive, so it's readily available to any machine I use.
One more tool I don't think I ever mentioned is a Meetup Group.
This one is in Austin, called "Sit Down, Shut Up, and Write!" Check your own area for Meetups like this. It's very good.
The premise is simple, as you can see from the link. A group of writers bring their projects and writing tools, show up at a coffee shop or other location at a specified time. They visit for half- hour or so, then at the agreed time they write for an hour solid without interruption.
It's pretty cool to have this enforced writing time to do the work and be in company of other writers at the same time. I went to several and enjoyed it. It's a trip into Austin for me, though, so it's not really practical if we're not going into town anyway. Ideally, of course, you can make this sort of writing date with yourself at home. It's always easier to leave home and go somewhere else. Fewer interruptions and distractions.
Speaking of Meetups, the local Austin Writer's service company Write By Night has opened their facilities to a regular session of a similar nature. They call the Meetup "Write Here". They offer all the benefits of working in a coffee shop but quieter surroundings and their own writing library.
I haven't tried it yet, but it sounds great! Check it out.
Okay, back to work!
Monday, April 25, 2011
Cat Dancing's Tarot
The cards are shuffled
and turned
face up,
one by one.
Hierophant here, Lovers there
and the Tower over here.
Cat examines each
and tells what she sees
as she unfolds
the road map
of my soul.
And points out
for me
the detours
that
may lead me astray.
Or the path
that may lead to
my heart’s desire.
Some of the signs
are there
for all travelers to see
others
are hidden
and require
illumination!
(p.s. Read Cat's own blog at http://tarotbycatdancing.blogspot.com/ )
Friday, August 13, 2010
Writing Tools: Redux. And Vampires, Oh My!
A while back I wrote here about my writing tools, including some software I use. I just found another free software program that seems promising. I haven't tried it yet, since I don't want to divert myself too much from ongoing projects. Perhaps I will start a new one on it soon and give it a try. However, if you want to check it out for yourself, it is called Storybook. As I said, it is free, open source, software, but it has a lot of great points to recommend it. Here's a quote from the site: "Storybook is a free (open source) novel-writing tool for creative writers, novelists and authors which will help you to keep an overview of multiple plot-lines while writing books, novels or other written works." Your computer needs to have a recent version of Java on it as well, but you can get it from the same site as well if you don't have it. If you try it out before I do, let me know how it works.
My current tools are still working pretty well. My mystery novel, code named "Bluebottle", is going pretty good, I had a slight breakthrough on the plotting today. I've done a little recently on my dotty vampire play as well.
Speaking of vampires. My friend Silas just gave me an early birthday present. He brought in a deck of tarot cards called "The Vampire Tarot", by Robert M. Place. The deck draws heavily from the basic Bram Stoker "Dracula" novel, but there is a touch of other things in there as well. Nosferatu makes an appearance, as does Edgar Allen Poe. It's really pretty nice. I'll keep it handy as I work on the play. (Working title: "Quiche of the Vampire".)
My current tools are still working pretty well. My mystery novel, code named "Bluebottle", is going pretty good, I had a slight breakthrough on the plotting today. I've done a little recently on my dotty vampire play as well.
Speaking of vampires. My friend Silas just gave me an early birthday present. He brought in a deck of tarot cards called "The Vampire Tarot", by Robert M. Place. The deck draws heavily from the basic Bram Stoker "Dracula" novel, but there is a touch of other things in there as well. Nosferatu makes an appearance, as does Edgar Allen Poe. It's really pretty nice. I'll keep it handy as I work on the play. (Working title: "Quiche of the Vampire".)
Friday, May 21, 2010
Outlining by Tarot
So, here I am. I have three bonafide writing projects going, and a couple more in stasis. All have found new life partly because of some very nice usable writing software I've reported on before. All three main projects are also now nominally outlined, at least as much if not more than I have ever done in the past, using my tarot tool.
Here's how it works. Some knowledge of the tarot in general is helpful, but not critical. I have been taking classes from my tarot-teacher partner, Cat Dancing, and it has been a great help. The information is available in a lot of places, however. I'll give some basics below. For the most part this is directed only at using the tarot as a writing tool. Reading the tarot is a whole different subject!
If you know nothing yet about the tarot, think of a deck of regular playing cards. Usually, the court cards have pictures of the king, queen, jack. The numbered cards only have groupings of the suit, 5 clubs, 3 hearts, etc. A "standard" tarot deck has those same cards with two big differences. The suits are swords, cups, pentacles, and wands. Also, the court cards have one more character with king, queen, knight, page. This group of cards in a tarot deck are called the minor trumps. In addition, the tarot deck includes major trumps, a group of twenty two other cards including: The Fool, The Lovers, The Sun, and so on.
I have a lot of tarot decks. Most came from garage sales, personal gifts, and the local Half Price Books store. I used to collect the decks just for the art. Only a few do I actually read with, and not all would be much help for writing purposes. One of the best basic decks for this would be the standard Rider - Waite - Smith deck. (Let's call it the RWS for short) This one can be found almost anywhere. The selling point for this deck is that every card is illustrated with a scene. Some of the decks available only show the groups of each suit, much like those playing cards. The RWS deck, as I said, has a scene for each card. It is this that can give a new tarot reader, as well as a writer, some clues on meanings of cards. I would consider the RWS deck the basic deck for this, although there are several newer decks derived from that one that may speak to different writers even more clearly. One that I currently like is the Cosmic Tarot, by Norbert Losche. (U.S. Games). The characters appearing in this deck seem vaguely familiar, as if they were based on various classic film stars. This goes a long way for me in suggesting characters. Another interesting one is the "Flash Card Tarot" by Linda Nadeau. This deck has some rather unusual but often useful illustrations on one side, and the meanings and description on the back. It can be a useful imagination spark.
Now that you have your deck. You need some way to interpret the cards. First, try just studying each card, see what it suggests to you. Your first and best guide is your own intuition! Most decks come with their own little book, sometimes a big book, that explains the meanings. Let that be your second resource. Not everything listed in the card descriptions will be useful in your writing, but some will suggest ideas to you. There are many other books online and in print that give card information. The ultimate would be "Tarot for Writers" by Corinne Kenner. (See my link below). Ms. Kenner describes each card and what is useful for the writer, as well as giving many useful "spreads" or layouts to use. Corinne Kenner also has a useful companion book, "Tarot Journaling" that is just that, using the tarot to journal more effectively.
Now that we have those basics out of the way. Here is how I use the cards:
1. Outlining a book - Give some thought to what you intend to do. Let's say you want to pick a card for each division of the planned work. This might be chapters for a book, scenes for a play, perhaps steps in the journey. Come up with a usable number. I like to think it chapters, if I am working on a book. Forty-four is a sort of average number of chapters for many novels.
Shuffle the cards a number of times. Seven times is supposed to guarantee randomness. I personally shuffle three times, cut, then shuffle one more time. People draw cards in various ways. I like to just deal off the top of the deck in the order they are in. If we are outlining forty-four chapters, deal the cards out face up one by one in four rows of eleven.
Some of the cards will be upright, some may be reversed. If we want added complexity, we can take the reverses into account, or we can simply see them all as upright. Make a list of the cards. I use the novel software I'm using (yWriter5 in this case) and note the card into each chapter notes. As you note each card, notice anything that catches your attention about the card that may indicate character, or plot, or setting, anything, and write that down as well. You might then look up each card in one of those books or resources and make additional notes.
It may be that some of the chapters thus laid out may need to be re-arranged for better flow. It's okay to do that. You can even discard cards that don't seem to work, and draw new ones. The tarot police won't care. This is your tool, you use it however works best for you. In my initial layout for my mystery novel, the first card drawn didn't really work for me as first chapter, however, I put is aside as an indicator of overall story, and used the second card as first chapter, and the rest fell into place pretty well. Don't be afraid to deviate. This is just a starting place, idea material. Once you have the larger divisions, the chapters, laid out in this manner, you may want to re-shuffle and draw cards for minor divisions, like scenes. It's all up to you. As for meanings, you can be literal, or imaginative. The Death card may mean a literal death, in your story, or it may be a major transition of some sort. The Fool can mean an innocent stumbling into the scene, or it might be time to look at things from a fresh point of view, to use "beginner mind" as the Zen teachers put it.
2. Character - You can draw cards to help define your characters, maybe even suggest names (with some imagination.) The court cards are most helpful for this, although any of the other cards can also suggest characters, or the character's traits. As you make a bio for your characters, use the tarot to suggest entries for those areas that aren't clear to you yet, background, habits, goals, that sort of thing. Simplest would be one card for one item, see what it suggests. Many times I use a 3 card spread. I do the usual shuffle, cut the deck somewhere near the center. The top card in the exposed half is the middle card. The card just below it is the third card, and the card that was just above it is the first card in the three card row. These three can mean many things, but I usually rank them in some sort of past, present, future context about whatever I'm getting a reading on. I just pulled three cards in this fashion. The Hermit, Justice, and the Chariot. I'm using the Cosmic Tarot deck. The Hermit shows a mystical guru type, almost a stereotypical hippy, sitting in the night near a lantern. A seeker. Also someone to seek out for knowledge, perhaps. Justice shows a woman with a crown between night and day. Scales of balance are in front of her, she sees truth. The Chariot shows a chariot, pulled by two wild horses, one black, one white, being driven by a kingly figure away from a castle. What might this mean to you? Perhaps it is a character, loner type, with a non-traditional education, seeks justice as society dictates, but is trampled by the established justice system.
3. Series - I projected my mystery novel into a series of novels with the same protagonist and settings. I spent a lot of enjoyable time inventing his hometown, and peopling it with interesting characters, why not make further use of it all? Besides, as I did all that background, I came up with a few ideas of other stories to tell. So, I thought, how about twelve books ? I did a twelve card layout similar to the "chapter" spread above. I let each card represent a book. Interestingly, the stories I had already thought of fit rather well into one of the twelve topics. In some cases titles were even suggested by the cards and the imagined situation. So, now I have a rough outline of where the whole series is going. That's good to have for any kind of series character.
For instance, The Hanged Man card came up. One of my ideas was a mystery involving genealogy. Bingo! Another card was the Wheel of Fortune. Ready made spot for something about the lottery!
These three techniques can give you a starting place. Enjoy!
Here's how it works. Some knowledge of the tarot in general is helpful, but not critical. I have been taking classes from my tarot-teacher partner, Cat Dancing, and it has been a great help. The information is available in a lot of places, however. I'll give some basics below. For the most part this is directed only at using the tarot as a writing tool. Reading the tarot is a whole different subject!
If you know nothing yet about the tarot, think of a deck of regular playing cards. Usually, the court cards have pictures of the king, queen, jack. The numbered cards only have groupings of the suit, 5 clubs, 3 hearts, etc. A "standard" tarot deck has those same cards with two big differences. The suits are swords, cups, pentacles, and wands. Also, the court cards have one more character with king, queen, knight, page. This group of cards in a tarot deck are called the minor trumps. In addition, the tarot deck includes major trumps, a group of twenty two other cards including: The Fool, The Lovers, The Sun, and so on.
I have a lot of tarot decks. Most came from garage sales, personal gifts, and the local Half Price Books store. I used to collect the decks just for the art. Only a few do I actually read with, and not all would be much help for writing purposes. One of the best basic decks for this would be the standard Rider - Waite - Smith deck. (Let's call it the RWS for short) This one can be found almost anywhere. The selling point for this deck is that every card is illustrated with a scene. Some of the decks available only show the groups of each suit, much like those playing cards. The RWS deck, as I said, has a scene for each card. It is this that can give a new tarot reader, as well as a writer, some clues on meanings of cards. I would consider the RWS deck the basic deck for this, although there are several newer decks derived from that one that may speak to different writers even more clearly. One that I currently like is the Cosmic Tarot, by Norbert Losche. (U.S. Games). The characters appearing in this deck seem vaguely familiar, as if they were based on various classic film stars. This goes a long way for me in suggesting characters. Another interesting one is the "Flash Card Tarot" by Linda Nadeau. This deck has some rather unusual but often useful illustrations on one side, and the meanings and description on the back. It can be a useful imagination spark.
Now that you have your deck. You need some way to interpret the cards. First, try just studying each card, see what it suggests to you. Your first and best guide is your own intuition! Most decks come with their own little book, sometimes a big book, that explains the meanings. Let that be your second resource. Not everything listed in the card descriptions will be useful in your writing, but some will suggest ideas to you. There are many other books online and in print that give card information. The ultimate would be "Tarot for Writers" by Corinne Kenner. (See my link below). Ms. Kenner describes each card and what is useful for the writer, as well as giving many useful "spreads" or layouts to use. Corinne Kenner also has a useful companion book, "Tarot Journaling" that is just that, using the tarot to journal more effectively.
Now that we have those basics out of the way. Here is how I use the cards:
1. Outlining a book - Give some thought to what you intend to do. Let's say you want to pick a card for each division of the planned work. This might be chapters for a book, scenes for a play, perhaps steps in the journey. Come up with a usable number. I like to think it chapters, if I am working on a book. Forty-four is a sort of average number of chapters for many novels.
Shuffle the cards a number of times. Seven times is supposed to guarantee randomness. I personally shuffle three times, cut, then shuffle one more time. People draw cards in various ways. I like to just deal off the top of the deck in the order they are in. If we are outlining forty-four chapters, deal the cards out face up one by one in four rows of eleven.
Some of the cards will be upright, some may be reversed. If we want added complexity, we can take the reverses into account, or we can simply see them all as upright. Make a list of the cards. I use the novel software I'm using (yWriter5 in this case) and note the card into each chapter notes. As you note each card, notice anything that catches your attention about the card that may indicate character, or plot, or setting, anything, and write that down as well. You might then look up each card in one of those books or resources and make additional notes.
It may be that some of the chapters thus laid out may need to be re-arranged for better flow. It's okay to do that. You can even discard cards that don't seem to work, and draw new ones. The tarot police won't care. This is your tool, you use it however works best for you. In my initial layout for my mystery novel, the first card drawn didn't really work for me as first chapter, however, I put is aside as an indicator of overall story, and used the second card as first chapter, and the rest fell into place pretty well. Don't be afraid to deviate. This is just a starting place, idea material. Once you have the larger divisions, the chapters, laid out in this manner, you may want to re-shuffle and draw cards for minor divisions, like scenes. It's all up to you. As for meanings, you can be literal, or imaginative. The Death card may mean a literal death, in your story, or it may be a major transition of some sort. The Fool can mean an innocent stumbling into the scene, or it might be time to look at things from a fresh point of view, to use "beginner mind" as the Zen teachers put it.
2. Character - You can draw cards to help define your characters, maybe even suggest names (with some imagination.) The court cards are most helpful for this, although any of the other cards can also suggest characters, or the character's traits. As you make a bio for your characters, use the tarot to suggest entries for those areas that aren't clear to you yet, background, habits, goals, that sort of thing. Simplest would be one card for one item, see what it suggests. Many times I use a 3 card spread. I do the usual shuffle, cut the deck somewhere near the center. The top card in the exposed half is the middle card. The card just below it is the third card, and the card that was just above it is the first card in the three card row. These three can mean many things, but I usually rank them in some sort of past, present, future context about whatever I'm getting a reading on. I just pulled three cards in this fashion. The Hermit, Justice, and the Chariot. I'm using the Cosmic Tarot deck. The Hermit shows a mystical guru type, almost a stereotypical hippy, sitting in the night near a lantern. A seeker. Also someone to seek out for knowledge, perhaps. Justice shows a woman with a crown between night and day. Scales of balance are in front of her, she sees truth. The Chariot shows a chariot, pulled by two wild horses, one black, one white, being driven by a kingly figure away from a castle. What might this mean to you? Perhaps it is a character, loner type, with a non-traditional education, seeks justice as society dictates, but is trampled by the established justice system.
3. Series - I projected my mystery novel into a series of novels with the same protagonist and settings. I spent a lot of enjoyable time inventing his hometown, and peopling it with interesting characters, why not make further use of it all? Besides, as I did all that background, I came up with a few ideas of other stories to tell. So, I thought, how about twelve books ? I did a twelve card layout similar to the "chapter" spread above. I let each card represent a book. Interestingly, the stories I had already thought of fit rather well into one of the twelve topics. In some cases titles were even suggested by the cards and the imagined situation. So, now I have a rough outline of where the whole series is going. That's good to have for any kind of series character.
For instance, The Hanged Man card came up. One of my ideas was a mystery involving genealogy. Bingo! Another card was the Wheel of Fortune. Ready made spot for something about the lottery!
These three techniques can give you a starting place. Enjoy!
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Writing Tools
As a writer I often find it easy to come up with a scene I want to write, but no clear idea of where to go with it either before or after the scene. What is the overall story the scene fits within? I also tried working with various software programs, although I only considered a few affordable.
I really like "Power Structure", it's a well thought out writing program, of an outlining sort, with a lot of options. I also like "Story Weaver", somewhat similar to Power Structure in my mind, but more storytelling oriented. I could never get off the ground, though, with either of them. Both good programs, but neither really fit with what I wanted. Another person may try either one and find it a perfect fit. So it goes. You can look at both programs at http://storymind.com/.
Once upon a time I owned a Tandy Color Computer, cool machine. It actually had a very fast processor for the time. Most of my early plays were written on that Coco and the Telewriter-64 word processor. One other thing about the Coco that I liked was a little card-file program that was part of an office-suite that ran on the OS9 platform (sort of like Windows). It was a very simple card-file, had visual tabbed cards, you could enter info on individual cards on screen, sort them and search them in any way whatsoever. After I switched to the PC clones and Windows, I searched in vain for similar file program that was free, or cheap, and as easy to use. No luck.
Recently I've found a few free tools that address these issues very well. The first is yWriter5, a free program that really fits the way my mind works for writing a story/novel/play whatever. (Okay, it's not really formatted for plays, but it's not really a problem.) I really like the way it works. Check it out. http://www.spacejock.com/yWriter5.html The programmer is also an author, his website is full of very good, simple information and advice for writing, including the next item on this list.
Second, I found another free brainstorming tool. Many of us have seen the method called clustering, or bubbles, much like the flow charts we used to use in programming. Freemind is another easy and free program to do the bubble diagrams, and use them for outlining. There is also a custom file for adapting the Freemind program for outlining a book. Contact me and I can get it to you.
Third. I found my card file, of sorts. TiddlyWikiWrite is a very simple, customized, program that gives you an offline website on your computer that makes a page for each thing you want to work on, whether it be a full story, an idea, a list of names, a journal, anything. Each page is unique, totally search-able, and you can assign keywords to streamline finding it again. It is very easy to set up however you want it. Lisa Janice Cohen is an author who took the basic TiddlyWiki program and customized it. Find it at her website. http://www.ljcohen.net/Tiddlywiki.htm
Lastly, maybe the best tool I've found could be the Tarot. Now, I've collected Tarot cards for many years. I love the art work, I knew next to nothing about actually reading the cards. My association with Cat Dancing has changed that. I've become much more selective on the collecting, but I'm learning to read them now. The cards lend themselves quite well in many ways in jump starting stories, building characters, generating back story, and just about every other facet of storytelling. I had already started using the cards in plotting a couple of stories, and a book I am reading just now, "Tarot for Writers" by Corinne Kenner, augments that process. What's even better, adding the Tarot works very well with the yWriter5 and other programs I mentioned above. There is no such thing as "writer's block" when you can grab the deck of Tarot cards for instant inspiration.
I'll talk more about my own method of using Tarot cards another time. In the meantime, give the tools above a try!
I really like "Power Structure", it's a well thought out writing program, of an outlining sort, with a lot of options. I also like "Story Weaver", somewhat similar to Power Structure in my mind, but more storytelling oriented. I could never get off the ground, though, with either of them. Both good programs, but neither really fit with what I wanted. Another person may try either one and find it a perfect fit. So it goes. You can look at both programs at http://storymind.com/.
Once upon a time I owned a Tandy Color Computer, cool machine. It actually had a very fast processor for the time. Most of my early plays were written on that Coco and the Telewriter-64 word processor. One other thing about the Coco that I liked was a little card-file program that was part of an office-suite that ran on the OS9 platform (sort of like Windows). It was a very simple card-file, had visual tabbed cards, you could enter info on individual cards on screen, sort them and search them in any way whatsoever. After I switched to the PC clones and Windows, I searched in vain for similar file program that was free, or cheap, and as easy to use. No luck.
Recently I've found a few free tools that address these issues very well. The first is yWriter5, a free program that really fits the way my mind works for writing a story/novel/play whatever. (Okay, it's not really formatted for plays, but it's not really a problem.) I really like the way it works. Check it out. http://www.spacejock.com/yWriter5.html The programmer is also an author, his website is full of very good, simple information and advice for writing, including the next item on this list.
Second, I found another free brainstorming tool. Many of us have seen the method called clustering, or bubbles, much like the flow charts we used to use in programming. Freemind is another easy and free program to do the bubble diagrams, and use them for outlining. There is also a custom file for adapting the Freemind program for outlining a book. Contact me and I can get it to you.
Third. I found my card file, of sorts. TiddlyWikiWrite is a very simple, customized, program that gives you an offline website on your computer that makes a page for each thing you want to work on, whether it be a full story, an idea, a list of names, a journal, anything. Each page is unique, totally search-able, and you can assign keywords to streamline finding it again. It is very easy to set up however you want it. Lisa Janice Cohen is an author who took the basic TiddlyWiki program and customized it. Find it at her website. http://www.ljcohen.net/Tiddlywiki.htm
Lastly, maybe the best tool I've found could be the Tarot. Now, I've collected Tarot cards for many years. I love the art work, I knew next to nothing about actually reading the cards. My association with Cat Dancing has changed that. I've become much more selective on the collecting, but I'm learning to read them now. The cards lend themselves quite well in many ways in jump starting stories, building characters, generating back story, and just about every other facet of storytelling. I had already started using the cards in plotting a couple of stories, and a book I am reading just now, "Tarot for Writers" by Corinne Kenner, augments that process. What's even better, adding the Tarot works very well with the yWriter5 and other programs I mentioned above. There is no such thing as "writer's block" when you can grab the deck of Tarot cards for instant inspiration.
I'll talk more about my own method of using Tarot cards another time. In the meantime, give the tools above a try!
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Just Who IS this Guy?
Somewhere in here I feel the need to introduce myself so anyone who feels the need can find out a bit about me, or not, as you wish.
I've always loved the opening lines of Steve Martin's "The Jerk", but I won't use it here. I grew up outside a very small town in central Texas, raised by my grandparents. We lived over a gas station/garage and I was pumping gas, doing mechanic and general fix-it work, and entertaining myself from an early age. I read a LOT! We also had some livestock, made and sold handcrafts in the store, and gardened. Hunting and fishing was something I enjoyed often. I graduated from Liberty Hill High School after going through eleven of the twelve grades in the same building.
Electronics was my major when I went to Central Texas College in Killeen, but I changed over to Drafting and Design. For forty years I've been a steel detailer for most of the steel fabricators in central Texas. Along the way I've managed to marry, raise three great kids of my own, and three more who became mine. I have also followed my interests into many areas. In no particular order:
For many years I shot muzzle-loading rifles and pistols competitively. I won a few ribbons, nothing major. I hunted with them as well. I no longer hunt, but I still have the guns. I was a licensed gunsmith for a few years as well.
For 22 or so years I played a Texas Ranger in the annual Sam Bass Shootout in Round Rock, Texas. That got me into:
Theater. Starting in 1981 along with the shootouts, I became involved with Sam Bass Theater in Round Rock. I became an actor with that group, as well as playwright and director. After I moved from Round Rock in the mid-90's, I worked with other local groups including San Gabriel Productions in Georgetown, Way Off Broadway in Leander, and founded Liberty Hill Community Theater in Liberty Hill, where I was playwright in residence.
Writing. I have several successful plays to my credit, most co-written with Barbara Stopp Vance. Several others I did on my own. All are published online on www.scribd.com. I have other plays and two novels in the works currently. (And this blog, of course.) After moving back to Liberty Hill in the mid '90s, I became one of the founders, and eventually one of the first elected trustees of the Liberty Hill Public Library.
Five years ago I began making and playing Native American style flutes. I enjoy playing them and I sell one occasionally. I also got into African and Middle Eastern hand drumming. I've always loved musical instruments, and collect them. I never learned to read or took music lessons, but I enjoy fooling around with them. My most recent acquisition was a set of bagpipes I picked up on Ebay for a very good price. They were damaged, the damage has already been repaired, I can't wait to start practicing with them! (Thank goodness we live in the country!)
Last year I took a Permaculture Design Course in Austin. For much of my life I have been into organic gardening, a long time reader of Mother Earth News, and very much in favor of a do-it-yourself lifestyle. The PDC course went a long way toward putting all those pieces together. I am now a Permaculture Designer. I'll say more about that in another post.
Three years or so ago, I found my partner, Cat Dancing, and moved near McDade, Texas. We are soul mates. She is an artist in Intarsia, a type of wood mosaic art, as well as stained glass, jewelry, and other things. (Another eclectic soul.) We put together our own workshop this year. We share many of the same tools, as well as woods. I with my flutes and other projects, and Cat with hers.
Along with my interest in the Native American flutes, and this RainCrow name I have chosen for myself, I am asked often if I am Native American. I do have some Choctaw blood (I believe). Another of my interests has been genealogy. I was a long time member of the Williamson County Genealogical Society as well as the County Historical Commission. My grandmother's grandmother was Native American and Choctaw seems the most likely tribe. We haven't been able to trace that any further. At any rate, I am proud of the connection, but it certainly isn't enough to legally claim!
The Native American and shamanistic view of the universe has always been a part of my life. I was raised in one of the more fundamental Christian sects. I was very active in that church until I was in my 40's, but at heart many of the subsidiary teachings never really sat well with me. There always seemed to be a lot that just didn't add up. Inside myself I had my own views. I always did read a lot, I learned early on that my views were pagan. For the past several years I have been connected with Tejas Web in Austin. It is a very loosely knit group of eclectic pagans of many varieties who do public rituals and classes together. I rank many of these members among my closest friends and even chosen family now. Along with this has come a renewed interest in the Tarot. Cat Dancing, my partner, is a very accomplished Tarot reader and teacher locally, and my studies with her are ongoing.
I have found many good applications of the Tarot to writing, which I am exploring currently.
We just finished another very good season with the new Sherwood Forest Faire near here in Paige, Texas. This was the second year of a brand new renaissance festival here. Cat and I took the plunge and began building our permanent booth there. It's had a very successful couple of seasons now. Next year look us up. Booth 309, Cat Dancing Creations!
That's my tip of the iceberg for this round. All of it will re-appear no doubt in future posts, as well as the million and one things I didn't mention. I plan to share a lot of what I have learned about most of these subjects and whatever else interests me at the time. Stay tuned!
I've always loved the opening lines of Steve Martin's "The Jerk", but I won't use it here. I grew up outside a very small town in central Texas, raised by my grandparents. We lived over a gas station/garage and I was pumping gas, doing mechanic and general fix-it work, and entertaining myself from an early age. I read a LOT! We also had some livestock, made and sold handcrafts in the store, and gardened. Hunting and fishing was something I enjoyed often. I graduated from Liberty Hill High School after going through eleven of the twelve grades in the same building.
Electronics was my major when I went to Central Texas College in Killeen, but I changed over to Drafting and Design. For forty years I've been a steel detailer for most of the steel fabricators in central Texas. Along the way I've managed to marry, raise three great kids of my own, and three more who became mine. I have also followed my interests into many areas. In no particular order:
For many years I shot muzzle-loading rifles and pistols competitively. I won a few ribbons, nothing major. I hunted with them as well. I no longer hunt, but I still have the guns. I was a licensed gunsmith for a few years as well.
For 22 or so years I played a Texas Ranger in the annual Sam Bass Shootout in Round Rock, Texas. That got me into:
Theater. Starting in 1981 along with the shootouts, I became involved with Sam Bass Theater in Round Rock. I became an actor with that group, as well as playwright and director. After I moved from Round Rock in the mid-90's, I worked with other local groups including San Gabriel Productions in Georgetown, Way Off Broadway in Leander, and founded Liberty Hill Community Theater in Liberty Hill, where I was playwright in residence.
Writing. I have several successful plays to my credit, most co-written with Barbara Stopp Vance. Several others I did on my own. All are published online on www.scribd.com. I have other plays and two novels in the works currently. (And this blog, of course.) After moving back to Liberty Hill in the mid '90s, I became one of the founders, and eventually one of the first elected trustees of the Liberty Hill Public Library.
Five years ago I began making and playing Native American style flutes. I enjoy playing them and I sell one occasionally. I also got into African and Middle Eastern hand drumming. I've always loved musical instruments, and collect them. I never learned to read or took music lessons, but I enjoy fooling around with them. My most recent acquisition was a set of bagpipes I picked up on Ebay for a very good price. They were damaged, the damage has already been repaired, I can't wait to start practicing with them! (Thank goodness we live in the country!)
Last year I took a Permaculture Design Course in Austin. For much of my life I have been into organic gardening, a long time reader of Mother Earth News, and very much in favor of a do-it-yourself lifestyle. The PDC course went a long way toward putting all those pieces together. I am now a Permaculture Designer. I'll say more about that in another post.
Three years or so ago, I found my partner, Cat Dancing, and moved near McDade, Texas. We are soul mates. She is an artist in Intarsia, a type of wood mosaic art, as well as stained glass, jewelry, and other things. (Another eclectic soul.) We put together our own workshop this year. We share many of the same tools, as well as woods. I with my flutes and other projects, and Cat with hers.
Along with my interest in the Native American flutes, and this RainCrow name I have chosen for myself, I am asked often if I am Native American. I do have some Choctaw blood (I believe). Another of my interests has been genealogy. I was a long time member of the Williamson County Genealogical Society as well as the County Historical Commission. My grandmother's grandmother was Native American and Choctaw seems the most likely tribe. We haven't been able to trace that any further. At any rate, I am proud of the connection, but it certainly isn't enough to legally claim!
The Native American and shamanistic view of the universe has always been a part of my life. I was raised in one of the more fundamental Christian sects. I was very active in that church until I was in my 40's, but at heart many of the subsidiary teachings never really sat well with me. There always seemed to be a lot that just didn't add up. Inside myself I had my own views. I always did read a lot, I learned early on that my views were pagan. For the past several years I have been connected with Tejas Web in Austin. It is a very loosely knit group of eclectic pagans of many varieties who do public rituals and classes together. I rank many of these members among my closest friends and even chosen family now. Along with this has come a renewed interest in the Tarot. Cat Dancing, my partner, is a very accomplished Tarot reader and teacher locally, and my studies with her are ongoing.
I have found many good applications of the Tarot to writing, which I am exploring currently.
We just finished another very good season with the new Sherwood Forest Faire near here in Paige, Texas. This was the second year of a brand new renaissance festival here. Cat and I took the plunge and began building our permanent booth there. It's had a very successful couple of seasons now. Next year look us up. Booth 309, Cat Dancing Creations!
That's my tip of the iceberg for this round. All of it will re-appear no doubt in future posts, as well as the million and one things I didn't mention. I plan to share a lot of what I have learned about most of these subjects and whatever else interests me at the time. Stay tuned!
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