Well, I've taken my blogging to the next level as an experiment and applied for ads via adSense, a Google thing. The descriptions of the payment and pricing have gotten more complex than I remember, but it still promises to aim for ads that are related to my posts somehow, probably key words. In my experience, that probably means that they will be fairly useless. Writer blogs tend to get a lot of ads for vanity press publishing, in my experience, and I really discourage going that route. I've heard one or two people say they had some luck with vanity digital press, but mostly all that does it prevent the collection of hundreds of books that most books stores won't take, from what I've heard.
About the only vanity press type thing I might try is a family cookbook/scrap book affair such that you didn't plan on making money, only to give it as gifts to the family. There are companies that will even assemble the cookbook for you if you provide the recipis, and churches and other groups use them as fund raisers, but you have to watch really close to see how much they'll allow in the way of, fro example, family or other personal pictures, a useful index (some are useless, no more than alphabetized lists of the dish names, so Aunt Mary's cassarole will be right after Aunt Jane's cookies, but there's no listing of cookies or cassaroles except for the table of contents header) and other features that make it a cookbook worth the giving. For more effort on your part and the help of publishing software, you can probably do better on your own at Kinkos.
Anyway, we'll see what happens. I'm not sure how much say I have over size, location and such and I may dump it if its too obnoxious. One of the pages implied that I would have a lot of say or at least be able to select from several options, but I didn't find a place that asks once I started the sign up process so we'll see. I was pleased to see it didn't require a PayPal account or anything because when I checked out their website I found it hard to get any real information. They were so busy trying to persuade people to use their services that they made it hard for those already considering it to get the answers needed to make the final decision. NOT a good way to drum up business, especially for an already well-known dot com/brand. At this stage, they can afford to let word of mouth persuade, and focus on being a good, functional site, don't you think?
Friday, March 11, 2011
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
writing notes
I was going to post the next scene of E-ships tonight but encountered a problem: big bold notes in the text that say "character description here". I have a couple of characters to introduce and while they have been mentioned, the reader hasn't had a chance to meet them, so I need to write a few sentences to introduce them properly. I'll do that tonight and try to post the scene tomorrow. I've finished the quilting of the quilt I was working on and only need to do the border, which shouldn't take all evening, so it's just a matter of whether I get enough sleep to be conscious in the evening and remember my plans... I sometimes get carried away with writing, or with imagining scenes, that I don't get to sleep as early as I should.
I may have to invent a name, too. Some of my characters have no more than a role or title, like Colonel or Director, and as I introduce them I will invent their names, or at least a step toward a name. The names do change, like other things, but usually in the ballpark of where they started. In this case, the new arrivals on the scene need identifiable sorts of names, appropriate to the nature of the colony, which gives me almost too much variety to chose from, but we'll see. If I get desperate, phone books always have more fascinating names (including great alien names, without much change...) than you would ever guess!
I may have to invent a name, too. Some of my characters have no more than a role or title, like Colonel or Director, and as I introduce them I will invent their names, or at least a step toward a name. The names do change, like other things, but usually in the ballpark of where they started. In this case, the new arrivals on the scene need identifiable sorts of names, appropriate to the nature of the colony, which gives me almost too much variety to chose from, but we'll see. If I get desperate, phone books always have more fascinating names (including great alien names, without much change...) than you would ever guess!
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Traditional Hand Quilting tips
These are probably the same tips available in any number of books, but lately books on hand quilting have gotten harder and harder to find in favor of books on machine quilting (typically long-arm machine quilting), and I didn't learn from a book but mouth-to-mouth, so I thought I would share some basic tips and reminders here.
If your thread starts to catch after awhile, use a shorter thread the next time. With tight weave fabrics, even the smoothest quilting thread can get frayed. Looser weaves allow longer pieces of thread.
If you are having a hard time getting the needle through the fabric, find a thinner needle. They are easier to break but work better while they last and a fractional difference can translate to a significant difference in ease of sewing.
Hand quilting patterns can be complex or simple: complex takes lots more time, too simple and widely spaced can lead to bunched up batting:
Cotton battings should be quilted with spacing no larger than about three inches unless they have a strong surface (and those will be stiffer and harder to quilt)
Polyester battings are typically less inclined to bunch but are also poofier and should probably have stitching spaced no more than 4 inches apart.
The spacing need not be even or consistent: alphabets and numbers on baby quilts, quilting that follows pictures are all allowed: just watch for large areas with no stitching and fill with appropriate patterns and shapes.
Shorter needles allow for more closely spaced stitching, especially desirable if stitching will stand out visibly (e.g., white on a dark, plain background, large areas of plain fabric, closely spaced stitched patterns, etc.). On the other hand, if the quilting is simple and merely intended to keep the quilt layers together for the duration, a longer needle will allow more stitches at a time and quicker progress.
If your thread starts to catch after awhile, use a shorter thread the next time. With tight weave fabrics, even the smoothest quilting thread can get frayed. Looser weaves allow longer pieces of thread.
If you are having a hard time getting the needle through the fabric, find a thinner needle. They are easier to break but work better while they last and a fractional difference can translate to a significant difference in ease of sewing.
Hand quilting patterns can be complex or simple: complex takes lots more time, too simple and widely spaced can lead to bunched up batting:
Cotton battings should be quilted with spacing no larger than about three inches unless they have a strong surface (and those will be stiffer and harder to quilt)
Polyester battings are typically less inclined to bunch but are also poofier and should probably have stitching spaced no more than 4 inches apart.
The spacing need not be even or consistent: alphabets and numbers on baby quilts, quilting that follows pictures are all allowed: just watch for large areas with no stitching and fill with appropriate patterns and shapes.
Shorter needles allow for more closely spaced stitching, especially desirable if stitching will stand out visibly (e.g., white on a dark, plain background, large areas of plain fabric, closely spaced stitched patterns, etc.). On the other hand, if the quilting is simple and merely intended to keep the quilt layers together for the duration, a longer needle will allow more stitches at a time and quicker progress.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
