Mindflight

The word Radical can have many meanings but one of them is to completely change the nature of something.

If you were to live radically, you would be changing your nature.

What would you do, if you could do anything?

What kind of person would you be?

Would you be wealthier, for example? More generous? Kinder?

A radical shift in attitude happens in small steps. It’s a transformation. A butterfly does a lot of walking and eating and growing before it finally forms a chrysalis and emerges with wings. It’s not an instant transformation.

Successful people aren’t born that way. They usually work very hard, and that means constant effort – even if it’s not hard, it is steady. People born to wealth need to work to keep it. A radical shift means a thousand small changes, a few a day. Eventually you wake up…

…and you’re the person you wanted to be.

Guest Post: Tips for the Cat-Owned

Jokes and Humor

Hi. I’m Nezumi, the Technical Supervisor and Mascot of this blog.

This blog is about improving yourself and enjoying life, and a lot of other things too, but I notice that the two-legged authoress has missed a few topics. She writes about health, and nature, and thoughts, and all manner of things. She writes about cooking, but has she ever written about the wonders of canned food? How about pillows, petting gloves, or other things of interest to we Cats?

I don’t think so. So I”m going to fix that!

Get a blender

I’ll have you know that for Cats with sore teeth, like I sometimes have, a great thing to do for your four legged monarch is to use a blender. It softens up the food, mixes it nicely, and makes it easy for us to eat. We also really like Kibble Stew, which is what you get when you pour water over kibble. Bonus points are in order if you put some crunchy treats in there too, to soften up nicely.

Try lettuce

If your fluffy queen or king likes grass but keeps eating all of their wheat grass, perhaps you should use your thumbs to get into the refrigerator and get them a nice leaf of Romaine lettuce. It tastes a lot like our favorite grasses, doesn’t make us puke, and lets us chew to our hearts content.

MORE PETTINGS!

Also, many of us are tickled or irritated by brushes. So how about a petting glove? They make it feel even more like Mom is grooming us, and helps get rid of loose hair while we enjoy a full body massage. Every two legged should have at least three petting gloves.

Better pillows

I need to remember to tell my two legged that she needs to let me sleep on the keyboard more often. Or at least let me rest my head on the edge. The part where the control key is makes a good pillow. And computers are warm, just right for snuggling against on a cold day. But two leggeds should clean out the fans frequently, because my lovely hair clogs up computer vents and makes them overheat. People with thumbs can get rid of this easily.

Remember your history

In Egypt, Cats were sometimes worshipped as gods and goddesses. Even when we weren’t, we were still valued members of the family. In old Persia, we were highly regarded. In Thailand, we are still known as temple Cats. People have made us mayors, train stationmistresses, security officers, and even police. So when you meet a Cat, treat them with respect!

What’s the password?

I might write more tips for people who are cat-owned, if I can figure out my two legged’s password. I’m sure she’s about to change it!

An ancient use for a Stump

Classic Skills

via Daily Prompt: Stump

Did you know you can use a tree stump to make leather?

You can if it’s an oak stump.

You hollow out the top of the oak stump to make a deep cavity. Let it fill with rain water. While that’s soaking, take your hide and clean and scrape it as well you can. Then soak the hide in the water in the top of the stump.

The tannins from the oak wood will help cure the hide for you, just the same as if you’d mashed up acorns. Speaking of which, if you want to increase the tannins in the stump water, you can add mashed up acorns to your stump.

After you’ve soaked the hide for a while (several days), you take it out and scrape it again while stretching it on a frame, nailing it to a large board, or side of a building.

There you have it. Leather from a stump.

(This is only the briefest overview. If you really want to try this, check out a natural tanning forum for more ideas and advice.)

13 Ways to Recharge Your Writing Batteries

Tips for Writers

via Daily Prompt: Recharge

Sometimes, we all run out of ideas. We feel like a battery run flat. At that moment, we wish we were like a cell phone – just plug a USB into the side of our heads and let the ideas flow in. This is particularly bad if we’re working up against a deadline, or only have a little time to write, so we want to make it count. Here are some ways to recharge! Please add your own in the comments if I’ve missed something.

1. Meditate. Totally relax, just for two or three minutes, and let go.

2. Write down ten ideas about something – anything – totally unrelated to your project.

3. Take a walk. Let your mind wander.

4. Have a cup of tea. L-Theanine is good for your brain.

5. Take a short (no more than twenty minute) nap.

6. Exercise. It sounds strange, but often exercise brings energy, not the other way around.

7. Play. Preferably not with anything electronic.

8. Write down a list of things regarding your subject. Odd little details, the nuttier the better.

9. Get yourself laughing. Do something really silly, like juggling pants.

10. Blow the screen a giant raspberry and start writing anyway – one word at a time, it doesn’t matter where. After all, you can always delete later. The important thing is to get going.

11. Read a lot. All subjects. You’ll have more output when you have more input.

12. Keep a small notebook, write all your ideas down. Look over that when you’re stuck.

13. Stay positive!

(And don’t forget to look at my last post, I really need reader input!)

Making Your Own Stock Photography

Photography, Tips for Self Publishing

Did you ever write an article or blog post and have a really hard time finding the right photograph that wasn’t in copyright and was available for reuse?

Not to worry. It can be a blast taking your own stock photos! You don’t even need an amazing camera. For web purposes, most sites need you to upload a comparatively small photo anyway, so a camera phone or older digital camera can do wonderful things.

Use the free program GIMP for all of your photo processing and resizing needs. It’s a great program and widely available, and it works whether you have Windows, Mac, or Linux. You can even use it to convert color photographs to make beautiful, vintage looking black and white photographs. I’ll write about that later.

Run around your area with your camera. Take pictures, not only of the things you need pictures of, but also random things. Think about where the item is in the “frame,” sometimes centered isn’t best. Try extreme close ups. Rearrange items, stack them. If you can zoom, do so.

writing tackle — I took this photo when I needed stock for an article about writing.

I made this stock photo a while ago. It’s not the best but it’s mine, and it did a good job of saying what I wanted it to.

It’s easy to make a backdrop, just use a white sheet draped over a chair for small items. Morning light from a north facing window has served me well for a lot of my art photographs. If you want to get fancy, you can get a light set from Amazon for about $50 that includes a tripod.

Experience will teach you more than any tutorial. If you take some really great photos, you can upload them to Pixabay to make resources other artists can use, and maybe earn some donations for them.

Now your photos will be part of your personal story!

Sayonara, art stores… hello awesomeness!

Tips for Artists

There, I said it, I admit it! I don’t buy my art supplies locally. I used to, though. I tried to buy locally, I loved the idea of supporting local businesses. I even thought about offering art classes, something I might still do someday.

Even though I love browsing through wonderfully musty smelling shelves full of materials that make my fingers fairly itch with the desire to try new things, I gave that up.

Why? Unfortunately, people’s attitudes were what caused the estrangement. I’d noticed some real snootiness when I’d gone to the better art stores, and the craft stores have gotten increasingly uncomfortable and gimmicky to be in. One major chain’s loss prevention tactics, where they make you walk through a maze to leave, are particularly annoying.

I also noticed how I was treated well, listened to, and mentored in art stores, while my dear partner was routinely snubbed and ignored. She didn’t look as “liberal” as I did. Also, a particular store manager at lied to me on a number of occasions.

“We had to get rid of that line of paint because Amazon is undercutting us.” Really? Then why does Amazon charge two dollars more?

“This brand of paint is better anyway.” Really? Then why does the coverage suck?

The “Chinese art teacher” who didn’t even know how to grind his own ink didn’t help.

Later, that store manager kicked me out of the store and never said why. I was baffled and hurt, and wondered where I would go for art supplies.

Ultimately I moved online. I started using Dick Blick Art Supplies, also known as Utrecht at some of their locations. They carry a huge variety of supplies, have great prices, support local artists, give people a chance to be seen in their art catalogs, have a great review community, and also have amazing customer service.

Considering that I’m still giving my money to a really good, domestic art store that is passionate about supporting artists, I’m proud to share my dollars with them. As a bonus, they give a referral commission to people who share their affiliate links. Like this one. Beat that, snooty Tucson art store!

I’m really happy Dick Blick is around. My search for quality art materials, responsibly bought, is over.

Sidewalk’s End – or Beginning?

Tips for Writers

via Daily Prompt: Sidewalk

Life is a mystery.

I loved the book “Where the Sidewalk Ends” as a child. I really enjoyed Shel Silverstein’s whimsical illustrations and poetry. Later, the title also made me think of borders, boundaries, limits and limitlessness.

Where does the sidewalk end? What do you find out beyond the streetlamp light?

The Wild, the Unknown. Imagination.

I’ve lived in places where sidewalks were an unknown luxury. Where there were no streetlights, no, not even one. Once I lived in a place where the stars were dimmed only by feeble kerosene lamps, and the deer grunted out in the dark.

Sidewalks are safety. Civilization.

I like to write about the places out beyond the sidewalks, beyond the painted lines, beyond the borders and the falsely safe places.

Won’t you join me out there?

Drama on the Cheap: working on black backgrounds

Tips for Artists

This is for all the lovely artists out there.

A few years ago, I realized that it was tremendously fun to work with chalk, Conte, colored pencils or white paint pens on a perfectly black background. I loved the dramatic look and enjoyed the fun of working entirely with highlights. However, I quickly grew tired of dealing with inadequately pigmented construction paper, and black gesso was expensive and messy. Black paint was inadequate. Black foamcore mattboard was nice but expensive and flimsy.

I craved something better!

After much searching I found a perfect solution online. That was ultra-black presentation board! Made for mounting photographs and other art, this stuff is ideal for painting or drawing on. It takes paint well and doesn’t fall apart, it’s reasonably stiff, it has enough texture to make using chalks and pencils a breeze. It’s light, and best of all, it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg! A five pack of the largest size is only around $20 and it comes in several sizes. Here’s one piece I created with this material.

I was ecstatic. I love creating with this material! It is easy to work with and looks great, and at the same time these boards are cheap enough, that I want to actually use it instead of “saving for the right piece” which may never come. Black presentation board is easy to frame, too, and easy to fit on an easel. Best of all, when I need more, I just go online and my favorite art store delivers more within a week, safely packed for me.

If anyone wants to try this amazing material, I found the best price at DickBlick.com. Funny name, amazing company. If you check them out, use this affiliate link and you won’t be sorry. They offer amazing deals and great customer service too. They also carry all my favorite supplies at prices below their competition.

So click here:

And search for

Blick Presentation Boards

to find the best perfectly black background I’ve ever seen. While you’re there, you’ll see that they also carry Conte pencils, chalk pencils, Liquitex fine point paint pens, and about a half a million other things. Buy enough and they throw in free shipping.

No, I won’t dumb my writing down!

Tips for Writers

Nor simplify it, nor keep it below a 6th grade level!

I’ve seen a disturbing trend among bloggers. One of the tips I’ve seen lately to improve my blog is to lower the grade level needed to read my articles. I’m told that making my blog easier to read will increase my followers, improve my stats, and crown me queen of the blogging world.

Some of the tips I’ve seen make sense – keep my sentences short and readable, don’t repeat myself, highlight keywords, use lists and graphics, shorten my paragraphs. I stop cold at the idea of simplifying my work beyond a certain level. My readers aren’t dumb, neither am I, so why should I dumb things down?

Language can be a beautiful thing. Sometimes the right word is a complex one, or the concept might be something esoteric. I can understand the need for making something readable by a global audience. However, isn’t that why there are online dictionaries?

I don’t use words to show off. At the same, sometimes a long word is simply the best one to use. Longer words are often more specific than simple ones. If you are talking about vermilion velvet, is it enough to just call it red? If you are writing a recipe for quiche lorraine, specifically, is it right to just call it “egg pie?”

Clarity is great. However, instead of purposely oversimplifying what we say, why not invite others to stretch, grow, and enjoy the richness and eloquence of language?

A good habit to give up – giving up!

Art of Womanhood, Classic Skills

What if you never gave up on anything? What if giving up was not an option? How much could we achieve?

When I was young, I wasn’t taught perseverance. I was taught, unwittingly, that it was okay to give up. Nobody make me finish certain things or taught me how to overcome my fears. I didn’t learn deep down that I could make myself succeed if I just – gave up on giving up.

Countless unfinished projects litter my history, coupled with neat little stacks of regret. This craft project, that puzzle, this video game, that story, that class project, that fear…

I find myself tempted to self castigate. As if that helped anyone achieve anything! So I try to resist that temptation. Instead, I remind myself that being persistent isn’t so hard – if you take it one step at a time, one more try, one more little wiggle forward. If you fall down, get back up. It’s okay to fail. Learn from every failure and eventually you fill find success.

Winston Churchill famously said “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” He should know, he had a lot of struggle in his life on his way to success and he never stopped trying – even though he wasn’t always dealt the best hand.

Here are some other great quotes about perseverance!

“Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.”

-Winston Churchill

“The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life; and the procedure, the process is its own reward.”

– Amelia Earhart

“Look at a stone cutter hammering away at his rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred-and-first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not the last blow that did it, but all that had gone before.”

– Jacob A. Riis

“It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.”

– Albert Einstein

“A failure is not always a mistake. It may simply be the best one can do under the circumstances. The real mistake is to stop trying.”

– B. F. Skinner

“Let me tell you the secret that has led to my goal. My strength lies solely in my tenacity.”

– Louis Pasteur