| Paulwa_dup1 |
| (Member) |
| 01/14/11 07:23 PM |
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Expanding my Interests
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Been busy buying books on Amazon. 2 books on drawing cars which I have always admired and never had much skill at and have wondered how these artists worked. Got a couple of books that shows me their methods and it looks like it will be great fun drawng my favorite auto's and machines.
Allso been interested in the total process of writing, llustrating layout and self printing magazines and books and bindng and selling them, all by myself. Wpouldn't be a high volume endeavor but would utilize all my crafts and creative skills. I have 6 or 7 books in mind to start. My only problem iis with my iillness and age don't have a great amount of energy these days so it may be quite slow getting these projects off the ground. I am even interested in making comic books. I would probably start out using my Kodak printer and then when I got things rolling I would buy a laser printer for more durable printing. Another problem I have is just have too many hobbies so don't get much really accomplished. Well I will keep trying Ii guess. Anyone here interested in self publishing? Or have self published a book? Any car artists?
Have a good day.
Paul
| ævory |
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| 01/16/11 08:03 PM |
Re: Expanding my Interests
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Wow, Paul...sounds cool! And, ya know, this may not be any help to ya, but I was really surprised to read in the Sunday paper around last summer that Janet Evanovich (she wrote/writes all these really funny paperbacks...I think she's a detective in them) was teaming up with her daughter (who started these comic books - computerized?) and would be concentrating from now on on a whole new endeavor Cus it would all be in comic form. I can't remember all the details but you might google her and daughter, see what they have cookin! Both have always been highly into cars so that will be a big interest in their books...e-comic books?
Last week I was running around with my sister and we saw these really cool vintage cars....she told me she gets goosebumps when she sees certain ones, and she named them off! I didn't have much of a clue...one from another. Again, I realize there's so much I never knew about my own sis,... and I grew up with her!
Pretty cool!Keep on keepin, Paulwa! You got gumption.
| Paulwa_dup1 |
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| 01/16/11 11:15 PM |
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Re: Expanding my Interests
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Thanks Ronda I think I am getting all my interests focused down into doable projects. Now I am starting to work on all of them and they all have seperate folders to add to as I go along. I think I will have multiple projects to work on and complete as I can.
Paul
| Paulwa_dup1 |
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| 01/24/11 05:22 PM |
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Re: Expanding my Interests
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Finally found a booklet template on the internet for free. Looks very useable but may not allow for much creativity non the cover, not sure yet. It uses replacement lettering on the title with fixed sized plain lettering of appropriate size for the title and smaller for by author. It also has an image section to make a more interesting cover. It is free so I will play around with it. The page numbers are at the bottom of the pages and numbers up to 4 pages I think. I am hoping I can replace the numbers for further page signatures to create a larger book. I just have had so many things going on and fall asleep so much in my recliner (don't know what is causing all this sleep) I am having as hard time getting to work on about 7 to 8 books in mind so far.
My daughter is coming down tonight to watch 'House' with me..it is becoming a regular thing and she spends a night with us. I enjoy her visit and I think she enjoys it too. Tonight I am cooking up a huge pot of pinto beans and Millie is making a dou ble portion of cornbread. I love them with fresh onions in top. Millie also cooked upm a large pork steak..sure smells good. She put a fatty chunk of it in the beans for more rich flavor. Yummy! We have kind of gotten hooked on House in the last few months. Shonda the writer of Greys Anatomy has just about ruined that show. I used to really like most of it but with all the love making and shoot'em ups in the hospitals I have a hard time watching it any more. I think she just ran out of plot ideas and I think it won't be long before they will cancel the series. Looks like House may be copying her methods..sure hope not. Oh well got lots of good food tonight so something to look forward too.
Paul
| inkblister |
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| 01/24/11 11:09 PM |
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Re: Expanding my Interests
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I don't know if this counts, but in college a few friends and I used to occasionally put out a small press 'zine or two... I did several covers for a literary 'zine (poems, short stories, monologues, etc.) called "256 Shades of Grey" and did a regular comic strip (called "The Chronicals of Ghoti" (no relation to our ghoti that posts here) about a chemically imbalanced hamster and his adventures through a drug induced hallucinatory world) for a zine called "Toothpick" (focused on local music, arts, and other happenings)...
It's a really fun process, but it takes longer and is more work than you would expect... I remember spending many a late night til break-of-dawn mornings at Kinko's (thank goodness they were open 24 hours!) doing last minute revistions/edits/layouts before copying, colating, folding, and stapling, all by hand! (We got to know the staff so well they would often cut us a deal and even let us bring in a few beers as long as we kept it under control, shared, and no other customers were there)... Once we got some sponsors and advertisments and were able to afford it, we sent our work to a small local publishing company to do the production for us which was nice and definantly looked more professional... But all of us occasionally missed the low-tech, guerilla-style world of self-publishing...
My bit of advice; get your content together and completed first and foremost... Don't even think about the publication side of it until you have your story(s) completely written and edited... The content is more important than the page it's on...
I know a few local authors (and one world famous one), and have asked them questions about getting into the writing biz, so I can try to answer a few for you if you wish... I actually have three "books" that I have been working on and off on writing for the last few years, but they are far from completed...
Go for it and good luck Paulwa...
| Paulwa_dup1 |
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| 01/25/11 12:55 AM |
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Re: Expanding my Interests
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From all my reading looks like we are on the same page Inkblister. I think it is the total handcrafting process that drives me. I have a nearly completed biography I have been working on. It will be a very small run probably less than 15 aimed at family. So far i have been practicing and searching for the best book printing template or such that I can round up prettgy much free. The one I have been working with leaves a bit to be desired and I have yet to really figure it out so will keep learning as much as I can about it. It so far looks to be my best bet. The first book I finish will be myy first pulishing. I know paying a printer would give a pretty much professional job butn it woulkd rob me of all the hand work I am looking forward too. I am at a stage of making equipment for collating, binding and such. I willl probably do Perfect Binding with stitching and glue and want to do color covers too. Probably will take me some time to do all I want to do. But I am having fun putting the project all together. I have been interested in self publishing since my teen age years and writing too. Finally figured if I was ever going to do it now is the time. I bought an old Edison/Dick Mimeograph to play with many years ago and a few years back started looking for an affordable Kelsey letter press and was suprised at how prices have jumped up on those small presses. Thank goodness for computers and printers to come along. Just have to learn how to use them. Thanks for the info, if I have a question I'll post to you.
Thanks
Paul
| Deo |
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| 01/26/11 08:33 PM |
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Re: Expanding my Interests
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Good luck Paul.
| Paulwa_dup1 |
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| 01/26/11 09:23 PM |
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Re: Expanding my Interests
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Thanks Deo. Gonna take a lot of work but I think once I get into it and learn how to type it into the computer ready to print the more fun it will become. I spend a lot of my time thinking over all the steps from start to finish in my mind. It is coming along. It will be great to see a stack of my books laying on the table one day.
Paul
| flicka |
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| 01/26/11 10:56 PM |
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Re: Expanding my Interests
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Originally Posted By: Paulwa_dup1
It will be great to see a stack of my books laying on the table one day.
Have you ever consider trying out something like this ?
| Paulwa_dup1 |
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| 01/27/11 08:09 PM |
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Re: Expanding my Interests
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I don't do photo books Flicka, mine will be mostly text. I did take their tour but lost interest when I found they are subsidy publishers. Nothing there for me. They look expensive too.
Paul
| Paulwa_dup1 |
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| 01/28/11 05:04 PM |
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Re: Expanding my Interests
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Well I have comandeered the big round dining room table for now. Got my printer setup and my big laptop. Decided to work on my Latchhook book first.So awayI go....
Paul
| Paulwa_dup1 |
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| 01/30/11 02:56 PM |
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Re: Expanding my Interests
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Still have not gotten a working program yet. I am having trouble learning how to use thee ones I have. Will keep looking and trying. Got to be a good program out there somewhere.
Paul
| Paulwa_dup1 |
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| 03/28/11 07:56 PM |
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Re: Expanding my Interests
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Still putting things together here in my art studio. Darn just when I need my printer.. am out of black ink!! Thought these darn Kodak printers were supposed to be easy on ink? Got to go down to Fred Meyers tomorrow and buy some more guess. Been thinking about buying some black replacement ink and refilling my own cartridges. Anybody had any luck with that? Guess will buy some replacement and also a Kodak cartridge too in case it doesn't work well. Hard to get anything done when my energy gets low. Guess I need to take a nap when things drag down like this and wait till my batteries get recharged.
Later
Paul
| Paul I |
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| 04/05/11 11:14 PM |
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Re: Expanding my Interests
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Paul, do you remember the Fisher Body Craftsman Guild from the 50'? GM put on the "club" for lack of a better word. Eventually worked up to clay models.
| Paulwa_dup1 |
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| 04/06/11 12:32 AM |
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Re: Expanding my Interests
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Sorry, Paul, I think I remember Fisher as designing and building some Chevrolet bodies. I didn't pay that much attention to auto details back then.
Paul
| paradocs |
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| 04/06/11 12:48 PM |
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Re: Expanding my Interests
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I remember the "Body by Fisher" logo on GM cars.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisher_Body
| Paul I |
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| 04/07/11 02:21 AM |
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Re: Expanding my Interests
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The Guild was an attempt to interest teenagers in the industry. A little text and picture packet came every couple of weeks with
problems to design around or creating an entire new vehicle like craftsmen and modelers would do.
Paul, Adobe has some pricey programs like Writer I believe it's called. Personally I like MS Publisher to mix graphics and text. To write a page you create a text box the size of the page. Any thing in a text box can be mover stretched, resized, edited, etc.
I use Open Office for all my word processing. It's a free download at openoffice.org
Paul Ingle
| Paulwa_dup1 |
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| 04/07/11 11:56 AM |
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Re: Expanding my Interests
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Hi Paul, I used to have MS Office but lost it when my computer got a virus. I have Open Office but it really doesn't do what I want. I have been rolling a new idea around in my head. Since there is this big push to no longer teach Cursive writing in schools anymore..I may do my entire texts in a good clean cursive but very readable form. Want to see how that will work out in one of my books. I will use no mechanical or electronic fonts or printing at all. I think my art book is a good candidate for this method. I will use hand printing and cursive for the text.
Paul
| Paulwa_dup1 |
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| 04/15/11 08:36 PM |
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Re: Expanding my Interests
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Well, I have blocked out two small different sized books but they are far from what I was hoping to see as a finished product. For now I think I will work on a magazine format and see what I can come up with. This project is going to take awhile due to the condition of my hands from arthritis. t is very difficult to manipulate things. Almost impossible to shoot my guns anymore either. But I will not give up. I will keep trying.
Paul
| Paulwa_dup1 |
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| 12/29/11 11:30 PM |
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Re: Expanding my Interests
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Added a 70 amp stick welder to my shop tools just before christmas and a case of 120 titanium drill bits. Got lots of things I want to make along with book making equipment. Just hope my health and strength hold up. I am 73 this last September. Still have the drive to get on with my projects. I have several books of all varieties in the works and near completion as soon as I can get some equipment built. Thus the new drill press and welder. I haven't done any arc welding since the early 1980's and as a pure amateur at that. But I think I can gain enough skill to do some acceptable welds. Got lots to do and am really looking forward to spring and warmer weather. I will have to weld outdoors. Don't think the fumes would do my lungs much good these days.
Paul