Tag Archives: DIY

A writer's world, Adventures in Self-publishing, Random Thoughts, Read, write, publish

Pointless point sizes

Leave a comment

This is a post that is meant mostly for authors looking to self-publish their first book using a DIY service such as Create Space, and it has to do with that pointless bit of insanity that is commonly known to as point sizes.

Let me show you what I mean:

a dozen font samplesNow what do these twelve samples have in common? Continue reading Pointless point sizes →

How-to, It's my life, This & that

Looking for… a way to make walls look a little less dull

Leave a comment

Okay, this is going to sound like a crazy request, but here it goes: I live in a house, it’s a nice and perfectly respectable house as far as houses go, and like all self respecting houses it has walls… way too many walls. The problem is that, even though as a writer I spend way too much time indoors,  I am not too fond of walls to begin with, so can anyone think of a cheap (think flat out broke), easy (and preferably upcycling/recycling/whatever) DIY project that could possibly get a wall to look a little less like a wall?

Yes, I know, I should just paint them every five years or so and forget about it, but I figured I might just as well ask if someone had a better idea. Bonus points for mold resistance (as I have mentioned more than once, I live pretty close to a river, the house gets flooded on a regular basis,  and humidity  usually ranges between 70 and 100%… though sometimes it feels like it’s even higher than that) and for an idea that can accommodate some artwork.

Hammock life, How-to, It's my life, Random Thoughts

Work in style, turn your hammock into a workstation!

4 Comments

Let’s face it: hammocks are great to read and to sleep in, but trying to juggle a laptop in a hammock is a tricky –to say nothing of a dangerous– proposition… and hammocks are not too friendly when it comes to tablet stands either. Anyway, lately I’ve been trying to figure out a way to work around this problem, and this is what I came up with:

What you’ll need:

  • 1 or 3 hooks (carabiners, snap hooks, lobster claws or something like that. Carabiners are the most widely available in relatively large sizes, but the others have the advantage of a swivel mechanism that can come in handy). The number depends on how your hammock is set up. If it hangs from an open hook, you’ll only need one, if it is tied to a tree/column, or if it attaches to some sort of closed ring, you will need three of them.
  • Rope (once more the exact amount depends on your hammock’s setup, so I can’t give you an exact figure). I’d recommend a thick, heavy duty one that is a little longer than the distance separating your attachment points, and five or six times the vertical distance from your attachment points to the middle of your hammock of a lighter one.
  • 2 sturdy trays/baskets, no more than 2 in./5cm. deep, of a material that allows for a measure of airflow,  and big enough to hold the computer (and remember that the airflow thing cannot be over-emphasized, as without it you run the risk of frying your computer). These two trays may or may not be identical.
  • 2 wedge-shaped door stops (these are optional).
  • Some means to secure your laptop in place, just to be on the safe side.

What to do: Continue reading Work in style, turn your hammock into a workstation! →