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thewednesdayclubrecs · 7 years

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Episode 1: “Origins”

The Giant Sized Wednesday Club! This first episode ran extra long, and included a lot of comics mentioned.

These are the titles mentioned by Taleisin, Amy, or Matt over the course of the first episode of the Wednesday Club. If people are interested in another post with further reading on the topics, creators, and characters mentioned this episode, I can create that as well, if there is demand for it.

Physical comics: You may have a comic book store near you! Comic Shop Locator Hater Free Wednesdays Your local library may have a selection of physical comics as well. Ask your local librarian (many of us are nerds in disguise!)

Digital comics: Comixology and Comixology Unlimited Each publisher may have comics online for sale, including Marvel, DC, Image, Dark Horse, and more. Again, your local library! Many are part of services such as Hoopla, where you can borrow and read digital comics.

On to the comics!

Matt's origins: Giant Size X-Men #1, 1975: Wikia; Comixology

Amy's origins: Asterix Archie Comics X-Men Volume 2 (1990s): Note, I believe Amy says 36 and 37 here, but I believe the comics she’s talking about are #46 and #47, with the X-Babies on the run from Mojo’s hunters. Generation X #5 Wikia; Comixology Webcomics: Kate Beaton’s Hark! A Vagrant, Ryan North’s Dinosaur Comics (he’s now writing Squirrel Girl, for one), (Note: There's a third whose name I didnt quite get here, David something? If someone caught that, let me know)

Taliesin's origins: (someone please, please illustrate Taliesin's weird mental images of the X-Men wow) V for Vendetta Wasteland (DC pre-Vertigo): Wikipedia; Comixology Vampirella Wikipedia; Comixology The Alice Cooper The Last Temptation, written by Neil Gaiman: based off this album; Comixology Sandman: Wikipedia; Comixology Jack Kirby’s Avengers

Fables: Wikipedia; Comixology

Rumiko Takahashi - Maison Ikkoku - Inuyasha - Ranma 1/2 - Urusei Yatsura - Rumic World horror shorts (hungry ghost) Tragically, outside of the big three (Maison Ikkoku, Inuyasha and Ranma 1/2), these are harder to find digitally (legally) than they should be by all rights. Your library may have them from the manga boom back in the day though.

Strangers in Paradise: Wikipedia; Comixology

America Chavez’s solo title

Cheung’s Young Avengers run: Comixology The Gillen/McKelvie Team Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie have done a ton of comics together, including Young Avengers and others mentioned below.

She-hulk: Alternate-dimensional tourism from Dimension A (the A-Holes): Wikia; Comixology

Patsy Walker: Hellcat: Wikia; Comixology

The Boys: Wikipedia; Comixology (BTW some SERIOUS content/trigger warnings here. For real. I’m including this because they did.)

What comics changed you? Taleisin: The Invisibles: Wikipedia; Comixology Jack Kirby’s New Gods; Jimmy Olsen Adventures Sandman’s Death: High cost of Living: Wikipedia; Comixology Promethea Whatever Happened to the man of Tomorrow?: Wikipedia; Comixology (V for Vendetta again)

Amy: Fun Home: Wikipedia; Comixology (also a musical)

Chat: Legion from X-Men (and mental health stuff--more on this next week) Marvel Zombies: Wikipedia; Comixology (.....if this changed your life...)

Alias - Marvel Max (origin of Jessica Jones): Wikipedia; Comixology

Generation X (mentioned above): Comixology - According to Amy: "pretty good for, like, 20 issues, and then... a book I still dearly love for 50 more issues" - "like the New Mutants of the 90s"

Claremont's X-Men run: Wikipedia - As per the three of them: this run’s not timeless, they’re not exactly “recommending” it yet. They're going to curate some issues for us later on, bless them. Stayed tuned for those links.

LGBT+ in comics - North Star reveal of the 90s: Aplha Flight #106: Wikia; Comixology (We’ll talk more about this when we get to the specific episode)

Rocket Raccoon's origin on the Mignola run: I believe this is the run they’re talking about.

Show and Share: Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #68 "The Helmet of Hate": Comics Vine (Wasn’t able to find a digital issue of this...)

Anti-drug issue of Spider-man: The Amazing Spider-Man #96 (Comics Vine). Printed without the CCA stamp on the front.

Kamandi the Last Boy on Earth: Wikipedia; Comixology

Warlock #11 "The Strange Death of Adam Warlock": Comic Vine; Comixology

Generation-X (signed by Lobdell) #2 with Penance on the cover: Wikia; Comixology

The New Mutants #1: Wikia; Comixology - "the Generation X of the 80s" - characters were introduced in a standalone story/graphic novel: Wikia; Comixology

Uncanny X-Men #201 "Who Will Lead them?": Wikia; Comixology - battle for leadership between Storm and Cyclops

X-Men Jim Lee alternate covers #1 "A Legend Reborn": Wikia; Comixology; All four variant covers in one image

X-Men Vol. 2 #4 First appearance of omega red: Wikia; (Having trouble finding this on Comixology...)

Excalibur #71 with Dark Phoenix, Fatal Attractions finale with Nightcrawler foil: Wikia; Comixology - this and Maximum Carnage were Matt's first big collected works as a kid

Uncanny X-Men #139 "Welcome to the X-Men Kitty Pryde... Hope you survive the experience!": Wikia; Comixology - Uncanny X-Men #129, Introduction of Kitty Pryde: Wikia; Comixology

The Wicked and the Divine: Wikipedia; Image Comics - "none more goth"

If you like Saga: Wikipedia; Image Comics - Y the Last Man: Wikipedia; Vertigo Comics

- Runaways: Wikipedia; Comixology -- and then Brian K Vaughn traded series with Joss Whedon

Avengers Arena: Wikipedia; Wikia; Comixology - according to Taleisin, this book has more impact if you know the characters more, so maybe this is part of the advanced class in recommendations

New Teen Titans - Not sure which series is meant here?

DC Bombshells: Wikipedia; DC Comics

Tom King's Vision: Wikia; Comixology

Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan): Wikia; Comixology (vol 3); continued in vol 4

Iron Heart - Riri Williams (current Iron Man): Wikia; Comixology

Image Comics: Website; Wikipedia - Early Image is noooot so much Amy's jam The Walking Dead: Wikipedia; Comixology Savage Dragon: Wikipedia; Comixology Sam and Twitch: Wikipedia; Comixology

Faith: Valiant’s site; Comixology Star Wars: Rogue One (run-up was announced, but never happened... perhaps what was meant was the run up to The Force Awakens?) - “Star Wars comics got good”--They moved from Dark Horse to Marvel recently - Note: there are quite a few Star Wars series being published by Marvel at the moment. (In this contributor’s opinion, some are better than others...)

Not strictly comics: X-Men (’90s animated series): Wikipedia; IMDB; Sailor Moon (the 90s dub, aw yeah); Wikipedia Superman (1978): Wikipedia; IMDB Batman the Animated Series: Wikipedia; IMDB Tom Stoppard's Arcadia: Wikipedia; Powell’s Comics In Focus: Chris Claremont’s X-Men: Wikipedia; it appears that this is no longer available on Vimeo... The LARPosal On Youtube "cardio and pie" - which we should all apparently try a slice of cheddar cheese on? Battle Royale: Wikipedia; IMDB The Supergirl Show on CW: Wikipedia; IMDB The Tick: The 1994 series, and the 2001 series The Image Revolution (documentary about the birth of Image comics): IMDB, trailer; Streaming on Youtube, Amazon, and elsewhere. Pogs. Just. Pogs. God I remember Pogs. Where Taleisin's handle comes from: Executive Transvetite

Stores mentioned: Hi De Ho Comics (store) LA Golden Apple (store) LA Torpedo Comic (store) Las Vegas Box Lunch House of Secrets (store) Burbank, CA (where Amy works)

Next week Mental Health and Comics Legion: Wikipedia; IMDB; airing on FX; streaming on Hulu, Amazon

X-Men Legacy (2012) volume 2: Wikia; Comixology; Marvel

Moon Knight - Current run, written by Lemire: Comixology; Marvel - Warren Ellis: Comixology; Marvel - Bendis' LA run: Comixology; Marvel

Doom Patrol - specifically Crazy Jane - Grant Morrison's run (which Taliesin says is psychotropic, take that as you will): Wikipedia; Comixology - Just pointing out that Taliesin gave a content warning for this, so.

Note: mentions may or may not be recommendations. My personal recommendations sometimes differ, but that’s not the point of this post. And remember: it’s ok to not have read everything--or anything!

If I missed anything, please let me know! Episode #2 will be up.... soon?

#the wednesday club #recommendations #comics #geek and sundry #dc comics #marvel comics #image comics #valiant comics

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inkshares · 7 years

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A Q&A with cover designer M. S. Corley

Last July we brought book production in house. As part of that, we knew that we needed to hire and work with the best editors and designers around. Over the next few months we’ll be introducing you to some of these amazing people. We want to kick that set of introductions off today with Mike S. Corley.

Mike is known for his powerful, evocative covers. He’s done work for bestselling authors like Hugh Howey and Paolo Bacigalupi, and he’s worked on everything from novels to comic books to concept art for videogames. He’s designed covers for some of the biggest publishers, like Simon & Schuster, Houghton Mifflin, and Random House.

Currently, he’s designing Matt Harry’s Sorcery for Beginners (publishing this October from Inkshares with the official cover reveal on Wednesday). He’s also the mastermind behind the gorgeous covers for other Inkshares titles like A God in the Shed and Rune of the Apprentice.

Mike recently spoke with us about reinventing Harry Potter covers, the pleasures of reading Murakami in the summertime, and his thoughts on what makes a great book cover.

Mike, we’ve heard you have a really interesting story about how you broke into the business. Can you tell the Inkshares community a bit about it?

Back in 2008, I was working at a merchandising agency and wasn’t really enjoying the work I was doing. It was easy and comfortable but not very fulfilling. So one night after work when I would normally work on my own personal projects, I was thinking about what I would do if I could have any art job. I’ve always been a bibliophile, so I figured if I could do anything, it would be designing book covers.

There was a trend at the time of redesigning things in old-fashioned, minimalist art styles. People were doing movies as books and videogames as books and posting them on the internet. So I thought, well I don’t wanna just copy them and try to make more movies or video game covers: why not just do books as books, go back and apply the same design aesthetic?

The first ones I tried my hand at were the Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. I worked it out in the old Penguin Marber Grid style of covers they had in the 60s.

I worked on Harry Potter next and started posting the covers online. I struck a chord with a lot of folks on the internet when I put my HP covers up and things escalated quickly with those covers specifically. I was going to make prints because there was a huge demand at the time, but then Warner Bros. lawyers came flying outta nowhere and shut me down quick. It was surreal that I would be contacted by a HP lawyer saying, “you can’t make this art and sell it” as they slowly cracked their knuckles into the phone quite menacingly. So of course I stopped any progress on producing those covers. Luckily they were already out in the wild and about a week later I got my first cover job from someone who saw them and wanted me to do something similar for them.

From then on I got about one book cover request a month for the rest of the year and it slowly increased. I would do my normal job during the day and work on covers at night when the jobs came in. In 2009 I quit my corporate job and went full time on covers because the timing seemed to be right, and I was young and stupid enough to take the risk without much damage to my current life. I figured I’d give it a go for a couple of months and if it didn’t work I could always go back to a design firm and get a “grown up” job again. Luckily that never happened.

Wow, that’s a hell of a story. You should publish that as a book on Inkshares, and we’ll make the cover. Kidding. What were your favorite books of 2016? And which books are currently on your nightstand?

I read a lot less last year than I would have liked, but a few standouts for me were:

Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami. I have a tradition to read a couple of his books every summer during the months of May-August.This year my Murakami summer read will be 1Q84. He is the best. Makes me feel super melancholy and nostalgic for things I don’t even know.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. I love the Frankenstein monster and the old Universal monster movies in particular, but I’ve never read the original novel, so I made that a goal for last year. I read an oversized version illustrated by Bernie Wrightson which really added to the story.

The Valancourt Book of Christmas Ghost Stories from Valancourt Books. I love reading ghost-story collections around Christmas time. There is something fantastic about sitting by the fire, drinking some Winter Cheer (look it up) on a cold winter night. I’ve read so many collections it seems that everyone just repeats the same ‘greatest hits’ in the ghost-story genre, but this book was all new to me.

On my nightstand I currently have The Vile Village, Book 7 in the Series of Unfortunate Events. I started re-reading them in January because of the new Netflix show coming out. I wanted a refresher, and they still are fantastic. I also just started The Pilgrim's Progress. I’ve read abridged versions before, but this is the first time I’ll read the original text which I’m looking forward to.

What was your favorite cover of last year? No choosing your own covers!

Hah, I wouldn’t choose my own covers. I’m one of those artists that never enjoys looking at work after it’s done, I’ve seen how the sausage got made so I’ve no interest in ogling at it beyond the creation itself.

I don’t know the designer off hand but one cover I really enjoyed was I Am for You by Mieko Ouchi. Beautiful and simple. I love images that are one thing at quick glance and then on closer inspection they reveal another.

Another would be Onibi, a French graphic novel by Atelier Sento. I really love the art style and the book, which I own but can’t read because I don’t know French beyond fries.

If you could live a day in the life of a character from any book who would it be?

Thomas Carnacki from William Hope Hodgson’s short stories on the character. He is the epitome of what I would like to do as a life job (besides art) and just has the perfect amount of confidence and scaredy-pants-ness as a guy I can relate the most to, who can still be cool.

What is your favorite part of the job? What’s the hardest?

Getting paid! Har har. No my favorite part is doing the concepts. I read pitches then I go through a little routine of prepping for a new book. I’ll gather some reference images that feel like a style I think matches the book, and I go for a run or have a long shower (that’s where my ideas come to me for whatever reason). Then I sit down for a day or a few and just work out every angle I can take the book with a number of concepts until I either think I hit the right one, run out of ideas, or run out of time. Sometimes I get art blocks during the concept phase and mope to my wife about how I’m a terrible designer and maybe I used up all my ideas on the last book. Then I’ll start the process over, run more, shower more, a literal rinse and repeat.

You forgot the “lather” part! What was the most challenging book you’ve ever worked on? What made it challenging?

There was this one indie-author book that I got a few years into doing freelance. They found me because of the Harry Potter covers. They detailed the book idea they had, even had a rough sketch and said “just make this in your style,” so I made just that in my style. They said “this is good, but was it too good?” They asked if I could make it look worse, of course not that specifically but very nearly. I went through round after round breaking it down till it was literally (not figuratively) their sketch in the end, and then they weren’t happy and said “okay how about you do it the way you’d like it.” And then I put my hands up in the air and said I’m probably not the right guy for the job. That was a playful retelling and this was drawn out over many months. It was very surreal, sad, and frustrating. It’s over though, so I can look back and laugh a bit about it.

*cries softly*

It felt a bit like McSweeney’s “Client Feedback on the Creation of the Earth.”

In your opinion, what makes a great book cover? Are there rules that for you across genre?

I don’t think that can be pinned down in words exactly. It’s very easy to see a terrible book cover and point out why it’s bad. Wrong font, bad images, weird layout, etc. But often a good cover, for me at least, is more of just a gut feeling. You know it when you see it, and you can try to break down why this part works or that part works but sometimes it doesn’t make sense at all. Sometimes rules are broken that shouldn’t be broken in design and it just works. Sometimes it’s how the title plays with the images. Sometimes it’s just the colors, or just the images. Sometimes it’s just great because art is relative and you think it’s a great cover when it actually isn’t...

I see a lot of publishers point to other comp covers out there and say “That cover is great, make that cover, but not..” and I can do the exact same thing that we see on the referenced cover but it won’t work for this other book for various reasons. Sometimes things just work with one book and don’t with another.

So for me, I have a certain taste in covers, and I realize my likes on art in general don’t match everyone’s tastes, but if I can be paired up with people where we mesh, then we are able to create great things. Or maybe they’re not! Depends on who’s looking at it.

Unless it’s our mothers looking at it, then of course it’s great.

You’ve had a lot of success, but you’re still young. Who are your favorite covers designers from the older generation?

Oh gosh, I don’t even have an answer there. The older generation? I may only be in my 30s, but I feel like the old generation already. Often times, and criminally, I don’t know who most cover designers are. It isn’t prominently posted anywhere especially with books from the olden days. There are lots of vintage books I own with just beautiful hardcover designs and I haven’t a clue who created them. Things are changing a bit now which is good, with social media artists are posting their own covers and often even publishers will link to the artist so it’s becoming a lot more known who did what. But I don’t have any good names to give. Saul Bass?

What was your favorite cover as a child?

Calvin and Hobbes collection covers. Those were the best.

If you could go back in time and design any book’s cover, what would it be and what would it look like?

I would love love love to go back and design the Harry P—just kidding. I would actually love to have been able to design the Lemony Snicket series. I’m not sure I could have done better than the original covers— Brett Helquist’s art is Lemony in my mind. But that series means so much to me and changed my view on books as a whole in a lot of ways, so getting to design them if only to take part in that series in a more concrete form than just being a fan would have really buttered my bread.

#cover design #cover designer #book covers #books #book #lit #harry potter #Lemony Snicket #A Series of Unfortunate Events #j.k. rowling #interview #reading #art #design #cover designing #Mike S. Corley #M.S. Corley

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mrsteveecook · 6 years

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8 Writing Tips for Beginners

Welcome to the wonderful world of writing!

However young or old you are, writing can be so rewarding. For some writers, it’s a fun hobby and a creative outlet; for others, it’s a dream career. When you’re just getting started, you might feel excited but also a little daunted – where should you begin? What do you need to know and learn?

The great thing about writing is that whatever stage you’re at, you can keep growing your skills and honing your craft. This applies whether you’re a total beginner or a best-selling author: there’s always something new to learn or try.

In your early months (or even years) as a writer, these eight tips should help you on your way

Tip #1: Try Lots of Different Types of Writing

When you’re just starting out, you might not know what you want to write – you just want to write! Or, you might have a firm idea of the type of writing you’d like to do (maybe you want to be a novelist or a poet, for instance).

As a beginner, you’re in a great position to try out lots of different types of writing, without needing to commit to one in particular: no-one’s (yet!) demanding your next book. So have a go at a wide range of genres and styles – you might surprise yourself with what you enjoy. I never set out to be a freelancer (my writing dreams were all about being a novelist) … but ten years into freelancing, I still love it, and I’ve written and published three novels too.

Tip #2: Read Some Good Writing Blogs or Books … But Not Too Many

There are some brilliant books and blogs out there that’ll teach you the basics of writing (and much more): Daily Writing Tips is a great place to begin, of course! For fiction-writers, I always recommend K.M. Weiland’s blog Helping Writers Become Authors, and Nigel Watts’ book Get Started in … Writing a Novel; for non-fiction writers, the Copyblogger blog is a great read, as is Joanna Penn’s book How to Write Non-Fiction.

One trap that beginner writers sometimes fall into, though, is that they read and read, trying to learn everything there is to know about writing – but they don’t actually write! So don’t get too caught up in reading: make sure you’re also setting aside time to try out writing exercises, or to develop your own ideas.

Tip #3: Start With Small Projects, Not Book-Length Works

If you’ve never written much before, launching straight into a novel probably won’t work: either you’ll run out of steam within a few chapters, or you’ll keep writing but you’ll end up with a story that needs an awful lot of work to make it publishable.

It’s better to hone your skills on smaller projects first: think short stories if you’re a fiction-writer, or short articles or blog posts if you’re a non-fiction writer. These can be a great way to explore potential ideas and topics without committing to a book-length work straight away.

Tip #4: Write Regularly So You Don’t Lose Momentum

Some writers think you should write every day: personally, I don’t think that’s very good advice. Maybe your weekdays are very busy, because you work long hours, but your weekends are clear. Or perhaps it’s the other way round: you have some time during the week while your kids are at school, but your weekends are packed with activities.

It’s fine to set a writing schedule that suits you and your life … but do make sure you’re allowing yourself time to write on a regular basis. If weeks go by without you writing anything, you’ll inevitably lose momentum. Writing at least once a week works for most people. For those who need extra help fighting procrastination, this post has many tips to beat writer’s block.

Tip #5: Use Clear, Straightforward Words

While I’m a huge fan of words, and love the sound of some more unusual ones (eclectic is one of my favourites!) … I think that as a writer, it’s normally best to keep things simple. Even if, in school, you got extra marks for showing off your impressive vocabulary, readers frankly don’t care!

You should, of course, use the word that best fits what you mean: sometimes a precise, technical word is the best choice, even if it isn’t the simplest. But in general, keep George Orwell’s advice in mind: “Never use a long word where a short one will do,” and “Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.”

Needless to say that you should use clear, correct English as well. Using a spellchecker is not enough. Proofreading and editing is essential to produce quality prose.

Tip #6: (Fiction Writers) Don’t Mix Past and Present Tense

This can sometimes be tricky to get to grips with when you’re new to writing: but if you’re writing piece of fiction, you need to choose between past and present tense.

You can tell the story as though it’s already happened:

John hurried down the street. Sue ran after him, furious. “John!” she shouted. “Come back here!”

Alternatively, you can tell the story as if it’s currently happening:

John hurries down the street. Sue runs after him, furious. “John!” she shouts. “Come back here!”

What you can’t do is mix past and present:

John hurried down the street. Sue runs after him, furious…

Sometimes, there’s a place for switching from past to present tense or vice versa – but be careful that you don’t switch accidentally.

Tip #7: (Fiction Writers) Don’t Use the Same Word Too Often

If you use the same word repeatedly within a short space of time, it can start to stand out for the reader and become a distraction from your writing. This is particularly true of unusual words (I read a novel recently by an author with a particular liking for the word “stolid”).

Here’s an example:

John locked the door before opening the letter. He could hear Sue moving around in the kitchen, just outside the door. As he drew the letter from the envelope, there was a knock on the door. “John? What are you doing in there? Open the door!”

The word “door” appears four times in that paragraph, and there’s a danger of it having a slightly comic effect.

Some words are fine to repeat as often as you like, however: little ones like “a”, “the”, “and”, “he”, “she and so on. With character names, too, it’s best to just pick something to call them and stick with it. So don’t try to remove all repeated words – but do keep an eye out for words or phrases that you tend to over-use.

Tip #8: (Fiction Writers) Stick to One Character’s Perspective at a Time

Even if you’re writing in the third-person rather than the first-person, it’s a good idea to stick to just one character’s perspective in any given scene or passage – this is called “third-person limited” or sometimes “deep POV” and contrasts with the “third-person omniscient” viewpoint that’s typical of classic 19th century literature.

Readers expect this close third-person perspective, and it allows you to give the thoughts and viewpoint of one character at a time – helping the reader to identify with that person and to really understand them.

—

Beyond all these tips, though, there’s one thing I want to leave you with: the fact that no-one is born able to write. You may not yet have the skills you want as a writer … but you can develop those skills.

A year or so ago, my five-year-old daughter could only write a few words (and often got her letters backwards); now, it’s fascinating to watch her fledgling attempts at writing stories, messages, and even puzzles. Just like her, you could look back a year from now and be surprised at how far you’ve come.

Wherever you are right now with your writing, keep on working at it, keep enjoying it, and keep finding new things to learn as you go along. Good luck!

Our Cyber Monday offer is live! Get our premium subscription for $29 per year, equivalent to just $2.40 per month! Click here to try it free for 15 days.

Publish your book with our partner InstantPublisher.com! Professionally printed in as few as 7 days.

Original post: 8 Writing Tips for Beginners from Daily Writing Tips https://ift.tt/2PZUD6Z

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bern33chaser · 6 years

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8 Writing Tips for Beginners

Welcome to the wonderful world of writing!

In your early months (or even years) as a writer, these eight tips should help you on your way

Tip #1: Try Lots of Different Types of Writing

Tip #2: Read Some Good Writing Blogs or Books … But Not Too Many

Tip #3: Start With Small Projects, Not Book-Length Works

Tip #4: Write Regularly So You Don’t Lose Momentum

Tip #5: Use Clear, Straightforward Words

Needless to say that you should use clear, correct English as well. Using a spellchecker is not enough. Proofreading and editing is essential to produce quality prose.

Tip #6: (Fiction Writers) Don’t Mix Past and Present Tense

This can sometimes be tricky to get to grips with when you’re new to writing: but if you’re writing piece of fiction, you need to choose between past and present tense.

You can tell the story as though it’s already happened:

John hurried down the street. Sue ran after him, furious. “John!” she shouted. “Come back here!”

Alternatively, you can tell the story as if it’s currently happening:

John hurries down the street. Sue runs after him, furious. “John!” she shouts. “Come back here!”

What you can’t do is mix past and present:

John hurried down the street. Sue runs after him, furious…

Sometimes, there’s a place for switching from past to present tense or vice versa – but be careful that you don’t switch accidentally.

Tip #7: (Fiction Writers) Don’t Use the Same Word Too Often

Here’s an example:

The word “door” appears four times in that paragraph, and there’s a danger of it having a slightly comic effect.

Tip #8: (Fiction Writers) Stick to One Character’s Perspective at a Time

—

Wherever you are right now with your writing, keep on working at it, keep enjoying it, and keep finding new things to learn as you go along. Good luck!

Our Cyber Monday offer is live! Get our premium subscription for $29 per year, equivalent to just $2.40 per month! Click here to try it free for 15 days.

Publish your book with our partner InstantPublisher.com! Professionally printed in as few as 7 days.

Original post: 8 Writing Tips for Beginners from Daily Writing Tips https://www.dailywritingtips.com/writing-tips-beginners/

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zak-graphicarts · 6 years

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Why Animation?

In this post, I’m attempting to discuss why I’m choosing to follow animation as a medium.

When I joined the college, my interest lied in sequential art - comics. Through experiments and workshops, I’ve identified that my interests focus around the idea of visual storytelling within graphic art. It’s this idea of telling stories, creating characters and constructing narratives through composed, exciting visuals that inspires me to do the work that I do. Making the audience resonate with these characters, and exploring the various ways I can do this.

Initially, I followed this interest through the medium of comics. Sequential art, and graphic narratives appealed to me - my original career goal was to be a comic artist. Having spoken with a few artists, and from simply building a greater understanding of the industry, I’ve since realised that this isn’t exactly a lucrative market. It’s a rather inclusive industry, with any artists or writers who have broken in closing the door very quickly behind them, for fear of competition.

As I was reaching this conclusion, I’d begun to experiment with animation. To me, this represents the logical development of my interest in visual storytelling - it’s taking characters and bringing them to life, on screen. My initial introduction to animation was quite a traditional one, creating a hand-drawn frame by frame rotoscope animation on small pieces of paper. There was something rather exciting seeing my drawing come to life before my eyes, no matter how cliche that might sound.

As an industry, animation is viable, and quite a realistic venture too. Whilst I haven’t settled on a specific type of animation, this is definitely something that I want to pursue as a career. There’s a market for animation, a demand that just isn’t there for comics - and obviously, that was quite appealing to me.

Animation is about movement, but it’s also about time-based problem solving. How can I show a character is feeling happy, how can I make a movement look fluid or how can I make a character run across the screen - it’s this type of problem solving that always engages me whenever I begin animating. It’s an exciting medium because of how it interests me artistically, but also the challenges it brings. Not only this, but there’s a magical quality to animation. It’s a demanding practice, one requiring real discipline, but it’s a medium with extremely rewarding results. Seeing my character walk across the screen, or even something as simple as a blink will never cease to amaze me. It’s a medium where you can truly get lost in the work, with a great example of this being stop motion.

This is an area of animation that I recently had a proper introduction to, with my developments in a previous project Scrappers. My team and I took the project a step further, creating our own short stop motion film in our own time. This is a technique that I find exciting and engaging - it’s a time-demanding process, but one that produces inherently magical results. It’s not only this, but the challenges stop motion brings is what will allow me to grow as an animator.

My work on the animation Scrappers cemented my interest in the medium of stop motion, and having been inspired by the stop motion works from Laika Studios and filmmaker Wes Anderson, this is something that I definitely want to explore further in this FMP. In the past, I’ve tried my hand at building a wire armature for a stop motion puppet - and it didn’t exactly go to plan, to say the least. It broke very quickly, and it wasn’t substantial enough to perform a proper walk cycle. From this, I’ve decided to purchase a ready-built armature, one suitable for animation tests and most importantly, walk cycles. My project concept centres around exploring the potential of a walk cycle in animation, and I want to compare tests across mediums and techniques of animation - and attempt to blend them together in an exquisite corpse-style approach. It’s an opportunity for me to develop my understanding of the basic principles of the craft, and produce some exciting pieces in the process.

Stop motion is particularly appealing to me, in a market so flooded with computer animated features as it is today, with studios pumping out films that lack any real weight or substance. It’s fun for kids, sure, but these aren’t films able to stand on their own. Take an example like Boss Baby, or Sing - these are, let’s admit it, lackluster animated features with not much value to the viewer other than “haha, the baby’s wearing a tie”. The excuse is always “hey it’s a kids film’ - but that’s not a reason to make animations that simply pander to their audience. I’m a firm believer in the idea that children’s films should be for everyone, and be able to stand alone as good movies themselves. There’s a commercial slant to these recent 3D animated films that’s hard to miss, a disconnect between the audience and the filmmakers. Contrast this to a stop motion film, and the dedication - the passion - is infectious, and undeniable.

Photo from the ‘Isle of Dogs’ Exhibition, London - a recent stop motion film

With Pixar features, there’s a polish - a perfect, invisible quality to the animation that we are all in awe by, but when the audience sits down to watch a stop motion work , there’s a level of appreciation that is unparalleled with any other approach to filmmaking. In the latest Aardman film, Early Man, we can see the animator’s finger prints in the clay - there’s a tactile appeal, the idea that we know these are real figures, animated by hand by a team of dedicated and talented animators. As an audience, we know just how much work and effort went in to producing a film on this scale - there’s a weight to the medium that I really love.

Actually making a stop motion puppet, sculpting a head and producing any clothing is something that will be a challenge - but one that ultimately will ready myself for the industry. I’m inspired by the actual animation process, but it’s the steps before - producing an articulated puppet ready for animation - that will challenge myself and allow me to grow as an artist. 3D is always something that intimidates me, and jumping into the process will provide a good challenge to my primarily digital predisposition.

Why am I choosing to follow animation? It’s a medium that continues inspires me, one that demands discipline and time, but ultimately produces exciting and rewarding results. There’s a magical quality that never gets old. Also, something I think is worth noting is the effect animation has on the audience. We’re making this work for an audience - and the appeal animation has plays a part in my love for the craft. When an audience member sees any animated sequence, there’s an instant reaction - they’re engaged, in awe and interested at the sight of a drawing (or inanimate object) moving around before their eyes. And that’s because animation is inherently exciting - to the animator and their audience. You’re taking a character, or object, and bringing them to life - how is that not an exciting prospect?

Animation has, and continues to, enthral audiences of all ages and backgrounds. There’s a universality to the craft, a naive quality that I really resonate with. There’s a real creative thrill when you bring something to ‘life’ by yourself, through problem solving and seeing someone really resonate with your work.

Also, the fact that there is definitive good and bad animation is something that I find refreshing. The visual style and aesthetic of the animation is subjective, perhaps, but there is a basic science to animation - a clear divide of what’s good and bad. After having done so many art workshops that are rather abstract and loose in this regard, both conceptually and when reviewing the successes of our work, I find great comfort in the clear cut nature of the craft. Anyone can notice a bad animation - there are established rules and principles to follow - there’s a system to animation which is why I like it, I think.

In the process of writing this post, I spoke with fellow student Sam, asking why she’s choosing to explore animation for her FMP, and beyond. I wanted to see another perspective on the subject, and she shares my interest in the medium. To Sam, it’s a practice that demands discipline and effort - you can’t half ass animation - and there’s an extremely rewarding result because of that. Animation is incredibly time consuming, and requires great patience and dedication but it’s incredibly fulfilling as an artist to watch your drawings and characters come to life before your eyes. She also saw it as a great storytelling tool, able to convey your ideas and thoughts in a way that no other medium can. With an animation, you’re able to create a truly atmospheric feeling - with subtle movements and an audience immersion not really possible in any other craft. This atmospheric and foreboding feeling is perfectly shown in her recent motion comic, which explores ideas of paranoia on a late night drive with a hand-drawn aesthetic and cold monochromatic palette.

https://samanthas2619.tumblr.com

And I think in that discussion lies my main reason for exploring animation - the creative fulfilment that you get when your character comes to life on screen! It’s a time-consuming practice, and requires great effort - but I think that’s part of the appeal to me. It’s having the ability to overcome this - to produce something exciting as a result of a demanding process like animation shows that I do have discipline, that I can go the ‘extra mile’ and overcome problems. It’s not only incredible to see my own characters run around on screen, but the very medium itself is an inspiration to keep going - to keep creating. When I see an animation, my initial reaction is always one of awe, which then shifts to ‘how could I do that?’ It’s my love of visual storytelling, character design and time-based problem solving that keeps me coming back to animation - a craft that demands discipline and dedication - but rewards the artist in a way no other medium can.

In this post, I’ve been able to explore a few of my own personal reasons for choosing animation as a specialism, but I’m going to continue this discussion of animation as a context in the next post, comparing the medium to other visual art forms.

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Continue this contextual discussion, comparing animation to visual art forms and exploring the uses of the medium in society

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oovitus · 6 years

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Nutrition coaching case studies: A sneak peek at PN’s Level 2 Certification Master Class.

Being a great coach means being able to help all kinds of people, in all kinds of situations. In the Precision Nutrition Level 2 Certification, professionals work on interesting nutrition coaching case studies so they can strengthen their coaching skills, under the guidance of a PN Master Coach. Oh, and they LOVE their homework; I think you’ll love it too.

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“Along with the feedback from my coach, the case study assignments are the best part of the Level 2 Master Class!”

Odd as it might sound, professionals in the Precision Nutrition Level 2 Certification Master Class absolutely rave about their homework.

Before you start shouting “NERDS!”, consider this…

Our year-long coach-the-coaches mentorship is all about:

hands-on daily practice,

trying out new coaching skills on real clients/patients, and

being guided and mentored by a master coach.

And — yes — this does involve some homework.

The course works like this:

Daily emails Every day you’ll get an email that briefly describes what you should be working on and thinking about that day. These emails take you to a special Level 2 homepage where you’ll see lessons, habits, and assignments.

Daily habits Every 2 weeks you’ll get a new coaching habit — something you’ll practice every day. These hands-on experiences will help you develop particular coaching skills in “real time”, in “real life”. We explain each practice in detail on day one. Every day after that, we’ll remind you about your habit via email and in the platform.

Daily habit checks Every day you’ll also be asked to record whether you practiced your habit, and you can track your progress every day. This helps you see how consistent you’re being. Your coaching mentor can also keep an eye on you, and help with any problems.

Daily lessons and assignments Every day, you’ll also get a lesson: articles, videos, audio files, and/or downloads, which are also tracked in your progress area. These lessons cover a huge range of ideas and information about nutrition coaching, and ask you to engage with these every day, so your learning “sticks” and builds over time. Your coaching mentor can follow along with you as well.

Short quizzes every few weeks Every few weeks, there’s a short quiz to help you review key concepts you’re learning in the course. This isn’t so much about getting a particular score as it is about revisiting what’s most important, and getting feedback on how well you’re retaining crucial information.

Interesting case studies every two weeks Every two weeks we also present our now-famous case studies (a few are featured in this article). Case studies are real-world, real-life problems based on real people. By thinking through these scenarios and applying what you’re learning, you start to gain true mastery as well as the ability to think on your feet. You get a sense of the kinds of concerns you might see from clients/patients in your practice. Plus, you get to use your imagination!

Case study reviews from your coaching mentor In addition to the mental exercise you get from completing the case studies, your work will also be reviewed by a master coach. Your coach will offer valuable feedback, coaching cues, and growth opportunities.

Put all this together and you’re in for a powerful learning experience.

As one of our Level 2 graduates recently said:

“Level 1 is like studying how to do surgery.

“Level 2 is like standing beside a surgeon while they help you perform your first surgery!”

As another graduate said:

“The material and knowledge provided in Level 1 is top notch. But without application it doesn’t mean much.

“Level 2 is designed to ensure we apply what we learn. “I continue to become a better coach as I’m stretched to complete each assignment, apply it, and dig deeper with each case study.

Surprisingly, the benefits go far beyond becoming a better coach for my clients. My children and other relationships have also benefitted.”

We’ll teach you how to become a better coach. (And we’ll throw in “becoming a better parent and a better person” for free.)

To give you a sneak peek into the program, I wanted to share a few case studies.

Below, I’ll share four case studies. These are just a random sampling of the 20 or so case studies you’ll work on throughout the Master Class.

I’ll also provide downloadable worksheets so you can print them out and give them a try yourself. Even though you haven’t been through the curriculum, it might be fun to test your knowledge and see how you do.

Finally, I’ll include actual (complete) case studies, submitted by Level 2 students, along with the feedback they received from their coaching mentor.

Whether you complete each case study or not, just reading the responses (and coach feedback) will help you learn some of this material in a new way.

Think of this as a sneak peek into one of the most talked-about components of the Level 2 Master Class.

How to use this article:

Read through the case studies.

You can read all four or just skip to the one that interests you the most.

The case study topics include:

Case study 1: Balancing Competing Demands This case study is about YOU. How will you balance the competing demands of an elite coaching career and personal/family life? Let’s find out.

Case study 2: Assessing Body Composition This case study is about a middle-aged client, Maria. How will you help her figure out how to measure body fat and understand its relationship to heart disease?

Case study 3: Too Busy Ray This case study is about a time-crunched executive, Ray. How will you help “Too Busy Ray” find the time and mental focus for fitness?

Case study 4: Lex Transitions This case study is about a client with a complicated hormonal situation, Lex. How will you help Lex deal with the physiological and psychological consequences of a gender transition? (I told you these get interesting!)

Write out your responses to the assignment questions following each case study.

There’s no word count limit; our students do tend to write lengthy essays as they go through these thought-provoking exercises.

(By the way, if you struggle with writing, our coaching mentors will accept videos, visuals, other creative ways of documenting your coaching process. Some students have submitted mind maps, comic books, photo essays. As long as you show your work and problem-solving process, it��s all fair game.)

See how you did.

Now that you’ve had your turn, check out the sample assignment completed by one of our Level 2 Certification students and reviewed by one of our master coaches.

Keep in mind there’s no single “perfect” answer to these case studies. They’re just designed to get you thinking, and to show your coach mentor how you’re working through the questions.

The sample assignments aren’t the only “right” answer to the case studies. They’re intended to give you an idea of what a successful response might look like, and to give you an idea of how our coaches provide feedback.

Put your name on the VIP List.

After you try out the case studies, put your name on the VIP List — if you haven’t already — for our next Precision Nutrition Level 2 Certification Master Class.

It kicks off on Wednesday, April 4th and, as always, spots are extremely limited. By joining the VIP, you’ll get the chance to register 24 hours early — and save up to 37% off the general price.

Case Study #1: Balancing Competing Demands

Great health, fitness, and wellness professionals don’t just know their clients or patients. They know themselves pretty darn well, too.

This case study follows a series of lessons related to personal work practices, fundamental concepts of coaching, and the importance of knowing yourself. Students learn how everything comes down to the core of identity and values, and how we set and uphold priorities.

In other words, this case study is really all about you, coach.

In the following scenario, you are playing “yourself” as closely as possible. Put yourself into these circumstances, and envision how you might respond. Use your imagination as necessary (e.g. if you don’t actually have children, etc.).

The situation: You’re a nutrition coach working at a large gym…

The gym is a pretty busy place, and you’re seeing clients all day long.

At times, this can feel draining. The sheer volume of coaching you’re doing is tough to maintain. Some days, it’s hard to stay upbeat and energetic in the face of difficult and resistant clients.

Of course, the successful and positive clients make up for it. Sort of.

Along with work demands, you’re trying to study for your Level 2 Certification and further your career. You’re not sure exactly where you want to go, but you know that down the road you’d like to have a good career path.

Plus you’ve got a young family at home, with two small children and a partner. Your parents are getting along in years, and you try to see them now and again, but it’s pretty tough with your job and other life demands.

This is all causing a bit of tension on the home front. You feel guilty about leaving the little ones behind for so long, and you miss your partner… never mind your friends, whom you haven’t seen in ages.

Every day you commute in from the suburbs to the gym’s downtown location. This takes you an hour each way, assuming the train isn’t late.

On the plus side, you have time on the train to read blogs, journals, books, and other materials related to your field of nutrition coaching. This helps you stay on top of things — and the diversion comes in very handy for the inevitable weather delays or scheduling problems.

You’re feeling OK about it all, though. As far as you’re concerned, it’s all part of the process. You make a decent wage, and there’s the possibility of promotion… eventually.

One day, your manager calls you into her office.

She wants to make some schedule and personnel changes. These changes will affect your work. She’s not quite sure yet what changes she wants to make, and she wants your input.

There are a few options.

Option 1. You get a promotion, which comes with more money. But it also comes with longer hours. You’ll be expected to work a split shift — you’ll open the gym at 6 am and close it at 11 pm. That means you’ll need to buy a car with that extra money, since the commuter trains don’t run at those times.

Option 2. You relocate to the gym’s other franchise, closer to where you live. You’d work regular Monday-Friday 9-5 hours, which would be great for your family routine. Unfortunately, the pay is lower.

Option 3. You join a small team that tours the country, doing speaking events as part of the gym’s corporate wellness training initiative. You’d get to be part of a cool group of people, and enjoy speaking about your favorite subject — nutrition! Unfortunately, there’s obviously lots of travel, which means long hours on the road and time away from your family. You get a raise, though, and the benefit of working more closely with a team.

Option 4. You head up a new project, researching a new nutrition coaching strategy. This will require a lot of research and brushing up on your existing skills. Because the strategy is new, nobody’s really sure if it will work. It’s going to take a lot of creativity and innovation on your part. If it doesn’t work, your head could be on the chopping block. But if you can make it happen, you’ll look like a superstar. You hope.

Option 5. You take on a management role, supervising the other nutrition coaches. The pay isn’t any better, since it’s considered a lateral move, but there’s a lot more responsibility. You get to boss other people around! But you also get all the hassles of administration and juggling the idiosyncrasies of other humans.

Option 6. You stay in your existing position, and someone else takes on these other opportunities.

“You don’t have to decide right away,” she says. “Could you think about this for a week and get back to me?”

You’re not quite sure which option to choose. “What do you think?”

She shrugs. “It’s up to you.” Then her tone turns conspiratorial. “One more thing. Don’t mention this to the other coaches. I wanted you to have the first shot at this.”

As you leave her office, she gestures for another coach to join her. The other coach walks into the manager’s office, and shuts the door.

You wonder what they’re talking about.

Your assignment

Answer the following questions.

Again, assume that in the case scenario, you are playing “yourself” as closely as possible, imagining what you’d do in these circumstances.

1. In this case scenario, what are some of the challenges and competing demands that you’re experiencing in terms of your identity (i.e. who you are, what kind of person you are)?

2. In this case scenario, what are some of the challenges and competing demands that you’re experiencing in terms of your values (i.e. what you stand for, what your priorities are, and what’s important to you)?

3. What is the option you would choose first? Why?

4. What option would you choose last or never? Why?

5. What did you notice about your decision-making process as you went through this exercise? How did you work through the process of arriving at your decision? What questions did you ask yourself?

Practice this case study

Write or type out your answers to the questions above. Take your time and give them some thought. You can download a printable version here.

See a sample write-up with coach’s notes

Check out a former student’s assignment, marked up by Precision Nutrition Master Coach Adam Feit.

Case Study #2: Assessing Body Composition

This case study gets you thinking about how to deal with specific physiological questions.

In the Level 2 program, it’s paired with lessons about knowledge production, assessment, and cognitive skills. In other words, how do we know what we know?

This particular case study requires some research. It includes links to some studies that are purposely information-dense. You’ll need to put on your “active reading glasses” in order to make sense of them.

The point is to filter the information and extract the most important points for this particular case, rather than trying to know it all.

Tip: We suggest you divide your case study write-up into sections using subheadings. This will help you organize your thoughts as well as communicate effectively to readers.

The situation: Your new client Maria is a middle-aged woman who is interested in losing body fat to improve her health.

In particular, Maria is concerned about the relationship between body fat and health problems like heart disease.

She wants to know things like:

What is the best method of measuring body fat?

What is the relationship between body fat and heart disease?

Luckily, you’ve just come across a few relevant studies that might help answer her questions. Problem is, these studies are pretty technical and Maria’s just a beginner with minimal nutrition and fitness knowledge.

Frankly, you’re not 100% certain you can make sense of these studies either. But, armed with your trusty Level 1 Certification textbook (The Essentials of Sport and Exercise Nutrition) for reference, and your own assessment tools, you’re willing to try.

Your assignment

Here’s your assignment. Make sure you have read and understood all the instructions.

1. Read the following four studies.

Validation of Five Simple Models Estimating Body Fat in White Postmenopausal Women

Prevalence of Obesity and the Relationship between the Body Mass Index and Body Fat

The Relationship of Waist Circumference and BMI to Visceral, Subcutaneous, and Total Body Fat

Body Composition and Body Fat Distribution in Relation to Later Risk of Acute Myocardial Infarction

2. Review the 7-site skinfold measurement assessment sheet in the Level 1 certification textbook, The Essentials of Sport and Exercise Nutrition. Here’s a quick download of that assessment sheet.

3. Prepare case study notes. In your notes, answer the following questions:

a) Comprehend: What are the main points in each research study? What are the general findings? Summarize each study in your own words.

b) Analyze: What are the pros, cons, and practical considerations of different bodyfat measurement methods, including your 7-site bodyfat measurement technique? What about BMI?

c) Synthesize: When considered together, how do these research studies add to your understanding of bodyfat measurement methods?

d) Evaluate: In an ideal world, where price and feasibility were no object, which bodyfat measurement method would you choose? Why?

e) Apply: What are the key findings from these studies that you would share with your new client?

4. In the final section of your assignment, write out a script for communicating these key findings to Maria, and making recommendations.

In the script, also demonstrate that you have listened actively to her needs and understood her concerns.

Remember: She’s a nutritional beginner, so you’ll have to keep your language and concepts simple and straightforward — to answer her questions without overwhelming her.

Here’s a handy opener: “Hi Maria, I understand you have some questions about…”

Now you take it from here.

Practice this case study

Write or type out your answers to the questions above. Take your time and give them some thought. You can download a printable version here.

See a sample write-up with coach’s notes

Check out a former student’s assignment, marked up by Precision Nutrition Master Coach Geoff Girvitz.

Case Study #3: Too Busy Ray

Leading up to this case study, students learn about how to help their clients or patients work around and through roadblocks by anticipating, planning and strategizing. By this point, students are also well-versed in coaching psychology techniques such as motivational interviewing.

Many of us can relate to the client here, not just the coach. Who knows, you might even apply some of the coaching tactics to yourself!

The situation: Ray rushes into your office, late again and talking on his cell phone…

“OK. OK. I gotta go. Yeah. OK. OK, I’m here now. Yes. I have to go. Right. Call you later.”

He hangs up. Swings the phone from his ear to his face. Taps in a few characters of a text message, hunched over the phone like a starving orphan with a crust of bread.

You wait.

Eventually Ray slides the phone into its holster at his belt. Turns to you. But you can tell that whatever he was dealing with just now is on his mind.

“Sounds like you’re busy,” you say.

“Auugghh,” says Ray. An expression of exasperation. It sounds like someone squeezing the wind out of him. “I swear, it’s 24-7.”

“Yes, but you’re here now,” you say, with a smile. (Nice refocusing on the positive, coach.)

“Barely,” he responds, with a grimace. “I’m sorry, I’m just so distracted today.”

And every day. Dealing with Ray is like trying to get a word in edgewise with a glassy-eyed gambler pounding on a slot machine. He’s only ever partially checked in.

You have to keep trying anyway. Ray came to you two months ago after his doctor read him the riot act about his blood pressure and triglycerides. He’s lost 10 pounds so far by making some small changes, but needs to lose about 40 more.

“So…?” you begin. “How did that new habit of food journaling go last week?” Already you’re cringing a bit. You think you know what you’re going to hear — that Ray was, once again, “too busy”.

“It was OK,” says Ray. “Some days good, some days not so good.”

Alrighty. This is a start. You can work with this raw material.

“Tell me what worked,” you say. “Let’s see what was successful for you.”

“Well,” says Ray, taking out his notebook, “mornings are real good. Even though I’m rushing, I can usually get a good breakfast. Those Super Shakes were a great idea! I’ve been putting some spinach in there lately. You were right — it’s not that bad!” He grins.

You grin back. Yeah buddy.

“But then,” he continues, “it goes downhill. Lunch is hit or miss. By dinner, it’s a shit show.”

He shows you his food journal. It is, indeed, the proverbial poop performance.

“OK,” you say, putting your analysis hat on, “so what happens here?” You point to midmorning. “Before lunch?”

Ray looks blank. “I dunno. I guess it just… kinda of… gets away from me. There’s so much going on. I feel like I never get a break. And everyone wants everything yesterday. Kids. Wife. Boss. Coworkers. Hell, even the damn dog is looking at me sideways.

“So I’m just rushing around, and before I know it, it’s late, and I’m starving, and I don’t have anything on hand, and there’s that Taco Bell downstairs…”

He sighs. “I just wish everyone would leave me alone, some days, y’know? I feel like I just can’t get anything done. Like I’m always running but never catching up. It’s one thing after another. I feel like I’m just not gonna be able to do this whole thing.”

His phone rings. “Sorry, I gotta take this.”

Clearly, you need to incorporate some anticipating, planning, and strategizing into Ray’s life. You need to help him think and behave more proactively, while keeping him progressing with his fat loss and health goals.

What do you do, coach?

Your assignment

Where do you go from here? Write the rest of the story. What’s your proposed action plan for Ray?

Describe your action plan and how you’ll carry it out. Be sure to include a piece that addresses proactivity and problem-solving for Ray.

To help you through this process, here are some ideas to help you build out the action plan.

Ideas for action planning

Previous daily coaching practices

Here’s a list of previous daily coaching practices, just to give you some ideas for things to combine into an action plan:

planning, preparing, and committing to a regular practice

matching your coaching behaviors to your identity, values, and goals

using assessment tools with clients

using outcome-based decision making

applying a learning style to the PN Certification material

doing a daily 5-minute mind-body scan

practicing self-compassion

listening actively

communicating concepts clearly

give positive feedback

help someone clarify their values & priorities

creating individualized “next action steps” for yourself or clients

keep a food record

shape the path for yourself or clients

having crucial conversations where needed

practice or teach a mental skill

Action plan components

Also, review the action plan components:

What are you working with? Assess the situation.

Where do you want to go? Identify the main objective(s).

How are you going to do what you’re going to do? Determine the overall approach and method.

What are you going to do? Identify a general set of action steps.

How will your client know what to do? Think about how you’ll communicate instructions as well as feedback, evaluation, and any potential crucial conversations.

Does this work for both you and the client? Assess “fit”, individualization, resonance, and salience.

How will you know if your plan is “working”? Identify and develop progress indicators and a schedule for recording them.

What are you going to do first? Prioritize and establish a schedule of action steps.

What happens if things go wrong? Anticipate obstacles and develop some backup ideas.

Use these components to create your action plan. Good luck, coach!

Assignment instructions summary

1. In 1-2 pages, describe your action plan for Ray and how you’ll carry it out.

2. Refer to previous habits for ideas, as well as the list of action plan components.

3. Be sure to include a piece that addresses proactivity and problem-solving for Ray.

Practice this case study

Write or type out your answers to the questions above. Take your time and give them some thought. You can download a printable version here.

See a sample write-up with coach’s notes

Check out a former student’s assignment, marked up by Precision Nutrition Master Coach Krista Scott-Dixon.

Case Study #4: Lex Transitions

Today we’ll meet a composite of several clients we’ve seen in our Precision Nutrition Coaching program over the years — more often than you might expect.

This case puts a new spin on the practice of addressing the needs of a male client — and the need to always be ready to coach through complicated physiology and behavior.

The situation: Lex enrolled in Precision Nutrition Coaching for Women. Except Lex was a he, not a she. At least now he was.

You see, Lex had been born as a woman (i.e. with a female body and assigned a female gender at birth). People saw Lex as a woman. Except that’s not how he felt about himself.

For decades, Lex lived in the female body he’d been born with. Miserably. He overate to cope with the feelings of social exclusion and self-alienation. He dealt with autoimmune flare-ups — joint pain, GI issues, and thyroid disease.

Every time he got a menstrual period, it was horrible. It reminded Lex that he was in the wrong body. And it was painful — part of Lex’s autoimmune constellation involved endometriosis, a condition where uterine tissue grows outside the uterus, creating inflammation and scar tissue inside the visceral cavity.

Lex lived alone with two cats. He spent most days feeling either anxious or depressed. He was likable — polite, funny, and friendly — but he didn’t have many close, supportive relationships. After all, he didn’t want anyone knowing his secret.

Occasionally, although Lex would never tell anyone about it, he thought about ending it all. Then he’d wonder: Who would feed the cats? This small connection kept him tethered to the rest of the world. And so Lex trudged on.

Eventually, he decided enough was enough. What did he have to lose? He began the transition to living full-time as male.

Under the care of his doctor, he began supplementing testosterone in a weekly injection. He also started taking estrogen blockers to prevent ovarian action.

Over several months, his body fat pattern shifted. He still had wide hips and narrower shoulders, but now he was looking more apple-shaped.

He started sprouting a beard and some teenage-style acne, thanks to the androgenic effects of the testosterone. (He started losing his hair, too, but he was so stoked about the new beard, he didn’t mind much.)

Lex was feeling much better about his gender identity.

But healthwise, he was still unhappy. Now he had health concerns of a non-transgendered male (such as higher blood pressure and elevated CVD risk), plus lingering autoimmune problems from his history of living in a female body. And he was still over-eating to deal with it all.

That’s when he found himself in Precision Nutrition Coaching.

He debated which program to enroll himself in.

He decided that he wasn’t yet brave enough to confess his history to a male coach, who he thought might judge him. Many of his legal documents (such as his credit card) still had his old “female” name.

He hadn’t yet had surgery to remove his uterus and ovaries, or his breasts. His doctor wouldn’t clear him for the surgery until he lost some body fat and improved his health. But he had to act fast — the testosterone was doing its work on his ovaries, increasing his risk of reproductive cancer.

Plus, he knew that testosterone would help him build some muscle, if he could just work up the courage to get into the gym.

What the heck, he thought. Let’s just get this over with.

Lex checked off “F” on his application (even though he desperately wanted to check “M”), and wrote, “I am a female-to-male transsexual” in his coaching intake form.

So began Lex’s journey to recovery and a new life as a male. There were just a few small obstacles in the way.

Luckily, Lex’s coach was well-informed about the nutritional, health, and interpersonal needs of trans people who are undergoing transition.

Given Lex’s health history and situation, how do you think his coach might have addressed his case?

Your assignment

1. Review previous course material that might be pertinent to Lex’s case.

2. List the elements of Lex’s story that could potentially be relevant to you as a nutrition coach.

There may be more than you think. Look for clues everywhere. And if we didn’t explicitly mention something, consider what else you might ask Lex about to understand his situation.

3. Consider and describe how Lex’s case reflects the “life webs” of both stress and resilience.

What strands intersect? What are the important threads?

Imagine Lex’s “stress fingerprint” at the center of a web. What else surrounds it? How does Lex’s stress manifest?

Imagine Lex’s resilience at the center of a web. What else surrounds and supports that?

4. Describe how Lex’s unique biological sex and social-cultural gender identity might contribute to his experiences.

This could involve both Lex’s own makeup as well as his interaction with his environment and other people.

5. Develop an action plan for Lex.

In your action plan, address:

How could you help Lex build resilience — whether that’s physical, mental, emotional, and/or behavioral?

What’s first for Lex? What do you prioritize? What comes after that? Describe the general sequence of coaching goals, priorities, and tasks that you’ll plan and prepare.

How will you track Lex’s progress? What indicators will you use, and why? What indicators might you have to adjust for Lex’s case? (For example, with testosterone use but existing breasts, Lex now has a unique body fat deposition pattern that isn’t “textbook” male- nor female-typed.) What outcomes will you use for decision-making?

How will you keep it simple for Lex and help him stay focused on doing what matters most?

Practice this case study.

Write or type out your answers to the questions above. Take your time and give them some thought. You can download a printable version here.

See a sample write-up with coach’s notes

Check out a former student’s assignment, marked up by Precision Nutrition Master Coach Krista Scott-Dixon.

What to do next: Some tips from Precision Nutrition

1. Try the case study assignments

If you’re considering signing up for the Precision Nutrition Level 2 Certification Master Class, check out each case study and, if you’re interested, give them a try.

At the very least, check out our example answers with coach feedback.

This exercise will give you a taste of what the course is like on the inside, and it’ll also give you a deeper understanding of who you are as a coach.

2. Recognize that coaches need coaching — maybe even more than anyone.

You’re out in the world trying to help people feel, look, and perform their best. Sometimes you’re even helping to save lives. But that can be lonely at times.

Who will you bounce ideas off of? Who’s going to help you when you’re stuck? How will you grow and develop?

Finding a good coach and mentor changed my career — and my life.

Now it’s my mission to help other health, fitness, and wellness professionals find the same guidance I was lucky enough to have.

The Precision Nutrition Level 2 Certification Master Class provides exactly that kind of coaching and mentorship.

3. Embrace the challenging cases

Complex clients or patients can zap your confidence or make you question your expertise. But if you learn how to approach these types of situations, they might become the most rewarding part of your job.

That’s how Precision Nutrition Master Coaches think of it — the more challenging, the better. Because these folks give us a chance to grow and improve. They make us better coaches for future tough cases.

The case studies here should give you a small taste of the kinds of people you’ll work to help in your career — like the broad range of clients we’ve worked with very successfully.

So, if you’d like to learn from our experiences, while we walk you through the Master Class curriculum and coach you every step of the way…

Want strategies to level up your coaching?

It’s no secret that master coaches develop over time, through education and consistent practice, usually under the guidance of a mentor or coach.

Precision Nutrition is the only company in the world that both works with thousands of our own nutrition coaching clients and teaches health, fitness, and wellness professionals our real-world methods for getting results.

And here’s some great news: Our next Precision Nutrition Level 2 Certification Master Class kicks off on Wednesday, April 4th, 2018.

Want to achieve total confidence in your coaching skills? Get (and keep) more clients or patients? Grow and strengthen your practice? If so, the Precision Nutrition Level 2 Certification is definitely for you.

It’s designed specifically for Level 1 students and grads who realize that knowing about the science of nutrition isn’t enough.

Part master class, part grad program, part mentorship, it’s the only course in the world designed to help you master the art of coaching, meaning better results for your clients and a better business for you.

Since we only take a limited number of professionals, and since the program sells out every time, I strongly recommend you add your name to our VIP List below. When you do, you get the chance to sign up 24 hours before everyone else. Even better, you get a huge discount off the general price of the program.

[Note: The Level 2 Master Class is only for students and grads of our Level 1 Certification. So if you haven’t yet enrolled in that program, please begin there.]

Interested? Add your name to the VIP list. You’ll save up to 37% and secure your spot 24 hours before everyone else.

We’ll be opening up spots in our next Precision Nutrition Level 2 Certification Master Class on Wednesday, April 4th.

If you want to find out more, we’ve set up the following VIP list which gives you two advantages.

Pay less than everyone else. We like to reward people who are eager to get started and ready to gain mastery in their coaching practice. So we’re offering a discount of up to 37% off the general price when you sign up for the Master Class VIP list.

Sign up 24 hours before the general public and increase your chances of getting a spot. We only open the PN Master Class twice per year. Due to high demand and a very limited number of spots, we expect it to sell out fast. But when you sign up for the Master Class VIP list, we’ll give you the opportunity to register a full 24 hours before anyone else.

If you’re ready to take the next step in becoming a world-class coach, we’re ready to share our knowledge and help you master the art of coaching.

The post Nutrition coaching case studies: A sneak peek at PN’s Level 2 Certification Master Class. appeared first on Precision Nutrition.

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recentanimenews · 7 years

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My Week in Manga: July 17-July 23, 2017

My News and Reviews

Although I’ve started to include Quick Takes of novels as part of the weekly My Week in Manga feature, it’s been a little while since I’ve actually written and in-depth review of a novel here at Experiments in Manga. However, last week featured my review of Tomoyuki Hoshino’s ME, one of my most anticipated literary releases of 2017. Much like the rest of Hoshino’s work available in translation, ME is challenging and can demand quite a bit from the reader, but I found it to be worth the effort. The novel is an incredibly surreal but thought-provoking exploration of identity, self, and society. Hoshino’s fiction definitely isn’t for everyone, but I hope to see even more of it translated in the future.

Last week there were also some manga-related licensing announcements made at the San Diego Comic Con. Among other things, Udon Entertainment has picked up Virginia Nitōhei’s manga adaptation of Otherwordly Izakaya “Nobu,” will be adding Romeo & Juliet, Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and Adventures of Huckleberry Fin to its Manga Classics line, and will be releasing Mega Man MasterMix, a full-color edition of Hitoshi Ariga’s Mega Man Megamix. Vertical Comics will be publishing Kinoko Natsume’s Chi’s Sweet Adventure, a spin-off of Konami Kanata’s Chi’s Sweet Home. And finally, Viz Media announced that it would be releasing Tsuyoshi Takaki’s Black Torch, Inio Asano’s Dead Dead Demon’s Dededededestruction (I’m definitely interested in this), Aka Akasaka’s Kaguya-sama: Love is War, and Koyoharu Gotouge’s Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba.

Elsewhere online, a recent episode of the Manga Mavericks podcast provides an overview of the licensing news from Anime Expo in addition to digging into Kabi Nagata’s My Lesbian Experience in Loneliness and Gengoroh Tagame’s My Brother’s Husband. Over at The OASG, Krystallina expresses some valid concerns and criticisms of Digital Manga’s most recent crowdfunding efforts. And speaking of crowdfunding campaigns, there have been several less dubious projects that have caught my eye recently: Deer Woman is an anthology featuring comics created by Native and Indigenous woman which are inspired by traditional Deer Woman stories; Gothic Tales of Haunted Love is a collection of full-color gothic romance comics; and then of course there’s Sparkler Monthly Magazine: Year 5 which is particularly important to me. With every year that passes Sparkler Monthly just keeps getting better and better. I’ve featured a small selection of some of the magazine’s content before, but there’s so much more that I’ve never even mentioned here and it’s all great stuff. Please consider contributing to the campaign if you’re able!

Quick Takes

After Hours, Volume 1 by Yuhta Nishio. Recently there has been a notable surge of yuri and other lesbian-themed manga being released in English, mostly by Seven Seas, although other publishers have been licensing some as well. After Hours, for example, is the first yuri title from Viz Media if not ever at least in a very long time. That certainly caught my attention, but even more so was the fact that After Hours is not a schoolgirl manga and is instead about adult women (although the cover art does make Emi in particular look fairly young). Emi is invited out to a club by her friend but is mostly left to fend for herself once she’s there. That’s when Kei more or less comes to her rescue. The two women hit it off and Emi ends up going home with Kei that night, one thing leading to another. It’s incredibly refreshing that Emi and Kei’s mutual attraction isn’t treated like an aberration or made out to be like it’s a big deal simply because they’re both women. After that first night their relationship continues to naturally develop, largely without angst, as they get to know each other better, Kei introducing Emi to her friends, the local music scene, and her passion as a DJ. The release of second volume of After Hours hasn’t been publicly announced yet, but there is no question that I’ll be picking it up; I absolutely loved the first volume and look forward to reading more.

Blindsprings, Volume 1 by Kadi Fedoruk. Sadly, I was unable to contribute to the Blindsprings Kickstarter campagin which raised funds to release the first print volume of the webcomic, so I was thrilled when I had the chance to pick up an early copy and chat a little with Fedoruk at this year’s Toronto Comic Arts Festival. In addition to first five chapters of the comic, the first volume also includes twenty-six pages of bonus content, artwork, and character profiles. Blindsprings is a beautifully illustrated, full-color comic with an engaging story, a diverse cast of characters, and an intriguing, complex, and well-developed world. (I especially appreciate how a variety of genders and sexualities are naturally and unobtrusively incorporated into the story.) Princess Tamaura is about to complete her 300-year agreement to serve the as an Orphic priestess for the sake of her sister, but her contract with the Spirits is broken when she is “rescued” against her will by a young man determined to prove a point. Tammy is torn from her sanctuary and thrust into a modern world in which Orphic traditions and their practitioners are harshly oppressed, the Academists and their magic now largely in control of what was her homeland. But there are still those who resist, and Tammy soon finds herself caught up in the conflict.

Tokyo Ghoul: Past written by Shin Towada Sui Ishida and illustrated by Sui Ishida. Viz Media doesn’t publish many novels outside of its Haikasoru imprint, but considering the popularity of Ishida’s Tokyo Ghoul manga series, it’s not too surprising that Towada’s trilogy of light novels were released as well. Although Past is Towada’s third Tokyo Ghoul novel (well, technically it’s more of a collection of vaguely-related short stories), the volume serves as a prequel to Tokyo Ghoul as a whole, the six chapters delving into the backstories of many of the Tokyo Ghoul‘s prominent characters. Despite taking place before the main series, Past is definitely not an introduction. It is intended for readers who are already invested in the franchise–a few of the stories don’t absolutely require prior knowledge in order to follow them, but others are nearly incomprehensible without at least some basic familiarity with Tokyo Ghoul. The general premise of Past is great, the volume allowing fans of Tokyo Ghoul the chance to spend more time with and gain a better understanding of some of the characters, especially as Past is able to tell stories that wouldn’t have immediately fit in the primary series. It’s unfortunate then that the actual writing is frustratingly awful much of the time with drama and angst frequently favored over plot developments that make logical sense.

By: Ash Brown

#Anime #News #Manga Bookshelf

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cbilluminati · 7 years

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Happy Alien Day! That’s right, today is a day set aside to celebrate all things Alien, Aliens, Prometheus, and even Predator. These series of films have had such a huge impact on popular culture, the fandom is one of the most robust in the world, and there’s a new film on the way later this year. It’s been an amazing run that shows no signs of slowing down, and rest assured there’s plenty of merchandise for fans to show just how passionate they are about this property. Recently I was able to get my hands on a piece of this merchandise, the Xenomorph Figurine from The Alien & Predator Figurine Collection by Eaglemoss Collections. I’m a huge fan of other collection sets from Eaglemoss like the DC Comics character figurines and the super cool Star Trek Starships collection, so, did the Xenomorph live up to the quality of those sets? Yes. Yes it did.

Eaglemoss puts the same attention to detail they put into their other collections into this collection, and it’s not really a surprise. This company takes painstaking measures to ensure every facet of their collection pieces meet the high demand of all sorts of collectors. I don’t like keeping my figures in the boxes like some collectors, but for those who do like to display their stuff in the packaging, the box art on this piece is beautiful. There’s a nice big window to view the piece which is set in such a way that allows almost a full view of the figure and all of its detail. It’s nice to be able to enjoy a figure so much and not have to remove it from the box. For collectors like me who want to display the figure by itself, however, the box is easily opened and stored. I opened mine without a single mark – zero damage – which makes reselling down the road a breeze. While the box itself is pretty, what i found in the box was a surprising mixed bag considering the source.

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Typically Eaglemoss provides a nice collector’s magazine with these sorts of pieces that provides details about the character being represented by the figure. The Star Trek ships and DC Comic characters sets have large booklets, with terrific artwork, that give all sorts of background information. These magazines really add to the overall appeal of the piece, and act as fun accompaniment pieces to the figure. Glossy print, good stapling, and sturdy design only make these magazines cooler, but this Xenomorph figure set did not have such a booklet. Replacing the larger, multi-page magazine is a single page, single fold insert that may as well be an advertisement for the other figures in this set. While there are two very short paragraphs describing the Xenomorph character, I couldn’t help but be disappointed by this lacking, and my one page insert wasn’t even folded properly. Despite an off-centered, less than stellar insert, the figure itself is nothing short of beautiful.

As with every piece I’ve ever purchased from Eaglemoss, the detail of this gorgeous sculpt is simply beautiful. From the sleek head carapace, to the twisting tail, to the smaller details – like the heel spikes and The Nostromo logo baseball hat ominously resting on the ground – this figure is spot-on on-point. The piece has some weight to it too, and it feels good in your hand, while the individual numbering and ALIENS logo emblem pasted to the bottom of the base add a level of quality I’ve come to expect from Eaglemoss.

As always, Eaglemoss makes it really easy for fans to get their hands on this figure, and all the others in this set. This Xenomorph figure regularly goes for $28.95, which is a great price for a figure of this size and quality. But as they usually do with their sets, Eaglemoss is offering a subscription service, with a lower price, and extra bonus gifts, and those bonus gifts are awesome! Check the links below for more details, but a box of exclusive movie prints, a t-shirt, and a $50 Egg & Facehugger figure that would be the pride of any fan’s collection.

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Eaglemoss has delivered again with this new collection. If you want to get you hands on this or any of the other pieces in this collection check the links below.

For U.S. Buyers

For U.K. Buyers

Happy #AlienDay ! Eaglemoss Xenomorph Figurine Review

Happy Alien Day! That’s right, today is a day set aside to celebrate all things Alien, Aliens, Prometheus, and even Predator.

Happy #AlienDay ! Eaglemoss Xenomorph Figurine Review Happy Alien Day! That's right, today is a day set aside to celebrate all things Alien, Aliens, Prometheus, and even Predator.

#Alien #Alien Day #Aliens #Eaglemoss #Merch #Review #The Alien & Predator Figurine Collection #Xenomorph Figurine

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outright-geekery · 7 years