Mat Twassel: Blog

I've started a chapter story, "Hooping." It's about a naked hula hoop competition between two sorority pledges. With chapter 1 just posted, two of the three voters so far hated it. I don't imagine they'll be back for the rest of the story. Each chapter is illustrated and very short. I'm doing this in part to get a feel for how posting chapters works on SOL. I expect to do one chapter a day until the story is done, which should be before spring.

PS If you hate the story and have anything constructive to offer, why not send me a message? Of course if you like the story, I'm happy to hear those comments, too.

Many of my stories are somewhat autobiographical. Today's two more than most.

"Lake Jeptha" and "Matisse Versus Van Gogh."

To celebrate the posting of my 100th (and 101st) story in SOL I chose two drabbles (stories of exactly 100 words), both which have an automotive influence. "Traffic Jam" and "Midnight Madness."

Two stories about tennis today, "Love Love," and "Tennis Lessons." I believe Pickle Ball may be taking over the tennis world. I've never played Pickle Ball, and I'm not sure I ever will, but then I haven't played tennis in more than a decade and it's likely I'll never play again. I still have my old Head tennis racket. I bought it because I was a big fan of Arthur Ashe. He also promoted the newly created Ford Tempo, and I bought one of those, too. Both were mistakes. Later I switched to a Prince racket, and that helped my game, not that I was at all exceptional at tennis. I was good enough to win a couple of times in the annual corporate mixed doubles tournament, but that owed mostly to being paired with the best woman player. One year our prize was a pair of goldfish. Hers died the second day. Mine lasted a week longer. As a kid I was fascinated by my parents' tennis rackets. They were wooden rackets, but what interested me was not the racket but the racket press, a pair of frames designed to keep the racket from warping. And what interested me about the racket press was not the press so much as the wing nuts used to secure the frames. My small fingers could actually work those wing nuts, tightening and loosening them again and again. Maybe I need to write a story about wing nuts.

Both stories I posted today, "Gleam" and "Art Show," have to do with painted art and artists. Artworks play an important part in the plot, and at least to a small degree, I like to think, comment on the characterizations and relationships. Quite a few of my stories involve painting, maybe because I like that kind of art, and maybe because I wish I had the skill to do first rate drawing and painting.

For the past few years I have been illustrating some of my stories. I use a computer art application from DAZ Studio. It is free, but to do very much, additional content must be acquired, either from the DAZ Studio store or from other suppliers, of which there are several. I also make use of Photoshop Elements and SnapArt4 to add finishing touches to my illustrations.