MISC: Yes.....again..teehee

So, It's a lovely raining day in the small burg of wherever it is I live. There's puddles with goopy worms, and if you ever read Calvin and Hobbes the comic I'm sure you would be reminded of worm-mucking.

Today is spinning around like a carousel, but without horses (I'm not a fan). I had a physical therapy session today, but it seems they twisted me a tad bit too far. So gee willikers, am I hopped up on some strong painkillers.

I really wanted to write in my novel, or draw a new picture I've been thinking about for my bro's birthday, but all that goes through my head is a wide assortment of songs from old tv shows and some other tunes that I'm pretty sure are from daytime tv channels from 10 years ago.


"'Cause I can hope and I can dream
and I m full of-full of- full of medicine."

Also the little teapot song for some reason.....

"There's a little teapot over there
doing some stuff and watering some hair"

I don't think it's a good idea to work on my novel or the next victim will be murdered by posies and suffer from scratchy eyes. But I intend to write something for my blog everyday, so lucky you!! I'm gonna go eat millions of peaches just for me.

And remember kids: drugs are bad, but painkillers taste like rainbows.

MISC: Bye-Bye Porch

Today I'm busy packing for some house-sitting. I'm afraid there is nothing artsy to put up, but not every day is especially interesting. I did manage to go over my goal for my novel the other day.

I do most of my writing out on my porch. It's perfectly positioned to stat in the shade and get only the light breeze. Today, since I'm a wee bit busy, I'll at least share where I ike to relax, read, and most especially: write. It has a nice tree in front to block out the pool, so all I see is the quaint little duck pond.

Yeesssssssss.....my precious porch....

It's not for long, but it's where I seem to be able to focus the most. I usually listen to one of my Pandora stations through headphones and just type. Plus it's relaxing for a little break as well.

DRAWING: Green Faerie

Well, I reached an all time low for my writing yesterday: 224 words. I spent so much time running errands and writing my other blog (thankfully only done once a week), that by the time I got to my novel writing it was already midnight. I couldn't keep my eyes open, but I still tried to write as best I could. Actually it wasn't until I was correcting as much as writing that I decided it would be best to give up for the night. Today I am pumped. I have my drink, my computer, my music, and the porch in which to focus upon.

I have been doing some new work with my drawings. I actually wanted to see what I could do with my drawings in my photography editing program. So far I am very pleased. It takes up a ton of ram, though.

Since I seem to be Faerie themed this week, I'll continue on with a particular drawing.

I apologize for the quality. I'm a bit too poor at the moment to afford a big enough scanner, so my drawings are photographed as best I can do without a tripod.

This is actually a very minimalistic drawing for me. I tend to really get into designs and details, but when I got this far, I decided it looked great. It actually extends out a bit more to the left and there is a lot more "white" space, but I changed the framing a bit.

Here is what it looks like AFTER using photoshop lightroom:

I really am very fond of peacock feathers. Of course I might go back and do a little touch-up work, but I really like what the program lets me do so far. It's no Photoshop where I can manipulate and layer (at least not that I've found), but there is still lots to do for those who like to experiment. Boy do I like experimenting, but they've made most of that illegal, so I'll stick to artsy things.

PHOTOGRAPHY: Urban Sprite

The weather is cloudy and the smell of rain is in the air. Today is a good day to sit out on the porch and write. Hopefully I'll get a lot done, I have much to do this week. I'm going to be housesitting, so I have to pack up my things by wednesday. I'm going to miss my porch. I have some great material for my novel now that I've used the actual machines for my spine therapy. They look very twisted and helped me come up with some good descriptions for things in the steampunk era.

Since I'm feeling in a faerie and flighty mood, I think I'll continue with the theme.

My beautiful friend let me dress her up in an old dress I've had forever and play a bit with make-up. We then went to the downtown area where all the nice bricks are. I took a lot of great pictures. I named the shoot Urban Sprite. The looks we got that day were very memorable, and I hope it didn't make her feel too awkward...

 The one above never really got a lot of attention from the others I showed it to, but I really love the colouring. It's one of my favorites from this shoot. She looks so frail.

 Fun with colour!!!

Above is one of my absolute favorite shots and the #1 personal favorite from the shoot. I wish I had changed the angle just a little bit, though.

I'm really happy that she let me do this! I really wanted to experiment with light wings done in post. She looked so cute in that dress too! Thank you, Katy!

PHOTOGRAPHY: Faeries

Dreamland came sweetly last night, finally. I ended up folding my bed back into a couch so I could double layer all the padding. No more poles in my back for the moment. Unless I have a jousting dream and like Freddy Kreuger he comes out and jabs me in the spine. I thought we were friends, but he had to jab me in my dreams. I'll show him. I'm gonna go commando in my sleep.

So, I promised everybody some faeries!

When the summer sun was just beginning to burn the leaves, a cool breeze floated into the rocky canyon; following the winding river. That day two faeries played amongst the leaves and fountains in the small mountain village in Estes Park, Colorado.

 "Tonight we Ride"

Isn't she gorgeous. A swedish model, that woman.

And me...

People kept staring and asking if were were doing some sort of event. I feel like we do these things partly for the reactions and partly for the neat pictures. We kept the wings on while wandering the town too. Sometimes, to make the world more interesting, all it takes is two strange girls in strange outfits.

MISC: Crazy Dozing Day

I reached my writing goal yesterday!! I got all the way past the halfway point of chapter 11 in my novel. Unfortunately, to do so today might mean I'm up all night. It's one of those days.

Since this is a personal blog, I feel I should be open and honest. Recently I've had severe back problems, and now I have a spinal therapist. Apparently the muscles around and between my 3^rd and 4^th vertebrae are shot (similar to damage from an accident). Luckily it's fixable. The point is, my back and entire right side are in a lot of pain due to the messed up muscles rubbing my nerve. The bed I sleep on has also gone very flat, so I can feel the support bars jutting up. As a result...I haven't really been sleeping well. My back was especially bad yesterday, and when I woke up this morning, I found myself with a massive migraine along with a worse back. After lunch I ended up just leaning against a pillow and relaxing for 4 hours. I feel better, but that means I got no writing done! Still, I'm going to try my best getting something down.

With my light dozing I had some really crazy dreams, but since it was such a weird sleep, I human-etch-a-sketched most of them away. I do remember that I had the ability to fly when I ran really fast and jumped into the air. The wind would catch me and by flapping my arms I could go higher. I tend to do that in a lot of my dreams. I wonder if it is a common thing.

There were a lot of people from my college days there too. They were also people I never really hung out with. I flew along side one of them and show off because they needed a machine to fly. We ended up landing and exploring a dark cave system with bones and still rotting corpses (because it just isn't a dream of mine without then). When we came out it was “back” into the museum like building. Around the edges were beautiful trees with blue buds.

I also remember this strange forest. I waited until dark before going by the lake. I was guarded by a scary looking bull thing, but he ended up liking me. It was hard to make him give me enough space to photograph the areas. The lake had bright coloured birds and sparkling bugs that looked like faeries. Then these “children” came out and played around. One climbed to the op of the pine tree and looked out into the moon. The shots I took were so stunning. I really wish there was a machine that could capture images from dreams.

Needless to say, the dream got me really into photography mode. I think tomorrow is a good blog day for Faeries. Today I'm having a little trouble focusing enough. For now, please don't try to jump of anything after a running start. You cant fly like that. I've tried. I'm sure many people have tried, but that doesn't mean it's okay to end up in a padded room. But maybe you have a thing for padded rooms...who am I to judge.

WRITING: Steam Kar

The title of the novel I'm working on is "Steam Kar", though it might change.

I am ashamed. It has been two days since I've met my writing goal of 1500 words a day. I have some serious cracking down to do. I finally made it to chapter 10! I am so proud of myself. The whole story is going to be a trilogy. It's a steampunk era murder mystery. I put a lot of thoughts into the characters. I had the idea for it a long time ago when I had a weird dream. Finally, This year I decided to actually turn it into a novel, but the idea was too broad, so I decided to spit it into three books; each will have a different focus. I've already written the final chapters for the second book, because it's the part I originally dreamed. Plus, it's quite dramatic and dark. I kinda like those moments.

So I really want to get the first book completely done to the final draft by the end of the year.

I haven't let anyone read it yet. I get embarrassed about my grammar sometimes. I can't type as fast as my mind works, and I can't always stop to fix a mistake or I might loose the mojo.

The story centers around a lazy records department worker (Kar) in the basement of the city library. Because of a modified “ability” he has, he gets pulled into a lot of cases by the underworld boss and the police. Once I had the main characters down, the story kinda started writing itself. I never know what the next chapter's going to be about until I get there. That's why I really feel good about this novel. It's also why I get so upset when I don't stay on schedule. Motivation and time management are the things I'm working the most on. When I first started writing, I kinda overstressed myself without any breaks, now I'm trying to find the balance.

Sorry, if I went on and on, but this is a story about my struggle to make it as a creative person. I am just trying to make a living doing one or more of the things I really love and feel like I excel in. I'm still just a Jack-of-Arts trying to find what I can master.