Heaving a Sigh of Relief

Yeah.  The artist I've been emailing reminders too ... emailed me back.  She's still interested in my project and promised to have something to me by next week-end.  

Seems she's in college and taking 19 hours.  For some reason, she thinks that supposed to keep her busy?  I'm amazed she's even considering my project ... which is now up to three pictures for my Half-Elven website.

Reminded me of my first couple semesters in college when I was still hanging around the literary magazine crowd.  [I was working full time and carrying 18 hours so I could get out of the place as soon as possible.]  ... Yeah, I was writing at the time though not publishing.

What was this fantasy writer writing?  I'm almost ashamed to say I was imitating what the literati were writing.  Only vaguely remember one piece.  An old man dying, remembering his long-lost unrequited love, breathing in time to the neon sign across the street from his basement apartment.  Why do I remember that?  ...  Well, shortly after, I decided the whole group was inane and gave them up for partying in San Francisco.

Life offers more than one reason to sigh with relief.

Wrestling the Short Story

Still ... trying to cobble together a short story for Renna's Tales.  The piece is progressing, but not as fast as I had expected.  [The story of everyone's life, I'd guess.]  My hopes of knocking out a short story [around 3,000 words] a month have withered for lack of skill.  One problem:  making a magically powerful Half-Elven vulnerable.

While I'm not particularly happy about the delay, I think the effort is worthwhile ... if only as a training exercise.  I'm into "keep it short, stupid" mode.  The "it" being my writing.  Hopefully, I'll get new content on the website next month.  

The going-for-a-story-every-other-month idea made me feel less a dunce ... then, I discovered the anthology Must Love Hellhounds was out in mass paperback.  Sat back with great expectations of a Charlaine Harris and Ilona Andrews story ... plus a couple other entertainments ... and got whopped up the side of the head.  Charlaine, I hardly knew you.  Her story, while interesting, dragged.  It took nine pages to offer the first of her dry [in character] commentary statements.

Must thank the editor for introducing me to a new writer though:  Meljean Brook.  Loved the way she made the stock tough former CIA operative character stand out as an individual.

Pictures?   You wonder.  I'm working on it, but I really feel uncomfortable being a "nag".

Still, Agonizing Over Pictures

First, a Warning ...

I picked up a virus on Sunday night.  As soon as the little shield on my bottom tool-bar popped up, I shut the computer off -- so I don't think I infected anyone.  But, if you visit a lot of the stuff I do, you probably already know you've been infected.  Whatever, it took two days to get the computer guru to remove the stuff.

Seems to be a lot of the stuff going around from the stories the guru told.  So, if you haven't updated your security lately ... you should look into it.

Pictures...

Finally, managed to get my picture transferred to the author bio section of the website.  As much as I'd like the increase in numbers, it's not worth going to to see.  I put up the same picture I have on my blog.  [Not the cat though he's prettier.]  

When I enlarged my new "professional", I was sneering.  Or, at least my lip was curled.  Do you think that's the way I smile?

My first artist backed out of the commission for my home page ... so I'm looking for another picture for the home page of my website.  For now, I'm not going to worry about it.  The page can just sit as it is.

Story Progress ...

Experienced a little deja vu while my computer was off.  I wrote by pencil ... so I could erase often and much.  Discovered I write about twice as fast on the computer in spite of all the backtracking and copy/pasting.  Won't repeat the experiment soon.  My thumbs would whine if I spent one more hour with pencil in hand.

The next Half-Elven short story progresses ...  featuring Mariah after the Rebellion was won.  Again, Renna has her nose in the action.  Now, I get to worry about whether the story has a plot or not.

Here a Picture, There a Picture

Ugh ... pictures.  Spent hours to get the GoDaddy scenery pictures up, thanks to the helpful people in customer service.  They represent the landscape of the Marches my Half-Elven play in ... but am still waiting for the original artist to get back to me.  I need to get some specific pictures up that show my characters.

Think I'm getting an object lesson about working with "family".  Still, I like his style ... and hope to get something soon.  If not, I'll proceed without him ... and let him keep the down payment.

Found another possible artist at AW Water Cooler.  We've exchanged emails, and she's interested.  Surprising thing, she works in markers.  I'm thinking markers fade, but if I get the pictures scanned ...  We're working for a picture for The Foiling of Gorsfeld.  

Am thinking I may have to change my planned schedule for posting stories.  I keep coming up with backstory and infodumps instead of story.  I've never really been able to do short stories, and I seem to be reverting to form.

Somewhere, I saw a comment to the effect:  What happens when your characters stop talking to you.  In this case, Renna's talking too much and to little purpose.