I took the photo of the elk at the wildlife reserve in Omaha, NE.
I created the surreal picture by accident. I used one layer in Divide Mode and the elk in Hard Light and voila!A really unusual result!
I’ve been coughing for the last 4 hours so got up to write my blog. Hopefully, after taking some cough syrup and nighttime Sudafed I’ll be able to sleep. Off to try again.
Don’t worry, it wasn’t from recently, and I think it was old, but still, I think of all the work that went into it as the birds made it and there it is, ready for me to photograph and have fun with it.
Well, I can’t seem to get over this cold. My daughter wants me to go in and have a strep throat test because my granddaughter recently had it. I had an ear infection, so I was on antibiotics and figured I was safe. But then I had a sore throat again. I really think it’s a bad cold, but it doesn’t hurt to check it out since I’m coughing all night again. I was getting better. 🙁
I managed to get 600 words on Vampire and I think about 500 on Highland Wolf. I didn’t do as much as I wanted but I was trying to get other things done–a special picture for a special reason. Resolve the trellis issue, the tax issue, and had to fill out a bunch of tax forms. Plus, taking care of baby all day. He is so funny. He brings me a book, then backs himself up to me and says, “Lap.” I’m getting tons of lifting exercises because he has me read about 15 books per day to him. I still have laryngitis but it’s getting better.
Okay, off to send in my picture and create another I had in mind. I use my own main photo, mostly of animals, this one of wolves play fighting this time, and artify them.
Have a beautiful day! I’ve got to get the dogs out and then get to writing. No more goofing off!
My goal is 10,000 words a week on Highland Wolf, so I’m short by 3K since I went in the wrong direction to begin with and it took me more time to figure out how to start this. Though I might still use the other 1,000 I wrote earlier and cut out. I’m at 7,000 words. Today is another baby day so I don’t count working on these days because I’m so busy with him, but if I can get 1,000 today, I’ll only be 2,000 behind.
And I had the best intention of sleeping last night but I was coughing and had the worst sore throat again. Argh. I did walk 4 miles yesterday, so I felt good about that.
Okay, I’m off to work before baby gets here. Have a fun day!
I think I have my new story start for Highland Wolf. I managed to get 3,000 words on the new Highland story. I think actually 4,000 but I need to type up my notes from last night. I need 10K a week.
So I’m trying to get caught up this morning. Was awake for hours coughing and then woke late. I need to get up by 6 to get all my chores done before baby gets here. I hadn’t put the trash out yet, so I took my grandson out to help me do an Easter egg hunt with pine cones and we picked them all up and put them in the trash. He really loved it. We’re going to take a walk around the block and get the mail, grocery shopping, and maybe an oil change.
I gave him Keira’s cute pink cup with milk in it for breakfast and he kept telling me it was Keira’s cup. *sigh* She’s really too old for a sippy cup, so I changed it out to his cup.
Okay, so I’m off to get ready for a walk and when he takes a nap, I’m working on the story! Still working on Bite of the Vampire also. Reached 40K on it yesterday.
So I was brainstorming with my friend again and we couldn’t come up with the idea. She runs through a bunch of ideas and then suddenly out of the blue, I’m thinking of the hero not being good at a lot of things. He’s a vet and he’s really good with animals, people not so much. Then I mention something else that he needs to do and my friend thinks of a great scene for that. I need to write all this down. I was thinking about it at 2 in the morning, when I wanted to sleep. lol
Got the wrong trellis for this box. It’s really irritating because it popped up as the one to go with the box I ordered and I ordered them at the same time. So I don’t know if I can send it back or not because it’s taken me so long to get it together because of deadlines and then being sick. Or if I can purchase the spare parts that will make this work. Otherwise that was an expensive disaster.
I’m off to work on my lovable hero and his first meeting of the heroine. I have two different scenarios of how they meet. Trying to decide which one will work the best.
So I was working on my garden box. It’s like 9 ft long and nearly 3 feet tall–steel. I finished putting it together and oh, no, wait! I forgot to put the trellis on. But truthfully, putting it together and then adding the trellis is easier, I think, then trying to add more stuff to it when handling the unwieldy box. That meant taking out 12 bolts and replacing them with longer ones connected to the trellis brackets. Okay, no big deal, really.
Plus, I had to tighten all the rest of the bolts that I SWEAR were tight yesterday, which eludes to the fairy in the picture I created who must have, had to have loosened them in the middle of the night!
So I have the 12 brackets on, but now the square rods aren’t matching up with the holes for 6 of them. It appears I will have to move 6 of the brackets. OH NO! Okay, I’m sure that once I get this done, all will be smooth sailing from here on out. I’m sure of it. Maybe. That is if the fairies in the garden don’t mess with things again tonight. And yes, I followed the directions in the first place when putting the brackets on.
Okay, taking a break from working on it to try and get some writing done. What a workout. Have a great day!
Electricity was out first thing this morning, but thankfully I had heated my water for tea already and it’s much colder outside today, so I was outside trying to put that garden bed together. Problem. I need another pair of hands for the bottom bolts. Before, I could flip it upside down, and do the bottom ones. Now with putting ends on, there’s no flipping it any longer. *sigh*
Okay, so I had an idea for Highlander, but it’s getting too complicated for a fun Highland romance. I always have mystery and intrigue, suspense, but I just need to start this differently. I’m not giving up on my original idea because it’s much more different than I’ve ever done and with over 100 books written, I always need to come up with something new. So I need to go back to thinking mode.
And I need to put the rest of the garden bed together. Taking a rest. It’s cold out there and I still have this head cold.
Have a beautiful day!! I’ve got to get to writing!
I finally finished the flower painting. I started writing the opening of Highland Wolf–Robert’s story. But the opening isn’t necessarily the real opening as I kind of work my way through who the characters are. Though there is a dead body. And a meeting and…
Reached 37K on Bite of the Vampire.
I started putting together my above ground garden bed. I have to take all the plastic off each of the steel pieces so I put together one end, but I know my granddaughter will love helping peel off the plastic, so after school that’s what she gets to do. She loves screwing in nuts and bolts too, but the plastic has to come off first. She was so cute because she ran to get her hair bow container to put the screws and bolts and washers in it so we wouldn’t lose any.
Okay, I’m off to get some stuff written. Need to turn in the taxes today.
Another Highland Wolf (Edeen’s brother), White Wolf (the pilot) and Red Wolf (the DEA agent) story are coming. I need to begin work on the Highland wolf one right away. Trying to come up with a new plot. I managed to get to 36K on Bite of the Vampire last night.
I’m playing with Mixer Paints in Photoshop again. This is an unfinished painting, but it’s getting there. They take forever to do. I just play with it when I have the chance. Though I remind myself, I have a ton of other things I need to get done. But I’m also playing with a composite that’s been a lot of fun. I took baby to the grocery store yesterday to get more cough syrup and another chicken. It just appeals. I ended up picking up DM that has mucous thinning ingredients and that sure helped. My other cough syrup doesn’t.
Managed to get to 33K on Bite of the Vampire.
Getting ready for him to be dropped off. He was Miles the Menace yesterday, doing everything I told him not to do. But he’s also an angel and we have a lot of fun. He definitely is nearly a two-year-old. He got into the dog treats, and from a 2 year old mind, he just wants to make the dogs happy. Grandma’s mind? Ack, he will feed the whole container to them and they’ll be sick!
So then I was in the middle of something important and he pulled down the whole container. It’s not light. And the rubber top isn’t that easy to remove. But there he is in the middle of all the dog biscuits on the floor, one in hand, kind of looking surprised at what he had done while he was sitting next to the pile of biscuits. argh. I should have taken a picture! Caught, in the act. Then I took him outside to chalk draw on the patio. Or the fence. Not the house. He got the house 3 times. With no voice, it’s really hard for me to get his attention.