See? It's already starting to look more and more like a website. I'll keep fiddling with everything tomorrow. Talk to you then. We'll figure it out. And of course, to make this look more like I actually wrote stuff.... repeat... See? It's already starting to look more and more like a website. I'll keep fiddling with everything tomorrow. Talk to you then. We'll figure it out. See? It's already starting to look more and more like a website. I'll keep fiddling with everything tomorrow. Talk to you then. We'll figure it out.
See? It's already starting to look more and more like a website. I'll keep fiddling with everything tomorrow. Talk to you then. We'll figure it out. See? It's already starting to look more and more like a website. I'll keep fiddling with everything tomorrow. Talk to you then. We'll figure it out.
About Me
- Val
- I'm a 20 year old college student who loves everything to do with dogs, clicker training, writing, reading, photography and drawing. I love helping out with various dog rescues, my current focus with a Golden Retriever Rescue with my neighbors. My dogs are Toby, a Boxer/Lab mix and Reba, a Shih Tzu.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Second Post
It's been awhile since my last post... My posting always slows when I haven't been writing, but overall life's just been rough going as well. HEART SONG flopped with some major problems after SoCNoC ended and I stopped for breathing room. I'd seen it coming as I was writing but didn't have the heart to stop and admit it. When I finally did I was 67k words into the story and severely boxed in with things I didn't want in the story anyway. So I've shelved it for a little while...
Partially because I've been doing so much writing this year and not enough relaxing/refilling my muse... and partially because life got too much. I always get 'off' around the time I need to start figuring out my classes/what I'm going to do for the next several months. Especially now that I have a basic associates (general studies kind of thing) and needed to figure out where to go from there. Then last week Sunday my dog stepped wrong off our mini-deck (only 6inch drop) and we thought he sprained a muscle. He walked fine but had an occasional limp. Toby tends to do stuff like that he's a weird boy. But Monday it didn't get any better... instead by the time I got home at 5 it was worse. By late that night he could barely move without screaming. So the moment the vet opened on Tuesday we were there... after a painful exam, so even more painful x-rays and a lot of heartache we found out that he'd collapsed two discs in his back. And that there was probably some neurological damage done (his body wasn't reacting normally, probably from pressure on the spine) and that there was a strong chance that he might not walk again.
It's been a long week since then. Thankfully Toby has made strides in his progress. He can walk (though we try not to let him, using a towel to keep some weight of his back legs unless necessary) and he's on crate rest for another five weeks. But he can walk... And the pain is down. Still, every four hours (sometimes less) we're carrying an 80lb dog outside in our rigged stretcher/wagon combo to go potty because he's been having trouble holding it. The entire family is exhausted. We're rotating his bedding constantly so there is always laundry going on...
I pretty much hit the breaking point and have come to the realization that I wanted a little break. I still aim to finish NOCTURNAL but I'm only working on it when I feel like writing. If there is one thing I've discovered... it's that I'm a 'spurt writer' for a reason. I need the break time between projects. Otherwise I feel like I'm getting stale and have a hard time relaxing into the story. So with my stress, my dog, and my need for a break... I finally caved. I think I've read over 15 books in the past two weeks. I've started toying with various ideas (predominantly one) for future writing projects... just tossing character names and such about. I've done some drawing for one story, trying to map some stuff out. This weekend I also decided to try some new 'crafty' things. I picked up a ceramic vase from a ceramics store to paint. It's of an adult wolf and pup howling. I've worked on it most of today and yesterday (I'm not an experienced painter at all...) and am liking how it's turning out, no matter how slow it's coming. The wolves on the vase will actually turn out to be Kaeger (from my stories CRY WOLF and HEART SONG) and his pup Nox (HEART SONG). Because for the night scene I decided to going, Kae's gray and Nox's black work very well.
So far, I'm enjoying my time off. I've watched several movies, including actually paying and going out to see the new Batman one. Spent a weekend with a friend (before Toby's injury), which included going to her cousin's party and watching really big trucks go mud bogging. Buying a collection of random books on sale (useless information one, excuses handbook, a horoscope one, and a random dog facts one). I've been toying with new music and just letting things filter in around me.
I guess I just find it weird that I always tend to forget that the time I spend in between writing is almost more important than the time I spend writing.
Partially because I've been doing so much writing this year and not enough relaxing/refilling my muse... and partially because life got too much. I always get 'off' around the time I need to start figuring out my classes/what I'm going to do for the next several months. Especially now that I have a basic associates (general studies kind of thing) and needed to figure out where to go from there. Then last week Sunday my dog stepped wrong off our mini-deck (only 6inch drop) and we thought he sprained a muscle. He walked fine but had an occasional limp. Toby tends to do stuff like that he's a weird boy. But Monday it didn't get any better... instead by the time I got home at 5 it was worse. By late that night he could barely move without screaming. So the moment the vet opened on Tuesday we were there... after a painful exam, so even more painful x-rays and a lot of heartache we found out that he'd collapsed two discs in his back. And that there was probably some neurological damage done (his body wasn't reacting normally, probably from pressure on the spine) and that there was a strong chance that he might not walk again.
It's been a long week since then. Thankfully Toby has made strides in his progress. He can walk (though we try not to let him, using a towel to keep some weight of his back legs unless necessary) and he's on crate rest for another five weeks. But he can walk... And the pain is down. Still, every four hours (sometimes less) we're carrying an 80lb dog outside in our rigged stretcher/wagon combo to go potty because he's been having trouble holding it. The entire family is exhausted. We're rotating his bedding constantly so there is always laundry going on...
I pretty much hit the breaking point and have come to the realization that I wanted a little break. I still aim to finish NOCTURNAL but I'm only working on it when I feel like writing. If there is one thing I've discovered... it's that I'm a 'spurt writer' for a reason. I need the break time between projects. Otherwise I feel like I'm getting stale and have a hard time relaxing into the story. So with my stress, my dog, and my need for a break... I finally caved. I think I've read over 15 books in the past two weeks. I've started toying with various ideas (predominantly one) for future writing projects... just tossing character names and such about. I've done some drawing for one story, trying to map some stuff out. This weekend I also decided to try some new 'crafty' things. I picked up a ceramic vase from a ceramics store to paint. It's of an adult wolf and pup howling. I've worked on it most of today and yesterday (I'm not an experienced painter at all...) and am liking how it's turning out, no matter how slow it's coming. The wolves on the vase will actually turn out to be Kaeger (from my stories CRY WOLF and HEART SONG) and his pup Nox (HEART SONG). Because for the night scene I decided to going, Kae's gray and Nox's black work very well.
So far, I'm enjoying my time off. I've watched several movies, including actually paying and going out to see the new Batman one. Spent a weekend with a friend (before Toby's injury), which included going to her cousin's party and watching really big trucks go mud bogging. Buying a collection of random books on sale (useless information one, excuses handbook, a horoscope one, and a random dog facts one). I've been toying with new music and just letting things filter in around me.
I guess I just find it weird that I always tend to forget that the time I spend in between writing is almost more important than the time I spend writing.
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I finished SoCNoC off with 67k then celebrated with a day of relaxation... which turned into quiet a few because we lost power and I went to stay with a friend. We won't even get into the deathly terrifying trip I had home the night we lost power... Though I am happy to say I made it through the conditions unharmed and with my car still running great. I can't say the same for very many others... where we've gotten these really bad storms these last two years I don't know. -sighs- But there is nothing like being caught in the summer heat and not even being able to have a fan... So I went to stay with a friend who had power. For Friday we went tubing down the now-extremely high river. But my highlight was yesterday, Saturday, when we went to Binder Park Zoo. I love the zoo here... it's not the biggest I'm sure, but most of the enclosures are open and while allowing the visitors to almost always get a good look at the animals, they also tend to give the animals plenty of space and room to lay in the shade. I'm finally getting a good grasp on my camera and was really impressed with the shots I have. So instead of a writing update... you get some photography. ^_^ I took over 300 pictures but I'll only be showing my top favorites.
Saving them for the web has done the pictures little good... The quality suffers with the downsize, but they're still fairly pretty. My favorites are of the peacock in the tree. He was gorgeous but off set with the green canopy above him and wow!
Saving them for the web has done the pictures little good... The quality suffers with the downsize, but they're still fairly pretty. My favorites are of the peacock in the tree. He was gorgeous but off set with the green canopy above him and wow!
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