Still not as much focus as I’d like, but I knocked a few things off my to-do list today, so I’ll take it. Words tomorrow, even if it’s just three sentences.
Today’s Inktober prompt was “graceful.” I considered going with a cliché — we saw a swan our first day on vacation — but instead, I took my inspiration from more art from the Chazen Museum. Think it might be better if I roughed it out in pencil first, but it’s not horrible.
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I decided to take the day and go to the library, work on my daughter’s Halloween costume, think about my son’s birthday next summer (there’s a game on Kickstarter that hits his sweet spot and is projected to deliver in July) … it’s safe to say the only writing-related thing I did today was the weekly operations call for SFWA.
The prompt for Inktober was “fat.” I went a step removed and drew a quick (and very rough) picture of scales from the geology museum at the Colorado School of Mines. I might have been better off stylizing it more rather than trying to reproduce what I saw.
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Did you know that the Romans sacrificed horses to Mars on the Ides of October? Fortunately today, I encountered nothing so bloody.
I also encountered no words, but I have a plan for tomorrow’s, so that’s progress. Just hoping I don’t spend most of the day trying to fight off a headache that can’t decide whether it’s a sinus headache or a migraine. In any case, not hide-in-a-dark-room-and-wait-for-it-to-go-away bad, for which I am grateful.
Today’s Inktober prompt was “mysterious.” Picture is from Bear Lake at Rocky Mountain National Park. Photo is actually a still from a video clip, trying to catch the water that was dripping off the top of the rock.
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Today, the boy was taking the PSAT, which meant I was up by 7 — practically unheard of on a weekend. It also means I got most of my Saturday tasks done by 9 a.m. and then flaked out for much of the rest of the day. Family time, though, so that’s good. Even when there are no new words.
Today, my Inktober sketch is of a pair of “fierce” English cocker spaniel puppies playing at my in-laws’ house. (I didn’t draw the two who were being good.) I used the 0.3 Multiliner and the Pentel brush pen. It’s hard to tell where the ear ends and the face begins, among other things. Still, puppies!
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I’ve never minded Friday the 13th. With one blood relative and one in-law having birthdays on the 13th of different months, if anything, I think it’s a cool day.
On the other hand, it’s the second week in a row my son’s school has been disrupted by the threat of violence, so I’m rapidly becoming less fond of October. Again, no damage done other than expense of bringing in experts to check out the bomb threat (I wouldn’t have guessed there were 5 nearby municipalities with bomb-sniffing dogs) and an interrupted day, but that gets to be a bit wearing.
Got around 50 words today. Need to get back on track.
Today’s Inktober prompt was “teeming.” Sketched some flamingoes from the Henry Vilas Zoo in Madison with my Copic Multiliner. (If I’d gotten a better picture of the prairie dogs, I’d probably have used them instead.)
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Robert Frost’s words pretty much describe the way this month has been going for me. The poem “October” in full:
O hushed October morning mild,
Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;
To-morrow’s wind, if it be wild,
Should waste them all.
The crows above the forest call;
To-morrow they may form and go.
O hushed October morning mild,
Begin the hours of this day slow,
Make the day seem to us less brief.
Hearts not averse to being beguiled,
Beguile us in the way you know;
Release one leaf at break of day;
At noon release another leaf;
One from our trees, one far away;
Retard the sun with gentle mist;
Enchant the land with amethyst.
Slow, slow!
For the grapes’ sake, if they were all,
Whose leaves already are burnt with frost,
Whose clustered fruit must else be lost—
For the grapes’ sake along the wall.
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Today went better than the past few. 529 words, and an interesting new character introduced to the series.
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The Inktober prompt was “shattered.” A car accident, captured along a highway. The rear and the angles are off. Drawing with nib and brush.
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Not a lot of words — only 116 — but given the trouble I’ve had focusing, I’ll take it.
Picture today didn’t come out very well. The Inktober prompt was “run,” but I didn’t really have any good photos for that. My son suggested I do a hare (he thought this especially appropriate after yesterday’s tortoise), and the only one of those I had was the photo of Beth Cavener’s “L’Amante,” at the Chazen Museum of Art.
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Fall shares one of the drawbacks of spring: pollen. This is why I like the first hard frost of the year; it kills plants so they’ll stop trying to kill me. (My son tells me neither the plants nor Pennsylvania are actually trying to kill me. I tell him I’ll believe that when they stop.) Between allergies and various medications to lessen their impact, I have a hard time focusing. This is the primary reason I haven’t gotten much writing or freelance work done for a couple of weeks — it’s too easy to drift, trying to remember what else needs to get done.
This makes today a real accomplishment, as I took cardboard boxes to the recycling center, got another gallon of milk before we ran out, checked my post office box (empty, as usual), copyedited a journal article, and did my Inktober sketch. Still no words, but this feels like progress.
Today’s Inktober prompt was “gigantic.” This is an Aldabra giant tortoise from the Henry Vilas Zoo in Madison, sketched with the Copic Multiliner.
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I knew today wasn’t going to be hugely productive. Rainy day with the kids home? Right.
No words, and currently lots of doubts about participating in NaNoWriMo next month, but I decided not to fret about that.
So I took the girl shopping for bits of the Halloween costume she wants me to assemble for her, did some reading, attended SFWA’s weekly operations call, put up with son and his friend gaming, let daughter go off to movie with her friend, and then did pizza and impromptu gaming (Hogwarts Clue) with our friends. All in all, a very good day off.
Oh, and I sketched. Today’s Inktober prompt was “screech.” This is a cave bear skull from the geology museum at the Colorado School of Mines. No, bears don’t really screech, but the open mouth felt suggestive. Again, used the Pentel brush pen.
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Quiet Sunday — sleeping in, daughter’s soccer, rereading some of my favorite bits in a friend’s unpublished paranormal romance to get my thoughts straight, laundry, and my daily sketch.
Today’s Inktober prompt was “crooked.” This broken stump was around one of the lakes in Rocky Mountain National Park. A mix of Copic Multiliner 0.3 and the Pentel brush pen. I’m really liking the brush pen for shadow work.
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Prompt:
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