Wordslinger

What can I say? It was a good vacation. But I need to plan better for the future!

http://www.webcomicsnation.com/melwhite/coyote/series.php

Knee still hurting a bit, but I think I'll do laundry today and start the new Coyote. I'm not sure when we'll be home this week (Sunday or Monday), so it'd be nice if I finished it tomorrow.

And I need to write today and finish a logo for someone. I had it almost finished last night...and then Gimp crashed. Of course, I hadn't saved it in hours....

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/2493260/

There's a lot of work to do before getting a web comic online for "real" and giving it a finished look. D&M goes live on Radio Comix in September, but I thought folks who knew and loved the series might like to see some of the work that I'm doing for it. I'll also post links to some of the "behind the scenes" things that I put up at Radio Comix -- giving my readers a "sneak peek" at the whole thing.

I'll be a busy girl for the next few months!

One of the things I was urged to do is create profile pages for characters. So I dutifully updated Webcomics Nation with a profile of the "Keeper of Kittens"... but I can't figure out where the darn thing is being kept on their system. ACK! I'm sure there's some way (without getting a paid account, since Coyote isn't supported by anything) to link the profile pages... but darn if I know how just yet.

Anyway, for those of you who adore anthropological world building, here it is:
http://www.webcomicsnation.com/melwhite/KEEPER.php

I generally consider myself to be a lucky person, though I have some habits that are not as conducive to bringing myself luck. Recently, on Twitter, I've been following Dr. Richard Weismann, a psychologist who is doing all sorts of fun social experiments. He's recently written a book... and although I usually don't post links to vids because I don't have time for them, I think y'all might find this one amusing and enlightening.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojcM76QLt78

I know I'm on vacation, but I have things to do... shopping, writing, etc, etc. Will plan for time on the beach, too, but part of this is a working vacation.

Coyote's up. Consistency is down.
http://www.webcomicsnation.com/melwhite/coyote/series.php

At my dad's today, headed for our condo tomorrow. Yes, Little Dragon is tired. I should work on a few Coyote panels tonight because I'll be fried by tomorrow evening... and I still intend to get my update out on time or close to it.

At hotel, headed for bed.

For all my writer fans, found a nice "generator of various things" site for your inspriation. Play before it's gone (these things never last).


(note the next morning: And how tired was I? I forgot to leave this link! http://nine.frenchboys.net/ )

Almost done packing, will update from the road. If you get desperate for news, Twitter (Foxraven) is the most likely "this is what's going on right now" source.

I promise I'm not going to spam "Antelope Freeway, 1/2 mile." "Antelope Freeway, 1/4 mile..."

...but everyone's a mind reader, right?

Yesterday, when I was talking about "how to introduce myself" it was in the context of "you are on a panel for a con and sitting in front of the whole room and the moderator turns to you (and everyone else) and says 'introduce yourself and tell the audience about yourself.'"

The wrong introduction CAN set the other panelists' teeth on edge.

It's not a problem when you do one thing and say "I'm a writer and I write Celtic Fantasy" and hold up 50 novels. It's a problem for me when I may be holding up a textbook that I'm very proud of plus anthologies plus comic books (because I'm trying to get some attention for them at the convention.)

Meh. Humorist won't work with the scholarly stuff, will it. Maybe Maggie's suggestion of "I write and I draw" would work.

(fidget, fuss, worry... many things are on my mind so of course I go gnaw on the minor details to keep the big ones from overwhelming me right now.)

As I sat on panels this weekend, I began to think about redefining myself. I had been introducing myself as a "scholar" but discovered that this can cause (subconsciously) some to become defensive and mildly hostile towards remarks that really aren't negative. It happens in cyberspace, too, and eventually I get tired and discouraged by these occasional reactions from others, particularly if they hit me at the wrong time.

Of course, to be honest, I *have* been known to whack people over the head with scholarly credentials when they say something I think is wrong and hold onto the position like a bulldog on a bone. That may be seen as bullying on my part.

So I did some thinking about it and after long rumination, I decided that it would be best to simply identify myself as a "humorist." I think it sounds friendly, and there are a number of humorists who have an interesting range of talents, so it might not be too outre' to talk about a play or the latest silly filk or whatever (speaking of which, I had several requests to post the lyrics for "Wardrobe accident" and I will do that tomorrow.)

Of course, then everyone will expect me to be funny.

I'm not sure where the rat traps and unintended consequences in THAT label are, but I guess I'll go find out. I don't want to seem arrogant, but saying you're a scholar seems to set you up for being perceived as arrogant. I think maybe it'll be just good enough to be a humorist.

...I need to do next week's pretty promptly or it won't be done. We'll be traveling.
http://www.webcomicsnation.com/melwhite/coyote/series.php

I'm home, friended a few folks who friended me here on LJ, found the dry ice I need for tomorrow's classes, and am getting ready for trying to get Coyote ready. Kinda tired now.

I've been sitting on the news for just a week or so, so that I could get everything in place for this announcement: The Duncan and Mallory graphic novels will be published on the Radio Comix website, beginning this September: http://www.radiocomix.com/

I've got QUITE a lot of work ahead of me to get all the pieces in place, which is why I'm waiting till September (Fencon weekend) to "go live" with it. Among the many new items that will be added to the full series is material that no one has seen before (a list of all the "in-jokes", for one thing, because they're too much fun to keep to myself), character bios, an "origins" story of how Bilge and Sadie got together, as well as some detailed concepts about "The Tangles" (and possibly even a tiny little game based on that. After the first 3 are finished, the 4th one will go up -- the one Bob and I were working on at the time of his death.

This is not the ONLY Duncan and Mallory material that's around. We had a number of stories that we had kicked around (and exist in a sort of "You know, we could ..." format) over the years. I've got a tiny notebook with about 20 different ideas that we had talked about at one time or another, so there's enough story material to keep it going through a 5th issue and beyond.

No decision about print publication has been made yet, but you KNOW it's coming. However, the first thing that needs to get done is to get all the fiddly details run (like making the banner for the page) and then it'll be up and on the web. I'll worry about print after I've done a print of Coyote (and made all the mistakes there, right?)

I'm very pleased and excited; I've been friends with Elin and the whole Radio Comix crowd since... uh... well... let's just say that we go back a number of years.

It's a real pleasure to be working on this for them.

First, I'd like to let y'all have a peek at a beautiful piece my daughter did of her cat; it's professional quality and represents a wonderful new direction in her art!
http://merykitsune.deviantart.com/art/Snuggles-127321866

Second, I'm here at Apollocon. Gonna wander the filk (maybe) and room parties. Schedule tomorrow is

1pm - concert with Ghost of a Rose (they're intimidatingly good)
3pm - filk circle: classics (yes, TWO concerts tomorrow. Oh dear.)
4pm - Southern Goth
(parties, filks, etc)

Sunday
10am Copyright and copying
1pm - Mythology: is Joseph Campbell overused?

It's hot here... so hot that you feel hammered when you step outside. My mouse died (again) and I went off to Fry's for a new one. Bad idea. Expensive idea.

I dropped out of a women's group in Facebook. I'm not sure if you know the type, but they send out inspiring messages each day which are designed to help you along your pathway (whatever it is.) I've been in these groups before and the major problem is that I grew up in the 60's and 70's and we already discussed this stuff (stoned and not-stoned) and by now the whole package of "be what you can be because life is beautiful" messages seem like very tired and time-wasting pap. I don't discount the concept that they are helpful and healing for some, but there really needs to be inspirational messages for "those who have gotten beyond that stage."

I feel a tiny bit guilty because they are nice folks, but after the 8th or 10th message from the group founder (who has books and other programs) with the same old fluffy encouragement, I found myself reluctant to spend any more time on it.

Such a grouch I am!

It was quite an adventure, folks.

I got out to the site a little after 9 am (having battled some traffic on the way). It was already hot, with a predicted heat index of 105. Luckily, I had grabbed our beach umbrella, so I trekked it down the hill (along with utility belt, 3 lb hammer (which has a shipping weight of 4 lbs in case you wanted to know), chisel, trowel, and cooler with drinks. The heat was already beginning to bake the flats below the hill. As I walked up to the group, someone (who is legendary for his ability to spot material) hauled a turtle scute (belly or back plate -- I don't know my turtles) out of an eroding ledge of rock, announced it, and tossed it down. I picked it up, mainly because I didn't know what to look for. So now I have one for reference.

I set up the umbrella on the hillside face and started to dig. The maul and chisel made it easier to dig into the clay. A group of teachers came up and took the tour, walking around with the site manager and then settling in to dig for about an hour before leaving. I shared my umbrella shade with another die-hard digger, and we kept on digging.

Then Tommy came up with the news that we would have to move our cars from the hillside (where they were parked on a road next to a trucking company entrance) down onto the flats. I hopped (okay, crawled) into the back of the pickup and then drove Falco (Nissan Altima) very carefully down the hill. We only scraped his bottom side once.

I was starting to feel hot, and I'm sure my face was flushed.

I drove back and by now the teachers were gone and there were only a handful of us die-hards there. Someone called to me to catch up with the group hiking in the field, and when I got to where they had gathered, there was the rim of a turtle shell sticking up out of the ground. I hiked back for the beach umbrella and my tools and drink (and was starting to feel the effects of the heat.)

I made it back to the group, starting to feel a little queasy. I discovered I'd dropped my trowel and had to hike the half mile back to the dig face. On the way back, I began feeling a bit queasy. There were two pickups at the turtle site and I asked if I could sit in one with the air conditioner on. Tommy kindly allowed me in, and I sat there until my face became a bit less flushed (if you don't know, I have a mild heart condition that can make it difficult to do hard exercise.) Then I got out and helped them extract the shell. My knowledge as a preparator helped, since I was able to see where to hammer and chisel so we could get it out with a minimum of cracking.

The rock was moderately difficult to work, being a conglomerate (composed of lots of things.) One of the intriguing things is that sprinkled heavily throughout the rock were chips of burned wood about the size of match heads. The whole area (they told me) had been involved in a huge wildfire at the time the hadrosaur (the dinosaur from the site) had died. Judging from the burned wood fragments in and around the rock where the turtle shell edge lay, the turtle had also died in the fire.

After we levered the fossil carefully out of the ground, I decided the sensible thing to do was quit for the day. It was about 1pm and the last thing they needed was for me to ignore the symptoms for another 40 minutes and then have to call 911 to drag me out of there.

I'm rested and recuperated (and sore!) now, and eager for another adventure. Alas, tomorrow's adventure only involves laundry.


Dig photos and comments here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/coyotedancing/

I have my 3 pound maul (hammer), tool belt, tool pouch, chisel, water bottles, mat, umbrella, trowel, energy bars, iced coffee (icing away in the fridge), Fresnel lens, and sunscreen and I'm getting ready to go to the Arlington Archosaur site tomorrow! I'll probably just find more dirt but it'll do me good to sit in the sun and pound rocks for five hours. I'm going to read up on the geology of the area as well as the paleontology -- we have a group of teachers coming out tomorrow to join us at the dig, and sure as shooting someone's going to think I'm some sort of expert on the whole shebang and start asking questions.

So I'm going to find out tonight.

Also on the docket is writing on my chapter and posting some Coyote fan art. Not that anyone's sent me any; it's just character sketches I've done.

And the art was going well until the Siamese decided to help (sigh)
http://www.webcomicsnation.com/melwhite/coyote/series.php