Writing, illustrating, music and creative procrastination

Happy birthday to Andrea today!

The photos above and below were taken at the cottage yesterday morning, when I woke up before the morning mist had burned off the lake:



A massive thunderstorm earlier in the week knocked out the power for about a day and a half. The upside was that it also seemed to clear up much of the oppressive humidity. I spent much of the past week in the lake at the cottage, going swimming at least 2-3 times a day (once in the rain). Whenever the tendons in my arms tired, I'd turn over and float on my back for a few minutes, watching the clouds drift by.

I came back to find two cheques waiting for me (one for a writing job, the other for illustration). Cheques are good. Also received a Paypal payment for an illustration job yesterday, yay!

One of the cheques accompanied an issue of The Country Connection magazine containing an article I wrote a couple of years ago. My article was postponed an issue or two, then the magazine skipped an issue; I'd actually half-forgotten this piece was still waiting for publication until the editor called a couple weeks ago (before our phones went out) to confirm that I was still living at the same address. Hurray for astute editors!



Thanks for the feedback for the webzine question I posted in Livejournal a week or so ago in prep for my Writer's Digest article as well as in e-mail to specific people. I've finished a very rough draft of another novel (banged out in two weeks), but am going to let it "settle" while I work on another novel; I'm about two-thirds of the way through the first draft.



Finished an illustration job yesterday and got another one within a few hours. Remarkable timing, that. So far each of these jobs has been fun to work on; I've been pretty lucky. This latest involves designing a new header for a multi-author writers' blog that I was already enjoying reading.

I was also asked last week for the URL of my online illustration portfolio. Unfortunately I don't have an official online illustration portfolio yet, just my rather jumbled Flickr Sketchbook. Once we get regular high-speed access back, I have vowed that I am going to put one online that includes samples like the one to the left (recently completed for a client). I've been procrastinating for three reasons:

1. I've been getting enough illustration work without an online portfolio. In a way, Blatherings and Inkygirl already showcase my work. On the other hand, it would be handy to have one place which highlights my favourite pieces as well as work for past clients.

2. Putting together an online illustration portfolio forces me to also put together a proper freelance writing portfolio as well and therefore involves a greater investment of time, something I'm lacking these days.

3. I haven't decided where to put it. The logical place for a writing/illustration portfolio would be debbieohi.com, but I already have a comic strip there. I've been thinking about going ahead with this anyway, and having a link to the strip instead.

Hey, I'm up to Lesson 4 of my Garageband tutorial book! I've learned how to do multipass recording as well as add music to a video, record using software instruments, and do basic edits to a multi-track recording. I've also invested in the newest version of Finale since I'd like to do a music theory book as well as put together a second Urban Tapestry songbook. So now I'm happily poring over the user manuals and going through tutorials and exercises. I'm such a user manual addict....






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