Friday, April 28, 2017

Celebrate The Small Things - April 28, 2017


Another week flew by.

This week I colored my hair and ordered fidget spinner toys for my kids. They nagged for many days almost every hour to get these darn spinners. There were problems with the web site, but I was able to order them on Tuesday. They finally arrived in the mail on Thursday so I brought them to the school to surprise my kids when they got out. I bought them a Popsicle after school, but it was the spinner toy they were excited about. Seeing how happy they were was worth the nagging.

Even though I'm behind schedule for my graphic novel, I was able to get a couple of panels done this week. I'm pretty happy with them so far.

I got a good idea for another story this week and put it in my new file on Google Docs. It's much easier and faster to use voice recognition to add my ideas to Google Docs. I don't have to hunt for my notebook of story ideas. Google Docs is right on my phone. I just open it up, turn the microphone on, and dictate my story into the app. It's so convenient! Plus, it's in the cloud, so I don't have to worry about losing it. I love technology!

My new favorite Zumba instructor is subbing the class I go to until June! I adjusted my schedule to attend his class this week after I heard he would be there. He played all 80s music at the request of one of the girls. Hammer time! Flashdance! Janet Jackson! Roger Rabbit! I danced like no one was watching. Didn't care! Ha ha!

What are you celebrating?
Check out the blogs below for your reading pleasure and please visit our hosts' blogs:
Lexa Cain: http://lexacain.blogspot.com/
L.G. Keltner http://lgkeltner.blogspot.co.uk/
Tonja Drecker http://tonjadrecker.blogspot.com/
If you would like to join our blog hop, visit Lexa Cain's blog for info.

1.

Lexa Cain2.Fiction and Film
3.Writing Off the Edge4.Kidbits
5.TheCyborgMom6.Thoughts and Ideas from Deanie Humphrys-Dunne
7.Intentional Insights with S. Kelley Harrell8.Constantine
9.My Miracle Life10.Writing, Reading, and the Pursuit of Dreams
11.Lara Lacombe12.TF Walsh
13.Life, Yoga and Other Adventures14.Suzanne Furness
15.Elizabeth Seckman16.Avalon
17.My Baffling Brain18.Planet Kimberly
19.Shah Wharton20.Victorian Scribbles
21.Tanya Miranda22.Ann - A Friend of Jesus 2013
23.Special Teaching At Pempi's Palace24.Square Pegs
25.Patricia's Place26.Anne Higa
27.My Antimatter Life28.Bouquet of Books
29.Lightravellerkate30.Curious As A Cathy
31.Glennie's Random Ramblings32.In My Own Words
33.Tamara Narayan, Author34.My Creatively Random Life
35.Yvonne Ventresca36.Two Book Minimum
37.On Becoming a Writer38.Decadent Kane
39.Stacy Uncorked40.Sharon Himsl--Shells, Tales & Sails
41.Cloud Nine Girl

Friday, April 21, 2017

Celebrate The Small Things - April 21, 2107

 

This week I was able to create a font of my own handwriting for my graphic novel. The process is pretty simple, but I worked on it for two days to get it just right. I made several sheets of different handwriting and came across many problems as is the norm with getting to know computer programs.

It was down to two fonts that I liked the best. I knew which one would appeal more to children, but I asked my kids for their opinion and they chose the one I thought they would. I'm so glad that is out of the way so I can move forward.

Now I don't have to worry about finding the perfect font and getting a commercial license for using it. I spent hours looking for the right font only to find out they glitched out on the program I was using and the licensing was hard for me to figure out. Some are free for personal use, but the one I wanted showed free on one site, but you had to pay for it on another site. After using it for a while, I decided I didn't like it. It glitched out anyway when it was time to print it, so I abandoned it.

The site I ended up using was www.calligraphr.com. The first font is free. You can change it, but if you do, you won't be able to use the previous font you made at the same time. I initially went to www.myscriptfont.com, but the kerning (space between letters) is squished and not adjustable. It might be okay for some things, but not for middle grade graphic novels which is what I'm working on. If the text isn't clear for kids, you'd better believe they're gonna move on.

I don't know why this week went by in a blur, but I was able to get a few drawings in for my graphic novel that came out really cute. What a switch from last week when my drawings were stiff, boring and ugly! I wish I knew what I did right this week to get those good drawings. Could it be the way the planets aligned? Lack of sleep? Well, no, that can't be it. I lack sleep every week. Hmm, I ate a ton of blueberries this week. Maybe that's it. Thanks, Costco.

After over a month of skipping the gym because of the graphic novel contest, I hit the weights pretty hard this week. It feels great to have gotten through those workouts. I couldn't lift as much as I used to and that was discouraging, but my pants were a tiny bit looser this morning, so I'll celebrate that. My arms are sore as heck and I'm still pudgy, but I feel like Arnold Schwarzeneggar. LOL

I did the special hour-and-a-half Easter Zumba last Sunday. It was so fun. One of the instructors was a hilarious, energetic gay guy who played music that is right up my alley like disco, Flashdance, Psy, disco Star Wars, etc. My husband said he has never seen me move so fast. The gym was pretty empty, but that class was packed. My husband who is a Star Wars fan was lifting weights when we were dancing to the disco Star Wars song. He has dog hearing, so he heard it through the glass wall and over the blaring music on the gym floor. He rolled his eyes, but I was having fun.

The instructor picks out a new girl and when the song says, "Luke, I am your father!" he points to her and she's supposed to say, "Nooooooooo!" That's what he tells her before the song starts. He says, "It's from a movie." Ha ha! It was the start of a good week.

What are you celebrating?
Check out the blogs below for your reading pleasure and please visit our hosts' blogs:
Lexa Cain: http://lexacain.blogspot.com/
L.G. Keltner http://lgkeltner.blogspot.co.uk/
Tonja Drecker http://tonjadrecker.blogspot.com/
If you would like to join our blog hop, visit Lexa Cain's blog for info.

1.

Lexa Cain2.Fiction and Film
3.Writing Off the Edge4.Kidbits
5.TheCyborgMom6.Thoughts and Ideas from Deanie Humphrys-Dunne
7.Intentional Insights with S. Kelley Harrell8.Constantine
9.My Miracle Life10.Writing, Reading, and the Pursuit of Dreams
11.Lara Lacombe12.TF Walsh
13.Life, Yoga and Other Adventures14.Suzanne Furness
15.Elizabeth Seckman16.Avalon
17.My Baffling Brain18.Planet Kimberly
19.Shah Wharton20.Victorian Scribbles
21.Tanya Miranda22.Ann - A Friend of Jesus 2013
23.Special Teaching At Pempi's Palace24.Square Pegs
25.Patricia's Place26.Anne Higa
27.My Antimatter Life28.Bouquet of Books
29.Lightravellerkate30.Curious As A Cathy
31.Glennie's Random Ramblings32.In My Own Words
33.Tamara Narayan, Author34.My Creatively Random Life
35.Yvonne Ventresca36.Two Book Minimum
37.On Becoming a Writer38.Decadent Kane
39.Stacy Uncorked40.Sharon Himsl--Shells, Tales & Sails
41.Cloud Nine Girl

Thursday, April 13, 2017

Celebrate The Small Things - April 14, 2017

 

This week was a little odd. There was an escaped convict hiding out in one of the schools nearby which is the school my cousin's son goes to. My kids' school was also locked down. The kids had to stay under their desks for 2 hours! I never had to do that as a kid. That's sad. The younger grades missed their lunch hour so they had to eat the food from their emergency kits. Some kids had to use "emergency buckets" to urinate because they weren't allowed to go to the bathroom. I heard the helicopters circling overhead for hours. Luckily no one was hurt and the convict was caught. 

Last night as I was driving home, the car in front of me was swerving (probably texting) in bumper-to-bumper traffic. He decided to change lanes without signaling which caused a motorcyclist to slam into him. I was so mad and cussing up a storm. I took down his license plate number in case he tried to take off, but he pulled over. Thankfully, the motorcyclist was not killed. He was able to walk his bike across all 5 lanes with all the cars stopping for him. I watched to make sure the car followed him, but surprisingly there was a Sheriff's car parked on the side of the freeway. What are the odds of that! That probably was incentive for the guy in the car not to take off. I'm counting my blessings and glad I wasn't the one to change lanes in front of the motorcyclist. I'm trying to give the driver the benefit of the doubt thinking that maybe he didn't see the motorcyclist coming. However, with all that swerving, he was most likely texting. He could've also been drunk or falling asleep which are practically the same. At least traffic was so bad that everyone was moving slowly. Otherwise the outcome might have been worse.

I met the animator of Frolo and Ursula of the Disney movies and she gave me some good tips on finding colors for my graphic novel. That was pretty cool. She used to work with my husband, so I knew about her work before I met her. I think I did a good job of not geeking out when I met her. I also met a traditional Disney animator who worked on Fox and the Hound back in the day. You don't meet that kind of talent every day.

I was frustrated with the drawings I was doing for my graphic novel this week. I showed them to my son and his friends at school to get their opinion since they are the age of my target audience/readership. Kids are brutally honest, so I got some good feedback. I'm still worried about the style of the GN but I've done more research this week and learned a lot so I'm making progress.

What are you celebrating?
Check out the blogs below for your reading pleasure and please visit our hosts' blogs:
Lexa Cain: http://lexacain.blogspot.com/
L.G. Keltner http://lgkeltner.blogspot.co.uk/
Tonja Drecker http://tonjadrecker.blogspot.com/
If you would like to join our blog hop, visit Lexa Cain's blog for info.

1.

Lexa Cain2.Fiction and Film
3.Writing Off the Edge4.Kidbits
5.TheCyborgMom6.Thoughts and Ideas from Deanie Humphrys-Dunne
7.Intentional Insights with S. Kelley Harrell8.Constantine
9.My Miracle Life10.Writing, Reading, and the Pursuit of Dreams
11.Lara Lacombe12.TF Walsh
13.Life, Yoga and Other Adventures14.Suzanne Furness
15.Elizabeth Seckman16.Avalon
17.My Baffling Brain18.Planet Kimberly
19.Shah Wharton20.Victorian Scribbles
21.Tanya Miranda22.Ann - A Friend of Jesus 2013
23.Special Teaching At Pempi's Palace24.Square Pegs
25.Patricia's Place26.Anne Higa
27.My Antimatter Life28.Bouquet of Books
29.Lightravellerkate30.Curious As A Cathy
31.Glennie's Random Ramblings32.In My Own Words
33.Tamara Narayan, Author34.My Creatively Random Life
35.Yvonne Ventresca36.Two Book Minimum
37.On Becoming a Writer38.Decadent Kane
39.Stacy Uncorked40.Sharon Himsl--Shells, Tales & Sails
41.Cloud Nine Girl

Friday, April 7, 2017

Celebrate The Small Things - April 7, 2017




Ever since I heard about the Scholastic Graphix contest, I've been working on a graphic novel to enter. The contest was announced at Comic Con in July 2016, but I didn't hear about it until November. I really could have used those extra four months to work on my GN, but I did the best I could with the time I had. It took me a few months to finish the drawn thumbnails with dialogue. I practically used the whole ream of paper. Here is a picture of all 180 pages:

It is so much easier to revise a GN than to revise a novel! With a novel, it takes so long to try to find the spot you want to revise. You have to go back pages and pages or thousands of words to find the right words or paragraphs to add to or delete from. With GN panels, you don't have to go back so many pages to find the panels to change. For the panels I wanted to delete, I just put an X in the corner and was done with it. To add, all I had to do was draw a panel on a separate piece of paper and insert it next to the page I was adding to.

I really loved the process of creating a graphic novel. This is the way I want to go about writing my stories from now on. I've been working on a novel for several years and am seriously thinking about turning it into a GN instead.

Anyway, back to the celebration. I was able to complete the 12 pages required for the contest and turn them in on time on April 1. It did not go smoothly, though. I had to learn a new program to ink and color the GN which took me a week just to get the basics down for what I needed. The colors on my Wacom tablet did not match what was on the computer screen. I didn't have Adobe to convert my file to PDF so I had to download it MINUTES before the deadline. The colors on the PDF looked terrible! The colored file ended up exceeding the required size which I didn't realized until AFTER I submitted it. Even though I compressed the file, it didn't change the size. So, I ended up submitting the black and white line version I had saved before I colored it. I submitted the entry 7 minutes before the deadline! My husband didn't think the file attached so he wanted me to do it again. He and my two sons were looking at the time and FREAKING OUT. They were all screaming so I couldn't think. I apparently pasted my artist statement in the box with the synopsis in my haste so they were screaming at me to redo it. It was crazy.

It turned out that I had the deadline date and time wrong. I thought it was midnight between March 31 and April 1. After thinking that I was disqualified for the file being too big I was depressed, but I started to put the black and white PDF together which makes a smaller size. I read the rules again and saw that the deadline was 11:59pm April 1. So, I actually submitted it a day early by accident! I ended up submitting the black and white version.

I worked so hard on this GN. I'm sure all of you writers can relate. I barely got any sleep during the last month, especially the last week. I didn't sleep for the last two days and only got 3 hours of sleep on the days prior. And that was just for 12 pages! I have 168 to go!

The computer program really slowed me down since I was learning it from scratch, but I love that program now (Clip Studio Paint). Now I have more time to learn how to do more things with it.

I still have a lot to do for this graphic novel (choose or create a better font, make the design more appealing, create model sheets), but I'm so happy I was able to submit an entry before the deadline.

Oh! I'm also celebrating that I learned how to make my own font for this graphic novel by watching a video on YouTube. YouTube is awesome! I learned how to use Clip Studio Paint from YouTube as well.

What are you celebrating?

The hosts of this blog hop are:
Lexa Cain: www.lexacain.blogspot.com
L.G. Keltner: http://lgkeltner.blogspot.co.uk/
Tonja Drecker: http://tonjadrecker.blogspot.com/

If you want to join this blog hop, please go to Lexa's site for info.

Please visit our hosts and the links below to support my fellow blog hoppers. Have a great day!

1.

Lexa Cain2.Fiction and Film
3.Writing Off the Edge4.Kidbits
5.TheCyborgMom6.Thoughts and Ideas from Deanie Humphrys-Dunne
7.Intentional Insights with S. Kelley Harrell8.Constantine
9.My Miracle Life10.Writing, Reading, and the Pursuit of Dreams
11.Lara Lacombe12.TF Walsh
13.Life, Yoga and Other Adventures14.Suzanne Furness
15.Elizabeth Seckman16.Avalon
17.My Baffling Brain18.Planet Kimberly
19.Shah Wharton20.Victorian Scribbles
21.Tanya Miranda22.Ann - A Friend of Jesus 2013
23.Special Teaching At Pempi's Palace24.Square Pegs
25.Patricia's Place26.Anne Higa
27.My Antimatter Life28.Bouquet of Books
29.Lightravellerkate30.Curious As A Cathy
31.Glennie's Random Ramblings32.In My Own Words
33.Tamara Narayan, Author34.My Creatively Random Life
35.Yvonne Ventresca36.Two Book Minimum
37.On Becoming a Writer38.Decadent Kane
39.Stacy Uncorked40.Sharon Himsl--Shells, Tales & Sails