The Fuzzy Slug Move is Complete

I found some time to finish the move. Oooo! Shiny! ;-) You can now find the new and improved Fuzzy Slug at http://www.thefuzzyslug.com

If any of you Fuzzy Slug readers out there use RSS feeds, you will find the updated feed links on the left side of the new site.

Thanks for your patience while I made the move! :-)

The Fuzzy Slug is Moving

I am currently working on moving the site over to a new host. So, for those of you that are coming here via the http://www.thefuzzyslug.com URL, one day soon you will automagically see major changes to the site. For those of you that are using the blogger address, please update your links. I would give an exact date for the official move, but with the holidays coming, among other things, I'm not sure myself. Please stay tuned. :-)

Why am I changing hosts you ask? It's not that Blogger has been bad to me. I have had relatively little issue with it. I have just out grown the functionality of the site. There are things I would like to do that Blogger just won't do. So, I have chosen to move over to a Word Press based site.

Hopefully I won't loose anyone in the process! It just gets better from here on out. I promise! :-)

Art Card #1 - Hug-a-Squid (Ink)

This month is the month which I am starting to create art cards. Not sure what I am going to do with them as of yet. Perhaps post them on artcardswanted.com. At any rate, here is the first one all inked. I will get some color on this guy soon. I wasn't planning on this squidy fellow being so cute and dewy eyed, like a Gig sad big eyed puppy or the famous Shrek Puss-in-Boots expression. At any rate, it happened. Might be fun to do other, not normally considered cuddly, big eyed critters. I can just see it now, big eyed pit vipers, big eyed tarantulas, and of course the big eyed slugs. ;-)

Murder at Avedon Hill - Vampire Hunting

Murder at Avedon Hill is a audio drama and novel by P.G. Holyfield. A masterful blend of fantasy and mystery, the story centers around the strange murder of Gretta Platt, Housemistress of Avedon Manor. Who could create such a crime? How did they get into the manor? Why would anyone want to do such a thing? These are just a few of the questions that Arames Kragen has come to find out. In the process he stumbles upon a growing list of mysteries surrounding the town of Avedon Hill than just the murder of one woman. Full of action and intrigue, this is a must listen for the fantasy and/or mystery story enthusiast. P.G. has done a wonderful job crafting this story.

This full bodied production, complete with music and excellent guest voices for some of the characters, can be found directly from the Murder at Avedon Hill website, or from Podiobooks.com. Please note that the Podiobooks version does not have the author monologue at the beginning of each episode. Also, if you prefer good 'ol paperback, you can get a copy of the novel from Lulu soon.

And if that isn't enough to get you to listen, check out the latest promo.

___________________________

This piece was done for a soon to be released video promo for the novel. It is based upon a scene from the novel where Father Jorrus tracks down a group of vampires. What are these foul creatures doing so near to the town? Better yet, does Jorrus make it out of this confrontation alive? Looks like you will need to go have a listen to the book to find out. I'm not about to spoil anything. :-)

Technical Details
Medium: Mixed media (Pitt pens, digital coloring)
Paper: Bristol
Physical Size: 9in X 12in
Digital Size: 2387 x 1512px

NaNoWriMo Reflections

November came and went, and 50,777 words later, I finished the task on time. I tried to stick to a schedule this year, forcing myself to write at least the required 1667 words a day to finish on time. For the most part, I kept up this schedule. However, I seemed to have the habit of taking Saturdays off, thus playing catchup on Sundays. Miraculously, I managed to do so. I also thought I might get hopelessly behind over the Thanksgiving break, especially since we were heading to Victoria, Canada that weekend. Somehow I only got one day behind which I caught up. Looking back, I still am not sure exactly how I did it.

This was my second year participating. Last year I only made it to the mid 30K mark. I took the lessons I learned from last year (such as starting on time) and applied them to this year. The daily word count goal seemed to work very well for me. To sum up, here are the lessons I learned from this year.

1.) Start writing on the first day, no matter what.
2.) Know the ending of your story. It doesn't have to be solid, just something fuzzy will do.
3.) Set daily word count goals.
4.) Write until your goal is met. If you are on to something, keep writing until the thought is complete. Buffers are your friend.
5.) Try to leave off for the day in the middle of a scene. It's a good motivator for the following day.
6.) Write even if you don't feel like it. Write a sentence. Then another. The words will come.
7.) Don't worry about the details. Editing comes later. Writing comes now.

Would I do it again next year? Um... ask me in Oct. ;-) Probably. It was a fun journey and I'm now the proud parent of a cute baby story. Yay! Now, to go back and edit it (a.k.a. de-crappify).

Congratulations to all of you who did the NaNoWriMo journey this year. Even if you did not cross the 50K finish line, just taking on the challenge is something to be proud of.

As They Fall

Happy Thanksgiving to all those who celebrate it. To everyone else, may you have a wonderful day!

Fuzzy Weeds

I think this is one of the more colorful weeds I've seen. My only regret is not getting all the fuzz in focus. So it goes. I think it still works fairly well, despite that.

We were up on the east side of Mt. Hood, on the road up to Lost Lake, and stopped to take photos of the insane fall colors everywhere. This little plant was growing on a muddy logging road in a clear cut area.

Technical Details
Aperture Value: f/7.1
Focal Length: 55 mm
Exposure Program: Aperture Priority
ISO: 200
Shutter Speed Value: 1/100 sec
Filter: UV