Another Misty Bus Queue Morning… Faces Smile Down From the Boarding
crossposted from Lee Edward McIlmoyle's blog
Thomas Dolby this morning, in case you’re wondering.
Been pretty quiet these past few weeks. Still hurting over the loss of Lucky. Extraordinary, really. You don’t expect the death of a cat to hit you like this is hitting me. I was pretty broken up over Charlie, too, but he’d only been with us for about a year, so when he got run over in the rain that night about… oh it must be three or four years now, at least… we were sad, but in some ways, it was all too easy to recover from losing him. I still get misty eyed thinking about Charlie. But Lucky… woo, I still have to steer clear of involved conversations about him with people that learn of his death.
I have a fair bit of work to do right now. Not a lot of paying work, sadly, but I think that might still turn around, if I keep spreading my work around to the right folks. People WANT to hire me, but they’re mostly dear friends who don’t have much money to work with. I guess that’s how it works in the beginning. Funny, describing this as ;the beginning’, when I’ve been doing this stuff for a good fifteen years, now. I allowed the business side of things to be handled by my sister, who no longer works in sales, and doesn’t have those connections anymore. It’s taken me a few years to recover my bearings on how to build the graphics business. To be honest, I wasn’t sure I wanted to continue with it. I stumbled into graphic design because of my sister, and somehow, it didn’t feel normal trying to run the business without her in the team. Plus, really, I wanted to do comics and paintings and music and novels and stuff. Graphic design has always been a sort of funny diversion for me, albeit a profitable one. I’ve never really seen it as my calling, despite the fact that a lot of my graphics skill sets have been developing since I was a boy. The combination of pictures and words and lettering have always translated to ‘comics’ for me, but really, it’s just as applicable to graphic design, because they’re really two sides of the same creature.
So I am still thinking about that story for Lucky and Charlie, and about the whole Kickstarter campaign idea. I’m also thinking about a dream my wife told me about, featuring a new Cold War world where China and the West are facing off, but I really should have taken notes, because it’s all getting muddled together into an intrigue story that hasn’t resolved itself yet. I kind of want to call it ‘Cold World’. Still percolating… I’m seeing it as a science fiction epic, involving Canada as a superpower after we dig up the arctic circle to grow wheat underground.
I went to the hospital yesterday to have my left arm poked and shocked, to determine if indeed I do have an ulnar nerve entrapment. Seems pretty conclusive, now. They want me to go for an ultrasound now. It’s localized to my left elbow and hand. The nerves in my forearm and upper arm seem fine. I may have to have a surgical procedure to correct the problem. *sigh*
I want to get back to work on Steep Inclinations. *sigh again*
I have a 50% off deal going with Smashwords until the end of July, where all of my ebooks, in whatever format you prefer, are being sold for at least half off the cover price, if not FREE, because, hey, half of $1.49 is less than the 99¢ minimum fee that Smashwords needs to process an actual monetary exchange, so those stories default to freebies. The ebooks are HERE.
My friend Evan Korn, an excellent graphic designer in his own right, gave me some tips on how I can shoot my paintings without the lighting and resolution problems I’ve been having. I’ve got a few ideas about how I can make this work without too much change in our environment. I may have to find a new box, but if I make sure it’s collapsable, it should be more welcome than my splatter box has been.
I think that’s all I’ve got for today. Come back tomorrow and I’ll try to have some new news.
Thank you for reading.
Lee.
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Thomas Dolby this morning, in case you’re wondering.
Been pretty quiet these past few weeks. Still hurting over the loss of Lucky. Extraordinary, really. You don’t expect the death of a cat to hit you like this is hitting me. I was pretty broken up over Charlie, too, but he’d only been with us for about a year, so when he got run over in the rain that night about… oh it must be three or four years now, at least… we were sad, but in some ways, it was all too easy to recover from losing him. I still get misty eyed thinking about Charlie. But Lucky… woo, I still have to steer clear of involved conversations about him with people that learn of his death.
I have a fair bit of work to do right now. Not a lot of paying work, sadly, but I think that might still turn around, if I keep spreading my work around to the right folks. People WANT to hire me, but they’re mostly dear friends who don’t have much money to work with. I guess that’s how it works in the beginning. Funny, describing this as ;the beginning’, when I’ve been doing this stuff for a good fifteen years, now. I allowed the business side of things to be handled by my sister, who no longer works in sales, and doesn’t have those connections anymore. It’s taken me a few years to recover my bearings on how to build the graphics business. To be honest, I wasn’t sure I wanted to continue with it. I stumbled into graphic design because of my sister, and somehow, it didn’t feel normal trying to run the business without her in the team. Plus, really, I wanted to do comics and paintings and music and novels and stuff. Graphic design has always been a sort of funny diversion for me, albeit a profitable one. I’ve never really seen it as my calling, despite the fact that a lot of my graphics skill sets have been developing since I was a boy. The combination of pictures and words and lettering have always translated to ‘comics’ for me, but really, it’s just as applicable to graphic design, because they’re really two sides of the same creature.
So I am still thinking about that story for Lucky and Charlie, and about the whole Kickstarter campaign idea. I’m also thinking about a dream my wife told me about, featuring a new Cold War world where China and the West are facing off, but I really should have taken notes, because it’s all getting muddled together into an intrigue story that hasn’t resolved itself yet. I kind of want to call it ‘Cold World’. Still percolating… I’m seeing it as a science fiction epic, involving Canada as a superpower after we dig up the arctic circle to grow wheat underground.
I went to the hospital yesterday to have my left arm poked and shocked, to determine if indeed I do have an ulnar nerve entrapment. Seems pretty conclusive, now. They want me to go for an ultrasound now. It’s localized to my left elbow and hand. The nerves in my forearm and upper arm seem fine. I may have to have a surgical procedure to correct the problem. *sigh*
I want to get back to work on Steep Inclinations. *sigh again*
I have a 50% off deal going with Smashwords until the end of July, where all of my ebooks, in whatever format you prefer, are being sold for at least half off the cover price, if not FREE, because, hey, half of $1.49 is less than the 99¢ minimum fee that Smashwords needs to process an actual monetary exchange, so those stories default to freebies. The ebooks are HERE.
My friend Evan Korn, an excellent graphic designer in his own right, gave me some tips on how I can shoot my paintings without the lighting and resolution problems I’ve been having. I’ve got a few ideas about how I can make this work without too much change in our environment. I may have to find a new box, but if I make sure it’s collapsable, it should be more welcome than my splatter box has been.
I think that’s all I’ve got for today. Come back tomorrow and I’ll try to have some new news.
Thank you for reading.
Lee.
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