2012 Photo Challenge: Week 27

Week 27 of our 365 Photo Challenge.

I suspect this will be a very boring week visually for most of you as I documented the preparations we’ve been doing to get ready to turn the Impending Dog into Our Dog. We were expecting to go up to the breeders for a play/training date today, but instead, they asked if we wanted to bring Olivia home. Since we were mostly ready, we said, SURE!!! But you’ll have to wait until next week for picture proof.

What you see below are links to my flickr set for the photos I’m posting for this challenge. Click on any photo below to go to flickr and then you can navigate through the set with the “Previous” and “Next” arrows at the top.

Sun: Jul 01, 2012		Mon: Jul 02, 2012
Tue: Jul 03, 2012	Wed: Jul 04, 2012	Thu: Jul 05, 2012
Fri: Jul 06, 2012		Sat: Jul 07, 2012

2012 Photo Challenge: Week 26

Week 26 of our 365 Photo Challenge. Halfway point!

I can’t believe we’re halfway done with 2012 and this project. I can tell that I’ve slacked off again lately and I need to push myself on a lot of fronts. Only 180-some more to go!

Sun: Jun 24, 2012		Mon: Jun 25, 2012
Tue: Jun 26, 2012	Wed: Jun 27, 2012	Thu: Jun 28, 2012
Fri: Jun 29, 2012		Sat: Jun 30, 2012

2012 Photo Challenge: Week 25

Week 25 of our 365 Photo Challenge.

Weekend pictures bracket this set with photos of Olivia. She should get to come home the 14th of July. Maybe sooner, but more likely that weekend. We’ve been going up to the breeder’s to visit with her I think we miss her more than she misses us right now.

For the weekday pictures, I tried something a little different. I tried to go out about the same time each day so I had consistent lighting and then found different subjects to play with. I really liked how the bird of paradise came out with the back lighting where you can see the individual plant cells if you view it in the large size on flickr. Definitely a very forgiving time of day, right around 6pm.

Sun: Jun 17, 2012		Mon: Jun 18, 2012
Tue: Jun 19, 2012	Wed: Jun 20, 2012	Thu: Jun 21, 2012
Fri: Jun 22, 2012		Sat: Jun 23, 2012

2012 Photo Challenge: Week 24

Week 24 of our 365 Photo Challenge.

We bought a puppy last weekend. She’s a 4 month old golden retriever named Olivia. Yes, this makes her initials, “OK”. She’s very sweet, but staying at the breeder’s for a few more weeks to get in some basic training skills before we bring her home. She’s likely to only show up in weekend pictures until she’s home. For example, you’ll see in next week’s set, where I remembered to take my camera, we had a play date with her for Father’s Day! Our next visit will be to sit in on one of her training sessions so we can learn the commands too.

Picture-wise, with school being out, I can feel my discipline slipping a bit. I thought with school being out my week was supposed to be easier! I’m a bit more willing to let taking photos go until later in the day and have had to scramble a few times. I know I’m also not being very creative with the subject matter. Can you believe those two hydrangea flowers are from the same bush? It’s kinda awesome how undecided it is. And no, no one ate a whole lobster last night at dinner. Just a tail, but those don’t come from the tank!

Sun: Jun 10, 2012		Mon: Jun 11, 2012
Tue: Jun 12, 2012	Wed: Jun 13, 2012	Thu: Jun 14, 2012
Fri: Jun 15, 2012		Sat: Jun 16, 2012

2012 Photo Challenge: Week 23

Week 23 of our 365 Photo Challenge. Yay! School is now officially done for the summer!

I thought last week was crazy. but this week was worse. I got clipped by another parent while I was parked waiting to pick up the kids from school on Monday. The High School had finals so only a half day for the last three days and our son had a promotion ceremony on Thursday for the last day of school. Then Friday and Saturday we had a mix up on the party invite so we stretched it for two days with Friday’s party turning into an impromptu slumber party as well. I am so looking forward to something relaxing next week.

What you see below are links to my flickr set for the photos I’m posting for this photo challenge. Click on any photo below to go to flickr and then you can navigate through the set with the “Previous” and “Next” arrows at the top.

Sun: Jun 03, 2012		Mon: Jun 04, 2012
Tue: Jun 05, 2012	Wed: Jun 06, 2012	Thu: Jun 07, 2012
Fri: Jun 08, 2012		Sat: Jun 09, 2012

2012 Photo Challenge: Week 22

Week 22 of our 365 Photo Challenge. So close to the halfway point.

It was definitely an iPhone kind of week. Crazy schedule gone crazier with the next to last week of school and DH getting his last 3 wisdom teeth removed really zapped my creativity and focus this week.

What you see below are links to my flickr set for the photos I’m posting for this photo challenge. Hover over the photo to get the title and other information. Click on any photo below to go to flickr and then you can navigate through the set with the “Previous” and “Next” arrows at the top.

Sun: May 27, 2012		Mon: May 28, 2012
Tue: May 29, 2012	Wed: May 30, 2012	Thu: May 31, 2012
Fri: Jun 01, 2012		Sat: Jun 02, 2012

2012 Photo Challenge: Week 21

We’re up to week 21 of our 365 Photo Challenge!

Not a very exciting week for you guys, but I had fun trying to catch the water from the fountains the way in a way I liked and wasn’t overblown with lots of purples in the highlights. Lots of iPhone pictures this week too. We’re heading into the last few weeks of school here, so life is crazy as everything winds down.

Sun: May 20, 2012		Mon: May 21, 2012
Tue: May 22, 2012	Wed: May 23, 2012	Thu: May 24, 2012
Fri: May 25, 2012		Sat: May 26, 2012

Character Development & Archetypes

This week for our How I Write series, my accountability group asked, “How do you develop your characters? Do you have a favourite kind/archetype?”

We covered part of the idea of character development before and my general method is in the post, Building Characters where I likened it to my daughter’s cosplay outfits. I skimmed the highlights, but that post has more info.

The BASICS
Deb Dixon‘s GMC — WANTS, NEEDS, CONFLICTS, OBSTACLES
Michael Hauge‘s Establishing Connections – likeability, skill.expertise, sympathetic, funny, jeopardy
Strengths/Weaknesses —
At Least 5 Whys —
Biggest Fear & how you will make them face it
Jodi Henley‘s idea of a Core Event

BELLS & WHISTLES
Tics, expressions, rituals, habits
Friends, possessions & pets

That all still holds true. Now, moving on to the section where I listed What I didn’t use.

Character Sheets — You’ve seen the ones: star sign, height, weight, occupation, model of car driven, all full of useless trivia that probably won’t make a difference in how your character will react to the things you need them to. Oh, and I always read them with much amusement considering I write historical fiction. I don’t think I’d find them very useful even if I wrote contemporaries.

Stereotypes/Archetypes — Ok, I TRY not to use stereotypes and I was re-introduced to the notion of using archetypes again this summer, but I’m not sure that I’ll ever dig too deeply in that direction as something to build a foundation on. Some people may find them useful, but I also think the temptation to slide back into stereotype is too strong for me.

Character sheets filled with useless trivia are still a no go for me. Most of it just isn’t relevant for the historical setting and I don’t feel like making one. I have been using Scrivener, which has character templates that are more flexible and include general information.

Role in Story: Hero
Occupation: Card Sharp
Physical Description:
Personality: Jack is a bad boy, appearing unreliable and capricious at first impression.
Habits/Mannerisms:
Background: Jack is a card sharp with the longest running winning streak at the game of Whist at the Stratford Club in London. He wants to make a name for himself.
Internal Conflicts: Jack is motivated by resentment and rebellion which keeps him from finding love and keeping it. He’s a bachelor who refuses to marry and keeps being left by his mistresses.
External Conflicts: Jack is driven by the thrill of winning and beating the odds. He wants to win back his brother’s losing for the week and keep his reputation because Amanda’s protector has accused him of cheating and offers a stacked deck.
Notes: Jack is used to playing Whist with his brother as his partner. He’s also distracted by the heroine’s beauty. He may lose his reputation and the girl. Jack realizes he’s always help part of himself back. He puts that on the table with Amanda as well, hoping to win her love.

And in looking back at my stories after taking Tami Cowden’s workshop on archetypes for writers, I realized I do use them as a very rough base for personality and building conflicts, but it hadn’t been a conscious part of my character development process.

I think if I had to name a favorite hero archetype, it’d be the bad boy — or maybe the nice guy who’s been pushed to live up to his bad boy reputation. My heroine’s have also been stronger than they appear or are assumed to be by others, but other than that, they seem to be all over the map in terms of which archetype you’d label them as.

Another thing I’ve realized through photography and pushing my comfort zone there, is character matters so much when photographing people. Capturing it and using it to tell a story was a big part of what I was missing when I took pictures of people. For some reason, this seems easier with people I don’t know. Maybe because I’m freer to make things up? Anyway… this kid with the frisbee has a ton of character, doesn’t he?

YOUR TURN:How do you go about building the foundation of your creative projects?

And if you’d like to read about how the rest of my accountability group answered, you can find their blogs here:

* Alexia Reed * Kimberly Farris *
* Angeleque Ford * Danie Ford * Emma G. Delaney

2012 Photo Challenge: Week 20

This past week was the twentieth week of our 365 Photo Challenge.

Took some chances on photos that paid off this week. Then there were the ones that didn’t. =) But since, I’m listening to Neil Gaiman’s graduation address for the University of the Arts Class of 2012, I’m going to not call them “mistakes”. I’m making art and learning from it. And he’s right… the best thing you can do at any time is, “Make good art.” Give it a listen. It’s only about 20 minutes, but so worth it for any creative type. Be sure to listen for the best advice he got from Stephen King and failed to heed. It’s something I need to hear and do more often too. Again, the universe is whispering in my ear. =)

Sun: May 13, 2012		Mon: May 14, 2012
Tue: May 15, 2012	Wed: May 16, 2012	Thu: May 17, 2012
Fri: May 18, 2012		Sat: May 19, 2012

2012 Photo Challenge: Week 19

Week 19 of our 365 Photo Challenge.

Didn’t do so well on preparation or intent this week. Not sure what the deal is, but I can’t seem to focus (no pun intended) on anything for very long. Writing and photography are both feeling more like a chore than fun, but at least with this, I’m following through, even if I’m relying on luck and finding some shots I like. Will try to do better next week.