Welcome to my journal. I'm putting this at the top so folks can find things easily. First all the trip journals. They're all family friendly, especially the pictures.

Biloxi Rebuilding Trips

• 2012 -- Trip Journal -- Photographs
• 2011 -- Trip Journal -- Pictures
• 2010 -- Journal Entries -- Pictures
• 2009 -- Journal Entries -- Pictures
• 2008 -- Journal Entries -- Pictures

Next, is all of my fiction, links to what's published, fanfiction, and experimental stories (on a limited list of friends), and I've put everything that's PG or higher under an Adult Concept lock and everything that's R or more explicit under an Explicit Adult lock, as the Adult Concept is supposed to work for 13 and up and Explicit keeps out folks under 18. Ratings are by the listing.

Uhm... and, yeah, I don't friend very often because I really am *bad* at keeping up with my flist.

( The complete list of my published and posted fiction, fanfiction, and fanart for my fiction (wow). )

Hey friends...
I just wanted to tell you that in all of my time doing volunteer work for
missing kids organizations, this is the first time i've ever been in
direct contact with and asked by the family to help spread the word. I gave
this family my word that I would do all that I could.
So please, help me to raise awareness about this girl, Mickey Shunick?
She was en route close to a highway that runs from Louisiana into
California. Maybe you know people in & around those areas you could
pass this info onto to?
There are some good leads and it's quite possible that she can still be
alive, found and returned home. I am hopeful. Please know that I appreciate
any awareness you can raise. Let's hope for a positive outcome.
We hear all the time of the heartbreaking stories with horrific endings,
but you know what? Many many kids/teens are found alive and returned home,
so know that this may well have a happy ending.
Re-posting this info just once, could make all the difference!
Thank you!
Love & Hugs,
violets_r_blu

Please do contact her if you have any information.

Finally wanted to learn more knitting things, so I'm actually working on an entrelac cowl and using backward knitting to accomplish it! I want to show it to people when I'm done. *laughs*

It rained all day, and I'm pretty tired, but mostly content. Jet's last day of school is tomorrow, and we had a party at the bus stop this morning, to celebrate a year well met. I made oatmeal scones, and someone brought orange chicken!! *laughs* I love potluck.

I've been watching the first two seasons of Justified and the first three seasons of Leverage and have realized something that may well have been obvious to everyone else. *laughs* That the first seasons of both series (and looking back on it Buffy, Serenity, Dr. Who, Mushishi, Bleach, One Piece and other series I've loved as well) starts with one episode stories, complete in and of themselves, but by the second or third season, the stories get more involved, spanning multiple episodes.

Characterizations get deeper with time and with both actors and writers getting to know them better.

The thing that strikes me, though, is that it works that way with my writing, too. That I do far better when I do a lot of short pieces with a character, getting to know them, per se, and then getting on with their bigger stories when I get to know them. I like realizing that they're much stronger if I do write the shorts, first.

It has been a little crazy the last few weeks, but I'm starting to catch up, just to be hit again with another set of things. *laughs*

For the last week, I had my writing partner, demented_dee here on a visit that ended with her having to go home early for medical reasons that I'm still kind of on tetherhooks about. It will likely be all right, but... it's a little nervewracking.

This is also Jet's last week of school, the pool opened, I'm knitting like a madwoman, including a baby sweater, a pair of socks, and a self-designed shawl, all of which seem to have worked out all right.

( Details and some church stuff. )

Last Friday, John and I took the day to go up to the Buddhist Shambala Mountain Retreat. One of our neighbors and several people in our church are Buddhist, and our neighbor goes up there regularly for retreats. It was the same neighbor who told us about the granite countertops. John was curious as to what it would be like, and I was willing to go on the adventure with him.

So, on Friday, as soon as we saw Jet off on the bus to school, we got our hiking gear, drinking water, and sunglasses into the Passat, and headed out to I 25 and then north to Fort Collins. Once we were far enough north we turned west and drove up into the mountains, through rolling foothills, and ended up at the head of the dirt road with a sign that said, "Shambala Mountain Center 5 mi."

( We turned down the dirt road... )

It's been busy. And it's been very nice to keep catching what life's been throwing at us, along with some really good luck.

( A little about Las Vegas, I helped Jet's class go to the Science Museum while John changed out all our kitchen counters for granite for far less money than I thought possible, I get a new greenhouse, I knit two new creations, the garden is going gangbusters, Jet buys a typewriter from a rummage sale for his homework, the boys and I readied the bee boxes for bees, I learned how to painlessly catch bees, and Jet and I build a Ponyo Putt-Putt boat from an aluminum can. )

So demented_dee is holding a contest, every month, where anyone that donates $2 or more to her paypal will get an entry into her drawing. She just drew a prize winner, and I've been helping with some of the prizes, but the prize will be different every month, depending on her mood. *laughs*

The money is going to go toward various things, including a website that will contain everything, including fanfiction as well as all the new original stuff, for both of us, so I thought I'd do a shoutout as well, as I shall benefit from the proceeds.

The two books that demented_dee and I wrote are now out in paperback, through Torquere's print services, so the paperbacks are available at both Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Here's the Amazon listings for the books: Hearts Under Fire and Winter's Knight. Neither of them have the cover art on the Amazon listing for the print book (though they are on the Kindle versions), so I thought I'd just put the cover art here, so you can see how pretty they'll be when you actually get them.

Torquere was really cool and when they accepted the second book in the series, they put us on their series contract, so that we actually get to get a better percentage and actually have a print book contract with them.

And just as a caveat for those new to these publications, these books are both Male/Male erotic romances. The characterizations and plot are key to the erotic scenes, but they do get pretty explicit, and they both involve BDSM Scene elements. Just so you can judge if they're to your taste.