Loni Townsend's Blog, page 8

Radio Silence and the Ever-Busy Squirrel #Life

In December, my webhost migrated my account to a different server. Since then, I’ve discovered emails from my website no longer work. I’ve contacted them and, after troubleshooting, they suggest reinstalling WordPress without any plug-ins to see if it’s a problem with my installation or if there’s something else.

I haven’t gotten around to that due to the general state of busyness I’ve been in. Therefore, if you use my contact form or have used my contact form since December… Sorry. I won’t see your email.

Compared to other years, 2020 is less ambitious. For the Colonel’s Challenge, I’ve resigned myself to the fact that I won’t meet the 30 hours of aerobic activity goal. I can’t get myself up in the mornings and my evenings are consumed by my children. I’ve simplified my resistance training to what I can accomplish at work, and that has proven to be 2 sets of 25 kettlebell swings using a 35 lb weight, and at least 16 pull-ups a day. My co-worker says the pull-ups count, so I’m going with it, logging each one at a little under my actual weight.

My kids managed to break my illness-free record, and I spent a couple days with a fever and even longer with sinus congestion and an ever-lingering cough. I did finish a digital painting though (two actually, but only one is publicly posted):

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Loni Townsend (@art_by_loni) on Jan 19, 2020 at 7:54am PST

It’s nice to see my improvement over the years. Admittedly, I got a bit lazy with the hair, but that just leaves something else for me to work on.

I’m still playing catch up with everything else in my life. I’ve revised 8 chapters to reflect the major rearrange in Isto, and I’ve got a few more to go. Then it’ll be going through the entire book one more time. It’s been a long process, longer than I anticipated, but it’ll be better for the book in the end.

Have you ever had something take longer than you’d hoped? Did you keep working on it? How do you work fitness into your everyday life?

The post Radio Silence and the Ever-Busy Squirrel #Life appeared first on Squirrel Talk.

Challenge 2020 #IWSG

I hope you all had a Happy New Year! Since the first Wednesday of the month was the first, Insecure Writer’s Support Group was bumped a week and landed on today.

Man, it’s already been a busy year with a forgotten dentist appointment, a trip to the pediatrician, and a meeting with the principal scheduled for later today. And we’re only eight days into the year!

Though I had hoped to finish up my Isto rewrites last year, I didn’t manage to make it. Yeah, those 10 work lunch hours I’d planned got taken up by co-worker birthday outings and other festivities. And, of course, once the holidays hit, all writing productivity ended and my attention switched to my family. Still, I made a decent dent, so I’m not too disappointed.

The kick off of the new year means another round of the Colonel’s Challenge here at work. Ten Weeks to perform 3,500 sit-ups/push-ups, 30 hours of aerobic exercise, and lift 146,600 lbs. Sit-ups and push-ups are easy enough. I bust them out at work, doing 20 after every bathroom break (and I drink a lot of water). Weight lifting is a bit tougher, but I divvied up how many pounds I’ll have to lift a week into four days for the different areas of the body. So far, I’m on track. The aerobic exercise, however… My son thwarted my efforts this morning by wanting to snuggle at 3 AM. That led to me not wanting to wake up and hop on the treadmill before work. Since I’m already behind, I need 40 minutes a day, 5 days a week, in order to make it. Not sure I’ll be able to pull that off.

My goals for this year:

90% adherence to Intermittent Fasting. That gives me about 3 fudge days a month, which I think is reasonable. And it’s pretty easy for me to wait until 11 to eat and stop eating at 7 PM.

90% adherence to No Alcohol. Again, that’s 3 days a month where I might crack open a bottle of wine. But since I stop taking in calories at 7 PM, it’s easier to resist the temptation.

Drop my weight to 125 lbs. I’d hoped for this last year, but it didn’t happen. Still, I start this year 9 lbs lighter than I started 2019, so there’s progress.

I escaped 2019 without getting sick, likely thanks to the weird stuff I eat (homemade kimchi and fermented garlic) daily. This year, I’m adding local honey to my intake with the hopes that I’ll build a tolerance for the pollen and avoid my annual fight with seasonal allergies.

Writing wise, I’m not holding myself to any specific goals. I know I will always prioritize my family, and my family is the biggest wrench thrown into my writing gears. Though, if I don’t finish Isto this year, I’ll be pretty darn cranky.

IWSG Question of the Month – What started you on your writing journey? Was it a particular book, movie, story, or series? Was it a teacher/coach/spouse/friend/parent? Did you just “know” suddenly you wanted to write?

Much of my youth was filled with fantasy novels and magical girl anime. That led to many imaginary adventures featuring myself as the power-wielding protagonist. Once other characters started to intrude on my mental world, I wanted to write it down.

I hope your 2020 is starting well.

What are some of your goals for this year? What is your writing journey like? Do you have any health trick that keep you well?

About Insecure Writer’s Support Group



You can find the sign up for the IWSG here. We owe Alex J Cavanaugh a huge thank you for thinking this blog hop up.

The post Challenge 2020 #IWSG appeared first on Squirrel Talk.

Goodbye to 2019 #Life

I had big plans for this year.

I was going get Isto to an editor. I was going to drop my weight to 125. I was going to finish Murder Most Fowl.

None of that happened.

What did happen was a shift in my parenting style. I set aside my personal aspirations and focused on my children. You can scroll back through my previous posts to see all the trials we’ve faced. I’d like to think that things are improving, but it’s still a rough time.

The shift in routine has left me drained, and I’ve since abandoned my morning exercise in favor of a few more Zs. I don’t know when or how I’ll reincorporate it, but I’m sure I’ll make an attempt at it in the coming year. And as I floundered with my Isto rewrites, I distracted myself with a focus on digital art. Not that that’s a bad thing. I’ve seen a drastic improvement in my output compared to earlier in the year, and I even drew my characters as I see them in my head–something I’ve been after for years. The visible progress is encouraging, so much so that I decided to start a new Instagram account with the hopes of producing more.

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A post shared by Loni Townsend (@art_by_loni) on Dec 7, 2019 at 1:49pm PST

We’ll see how well I do. After all, I am the squirrel with a thousand hobbies and just as many unfinished projects to match.

Am I disappointed with how this year went? No, I’d have to say not. Was it filled with stress, frustration, sadness, and too much Red Bull? Yes, definitely. I said goodbye to my dog. I spiraled into despair. I regained my footing and faked it until I finally made it. I’m in a good spot right now, still working to help my son, still barely keeping on top of my schedule. But I’m making progress on my writing, I’m painting art I am proud of, and I’ve made good use of our membership to the local adventure park, much to my kids’ delight. I still weigh 20 more pounds than I want to, but I’m able to do more than one pull-up, which I couldn’t say at the beginning of the year.

This will be my last post of 2019. I hope you are celebrating as much as I will be these next couple of weeks.

What were your trials and highlights of 2019? Are you looking forward to 2020? Did you achieve your goals of 2019?

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Racing The Clock #AmWriting

Please let me know if you’re prompted with a CAPTCHA in order to comment. I added a new plug-in to cut down on the amount of spam I get from my contact form, but I don’t want to inconvenience blog interactions.

Knock, knock.

Who’s there?

Britney Spears.

Britney Spears who?

Knock, knock.

Who’s there?

Oops, I did it again.

It seems massive rewrites and rearranging are a thing with Isto. In July of 2017 (crap, I’ve been working on this for a while), I did a major overhaul of the timeline. It worked out for the better, and I was able to finish writing the draft in August of 2018. But, as I mentioned last week, in August 2019, I decided more tweaking was necessary after a comment from my critique partner, Aldrea.

I just couldn’t bring myself to do the work.

The realization that December was upon us made me dig out my analytical hat and truly assess the greater problem. I took a deep breath, stepped back from the words and the characters, and applied what my friend Jim taught me of Story Structure.

Halfway between the middle and the end is the Second Plot Point (SPP). This is the point where the last piece of the puzzle comes into play. This is the last thing needed for the character to win, succeed, triumph. After this, no new information should enter the story; everything needed is already in place.

No new information.

That little line stuck in my head, despite my subconscious efforts to ignore it. (Thanks Jim.) I grudgingly admitted that I did bring in a couple of things past that point… things that didn’t have to do with the endgame, but were necessary for future books. In a time when I should be building tension to the final battle, I was detouring into side scenes that I couldn’t get rid of.

The solution? Move them. One to the beginning, one to the middle, one to the very end, after the final battle.

This, of course, incited several screaming fits on my part because it’s not just a simple word change here or there. But it did kick my productivity into high gear, and I’ve already tackled the move to the beginning.

I’ve got 3 weeks until the end of the year to finish the last two moves and make everything cohesive. Cross your fingers for me!

Got anything you’re trying to get done before the year’s up? What’s the longest it’s taken you to finish a project? Know any good knock, knock jokes?

Before I go, I want to let you all know that you can pick up Sarah Brentyn’s book, On the Edge of a Raindrop, for free on Amazon through tomorrow. If you like poignant tales, flash and micro fiction, and deep thoughts, you should definitely pick up a copy.

The post Racing The Clock #AmWriting appeared first on Squirrel Talk.

What Happened To This Year? #IWSG

It’s the first Wednesday of the month, making it Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. What has me insecure?

Not Finishing.

One of my goals this year was to be done with Isto, the second book in my epic fantasy series. You’d think this would be an easy task, considering I’d finished the first draft early this year. Well, I decided it needed a bit of a tension increase in the last stretch, and that turned into a sputtering engine in my productivity car. Apparently, my subconscious takes issue with trying to do something that it considers already done.

I thought I knew how I wanted to tackle my problem, but rearranging events isn’t going as planned. I did write 1500 words yesterday. I deleted them this morning.

*sigh*

I have until the end of the month to get this rewritten and still retain some sense of accomplishment. But the kids are out of school starting December 21st, plus there’s the GT expo today, no school on Friday, and a doctor’s appointment coming up pretty quick. By my calculations, I get a total of 10 lunches to work on my revisions.

What can a squirrel get done in 10 hours?

IWSG Question of the Month – How would you describe your future writer self, your life and what it looks and feels like if you were living the dream?

Considering that my dream life is one of slow-paced domestic bliss with a hearty helping of alone time to write, I don’t think I’m going to spend much time on this month’s question. But what I do know for sure, if I were living the dream, there’d be free Red Bull every day!

Did you accomplish your goals this year? Are you feeling the hectic rush of the holidays? What would your dream life be like?

About Insecure Writer’s Support Group



You can find the sign up for the IWSG here. We owe Alex J Cavanaugh a huge thank you for thinking this blog hop up.

The post What Happened To This Year? #IWSG appeared first on Squirrel Talk.

If I Can’t Write… #Art

I mentioned last week that I haven’t gotten a lot of writing done. I can’t bring myself to write when others are around (for one, I get distracted and all I type is gibberish, and for another, I feel compelled not to ignore my family). That might mistakenly lead to the conclusion that I don’t get anything done.

Good thing that’s not actually the case.

When it comes to winding down in the evenings, I can pull out my laptop and do some digital painting while watching an episode of something with my husband. If we’re Facebook friends, then you’ve probably already seen these images, but this is a bit more in depth to how it all went.

In August, I started with my first version of MaTisha.

The aim was semi-realism, but with larger than life eyes (I suppose it’s the influence of all those years spent watching Sailor Moon). I also wanted to capture the vision of the character in my head, and abandoned all previous depictions in order to do so.

I then set out to do my other characters, starting with Derek. He turned out boyish, and yet that youthful face is how I picture him.

My choices slightly shifted as I progressed, moving from a chunkier hair style to something a bit more strand-like. I struggled with finding a good torso-cutoff spot for LaTonya. I’ve seen pictures where the subject goes beyond the frame of the background, and decided I’d go that route here.

I was happy with how that turned out, so I had to go back to update MaTisha and Derek to the same style. Of course, that meant I needed to add more to Derek to make it work with the frame, so I took a bit of time to incorporate a coffee cup, since it’s one of those things I associate with his character. And while I was at it, I improved the plant life to the vines that always try to cling to him and added more shine to his skin since it’s supposed to be metallic bronze.

I decided I wasn’t going to go back and redo the hair, and instead moved ahead to tackle the last of my characters: Cameron.

Cameron, Cameron, Cameron. *sigh*

I restarted this digital painting 13 times. The first draft I did pretty quickly. It was, unfortunately, BORING. He was basically standing there, no character, no dynamic movement, nothing interesting. So I scrapped it and started over. I had him throwing a punch–but the pose had too many parallels with LaTonya’s pose. I tried having him use some of his energy manipulation, overdid the muscle size, and my husband said he looked like Ryu from Street Fighter. I tried a different pose, and ended up too similar to MaTisha’s pose. I tried another, and the twist in the arm looked like his shoulder was dislocated. I decided to go back to the trusty axe that I have drawn him with previously. I had to restart that a few times too, but eventually, I came to a pose I actually liked and made progress on. I have to say, I’m pretty darn pleased with how his shoulder armor (pauldrons? spaulders?) turned out.



I tried to make the axe bigger, but it threw off the picture and made him look tiny compared to my other paintings. I also screwed up the perspective a bit, but I said phooey and called it good enough for now. Then I put the four of them together and here we have the POVs of Isto (which I’m still rewriting to improve the tension in the last few chapters).

It took three months to complete my series of character drawings, and I’m not sure if I’ll pursue semi-realism with my future works. I think I need to spend some time studying anatomy and drawing gestures, maybe extend my artwork beyond just the face.

Before I go, I want to give a shout-out to Troy Lambert and Danielle Parker. Troy’s story, Miner Inconveniences, released earlier this month, and Dani’s story, Witch Please, is available for pre-order. They’ve also got a collection of the two stories together, Incidents In Idaho.

Both of these authors are local to Idaho, and I have the pleasure of knowing them personally. Troy has a slew of books out, and I got to work with him on The Ancient anthology. Dani’s a master of dialogue and emotional interactions. I’ve featured her other book, Pure of Heart, on my blog before, and I’m happy to say that I’ve enjoyed what I’ve read of Witch Please and look forward to when I can read the rest of it. If you’re in Boise, ID and feel like meeting the authors, they’re having a release party.

I hope that I’ll get more words in now that life is calming down. What creative venues do you pursue when you can’t write? Are you looking forward to all the upcoming book releases?

The post If I Can’t Write… #Art appeared first on Squirrel Talk.

Time Change, Time to Change, and a CP’s New Release #IWSG

Before I get into all my personal stuff, I want to make sure you all know that my critique partner, Aldrea Alien, released a new book last week. It’s totally awesome (I did read it) and I had to dedicate a whole post to it, which you can find here.

Today is the first Wednesday of the month, meaning it’s Insecure Writer’s Support Group day! What makes me an insecure writer? It’d be the fact that I haven’t been writing.

About three months ago, I spiraled through stress and despair, trying to deal with saying goodbye to my dog and my son’s health and behavior issues. I ate and drank my feelings and the scale validated that it was finally time for me to snap out of my apathy and get back to it. It was time to change, so that’s exactly what I’m doing.

I have to say, resuming intermittent fasting (though, technically my 16:8 style is called time restricted feeding, but whatever) on the day where we fall back an hour seriously sucks. My body said, “LET’S EAT!” and my brain said, “Nope, you’ve still got an hour to go.” I’ve adjusted by now, but that isn’t the only way the time change has bitten me. My son wakes up naturally around the same time… only now, that’s an hour earlier and he’s deprived an hour of sleep because I still put him to bed at 7:30. This, of course, cuts into my morning routine and just adds unnecessary stress. (I’m pro no-more-time-change.) Today was a success with him waking up at 6:30 instead of 5:30 like yesterday (the goal is 7AM). Hopefully that means today will be a better day at school, and hopefully I’ll be able to claim a half hour in the morning to kickstart my writing again.

On top of my eating changes, I’ve increased my exercise: jump roping, kettle bell swings, push-ups, squats, dips, lunges, and planks. It’s fairly simple, and I don’t expect drastic changes, but just enough to get me back on track toward a waistline I’m not scowling at. I’ve also been doing pull-ups at work as a post-bathroom break ritual. Apparently I’ve got mild scoliosis, and the best way to treat it is by strengthening my back. Since I don’t have a rowing machine in my office, I’ll make do with the pull-up bar.

I will say, I’m feeling good, even though it’s just halfway into the first week. I’m hoping with the better physical and mental state, I’ll be able to get more words down.

IWSG Question of the Month – What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever Googled in researching a story?

Ha! I think the strangest thing that most certainly put me on a watch list somewhere is how to liquefy a human body (see Smokeless Flame in The Ancient anthology). The second weirdest thing would be the pros and cons of cannibalism.

Are you as disturbed as I am by my Google searches? What’s the weirdest thing you’ve looked up? How are you tackling life?

About Insecure Writer’s Support Group



You can find the sign up for the IWSG here. We owe Alex J Cavanaugh a huge thank you for thinking this blog hop up.

The post Time Change, Time to Change, and a CP’s New Release #IWSG appeared first on Squirrel Talk.

Dark One’s Bride Blitz! #newrelease

If you’re looking for my IWSG post, find it here.

I’m so happy to tell all of you about Aldrea Alien’s latest release. It’s the second book in her clean gothic romance trilogy, and I have to say, I enjoyed reading it. Here’s the details, that way you can add it to your TBR, along with a giveaway to win the first book and start the trilogy off right!

a Rafflecopter giveaway



Click Here if you can’t see the Rafflecopter.

Dark One’s Bride

by Aldrea Alien

(Dark One’s Trilogy #2)

Publication date: October 31st 2019

Genres: Young Adult Gothic Romance

Synopsis:

A royal wedding. A fiery heroine. And a brazen act of sabotage that could topple a kingdom.

It has been five months since Clarabelle Weaver saved the life of the infamous Great Lord and happily accepted his unexpected marriage proposal. With their wedding less than a week away, she is finally stepping into the unfamiliar world beyond her village to face nobility she never knew existed.

But it’s not only them who are interested in her presence.

The enemy is also stirring for this historic occasion. Their focus not on the man they see as their reviled “Dark Lord”, but on her as the young woman who supposedly carries his heir.

Clara must weave a path through attempted assassinations and poisonings whilst also proving to the court that she’s suitable to become their ruler’s Great Lady… all before taking their vows. But has her training prepared her for an attack that could send the kingdom into war?

Goodreads | Amazon

Aldrea Alien lives in New Zealand with their family, including a menagerie of animals, most of which are convinced they’re just as human as the next person. Especially the cats! By day, they wrangle the family, often writing romantic fantasy by night.

Visit their website to sign up for their newsletter so you can stay informed about new releases.

To get behind the scenes, join Aldrea’s Facebook Group.

Find Aldrea here:

Website/Blog | Facebook | Facebook group | Twitter | Goodreads | Instagram | Bookbub

Are you as excited as I am to see this new release?

The post Dark One’s Bride Blitz! #newrelease appeared first on Squirrel Talk.

Round 3… Fight!

I wish I could say my life has improved since my last check in. Alas, that isn’t the case. Back on Sept 25th, my son was on antibiotics for strep throat. A day after he finished that 7 day treatment, he whined that his throat hurt. I went and got him checked. Sure enough, he tests positive for strep again. So they give him a 10 day treatment at a higher dosage. He finished that on Saturday.

Guess what.

On Monday, the day I had off by myself, the day I declared to my kids “this is a Mama day”, the day I was looking forward to for over a month, I get a call from the school principal. Please come pick up your son. With a sigh, I abandoned my plans to get a haircut and to finish MMF, and instead headed to the school. As soon as I get there, my son looks up at me with tears in his eyes and says, “My throat hurts.”

Cue the use of bad words.

Yep, you guessed it. Strep again.

This time, I threw out his toothbrush, just in case that’s the culprit reinfecting him.

Needless to say, I haven’t done any writing. At the beginning of the month, I had even tried to do Inktober, but that attempt ended a mere handful of days after starting. I also missed Insecure Writer’s Support Group. It wasn’t that I’d forgotten, but I knew it’d be a one-sided effort. I fully intend to go visit other blogs once I get a handle on everything else in life. I just don’t know if this will be the week that happens.

Have you ever found yourself deprived of your me-time? How did you get around it?

The post Round 3… Fight! appeared first on Squirrel Talk.

Oh Look, A Blog Post!

This past month has seen me slipping and spiraling. I’ve neglected my yard, forgotten friends’ birthday parties, and dropped all the balls that I might’ve had in the air.

As my kids return to school, I’ve found myself shifting schedules to accommodate child care while trying to manage meetings and appointments and still be a good employee. The upheaval compounded with physical injury (lesson learned: I can’t lift a giant bucket of water balloons by myself) and a recent bout of illness (yay strep throat and sinus infections!) has left me unstable. It doesn’t help that my son’s behavioral issues are still prevalent. Yesterday, the principal sent him home from school. School’s only been in session for a month, and I’m already worried that my kindergartner is going to get suspended.

Someone, crack me open another Red Bull, please. I need it.

My last attempt to find my son help didn’t go so well. My work benefits gives me 5 free counseling sessions with an in-network provider. The first meeting had my son squirreling about the room, not really interested in trying to have an adult conversation about what might be making him angry. The second meeting had the woman looking at me after my son pointedly ignored all of her paperwork exercises and asking “Can you think of any ways to get through to him?” Seriously? Why would I even be there if I knew how to help him? After the third session, I politely cancelled the remaining two.

I’ve got an appointment with a new place tomorrow, but alas, I may be missing from online for a while until my offline life levels out. Until then, I hope you all are doing well.

Do you know of anything that might help a child who kicks, bites, spits, swears, and screams while at school, but not while in the presence of his parents?

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